Sunday 29th January
It seems to have been an incredibly mild winter so far in everywhere but Southern Europe and that has been great news for us skiing novices - it means the slopes are emptier (even if fewer of them are open). Today we had a successful second trip to our "local" mountain - Spring Mountain. We had been reliably informed a last night's school parents social that it was perfect for little learners and this proved to be the case. It is 40 minutes drive away so even on a Sunday we were there and all togged up ready to go at 10am. Everyone now knows how to negotiate the chair lifts. Once at the top C of course decided to throw herself down the steepest part of the mountain, throw herself on the ground and then throw a wobbly. Meanwhile G was already at the bottom ready to go again! Anyhow, much skillful negotiation later (actually the offer of sweets always does the trick), we were all up and running and everyone enjoyed several trips to the bottom (C in tandem using the poles). And all back home in time for lunch!
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Manayunk
Saturday 28th January
The only item to be seriously damaged in our sea freight shipment was our dining room table. As all you good friends can imagine we continue to negotiate a settlement with the insurance brokers (they are beginning to wish that they had provided us with a copy of the insurance terms and conditions before shipping our goods and not relied on a verbal explanation of our coverage - or at least provided an accurate verbal explanation!), but that aside a new table will be needed. Our insider informers had suggested that the independent furniture stores in Manayunk were the place to go. Manayunk is a historic Distric of Philadelphia nestled between the Schuylkill (Scookil) River and the Manayunk canal. It is billed as "like being whisked away to a European city" - I am not sure that I would necessarily agree but closer than a trip to King of Prussia Mall that is for sure. We added to the Europeanness by going in Mini. We spotted lots of good options which even our Heals furniture purchasing friends will appreciate, but the day was topped off by getting our first parking VIOLATION. Fortunately it was only a fine for exceeding the meter (time flies by when viewing furniture) and NOT the much larger fine it would have been for parking facing in the wrong direction had the friendly pizza chef not tapped on the window and explained the errors of our ways. How he must have laughed when we got a fine anyway!
The only item to be seriously damaged in our sea freight shipment was our dining room table. As all you good friends can imagine we continue to negotiate a settlement with the insurance brokers (they are beginning to wish that they had provided us with a copy of the insurance terms and conditions before shipping our goods and not relied on a verbal explanation of our coverage - or at least provided an accurate verbal explanation!), but that aside a new table will be needed. Our insider informers had suggested that the independent furniture stores in Manayunk were the place to go. Manayunk is a historic Distric of Philadelphia nestled between the Schuylkill (Scookil) River and the Manayunk canal. It is billed as "like being whisked away to a European city" - I am not sure that I would necessarily agree but closer than a trip to King of Prussia Mall that is for sure. We added to the Europeanness by going in Mini. We spotted lots of good options which even our Heals furniture purchasing friends will appreciate, but the day was topped off by getting our first parking VIOLATION. Fortunately it was only a fine for exceeding the meter (time flies by when viewing furniture) and NOT the much larger fine it would have been for parking facing in the wrong direction had the friendly pizza chef not tapped on the window and explained the errors of our ways. How he must have laughed when we got a fine anyway!
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Chinese New Year and emergency rations from UK
Sunday 22nd January
Today everyone was very excited because we were going into Philadelphia to meet with Simon (an old neighbour) who was going to be bringing emergency supplies of golden syrup for flapjacks - yippee - corn syrup is just NOT the same thing at all. He had expressed an interest in trying a Philadelphia Cheese steak (?) but before meeting him we headed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art http://www.philamuseum.org/ to join in their Chinese New Year family event. It was great - we made Chinese fans, Origami envelops to put our good fortune wishes in, and Chinese dragon head dresses. The Chinese dancing, music and writing demonstrations were really good. C loved trying on a kimono. This all tied in with G's school project where the children (we all know that you teachers don't really mean that!) had to make a lion mask at home. She didn't do too badly! It was really relaxing to catch up with Simon over brunch in Firehouse Jacks http://jacksfirehouse.com/ (good calimari - not traditional for brunch I know but tasty anyway) and to hear all the latest from SCR. We miss you all. Thanks so much for the rations and the dinosaurs - they have been growing ever since. And sorry to take so long to write about you!
Today everyone was very excited because we were going into Philadelphia to meet with Simon (an old neighbour) who was going to be bringing emergency supplies of golden syrup for flapjacks - yippee - corn syrup is just NOT the same thing at all. He had expressed an interest in trying a Philadelphia Cheese steak (?) but before meeting him we headed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art http://www.philamuseum.org/ to join in their Chinese New Year family event. It was great - we made Chinese fans, Origami envelops to put our good fortune wishes in, and Chinese dragon head dresses. The Chinese dancing, music and writing demonstrations were really good. C loved trying on a kimono. This all tied in with G's school project where the children (we all know that you teachers don't really mean that!) had to make a lion mask at home. She didn't do too badly! It was really relaxing to catch up with Simon over brunch in Firehouse Jacks http://jacksfirehouse.com/ (good calimari - not traditional for brunch I know but tasty anyway) and to hear all the latest from SCR. We miss you all. Thanks so much for the rations and the dinosaurs - they have been growing ever since. And sorry to take so long to write about you!
Great sledges
Saturday 21st January
Horray - last night it snowed and so when we woke up everything was covered in about 3 inches (8cm) of lovely white powdery snow. And even better - it was Saturday so no need to worry about getting out to work and school. We decided to make the most of it as it is not forecast to last long. So in the morning we used our snow bricks, kindly privided by Father Christmas, to build some walls for an igloo - we very much admire the Inuits who manage to live in them - ours could barely stand up and certainly didn't have a roof! In the afternoon we headed out to the slopes of Mount Joy in Valley Forge National Park to try out our new sledges (http://www.nps.gov/vafo/index.htm). They were fantastic fun and we went whizzing down the slopes - we even managed to do some steering. The George Washington statue was standing watching us very sternly from behind. Thank you very much NPS friends - what a great gift!
Horray - last night it snowed and so when we woke up everything was covered in about 3 inches (8cm) of lovely white powdery snow. And even better - it was Saturday so no need to worry about getting out to work and school. We decided to make the most of it as it is not forecast to last long. So in the morning we used our snow bricks, kindly privided by Father Christmas, to build some walls for an igloo - we very much admire the Inuits who manage to live in them - ours could barely stand up and certainly didn't have a roof! In the afternoon we headed out to the slopes of Mount Joy in Valley Forge National Park to try out our new sledges (http://www.nps.gov/vafo/index.htm). They were fantastic fun and we went whizzing down the slopes - we even managed to do some steering. The George Washington statue was standing watching us very sternly from behind. Thank you very much NPS friends - what a great gift!
Friday, 20 January 2012
Pizza Bingo
Friday 20th January
The elementary school has an active social scene and the first event of the new year was pizza bingo. We had volunteered to provide a pudding so armed with a cake tin full of meringues we headed off to school for an evening of entertainment. It ws good fun. We had a delicious cheese and tomato pizza (the little people have not yet developed a taste for pepperoni) and then into the sports hall with our bingo cards. It was a bit chaotic with so many parents and children but we managed to win a couple of prizes (Barbie dolls and a set of 4 lip glosses in peanut butter flavour - can you guess who chose which?). It was lovely to meet some of the children's friends and their parents. Everyone was very welcoming.
The elementary school has an active social scene and the first event of the new year was pizza bingo. We had volunteered to provide a pudding so armed with a cake tin full of meringues we headed off to school for an evening of entertainment. It ws good fun. We had a delicious cheese and tomato pizza (the little people have not yet developed a taste for pepperoni) and then into the sports hall with our bingo cards. It was a bit chaotic with so many parents and children but we managed to win a couple of prizes (Barbie dolls and a set of 4 lip glosses in peanut butter flavour - can you guess who chose which?). It was lovely to meet some of the children's friends and their parents. Everyone was very welcoming.
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Charlotte's Web
Saturday 14th January
Today we ventured into down town Philadelphia for the first time. We caught the Septa train which takes about 50 minutes and dropped us right in the heart of the city. Philadelphia was the first capital of USA and has much to offer in terms of historical sights but those can wait until the warner weather. Today we were headed for a relaxed Italian lunch - we chose La Scala (http://www.lascalasphilly.com/) - not quite Pizza Express but a good substitute. After lunch we continued the cultural theme of the weekend (see earlier post) and went to see Charlotte's web at the Arden (http://www.ardentheatre.org/2012/charlottesweb.html). It was a fantastic production. The set was a barn and the seating of the theatre, and the fact that there was no stage as such, meant that you felt as though you were really part of it. The mouth organ playing added to the atmosphere. We particularly liked Charlotte who played the flute very eerily from the rafters before abseiling to the stage (she is very flexible) and all the events at the fair (some good Christmas fair side stall ideas there!). After the performance we could meet the actors in person and ask questions, including what was the spider sack made from and what was Wilbur eating! Shepherdswell's Wilbur (also see earlier posts) is certainly living up to his name sake!
Today we ventured into down town Philadelphia for the first time. We caught the Septa train which takes about 50 minutes and dropped us right in the heart of the city. Philadelphia was the first capital of USA and has much to offer in terms of historical sights but those can wait until the warner weather. Today we were headed for a relaxed Italian lunch - we chose La Scala (http://www.lascalasphilly.com/) - not quite Pizza Express but a good substitute. After lunch we continued the cultural theme of the weekend (see earlier post) and went to see Charlotte's web at the Arden (http://www.ardentheatre.org/2012/charlottesweb.html). It was a fantastic production. The set was a barn and the seating of the theatre, and the fact that there was no stage as such, meant that you felt as though you were really part of it. The mouth organ playing added to the atmosphere. We particularly liked Charlotte who played the flute very eerily from the rafters before abseiling to the stage (she is very flexible) and all the events at the fair (some good Christmas fair side stall ideas there!). After the performance we could meet the actors in person and ask questions, including what was the spider sack made from and what was Wilbur eating! Shepherdswell's Wilbur (also see earlier posts) is certainly living up to his name sake!
Friday, 13 January 2012
Meeting Mozart
Friday 13th January
G and I ventured out for some light entertainment to meet Mozart at the local library (one of nearly 1000 free events in our 4 county libraries in first 3 months of the year!). It was a one man show, dressed in period costume, and telling Mozart's story, including live piano recitals (how I wish I could play like that) and opera excerpts on an iPod (we don't think that was authentic). It was rounded off nicely with an enormous birthday cake (well he is nearly 257) which he kindly shared. Fortunately he pronounced Mozart "moat - zart" and we didn't have to listen to "mo- zart" all evening. It was funny when he was explaining why it was easier to write opera for Italian than German. We will be looking out for more events like this and certainly returning to "Meet Joplin" in a few weeks time.
G and I ventured out for some light entertainment to meet Mozart at the local library (one of nearly 1000 free events in our 4 county libraries in first 3 months of the year!). It was a one man show, dressed in period costume, and telling Mozart's story, including live piano recitals (how I wish I could play like that) and opera excerpts on an iPod (we don't think that was authentic). It was rounded off nicely with an enormous birthday cake (well he is nearly 257) which he kindly shared. Fortunately he pronounced Mozart "moat - zart" and we didn't have to listen to "mo- zart" all evening. It was funny when he was explaining why it was easier to write opera for Italian than German. We will be looking out for more events like this and certainly returning to "Meet Joplin" in a few weeks time.
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