Fire and Ice

Inspired by RLSoccerMom over at www.disneyrunning.com forum, I finally got my finger out and took some photos while out for a run... This is my house and where the run started from. It was an unusually sunny Sunday lunchtime and I didn't have plans to run but it was so nice out that I thought - why not? The run took me mainly along the redways which are the pride and joy of Milton Keynes: cycle or walk ways (some are even red!) that criss-cross the entire city. It is possible to get from anywhere to anywhere on these routes and sometimes you don't see any cars! This is the redway that goes along the front of my house and where I started first with a brisk walk to warm up. Not long after I started I got to one of the infamous overpasses in MK. They can be a little scary at night but they keep walkers and cars separate so I don't mind them much. Milton Keynes is pretty flat so this is one of the few 'hills' I have to negotiate on the route. It is hard to tell from t...

Is it just me or does everyone think about Carrie in Sex and the City when they hear (or write) those words? Gosh, how long has it been that this finished? I sure do miss it! Fortunately it’s been running almost constantly on cable and I’ve been able to catch some of the earlier episodes that I missed in the original run and of course I’ve been also able to watch the whole series all the way to the end… and in true Carrie style, it made me think about why do I miss this show quite this much? For lots of people it was about the clothes or the “adult situations” but I think that for me it was always about friends. We all have (or should have) friends that have been with us through it all, through the good days and good times, friends that told us when we were wearing the wrong thing or dating the wrong man, friends that you could count on to minutely dissect every little aspect of your love life and give an opinion. I certainly have friends like that, and they know me SO well! Th...

Today is Easter Sunday and of course everything is closed, which means it can be hard work to entertain a 4-year-old when the weather is not very nice. So I suggested to my little boy that maybe we could take a drive around town while he took photographs of things he thought were interesting... here's a sample of his photos. Have you noticed the common thread running through all these photos? The boy REALLY likes street lights! Why? I really have no idea - he's been obsessed with them for so long that we think it's weird when little boys don't like street lights. Not only does he like looking at them, he will notice the ones that are different, the ones that are broken or the ones that changed from the last time he saw them... and believe me, you have never noticed just HOW many different types of street lights there are in the world until you've taken a drive with my son in the car.

While it’s not exactly super obscure, not many people outside of Disney fans have truly heard “Destiny”, one of those pop songs that feature in Epcot. I think it’s the theme tune to Mission :Space which I can’t really figure out (why does a ride need a theme tune?) but in any case it really is a truly lovely song. I know it mainly because it’s included in The Official Album of Walt Disney World which I own and do listen to a lot (I’m telling you, I really DO like obscure theme park music!) I've never actually heard it in the parks, at least not that I remember. I believe it's played in the exit corridor of the attraction which must be grating to the cast there, if it's true! In any case, there is just something about this girl’s voice though, that makes the lyrics seem especially inspiring: …Destiny begins with you and me Through all space and time The achievement of mankind As we sail the sea Of discovery On heroes' wings we fly Flying high we're soari...

There are too many things in me that I don't like (physically) but I do love my feet! Aren't they cute?? (photo taken in Ft Myers Beach, Florida, to remind me of just how wonderful it is to sit in such cool sand on a sunny day and just let life pass me by...)

I ’m pretty much finished on the marathon album I was working on – I just need a page or two at the end as a conclusion but I’m waiting on a couple of photos before I can put these together. So I should be able to pretty much move on to the next project, right? Well, I thought so but I’d been kinda procrastinating about starting on the main Florida vacation album and last weekend it suddenly hit me. I have been reluctant to start because I hadn’t yet “planned” it. Now, don’t be scared – I am definitely not one of those scrappers that plans an entire album before starting, lovingly crafting sketches and putting together materials lists and color themes. No, it’s nothing like that. My planning mainly consists of putting stuff all together in one box. Before I start on any large project (ie, a vacation album) I like to know that I have the things I need to hand. I also know that at some point I will be taking the lot down with me to some crop, so it needs to be available to grab i...

It will be just me and Samuel for the next few days while David is off skiing. Why didn't we go along? Well, for one I just don't like skiing (any vacation that takes me somewhere colder than where I already live sounds crazy). Also, Samuel has never done it so we don't know if he'll like it or not, but it seemed a little pointless to take him along before he's at least tried it on our amazing indoor skiing piste in Milton Keynes. I figured that I'd end up doing the childcare while David goes off and does his thing so it's best to just stay at home and do the childcare anyway without having to pay flights and hotel. Besides, it's good to get away once in a while! I'm sure he'll have a great time and so will we. So this week I may end up having a very tidy house, lots of layouts, lots of necklaces and bracelets and great progress in my course . Of course, I might do none of the above if I spend all my time surfing the net instead.

What is it about me and writing these days? It’s almost as if I can’t help it, all these words are just dying to come out of me and make their way into printed paper or journals or emails or whatever… A few days ago I read a quote on my daily quotes thingie in the iGoogle desktop: The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it. (Leo Rosten) That’s what it feels like lately. I just can’t help it. I can’t call myself a professional writer but, let’s face it, it’s what I always wanted to do. Sometimes I called it Journalism, then it became Communications, these days it is Marketing or a blog , but what it means is that I just want to write stuff all day. Why? Even today when I don’t have such a thing as a story to tell I just have to get it down on paper. I’ve spent a couple of evenings now just writing away in my journal, trying to get all these words out. My last few runs – boring as they were on the treadmill – I passed the time by “wri...

Peanut butter and jelly. Pencil and paper. Movies and popcorn. There are so many things that just go together and it’s sometimes hard to imagine one without the other. For a while now I’ve loved hummus. It’s just such a lovely, tasty and delicious treat: I can eat tub after tub of the stuff. Who could have imagined that chickpeas – so mundane – could produce such a yummy spread? On the other hand there is pesto – another one of those foods that I totally identify with: full of flavour, surprising and very versatile. I don’t just add it to pasta but I sometimes just spread it on toast because it’s yummy. Imagine my delight when a few days ago I tried a dip that was hummus with pesto… OMG. I couldn’t stop eating it, it was just AMAZING. I’d never thought of putting these two together and in fact if I thought about it they probably wouldn’t work together but they do. Oh boy do they ever! The gritty nuttiness of the hummus just loves the melty creaminess of pesto… it was unforgetta...