saturday morning musing

Its early and the house is quiet and I am wondering what to write about, I have noticed that I have readers from all over the world now and that amazes me. At first I thought that hopefully family will read this and really its like an online diary for me and then I found that other people are reading it too... and now I think, Is it even interesting?

We were driving home last night from a friends and I was thinking that now, 2 and a bit years in, we don't drive about in wonder, we don't gaze at the trucks in awe anymore, we don't have to think about where to buy paint. We are now comfortable and at home. And this home rocks!

I was watching a House Hunters International yesterday and an American couple were moving to London and they were politely shocked at how little they could get for their money renting near Clapham Junction.  For me, I couldn't imagine wanting to live there anyway, its busy, its full of people, theres too much concrete. The flats were small and sometimes dingy, there was carpet (shocker!) and the washing machines were in the teeny little kitchens (big shocker) especially to North Americans who are so used to (for the most part) laundry rooms, hardwood floors and space.

And I realised that I too have become used to those features of living here, I no longer am comfortable with my washing machine residing in my kitchen or of having to live in less than the square footage I am enjoying now. We are indeed fortunate.

Our children will grow up being able to play outside with friends and come in when it gets dark or they get hungry, whichever comes first. They think having a pool is a normal part of life. They have a dog. In a way (sans pool) their childhood is more like mine was. Its more than I had hoped for, for them.

They are also growing up with cellphones that play games, tour the internet and take photographs. They keep in touch with old school friends so successfully because of Skype. They expect to be able to see people the other side of the world when it suits them. Back in my day a letter sufficed and I have to say the pleasure from the pink or pastel blue or other colour envelope arriving with my name and address from my bestie that I have moved away from, was not to be under-estimated.

I could read and re-read the words as we kept in touch.

I had 35 years of living in England and I had a good life and now I am here and this is a good life too, I know I am lucky to be able to have both experiences.

holiday plans

I am SO excited.
We have decided not to drive to the US this year, thats for another year.
So now flights and accommodation in Orlando are booked and paid for - we are back at the Bahama Bay for  5 nights and our Key West house is also booked.

We had a family dinner meeting and picked Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and Seaworld as our parks of choice.
Universal is a must for the ET ride and because I havent been there for 8 years. Islands of Adventure has Harry Potter so thats enormously important.
Seaworld is a family favourite and the last time we were there was when we decided to move to Canada so it has sentimental value to me.
Same for Bahama Bay. Its a very nice resort anyway but I simply have to be there again and KNOW that now we live in Canada, we dont have to board a plane at the end of our stay and head on back to the UK.

We drew the line at the number of parks, simply due to cost - $892 is the current number being flashed around for these parks alone and frankly thats a big hit to the pocket for a few days of fun.

RBC points are paying for our car rental and our last nights hotel stay on International Drive before we head on home.

It will be interesting to see how we feel about leaving Florida to come home this time, when home is here now and not in England.,

hot weekend plans

We have a pool weekend planned and THAT IS ALL.,
Its going to be a feels like 41C today, I am already closing windows everywhere in an attempt (vain may I add) to shut the heat out of this house. Now I love this heat, love it but frankly I dont want a hot house.

We have friends coming round to hang out in the water, we will barbecue and we will hang out. I will lose my new found obsession with watching "Keeping up with the Kardashians" if I can, that show is a pile of crud but its like my guilty pleasure. But it has to go, oh yes.

It was Dukes second birthday on July 4th, so we need to get him a birthday present and I am currently in planning holiday mode.

My idea of planning holidays involves checking out all the menus of all the restaurants I plan to hit. This is a great phase of this whole trip and frankly, as we know where we are going this year and have been before, its even more pleasurable as I know whats ahead and its so much fun looking forward to being there again - Universal Studios,Seaworld, Bahama Bay resorts, Key West restaurants and Duval Street, snorkelling in the warm Keys waters, cant wait.

I love Orlando theme parks, especially as the girls are at this age. I hope though that I never become old and stuffy and unappreciative of them.

Its been YEARS since I was in the Keys, Chloe was 18 months old. This trip has been discussed for a long time now, and its coming up soon. The excitement in the house is starting to build.

summer

I hardly dare to write this but I truly believe that summer has at last arrived! Its hot,majorly hot - 31C at 8.02pm and forecast to be hotter tomorrow and then more of the same for the next few days. Thunder showers are being threatened but thats ok, I like those.

I walked up and down my pool deck today enjoying the heat during my coffee break from working from home. I was wondering around on the ledge with my work BB in hand when it suddenly dawned on me that I wouldnt be hugely popular if I dropped it in for some random reason. Its not like I make a habit of losing control of my hands, but you never know.

That only lasted about 10 mins and I went back in. The inside of the house was cool thanks to all the windows being closed and the ceiling fans going - I love ceiling fans.

And I was grateful, grateful that being home in the summer feels like being on vacation to me. I hope that never grows tired.

I am now waiting on Paul to turn up from putting some benches together so we can go and walk Dukie together. I still cant take him in case he pulls suddenly, and its nice that we all go together. Summer is handy like that, bedtimes go out the window and I seem to be able to spend more time with the girls.

I love the warm softness of the air in the evening too, it feels good on my bare shoulders.

rain

Its raining outside yet again, its rained pretty much every day for weeks now. Sometimes its for an hour or so, most of the time its a deluge and its been coming with gusting wind so the trees are noisy and the air is hot so it feels tropical.
I dont mind, I am still on the sofa nursing these 4 holes in my stomach, the big one is disgustingly bruised, its so bad I can hardly dare to look at it.
Its a nice sound too, I feel like I am in my summer den with the patio doors open to the deck and the noise of the wind and rain and the hot air thats drifting in as I watch HGTV and W Channel and E TV - keeping up with the Kardashians has even been viewed by me, that tells you how much TV is going on here....

I plan to return to work tomorrow from this reclined position on the sofa. I feel like normal life has come to a halt for me, all thats real is the TV, this room and the rain.