Strange Sunday morning. There’s noone in our house but us for the first time in as long as I can remember. The air conditioning fan is blowing, but Kelly is iPading so there isn’t even the sound of a keyboard from her side of the bed.
Erin returned to Denver on Thursday but is back to Boston on Monday. The group she’s working for seems less than well organized with their staffing. While they have told her they’d like to have her back for a couple more projects, possibly into November, at this point she’s coming back for only another week.
It has been good to have Erin around. I’ve noticed a long stay like this feels very different from a short visit. It is more relaxed, less frantic or full of things we ‘must do’ right away. On the flip side, our “Murphy bed in the living room” concept was really intended to cover the ‘short stay’ version – it hasn’t been much of an issue for me but I am sure it keeps guests aware they aren’t here for the long-haul!
At work: we had a fun lunch organized last week. A good thing to blow off some steam during the end of quarter craziness going on. Someone on the organizing committee picked a charity and we raised a bunch of money for the Lazarus House a local group that aids people in need in the community. There was a raffle and prizes but most of the money came from ticket sales for the ‘dunk tank’. Here’s me: the final dunkee of the event – what does it tell you that an awful lot of my colleagues were lined up for my turn?
What’s next? We’d love to be in the UK for Christmas this year if we can pull it off. I think we’ve stayed in the US every year since 2003 so I am really missing a bunch of traditions:
- opening presents on Christmas Morning per protocol (none of this Christmas Eve mess!)
- Christmas Pudding with Brandy Butter. Inexplicably Kryptonite to every American but delicious to me, and
- Of course my English family and friends
Since the transatlantic fligths are likely the expensive part, ideally I want to tack on a side trip somewhere for some basic vacation time. Some preliminary digging yesterday found reasonable flights to London (around $750 return) and it looks like from there, we could get cheap EasyJet tickets (or equivalent) to most places in Europe. A couple of days foreign city or warm weather before Christmas in England would be excellent. Where should we spend 3 or 4 days? Any suggestions? Our shortlist so far has Barcleona, Palermo, and Paris (always good but likely cold and damp) – what do you think?
Lots of Love
Chris
Berlin would be cold but is a wonderful city
Skegness? I liked Madrid, but that too will be cold.
I would be great to see you both for Xmas.
so i could wax poetically about where i think you should go, but really… can we just talk about how everyone who reads this blog should be lined up to see you in a dunk tank??
For the record, my grandmother used to make english pudding every Christmas…and I love it!