Lazy Sunday

After 5 weeks in a row of travel, and with Kerry's family getting ready for their trip to visit us, we took a weekend off.  So what the heck, I'll blog about a lazy Sunday.

I find it somewhat ironic that we talk about all our trips to other places and leave out all the true "expat" experiences, despite the name of our blog.  Honestly the reason why is that it's terribly boring to read about.  It is England after all, not Vietnam.  We all speak the same language more or less, and lately, after 10 months of residency, it's easy to forget we're in a foreign country.   

So here's a quickie about Sunday, June 2nd 2013.

Our normal weekend routine always involves shopping for food, CrossFit, cooking, and watching American TV on Hulu over my VPN connection.  The VPN is required because Hulu only works if it thinks you're streaming from a USA IP address.  The VPN routes me through an American IP and tricks Hulu.  Cat's out of the bag if Hulu reads my blog.  The downside is it eats up most of the bandwidth, so it can be a headache if the internet connection is running slower than normal.

British TV is the one thing I haven't really warmed up to, honestly.  

So that morning after breakfast and coffee, Kerry and I worked out and chatted it up for a bit afterward.  Then it was downtime in the bungalow.

Here's some rhubarb I purchased from Sainsburys, and ground beef out defrosting for dinner.  It's a nice day so I'm making hamburgers and firing up my little charcoal grill, then making a rhubarb crumble for dessert.

Monkey nuts are an American import.  Americans call them peanuts. So do Brits, so I'm not sure why they're labeled as Monkey nuts.  We bought these because I wanted sugar free peanut butter, and the price for that is astronomical here.

The weather sure has improved lately.  Sometimes it's dreadful - as my neighbors say, but that just makes the flowers look better.  This is my backyard; not sure I've ever shown this before.  It has a clothesline but we never use it since we have a collapsible rack for hanging laundry.  Kerry sometimes sets it outside if it's not raining or too cold.

Here's a bench, a shed, and my mini grill on the back patio. My neighbors have a conservatory, as you can see the glass ceiling.

This is Stan, still doing well with only a few months before he goes back in his cargo kennel.  He doesn't know that yet.

Kerry's shelling monkey nuts.  Then she'll roast them, peel off the papery skin, and then give them a long "tizz in the blitzer" until they turn into butter.  Hey she's enjoying herself! And it tasted very good.  I'll let Kerry be the judge if her time was worth the cost savings.

Here's Lucy lying in a very strange posture - like a chicken getting ready to get its head chopped off. She's also doing well.

The cats follow Kerry around all day and lay down wherever she's hanging out.  I was probably trying to get caught up on a blog and running in and out of the kitchen with dinner prep.

So, there you go!  A lazy, expat Sunday.  It's nice not having to do any yard work!