merry christmas

tis the season

christmas merriment has begun. i had my last ever day at my job on friday and sam finished work for a two-week break. on sunday we had a pub christmas lunch with cousins and siblings and friends and went to a carol service at our church in the evening, preceeded and followed by mince-pies and mulled wine... truly in the yuletide spirit now.



wednesday we'll pick mum and dad up from the airport and drive down to Dorset to spend 10 days with family there - tri & toby and matt & anna and the kids joining us on christmas eve. looking forward to some cold cliff walks and lots of food and rest and cosy fires.

rob and soph united

lovely soph and rob were wed on saturday in a beautiful ceremony in Christ Church Spitalfields followed by much food and celebrating at Gray's Inn. what a special day. here also is beautiful bridesmaid Clare and her lovely Pieter-Bas.

london lights

not long ago we went on one of the trips that we love to make up to Baker Street (where sherlock holmes lived) to visit the other london Joneses - tom, anita and adorable eddie. we explored the recently lit christmas lights along nearby oxford street and the dazzling window displays, including the particularly impressive selfridges wrapped model of london...

robert plant

tom and i went to see robert plant on tuesday night. it was totally great. i always enjoy live music, but there was something so wonderful about this gig. i think it was the energy of the crowd (old rockers etc), and that of plant who maintains his status as a rock hero, and the music was fantastic. just before they came out a roadie came on stage with loads of incense sticks which he stuck around the stage, and replenished throughout the show, so there was a slight feeling of being in someone's living room! plany wasn't ashamed to admit he and the band were basically a cover band doing old zepplin stuff, but great to hear that stuff live! they did it really well too, adding a new edge to classics. it was weird hearing his voice, which still sounds exactly the same. he is a really fun performer. his new stuff we good too, highlighting the fact that zepplin were really breaking new ground when they were at their peak. ending with a whole lotta love was the ultimate climax!

thanksgiving

we went to beautful hampshire this weekend for some countryside air and family fun .. seeing my brother and sister-in-law and their three delightful children. we celebrated thanksgiving together with an enourmous turkey and an incredibly rich and delicious pecan pie, in honour of our americaness.













we had the privilege of staying in the large home of Anna's grandfather (98 yr-old Colonel), sleeping deeply, waking to silence and looking out of the window to a field of sheep...










sam and i felt pretty sore on our return, being city-folk and not used to all the running around and walking outside. the weekend included wide-games on the "humpy-dumps" - great to be able to share with sam a favourite spot of ours when we were young. and it has inspired sam and i to get fit so we're going for runs now.. very short ones but its a start!:)













it was a delight to experience the still, quiet beauty of the countryside and to spend special time with lovely family... for whom we are very thankful. and we were very impressed with Vivi's new and ever-so-cute and gentle animal noises and Joseph and Eliza's dances!