Author Archives: JJD
Thanksgiving!
Back to Idaho for another Thanksgiving in Meridian! This time hosted by Dad and Lady in their new house and eaten upon their lovely new family-sized dining table (complete with appropriate wall captions). We missed Ashley’s family (who stayed in Montana) and Mark’s kids (who were in Seattle with their dad), but it was wonderful […]
Birthday weekend
I’m not normally a big birthday celebrator, but it just so happened that some of the things I really wanted to do were best done this weekend — so I made a birthday treat of it. First thing was to get up early and open a little wrapped package that had been hiding in my […]
Cosy
It’s November in London, which means the days are chilly and oh-so-short. Time for blankets and candles and Danish porcelain full of wintry minty herbal tea…
Paris!
I went to Paris last weekend. Why? Well, because I live in London and want to be able to say, “When I lived in London, I used to just pop over to Paris, like, all the time.” I had actually been in Luxembourg for meetings on Thursday and Friday, so rather than flying back to […]
Window boxes, autumn edition
Back at the beginning of the summer I wrote about planting some flower boxes outside my kitchen window. They were full of pink geraniums, yellow snapdragons, and a mass of trailing petunias. I never followed up with a “here’s how they turned out” post because, well, they never quite lived up to my hopes. This […]
Exploring Rome in the rain
Rome wasn’t built in a day — so the saying goes. And it really can’t be seen in a day, either. But if a day is all you’ve got, you can still cover quite a bit of ground (even if you didn’t think to get tickets in advance to all the good museums and discover […]
Put a bird on it (or how Rome does obelisks)
Rome has more Egyptian obelisks than I’ve seen anywhere else. Seems like there’s an obelisk in front of every church — and given the number of churches here, it’s a wonder there are any left in Egypt! And I just love how the church couldn’t resist adding its own little touches. Typically it’s a spike […]
Ciao Roma!
Meetings in Munich ended this afternoon and I thought, what the heck, I’m already halfway to Rome — why not spend the weekend there before going back to London? I arrive immediately post downpour and it’s as warm and humid as can be! The train station is just as scuffed I remembered from 2003 . […]
Oktoberfest II
Of course the irony that of all people I would be the one to go to one of the world’s great drinking parties twice in two weeks is not lost on me. The tent was bigger this time, and the food not quite as good. But I enjoyed myself more not being the only person […]
Munich again!
I love how the airport pavilion looks like butterfly wings. That’s all for tonight, though. Straight to bed, then early meetings and another round of Oktoberfest tomorrow. 😜
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 