Happy Halloween

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Tis the season for costumes and candy. I clandestinely ordered some candy corn from an outrageously expensive dealer of American foods here near Birmingham and am hiding them from my husband- greedy, greedy Halloween. This little trick or treater came to my parent's door last year. Is that not the greatest costume of all time?

I'm going to be an Ice Queen. The G will be Mr. T. What about you?

Introducing Oprah and Dr. Phil

Meet our new foster kittens!! We sometimes volunteer for the Cat's Protection League, fostering cats until a permanent home can be found for them. These two are feral kittens that were trapped and now are in need of socializing before they can be adopted. So our arms were twisted and here we have another massive cage taking over my sewing table.

Halloween Cats.

Oprah's the outgoing one, it only took her about a day before she was out and exploring the spare bedroom and she sounds like a stampede on the dining room ceiling during dinner. Here she is interviewing Bisbee.Bisbee isn't quite sure what to make of all this kitten business and is vehemently avoiding the spare bedroom on his surveillance duties around the house. (He's in charge of security.)

Are you talking to me?

Dr. Phil is the Descartes of cats, he's a thinker. He contemplates quantum physics and string theory, he hones Sartes' doctrine on existentialism and sympathises with the Zapatistas. In his mind he writes letters urging congress to free Mumia, bring peace to the Middle East and find a cure for the common cold. He is currently strategizing a global economic recovery plan.

Project 52 (17 of ?)

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Today

Today I'm feeling inspired by this photo. Are these birds not the cutest thing you've ever seen? I found them here at Spool, complete with instructions and am printing off the templates as we speak! Next up, these lovely coasters by the long thread.....

Rural Grafitti

The Last Days of Summer

Notes from a late summer day out in Brighton

In the Elephant Topiary Garden

Fat Boy Slim show

Early Morning, Early September....

It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. ~P.D. James


I haven't been sleeping well lately. I don't know what to attribute it to, but I tend to wake up before the sun comes up. Which isn't really that early considering our latitude and the time of year....

This time, I awoke to a perfectly crisp autumn morning. I slid out of bed careful not to wake the G or the furry Bisbeast sleeping at the foot of the bed, and headed out into the fresh autumnal sunshine for an early morning walk.

I wasn't the only one with the same idea and I came across these guys as well. I love the long shadows that early morning and late afternoon have to offer. Here's evidence of all the rain we've had lately.
And the first of the autumn leaves to make an appearance.
...And creatures large and small.This is one of the posts I never got around to putting up back in September when the pics were taken. Better late than never, right? Forgive me?

Project 52 Revisited

Photo Taken 12 October 2008

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter. ~Carol Bishop Hipps

Lunch Break Update

Hi. Greetings from my place of employment. Can you believe that THIS is where I work! How lucky am I?

Over lunch (orange scented couscous with chicken and almonds - yum.) I've been enjoying the autumn glory here and here and feeling inspired to do a bit more of my own exploration through the camera lens.

I also want to urge you to pick up The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. What a cool book. I'm particularly enamoured by the idea of communicating with dogs only through posture and sign language - a language invented on an isolated farm in most-northern Wisconsin, no less.

That's about it for this lunch break. Talk soon!

Remember me?

Just hangin out
Originally uploaded by TheQueenBean

I bet you're wondering if I fell off the face of the Earth. Man, life got busy for me over the past few weeks. School started three weeks ago and I've been wiped off my feet with lesson planning and photocopying. You know how it is.

The weather's been better the past couple of weeks and every waking second is spent trying to synthesize enough vitamin D to get through the long and impending winter months. I've made up my mind to live more and sleep less this winter.

I've even made myself a list of Things I Want To Do. I split it into a timeline of This Week, This Month, In Three Months, Before Next Year, In 3 to 5 Years, and In My Lifetime. Sounds ambitious, don't it? An excerpt:

In 3 to 5 years, I would like to:

• Have visited most of the countries in Europe
• Volunteer to help with the 2012 London Olympics
• Complete a Masters Degree in Education
• Return to North America to live
• Be credit-card-debt-free
• Have a better relationship with my mind-body - explore spirituality?
• Have and raise a child/children
• Complete a Triathlon
• Finally begin writing that novel that's been spinning round my head the past three years
• Finish a quilt.....

You get the idea.

I'm listening a lot to Sera Cahoone, Fleet Foxes and My Morning Jacket. Resurrecting Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch. Wanting to hit the road with Jeff Tweedy.

I'm taking The Life In The UK test this week and reading my handbook: A journey to citizenship to jump through the seemingly endless hoops that being an ex-pat requires.

I'm taking my Driving License test at the end of the month.

Bisbee has a gaping hole on his head - battle scars from The Cat Fight Kitchen. Feral cats have figured out how to get in to the house through the cat flap and our kitchen has been showdown central. Another round of antibiotics for the Bisbeast and live traps for the Ferals.

The G started his new job in public health this week. Yay! I interviewed and didn't get a full time job teaching here at the college, but try and try again.

That's about it from here. I'll load some more recent pics up soon. I promise. XO, Bee