Hogarth Singers

Mom and dad left yesterday, and I went into work for the afternoon. I was so tired!

I can't remember if I told you this, but I have joined a community choir called the Hogarth Singers. We rehearse on Monday nights for two hours (with a little juice & biscuit break in the middle) and put on several performances a year. The autumn performance this year is at the end of November and we are performing Brahms' "German Requiem" and Mendelssohn's "Hymn of Praise", sometimes called "Hear My Prayer", (click here for more info on these pieces of music), both sacred classical pieces. The music is very hard, especially the Brahms, and I feel lost a lot of the time. But it is very beautiful.

Our conductor is David Bray, who is brilliant musically and exciting to sing for. He makes you work hard, and feel proud of your accomplishments. He's forgotten more about music than I ever knew! The accompanist, Andrew Wells, is also amazing. The two of them make a great team and really help us get our parts sorted. It is so rewarding to sing under the direction of such talented individuals!

Last night I really didn't feel like going - I was tired, not feeling great, and just wanted to stay home and relax. But, knowing how difficult the music was, I felt that I really shouldn't miss any rehearsals, if I could help it. Well, I ended up enjoying myself and was very happy I went. There's something cathartic about working hard to master something, like this music. We would work on a piece, getting all the different parts sorted out, and then when it all came together I would be amazed at the beautiful sound we could make! It's very rewarding and exhilarating, especially at the end when we sang a whole movement all the way through! I purchased a CD that has the soprano parts of the Brahms on it, so I can practice at home, since I don't have a piano to practice with. Now I just need to use it. It showed up in the mail a few days before my parents arrived, so I haven't had a chance to use it yet.

Well, it's looking like I'll be back in Calgary for a board meeting on 7 November! It's crazy how that works! I will probably only be in Calgary for a couple of days in November, since I'll be back out for almost 3 weeks at Christmas! Maybe I'll fly out on the Saturday before and get a few extra days in Calgary, anyway. We'll have to see.

The weather has been very uncertain here - sunny, followed by dumping rain, followed by cool weather, followed by rain, followed by...well, you get the idea. I have no idea how to dress for work! Fortunately, except for one day, we had great weather when mom and dad were here. It poured rain on the Sunday we went to Greenwich, but was nice later on in the afternoon. Other than that, the weather was sunny and cool, although rather humid most of the time.

Well, must get back to work.

The Parent's Visit

So, Mom and Dad have been here for the last nine days. Glad that they came, and glad they're leaving!! And I know they feel the same way! So, it's all good.

Unfortunately, Paul was working the whole time they were here, and they weren't able to meet him. We even went up to York (close to his base) for a couple of nights, but he couldn't get away. York was pretty cool, though. Very old city, with a medieval wall still intact around it. It has a huge church, called a minster (the picture shows mom and I in the York minster). It is like a cathedral. Very beautiful and old. The foundations have Roman origins. The middle of the town itself has lots of narrow cobblestone streets with shops and pubs. We stayed at a bed and breakfast just a short walk from the town centre. We took the train up to Thirsk (it was only about half an hour each way) for the morning to see the James Herriott Museum. That was a highlight for mom and I, since we are big fans of the books ("It Shoudn't Happen To A Vet", "Vet In A Spin", "Let Sleeping Vets Lie", etc.) The Yorkshire countryside is gorgeous - very green with lots of livestock. I am looking forward to my next trip up there. There is a lot more of York I'd like to see, and I'd also like to spend some time in the Yorkshire Dales and the Yorkshire Moors. Another corner of England that needs some exploring!

Back to London for a few days (I had to go into the office for a half day) and then off to Paris for two nights. We went to the Eiffel Tower and took a bus tour around the city. We went to the Basilique de Sacre Coeur and explored the Place du Tetre, an artists market. The basilica and the market are in Montmartre, a well known district for the arts - famous poets, writers and other artists have lived there for centuries. If you've seen the movie, "Moulin Rouge", that's where it all takes place. In fact, the Moulin Rouge is still there in operation, in the Pigalle area of Montmartre, which is the "red light district". Mom and dad loved touring around Paris in the bus, especially when it got stuck in a traffic jam. Dad just couldn't get over the crazy way the French drive - no lanes, no rules, everyone just goes. It is quite nuts - I don't know why there aren't more accidents. We also saw Notre Dame Cathedral, which is quite something. We ate at little cafes around the city - one outside Notre Dame for lunch, a Greek restaurant in the Latin Quartier, breakfast at a cafe near the Metro station before we headed out for the day, etc. The last time I was in Paris was my first time, and I was fascinated. This time, I realized how much I truly love the city. I am looking forward to spending a lot of time there over the next few years! We took the Eurostar down and back - what a great way to travel!!

I ended up having to go to work on Friday after we got back to London - we're finishing off a debt financing and we needed to get some signatures and whatnot. Anyway, I put in a few hours at the office Friday afternoon, and then we went out for supper when I got home. Then the weekend - Greenwich, the home of the time zone and the Prime Meridian (Dad loved that); Camden Market, Covent Garden, Picadilly Circus (it's a circus all right!). The picture at right was taken in Greenwich looking down on the Royal Park from the Observatory.

My parents wore me out! I'm exhausted, and I have to go back to work tomorrow afternoon. Mom and dad leave for the airport just before 1:00 pm - my driver, Patrick, is going to take them to the airport (it's not as posh as it sounds - he runs a car service and lives in the building I used to live in). In the morning we are going to take a walk down to the Thames. They they'll go off to catch their flight and I'll head off to work for the afternoon. Back to the routine.

Well, time for bed - ciao for now!!

Monday morning....sigh...

Hiya!

Had a bit of time and, since I'm trying to keep up with this blogging thing, thought I'd get a blog in.

Had a lazy day yesterday - spent the morning doing laundry and hanging pictures, getting ready for The Visit (that would be my parent's visit). Went to the shops in the afternoon and stopped by the pub for a drink and a good old chin-wag with my two favourite bartenders. Luckily the place was very quiet, so we could talk without too much interruption.

Had a lovely MSN chat with my uncle this morning (pictured here with me in Greece). He has his son (Eddie) and his son's sister (Martha) with him at the moment so he put them on vido conference so I could see them and chat with them a bit online. It was very cool. His son is exactly the same age as Paul's girls (they were born 6 days apart), so I could kind of figure out his developmental stage. He sounds like a fun kid. He may be over in London with his mom sometime soon, so I'm hoping to actually meet him then, although I can't imagine flying from Australia to England with a 7-year-old. That's a long flight for an adults, never mind a kid!! But, people do it all the time, and with younger children than that. Different strokes for different folks.

I've started trying to get in shape and do something about this body of mine. A friend from Calgary and I were texting last night and he got me motivated and is going to help keep me motivated. I was up early this morning, did a 40-minute cardio walk, and had a bowl of shredded wheat and grapes, no sugar. I hope I can keep this up. I am really sick of my clothes all being so tight and never having any energy. I am going to really try to lean on my friend to help with the willpower (which I am seriously lacking!).

Well, should get back to work. Ciao for niao!!

At long last

I was just informed by one of my friends that I was letting my blog readers down by not blogging. Apparently, according to him, there are a few sad people out there who live vicariously through my blog because they have no lives of their own. I'm sorry I've let you down so abysmally! I'll try to do better.

So, continuing on from the last blog will be hard, since so much has happened, so I'll just ramble on here and see how it goes...

Last weekend I went to Hampton Court Palace with a friend of mine, Steve Holland. What an amazing place! It is absolutely huge!! It was King Henry the VIII's favourite palace and was used a lot from the 1500s on. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the palace, unfortunately, but we saw the Abraham Tapestries, which are quite famous. Here is a quote from the website:

The [Great] hall is hung with the priceless Flemish tapestries of The Story of Abraham commissioned by Henry VIII and probably intended for the Great Hall itself. They were woven in the 1540s by the Brussels weaver Willem de Kempeneer with silver and gold thread. Although this is now tarnished and the colours faded, they still retain much of their former splendour. The Abraham tapestries were one of the most expensive sets of tapestries purchased by Henry VIII and were only hung in the Great Hall on special occasions.

They were amazing - the work involved in any tapestries is mind boggling. The Palace is the home of the Textiles Conservation Studio, which is a premier textiles studio conserving old tapestries and textiles, and encouraging the continuation of the art form by teaching the skills to new generations.

The palace had a suite of rooms for the king and a separate suite for the queen. There were also other people that lived at the palace - nobles, courtiers, etc. The population of the palace averaged 1200 people when the king and queen were in residence. Up until fairly recently, it was used extensively as "grace and favour" apartments, being assigned to people the government or monarchy wanted to reward. There are still a few people residing in apartments there, but I think it would drive me crazy to live in a place that has a load of tourists wandering around all the time!

The gardens are beautiful, as you can see, and well kept. There must be an army of gardeners! There is also a hedge maze, which I am proud to say I made it all the way through!

Click for more info on Hampton Court Palace.

After we were done at Hampton Court Palace, Steve and I wandered down to the river and found a boat that was plying between Hampton Court Palace and Kingston Bridge, so we paid the man and jumped on board. It was a lovely little trip downriver to Kingston-Upon-Thames, which is a nice town centered around the river and the bridge. The waterfront on either side up and down the river was full of restaurant, pub and blocks of flats. We stopped and had a pint in a little pub and watched the people. We looked around the shops a bit, and grabbed the boat back upriver to Hampton Court Palace. It was such a lovely day! Swans on the river, lots of canalboats and people our on the banks enjoying the sun.

Work has been going really well. The summer was slow, so it has been easy to take time off. But it's starting to get busy now - we have a lot on the go, and I'm really trying to prove myself to the guys, now that the office is set up. We hired an office junior to look after the menial stuff like answering phones and doing mail and courier. She's been working out great, which frees me up to really get my teeth into some projects. It should be an interesting autumn (they don't know what "fall" is here, they only say "autumn").

Paul is back at work and they're working him hard. He's been out on field exercises almost continuously since he went back and I only manage to speak to him 2 or 3 time s a week. He deploys to Iraq at the end of October for six months, and I will likely only be able to see him for a couple days before he goes. It's a little hard to grow a relationship when you never see each other and rarely get to talk. But, we had a lot of time together before he left, and we'll just keep on keeping on until he get back and we get some more time together. If I put it in perspective, people back in the day would part for months and years even without being able to speak to each other - sailors leaving wives and children, soldiers going off to war for several years with only letters, etc. So, it's not that big a deal. We'll have lots of time together down the road. In the meantime, I can survive without a man around - I managed for the last 9 years! As much as I miss him, Paul is an added benefit to my life, not the center of it!

This weekend there is Open House London going on, where buildings with historic or unique architecture are open to the public for free. Some of them, like Apsley House, are a tourist attraction you would pay for, whereas others, like Marlborough House are not normally open to the public and are offices or headquarters for organizations. It was a very interesting day.

My parents come to visit on Friday for about 10 days. I'm very excited! Paul won't be able to make it down to meet them, so we might go up to where the base is if he's going to be there and not in the field. If that doesn't work (and the army seems to work on the same principle as my last boss, never make any decisions until the last possible second) we will go up to York and spend a couple of days there sightseeing. Either one would be fun, because the army base is up near Thirsk, which is where the James Herriott books were set and written. Mom and I have enjoyed these books for years, so it would be nice to spend some time up in the area we've been reading about. Both places are in Yorkshire, which Thirsk just a bit further north than York.

We also have a trip to Paris booked on the Eurostar, the train that goes from London to Paris through the channel tunnel, or chunnel. We're only going down for a couple of nights. The rest of the time they are here, we're doing some stuff around London, like Camden Town markets and Covent Garden, London Eye, etc. It will be so nice to see them again!

I'm really missing my friends back home in Calgary. To all of you that read my blog, I'll be back at Christmas until January 9, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you all! I'm having a blast here, and it would be perfect if you were all here with me!

Well, it's now after midnight, so I should close this epistle. Love you all!!

Davis William Penner

Here is a picture of the new nephew with his sister, Charlotte.

Paris and all that comes after

Ok, so I'm waaaaayyyyy behind on my blog, and I have some time now, so this is going to be a long one. I'll give you a chance to get something to eat/drink, and settle into your chair/couch or whatever you're sitting on!

"Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.."

So, after Greece, I was back in London for a week getting ready for our board meeting, which was on the following Thursday. Paul found out on the Monday that he had an extra week of leave, so he was able to come to Paris for the weekend with me. I was psyched! So I went early on Thursday morning, did the board meeting, and then Paul followed later and I met him at the train station. (Oh yeah, we travelled via Eurostar in the tunnel under the English Channel (the chunnel). It wasn't really a big deal, just 20 minutes of darkness, and then you were in France!)

We got to the hotel, which was a 2-star, but clean and decent and cheap (£40 per night!). It was in the Montmartre district, which is traditionally very artsy. It was right by the metro station (the Paris subway system), so that was handy. We had a fantastic time - it was romantic and fun and we laughed a lot! We climbed (yes climbed!) up the Eiffel Tower, and stopped at little sidewalk cafes for wine (no coffee - it was sweltering!) and went to the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame and the Champs Elysses and l'Arc de Triomphe. We found a little jazz club with some advice from Will, who used to live in Paris) and sat outside and listened to the music. The food was very nice most of the places we went to but expensive. On the whole, it is an expensive place to visit.

As for the language, I did pretty good with my very limited French. Paul doesn't speak any, so I did most of the talking and was quite proud of myself! I managed to order in restaurants, ask where things were, and pick up croissants and coffee for breakfast from the local patisserie. It was fun "flexing my language muscles", and I'm looking forward to going again with my mom and dad in the autumn.

So, Paris was lovely, and even Paul liked it, despite the fact that it's full of French people!Pictures are here:

http://www.chrisinchiswick.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/Paris

Back to work the next week - Kevin was gone on holidays, so it wasn't too busy. In fact, the summer slow-down has hit (I was warned of this), so it's been downright boring around here! I took on the project that week of hiring an administrative assistant to take over some of the more mundane parts of my job, like answering phones and whatnot, so I can concentrate on more in-depth and interesting thing. She starts on the 21st of August. She's a nice girl, but very young and will need lots and lots of training. Fortunately, for the first time in my life, I actually have time to train someone!!

The following weekend, Paul's twin daughters were visiting - he had them for about 10 days. We took them to the zoo and I took them on a open-top double-decker bus tour of downtown London, and on a river cruise. It was the first time they had ever been on a boat! They loved it all - didn't even get too bored on the bus tour, although most of it was over their heads. They loved all the statues.

On the Saturday, when we went to the zoo, an old friend of mine, James Wiebe, met up with us. We got in contact through our mothers - I've known him since we were little, but we had lost touch. He flies for Air Canada and is London all the time with work. It was SO good to see him again and catch up! He went around the zoo with us, and then we headed down to Covent Garden to eat at the Maple Leaf pub. They wouldn't let us in after 5:00 pm with the girls, so we went down the street to TGI Fridays. Anyway, we spent a lot of time with him, and it was great seeing him again!!

So the next week Paul took the girls up to Lancashire to see his mom and family, and I just kept my head down and worked and enjoyed the time to myself! I love the girls to bits, but they are exhausting. Here is a picture of them with their dad.

They were back the following weekend, and it was more activities...these will follow in the next blog (because I haven't downloaded the pictures yet!)

On August 2, 2006, the newest addition to the Penner family came into the world. Davis William Penner was born at 12:46 weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs! And he continues to grow. I would put pictures here, but they still haven't sent us any! It's a bit of a sore point! lol

The Past Month - Part II

So, the next day, we fly off to the island of Kos. We get to the airport there - which is in the middle of the island and not close to any town - and it is hot and dusty. I go outside to get a cab, and I see a dog lying on its side by the kerb. So, I'm thinking it must be dead or something and how gross is that. Then a taxi comes flying up, swerves around the dog and stops. The dog doesn't move a muscle. It must be dead! I go over. No, she's very much alive. I find out from the cabbies that she lives there at the airport! She's very friendly and loved the petting, but didn't try to follow me or anything. And the cabs and buses just drove around her! It was rather funny, and a good intro to the laid-back life in Kos.

We got to the hotel, which was one of those big resort complexes. Uncle Jac called it The Institution and kept making jokes about Matron! It was full of kids and they played music all day by the pool. The beach was just gravel, so we gave it a miss. It was a ways out of Kos Town, about a half hour walk, so not terribly convenient. Plus, the restaurants only served meals at certain times! We really didn't do much at the hotel as it wasn't our scene.

By now it was quite late in the day and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we started walking back towards town, jumped on a bus that came along and jumped off at a nice little "taverna" by the sea. It was like something out of the movie, "Shirley Valentine". We could see the coast of Turkey across the strait, and we had a light meal, a light wine and enjoyed the scenery. It was fantastic! We must have stayed there for an hour after we ate, just enjoying the scenery, sun and talking.

Headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening. I went and had a swim after a while, since all the kids were finally gone. The water was lovely, but a bit cool. Nice mild evening, spent a good chunk of the evening sitting on the patio reading.

The next morning we decided to rent bicycles and use them to get around. The bikes were cheap (only about $10 for the day) and we had a blast riding around on them. Parked and locked them by the port in Kos Town and looked around. Found out it was only a 15 minute hydrofoil ride over to Turkey! We didn't have time to go, and if I had been staying longer, I would have, but I had to leave the next day to get back to work. :(

We went into Old Town and looked around at the shops. It was my last day to purchase gifts, so I needed to get on it, as I hadn't got anything for Paul's girls, or for Paul! We found a wonderful spice market and I got some whole nutmeg and cinnamon and some dried chives. All quite inexpensive and very fresh! Also got some honey with nuts marinating in it. MMMM! Honey is one of Kos' specialties.

We ran into a colleague of Uncle Jac's, I shall call them Jennifer and Mike (mostly because I can't remember their real names!). Jennifer works with Uncle Jac at the university in Sydney, Australia, and they were there for the same conference. We made plans to go for dinner later. Uncle Jac headed off shortly thereafter because he was tired of shopping (typical man!) and wanted to hit a beach.

I kept walking around the streets and stumbled upon this amazing archeological site! There were lots of old ruins, and you could just wander around them to your heart's content. There were some dating back to the 2nd century BC, and amazingly intact mosaics and frescos! I've discovered that it was quite common over the centuries to build a new building on the site of an old one, using the same stones from the old building. Some of the more delicate mosaics and frescos were covered over by a roof and had railings around so you couldn't walk on them, but I couldn't believe how it was just out there to wander around in. There was amazingly sophisticated drainage and piping for water and sewage. Everything was so solidly built and so well preserved. It was so, so cool!!!

Eventually I decided to head back to the hotel, so I went and got my bike and started riding back. I took a wrong turn and ended up on this back road touring rural Kos! It was quite interesting seeing things away from the tourist areas - farmyards with chickens running around, people living in stone buildings that looked hundred and hundreds of years old. I found my way back and headed back to the hotel.

We met up with Jennifer and Mike at about 6:30. I forgot to tell you that they are both Greek descent, although they were born in Australia. Everything in the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is true - they both had to go to Greek school while they were growing up. So, they were invaluable at the restaurant. We went to a restaurant that was recommended in my guide book. It looked pretty tacky when we got there, but the food was amazing. We were there for 5 hours, eating and drinking. It was some of the best Greek food I'd had the whole time. It was aboslutely brilliant! We finished off the evening with Greek coffee (which looks and tastes like coffee-flavoured mud) and baklava. It was a lovely evening.

The next day I had to leave. I packed up and we sat on the grass in the sun for about an hour until it was time to catch the taxi. I had such a lovely time and I really want to go back again. It was so great to be able to spend all that time with Uncle Jac and we plan to go travelling together next summer in Europe.

Here are the pictures from Kos.

http://www.chrisinchiswick.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/Adventures%20in%20Kos

The Past Month - Part I

I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted!! For any of you dedicated souls out there who are still checking for updates - I really am sorry it's taken so long to post - I didn't realize!

Anyway, where to start?! I think I'll do it diary style.

June 29 - Paul and I went to see Guys and Dolls down at the Picadilly Theatre. It was great! I love going to live theatre as opposed to movies (although movies are fun too). The story was sappy, but cute and fun, and the singing and dancing was fantastic. Paul loved it too, which is good because it means he will want to go to more of them. Patrick Swayze is set to star in it starting July 10, so I plan to go again to see him.

June 30 - My friend, Shannon Larson, and her sister and neices came to stay for a few days. My little flat was FULL! We bought a blow-up mattress which is the same size as the living room floor, so after the neices went to bed, you had to climb over the sofa to get to the kitchen or bathroom!! They went off sightseeing on July 1 and decided that they didn't like London at all - too big and noisy and hot. Of course, it didn't help that it was over 30 degrees out there and humid! So, they decided to head out to Wales on the 2nd. That was Paul's birthday, so that evening Paul and I went out to the pub and then out for dinner at a local restaurant called Zizzi's. Very nice food!

July 3 - My Uncle Jac came to stay for a few days before we headed out to Greece. It was great to see him - I think it's been at least 2 years and possibly 4 since I've last seen him. I was off work from the 30th of June to the 11th of July, so Uncle Jac and I went to Harrod's, and the Tate Modern and met Paul for dinner and just had a lot of fun pratting around Chiswick and London. We left for Greece on the 6th - Paul drove us to the airport.

July 6-12 - We arrived in Crete at 11:30 at night, and then had to take a bus to the hotel, which was in a town over an hour's drive away. We were knackered by the time we got there! Checked in and crashed. The next morning, Uncle Jac was off to his conference, and I slept in and then walked down to the beach, which was only a couple of blocks away. The beach was gorgeous - considering I haven't been on a beach in ages!! I stopped for lunch in a great little cafe with a view of the ocean and had some Greek food. Good thing I love Greek food!! In the afternoon I went back to the hotel and lay by the pool for an hour or so, took a dip and headed up to shower and change for dinner. Uncle Jac had got me a ticket for the evening's beach BBQ and dance, so we went out there. It was a great club right on the beach. The food was disappointingly mediocre, but we were sitting with this hilarious group of guys and had lots of fun! Laughing, drinking wine, it was a fantastic evening! When we got back to the hotel, some of the guys came back to our room and we all sat on the patio and had another couple of drinks and talked until 3:00 in the morning!

The next day I slept in quite late while Uncle Jac went off to the conference again. In the afternoon, there was a group tour to the ruins of the Palace of Knosses, which was built in the 18th century BC. Fascinating place! I loved all the well-preserved ruins, and they had done some reconstructions so you could see what it would have looked like back then. It was so interesting! That night a group of us went out for supper at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. We just ordered a bunch of starters, and everyone ended up full. Lots of laughs and very interesting people - some of them the same as the previous night, and some different. Uncle Jac and I could only last until about 11:30ish, and we were shattered, so we headed off and let the rest of them carry on!

I'm going to stop there and finish this in another post soon, I promise!! However, here is the link to pictures from the first part of the Greece trip.

http://www.chrisinchiswick.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/Crete%20-%20Rythemno