I Lied

It was just a momentary lapse of adventure caused by lack of sleep, maybe, but I have dug my way out of the doldrums and am now ready for the next phase of this trip to England. And to be fair I have to tell you about some of the wonderful people I have met while I am here.
First impression of England was that the people are anti social and will walk across the street rather than encounter an American. (They must have some sort of radar that gives us away. As soon as we open our mouth people know where we are from.) Now according to the man we met in Salisbury, the English HATE Americans. And so it seemed at first. We would get one word answers to questions and no one ever made eye contact. I was constantly checking for that piece of spinach caught in my teeth, bad breath or some other faux pas. But we have come to think that perhaps the English are just a little wary of strangers or in our case, strange persons. By now we have made all sorts of acquaintances with the mums at Abby's school. There are Debbie, Jax, Heather (the other American, so we hit it off RIGHT away, especially since she is from the South.) There is the nice lady with the adorable puppy that I stop to pet every morning. Ger is making friends with the guy in the bodega and then there is Sam. Sam is the receptionist at the chiropractors office. She and "her bloke" have been together 11 years. She is originally from Salisbury (where we stayed when we went to Stonehenge)so that was the immediate bond. We chatted about the different streets and pubs of Salisbury, great places to see in England and when she found out I loved Scotland we have become soul sisters. If she could get the time off I think Ger and I would have a personal travel guide through this entire country. Sam is just a riot and is all that I am missing in my two best friends back in the states. When we ran into Sam in the drug store yesterday it was like 2 old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages. Combine that with the sweet young girl who worked in the drug store and took the time to be our personal shopper, I have to say the English are looking better and better.
We can add to this list of nice folks . . . the woman who delivers the fresh fruit and veggies each week. She is concerned that I have too many bananas and since Abby and Ger don't like bananas I am FORCED to bake and consume endless loaves of banana bread. Today when she arrived she gave me a recipe she looked up for banana ice cream with strawberry whirls. Given the chance I believe she would be here after work to make the ice cream with Abby and I. Then there are all the people who haven't honked their horns at me as I attempt to drive on the wrong side of the road, the mail man, the bus drivers and of course the pub owners are all turning out to be very nice people.
Who knew we could fly across the ocean and meet people who were just as nice as our friends back home. It's just possible I may not want to leave here.

A Deep Breath

WE are at the half way point of this adventure and it is time to STOP and take a deep breath. K&B need to breathe, Abby needs to breathe and dammit I am going to breathe and count to 3 million. In the best of time I am a basket case ( Just go back and read some of these blogs.) But I am pushing the envelope these days with all this togetherness. How we ever made it through 41 years of marriage is beyond me.
But enough already . . . our anniversary was yesterday so I guess I am committed to another year at least so I might as well make the best of it.
Today's England adventure took us driving into the heart of Windsor. One might ask "WHY", to which there is no good answer. It all started because of mass on Sunday. The priest said, "Tuesday is a holy day. The feast of St's Peter and Paul." Ger and I shrugged and thought nothing more of it until that evening. Back in the states June 29th is NOT a holy day so how come here it is? Whatever . . . the plan was to take Abby to school, drive to the chiropractor and then drive into Windsor, park at the church and walk into town for breakfast and then go to noon mass. At least that was the plan that I had. Either I was talking to myself yesterday or Ger was not listening because as I was headed for the parking lot at the church husband became all agitated. "I thought we were parking in town" says he. Stupid me says, "HUH?" Bottom line after a U turn, a trip through almost every one way back alley and dead end in Windsor I parked in the down town lot, got out of the car and we never made it to mass. On the best of days driving in Windsor is an adventure and having a passenger who is gasping and clutching the dash at every turn and telling me what I just passed rather than pointing out the UP COMING turns is less than helpful. The good part was we found a delightful place to have breakfast with lovely garden seating right in town. Then we hit the jackpot at the drug store where we not only found the exact "ZuZu pet" that Abby has been searching for but we actually found an ICE PACK and hair color for grandma's hair that has suddenly become greyer than usual. (When Abby fell 3 weeks ago Bridget had to use a hard ice pack that you use in a cooler. I have been searching for the plastic bag of gel that you freeze and reuse only to be met with odd, blank looks. I was beginning to think England had not progressed to that high a degree of wizardry.) That find made the day and all else has paled in its shadow.
As for K&B . . . they have returned to the small village where Roman's orphanage is. Forms are signed and now they must wait to see a judge in that region. Kyle is returning to Windsor on Thursday evening for 5 days to spend time with Abby and catch up on work. Bridget has opted to stay in the Ukraine and keep visiting Roman each day to reassure him that he will soon be leaving with them to start his new life as a big brother to Abby. Kyle will return next week to go to court with Bridget and then they must both return to Windsor for the 10 day wait.
I guess all my "trials and tribulations" are nothing compared to what these 2 amazing young people are doing for a child they don't even know. God Bless them!

Stupid Country

This is one really messed up place to live. K&B seem to be enjoying it but I am DONE with England. Give me the good old US of A any day.
It is 32 degrees . . . Celsius that is. To figure out the temperature we have to divide by 5, multiply by 9 and then add 32. Got that? All that to find out that it is freaking H O T and there is not an air conditioner in the entire country! (Not only do we not have air conditioning, half the windows are painted shut so you can't even open them with the hope of a breeze.) I live in South Florida, I know HOT. I love the summers in Florida when all the tourists and snow birds are gone and we have our roads, beaches and restaurants to ourselves. All of which are made bearable by AIR CONDITIONING. Yes, even the beaches are air conditioned by Mother Nature and those wonderful summer breezes. But this silly ass country goes from freezing one month to broiling the next with no comfortable heating or air conditioning to help you survive. And seeing how EVERY BODY walks here because the roads are insanely too small and congested and constantly going in freaking circles, I am dying of the heat. My feet hurt, my body has lost 300% of it's natural fluids and yet it continues to swell to ungodly proportions. My feet look like my daughter-in-law Kristen's who is 8 months pregnant. And forget sleep . . . How do you sleep when the sun doesn't set till 10PM and then is up again at 4AM ? Even the birds have bags under their eyes.
I have hit a slump and am missing home. K&B know how I feel cause they are still in the Ukraine and missing home also. I always used to tell Ger that I would never get tired of being on vacation . . . I lied.
But this too shall pass and I am offering it up to God. I am just hitting a down day and know that by tomorrow or the next day I will be feeling totally different about being away from home. It has been a fantastic opportunity to be with Abby. I keep thinking how very blessed we are to have this chance to be here with her. As her grandparent's O'Connell pointed out, we are making memories. I just would rather the memories were of the Bahamas and not hot, old England.

A LLLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG WEEKEND

Remember those days when the phrase "LONG WEEKEND" sent chills up your spine because you knew there were endless possibilities for the days ahead. Well that's NOT what I'm talking about. In this instance the term "LONG WEEKEND" means, "OH DEAR GOD WILL MONDAY NEVER GET HERE?" Ah Yes . . . this was the first FULL weekend with Abby. MuM & Da are still in the Ukraine and getting closer to "A" Day when they really will get to adopt Roman. They still have at least a week in the Ukraine and they are missing Abby terribly. But NOT nearly as much as we are missing them ! Don't get me wrong, we adore our 5 year old grand daughter and love her to pieces and are doing very well as surrogate parents, but GOOD GOD, the weekend was endless. First and foremost you must remember once again that Grandma is "The Queen of Sleep". Abby is the "Queen of Early Birds". During the week, no problem . . . Abby has school, Abby gets up, Grandma and Grandpa get up, Abby goes to school and GM & GP return home to nap half the morning. NOT SO on the weekend. Abby gets up, EVERYONE gets up and STAYS up . . . ALL DAY ! Once again let me remind you, I love Abby but she is not a child who will entertain herself especially when she knows grandma is a sucker and can't say "NO".
Saturday was spent pretending. We went from being bunnies in a forest to kids in a class. We set up "house" (nest, den, class, etc) in every room of the house. And YES, that includes 2 of the 4 bathrooms. Cooking was the only thing that got Abby away from her games so we had about seven meals on Saturday. Abby FINALLY went to bed at 8, Grandma went to bed at 8:20. Thus no blog yesterday.
Today, Sunday was MUCH better. Even though my little Early Bird jumped into bed with me at 7:06 AM the day was GREAT! (Another HOT day here but the nights are almost cold so sleeping is wonderful.) We made pancakes for breakfast with blueberry eyes, a strawberry nose and whip cream mouth. Then it was time for church and a drive to the leisure center to swim. Abby understood that GM couldn't ride the slide because my arm is still not right and GP won't ride the slide cause he is chicken. So off the 5 year old went, up the huge set of stairs to the top of the building to ride the slides alone. 3 hours later we left to go to the small (as in minuscule) amusement park just down the river.(See pictures) We needed an ice cream (don't tell mom and dad!) for energy to ride the motorcycles, tea cups, train and swans. She had a ball and was so happy to run from one ride to another. (Sorry K&B but your daughter now knows that those rides at the stores MOVE! You just have to put money into them!) After rides there was a short interlude of feeding the swans in the river and then a drive home by way of Prince Albert Pub for dinner. (And a well earned beer for GM & GP.)
Ger is asleep already and I am soon to follow. Abby conked out at 8 tonight and hopefully will be fresh and full of life for school tomorrow. Ger and I already are planning out tomorrow. It goes something like NAP, LUNCH, NAP. I think we can manage that for the next 5 days before we get to another weekend.

Not About England

The vacation is over. A week of being "parents" has returned husband and I to the primal state of survival of the fittest, kill or be killed, very man for him/her self. The fact that the World Cup is on TV EVERY DAY is not helping. Also the fact that being in a foreign country Husband is not going to get in the car and go someplace on his own . . . OH, wait, silly me . . . he doesn't do that when we are home. Bottom line, all this freaking togetherness is REALLY getting to me. 24/7 is not a healthy state to live in with your spouse so I am looking for one of you out there to volunteer to come get Husband and take him AWAY for a month or two. PLEASE !!!!!!!
Today we returned to the grocery store for the umpteenth time. It is the only place I know how to get to. Of course Husband came along and clutched the dashboard the whole way. I thought about going alone but it is like leaving a small puppy home. They look at you with those big, sad eyes and you just can't walk out the door without them. Once we get to the store it is TORTURE to shop. I am followed a foot away so every time I stop I get plowed into. Forget trying to turn around. I have tried giving the cart to Husband but then I get my ankles smashed every couple of minutes. "Focus" is not in Ger's vocabulary. Along with the physical abuse I have to put up with the endless questions like, "Why are you getting that?" "Can I get something for you?" Where would I find that?" (If I knew the answer to that question I would get it myself!) The HELP is more work than it is worth.
Then when we are finished shopping and are on our way home I have to reward the Husband with a treat. Usually this is some sort of "Fast Food" because Heaven forbid we should go home and eat some of the healthy food I have just bought. Today's stop was at KFC. (Yep, the Colonel has made it across the pond.) When we get home Ger brings in all the groceries and pulls them all out of the bags, leaving them on the counter tops and the bags on the floor. By now he is exhausted and has returned to the TV set all proud of himself for having done so very much to help.
I, on the other hand have gone up stairs, into the bath room and stuffed a towel in my mouth so I can scream! Once I can catch my breath again I pop a happy pill or two and continue on with the day. Picking up Abby from school is a similar experience except that the extent of "help" is limited to walking with me to and from the school. This trip is accompanied by the various questions, "Does Abby have her lunch? Does Abby have her water? Did you put sun screen on Abby? Did you sign her book list? . . ." This morning I waved my hand in Husbands face and asked him if he saw my hand, because it was about to slap him silly if he asked me one more thing. He got that message but I am sure tomorrow will just be more of the same.

GREAT NEWS

WE JUST HEARD FROM KYLE AND BRIDGET WHO ARE IN THE WILDS OF THE UKRAINE . . .
ROMAN WILL BE ADOPTED BY THEM.
They met with Roman today and he said he wants to come and live with them. He wrote a letter to the courts saying just that and now the final steps will be taken to bring him "HOME".
I guess your prayers are working. Thanks to one and all and we will keep you posted on the proceedings.

The Cheese Ball

Today's blog is for Kyle & Bridget who are trying to stay sane in the Ukraine. (Sounds like Country Western song!) They have been gone almost a week now and are running into all sorts of blockades to the adoption of Roman, the 10 year old boy who came to stay with them for a month over Christmas. K&B are working with an agency who tries to place children from orphanages in the countries that once were the USSR. Things have been moving along and now that they are in the last stages of the adoption proceedings they are running into one road block after another. Just before they left for the Kiev they made their weekly call to Roman, during which he told them he did not want to be adopted. K&B were devastated. Nothing they could do and no one they could talk to, they just went on with the hopes that this was a passing thing. They spoke with other parents who were also adopting and they too had had the same experience, only to have it all work out.
Last Sunday K&B left to fly to Kiev for a court date on Tuesday, sign papers and then move on to the other side of the country to the town where Roman's orphanage is. Kiev turned out to be a pleasant surprise for them. A big, modern city with good food and accommodations. They ran into a few minor set backs but after a day's delay they flew to Donetsk, drove 2 hours to the town with the orphanage only to be told Roman was not there. (They are traveling with a translator because the language is so impossible to understand because it uses a totally different alphabet.) It was down hill from there. Roman was at camp, another 2 hour ride into the country. The towns are awful, the steel mill in town makes the entire area stink with rancid pollution, the roads are so potholed you can't drive on them and it is hot and humid.
Bottom line . . . We are praying for a better day for them today. Thus the following blog about "THE CHEESE BALL" in order to cheer up Mom & Dad, if they have Internet connection out in the country.
Some time in the early years of Abby's life Aunt Keri referred to Abby as "A Cheese Ball". There is no literal meaning to this but it is the perfect term for this child. She is a character and a half and is keeping Grandma and Grandpa laughing. Abby is one smart cookie and getting smarter every day. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, (no no mom & dad, it is not cause of grandma's cursing!) but because she always asks the meaning of a word that she doesn't know. Abby is 5 going on 40, going on 5. She is the perfect mix of smart and silly. We have been doing a lot of laughing this past week trying to keep the "Miss yous" a bay. Now that it is the end of the week Abby is tired so it is harder to not miss mom and dad. She LOVES school so that is a great diversion. I don't think Abby the Cheese Ball goes to school, that Abby is reserved for the family. Her teachers all think she is a quiet child. We know better. Last week Ger and I wanted to buy a plastic whistle for Abby, (she "coaches" mom and dad playing soccer on the lawn outside. She doesn't PLAY, she is the coach). Bridget told me a whistle would be too noisy for the house they are living in. Let me tell you that there isn't a plastic whistle around that could be louder that the SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH Abby lets out when getting dressed in the morning and Grandma accidentally "tickles" her. If the neighbors aren't awake before that they surely are after. There is now doubt as to who is in charge with mom and dad gone. From dinner menu to wardrobe, (thank goodness for school uniforms), to planned activities, Ger and I just follow Abby's lead and the Cheese Ball shall lead us.
So MoM and DaD . . . don't you worry one bit about Abby. She is doing fantastic taking care of us and herself. Her biggest concern is that Grandpa is not eating his vegetables and fruit and he is watching too much TV. Abby is ONE SMART COOKIE !