And on the seventh day…

When I left you last night, we were headed out to grab a bite.  We ate at a wonderful Japanese skewer restaurant. We had teriyaki salmon and rice. It was delicious. We may have wandered around a little, but I can’t remember what in the world we may have been looking for… ahh, ice cream. Yes, Drew’s weakness. Mine, I think, is more along the line of hot chocolate or chai tea lattes.

Look what we found while we were out. Seriously, when did THIS happen? Was it while we were on the plane?

Earlier yesterday we went out to an area in west London, called Ealing, to look at flats with an estate agent. Because one agent flaked on us for our first appointment we ended up wandering pretty far around town, and enjoying one of Ealing’s green areas.

After our appointments we met Drew’s boss (and our new friend) Adrian, his girlfriend Mel, and his two year son (George, aka the Mighty Dollop). He had the prettiest flowers in his front garden. If I had to guess I would say someone else planted them, but he did tell me that they are called Fuschias.

Adrian drove us all out to a proper Manor House that is preserved by the National Trust. We had proper English tea and scones. It was fun and the Mighty Dollop let me help him feed the ducks. In case you were unaware, ducks apparently go “quack, quack” and lions say “RRRRrrrrrooaoooarrr”. Also, sometimes tumbly-boos appear in the trees. Postman Pat delivers mail and Old McDonald had a farm. I learned a lot from George. He’s very bright.

I am sorry to report that there are no magnificent photos or brilliant stories to report today.  Unfortunately, we just didn’t take on the sites.  We did, however, explore a neighborhood called Islington.  We rather liked it when we stayed there last year–visiting London with Keith and Jen.  It’s an area of London that has a reputation for attracting young professionals and seems to be an environment full of art and contemporary design.   We have had it in the back of our minds the whole time we were thinking about where to live, but have had so many great such suggestions from people who live here.  We just couldn’t help but check it out to make sure that we could consider it or chuck the idea.

We took Gina to an Art Gallery showing.  We found some great artists and we all wished we had money to spend on art work.

We found a place called Tortilla in Islington. I was so relieved to find guacamole that I almost cried. The hot salsa was good enough for a photo opportunity, though I am not still on fire. It had a very nice and full hot flavor. It was much appreciated in this land of fish with chips and Indian food, though I like those, too.

This afternoon we wore ourselves out looking for some sort of stationery.  We eventually just started looking for paper and envelopes.  Although we eventually emerged from a Borders store victorious, we were both rather grumpy and sore when we got home.  What an ordeal for paper!  Oh, Target…  I appreciate the specialty shops, but today I longed for a drug stores with cards or a Hallmark store with all of its cheesy seasonal decor.  I guess I am not near to a Londoner yet.  We’ll keep working.

Love and hugs!