The Adventures of Lorie and Brian Groth

After a very tasty lunch of fish & chips (just fish today though – cod) and Italian ice cream, I walked up to the British Library, but on the way I also went through the British Museum (as a shortcut, since it was in my way) and through the grounds of the University of London (Birkbeck), which was a nice little area to walk through in the middle of the city.

While walking through the British Museum, I saw a citole, which was a predecessor to the violin. That’s what’s pictured here. 

If you go to the British Library, make sure to visit the Sir John Riblat Gallery, which is where you can see these and much more. Here is what I enjoyed:

• Sheet music written by Beethoven, Handel, and others
• Hand-written lyrics to the Beetle’s Help, Yesterday, Ticket To Ride, and others
• The Magna Carta, with an explanation of it, which was useful for me (history-challenged) 
• The first copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was called Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and explains how the book came to be (read about it here)
• A few pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook (I’ve seen most of it in Seattle though, but still cool)
• The Gutenberg Bible
• I also listened to a short speech by Amelia Earhart on aircraft safety and technology and to Neil Armstrong’s comments before and as he made the first step on the moon. (yes, I had heard the famous line before, but not the entire thing)

We saw Ed Byrne last night at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End of London. Lorie and I missed him when he came through London last time as part of the post-Edinburgh Festival Fringe tour (he has sold out 6 times at that festival), so we were happy when Anne suggest we go see him. If you ever get a chance to see him, I think you’ll enjoy it.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer’s globe has been in Seattle since 1948, and now it is the latest to be honoured in Milo’s iconic tour of Seattle. Notice the Space Needle is in the reflection of the windows too – two landmarks at once!    

Milo and I ran across the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile today. We can say that the Wienermobile is truly famous now that it has been photographed with Milo.

Update: A friend of mine just told me something funny enough that I had to share it: “Milo seems unfazed by a one ton hot dog bearing down upon him. Clearly that dog has spent his life in the city.” I couldn’t agree more!

I posted new photos that Geoff and Silvia took when we were together in Thailand and Vietnam. The one here is me jumping off the roof of the boat in Halong Bay in Vietnam. It’s 3 photos put together to make a little animation. I didn’t dive since it was high enough up that I figured I might hurt myself. Since there were no hospitals anywhere near us, I figured I’d play it safe.

The pictures are in the Vietnam folder and the Thailand folder.

I have been running/jogging for about a week now, since I decided I needed some form of affordable exercise – so far my knees are holding up. Today was an interesting run (only my 2nd in London) as I ran to and through Primrose Hill (pictured) and Regent’s Park. The highlights enforce my appreciation of London:

1. I ran over the famous Abbey Road crosswalk – I was sort of lost at the time, so it was a nice surprise
2. I saw circus training with people swinging on a trapeze and falling into nets
3. I saw eight kayakers in Regent’s Canal in short river kayaks, but it’s not like they will find any whitewater on that canal
4. I saw a giraffe which was a little surprising to see when not expecting it – I was running past the London Zoo
5. I saw a woman with five pet guinea pigs on leashes on Primrose Hill, which is crazy since there are dogs running around there too

Yes, the Honda Element looks weird. It’s a box with a rubber floor. But, the rear seats can be removed, bicycles fit inside of it, there is tent attachment if we want to buy one, and our Zune can plug into the stereo via an auxiliary-input. Plus, Milo fits in it and likes riding in the back seat.

So when I’m in Seattle, I can be seen in an orange car. Otherwise, Lorie and Milo will be cruising around in it. 

 

 

Skookum is near the farm/dog-training place where we send Milo in the US and is where our other dog Ripley now lives full time. The pub is also on a farm, down a long driveway, off of a small road about an hour+ north of Seattle. Gretchen from the dog training place organizes a pub night on Friday evenings after normal pub hours for a bunch of dog owners to get together and learn more about handling their defence-breed dogs. Notice the size of the dog attempting to sit on my lap. He is easily twice the size of Milo and still thinks he is a lap dog. Proof that gigantic dogs really are friendly!

Now if we could only find something within walking distance of our place in Seattle, then we’d be all set. I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon though, so I guess we’ll be making the drive every once in a while for dog-pub night.

 

 

We are back in Seattle after our big summer holiday. The trip started in Chicago to visit friends and family, then on to the lake cabin in Minnesota to see family and to do some kayaking, sailing, wakeboarding, knee-boarding, and bicycle riding. Plus a quick visit in Berkeley to visit family and over-eat (that’s sorta an inside joke). There are quite few highlights from the Thailand and Vietnam portions of the trip, which can also be seen in the photos. After 9 airports and far too many flights, we are ready for some rest and relaxation!

Thailand highlights (click to see the photos)

• Body surfing on the west side of Railay beach, which is mostly what I did in Thailand when not relaxing.
• Our friend’s wedding on the deck of a house near the beach, with the party at a pool next to the beach.
• Hiking up to the top of the island (more of a technical scramble up the cliff in the jungle) to get a great view of the island.
• Having locals cook a great Thai meal at our Railay Beach house for about 20 of us. We could see monkeys in the daytime from the deck of our house and bats at night.

Vietnam highlights (click to see the photos)

• Seeing a new country and watching the locals get around, visiting local markets, and seeing just how many electrical and phone lines can be suspended between poles. It didn’t take us long to learn how to cross the street in Hanoi, which is certainly an experience. Watch this video to see what it is like to cross the street in Hanoi.
• Getting a communist view (slightly skewed and missing a few details) of various Vietnamese wars with the French and the US. We saw this at the Hao Lo Prison (aka, the Hanoi Hilton) and at Ho Chi Minh’s tomb and museum in Hanoi.
• Kayaking, swimming and exploring caves by foot and by kayak in Halong Bay. We stayed on a junk run by Indochina Sails. Nobody joined me when jumping off the roof of the boat, but at least others swam with me and none of us got stung by the gigantic jellyfish – we only saw 2 of them while on the boat.
• Having a “James Bond martini” at the Metropole hotel. Roger Moore used to stay there and since he played James Bond from 1973 to 1985, they named their classic (shaken, not stirred gin martini) after him.

Near our place in Seattle is a Jones Soda office, so we walk past it quite often. I recently learned that you can upload your own photos and they might get printed on the labels on their bottles. I recently uploaded the one of Milo overlooking the Houses of Parliament (click on that to vote for it). Also check out Milo’s typical look when running at Bishop’s Park.

Maybe one day, you will be in a grocery store in the US and you’ll see Milo on a bottle!