Hen Night

A "Hen Night" is the British equivalent of a bachelorette party in the U.S. My new friend, Katie, is getting married in a few weeks so a couple of the ladies associated with the Astronomy department, Regina and Shayna, and I decided to throw her a Hen Night. Unfortunately, we can't really "hang" with the traditional Hen Night being too old and too sensible for such things, if you know what I mean. So, instead we dressed up silly-like and headed to a club where we were the oldest patrons by at least ten years! We had a great time dancing to such modern hits as "Push It" by Salt 'n Pepa (England hasn't really moved past the 80's music-wise) and worrying about the impending bouts of pneumonia sure to be experienced by the scantily-clad teenagers, who are inadvertently wearing the same clothes worn by the teenagers who first danced to the 80's music. We may be old, but we can still dance!

Homemade Chocolate Cake

I promise, I really am applying for jobs, but since I'm currently unemployed, there what harm is there in learning a few domestic arts? Here is my very first attempt at a completely homemade chocolate layer cake. It wasn't bad, but as George pointed out, could get better with practice...

Buddy for Obama

We all do what we can for change...some of us campaign, others of us make biscuits disappear.

The Roman Baths in Bath

I still can't get over how old things are here. In a fantastic example of how the Romans co-opted local religions, they took the temple the Celts built (836 B.C.) at the hot springs to the Goddess Sulis, and built a much bigger temple to Sulis Minerva (60 A.D.). Here are a few photos from our brief trip to Bath. You can walk as the Romans walked but not bathe as the Romans bathed! My favorite pictures are the one of the live statue and the one of George sampling the hot spring water. Clearly it is for bathing, not drinking!