One of six new additions to my kitchen, courtesy of Ikea.

trip to Liverpool

I've just got back from a three day trip to Liverpool with Ant, Mum, and Dad. We rented a car which my dad drove. He has a British license, but he was still a bit scary on the roads, driving on the unfamiliar left. We passed through Milton Keynes, of geek week fame, for Ant to go to a job interview. This one was for Gillette, as an imaging scientist. The only problem is that even after the interview he didn't know what the job really was. Maybe if they call him back for an assessment day he can ask more questions!

While Ant was at his interview, Mum and Dad and I went to Ikea! Yay. We got a shelf for our kitchen (sorely needed) and new bowls. Mum got a few things, like a new mouse mat.

We arrived at Ant's Nan and Grandad's on Wednesday evening. It was lovely to see them and to relax with a plate of salad and a comfy couch. :) On Thursday we had a "lie-in" and then took Jack and Etta to a beautiful garden in Southport. Mum took lots of pictures that I will hopefully poach tomorrow. Yesterday evening we went out to supper with Jack and Etta, Tony, and Stephanie at an Italian place in the city.

Driving home today was a chore... London traffic is unpredictable. Or maybe it is predictable--it's always busy. The last section (inside the M25) took almost two hours! Blech.

welcome parents!

Mum and Dad arrived on Friday! Mum has been busy taking pictures, unsurprisingly. Here is a shot of the front of our flat, which is on the ground floor of the house you see in the main part of the picture. Dad is about to go into our little door. The green door goes up to our two upstairs neighbours. The large window on the right is our bedroom window.

Mum has been spending a lot of time in our back garden since it has been lovely weather this weekend. You can see the bathroom window on the right and Matt and April's patio doors and windows on the left.

The back half of the garden is a jungle. Dad said he saw some raspberry bushes back there.

We went to the British Museum. Now incorporated into it is the old British Library reading room. This is a shot of the dome, now completely inside the great court of the museum.

My dad and I in the reading room. When we lived in Scotland he came here to research for about a week every year.

A beautiful floor mosaic. The tiles are only about half a centimeter on each side.

A set of 7m high cedar and bronze doors from Balawat.

A gold laurel from Crete. The gold was so delicate that I could see it moving inside the case when people walked past.

A priestess's necklace from Crete.

Micah's news

My baby brother, Micah, is newly graduated. He won the math medal! Here he is with a group of profs from the math department. I think he looks like the Young Pretender here.

Micah and Anna, taken by Paul.

Micah and Anna on the day of their "small wedding" with four tulips privileged to be picked for the occasion.

comments

Sonya asked for a new post today so that she could comment on it! Heehee. Why does no one else comment? It could be like a nice little conversation. I know my parents read this blog, so why do they never comment? You don't have to be a member of anything, just click on the comments link at the bottom and type in the box. You can be anonymous or other--which is probably what you will choose so that I know who you are. Try it out!

In particular, I need some ideas about a Christian news website to read. Any suggestions?

Here comes the comment link. Look, it's right there, below this and on the right. :)

home alone

Ant is in Brussels for an assessment day and job interview. I am alone for a couple of nights.

Pros: not having to put all my stuff in the kitchen before I go to bed and sneak around in the morning getting ready, eating vegetarian with April (Matt is also in Belgium on an unrelated trip), more flexibility with my evening (although what have I done differently, really?).

Cons: No one to warm the bed up before I get in, no one to set up the audio-visual entertainment at supper time, no one to laugh at me tripping or dropping things, talking in person instead of on the phone, no one to chat to about my day when I get home.

Conclusion: two are better than one.

The book everyone is reading on the train.

reading

A public holiday has seen me relaxing on the couch, not doing the marking I brought home nor cleaning the bathroom. Ha! I have been just finished reading Kate Mosse's Labyrinth. A number one bestseller, I found it hard to get into. The last hundred pages (of 694) were riveting, but the time it took me to get there was quite daunting.

One difficulty for me was that I was not sympathetic to the religious theme underlying the novel. Perhaps you could call it an anti-religious theme, actually. The three sacred books that are the focus of deception, intrigue, and secrets, are writings entrusted to guardians of different faith backgrounds. The books contain the key to the holy grail, which is actually more of a concept than a chalice: that the Truth transcends religions, that "the real Grail lies in the love handed down from generation to generation, the words spoken by father to son, mother to daughter. The truth lies all about us. In the stones, in the rocks, in the changing pattern of the mountain seasons." This seems to me a sad dilution of the truth a God who loves and woos us. And a God who creates a beautiful world, including rocks, seasons, and mountains that praise him. Our love handed down is a reflection of his gracious love that seeks to be known. May I know that love and make it known!

information request

I'm looking for a Christian news website that I can read regularly. Any ideas? Maybe to have one UK site would be good, but I'd also like to try a North American one. I don't really have any ideas so far.... Please leave me a comment. Thanks!

9mm Pistol: £177.25. TeleShop: Guns and weaponry for the life we live today.