Boat trip!

These shorts were purchased yesterday in honour of the trip - I searched for a high-waisted pair, but had no luck. Admittedly, I was only looking in charity shops, and my budget was £2. Anyway, I loved the detail of this pink gingham pair, so they had their maiden voyage today.

LOML and I took turns steering (watched closely, of course). We pottered down the Avon River and out to sea, wandered around for a bit, and then came back. As you can see, LOML borrowed a snazzy hat from my grandfather ...




Just two days left! I'm so glad we're staying in the States for a few days before flying back to New Zealand - it makes the flight far less daunting.

On the beach

My beautiful grandmother and I went for a long walk along the seafront this morning, to a neighbouring town. It's a place popular with holidaymakers (or 'grockles', as my great-grandmother calls them. I'm not sure of the spelling - or if there is an official spelling - so please tell me if you know!).


I love beach huts. They remind me of the Wendy-house I had when I was little - everything in miniature, right down to the little hob for the kettle! There is something quintessentially English about sheltering from the sand-speckled wind in your beach hut, drinking a cup of tea and eating a ginger biscuit (which you dunk in your tea, of course).

I can't believe we only have another four days here before we fly to L.A. It has gone past so quickly. I am already starting to miss everyone, even though I haven't left yet, and everything feels remembered and nostalgic even as it is happening - as if I'm looking back on it all from somwhere far in the future. It's awful living so far away from family, especially as they are all getting older.

P.S. A couple of you have asked how long I'm in the L.A. area. Only for four days! We're actually staying in Laguna Beach, not Newport Beach (which was the original plan).

Great craic!

LOML and I have been spending a lazy couple of days here in England - mostly napping! I think our travels have caught up with us a little bit; we seem to be sleeping all the time. LOML is off to London today for a week of work, meeting clients around the UK and over in France. I'll be staying here while he's away, spending time with my family and catching up on some work. My agent is expecting the new manuscript in October, so I need to get that finished fairly soon.

We've downloaded some of the photos of us from the wedding in Northern Ireland last week. LOML's grandfather runs a bar, and we had a pre-wedding party there on the Monday night. The regulars were quite disconcerted to see such a big crowd, I think - particularly such a large crowd of women! So few women venture into the bar that there isn't even a ladies's toilet - only a gents'. There is an outhouse, though, if you're prepared to brave the darkness and spiders.

LOML's grandfather is 94, and still going strong. He stores all his favourite jokes on bits of paper in a jar behind the bar - some of them date back to the Second World War - and brings them out to show visitors. He was happy to show LOML the whole lot, but had to censor a few for me. He doesn't want to put ideas in my head, he says.

We met some great people there - mostly friends of the couple's from university or work.

The wedding was on Tuesday afternoon. I had left my original wedding outfit back in New Zealand (silly me), and so bought this dress from Monsoon the week before. I do love it, though. As you can see, I'm standing in one of the two upstairs sitting rooms in LOML's family home - it used to be a hotel, and so has a labyrinthine series of bedrooms, bathrooms and sitting rooms. It's an amazing house, really, old and rambling. Out the back are lofts, barns and stables; we found a box of books in one of the lofts that dated back to 1804.

This is Charlotte, my second cousin and new best friend.

We walked from the house to the church where the ceremony was conducted, then headed off to a local hotel for the reception.



It was a really beautiful day. After the dinner and speeches, the tables were pushed back, and the next several hours were spent dancing - both modern and traditional Irish dances. The party didn't end there, however: the following day, one of LOML's uncles roasted a whole lamb on a spit out in the yard, and about forty people came over for a barbecue. I spent most of the day sitting on a chair watching it cook, sipping Pimm's and reading a book. My hair still smells of woodsmoke, but it was totally worth it.