Monday 9 April 2012

Breakfast

Lent has been a looooooooong 40 days this year.  It is actually more than 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, which leads some people (my mother included) to say you can have every Sunday off.  Hannah's Dad says that the whole fasting thing ends three days before Maundy Thursday.  Either way, I'm hoping God forgives a few of my little slips off the wagon over the last month.

What better way to reintroduce myself to the benefits of alcohol than with a mix-your-own-gin kit?  Jim bought one for his Dad, and at the traditional Easter gathering I snuck off with him into the utility room and we masterfully combined juniper, cardamom, liquorice and citrus to make a stunning concoction of hard liquor.  A slice of lime, some Schweppes, and I had in my hand the breakfast of champions.  Which, after a drive past Stonehenge to Ian and Ellen's, I followed up with a main course of Champagne and dessert of red wine.  I made it through the wilderness.


Who's this?  Yep, Jim, Gen and Frankie couldn't stand California without me, and so followed me here.


The business.


James samples the juniper.


I'm more of a herbal man (from my time in Berkeley).


James adds the tonic.  Fresh, from individual cans, of course.

 

Cheers!

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TRAVEL ROUNDUP
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Where have I been over the past few days?  Everywhere.  Who have I seen?  Everyone, including several people I didn't expect to.


This is Julia, my sister's Godmother, and it was her 70th birthday recently.  Em made her a lovely lemon drizzle cake.


I met my friend Andrew at the mystical Glastonbury Tor.  This is where Jesus visited England as a boy, where Joseph of Aramathea planted his staff and it grew into a thorn bush, where King Arthur sleeps...take your pick.


See, mystical.


Ahhh, England's green and pleasant land.


Mystical from this angle too.


Jim, a couple of days before the gin, with his new niece Greta (she was but a bump when Mum and Dad visited us).


She's somewhat shocked to discover who her relatives are.



Where I am now, with cute Goddaughter Meg, who bounced into my room at 6.58am this morning.


Happy Easter!  (Photo by Meg).


Today's outing, to the slightly disappointing Pirates film.  It's just not Wallace and Gromit.


Oh, and the most important part of my trip: stocking up for Hannah.