Bubble Queen

A Post from Frankie

Frankie says:


"One day at my school someone brought in baby chicks from their farm. They were brown, because they weren’t old enough to be yellow. They bobbed their heads and said 'peep.' I said awwwww. I stroked one with one finger very gently on his back. We took care of the chicks all day, and when I read to them they fell asleep. At the end of the day they went home. All of the chicks lived happily ever after."

A Wee Story

Frankie was at school playing tag with her friend Mark. All of the sudden, Mark stopped and said, “I’ll be right back, Frankie… I’m going to wee.”

Frankie perked up and enthusiastically said, “Really? That sounds great! Can I come too?”

Slightly confused, Mark said, “Uh… Sure. I guess.”

Frankie followed Mark to the bathroom, skipping along with happy excitement. When they got there, she stopped abruptly, turned around and gave the empty bathroom a long, disappointed look. Frankie said… “Hey…Where’s the game?”

Mark: “What are you talking about? What game?”

Frankie, exasperated: “Your Wii, silly!”

Turns out that when Mark said he had to “wee,” Frankie thought he was planning to play “Wii” (The video game.)

And that’s how Frankie learned what kids say instead of “potty” in England.

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

The new washing machine is here!!! Hazzah!!!!

I never dreamt I’d be so excited to see a major appliance.

We’re been without a working washing machine now for almost a month. Honestly, it’s been awful.

There are mounds of dirty clothes everywhere, and we’ve had to re-wear all of our dirty things at least twice. The only exception is underwear, which I’ve been keeping clean by washing…in the bathtub.

No joke. In the bathtub.

Allow me to illustrate the severity of the problem by using this photo from the Tate Museum:

I’m sick of dirty clothes, and sick of feeling a total loss of control over the situation. We’ve been at the mercy of Ken, who never showed up to fix the stupid machine, and then at the mercy of our landlord who seems to operate on a different plane of existence than the rest of humanity: A dimension where time holds no meaning, and the word “urgent” apparently means “in a month or so if I can get around to it.”

I was so afraid that I was going to have leave for our upcoming trip to the states with suitcases filled with dirty clothes. But all of that ends today with the delivery of a brand spankin’ new washing machine. I’m so happy, I feel like I might weep tears of joy into the laundry.





Bonus: The landlord sacked Ken the Cumbrian Handyman! Although his car is still parked here, he isn’t working at the Kirkborough House any longer. I’m really, really relieved.

London: Odds and Ends

The trip to London was absolutely terrific. I have such great memories of the time I spent there with Lisa. I'm so thankful that I was able to have that experience... It's fantastic that Lisa came all the way over here to visit me, and that Matt was willing to re-arrange his work schedule so he could watch Frankie and give me a "girls week" away in the city. I'm a lucky girl!

Before I wrap up all of the London posts, I wanted to share a couple of random trip memories.

In Oxford Circus, the Prada store was getting ready to create some sort of avant-guard window display. They had just started, though, and had left a giant crate filled with antique sewing machines on the street. It was so surreal, I had to take a picture.

On our last day, there was a World Cup match going on. The train was filled with blue-shirted, face-painted superfans. Lisa wanted me to take a picture, but I was too chicken. Instead, I snapped this over my shoulder. I think it's sort of nifty. (Note how depressed they all look Their team lost.)

There were tons of wonderfully odd British street signs in our neighbohood. I love the wording on this one. My next favorite is the sign that read, "Quickbury: Children Dead Slow."

Feelin' snazzy on Portabello Road.

Best. Graffiti. EVER. Seriously...Who hates the actor Richard Dreyfuss so much that they have to write nasty things about him on the walls of random London bathrooms? (Although, I should be honest here. Lisa and I were so captivated by this piece of graffiti that we were compelled to reproduce it in several other bathrooms around the city.)

 On Lisa's first night, she was initiated into the bizarre world of British tv documentaries by catching a program all about the history of shipping containers. ("Now stay tuned for an exploration of that none-too-small wonder that helped build modern British industry: the shipping container!")

I was in Lisa's room while she was napping one afternoon. Lisa, dead asleep, turned to at one point and said, clear as day, "Wait...Do you think we’re going to find where we buried it?" Then she rolled over and fell back into her dream.

That pretty much covers it from my end. If I'm convicing enough, I might get Lisa to write up a quick  post about the trip too. Stay tuned!

London: Day Four

Here's my impression of the Portabello Market:

People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! Streakers!! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People! People!

Portabello Market is an open air flea market, veggie market, and antique market that is only open on Saturday mornings. It opens around 5am, and most guidebooks will tell you that the earlier you can get there, the better. The guidebooks aren't kidding around. Anytime after, say, 9am is so crowded, it's almost impossible to move. The Market goes on for maybe ten full city blocks...It's HUGE. Once you're in the middle of it with all of the people swarming around, it's hard not to feel a little claustrophobic. I felt like I needed to attach some sort of lifeline to Lisa so we woudn't get permanently swept apart from each other.

Seriously, it was nuts. We could barely move, there were so many people around us. It was an absolute crush of humanity, not for the claustrophobic or faint of heart.

Not that it wasn't fun. I'm very glad that we went. It's an experience that I'm happy I had, and I love, love, love antique shopping. But, still... I'm not sure I'd be too anxious to go back into the crush. I sersiously can't stress enough how insanely crowded this place was.

In this picture, Lisa's thinking, "Hmmmmm... Should I buy this plate, or just violently chuck it into the crowd like a discus in the hopes of clearing an escape path?"

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After spending a few hours at the market, Lisa and I retreated back to the hotel to regain our sanity. That night, we headed to Picadilly Circus to the Criterion Theater. Another birthday present from Lisa was tickets to The 39 Steps, a spoof of the Hitchcock classic of the same name. Although there were maybe 20 different roles in the play, they were all played by the same four actors. There was some very clever staging and some absolutely hilarious costume changes in the play. I loved every minute of it.

I have to say, though, that one of the funniest moments of the evening didn't actually happen on stage...it came from Lisa. She had smuggled in a bottle of sparkling water to drink during the show.  As soon as the lights came down, she twisted open the cap, and...

PFFFFHHT!!!!!!

The bottle sprayed everywhere. Like a geyser. It must have sprayed at least two rows in front of her, and absoltely soaked the people sitting in front of us. It was a horribly awkward situation... She couldn't even really apologize until intermission, since the play had just started.

It was so awful... And, later, so funny.

Afterwards, we had dinner at a little Thai place in Picadilly Circus, and closed out our last night with the most amazing view of the city.

London: Day Three

More conference responsibilities for Lisa today. After that, day three was supposed to be a relaxing shopping day. We had planned to spend an hour or so at an antique mall called “Alfie’s,” then head over to Oxford Circus to visit the department store Liberty of London. Afterwards, we wanted to cap the day off with a trip to the Victoria & Albert Museum for their late-night hours.


As it turned out, the moment we stepped into Alfie’s we knew that an hour wasn’t going to be nearly enough time to explore everything. What was originally going to be a short stop turned into several hours of hardcore antique shopping. We really couldn’t resist. The place was incredible. Alfie’s was huge—Three full floors of booths and dealers. Also, Alfie’s focus was on twentieth-century collectables, with a special emphasis on mid-century modern. (Mid-century stuff, the 50s especially, is my absolute favorite.) I was in collector heaven.

I bought a pair of 1950s handpainted flower vases:

The ever-generous Lisa bought me a plate from a 1950’s “Homemaker” dinner set. I’ve coveted those plates for soooo long, ever since I spied one displayed in the Kirkland Museum in Denver. I can’t believe I actually own one now. (Thanks, Lisa! You're the best!)

We really hit it off with the dealer that sold us the Homemaker plate. He told us all about his collections at home, and how he runs a business supplying mid-century props for television and film. He was a real hoot. (If I lived closer, he and I would definitely be friends.) As we were leaving, he actually gave me a second Homemaker plate as a gift. Happy birthday to me!

As we browsed the other booths, Lisa bought some truly beautiful pieces of jewelry (mostly in the arts-and-crafts style). Before we knew it, we had spent almost the entire afternoon at Alfie’s. I’m so in love with that place. I hope I get to go back someday.

Here are a couple of snaps of the inside of Alfie’s:

After Alfie’s we were tired, but decided to press on. We hopped back on the tube and travelled over to Oxford Circus so we could visit Liberty of London. Liberty is a lovely department store that has been open since 1875, and is known for being tied to the development of the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements. (It's much more focused on art, architecture, and design than Harrod's.) It was always a dream of Lisa’s to visit Liberty, since she has a great love of Arts and Craft and Nouveau styles. We saw some incredibly beautiful things there.

After browsing Liberty, we decided to head home. By this time, it was 6pm on Friday night and Oxford Circus was MOBBED with people. It was so crowded that the tube station actually had to shut down due to overcrowding, and we were left to wander the streets until we could find another nearby (and less insanely crowded) station.

By the time we had fought the crowds and made our way home, we were way too pooped to head back out to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was ok, though. Instead, we went to an Indian restaurant in the neighborhood near the hotel, where we had a lovely, relaxing meal.

After that, we crashed. We needed go to bed early, to get rested up for the next morning’s early jaunt to the Portabello Market.