Happy Mother's Day... yes, it is in England!! We won't be trying to go to lunch today... Lunch on Sunday is a traditional social time in most of Europe. You either have people over for lunch or you go out to lunch. I kind of like it... It is very civilized.

It has been a very busy week. We had a number of collegues at work visit us from the US this week. Aside from the meetings we entertained them for dinner out one night and then I cooked on another, my first true large dinner party... great fun. I even played tour guide, with a trip on the train into London. Picadilly, Trafalgar Square, St. James Park and then a nice pub dinner with a busines associate from SF. All good fun, but tiring.

List of guests to Cleare Cottage the past few weeks include my second cousin, Eliza (Shannon Kelly's daughter) and her mom... great people. It was wonderful having a true chef in the kitchen... also a friend of Nick's who was on spring break from his German studies, Kevin Fox... as they all made their way to different spots, my good friend and her son, Josh arrived... We did a trip to Stonehenge, a train trip to London and Jess and I even went to Mass in a beautiful church, the Immaculate Heart of Mary situated between the Natural History Musuem and Harrods. We just happened past it while Josh and one of his friends from high school visited a pub to get up date on each others lives. It was Sunday night and they had a 7pm service. Well, it was total "old school" mass. The priest wizzed through in 30minutes (including communion). His sermon was a very appropriate one on what Lent really means and how we should look at it as the spring of our religion, not the sorrowful time some make it out to be. It was very thought provoking. Anyway, after Mass we walked past Harrods peeping in the windows because of course it was closed on a Sunday night. We hooked back up with the boys at a cute little restaraunt off the main street and had a wonderful meal, served to us by the cutest Irish boy... then we went to another pub, the "Bunch of Grapes" that was actually an Irish pub, deep in the Kensington part of London... The boys wanted us to share Tequilla shots with them, we declined. I had to work and besides, Tequilla is no longer my friend!!! All and all we had a good time. Jess and Josh went to Paris during the week and returned on Thurs night. Yesterday we went to Windsor and I finally "stormed the castle" with an amazing tour of the state apartments...truly amazing. We were treated to a choir presentation complete with orchestra in St. George's Cathedral... they were practicing. It was fabulous... almost 100 in the choir with at least a 20 piece orchestra... both Jess and I felt very nostalgic, remembering our time in the Mercy choir with Sister Mary Susanne leading us with vigor!! We both felt a spirtitual twinge... Josh of course rolled his eyes at us and wanted to move on... agreeing though that it was amazing. Anyway, well worth the time! We took Josh to the airport this morning as his spring break is over and Jess is staying for another week. We are planning a trip to Bath for a couple of days. I have to be back for work on Wednesday and then on Thursday she is going with me to Amsterdam, as I have to go over there for a customer meeting. She leaves on Saturday. I am off to Denver on April 1st and then home for Easter on the 6th.

Also of note this week, my good friend Emily (of Larry and Emily) is recovering from an 8 hour surgery to remove an abcess on her spinal cord. She had to have three vertabrae removed from her neck and then they put in a rod to support her neck..eewwwh! Larry reported that she is speaking (they weren't sure she would be able to) and they think that it was a successful operation. Please pray for her.. she has had some major health problems lately...

Marbella Spain

Marbella… Spain

It is a 2.5 hour flight from London. In that time one goes from gray, rainy sky to cool breezes, sunshine and palm trees. It is located on the southern Mediterranean coast, 45 minutes from Gibraltar and a short ferry ride from Tangiers. I was tempted to take the day trip to Tangiers but my friend who went the day before explained that you had to leave the hotel by 6:30am (not good for me) where you board a bus that takes you to the ferry and then you board another bus for the Tangier’s tour where they take you to shops that sell rugs and jewellery. Evidently the sales people apply a lot of pressure and one of my friends bought a rug and another some shirts. I decided that a long walk on the waterfront and swim in the pool was much more to my liking. Good for me because I didn’t even wake up until 11:30am!!
Oh, why was I there? I was there for a Seagate regional sales meeting. All of my colleagues from the sales and marketing teams were invited. Some of my US colleagues were also invited. Teresa King, my work partner for 12 years was one of them. It was so great to hang out with her again. (Did help the homesickness that I have been feeling lately) Also, a surprise, on Thursday night, my daughter’s childhood friend, Chrissie Dahl and her new husband, David Burns, arrived in Marbella, as they are travelling in Spain for the honeymoon. We were able to get them a room at the hotel and they went off for dinner while I attended the last night’s festivities, themed as “White Night.”

We asked all the attendees to wear white and the entire dining room was decorated with black and white table linens, white candles, silver accents, with black lights rotating from the ceiling. It was very dramatic and good fun. The meeting ended on Thursday night, so Friday and Saturday were ours to enjoy.

Chrissie and Dave found a last minute.com condo rental close to Marbella for only 50€ a night for three nights. So, since they are on basically no plan, this was good for them. Teresa and I took advantage of the pool and lounges. I swam in the overly warm lap pool and then laid in the sun, enjoying the sound of a flute being played somewhere below us on the beach. Teresa’s husband John came in around 8:30pm. (They are planning on travelling around Spain by train for the next 10 days.) It was so nice to enjoy one of these resorts that we have meetings at…oh, also, Teresa and I, like true old ladies, went down to the beach and hunted for perfect sea shells. We were able to get quite a few… Teresa says she is going to make wind chimes… not me, I admit I don’t have that much creativity…

Anyway Chrissie and Dave met us at the hotel that night and we walked to old town which is about 1.5 miles for Tappas.. We followed the signs for Tappas and ended up at a traditional Spanish restaurant where we enjoyed traditional Paella, fresh steamed prawns, meatballs, octopus salad and a wonderful potato dish. To compliment, we had a good Roja wine (Spanish Merlot) and a light Blanca bottle. All in all a great Spanish meal… eaten on Spanish time! By the time we got there it was 10:30pm… they like to eat late. We walked back along the sea and got back around 12:30pm, you have to love that Spanish time… at the hotel several older (older than me) couples were dancing to salsa music…

Loads of fun…