Day 7.055: Getting here

Today was a normal run, work, eat, Skype day but tomorrow has all sorts of excitement.

We have just one last hurdle to cross in the sale of our home, and tomorrow, the big one in the purchase of the new one happens. I will be spending a couple of hours at the house with a home inspector hoping to find everything that is wrong with it (and hoping that that is very little!).

After that, I'm heading home to work out what we need to do with the last few weekends I have to sort things out there for the move.  See you on the other side!

Day 6.284: Facts by E5N1

E5N1 is often busily working at the table when we come downstairs in the morning. Recently he's been working on "Non-fiction comics".

Here is one page - of things he knows and you should too (transcribed below):

Lightning can hit trees so be careful!

Gravel can hurt

There are more than 10 states

Not all berries are edible!

Not all dogs are nice

Not all people like Minecraft

Not all kids have parents that are 2

! ? .  These are the marks

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYX and Z - letters!!!!!!!

Day 6.124: Did she D.A.R.E.?

I went in late to work today in order to catch Exile #3's D.A.R.E. graduation. I've been a bit of a D.A.R.E. skeptic since I started hearing about it from parents of older children.  It seemed to me that by lumping all drugs, tobacco and alcohol together they were liable to produce cognitive dissonance for the kids, most of whom (mine included) live in houses where alcohol is consumed fairly regularly.

I may also have been partially informed by South Park I suppose:


Anyway, whether it was the changes in curriculum this year, or my daughter's character, or her knowledge of my skepticism I don't know, but it seems to have been a great programme, focusing on making good decisions, getting help and being good to others.

Her graduation certificate says that she has made a commitment to avoid drugs and violence - now that I can wholeheartedly support!

I'm in no hurry for her to start experimenting with alcohol either (despite what I said before) but I don't want her to worry that her parents are destroying our brains either.

Day 5.264: Technology in Slingerlands?

I had no plans to attend the opening day of Shop Rite in Slingerlands until one of my readers contacted me to do so late this afternoon.  Well...OK, if the readers demand it, what can I do?

So I made my way over to the Vista Technology Campus (perhaps they should just change the name to avoid further embarrassment?) where Shop Rite were opening their doors on their third store in the region.  I expected to go over there, take a few photos, admire the buzz of opening day and write something nice about the store - after all, you can always find something nice to say about a brand new store.

However, I failed at the second step.  As I was taking an interior shot - just because I like to accompany my words with a relevant picture - I was pounced on by one of the many staff who were standing around (there were also many working the counters and registers to achieve an impressive flow of opening-day shoppers through the store, but there were a lot also standing around) who informed me that I wasn't allowed to take photographs in the store.

Now, this is not a public place and the owners or operators are within their rights to set such a rule, so I merely expressed surprise and explained why I wanted a photograph.  Perhaps sensing a PR blunder, the staff-member then asked to wait while a manager was called over so that permission could be sought.

The manager was very polite and accommodating, he told me I could take a general scene inside for my post and asked if there was anything else I particularly wanted to photograph so he could approve it.  If that had been the total conversation, I might have thought nothing more of it, but he also tried to explain the policy and that was less successful.  First he told me that there was a legal restriction because of the people in the photograph.  I explained my understanding of the law - that for reporting purposes I needed no releases and that if I did, that was for me to worry about.  He explained that the store could be liable for some kind of invasion of privacy...vagueness...then he dropped it and took another tack.  There were commercial reasons - I might work for a competitor and want to photograph prices etc. - OK, that's valid, except that the store has online shopping, so why would any competitor want to send a guy with a camera around the store - and if they did what could Shop Rite expect to lose?

I'm being harsh - I know - but it always annoys me when people lie to me or spin a guess into a fact to try to get rid of me or shut me up.  He could have said, "It's our policy. I'm not sure why."  He did not have to explain it to me - I never suggested that they could not ask me to stop, I just expressed some surprise at the restriction.

Hopefully we will do some shopping there soon and I can report on some exciting finds.  I noticed some interesting gluten-free items and a better-than-average beer selection.  I look forward to seeing what they have in the way of dairy-free too - we are a challenging family when it comes to grocery shopping.  For now, however, I am left musing on the technology restrictions in the technology park.





Full disclosure: I received a small free sample of cake that was available to all shoppers today.  It was tasty.

Day 5.243: Touch-me-not!

We had a good (busy) day today. This afternoon was an outing to a new place which I will write about properly, but for now - here's just one plant.

It's the perfect time of year to enjoy impatiens capensis also known as (amongst other things) orange jewelweed and spotted touch-me-not.

It's quite pretty (and attractive to the bees!)

and at this time of year has these small bean-like seed pods. They give the plant its second common name. Touch them not!

Here's another slow-motion video of someone (Exile #3) failing to take that good advice:

Day 5.205: He may pass

E5N1's newly renewed US passport arrived a couple of days ago. This is the picture in it (his very best neutral expression):

When we took him to the post office to submit the application (him and both his parents need to be present, presumably to make sure no-one is trying to whisk him off to foreign parts), the lady at the counter wanted to know how old the photo was.  I reassured her that it was only one day old but she looked skeptical for a moment.  Exile #2 lifted E5N1 up and said, "Can you do that face?"...and he did - getting a good laugh from everyone.

Day 5.065: Immigrants

In August 2006, Exile #2 and I visited the US Embassy in London to apply for non-immigrant visas for ourselves and our daughters.  Twice since then we have been  back to renew them - the first of those times was just after we very nearly found ourselves forced to leave the country at short notice because of the end of my qualifying employment.

Now we are Lawful Permanent Residents (except E5N1 of course - he is a fully-fledged US Citizen) and holders of actual Green Cards (they became actually-green again after more than 40 years of only being notionally-green in 2010).

What this means: no need to visit the US Embassy again, we won't be thrown out of the country just because I lose my job, Exile #2 and I can work for any company in the US who will have us.

What this doesn't mean: that we'll necessarily stay here forever, that I am leaving my job, that we won't visit the UK any more.

It's a relief, but also a strange feeling for this at times all-consuming element of our life to be at an end.

Day 5.053: Anyone for snowball?

We had a going nowhere kind of day today for a number of reasons.

1. Exile #3 was at a sleepover until 10.30am
2. When she came home she reported that she'd had only two hours of sleep.
3. E5N1 is coming down with a cold and was very unhappy at the suggestion of an outing.
4. E5N1 is coming down with a cold and his behaviour made us wary of an outing.
5. Exile #4 was determined to have one more play in the rapidly melting snow and have me take some photos.

In this last, I totally failed her - although in my defence, she didn't remind me when she was actually out or ready to go out - so here's a picture from her first session in the snow on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Exile #2 and I have been doing kitchen update research and a second session of filling in tax information, so we had our share of fun!

Day 4.333: Alcohol and caffeine

Why didn't someone think of mixing alcohol and caffeine together before?*

Ale with coffee added.

After all that Four Loco business - is this even legal?  I can only imagine that it must be - it's also rather good.





* Yes I am aware of the long history of such beverages.

Day 4.325: A pinch and a punch...

At the beginning of the school year, we signed up to go into the girls' school for parent-teacher conferences today.  Then about three weeks ago, we received appointments to visit the Department of Homeland Security to have our fingerprints scanned.  Then a few days ago Exile #4 announced that their class were having a cuddly-toy party this morning to reward them for filling their good-behaviour marble jar.

So it was that we were getting up at 6 am this morning to try to fit everything in.  It might just come together at a pinch.

Our biometric appointments were at 8, 9, 12 and 1 - but following two tip-offs we all turned up at 8 and they were willing to do them all at once.  The only hiccup was that Exile #3 was registered for an employment authorization and I was not, so Exile #2 and Exile #4 had their appointments and left to get to school in time for the party, while we waited for them to check our numbers.  It didn't take long and even after we straightened that out, we were appropriately processed and out just before 9.

That meant that I was dropping Exile #3 off at school just a few minutes late, as the last buses were arriving.  It was just as well she was not late - because if she had been she would have missed the announcement of this:

(I've edited out her fellow stars - not out of any disrespect for their achievements, but out of respect for their privacy!)

I took the picture when I met Exile #2 at lunch-time for the conferences.  It seems the girls are both doing very well (and not just in PE).  Their teachers are happy, but maybe not quite as happy as we are having survived this crazy day intact.  Also, no-one got punched - except very gently in celebration of the date.

Day 4.274: Road vs Way

In the UK, we call it a railway, here it's a railroad - except when it's a railway. On Saturday, our main aim was to ride the Berkshire (yes the first syllable rhymes with "work" not "lark" here) Scenic Railway. Well, it is New England over that side of the border - so maybe that explains it - or maybe not.

Well, whatever your views on Road vs Way (or any other supreme court ruling), it is safe to say that it was fun and scenic as you can hopefully see.

The round-trip between Lenox and Stockbridge via Lee travels along the Housatonic River, crossing it three times in each direction and there are plenty of things for the commentator to point out along the way, but for the kids the excitement was mainly riding on a train.

Day 4.262: Healthy enough?

This morning we had our physical examinations - the last step in a process to get a federally-approved doctor to approve our application for 'green cards' so that we can, hopefully, eventually, be free from the cycle of visa renewals and the spectre of being thrown out of the country at short notice.

The rest of the application is also coming together - including a new set of attractively cheerful photographs.

One of my colleagues pointed out that we are going through the successor of the immigration formalities at Ellis Island a hundred years ago. Of course in those days, the process took between two and five hours. Let's just say it's a bit slower than that these days (we started the process in October - and ours is going quickly!)  However, many things are the same. The main aims being to ensure we have money (by landing a medical bill for $2500 on us and seeing if we flinch) and do not have any communicable diseases (syphilis and TB seem to be top of the list these days).

It could be argued that if we had any of these diseases we would have been a threat to the fabric of American society for the last four and half years too - but what place does logic have in these processes?

Day 4.192: Vis-a-vis

I made appointments for us to renew our visas again next month. We will be in the UK from August 22nd to September 6th and will be visiting the US embassy in London once again.

Like last year, we required new photographs and once again I rather liked the ones I took of the girls despite the 'neutral' expressions that they are required to wear.

They are certainly quite different from their first US visa photographs.  On the other hand Exile #2 and I haven't changed a bit!

Day 4.120: Parenting, liability and risk

I am delighted that Exile #3 likes to climb trees and even more so that we have trees in the yard that she can climb. I was nervous to see her friend way up high in our Dawn Redwood the other day however. Do I need to worry that our trees are an 'attractional hazard' to other children like a backyard trampoline would supposedly be?!

In fact her father was in the house talking to Exile #2 and was extremely chilled about his daughter's altitude so all was well (oh yeah - and they both climbed down safely).

Day 4.042: Washington's snow day

Although commonly known as "Presidents Day", the official name for today's holiday is "Washington's Birthday" as I recently discovered. Interestingly it falls on dates between February 15th and 21st - never on his actual birthday which is February 22nd (unless you mean the name of the date when he was born which was actually February 11th - thanks to Julian and Wikipedia).

We had about three inches of snow overnight and this morning. As well as showing off this cardinal at his very best it also seemed like sledding weather so we investigated the run in the yard which is quite fast now - the thin layer of fluffy snow doing little to affect the icy descent. However, it seemed time to add a twist to the experience so after mastering this with Exile #4 I introduced Exile #3 to it (sight unseen) like this:



Oh my!

Day 3.201: No laughing matter

These are the pictures from our (hopefully) newly renewed visas. We were not allowed to smile.

Exile #2 and I spent the morning travelling to London and sitting around in the US Embassy.  It all went very straightforwardly.  Afterwards, we were able to cope with our complete lack of electronic devices - I only realised after we'd arrived in London that I use my mobile phone as a timepiece as well as a communication device - and meet our friend Deborah for her lunch-break in Camden before we returned to my parents and our children.

Day 3.193: Change the laws of Physics?

After the dance last week, we left before the post-show talk, choosing instead to look around this exhibition of dance photography by the amazing Lois Greenfield. As well as lots of photos, there was a video playing with her talking about her work. At some point she pointed out that her photographs do not merely record the dance, but make visible things that otherwise could not be seen by freezing time. Mind-bending.

But that was nothing compared with our evening tonight. We went to see Inception. What a head-rush! An intelligent blockbuster - who knew such things were still possible in 2010? We also saw the trailer for the final Harry Potter movie(s) and Tron Legacy - from the sublime to the but-we-can-do-it-so-much-better-now-culous.

Day 3.095: Last post

It seems that for the British expat in the U.S., preparing taxes is like the proverbial painting of the Forth Bridge - no sooner have you got to the end than it is time to begin again.

Today was the deadline for submission of the tax returns. This morning I received the completed forms from my tax preparers and so I just had time to print them out, sign them and drive over to the special late-night opening party at one of the local post offices.  Well, I say party - there was little of the cheerful in-it-together spirit that I was half-expecting. Instead it was a civil, but tired and slightly grumpy atmosphere at 9pm - I dread to think what it will be like at 11.30pm.

Anyway, tax returns are away, certificates of posting are stamped and filed. Now, how long is it before we have to start the next ones?

Day 3.055: Childcare is taxing...

...but there are ways to make it easier.

Option 1: tie them up.

Option 2: mass hypnosis.

Both the girls had friends over this afternoon.  I guess they were all a bit tired too - as, unusually, both pairs ran out of ideas for activities and elected to watch a movie - at least it was something they could allow E5N1 to join in with.

The other picture resulted when E5N1 had been being Exile #3's dog - when she went in the shower, she tied him up on the landing.  He wasn't too bothered as you can see, but he wasn't willing to wait quietly for his sister so I untied him and let him run wild again after taking this.

Meanwhile, Exile #2 and I have made good progress with collating our tax data.  Hopefully we can get it finished soon!

Day 2.350: It was a cracker!

New York readers may be surprised to hear that, not only is it legal for British residents to buy and set off fireworks in their own gardens (yards), but it is traditional to buy them and set them off at the Christmas dinner table.

OK, they may not be fireworks exactly, but gunpowder is involved.  The items in question are Christmas Crackers - a tube containing a small explosive device, a paper hat, a small gift and a joke (or motto) printed on a small piece of paper.

Exile #2 made some this year - not being easy (or even, perhaps possible) to acquire here.  Unfortunately they were explosive-free.  They did, however, have much better gifts inside than the normal cracker fare - specially selected for each of us, along with the colour of the hats.  This small bird was in mine.  It identified itself on the accompanying card as an 'Andean Bird Warbler' and has having been 'Handcrafted in Peru'.  Surprisingly, the instructions said to fill it three-quarters full of water before blowing into the tail.  Let's just say that the result was surprising, and then let you see and hear for yourself - as re-enacted just a few moments ago.



Today we stayed home and watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on DVD (one of Exile #3's gifts). The weather forecast had predicted an ice-storm, so we hadn't planned an outing. In the end we had a thick covering of sleet (ice pellets) and then a little rain - so we could have ventured out. Tomorrow maybe!