There's a bloom explosion every spring time here in London.  Just about everyone gets knocked over by hay fever soon or later.  But it's so preeeetty. Here's 3 of my favorite spots around my block.

The wisteria on the house across the street from me started to bloom three weeks ago.  I missed out on the opportunity to take a picture of it last year so I made sure snap one now as the blossoms do not last very long.  I should really take another one as more flowers are open now.

My local pub is famed for its year-round blossoms.  It also serves up some wicked Thai food for a fiver. 

A striking picture I think, house at the end of the street with a cheery red door and gorgeous tree. 

This was a very witty and enjoyable book from beginning to the end. It's about a shiek's hairbrained scheme to bring salmon fishing to Yemen in order to increase tourism opportunities in the region but more importantly because he thinks the calming activity will unite people within the country. The book pieces together journal entries, interviews, magazine articles, letters, court proceedings, etc. in order to tell the story.  There was not enough variation in tone between the several mediums to convince you that there were by different authors but that is one of my only gripes and it really didn't even bother me that much.  I especially liked Alfred's (the main character) journal entries since they were so honest. You only get that sort of honesty within one's own journal entries.  This novel has a little bit of everything: humor, satire, love, relationships, emotional development, faith - and all in a very unique storyline.

We went skiing in Verbier back in March and here are some pics. I didn't take too many as we were usually too busy skiing!

View from our chalet of the Alps

Some enormous ski chalets as viewed from one of the lifts

A view from the top -- not a lot of snow this year ....

Onmon and Bigfoot

Apres Ski with Asa and Miki. Where is Miki looking?

The damage from my first foray into the personal shopper experience.

Due to having a very poor memory sometimes, I've decided to try and jot down a few notes about books that I've read to help me remember.  The Dive From Clausen's Pier immediately starts off with the protagonist, Carrie Bell, facing a moral dilemma of whether or not to stay with her boyfriend, Mike, of many years after an accident which has left him wheelchair bound for the remainder of his life.  She had already been contemplating ending the relationship before the accident but would she now have the heart to do this given the current situation?  Carrie ends up retreating not only from Mike, but from the rest of her family and friends.  Abruptly, she uproots herself from Madison, Wisconsin and drives through the night to New York City to escape everyone.  Carrie herself was similarly abandoned at the age of 3 by her father and Ann Packer uses this as a precedent.

I was glad the scene shifted from Madison to NY since the plot had started to stagnant for me.  Packer captures the spirit of NY very well in her writing and brought back my own memories of first moving into the city.  Carrie falls in love with an older man but the reader never believes that they have a real connection.  Kilroy, the older man, has secrets and issues of his own to deal with but Packer doesn't elaborate much on this topic.  It's a frustrating relationship to watch develop as you do not understand why Carrie would put up with Kilroy's moody cloud of secrecy.  I can understand her need for a father figure and perhaps that's what she was getting out of the relationship. 

There were some raunchy sex scenes between Carrie and Kilroy thrown in which I did not find believable in the least.  Out of nowhere, Carrie had an insatiable appetite for sex which didn't make any sense coming from her conservative midwestern background and having only slept with her high school sweetheart.  There was nothing in her personality which would suggest this which leaves you to feel that the sex scenes were merely gratuitous.  I can only guess she had a desperate need to be close to someone after pulling herself so far away from family and friends.

Packer uses many cliches in her writing.  For example, one part of the book has the characters playing a name game and saying that a person can turn out to personify their own name.  So Carrie 'carries' around a lot of burden.  It's just laughable!  And Carrie is a talented seamstress and there are many passages describing the process of her sewing in great detail.  Packer is using this as a metaphor for her life.  Weaving her way through it.  Also, laughable. 

You're compelled to read through to the end if you wish to find out the ultimate decision that Carrie makes.  To stay in NY with Kilroy or return home and 'patch' (another sewing reference, ha!) things up with Mike?  The ending of the book is disappointing, though, and doesn't leave you with a sense that Carrie really stands behind the decision that she has made.

The book was interesting enough for me to have made it through.  I'm not a believer in forcing myself to read books through to the end.  But having such an unlikeable protagonist and the slow pace of the story would be off putting to some.

Believe it or not, no plane tickets purchased or hotel reservations booked for '07 yet.  I'm thinking I should get going on this if for no other reason than to have something to look forward to.  As for Europe, I can't say that there are many places I'd still like to go.  Iffy about planning a ski trip since Mr. Global Warming has been stealing all the snow from mountains across Europe and dumping it all onto Colorado.

Travel suggestions anybody? I'm out of inspiration.

We spent the week before Xmas in Florida, hoping to soak up some warm weather and go diving. It was warm but there was no diving to be done with no boats willing to take us out in the windy weather. So that left us with three mainly idle days in the Keys watching our DVDs indoors.  The rest of the time we stayed in Miami and then drove up to Tampa to spend Xmas with Clayton's mom.  We've certainly taken more glamorous and action packed holidays this past year but just being back in America was nice.  But seriously, the food portions are way too big. I couldn't finish my food practically every time we ate out.  Fat ass Americans! Hehe.

Speaking of big portions: check out the 4 lb stuffed lobster I unknowingly ordered in Miami.  Seriously, they need to put a big warning label next to this thing on the menu. 

 A bunch of art deco hotels in Miami

Key West: not really the southern most point of the US

The Everglades

Busch Gardens, Tampa

This weekend I organized a potluck for fellow Hawaiians living in the EU.  I had only met one person from the group previously and it was a joint effort in finding the participants.  It ended up being a diverse group of people who've lived and traveled all over the world.  Two guys even traveled to London from Brussels just for the day!  Everyone has permanently relocated to this part of the world for quite some time now.  It wasn't at all awkward and we fell into a natural flow of conversation right from the start.  The main topic of discussion was FOOD and all local dishes that we missed.  But speaking of food, people brought loads of it to share including some really authentic kalua pig, shoyu chicken, spam fried rice, and chocolate mochi.  It was such a great idea and I'm glad that I organized it (hubby was very helpful on the day too!).  I'm sure I'll keep in touch with most of these people!

The Battersea Power Station, designed by the same person who did the red telephone box, has been a landmark in south London for quite a number of years.  And many non-Londoners know it from the cover of a Pink Floyd album. It ceased operations in 1982 and has been occupying a huge plot of prime property.  Some crafty Chinese developers have bought the site and are planning to develop the area into a super modern entertainment complex but still preserving the landmark.  For a limited time only, the public has been granted access to the site with the station being used to exhibit the works of artists from China.  Apparently the Chinese like to exhibit art in industrial spaces so this was a perfect fit.  I didn't get much out of the exhibit since it was mostly video installations placed right next to each other, but it was definitely quite an experience to be on the site.  It's strange how you'd think a power plant would be a complete eye sore but it's art deco design makes it very beautiful and I'm glad it's being preserved in some way.

This will probably be my last trip for a while ...well, for a few months anyway... not counting a trip back home (NY) for Thanksgiving.  I think I'm all tripped out.  The tourist hat is being put anyway!  That being said we had a very nice, relaxing weekend in Budapest.  I've been dying to go there for quite a while and decided to seize the opportunity before the chilly weather arrives.

We were a bit apprehensive in going since there had been rioting in protest of their prime minister the day before we went but everything seemed to have calmed down quite a lot.  Only peaceful protests took place while we were there so no danger ...

Budapest has the feel of both Prague and Paris.  I think that's why Prague was the new Paris and now Budapest is the new Prague (or so I've heard).  I didn't know this before going but the name Budapest comes from the joining of the two towns separated by the River Danube.  One side was named Buda and the other Pest. And when they unified, it obviously became Budapest.  Most of the population lives on the flat side which is Pest.  The Buda side is hilly and where they built their castle so it's easily defended.  The city lay out was very disorienting because there was no market square with a cathedral and then a town spreading out from the center.  This is generally the layout of most European towns and it was a bit strange not to find this! Most of the city has also been rebuilt after various wars throughout the years so there's a lot of new buildings posing as old ones.  For that reason I would say Prague and Paris both have more character.  Budapest is nicer in a few ways.  No hoardes of tourists that are ever present in the other two cities.  And thermal baths.  That experience alone was worth the trip.  The city is built on natural thermal springs and going to the spas is their social activity.  I get the sense that they arrange catch-ups at the spa instead of a coffee house like we do. 

Some pics....

The Szechenyi Baths where you can bathe like how the Romans did.  There are indoor and outdoor pools along with saunas and jacuzzis.  You can also get the usual spa treatments.  It's such an amazing setting and you really get a feel for the local culture as this is where they all hang out.

The Royal Palace which houses several museums

St. Stephen's Basilica

Hero's Square, monument built to commemorate the millenium of the arrival of the Hungarians

A fairy tale castle in City Park