Arctic Baseball

Baseball season has started here in London. Not that there is really any season for baseball here, most of the locals don't even know what baseball is. However, there are enough Americans here in Northwest London to make up a league. And that is exactly what has been done for several years. It (the league) is called London Sports. It is the organization that we played basketball with this past winter. It is completely volunteer and almost entirely American families.
We, yes we, started baseball a few weeks ago.

Even though I am not an official player or even an official coach, I still feel that I am playing. Who makes sure the uniforms are clean? Who makes sure the mitts are not forgotten? Who makes sure the "snack" is brought on our assigned day? ME. That's who. Not that I really mind, but it just exemplifies that baseball is a team sport for sure in this house.

Here is Andrew on the first day before receiving his uniform. It was cold, no freezing, that day.

Here is Andrew running the bases.

Last week as I was helping him get dressed for his game, he was explaining his strategy to me.

"Mom. I'm thinkin' I'm gonna have to slide today."

I wish you could have seen the expression on his face. It was oh-so-serious! And it made me chuckle because we are talkin' about T-ball, not the Major Leagues. Most of the other players don't even know the difference between the pitcher's mound and first base.

Sure enough, when Andrew had his turn to run to home plate, he slid.

It makes a mother proud.

Of course we realize that he is at a great advantage having an older brother........

Here is Alex in his uniform. He is on the Pirates. That's his bud Patrick behind him on the left. They were lucky enough to be placed on the same team this season.



As you can tell by the foliage.....Spring has not quite arrived here in London. (This was the week before the snow. (see previous post) )

We play our games at Wormwood Scrubs. It is a huge open field located next to a local prison.

Lovely.

I don't know the story behind the name, but I thought it was a joke the first time I heard it. It is nothing more than a huge open field. No markings. No backstops. No dugouts. Just soccer goals placed here and there that I think were left from last Fall. I assume it is for rugby practice normally; hence the "scrubs" part of the name. I don't feel that cricket could be played here.

Cricket is the closest resemblence of baseball to the British.

I have to say that this league is sooooo not like our Richmond leagues last year. What kind of coaching do you get when you ask a lot of bankers and embassy workers to coach?

Well, you can imagine.

Anywho, I have already completed my snack duty for the season. So I feel a great deal of stress has been lifted. I have seen the outcome when snack duty is overlooked by a family.

It is not a pretty sight.

I feel as though I might have been branded with that mark anyhow because I brought sliced bananas, apples, and grapes.

What am I? Not a single piece of fruit was taken. Not even my own son would have a piece.

It just so happens one of the fathers had extra mini chocolate muffins he had purchased for his kids earlier that morning for the ride over to the fields and he threw those into the mix (so he wouldn't have to carry them home). Those went like gangbusters.

I sense my Mother of the Year nomination has been revoked.

White Stuff

I was awakened Sunday morning at 7 a.m. by a tiny whisper.

"Hey. Mom. It snowed last night."

Sure enough.........

We wasted no time getting on what little snow gear we had brought with us to London.

This kind of joy brings out an often hidden side of Alex. He is really a closet Rockette.

St. John's Wood park - which is across the street from our flat.

A special picture for A.M.

"Bath"time

I realize this blog has become alot like my thought processes recently...really scattered.

Let's go back to our day in Bath. Like I said previously, it was really cold and wet but it didn't seem to stop us or any of the other hundreds of tourists in town that Saturday.


Here is a view of the baths from the terrace above. The Bath Abbey is in the background. It is literally a stones-throw away. We also visited the Abbey but have no photos to share because they don't allow photos to be taken inside. Needless to say, it was another beautiful English cathedral.

Another view of the baths from the top terrace. Long ago this was area was covered and not exposed to the elements.

The Silly Chaps with the Bath Abbey in the background.

Statues around the perimeter of the terrace........ Unfortunately, I cant tell you anything about them but Alex says that they were not originally there and only added 200 years ago. They are statues of important people throughout British history. I guess maybe he really does listen to those audio guides.

I was blessed with a blown speaker on my audio guide and of course being stupid with regards to audio equipment I was unaware that it was actually broken until I told John that it was really hard to hear the summaries. The voices had an echoey sound about them and was practically impossible to understand.

He kept telling me "Just turn up the volume."

After turning it up to MAX I became quite worried that my hearing was really starting to decline thus reflecting my younger years of maximum jammin' with DuranDuran on my walkman.

So I quietly kept it to myself............

............. until he asked,"Why aren't you listening?"

"I told you I can't hear it."

"Well, here. Let me see it," he said.

Two seconds later......"Oh, you've just got a blown speaker. Why don't you go back and get a new one."

Which at this point was futile as we were already more than halfway through the tour. So I just participated in the tour as the official kid monitor. Which wasn't really all that bad just as long as I didn't have to answer any questions.

Lovely water. There are signs around the deck of the pool warning of natural contaminants. The younger boys never showed any interest in dipping their hands in the water. It was John I had to watch. He was just dying to get his hands in it and I told him he better not do it in front of A & A or else he would never hear the end of it and I would not rush him to the A&E either.

See the steam rising from the water surface? The water comes out of the natural spring at a temp of 46 degress C. (115 F) There are 43 minerals in the water with calcium and sulphate as the main dissolved ions. Sodium and chloride are also present. In medieval times a cure for condtions such as paralysis, colic, palsy, and gout was sought from bathing in the spa water. Eighteenth century records from Bath Mineral Water Hospital show that patients benefited from the cure. The water was taken in the morning and for most visitors a pint or two was sufficient, but as much as a gallon a day could be prescribed! (The Pump Room Bath, pg. 2)

And that is the extent of my knowledge (pretty much) with regards to the baths.

Fun with Big Rocks

We took the estate out through the English countryside for our Spring Break and we just happened to stumble across something.

Stonehenge.

No kidding.

We weren't planning on visiting Stonehenge, but found the motorway on which we were traveling went right past it. Which is kinda weird........a motorway lies right beside it, along with alot of sheep. So we decided to stop and take a look. How often do you just run into Stonehenge?!

This picture is deceiving because there were many other people there too....I don't know what happened to them in this particular picture. Spooky.

A bunch of big rocks.

Tourist John. Each of us got our own audio guides for the self-guided tour. I have become a huge fan of audio guides as it keeps the kids entertained for at least longer than 2 minutes.

"Can you hear me now?"

"Yeah, so I am standing here at Stonehenge, go figure."

My boys have discovered the art of deceptive photography. You know the typical picture where it looks like the subject is actually pushing the Leaning Tower of Pizza? Oops. Pisa? Well now everytime the opportunity presents itsself Alex and Andrew want to make a crazy picture. Here is Alex leaning against Stonehenge.

Here is Andrew pushing Stonehenge..........

"Uh, yes. I would like one pepperoni and 2 cheese please."

Big Buns

I quickly want to tell you that I believe my boys are adapting quite well to British life. On our Spring vacation we visited Bath, England. It was cold and rainy the whole time, but we enjoyed ourselves, mostly in-part because of Sally Lunn. She has a tea-room there in Bath to which we went for lunch.

Here is Silly Chap #1 with his Dad. Alex has become a tea-drinker since moving here, and he particularly likes to add a British accent to the conversation while he sips out of his cup with his pinky finger pointed out.

He thinks he is "all-that"......and then some.

Here at Sally Lunn's he "accidently" put 2 sugar cubes in his teacup, or at least that is how many he states he put in. I think not, because this cup of tea became "the best tasting tea, ever, Mom!"

Well of course it is......it's really just brown colored Kool-aid at this point.

Anyways, I haven't told you about Sally. She evidently started a tearoom back in 1680. Yes, you read correctly, 1680. The tearoom still exists and still serves customers, though Sally is long-gone. She is most famous for her buns.

I know, I know.

My father-in-law once stated, "Kelly, I believe you live in a frat house!" At times I believe he is sooooooo correct in stating this because you can imagine the conversation about good 'ol Sally and her big buns that continuously sprinkled our lunchtime conversation. Even the 6 year-old could contribute..... though his humor was in his delivery, of course.

What will it be like when they are teenagers?

Anywho, here is a picture of a big bun. They are huge. That box is approximately 8 inches wide and they pack them one to a box. They are delicious and we brought 2 home with us.

Visitors

We've had a few visitors recently.

And just so you know, if you come to visit us here in London you must come bearing gifts.

I like to think of it as an "admission charge".

Okay, maybe not gifts, but those essential items that bring back fond memories of 'merica that cannot be found here in the UK....ya know, like Ziploc gallon freezer bags OR taco and sloppy joe seasoning mixes OR foaming handsoaps OR easter egg dye (see previous post).

Lots of times it looks like Christmas when we have visitors.......and we kinda like that. One of the favorites recently came from GaGa HoHo (& Aunt Steph). They were cookie cutters shaped as sports figures or equipment. Where were these a couple of years ago when my boys were younger? Anywho, here is our first batch of sports cookies...... complete with pink jerseys.

"Mmmmmaw, why did you get pink frosting? What will we use that for?"

Personally, I like the "P" helmet. (Andrews) Luckily we had gold & black......Go Boilers.

The baseball bat is Alex's. He is so clever. He was able to mix some of the frostings to get that brown color. (much more brown colored in person)

The pennant at the top says Go Astros!

Here is the most recent photo of the three cookie bakers.

Easter Eggs

I sometimes wonder about the British. They don't seem to "celebrate" like the Americans, or at least the Londoners don't seem to celebrate.

For example, take the idea of easter baskets. Not a single one to be found in this city, honestly.

OR dyeing easter eggs. I was on a mad search before easter trying find a dye kit. Can I tell you? They were nowhere to be found! Evidently the British don't dye eggs.

But then of course, look at their eggs............


Those eggs really don't need to be dyed, now do they?

So now in addition to trying to find egg dye, I am also in search of white eggs. Yep, Euro-chickens don't lay beautiful white eggs. They only lay Martha Stewart-esque like eggs. Honest to goodness.......I could not find a single white egg in this city.

So we had to make-do with these.

AND, luckily the Imperial Grandmother brought 2 packages of egg dye from The States the week before Easter. So we were set.

So what do you come up with when you add dye to eggs that are already colored? Beautiful eggs, that's what you get. Here are our results........

None of the boys in my house will eat these eggs. They won't eat eggs in any shape or form.

And maybe that is a good thing.....

.......because the Brits don't refrigerate their eggs. They stock them on the shelves in the market right next to the flour.

Can you say S-A-L-M-O-N-E-L-L-A?

I know. The first month here I refused to even buy eggs. Then I realized that an entire country has not been wiped-out.....people still walk around, seemingly fine. No one seems to be any worse off.

So now I buy those euro-eggs.

But I refrigerate them when I get home.