June 2012
1 post
photos from the US
we landed in time for maria’s surprise 30th birthday party! this is the long-distance crew:
we stayed the night in concord with friends and the next morning zeke had 3 barbecue sandwiches for breakfast!!!
then we went to VA and visited wendy’s family.
we also played 9 holes of captain’s choice.
milt used his antique hickory shaft clubs
we definitely needed that...
May 2012
3 posts
"sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy"
the past few days it has hardly rained in manchester and we have been taking these opportunities to go on nice walks around the nearby parks and leafy neighbourhoods between our flat and zeke’s work. on sunday we even played a short game of ultimate frisbee with friends in the park.
though it’s not actually warm yet (56F/13C max), there’s a general permeating happiness when...
April 2012
9 posts
last pics from america
just a few pictures from the weekend
at the rehearsal dinner
the beautiful couple’s first dance at the wedding on saturday. lots of joy and happiness at this celebration.
friends at our table video chatting with Zeke back in England!
after the wedding we headed to the sports bar nearby to watch basketball…
and play big buck hunter (note: i did win, in case you were...
March 2012
5 posts
more pics
i’m having a great time in NC with friends.
first the foursome went to top of the hill for drinks and dinner (notice my 2009 national championship shirt)
then we walked around UNC’s campus afterwards and reminisced on old times. we ran into a group of freshman girls who took this picture in front of the old well (below) for us and in exchange we gave them some sage advice
the...
lots of photos from the US (part I)
i (wendy) came to the US last wednesday to give a talk in DC at the Renaissance Society of America’s annual conference. the night i arrived i got to have dinner with a friend i hadn’t seen in 12 years and her husband. they both teach at the University of Mary Washington and we had plenty of nerdy things to talk about. it was great to visit with them, but by 10pm the jet lag was...
in the capital
i (wendy) made it safely to DC to give a talk at the RSA’s annual conference.
here i am on the program (the guy i speak after already has 3 books… yikes)
the hotel is swank (a legit starbucks in the lobby) and the weather is amazing! when i landed at the airport i immediately bought a sleeveless top and put it on in the bathroom because it was so warm. no gloves and coats here!
i...
smith update
(disclaimer: no new photos, all of these have been posted on Facebook already)
the past two months have sped by. the last blog posts were from wendy’s trip to venice where we kept in touch having Skype dinner dates.
wendy brought back a few ingredients for our valentine’s dinner. a couple of years ago we started a tradition of making a nice dinner together instead of going out to...
January 2012
8 posts
vaporetto strike
so the vaporetti (water buses) that are a main source of transportation around Venice were out of commission today because of strike action. i had read that they would operate the main services between 7am-9am and 5pm-7pm, so i thought i’d be ok to get to and from the museum (which is directly across the canal from the vaporetto stop near my flat). so i got up earlier to get to the stop by...
day 1 at museo fortuny
so this is what researching looks like…
because i’m not allowed to take pictures of the cool stuff. but they did say they could provide pictures for me of some things i’ll write about in my 4th chapter, and the head of archives told me that no one had written on these pieces before (an art historian’s dream) or exhibited them. i also met a co-curator at the museum who...
my day in pictures
i don’t have the time to narrate, but i will make an exception for the picture of the large beautiful piazza (halfway down). as i walked through this gorgeous tranquil spot a man seated on a park bench blared cher’s ‘if i could turn back time’ on his boom box.
another great day in venice.
LOTS of pictures from Venice
i (wendy) am here in venice for phd research. (yes, choosing a subject area where the resources are in venice was a conscious choice.)
i love being here in winter! compared to how crowded it was in summer, the city feels deserted (in a non-creepy way). the locals are out like normal and are much more charming when not being annoyed by barrages of tourists.
the first day i was here was the...
hello america (holiday edition) and hello britain
the last week spent in america was great. we got to see more friends and family and had a few more burritos.
here’s a photo of the new year’s eve family jam session referenced in the last post:
we made it safely back to manchester, despite the snow in DC.
wendy got to hear a favourite professor from UNC come speak in manchester and afterwards caught up with katherine and...
2.5 weeks in pictures
before we left manchester we had a couple of friends over for sugar cookie decorating- a smith family tradition. zeke went for the 12 days of christmas as his theme:
we went to london and stopped by the portobello rd market (with all of the other tourists and hugh grant fanatics) mainly so zeke could get this sandwich:
we went to see matthew bourne’s nutcracker that night. it was a...
December 2011
3 posts
market monday
the past few weeks have been quite busy as we wrap up things in manchester to spend a few weeks back in the US for christmas. tonight we went to wendy’s advisor’s house for a nice get together of american comrades. on the rainy bus ride back home we realised zeke wouldn’t get to go to the christmas markets this year because of our busy schedules. so we did the logical thing...
November 2011
5 posts
edinburgh
here are a few pictures from wendy and maria’s time in edinburgh last week. we were lucky to have great weather!
uncompleted 19th century monument to scottish soldiers based on the parthenon
dog in the window of an old scotch whisky shop
the castle
george street christmas market
Watch
Happy Thanksgiving from the Smiths! Wendy, Maria and Zeke already celebrated turkey day on Saturday, but we’re thinking of family and friends back home getting to stuff their faces and watch football all day while we went off to work. We may be jealous, but we love you all - here’s a little video recapping what went into our Thanksgiving this past weekend.
bacon, fireworks, and candy
zeke brought back tons of american treats from his recent trip to asheville. and in another instalment of hello america, dan tried a few of them:
hello america: halloween edition
then on saturday we went to platt fields park to celebrate guy fawkes day aka: bonfire night. US friends, you may know a little about this from the movie V for Vendetta. to learn more you can play this game:...
October 2011
3 posts
autumn weekends
last weekend we met up with our friend katherine to hang out in chorlton where her new apartment is. she took us to some cute shops, a candy store where we bought tons of liquorice, a vegan grocery store called unicorn, and a great pub called pi (with great pies, of course). the weather was nice enough for us to enjoy being outside, and the nice staff at pi offered to warm up and serve wendy...
a day in the life of the smiths...
this morning zeke went to work early to play football (american soccer) with the staff that play twice a week before school. then he took photographs of visiting teachers from taiwan and worked on the school’s magazine. today’s lunch was an exception, in that he didn’t eat with dan (of hello america). in the afternoon he made changes to the school’s website.
at home wendy...
Lots Happening in Manchester
Life has been crazy since we both returned from our time in the US. There’s been a new job for Zeke, teacher training for Wendy, and even a weekend visit from Zeke’s mom!
here are a few pics from the last week and half:
we had a good bye dinner, hosted by soon yi, for our friends vincent and tamanda, and their new baby who have just moved back to malawi.
last friday we were lucky...
September 2011
7 posts
back in the saddle again
with the fall semester officially started now at the university for wendy and at MGS for zeke, schedules are filling up as the days get shorter. it’s quite a change for us now that we both have jobs outside of the house and aren’t working from home (in our PJs) all day.
wendy got a tour through MGS and watched zeke play in a staff vs. parents football (soccer) match at school last...
wendy's virginia time
after sending zeke off to manchester…
i headed back to VA and spent a day with my mom running vineyard errands and having soy pumpkin lattes and pedicures.
then i spent the next day with my dad getting some family history tours through scottsburg. we met ericka at a mexican restaurant in town for dinner. there is a picture to document that dad actually did eat mexican food (a rare...
happy labor day weekend
after spending a day with zeke’s family in greenville, wendy drove to down to the beach to meet up with her mom, milt, david, and rhiannon for the holiday weekend.
from wendy:
after mexican food for dinner (yay- getting as much as we can while we’re here) we hung out and watched a little sportscenter. today has been orchestrated around the start of the college football season. so...
August 2011
15 posts
american summer
we had a nice time visiting wendy’s family in southern virginia for a couple of days and then headed back to the triangle area to have a cookout with friends, graciously hosted by cam. we had a great time visiting with lots of college friends. below see precious little lillie enjoying corn on the cob and being just like her daddy, brad.
then on saturday we drove to asheville for...
our very social week before america...
this past week, before we head to america, we’ve spent lots of time with our british friends. last sunday we went to gawsworth hall to see the venue where our friends jon and lois will be married in a few weeks (zeke is doing the photography, so he needed to scout the location). jon and lois took us on a lovely double-date there where we had a picnic in the sunshine and stayed for a big...