A Member of Their Family

Today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, ex-Princess of Wales. There is a service today where her family and friends are going in remembrance. The papers have been filled lately with details, who is going, who wasn't invited, why Camilla isn't going. Supposedly invited, apparently she decided her presence would detract from the event so she is off on some holiday with girlfriends. Detracting? I would say so. The woman was, admittedly, the mistress of the Prince of Wales during pretty much the entirety of his marriage to Diana. Not to say Diana was an angel. But I just think it goes to show how "normal" this mistress thing is, when it doesn't even occur to the Royal family that she shouldn't be there until there is some kind of public outcry. (You do kind of get caught up in it!)

So yesterday, I decided to take a jaunt over to Kensington Palace and see what, if anything, was going on there. Diana was residing at Kensington when she died. I had heard that people were dropping off bouquets and such at the gates. I remember when she died seeing the pictures of yards and yards of flowers there and at Buckingham Palace. That phenomenon has always surprised me. I can't imagine going out and buying a bunch of flowers for someone I didn't know and leaving them at some particular point that I have no connection with. I have seen it at accident sites, crime scenes etc. Never understood it. I don't know if I am unsympathetic or cheap or what but I am interested in the type of person that does that.

So off I go. The first thing I notice when I get there is that there are many more
people milling around the front gates then when I last was there in March 2007. But I am not sure if that is because it is close to the anniversary or if it just more tourists because it is still tourist season here in Europe. But as I get closer I can see there are television trucks in place, and camera crews running around trying to interview people. Off to the right side under the tree, is Diana's ex-protection officer being interviewed by a television morning show. People are arriving and putting up collages, pictures, cards,etc. Some of the arrangements are simple, flowers from someone's garden, a collage of pictures from a magazine. Others are floral arrangements from a florist. Some include cards.

The news crews were scrounging around looking for people to interview. "Do you remember where you were when you heard?" type of questions. There was one woman I saw getting interviewed by two different news organizations. Based on her appearance I think she was Diana obsessed. From afar this outfit doesn't look too bizarre but up close you can see her little "Diana" rosette.







Take a closer look at that purse. She either bought a Diana purse with all these pictures on it or she had it made that way. Either way - a little disturbing.

I think what we (I mean US people or maybe just myself) can't understand is that the English people feel "ownership" in a way of their Royal Family. So when they do something "bad", they chastise them and tsk, tsk,tsk - just like your grandmother would. When they do something good, there is a real sense of pride. So to them, this is not strange, they are paying their respects to a geniune, full fledged member of their own family. It is what you do. I expect the crowds will be huge today at Kensington Palace and the little rosette lady will do interview after interview. I suspect she has a whole new outfit picked out for today and I am going to check it out on the news later.

P.S. You should be able to "click" on the collage to see any of the pictures larger.

Brighton Beach Memoirs - UK Style

For a few years, it was a Wind the Frog family tradition to have a day at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. It was always the weekend or week right before school started; sort of a last fling of summer filled with roller coasters, carnival type rides and cotton candy. We didn't do it last year because Chizz was already in the UK and this year we weren't in the States at the same time.

Last weekend, the weather turned unexpectedly nice. (Fall is here with a vengeance people! I had to wear my jacket the very first day I was back!!!) So we headed out to Brighton. Brighton is about 50 miles south of London. It takes an hour to get there by train. We headed out to the train station, forgetting it was a Bank Holiday weekend. (I explained Bank Holidays here). Bank Holiday + nice weather = Quite a few people at the train station.
But in a strange way it added to the fun, like we were all in this together. We walked the few blocks to the beach and pier, the crowd from the train station and us. Once we got to the beach, it was beautiful. We were surprised to find out that the beach was quite a bit different from the beaches we are used to in California, Mexico, Hawaii. Instead of sand, the beach is made up of rocks. I guess that I was one of the few people who didn't know that Brighton Beach is famous for
its rock beach. This what the rocks look like. Surprisingly the rocks are not that
difficult to walk on. There were plenty of people enjoying the beach and water. In the background you can see the pier where there are carnival types rides. We walked over and the kids and Chizz went on quite a few rides, mostly roller coaster type rides, throw up rides. Not my cup of tea but I enjoy taking pictures and watching my daredevil family. It is very reminiscent of the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz, so it felt very familiar. Same kind of rides, game booths, food booths, people with multiple tattoos. You can tell it is a fun day at an amusement park when you leave with a slightly upset stomach, caused by either all the junk food consumed or some of the rides. Either way, fun day.

After the pier, we walked over to the Royal Pavilion. It is a former Royal Residence of King George IV, really before he became King. He was actually Prince Regent, essentially running the country because his dad George III was crazy. George IV bought the pavilion and had John Nash, the famous British architect, jazz it up a bit. The prince used it quite a bit as a love nest with his "secret" lover, Maria Fitzherbert. She was the love of his life but he was not permitted to legally marry her primarily because she was a Catholic (a rule which still stands today!) but also she had been widowed a few times as well and because of that was just not considered suitable. However, George IV was totally committed to her and they had a "secret" illegal wedding. Obviously it was never recognized as legal and about ten years later he married Caroline of Brunswick, whom he despised.

George IV was noted for his extravagant lifestyle. He indulged himself often. I am not sure if it was this aspect of his personality, or some genetic fallout from his dad's insanity, or acting out defiantly in connection with his "secret" wife, but this Royal Pavilion is nothing like any other royal residence I have seen in this country. I heard someone say that they had just returned from a trip to the Taj Mahal and this architecture was very similar to what they saw in India. I really agree. John Nash, the British architect, was apparently very enamored of Indian architecture and used it as an influence here. It is hard to believe this was created by the same man who designed most of the layout of Regency London. This project is very, very different than another remodel he is known for - Buckingham Palace.

So things so different can have a common thread. Royal Pavilion and Buckingham Palace - so different in style but designed by the same man. Just because we moved 5000 miles away, we didn't need to give up our last summer beach boardwalk tradition. We just moved it, slightly.

A Rose By Any Other Name

We took the kids to the West End last night to see "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged". For those of you that are unfamiliar with the play, it is comedy where the three actors cover all of the Shakespeare plays in one show. There are snippets of each, some are long, some just mere references but they still manage to get all 37 plays in. It was hilarious. All three actors in this production were Americans which was a surprise. When we told the kids we had tickets, they were underwhelmed. They carried through with their sulky "I am a teenager and I may make your life difficult for awhile" personas for the first few minutes but we spied them laughing quite a bit and later agreed it was quite a bit of fun.

Some of the highlights - the rap of Othello, the "spaghetti-loving brother" according to the play; the play-by-play of all the Kings in Shakespeare plays done in American football announcer style; the audience participation. The actors definitely involve the audience throughout the production, some in the audience actually end up on stage. At one point one of the actors borrowed a program from someone in the audience. Another actor chastised him and said "Hey dude, don't take that. She paid a lot of money for that - 3 pounds. That's like $10.00 in real money".


The show closes next week. You don't have to like Shakespeare to enjoy it. I think in London it really only runs for the summer but I understand there are productions in the US as well. If you get a chance, go. The WTF family gives it 8 thumbs up, our highest salute!

OMG. I Might Have Broken the Law, Allegedly

So the other afternoon I sat down with the newspaper to catch up on all the happenings of the day (and of Princes William and Harry and to see which rehab Amy Winehouse recently left) when an article caught my eye. It was about the arrest of London man, living not too far from my own neighborhood. It seems that he was caught leaning against a garden wall with a . . . . . . . .laptop. At first I was confused, is the crime rate so low in Chiswick (no I am not making that name up) that the police routinely harass citizens enjoying the afternoon sun? What was the problem? Was it an old laptop? Was he using it to watch reruns of Hell's Kitchen? Did he not have MS Word factory installed? Why, you wonder, did the British police detain this fellow? Well I will tell you. He was using the laptop outside of someone else's house and connecting to the internet through the occupant's unsecured wireless network. Wow! I had no idea that was illegal. Sure, you have to assume that it isn't right but illegal? Before you ask, there is no allegation that he was using the connection for any nefarious activity, such as going through files on the home owner's computer or stealing any personal information. Just the act of hijacking the signal is illegal in Britain, no matter what the purpose. The man is being charged under the Computer Misuse Act and was given a UK500 fine and probation for 12 months. His computer and wireless card were confiscated. It was unclear how long he is without a computer. Under this Act in Britain, certain offenses could be punished by a five year jail term and a fine without limit.

So remember when we first moved here and we had some difficulty getting our internet connection for quite a few weeks?


I am going to have a hard time getting out of this country without serving jail time for something, I just know it.

The Emperor Might Be A Little Chilly

We decided to inflict some more culture on the kids this weekend. Since we had been to Tate Britain Museum a few months back in May, we decided to go to its affiliated museum, the Tate Modern which houses its modern art collection. I don't think I would necessarily call the Frog family art aficionados but we do enjoy a good art museum in short doses (most of us anyway, the others will have to wait until they are 21 and paying their own mortgage before they-get-to-make-the-decisions-for-this-family-thank-you-very-much). Sorry - got distracted.

The Tate Modern is in a former Power Station. It is an interesting building and it is massive inside. We saw many works of art that we recognized, Monet's Water Lillies (yes it is modern, technically most modern art is defined as art from the 1900s on which exhibited some new or radical art style). We also saw some Diego Rivera, Andy Warhol, and Jackson Pollock. Snake especially enjoyed the Jackson Pollock. There were some spectacular pieces.

Admittedly, however, there are certain elements of Modern Art that escape us. It might be we are not evolved enough or smart enough or rich enough to understand the artistic value of some of the exhibits, for example a display of one single florescent light tube (more about that later). And I don't think we are alone. Sometimes I wonder if it is because Modern Art people don't want us to understand. Because if we all really understood it, we would see it for what some of it really is. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy quite a bit of the sculpture and paintings we saw. I couldn't make heads or tails of what the paintings represented. Snake and I looked at one for some time that claimed to be a still of a clarinet on a mantle. Not only could we not find the clarinet, we couldn't even place the mantle. I guess we are just rubes.

So we did what we rubes do best, we mocked the art. We started reading the plaques next to the pieces. You know the ones that tell you the name of the artist, the date the piece was created and some other fun facts. Some of the descriptions are so pretentious that it is impossible not to laugh. For example, we saw one canvas completely painted beige. No other mark on the canvas except for a small tear in the middle of the canvas. It was called "Spatial Concept Waiting". The description? "A anarchic act of violence against nothingness". Uh yeah. Another example - An untitled painting by Clyfford Still (1953). This is it to the right, the mostly blue canvas. Now read the description: "A reassertion of the human context- a gesture of rejection of any authoritarian rational or system of politico-dialectical dogma". Wow. I just thought it looked liked red and yellow spots of paint on a mostly blue canvas. I think the curators of Modern Art do that because we might figure out that there is no "there" there. Sort of like the emperor has no clothes but no one is supposed to say. The more obscure the piece, the more absurd the description. The brown painting with one red stripe supposedly reflected the turmoil of the Jews in World War II Europe and we should be able to feel the "tension within the canvas". The only tension we felt was from stifling the giggling noises rising from our throats.

Oh, right. I was going to tell you about the light tube. There was one section in the museum that held modern art in a genre known as "Ready Made". The definition of ready made art is "a work of art created from an everyday object that bears no trace of modification other than the artist's signature". In this section we saw the fluorescent light tube attached to the side of the wall. For a minute I thought it was maybe the underside of a light box or maybe lighting for some yet-to-be-displayed piece of art. NO! It was the art piece itself, one piece in a series of fluorescent art tube pieces which are really just the light bulbs hung different ways on a wall, some are vertical, some horizontal and some, crazy ones are . . . wait for it. . . diagonal. The artist was quoted as saying the first time he used a single tube was "a moment of personal breakthrough". Hmmm, I have had that kind of breakthrough every 2-3 months when the kitchen lights burn out. My goodness. Other examples of this kind of art, a urinal signed by the artist, a running slide projector projecting a white light on the wall, 3 basketballs in an acrylic box. Please don't write to me about the values of modern art because I hope I am making it clear that I don't have problems with all modern art but the kind of art that pushes the term "art" to its very limits. I am of the opinion if people or organizations pay a fortune for this kind of art, they deserve to have it taken from them.

So I was inspired to create my own ready made art. I studied the definition hard, "a piece of art that is created from an everyday object that bears no other modification other than the artist's (mine) signature." Here is what I came up with:

I am going to sit here and wait for the money to pour in.

Solved

For his last birthday, Snake received a Rubik's cube. He played around with it for a bit but it didn't hold his attention for very long. Let's face it, we have all played around with one thinking "how hard can it be". Then you quickly lose interest. They seem impossible to solve. This weekend Snake picked his up again and played around with it for awhile. Then he came down to the kitchen and told me he had a theory. According to Snake the secret of the cube was to solve each level around the cube instead of trying to get the face of cube all one color. I listened to his theory (admittedly somewhat confused by it ) and he went upstairs to test it out. A few hours later, he comes down and shows me this:


What???? I am impressed. He sat down, thought about it for a bit and then solved it. Now if I can just get him to take a shower without getting water all over the floor. Naaahh, that would be too difficult.

We're Baaaaaaaaack

We arrived back in Heathrow on Thursday afternoon. Uneventful flight, although we were upgraded to Business. It makes a huge difference. I told someone it is still a long flight, you still feel like you have been hit by a truck. The only difference is with Business Class it feels as if you have been hit by only a light pick-up truck instead a semi, tracker trailer thing.

Same London, same weather - rainy, cold, dark. It was nice to see Chizz again. The apartment looked the same, although with Chizz living there alone it was incredibly neat, almost eerily so. Everything in exactly the right place, the hand towels just so on the bathroom rack, very, very OCD. The fridge made the kids laugh - a quart of milk, various salad dressing/condiments, a block of cheddar cheese and 6 beers. Quite the bachelor fridge.

We had a great summer in California. Did most of the things we wanted to do plus more; saw family, shopping, swim team, shopping, bbqs almost every night, shopping, red wine in the back yard, shopping, swimming in the backyard pool,shopping, hot tubbing, shopping, wedding, shopping, water park, shopping,Disneyland, shopping, San Francisco, shopping, Mexican food, shopping, dinner at the Brewery, shopping, visiting with friends, shopping. I am tired just thinking about it. It went by so, so, so fast. Next year I will be more prepared - I won't sleep.

Snake & I had an interesting discussion about London v. California. Why is it, he wondered, that when we are in London we refer to California as "home", but when we were in California we talked about London being "home". It is true, we do that and I am not sure why that is - we consider both places home. And that makes us lucky indeed.