London Visitors

Shortly after our return from Florida and Arizona we were visited in London by friends from Pacific Grove, California -- Jim and Pam Cain and their 6 year old daughter, Olivia.

We met Jim and Pam through our Monterey church, where Pam has long been a faithful member (and fine soprano) in the choir. Pam and her mother, Claire Verduin, (both avid readers; Claire is a former publisher) are also members of our church-based Faith and Fiction book group and we always enjoy their company and their insights. Pam is also very active in supporting a number of Monterey and Pacific Grove public service and charitable organizations and has long been a stalwart supporter of the Pacific Grove library. When Pam is not involved in church activities, she is busy as a financial advisor with a small Monterey firm.

Jim is an air traffic controller for the FAA and based at the Monterey airport. In his spare time he is an avid fan of Triumph (made in England) sports cars. In fact, their visit to the UK, in addition to their 3-day visit with us, included stops at a British auto museum and a day (for Jim) at a local former race course which was hosting a gathering of Triumph afficianados.

The Cains came to us in London directly from a day at Warwick Castle, where Olivia enjoyed the medieval re-enactments, including catapult firings. While in London, they took an extensive tour by bus of the city -- followed by several miles of walking to numerous central-London sites. Kathi and Chuck went with Pam and Olivia (while Jim was "Triumphing" at the race course) to the British Library, (second visit for the Calvanos), and its fantastic collection of ancient and rare volumes and other artifacts.

While the Cains were here, Olivia became our chief assistant in the kitchen. The pictures show Olivia in action and the Cain family.

Visit with Family

We had a chance to visit with family back in the States recently, and it was very welcome. Kathi flew to Jacksonville, FL, to visit with Karissa and Dante on 5 April and Chuck joined them on the 7th. On Sunday the 9th we both flew to Phoenix and were joined by Jill who had flown in from San Diego. For the next few days we visited with Chuck's Mom and with Julie and Justin and our grandson (now 5), Tyler.

Karissa and Dante recently moved into a very nice townhouse in a new development in Jacksonville. The 3-bedroom unit is located on a small man-made lake that's part of the development. We had (a Karissa-prepared) dinner at their house on Friday night (very nice, Karissa) and on Saturday morning went to see coach Dante's soccer team in action. The kids are about 6 to 8 years in age and Dante's goal is for them to have a good time and to learn to love soccer. He and the other coaches (and parents) seem to be in accord that winning is distinctly less important -- good for them. (And for Dante's coaching career as the score was quite one-sided against his kids!) After the game we drove over to St. Augustine and spent the day there, visiting all the historic sites and buildings. Then on Sunday morning Kathi and Chuck left for Phoenix.

While in Arizona we were able to see, several times, Julie and Justin's 5-bedroom home in a new development in rapidly-growing Surprise -- a suburb of Phoenix. Their house, complete with pool, is quite nice (bigger than anything Kathi and Chuck have ever owned) and should serve their needs for a good long time. Julie seems to be genuinely enjoying the decorating process.

We visited Tyler's school, where he is learning rapidly and doing well -- he took us through an exercise he has learned about decimal places, distinguishing between units, tens, hundreds and thousands. His teacher, "Miss Jill", was very nice. We had a chance to visit Julie at her law-firm's office in a high rise in downtown -- lovely setting and very nice offices -- and had a chance to see the Mazda dealership where, in one year, Justin has become the senior (and most prolific) salesperson.

Kathi and Chuck, as well as Jill, stayed with Chuck's Mom, who continues to enjoy her independence in her Phoenix home where she's lived since 1978. We accompanied her on one of her weekly bingo outings (Chuck won the first game for $25 and Kathi won the last for $79 -- not quite enough to pay off our mortgage, but fun nonetheless.) On several of the evenings, the four of us played Pinochle, a new pursuit for Jill, who left us all highly impressed with how quickly she learned the game. The series of about 10 games over several days (Mom and Kathi vs. Chuck and Jill) ended up in a draw. Way to go Jill!

Jill, Kathi and Chuck drove to Sedona, Arizona on Jill's last day in Phoenix and enjoyed the beautiful desert and mountain scenery. On Friday, Jill left for San Diego, on Saturday Kathi left for London and on Sunday Chuck flew to a short stop in Washington before going on to London.

Chuck and Kathi were very happy that things worked out so they could see Chuck's Mom, all three girls, their husbands and Tyler.

The pictures show Chuck's Mom in the family room of Julie and Justin's new home, Chuck helping Tyler assemble a dinosaur model in Chuck's Mom's dining room and a typical Sedona view.

Local Views

The address of our flat is 199 Clarence Gate Gardens (on Glentworth Street) in London. We've not taken a picture of the building, but recently received a post card from an "estate agent" (realtor) seeking listings in the building and we decided to use that to give you an idea of what the building we live in looks like. (The photo is actually of a different one of the 9 identical building fronts.)

We're just a short block from the Baker Street tube station, with 5 different lines of the London Underground serving it -- and Baker Street and Marylebone Road (only 2 blocks away) between them have about 15 bus routes on them. So we are very well located for getting around London by tube or bus.

In keeping with the theme of convenient location, the church we attend, St. Cyprian's, is just across the street from our front door. As is the normal situation in the UK, the church is part of the Church of England, though it is a traditional member church of the Oxford Movement, which means it is very traditional in its liturgy. In fact, in many ways it feels like a Catholic Church of the 1950s.

The picture shows the interior, which is very well known in the UK and among fans of church architecture. In fact, it is generally said to be the most beautiful church built in London in the 20th century -- having been built in 1905. The altar screen especially, is very striking, as the photo shows.

London Theater Update

Some of our most recent theater outings have included these shows:

“Embers” starred Jeremy Irons in a tour-de-force performance. There were only three characters in the play and the other two, no doubt, had no problem learning their parts as Irons spoke at least 95% of the time he was on stage – and he was on stage for the entire show. While he was excellent and is certainly a very able actor, the near-monologue became a bit dense and somewhat hard to stay involved with. Yet one had to admire the star’s performance.

“Night of the Iquana” starred Woody Harrelson, not a family favorite with either of us – but he gave a very fine performance. Overall, the show was definitely in our “very good” category. The newest musical put on at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Palace Theater is a revival of “Whistle Down the Wind”. It was a riveting and intellectually stimulating show that we liked much more than we expected to. (The popular song “No Matter What” was a major hit a few years ago for “Boyzone”.)

Two shows we found disappointing were “Fame”, a musical based on the movie and which has been playing for years in London; and “Movin’ Out”, the new review-style musical with songs by Billy Joel and choreography by Twyla Tharp. “Fame” was extremely loud and, we thought, unnecessarily raunchy; “Movin’ Out”, as a review, just became repetitious. Though the dancing was fantastic and we both like Billy Joel’s music, a steady stream of production numbers, with absolutely no dialogue or story, can actually begin to get boring.

By far the best of our recent theater events was “Sinatra Live at the Palladium”. Of course Frank has been dead for a number of years now, but this highly inventive, very hi-tech show, made him seem to be right there. It made major use of computer technology, digital editing of films and photos and very inventive staging to make the whole experience feel like “Ol’ Blue Eyes” was really with us. A live orchestra (on stage) and a great chorus of dancers were very effectively combined with multiple, ever-changing screens depicting Frank in live performances on film. The video was edited to remove the bands that were originally in the background, allowing the live band to substitute for them. There were some spectacular visual effects where a film of Frank singing was combined with a still photo of, for instance, Ava Gardner, reclining on a chaise lounge. As Frank moved in the film, his apparent shadow moved, receded and came closer, just as it really would, on the backdrop of Ava’s photo. You could have sworn they were actually in the same room. The pinnacle of the computer video effects came when he appeared to walk off the stage, walking behind Ava, while still remaining in front of the room’s back wall – even though the room was part of a 2-D still photo. Computer magic, show business pizzaz and great songs -- all-in-all a fantastic, “fantasy-intense” show.

Our enchantment with London theater continues. Stay tuned for future updates.