Pajamas and Syrup

Let's try that French toast now...

Breakfast in pajamas, how nice!
Pink pajamas, too!

Boy oh boy, is it ever good...
can't waste a speck!

French Toast

This morning I made French toast.
I had leftover French bread (a good start),
and my lovely Rabbit dish to soak the bread in the milk and egg mixture.

I like to use a fair bit of milk to soften up the bread.

Then fry up the toast in a goodly amount of sizzling butter
(with a big splash of cinnamon across the uncooked side):

And there it is- a yummy plateful!

My amazing multitasking sister

Wearing a long formal dress,
holding a baby,
and wielding a camera.

This woman is amazing.

Kids love Mortimer

My nephews and niece are fascinated by my snake.
Ellie is a little nervous of him, but will watch him from a distance.

Be very gentle with him, boys.

June flowers!

Look at all these lovely flowers!
I love June.

So cute together

Married 47 years...
still going strong.

What I Wanted for My Birthday

It's exactly what I wanted.
A great picture of me and my parents in front of the temple,
and a nice day together.

Where ARE you??

Mortimer, where have you gone??
The rule is that when you are out of the cage you need to stay in physical contact with me so I know where you are.
I swear I just sat down to do a few minutes' computer work... now my neck is empty...
(Hunt, hunt.
Not in the bookshelves.
Not under the bookshelves.
Laying down flat on the floor, not a scale in sight...
Look up a little...
AAGH!
There you are!!)

You are in so much trouble, young man!
You just don't seem to realize it.
In fact, you look pretty pleased with yourself.

Who Knew?

On the plane trip home, when I wasn't sleeping (from London) or taking pictures (from Cincinnati on), I was reading a book called "The Victorian House" by J. Flanders. It is really interesting. Of course, I am fascinated by social history: what people ate, wore, how they lived and died.

In the course of this book I came across a section that cleared up something I had always wondered about. Having read Anne of Green Gables from a very early age (and often), I recalled clearly that Anne said that after the death of her parents she was brought up "by hand" by a neighbor. She remarked on it in a way that made me think that "bringing up by hand" was a way of saying the woman took especial care with her, or at least claimed to have done so. But no.

"Bringing up by hand" is a Victorian euphemism for BOTTLE FEEDING.

It makes sense, that an older neighbor lady would feed an orphan baby by bottle, especially since the Victorians were apparently rather squeamish about breast feeding, at least for the upper classes and the middle classes and anyone with pretensions to gentility. (Mrs. Beeton, whose late Victorian household management book has provided me with much amusement, even refers to babies who nurse at night as "vampires".) Though the Victorians did love their children I must say that I have grown to prefer our own child-centered culture to their strict notions of health and propriety. (I'm also grateful I don't have to battle black beetles in the kitchen, haul coal and water up and down five flights of stairs daily, or wear corsets.)

Ahh. Home

I have missed my literary snake!

And it is so nice to sleep in my own soft bed, and to have a washing machine and dryer, and hot shower, and ice maker whenever I want them!!
Life feels pretty good right now.

Familiar Sights

Back on the Wasatch Front!

I think that large area to the left may be Hill Field... Dad?

And we're coming across the lake (I like that lake, but though I reside in this state, I have only been up there once, and it was to see the Spiral Jetty. I need to fix that.)

Salt Lake City!
Home sweet home!

Utah at Last

I can see the edge of mountains in the distance... the Wasatch Front!

Yes, it is! This is Cache Valley:

Looking down at Logan, after a bit I spied the Utah State campus, and even (though it doesn't show up in the photos) the Temple!

And this is Brigham City, with the road leading down to it past the reservoir (I often drive there en route to see Mom and Dad!)

Midwest to West

Look at this cool farming area in the midst of mountains!

And this neat band of terrain, set off by deep grooves- it almost looks artificially made.

Aerial mountains... I think this must be somewhere in Wyoming.

More Aerial Interest

This Midwest river is not far from Ohio (I changed planes at Cincinnati):

Though we were still over the Midwest, I didn't see any farms for a stretch.
It always makes me curious as to where we are, and what we see, when I look out the plane window.
I love the clouds!

I also like the crop circles a lot.
And that odd looking uprise to the left is also intriguing to me.

How about this road going through the wilds of the (now) American west?
What a nice long green river valley it has to cut through.

Unexpected Plane Bonus

Not only did I get a bank of 3 seats all to myself so I could lie down on the flight back from England (oh bliss!), we flew over Greenland's tip!
The pilot was kind enough to announce it and there was a general migration to the windows.
I managed to secure a good window view for a few minutes (the persons belonging to those seats having decamped elsewhere.)
Here the plane comes over the southeast tip of Greenland from the ocean:

It's June, and look at all that SNOW!
And yes, all those white spots are icebergs, I believe!

The snow got a tad more subdued as we flew west, but the fjords were awfully keen:

And there were still plenty of icebergs.

It is wonderful from the air, but I am glad I don't live in Greenland.

Some Last Fun Things In England

Ohh... I will miss minding the gap!

And Boots! Who doesn't love Boots??

Look at these nifty vending machines at Gatwick airport.
Ben and Jerry vend!

I won't miss the dinky cupboard-sized toilets, though.

The British Museum

The latest art posts, just to clarify, are indeed from the British Museum, my last evening in London.
I got to my hotel after traveling on the Eurostar and I was tired and didn't really want to go out but made myself, promising myself that I wouldn't have to stay any longer than I wanted.
Well I had so much fun I stayed nearly until closing time (which is 8:30 pm on a Thursday.)
I still did not get to see everything I wanted, but I Thoroughly Enjoyed Myself.

The British Museum is keen!
And it's FREE!!

Mummy in law?

I dote upon mummies!
The British Museum has a particularly interesting collection.
Here's one I quite liked:

And this mummy portrait from the Roman period, a lovely encaustic panel painting of A.D. ca. 160, really reminded me of my former mother in law!
She has the same elegance.

Art on Steroids

I DO so love Assyrian art.
Look, it snarls!

And even Arnold Schwarzenegger would not disdain muscles like these:

These dudes are supposed to be guardian spirits, holding magic cones and buckets.
What does a magic cone do, I ask you?
I do not know.
But they are very impressively buff...

And of course the man-bulls that guard gates are Really Keen.
Check out their beards, all those curls!

One of my favoritest things about Assyrian art is how the buff, manly men (and monsters) all wear elaborate coiffeurs and jewelry.
Great stuff!

The Parthenon Marbles

Dash it all, they've got no heads!

They've got no arms either!

And the metopes are not in a good state of preservation...

... so perhaps we should just admire the frieze, which is excessively beautiful!