ATTACK OF THE SHUTTERBUG

Well, we've been up to a lot lately. Holidays, visiting family and friends, playing with the cat, formal balls, and our usual explorations of England have kept us very busy and me away from the computer. I'm feeling very disorganized but wanted to give you an update, so here ya go, in no particular order or relevance:


We got a new camera back in July, when the weather was still hot and sunny...I was having fun playing with focal length here...


...and here


Running amok with Claire and Charmaine


Lunch at The Orchard in Grantchester, a little village just outside Cambridge - Ray was there too, manning the camera


Did I mention we walked all the way to Grantchester and back?


Gotta love those German street signs...


...and their houses


Uh, yeah, that wine cask really is over a storey tall (again, applause to the Germans)


Ray and Dad enjoying A LITRE of beer each; Claire and I along for the ride in a German brewery/pub


Oh yes, there may have been this little castle towering about Heidelberg


Ray and I before the Downing College Mini-Ball; I look terrible here (those teeth! that forehead!) but Ray looks great and it's the only photo I have of us all gussied up

And to prove that I have become one of those crazy people who insists on trotting out photos of her pet, I give you Kappa, co-starring Ray, in a typical sleep sequence in the Grout household on a Saturday morning:







I will post more Germany and other holiday photos soon; just have to get them organized first (ha!)

KIM BEAT ME TO IT

Arg - the Grout household is experiencing Internet Issues. I tried to post last night but was unable to get into Blogger...most annoying. If anyone has been trying to reach me via Hotmail over the last few days, my apologies for not getting back to you; I have not been able to access my account.

But back to the topic at hand: yes, "The Chad" is from Charlie's Angels and, as pointed out by Kim, it's not used in the most complimentary way in the film. I however meant to be humorous and want to clarify that our Chad is a terrific friend and very different from the film character.

And as I'm posting this in the morning before work, my brain has yet to fully wake up so I'm going to sign off. No possibility of being witty at this hour!

THE CHAD

This morning I had just gotten out of the shower when the phone started to ring. I was about to yell to Ray, but remembered in time that he had crawled out of bed an hour earlier to go rowing - crazy fool - and realized that since Kappa lacks opposable thumbs, it was up to me to answer it. Chad, I do hope you realize that when you were talking with me this morning I was clothed in nothing but the towel around my head.

The point of my post, other than being excited that Chad will be visiting us next week, is how weird it was for me to answer the phone and have a West Coast Canadian voice on the other end. Even though I think - I hope - that Ray and I still sound authentic (thus meaning that I hear West Coast Canadian every day in my own house) and I frequently talk with my friends and family back home, it still made me start to hear Chad's friendly voice. He sounded so warm and, well, Canadian.

Canada, I miss you!

BURSTING BACK INTO THE BLOG-O-SPHERE

The other night Ray and I were peacefully sleeping in preparation for the upcoming workweek when we were awoken by an ominous "hwak...hwak...hwakhwakhwak!" sound coming from Kappa, who had been snuggled up between us. Although groggy with sleep - it was 2am - Ray and I locked eyes and both immediately reached for the spare blanket. WE KNEW WHAT WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. Sure enough, within two seconds of whipping the blanket under his nose, Kappa got sick (those darn hairballs!). Ick, but then again, that's what the spare blanket is for.

Never let it be suggested that the cat isn't the most pampered member of the family. While us humans dealt with the blanket, Kappa settled back in for another long round of snoozing. At least our washing machine can clean just about anything, and as I type this, the blanket is clean and back on our bed, ready for more emergency action as needed.

RIVERBOATS

Riverboats
Originally uploaded by raygrout.

Wed 09/08/2006 16:39 09082006035 Greetings! At the moment, the conference I'm at has taken a break for the afternoon, and as might be expected of engineers we've happily gone sightseeing. We're standing on a footbridge over a powerstation that's been quite subtly built under the river. The big attraction here is a very cool set of locks.