Ducklings

My favorite walk in the Heath is around this pond that is lined with benches that are tributes to people in remembrance. Since May, I've been delighted to watch a mother Coot sitting on a nest.


Well her egg has hatched and as you can see from the little black spec near the nest, the baby is now discovering his world.

The parent Coots entire lives now consist of traveling back and forth from the waters edge with tiny bits of food that they give the baby. The baby makes tiny little peeps as the parents race back and forth to satiate what seems to me to be an intense hunger.

It reminds me of the stories I hear of 'night feedings' from my friends. Ahhhh, nature.

Summer Sunset

It has been a warm, dry start to the summer. (That it could be called 'sunny' is a hot debate in the Church household.)

Sunny or not-so-sunny, it is a lot of daylight. The sun rises around 4:30, and set around 10:30 this time of year giving us plenty of time at night to watch the sunset.


This is a view from our living room. It is becoming my favorite house - we did a walk to it a few weeks ago. We peered through the front windows and saw a couple, sitting out on their patio, enjoying the view. It's a very light-filled house and looks like the perfect size to me.

This is the view from the other window, looking down on the University College school and a South Westerly view of London from Hampstead.

Long days like these allow me to shut the dark, short days of November way back into distant memory.

Susan's Shower

We had a lovely day a few weeks ago...and hosted a relaxed, intimate baby shower for our friend Susan. It was fun planning it, as all the vendors didn't really understand what a baby shower was.


She looks amazing - all baby! We can't wait to meet baby Kelly!

Los Angeles

I traveled from the Orlando airport to Los Angeles and spent 9 days there for work. I was there to see the US version of the Microsoft conference I work on.

The rest and relaxation that I experienced in PVB quickly became a memory...but I was happy to be there, had fun with colleagues and was productive, but I was even more happy that I was meeting Lauri in Santa Monica for the weekend.

We stayed at the Huntley, 2 blocks from the ocean, and I started the weekend with a mani-pedi, and a nice long run on the beach.

We hiked up in Malibu, ate lovely sushi served by an aspiring waiter from Ronkonkoma who was excited about 'just being hired on to a movie' and who had a heavy handed pour with the white wine, ran, and met Laura Murphy a friend from high school, out for dinner with her husband.

We finished the weekend with a leisurely brunch at Shutters, a place I've never stayed at, but always wanted to. I will just have to come back.


After almost 3 weeks of being in the US, I was happy to return home with a suitcase filled with peanut butter, ziplock, Runners World and Vanity Fair magazines and some fun shopping purchases.

Nature sent me on my way with a small earthquake as I was waiting to board the plane.

Ponte Vedra Beach & The Players.

We spent a week in Ponte Vedra a few weeks ago. We arrived pale, and very jetlagged and in need of some rest and recooperation.

This was the first time we were there in the spring/summer, and we took full advantage of the warm weather, family time and pampering.

We were there during the Players (Championship) which took place right across the street. We saw Vjay, the entire Irish contingency (ehhhmmmm....)


and I almost got hit in the head by this guy's out-of-bound ball.

Kerry came to visit during our first few days, and Aunt Sheila and Uncle Don came for a night and a lovely dinner. We all missed Kevin, and Jen & Kevin & little Emma. We swam in the ocean, the pools, (were all over the shuffle board court,) went for daily runs, played golf, broke in my first set of clubs and left tan and happy (as always.)

TJ headed back to London and I continued the trip by traveling to LA for work. All the sun-filled pictures are here.