Six weeks on..

When I left the UK at the end of June, Theo was almost 4 weeks old and seemed to have grown so much in the previous weeks.

Returning today to spend time with the family again, six weeks have passed and despite having been kept up to date with lovely photos..

He has grown and changed so much!

Tomorrow he will be 10 weeks old and he is smiling, laughing, holding his head up and looking all around at everything that is going on.

I can see that - once he has got used to me again and I have learned his new ways - we are going to have some fun!

En route home

Unfortunately travelling alone tonight but there was time for a souvenir photo at the airport before I left (once it has been established that it was a suitable A380-ish type aircraft to be seen in...)

Vote for your favourite!

Just as Walkers crisps in the UK have been producing new and different flavours and inviting consumers to vote for their favourite, the sister company in the US, Lays, has been running a similar competition.

As you might expect, the flavours on offer are rather different.  The New York Reuben is based on a favourite gourmet sandwich featuring corned beef and sauerkraut or pickles.

Southern Biscuits and Gravy - in this instance the biscuits are a kind of light savory scone, served sometimes as a breakfast or brunch dish with a seasoned white sauce containing small pieces of either chicken or beef.

I realise that I should have studied these a little closer as I don't actually know what West Coast Truffle Fries might be..

And finally, Greektown Gyro is based on lamb kebab meat and flavours of Greek salad...

Which would you like me to bring home for you?..

Deep Fried Ice-Cream Dessert

Out for a belated birthday lunch today with a friend at a Japanese restaurant in Reston.

We decided to indulge in a rather naughty dessert - in fact two - on the left is Deep Fried Ice-Cream and on the right Tempura Banana & Ice-Cream.

Well, what can I say??

Bottom of the Barrel

There are some days when I don't take any photos and have to rely on images taken a few days before..

In this instance, a few photos taken in the Christmas corner of the Mount Vernon gift shop, last Saturday.

It was rather surreal to come into the gift shop from one of the hottest days of the year and see a full display of decorated Christmas trees and ornaments.

This tree looked as if it was decorated with giant fruit drop boiled sweets - in fact lozenges of different colored glass with lights behind which looked very effective.

Just four and a half months to go and we will be decorating our trees!

Wildlife Camera

David has installed a wildlife camera which is strapped to a tree in the 'yard'.  It is triggered by movement and so, unsurprisingly, we take a great deal of photos of squirrels!

This rather young fawn appears to be alone and is very tiny - no more than two feet high at most.

As the camera also takes night photos, we often find ourselves puzzling over rather indistinct shapes..our best guess here is a possum but it could be anything...

Osprey on the Potomac

Shortly after leaving Alexandria yesterday our boat passed an osprey nest - a messy, large pile of sticks - above the water on a way marker.

We could just see that there was a second bird - presumably a young bird - in the nest.

We were told that at one time when DDT was widely in use as a pesticide in this area, the osprey population was under threat but since it has been banned the numbers have increased again.  As they live almost entirely on fish the nest is very well placed!

The nest is not in a remote location - it is not far from the huge and very busy Woodrow Wilson bridge which spans the Potomac and carries the Capital Beltway between Alexandria and National Harbour.

Later in the day when we were waiting for the boat at Mount Vernon there was another osprey - perhaps a young one - high in a tree.  He was very noisy!

On our way back to Alexandria we again passed the waymarker and this time it was easier to see the young bird in the nest.