I returned to French class yesterday morning, with not-quite-disastrous results. Several people from my summer class are also taking the fall term, so I know some of my classmates, but we have a new teacher. We all seemed paralyzed by language shyness at the start of the class -- I guess we were feeling rusty -- but we got warmed up after a while. As always, I need to practice!
Then Olga and I took a walk over to the West Heath. It was a nice warm-ish day -- t-shirt weather.
It seems poor Alfie left his toys behind on the Heath. I think he'll be very upset when he realizes that. Hopefully he'll be able to go back and get them.
(Finding these caused me to have Dionne Warwick's "What's it all about, Alfie..." playing in my head for the next eight hours.)
When we got home, I washed the muddy dog and then cleaned the house, in preparation for dinner guests. Dave had been shopping and cooking all afternoon, and at 7 p.m. his coworker Lisa and her boyfriend came over. We had an excellent meal -- roasted beetroot, califlower and tiny golden tomatoes with a red wine reduction, braised artichoke hearts stuffed with mushrooms and cream, and duck breast with blackberry sauce. That Dave -- he's a magician. Lisa brought Gü for dessert.
Oh, and we finally drank that last magnum of champagne that's been eating up precious space in our refrigerator ever since our July pseudo-wedding party. I'm so glad to have that thing out of there!
At the top of our street, not far from our front door, there's a little pocket park with a bench and a tree. Unfortunately, this tree is a magnet for trash. It's often surrounded by garbage bags and empty boxes. I've tried to figure out where they come from, and I think the culprits are some of the nearby businesses -- but it's hard to say. Anyway, I was happy to see that someone put up a "no tipping" sign -- the British expression for dumping trash on the street is "fly tipping" -- and the park has remained fairly clean since then. I hope it lasts!
Sounds like a fun night...I'm familiar with no tipping, but what is GU?
ReplyDeleteWasnt it cilla black that sang Alfie?
ReplyDeleteOh. Poor Alfie! Those are lovely toys!
ReplyDeleteDinner parties- how do you do it? I...just...can't. I mean, I have the kids over for dinner and even that's too much for me sometimes. Dave does sound the magician in the kitchen!
E: Gü -- with an umlaut -- is basically chocolate mousse in a jar. Not bad, but not great either.
ReplyDeleteJohn: Maybe in England! Seriously, she may have originated it, but I remember Dionne's version primarily. I think it was the most popular incarnation of Alfie in the States. Cher sang it too at one point. (Actually I think about a million people covered it.)
Ms Moon: That's how I do it -- DAVE does it! I just do the cleaning before & after.
one tree, 100 sq ft of dirt, and a bench makes a park?
ReplyDeleteThat meal sounds fabulous!
ReplyDeleteOh how perfectly lovely to have someone who creates magic in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteYou're a lucky guy.
I'm the magic creater here, and while I truly enjoy cooking (and must say I'm quite good at it) it would be fabulous to sit in the other room and smell mysterious wonderful things happening
Dinner sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteI hope the little park stays clean. Garbage dumping confounds me first and then makes me mad. On the 15-minute drive to the nursing home where my dad lived, every night there was a new batch of fast-food garbage strewn across the road. I fantasized more than once about someday finding out who did it and turning them into the cops.
We live in a pretty small place. I probably wouldn't have turned them in, for fear they would "get" me. Thus the fantasizing :)