The Swiss Mountains

The Swiss Mountains
For Mum

Thursday, December 01, 2005

The River Orwell, Ipswich

Lesley and I went for a walk on the River Orwell an dgot there in time for this lovely sunset. It was amazing how nice and clear the weather was after being in the mist and fog at Flatford Mills
I tried to get a different perspective by lying down on the sand and getting the reeds in the foreground, it reallywas a lovely evening, quite unlike the Florida weather.
Here's Lesley walking down the river shore, the tide was way out so walking was easy. This Oak tree was sprouting out of an old stump and seemed to be quite healthy.
This old tree looks like it was a victim of the gales of '87 however I thought it made for an interesting picture after the sun had gone down

Sunday, November 27, 2005

The Mole and Chicken

This is the Mole and Chicken just outside Long Crendon in Bucks.
We usually go out for a Sunday pub lunch when I am back with whoever in the family wants to join us.


As you can see from the car park it was seriuosly foggy this day, and cold.
I personally can't think of a better reason to go inside a nice warm
English pub and have a pint and some lunch.




This is Tamsin and Shelly, my two daughters. You can see Sheila and John in the background. The nice thing is that if I go for a Sunday pub lunch the girls are always up for joining me, always, and you've got to respect that!




Heeeeere's Maureen my lovely wife. She is not big on having her photo taken. After 28 years of marriage I still cannot understand why, I happen to think that she is pretty hot!!!
In the Pub the only menu is on the wall in the background ( a big chalk board) pretty cute idea and saves on printing cost.
I had smoked salmon and then braised oxtails which were both very good.



That's me on the left with Tamsin, Shelly, Maureen, Katie and Sheila.
Notice the lovely old beams in the pub, ya gotta love those old English pubs.
Yup, a good lunch and a good time was had by all, and then I had to drive to Ipswich to visit my sister Lesley, and that will be another post.

Frost at Sheila & Johns in Buckinghamshire

When we got to England it was freezing......literally! these pics were taken at Sheila's house (Maureen's elder sister)

The leaves were still on this birch tree and edged with the frost, really pretty.
This is Sheila and Johns house from the back lawn. They have a really smashing country manor!!

Italy





So Maureen and I went to Italy to make a presentation to Costa Cruise Lines for training their on board middle managemt team. It was an overnight flight to Paris from Miami and then another smaller jet to Genoa where Costa have their head office.
We got a cab to the hotel and then had lunch in a local restaurant. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around Genoa visiting the old city and the waterfront.
After working all day on Thursday the 17th in the Costa office we walked back to the hotel and discovered a really net market with lots of fresh fish and vegetables.
We ended up having a successful presentation and left for a couple of days in England to visit relatives

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Happy Birthday Lesley

Yup, November 12 was Lesley's Birthday. The pic above is from the Ship pub near Ipswich and the one below is when I froze my Florida buns off on Felixsotowe Beach. Both pics are from September 2003........................Where DOES the time go???????????????????????
Anyways, Happy Birthday to you Lesley.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

2-Day break for Mau & Peter

We looked out over our veranda when we arrived and there was a tug boat pushing out a US Navy ship. Note the sailors all lined up. It was the horn tooting that woke us up!
This is a picture of the little mail boat that goes round to all the islands in the Bahamas. I believe that you can buy a passage on there as well, would be a kinda unique way to see all the islands of the Bahamas.
This was taken of Fort Lauderdale as we set sail Thursday evening. It gets dark early nowadays.
We woke up in Nassau and looked out at Paradise Island ( the massive hotel in the background) and the Carnival "Fantasy, which we have all been on before.
This is an aft view of the Carnival Liberty. I managed to get a free 2-day cruise courtesy of Carnival. We have done a lot of work with their people and this was a lovely surprise. Maureen and I sailed out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale On Thursday afternoon.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Simon and the Lobster

Paul needed a live crustacean for an on line science assignment, so we figured we would get him a lobster and then we could eat it. Paul completed his assignment but would not touch the lobster. Simon was much braver. Here is Simon with the lobster.
Oh yeah, in case you are wondering the answer is "A la Newburg" yummy! Posted by Picasa

Maureen & Peters 28th Anniversary

Yup thats right folks, 28 years of wedded bliss. we went out on the 22nd of October to Marks Place on Las Olas in Ft Lauderdale.
Hurricane Wilma was supposed to strike us on the 22nd, but Wilma had a soft spot for lovers and let us have our meal and Wilma did not strike until the 24th.
Lucky couple of ducks aren't we? Posted by Picasa

Monday, November 07, 2005

Yeah, we get pretty creative with these ladders! Posted by Picasa
Putting a plastic patch on the roof Posted by Picasa

After the Weekend

Well, I did want to put some interesting pictures and stuff up over the weekend, but our internet router has been playing up.
This weekend saw me doing a lot of catchup work after Wilma still. Saturday, Paul and I went to the Homey Depot and purchased a 28ft extension ladder so that we could get up onto our roof and finish off the patching of damage from the hurricane. The way we got up before was by having one ladder up to the garage and then another ladder from the sloping garage roof (tied with rope through the bedroom window to the door) to the top roof. Anyway, much of the damage was to the edges of the roof and when you are that high up you do not feel like going to close to the edge, especially when the roof goes up 5 inches for every twelve inches it goes across! Paul was a really great help and I do not think I could have done it without him.
We also cleaned out the garage which had become the dumping ground for everything that was brought inside as well as much other junk, so that is nice and clean now.
Simon polished up his Optimist sail boat ready for selling so now we have that up for sale. We hope to take the money from that and turn it around and buy him a Laser sail boat. He does love his sailing. So.......if you know of anyone looking to buy an Optimist......

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

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It is Wednesday night

It is Wednesday night and I am trying to work out how to work this whole blog deal.
I started this blog last night and have added a couple of things tonight. I am sure that I will get more familiar with the whole process as we go along.
Here are a few of my thoughts:
Family is in many different countries and this would be a neat way to keep friends and family in the loop.
Becoming familiar with publishing anything on the web to be ready to use it for making money.
Sharing pictures and jokes and even web links.
If you have any other ideas or thoughts please share a comment.

August in Aylesbury 2005

This is John John hiding behind a pint of the good stuff
Shelly, Kate, John, Sheila and Tamsin having Sunday lunch at the Angel in Long Crendon,
Nigel and Mary being purely blissful
Peter with his two eldest kids, Tamsin and Shelly
Shelly with Katie; what lovely smiles

August '05 in Aylesbury

Tamsin and Shelly. This was taken when I visited Aylesbury in August 2005. We just have to do the obligatory pub lunch. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Notice all the roof shingles in the driveway. Also see how the mailbox door is bent and the other mailbox is missing. The flying shingles caused a lot of damage to the house paint and car paint jobs. Many houses lost the plywood they had put up and some even lost their panels from their hurricane shutters. Posted by Picasa
This house is on the main Riverbend street. Notice that almost half the roof shingles are missing and the satelite dish hanging by the wire. Posted by Picasa

front fence and loquat tree blown over

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Hurricane Wilma damage in the Winn Dixie parking lot

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Welcome to the jamesinamerica Blog

So, the James and LLoyd-James family came to America in 1983. Nowadays with the web being in almost everyones house, it could be real fun and useful to have a blog for friends and family to communicate, update on whats going on and share thoughts and dreams and activities and photos as well as ask for feedback on ideas.
Please take the opportunity to introduce yourself to the blog and read along. Lurking is kinda OK but it wont take much to say hi and share your thoughts.