Sordid Blog

Just saw in The Daily Reflector that Duchess of York Sarah Furguson is coming to G’vegas in May … OMG … now, how do I get myself into the “Power of the Purse” luncheon on May 5 so that I can see Sarah.  We have got a LOT to talk about!  I have a few [...]

A Thursday morning with no teaching must needs require a trip to Regent’s Park, yes?  As I sit, I’m being regarded by an egret, this one a dark and mottle-throated heron, who has now noticed a lady heron stop by, his neck has gone low, his chest and body made full, the meeting croak and [...]

London Tube Strike in effect all day — time to try overground transport!  After class — Paddington & Mary Poppins — Rick, Amy, Clevatrice, Celestine, and I meet the #15 on Edgware Rd to St. Paul’s — such a lofty goal!  The roads were a mess, one car packed after the other all the way [...]

Tuesday begins as a day of infinite promise — what could be bad about seeing Peter Pan in Kensington Garden, after all? This truly was the trip/excursion that my whole three weeks in London would hang on … The rest of the day — a fleeting Tube ride to Baron’s Court to walk around outside [...]

Monday of week two means teaching Winnie-the-Pooh.  I should probably quit teaching it; it doesn’t get easier to do.  Part of me says, ‘What is there to say?’  But it’s so much work to go beyond the obvious - how Milne represents various facets of the post-Edwardian, post-war child through Christopher Robin’s stuffed animals - [...]

I’d thought Saturday to be a slow day for recuperation, but then I got excited to go to the West End area to see Daniel Boys signing his new CD, so the day was on!  Rick, Anna, and I left early … we were already going to see Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia that night … so [...]

Okay, so he was just holding my Stella, but he looks so clever holding it … not the sort of picture one gets often (or really ever) of Rick …

Now, if only we could get the other kids to the pub, not to get drunk, but just to hang for a few minutes, to chat [...]

With Anna and Brent teaching, Rick and I take off for Chelsea, to find Oscar Wile’s house on Tite Street and ramble around and chat. I find Rick one of the best colleagues, one of the most amazing people, and I’ve come to treasure the trip to London as much because of time with Rick [...]

After morning class, a walk with Anna down Edgware Rd to Hyde Park and round to Kensington Gardens. We had the loveliest time walking together, chatting.  But the first look of east Hyde, across Bayswater Rd, the wide, flat, treeless expanse stirred a quiet pain in my heart, memories of last year in Hyde, and [...]

Up early this morning, around 6:00 a.m., but a struggle to do so; I’m having to set my alarm this year, it seems, or risk sleeping back 6:00 … never past 7:00, but at least 6:00.  Can’t lose an hour like that!  There seems already to be less energy in the trip than last year; [...]