New Mexico

Jacob came to Albuquerque for the weekend; it was wonderful to see him, and it was also really fun to visit some of our old favorite places together! One of the things we love most about New Mexico is that my brother Bob and his wife Emily live here. They're fabulous! We're also fond of their dogs. I love this picture of Bob holding Deviny (who is way too big to be held) and Emily laughing in the background.

And then there's the food. Truth be told, it's the real reason Jacob came to Albuquerque for the weekend. :) Here's a carne adovada omelet from Weck's and the world-famous El Pinto nachos.

Strawberry pie

We had such a great time this weekend hanging out with our niece and nephew Emily and Jacob! (Oh, and we're pretty fond of their parents Micaela and Jon too.) One of Uncle Jake's favorite things is a strawberry pie, and Emily thought she could match him in quantity eaten. The pictures are so cute I couldn't choose just one (or three, for that matter).

Nephew Jacob joined the fun at some point, but you can see by the below photo that most of the pie had been devoured. (The thing I love most about this last photo is the whipped cream all over Uncle Jake's fingers--I can't decide which of these three is cutest!)

In the USA

We're just hanging out in the USA right now. Jacob's at a class in Mississippi, and I'm at my brother Bob's house in Albuquerque. I've enjoyed spending time with him and his awesome wife Emily and their 3 lively dogs: Deviny, Zeppelin and Oscar (pictured with me above, fancying himself a lap dog).

I also got to see my sister-in-law Micaela and my fabulous nephew Jacob and his equally-fabulous sister Emily. My father-in-law Jim was even in town, and we all had dinner tonight after nephew Jacob's T-ball game.

I've also been working in the office, which has been wonderful! More updates to come...

Formal Hall

A couple of weeks ago our friends Lisa & Steve invited us to do something super-cool. At Cambridge University (where Lisa is a PhD student) they have meal settings that resemble the dining hall at Harry Potter's Hogwarts. The students have to dress in their robes, and the rest of us dressed up. And we sat at long tables along the dining hall--it was so fun!!

We also got insider access to a couple of the colleges (which are usually restricted). So beautiful!

We have a Prime Minister!

(Ok, it's not official until the Queen says it is, but there are no longer other possibilities.)

Despite Brown's resignation announcement yesterday, Labour wasn't able to make any deals, which left 2 possibilities. First, the Conservatives would make a deal with the Liberal Democrats (which has been in discussions since Friday) and rule with a coalition government. The other option would be for the Conservatives to skip a deal with the Lib Dems and simply form a minority government. Either way, the new PM is David Cameron.

Here's a screen shot from Brown's official resignation announcement tonight. It's the entire Brown family leaving their home at 10 Downing Street (sorry about the "buffering" circles). They went from here to Buckingham Palace (and yes, BBC cameras followed their car all the way) to tell the Queen to invite David Cameron to form a government.

Here's some hilarious perspective about the possible coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. A high-ranking Conservative politician, Boris Johnson, the famously comical mayor of London, described the Liberal Democrats as "Janus-faced, spineless protoplasmic invertebrate amoebic fibbers." Strange bedfellows? No question!

Election night: uncertainty takes over

The polls closed at 10pm, and when I started dozing at midnight, they had only called 3 of the 650 elections. But I kept the news on all night and only got about 4 hours of sleep. When I woke up at 4:45, they still had 200 races yet to call. Here's how things stand now: Labour has 256 parliament seats; the Tories have 302 seats. A party needs 326 seats in order to have outright power.

So where does that leave the government today? It's a hung parliament, which means the incumbent Prime Minister has a chance to form some kind of coalition government, usually by joining with some of the smaller parties to reach that magical 326-seat majority. This usually means making deals and concessions that go back on campaign promises and upset the electorate.

Obviously the Conservatives are outraged that the party who got the most seats doesn't get first attempt at forming the coalition government. They're saying the public has sent the clear message of rejection of the Labour government, so they don't have a "moral right" to govern. Even the Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg said this morning that he believes the Tories should be allowed to form a government because they hold the most seats. It's possible the LibDems will make a deal with the Conservatives, but their party platforms seem so incompatible!

I'll keep you posted over the next few days. A lingering question this morning is whether the Queen will get involved in settling the election. I have no idea what power she has and what form her involvement might take. I'm eager to see what happens next!

Election night!--loving the BBC

I'm just tuning in to watch election coverage on the BBC. I watched 2008 US election coverage on BBC and loved it.

I did just see this on BBC's website: they have a free, downloadable "election night party pack." Per the description on the site, it includes "themed games, face masks and a crib sheet of election night trivia to pepper your conversation with, and thereby impress others."

Instead of hangman, the game is called "hung parliament." Here's hoping. :)

Election Day--let the fun begin!

Today is the UK general election!! I was already looking forward to all the events, but this morning when I turned on the computer and saw today's google logo, I was excited all over again. [It's the door to 10 Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives.]

Early indications are for a hung parliament, and I'm on the edge of my seat to see what happens!

(PS--Not sure if posting the above logo is a copyright violation, but aren't the people at Google super-creative?)