Colour Me Out

Happy Birthday to Sam. England Samantha (as opposed to Vancouver Samantha) is celebrating a big one today. My whole weekend was devoted to birthday parties. I had two parties to go to on Saturday for 3 people (30, 30, 25) and then a follow up for one of the 30ies on Sunday afternoon. As well, Cat and I braved central London on Saturday to do birthday present shopping so by Sunday evening I was pretty much birthday partied out. That is something I never thought I would say.

This Friday is Becca's hen do so I will be getting prepared to be wedding-ed out and Chris is due on Sunday so soon I will probably be baby-ed out.

But one thing I will never be is Squishy-ed out - ain't he adorable!

Ooooh, oooohh and...

Angela has another nephew. Her sister, Jennifer, had a little boy on I don't have pictures yet but will post them as soon as I do. His name is Owen Jonathan McCalla and he was born on 16 April 2007.

And Steve is an uncle for the first time. He has a new niece named Ayla Dawn McLean. She was born on 8 April 2007. Steve is already counting the days until she is old enough for him to take her shopping. Here is her picture;

Growing Pains

Man am I old. I spent Sunday afternoon helping Sally on her allotment. And while on Sunday it made me feel virtuous, on Monday and Tuesday it just made me feel achy. Plus I have a sunburn. Do you feel sorry for me?

Tomorrow

Are you ready for it? Will you be facing it head on or hiding under your duvet?

Billy No Mates

Just booked tickets for the NHL (Mighty Ducks vs Kings) and NBA (Celtics vs Timberwolves) games. Hopefully I will have friends for the NFL game as Dave is sorting that one out.

I am in the nosebleed seats though. They are both selling out fast. I could have been closer to the floor for the NBA game but didn't want to be behind the basket.

Hinder

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. Mine was pretty laid back. Cat and I went to see Hinder at the University of London on Thursday night. Poor Angela got an answering machine full of Lips of an Angel (or was it Get Stoned?). It was a really great concert, made all the better for being in such a small venue. For the 6 or so readers who attended UPEI ages ago, it was like seeing them at the Barn.

Lessons Learned

Lesson One - On Saturday morning, I was getting ready to go on my game drive and as I headed out the door, I went to put on my sneakers. When I put my right foot into my shoe, it would not go all the way in. I thought to myself, I don't remember leaving my sock in my shoe. Oh well, I reached in to pull out my sock and came up with a toad! Luckily he was little and harmless but I learned the lesson of checking my shoes before putting them on. Thank god I was not in Australia where it would have been a spider or a scorpion.

Lesson Two - Not sure what caused it but the Zambian equivalent of Montezuma is having his revenge. Oh my!

Elephants,

That's me riding and feeding Mashumbi. The elephants at Thorntree Lodge are allowed to roam around the park and one day Mashumbi was kidnapped by wild elephants. She was gone for 10 months and when she came back she was pregnant with this little girl - Marula.

Lions,

These guys are Loco and Lelo, they are 10 month old brothers. I got to spend an hour walking through the bush and interacting with them. It was a cool overcast day so they were really active and playful. The Lion Encounter project, hand raises lions until they are 7 months old and then uses them for walks and interations. When they are about 15 months old, they are grouped into a pride and set free in a protected game park of atleast 10,000 acres. The plan is to then take any lions born to the pride and release them in the wild in other parts of Africa.

The Falls - Oh My!

A to Z

Coming at ya live, but tired, from South Africa - my 3rd country in 12 hours. As some of you may know, in my first year in England, I had the good fortune to visit Andorra. It was the first (and only) country starting with A that I have visited. Well, I am on my way back to the UK from a weekend in Zambia with a side trip to Zimbabwe. I have now visited one A country and two Z countries so I can officially say I have travelled A-Z. I don't have all the letters in between covered but will keep working on it. X might be a little difficult though!

Highlights of the weekend - riding an Elephant, walking with and getting licked by lions and the amazing Victoria Falls. Pictures to follow.