Tea minus 4

Random picture of the moment: Warm waters running into the ancient Roman spa at Bath.

I haven't popped yet. Also I'm having some issues with legit emails winding up in my spam folder, so if I've missed an email from you over the past few months, forgive me!

Got checked out at the hospital today and pronounced sound, although I'm supposed to go back in if I get any more symptoms of pre-e. Ankles/feet are still swollen... walking is hard, but doable! B has been working from home as much as possible. Periodically I catch him looking at me with an appraising gleam in his green eyes, kinda like I'm some sort of roasting chicken, as if at any moment I'll leap up and shout: "DING! My waters broke! The baby's all cooked!" Someone needs to tell the man that a watched pot never boils.

And, a bit off-topic for the general tone of my blog, I read an interesting letter today concerning a patron's complaint to a library about a specific book being included in the collection. It's one of the best responses I've ever seen to a censorship request.

Off to a baby shower tomorrow. I'm hoping to hold out a few days longer in order to see the new Batman flick, but we'll see.

T minus 5

Since I'm living in England, maybe that should be tea minus 5? Either way, the due date is rapidly approaching. I've had a few symptoms of pre-eclampsia, so they're keeping an eye on me. In fact, I'm going in tomorrow for another blood pressure profile. Fortunately, blood tests, etc, have come back normal, so I should be all right.

The UK is a little bit more laissez-faire about pregnancy than the US tends to be. There's less emphasis on induction/c-section and more on natural birthing. They don't give you an internal exam until you're very close to the due date or actually overdue. This suits me just fine.

Here's something to drool over - homemade sausage gravy.

Ingredients: Sausage (plain), Flour, Milk, dash of pepper, a little butter. Crumble the sausage in, remove when cooked but leave the drippings. Make a roux. Add milk after letting the flour brown a bit. Cook until it thickens. Add sausage. Serve over homemade biscuits.

I made buttermilk biscuits from scratch for this good old southern dish. Warning: it's fattening, even with skim/lowfat milk, so don't say I didn't warn you. On the other hand, one serving of this for brunch should hold you until dinner.

That's all for now. I'll try and keep updating more often as things progress.

Like Groundhog Day...

The doctor leaned over with a concentrated look on her face, prodded at my stomach, then stood up straight and smiled.

"You got a long way to go. That baby is gonna be in there for another 3 weeks, the way things look."

Here's a picture of B at Kew Gardens the other week. I really wanted to go up the steps into their new treetop exhibit, but it was so crowded that we didn't. Next time, maybe.

That's all for now.

Happy Birthday and Other Random Things

Firstly, a happy birthday to my dad, who probably celebrated the day by working on his new boat. Here's a picture of him (R) and our good family friend, Hugo (L) a few years ago. The living room was undergoing renovations at that point in time. Dad's done some tinkering around with the rest of the house and the place is looking great, with new doors and quite a bit more space. I can't wait to go back and visit - hopefully next spring.

Things continue to go well over here, despite us getting all of July's expected rainfall in one day yesterday. B and I visited Kew Gardens last weekend. He gets in free through a work deal and is able to bring in a guest (me!) for half-price. Parking is usually £5... we were driving through the parking lot and saw a fellow waving at cars. None of them stopped, but we rolled down our window to see what was up, and he handed us a ticket he didn't need! So hey, free parking.

I'll write more about Kew next time. The camera is still charging and I'm only posting because I can't sleep. And trust me, I know I should sleep. I know. I know. But if your pelvis was as sore as mine, you'd be more sympathetic!

Anyhow, here's a few pictures I've been meaning to post. I really enjoy looking back on all the photos of the places we've been, and if I ever get access to a scanner, I'll definitely put a few more up. For now, I'll just keep posting the ones I've got on the hard drive already.

Aira Force, near Ullswater in Cumbria, England. Its waters inspired Wordsworth, and the word Force derives from fors, the old Norse word for waterfall. It's a bit of a hike, but all the trails are well-beaten. It's nowhere near as tough as Helvellyn (see previous postings).

We took a trip on a vintage steamboat across Ullswater, which is the second largest lake in the District. From Pooley Bridge (which is where we stayed), we went across to Glenridding, Howtown, and then back again. This is one of the islands in the middle of the lake. Any Arthur Ransome fans out there? Does this picture remind you of something? (Although the island in the book wasn't "real," it was an amalgamation of Windermere and Coniston Water, where Ransome stayed in his childhood.)

In closing, here's a picture of the Portara in Hora, Naxos, Greece. It's the last thing you see when you pull away from the island. Countless generations have stood upon that hill, looking for faraway sails or waving goodbye to loved ones as they sail into the distance. We stayed a few miles from the port town in Plaka, near Agia Anna. Rural enough to be relaxing, but within an easy bus ride to town. We were right on the water, but had views inland to Mount Zas - the perks to staying on an island is having it all in front of you all the time. And we definitely plan on going back.

By popular request

For Chris O, Jenna, Fran, and others wanting more pictures, I hereby create a new post. I've been slack on updating this blog because not much has been going on. I've been doing some cooking, a lot of sleeping, and general tidying of the slowly-growing baby-related mound accumulating in the spare bedroom.

Without further ado:
Bruno and "Hector," the retired racing greyhound his parents adopted. Hector is a great dog - calm and happy and affectionate without being overbearing.

And a less-recent picture: B about to set off on the trek up Helvellyn, in the Lake District (near Ullswater, the second largest lake in England). He's stayed in that building behind him a few times; it's a youth hostel. Actually, it's fairly off the beaten path. The gravel road he's standing on extends quite a ways from the outskirts of the small town it borders. And woe betide you if you're driving and you meet another car. One of you has to back up until the next turn-around.

Here I am in Budapest last September. B has a knack of taking photos before I'm quite ready! This is overlooking one of the bridges over the Danube. We took the funicular (pictured earlier on the blog) shortly after this.

And here I am in Greece, again last September. This is in Chora (the port town) on Naxos, at the top of the hill near the church. You get here by walking up a series of convoluted streets and alleyways and hills and steps. It's a very pretty town, our favorite island (so far).

Against my better judgment, here's a picture of me looking fat and pregnant. Yes. That is a chocolate eclair in that takeaway bag. And yes, I did eat it. Every bit of it. And I make no apology for that. This is actually just across the street from the cafe I wrote about earlier, in Clapham Common.

Right, that's about it for now. We don't have many pictures of us together because, well, one of us has to man the camera. Why do you think we're having a kid? Hey presto, instant photographer on hand! (Just kidding.)

Tea

One of my favorite things to do on a lazy day is to go out and have tea somewhere with Bruno. A friend introduced me to a cafe that serves tea and fancy pastries on real china, and I was hooked on it from the moment I stepped inside. It sits just across from a large park, overlooking a statue in the midst of greenery and a fountain that children are free to splash around in.

It serves some very interesting varieties of tea. The tea in the cup pictured above is a type of green tea, served with bits of flower in it. Unless I need it, I prefer to drink decaf, so green tea is a good option for me.

We had lunch with a friend from the U.S. a few weeks ago at the cafe. I got to catch up with the news from my old church while sitting outside sipping tea. It was really nice. And when you're nearly 32 weeks pregnant, you tend to cherish being able to linger over a nice hot cup of something. I know I won't get many of these moments in the years to come!

Bawth

We headed to Bath (Bawth, as the natives say it) via train this weekend and enjoyed a few days of hot weather and sightseeing. I took this picture at the Roman Baths - you can see St. George's flag fluttering away atop the abbey in the background. Bath is an interesting mix of history. The statues were built in the mid to late 1800's, the abbey hails from medieval times, and the baths underneath were constructed by the Romans:

We were there on a Monday, so it wasn't too busy. Still, I was surprised by the amount of tourists gadding about (note my very British terminology there) town. I can honestly say that despite the kooky hat B made me wear, I fit right in.

Now, I don't consider myself a gourmet. I'm not pretentious. I can enjoy something without making stupid exaggerated faces of enjoyment, and I keep my comments about restaurants simple without going into the details of how horrible/good it was because the sauce had too much coriander in it and therefore that threw off the lemony-basilness of the dish. To wit: Mexican food in the UK generally sucks. Full stop. So when we found a good Mexican restaurant in Bath, we ate there two nights in a row. It was even better than the full-on tea service we had on Monday afternoon.

But the best part? Spa visit. 4 hours. Able to float with my chin propped up on one of those blue styrofoamy things in the water... belly down. Seriously, I just lay there like a croc in the water half the time. You have no idea how much you miss sleeping on your stomach until it's taken away from you....