A Wedding in the Mountains

I was privileged to attend Greg Sutherland's wedding to Jessica Miller.  Greg is like a 4th son to us and his mother, Liz is one of my best friends.  They are a California family, so we don't get to see each other that often.  However, with the wonderful communications tools we now have in email, skype, mobile....our friendship continues to run deep in its 40+ year life.

The wedding was lovely, all friends and family delightful, and mountain weather perfect for a day of celebration.

Now back in DC and looking forward to some "down time" from travel which will afford me the opportunity to organize both my professional and personal life!!!  Next adventure is a hot air balloon trip across Maryland countryside with my best friends Irene and Caroline.  That will be a great adventure since I've never been up in a balloon.

Reno anyone?

Hi All
I've landed in Reno, stopping overnight on my way to a close friend's wedding in Tahoe, CA.  Interesting comparison for me to see Reno (I've never been through here before) and compare it to Las Vegas.  Like night and day.  My impression is that the Casinos/Resorts are marketing to the lower economic sector of our society in all presentations.  For example, rather than plush restaurants to choose from, there are plenty of mall-like food centers and cafeteria options.

I'm going to have a neck/shoulder massage this morning and then hit the road to the wedding destination in the mountains.  A fun day tomorrow with friends then back to DC in time for a hot air balloon ride at sunrise with my close friends, Irene Crowe and Caroline Gabel.  It's my birthday (67 big ones) gift from Irene!!!!

Michael tells me Colin and Jada made it back from Mexico last night, will be in town ONE DAY and then heading north, picking up Rufus, and spending the next month in Montreal.  Anybody want to visit them there?

Day of filming and packing

We're winding up our trip with some last minute work back in ClientEarth offices this afternoon and will have a last dinner at the Market Brasserie in Shepherd's Market (one of our favorite spots) and ending the day with the challenge of packing.

The sun is bright, sky is cloudless, and the temperature to reach 70 degrees today.  Smiles on everyone's faces as they hit the streets on their way to work.  I'm doing my last power walk of the trip, camera in hand and music in my ears.  My Nike pace setter is monitoring my progress to burn up 300 calories.  Wonderful scenes to record.  Did you know that London still has in service some of its oldest buses?  Saw one on Piccadilly heading for Trafalgar Square and loved it!

I then crossed over into Green Park and took in the everyday scenes of horses, dogs, and people enjoying what is to be a spectacular day...

across from Buckingham Palace

An English Bulldog, ofcourse!

what a lovely coffee break

I once found the chairs in the park so inviting I thought I'd sit a while.  Suddenly a chap ambles over and asks for a fee to use the chair.  Had no clue it was a business, thought it was a charming life style of a British park for everyone's use!  That was years ago, ofcourse.  I've noticed they are branching out from the traditional stripped canvas to floral prints as well.  Very nice, indeed.

Looping back around St James Palace (this is where Prince Charles and his family live) I watched the guards go through their paces at the gate.  I've been in the office section of the Palace for several meetings with Sir Tom Shebbeare over the years.  Tom is the Prince's Administrator/Advisor for all of his charitable work, which is enormous.  He's a great guy and has been helpful to me in my quest to establish ClientEarth with James.

I read, by the way, in the paper yesterday that Prince William and Kate will be taking up residence in the Kensington Palace where Diana lived with the boys after their divorce.  A great spot for them.

spring has arrived and flowers grace the streets  

We actually reached the offices of ClientEarth on time and spent an hour and a half filming interviews for future use in a variety of ways.  I pushed Michael to do it first since he was very uncomfortable and wanted to script himself very briefly.  I have no idea what they got out of him!  My filming went ok I guess.  I pleaded with the camera man to use good filters on his lenses and treat this old body kindly!  We followed that with a gathering of the London staff on the terrace roof for a glass of wine and a chance to get to know us and our history.  I, ofcourse, came prepared with some lawyer jokes to break the ice.  

We returned "home" to Mayfair, battling traffic in a cab, and stopped at the Market Brasserie for a last dinner before tackling the packing chore, leaving a wake up call, and watching one last bit of English TV on the tele.  By the way, we've decided that the Al Jazeera news station here is first rate and have watched it a number of times.  There seems to be a lot of women journalists, and we suspect that is broadcast to the western audiences.  I doubt the Middle East would accept women in this role, do you?

One last observation.  It is an institution at Pubs (at least in this area) to drink out on the sidewalk with buddies....almost all male.  Who knew????

Bye, bye from London....and the end of this blog!!!

Back to London

We're on the train back to London.  A great time to start the blog for the day.  The trains are really fast, clean, friendly and efficient.  The challenge is that their stops for passenger drop off and pick up are very quick and if you are not alert you can easily miss it!  That puts a bit of stress in the venture in the beginning.  But once on, it is a great way to see the countryside over a 4 hour period.  I can already feel the warming temperature an hour out of Edinburgh and I think London, in the south, is at least 10 degrees warmer at all times.  Will be nice not to have to layer as much clothing.

peering into my computer!

As always, plenty of time to catch up on reading as well.  After papers, I will hopefully finish the book I brought with me , Almost French by Sarah Turnbull, an Australian married for over 20 years to a Frenchman.  Since I have a very good friend (an American) married for over 40 years to a Frenchman, I plan to pass it along to her.  I think she will relate to it pretty easily.

I think this is a good post to share a wonderful "missive" from Karla Hill, Senior Program Manager at Client Earth.  Karla is from New Zealand, and so was amused with the "guide" to communications in this country!

file:///Users/winsomemcintosh/Desktop/298098219.jpg  (if you can't read it still when clicking on it to enlarge)

Sunday service and sights

We started our day by attending the 10:30am service at St John's Episcopal Church across the street from our hotel.  The church was packed and it was good that we planned to arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of the start.  It turns out that four cooperating churches here in the West End have been working together on projects over the years and were celebrating 40 years of that collaboration recognizing its beginnings in 1971.  It all started with St John's opening a "Safe" coffee house gathering on their complex called the Corner Stone.  It was a successful attempt to give space and place to their teenagers on the weekends, and hence safe from troubles?

Two things about the service stood out for me.  Both beautiful words of hymns I had not heard before.  The first held the refrain: "all are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place".  Since we are strangers (even though official members of St Johns since 2002) it was a warm welcome in verse.  The second hymn had a very apt refrain that uncannily describes our foundation work: "And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace;  yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice, and joy."  My favorite verses were the following:

For woman and man, a place at the table,
revising the roles, deciding to share,
with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,
for woman and man, a system that's fair.

For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong.

A woman with a lovely voice was sitting next to me.  At one point, she leaned over and asked if I belonged to St Johns.  I replied that I did, but didn't attend services because I lived in the US.  We chatted, I complimented her on her lovely singing voice, and Elsie (her name) remarked that she was really too long in the tooth to sing in the choir any more.  She said she was 94 years and counting!  She had it all together and I admired her spirit!

Elsie at 94!

After the service and one last hug with the Rector, we grabbed a quick lunch and met David Campbell, our guide for an afternoon of driving and visits within and on the outskirts of Edinburgh.  David, full of history and knowledge of all things Scottish, gave us the back roads tour of Edinburgh, New Town followed by a drive into the countryside and down to the Firth of Forth seaside.  It turns out a Firth is a "finger" of the North Sea that juts into lands all across Scotland.  That means a lot of water front for a small country providing vibrant fishing and industry around marine ecosystems.  Since it was a Sunday, lots of sail boats were about even though it was raw and cold (50s).  The Scots are a hardy bunch indeed.

We toured an outstanding Manor House that is part of the Scottish Historic Trust and a beautiful castle ruins in which Mary Queen of Scots was born.  Both full of history dating back to the 16th Century, at least, and preserved with obvious love and pride.  I kept remarking how "young" our country was and with "so little history" to compare to what I was viewing.  I very much appreciate the reverence for history and hope that our country will treasure our history (the good and the bad) the same.  I lament that our students of today don't get the same emphasis of history that students here do.

Our guide: David Campbell
the look of a true Scotsman, don't you think?

With the weather turning nasty cold and raw, we decided to stay in the hotel and have a quiet dinner.  The dining staff have gotten to know us (and like us, I think) always greeting us with big smiles.  I wonder how many Americans are here this weekend?  David has said that his guide business has suffered enormously through the recession.  He used to have many Americans and close to none now.  He's hoping they will begin to return with a waning recession.  Long talk about that.

Miles of walking

I started my day a little slowly and then took off for a power walk around 10:30 through the beautiful park. Came upon the Sir Walter Scott tower/monument built in his honor in 1844.  For a fee, one is allowed to climb to the top and see the wonderful views of the city from 200 feet.  I'm exercising anyway, so why not climb the 287 steps and have a look see....even if the temperature has dropped dramatically from yesterday and the winds cut through you to make the point?

The Scott Monument

I continued my walk and noted some typical scenes before stopping at a Starbucks (there are tons of them all over UK) for a yogurt and coffee and returning to the hotel with pastry and latte for Michael, who continues to monitor his computer and the Boat Company progress of initiating the first/early trips of the season for the two boats in Alaska.

The Castle

An artist at work on a canvas!

The bag piper at work entertaining the tourists

The Old

And the new

After returning to the hotel, cleaning up and resting a bit with on-line checking of emails, etc, I struck out again and decided to walk to the Castle, which is no small feat distance and climbing wise.  I spent several hours in the castle viewing a variety of museums and gift shops (there was one at every opportunity, believe me) then headed back out and down the "Miracle Mile" of the old town section.  My favorite viewing was in the military museum with its marvelous portraits.  Ofcourse that would be since I have a passion for portraiture, don't I?  Take a look.

starting with a sculpture of a warrior

Just to remind us all of the "one world" concept, parking attendants and their power still rule the roads, where ever we are!

Finished the day off in the hotel dining room yearning for and getting a hamburger, medium rare, and a bottle of great Spanish wine.  We are converts to Spanish wine with the introduction from our daughter-in-law and a Christmas in Spain this past year.  Great wines...

One last day in Edinburgh tomorrow then back to London.

Scenic route to Edinburgh

Although a new experience for us (using the train system), we gamely struck out this morning to Paddington Station to catch a 10:30 East Coast train.  Half way there I checked our reservation and discovered we needed to be at the Kings Cross Station in the opposite part of town to a train that leaves at 10:00am!  I don't usually get these logistics wrong, but this morning was a doozy.  Fortunately, our cabbie was understanding, did a u-turn and sped back across town in record time...during rush hour at that.

Made the train and settled in for a 4.5 hour trip to Edinburgh.  Lots of beautiful countryside to see....changing from flat farm land to rolling hills to cliff sea shore topography.  So very green.  Not to mention it was one of UK's warmest days with no rain.  What a concept!

Having safely arrived, navigated the massive train station under renovation, and settled into our hotel, the Caladonian Hilton across from St John's Episcopal Church we set up our computers, found the wi-fi connections and caught up on the final work of a Friday afternoon in UK and morning in US.

I went for a short walk to stretch my legs and see Prince's street in the afternoon warmth while Michael manned the phone to Florida, Alaska, and Washington on Boat Company business.  Nice photos to start the visit:

St John's

The Castle

The grandest Starbucks in the UK, bar none!

The grand staircase of the Caladonian

We topped the evening off with dinner and the wonderful company of the Rector of St John's who is also the Dean of the Edinburgh Episcopal church and his wife.  We have been members for 9 years since
having our reaffirmation ceremony for our 35th wedding anniversary there in 2002.  Maybe we'll do it again for our 50th ???  Wonderful dinner and catch up.  Will be attending services Sunday morning before returning to London.

Enough for now.  More to come.

Liberty for all!

Spent a quiet morning catching up on email, shower time, sleep time, and reading time.

Had a lunch meeting to say goodbye to our first board member, Eski Thomas, who has decided to move on after the excitement of a start up experience, but will remain a supporter and friend for years to come.  Since Green's was our first lunch meeting with Eski, it was fitting that it was our last with her.  Great care was given to honoring her at the Board meeting yesterday and in her presence today.  Don't think she expected it, which made our thank yous and presentation that much sweeter.  Thanks Eski.  I learned a lot from her....and since she and her husband are movie producers, today's lunch gave me a bird's eye view into the workings of the Cannes Film Festival, a staple in their business life.  Jeremy's (Eskie's husband) film was nominated in the festival but came up short of winning.  It was a Japanese film (his second in that country) and it was an indication of its importance and popularity that his production was nominated.

Eskie Thomas of London

After a long lunch, I caught a cab to the Liberty Department store just off Regent Street.  This store, the only one in London, is in original form of beautiful hard wood floors through out, 5 stories of wood paneling with a central open atrium, and a brand of "true British" design in clothing, housewares, and accessories.  My quest was for some exquisite egg cups designed in wonderfully accurate images of farm and wild animals.  An eagle's head is "spot on" and a wonderful receptacle of paper clips on the desk!
Once my purchases were made, I gaily hailed a pedi-cab and had a delightful ride back to our apartment in Shepherd's Market of Mayfair.

We're now taking a break from the work and heading by train to Edinburgh tomorrow morning.  Four hours of a ride through the countryside will be delightful, and a few days in Scotland will charge our batteries, so to speak.

Board Day on Pall Mall

Well, another board meeting under my belt!  ClientEarth has grown so much we've graduated quickly from a 4 hour meeting to  an all day meeting working through lunch!  I fully expect it to grow in length again at the pace these extraordinary lawyers are working and succeeding.  We are already in "game changing" territory.  What a trip!  Take a look at the website for more info:  www.clientearth.org.

We held our meeting in the North Library of the Athaneaum Club on Pall Mall.  A wonderful room filled with ancient books from floor to ceiling.  I liked most the door, when closed, blended into the bookcases like a secret door....filled with books!  Very English.

My view from the Chair's seat

I'm bushed and shutting down now.