Dearest Family and Friends
57 Cumberland Street, San Francisco CA 94110
Phone Number: +1 415 738 2112
Nadine +1 415 595 0023
Colman +1 415 871 9920
Skype: nadinemellor
July Highlights
Pregnancy Update
I’ve continued the birthfit training programme although am finding it much harder to mentally relax to do the hypnobirthing exercises and creative visualisations. Sigh – it’s a full time job being pregnant! It’s also been good making new friends at yoga and Pilates – Laurel, Kristan and Armani – and I’ve been feeling well and energetic although beginning to defy the laws of gravity... 4th July
Seasonal Event of the Month
Everybody gets a holiday on the 4th July. I was dreading jingoist flags, cookie cutter parades and Uncle Sams everywhere, but thankfully – perhaps because this is San Francisco – little of this sort of carry on was really in evidence, certainly no more than normal it seemed. Our neighbour changes banners every month so it was no surprise that they marked the occasion.
Colman took me to the Asian Art Museum next door to Civic Center as a surprise – it was a really warm day and the museum is beautifully serene and cool. The treasures are fascinating and there is a wealth of material to savour. This was followed in contrast by dancing with Sophia and Gerardo at a Sunset dance party – reminiscent of dance parties we go to in London. 
Apparently it is very unusual for SF to have such beautiful sunny weather on the 4th July and the patrons at Sunset were making the most of it – all sorts of funky outfits, quirky hair dos and curious tattoos were being shaken on the dance floor. Sophia and I were the walking wounded – she recovering after a painful knee operation, and me with my bump, which impeded my cutting a rug in my normal fashion – new shapes needed to be spun instead. The music was good fun – funky hip hop house beats stylee. 
After a fun dinner out we decided on the spur of the moment to go to see the fireworks over the bay. Quick thinking got us a parking spot in Pacific Heights – thanks Rob! – and a great view from a little hill top park. The fireworks were in tandem over Fisherman’s Wharf and the Embarcadero – although we only saw one set. Trademark SF fireworks included the 3D boxes and Saturns; our favourites were the golden shimmers…Top
Nightclub of the Month
We went to a 007 themed party at the aptly titled Porn Palace with Adam, Sophia, Gerardo, Jamie and Bryson after a posh dinner out at Le Colonial. Racking my brains for an outfit – I cannot recall a single pregnant lady ever gracing a James Bond film – I came up with an evening dress and opera cape. The venue featured a dungeon, a prison cell (yes that's us in it), a spider web made of chains, chains hanging from the ceiling, a wall of S&M tools, and various dance floors and bars. The event didn’t ‘click’ as it should have – a strange Bulgarian foot acrobat show in the middle, one room too crowded, some production glitches – but the music was loungey and fun, and it was good to see this renowned SF space.Sunday Outing of the Month
The San Francisco Symphony plays every year in Dolores Park and we managed a quick sunny half an hour in the park with Sophia, Gerardo and Ava, before heading to the south Bay for Colman’s boss Alan’s son’s Brit Milah. We were very honoured to be invited and it was our first such event. 
The rabbi was out of central casting – wisecracking, telling kids off, and the consummate professional. It was amazing that Zachary at 8 days old seemed to react so little to the scalpel! Top
Expedition of the Month
To London on 16th July for our 3 week working holiday.
It was an emotional journey as well as a sentimental one – Colman hadn’t been home since September and my last trip was for Grannie’s funeral. We had been forewarned about the terrible weather in the British Isles this summer and it was interesting to see how green the UK is in comparison to California; everything very lush and irrigated. London is crowded and busy still, but so felt like home. Kate and Mark's Wedding
In our first week a torrential downpour saw a month’s rain fall in a few hours. The sky literally turned black and streetlights came on. It was extraordinary. We were blithely playing poker with Laurence and Jane the next night when my mother called to ask if we’d seen the news and the travel information. Naturally not; it transpired that as the West Midlands and much of the M4 corridor was under water; our train, and every other train from Paddington, to Devon the next day for Colman’s cousin Kate’s marriage to Mark had been cancelled. So we got up crack of dawn after less than 6 hours sleep and managed to get onto the first train out of Paddington for 36 hours. 
The journey had a wonderful British quality to it – everybody was reading Harry Potter which had launched at midnight, staring out of the windows at flooded fields, and swapping horror stories of being trapped on the M5 for 15 hours in their cars without food or water, or worse in hotel rooms in London unable to get home. Marvellous to see the British Blitz spirit still in action and our ability to have a good old thrill-seeking moan in the face of disaster! We alighted at Bristol to find a station in pandemonium – people running hither and thither
like headless chickens until an announcement sent us running back in another direction to a train to Devon due to leave in 5 minutes. Luckily the pregnancy card got me a seat again, we marvelled at the coastal views and we ended up at Newton Abbot a full hour ahead of our original schedule.
The WeddingOur B&B had character by the bucketload especially in the shape of our host who had clearly had a good time in the 1970s and still frequents Glastonbury.
At the wedding venue we caught up with Pat and Niamh, Colman’s aunt Eilo and cousins Emily, Finbar and Eoin. The ceremony was in the garden, the rain held off (about the only place in the UK that weekend), and Kate looked a picture: happy and relaxed – a really lovely day.
Dinner was a beautifully presented and tasty seafood buffet – as befits a marine biologist. The most charming speech was from Kate’s twin, Emily, who spoke beautifully, informally and with great affection on the experience of being a twin, about their friendship and relationship. 
The dancing was brilliant. The venue had a purpose built cheesey dance floor (dry ice, disco lights, the works) and the DJ was under strict playlist instructions so we all danced for hours. 
A highlight was Colman swapping his trousers for Alastair’s kilt, then followed by Mark and Colman switching outfits. I could see this new trouser-fetish going on all night… People kept offering me their seat but I knew if I sat down and stopped cavorting, that would be it, so held off until 1am when I did collapse somewhat… And then slept 8 hours without stirring.Sunday’s excursion – at a civilized late hour -
for the surviving members of the wedding party was to the beach at Babbacombe where a few hardy (Irish) souls frolicked in the sea much to my wonder and amazement. (L-R Eoin, Emily, Colman, Kate, Finbar) The sun shone, the cliffs were red and the sea was turquoise. Truly the English Riviera has its own exquisite beauty. Top
Dublin
R & R
We all flew back to Dublin on the Monday. The skies were leaden, relaxation was on the menu. We stayed in 3 hotels: the Dylan which is a new hotel in Dublin 4 with excellent service, a high design quotient (really comfy beds, bold customised furniture) and a swanky restaurant; Brownes on St Stephen’s Green constructed in a classic Georgian townhouse with gorgeous ceilings and period details; and at Pat and Niamh’s where I confess I did very little but lie on the bed and read Harry Potter, go for a walk through the woods, and play Scrabble in the evenings.Top
London
Hometown
Our only weekend in London was unsurprisingly social and surprisingly rain free overall. On the Friday night Enric hosted a gathering for us which was lovely – yummy food, thank you! Great to catch up with Siobhan and Neville, Kay, Mellie Mel, Kasia, Jon and Kaska. 
On the Saturday, we went to Grannie’s flat in Maida Vale for the first time and removed the final items she had bequeathed me. It was a practical visit, and certainly it didn’t feel like her home much with most things removed, but it still was very emotional to say goodbye and I cried. We then took the lamps and furniture to their new home in our house. It was great to see how lush the garden is now after all that rain and Mum’s efforts (thank you), and that our tenants are enjoying the house and having lots of fun there. 
Disconcertingly at the bottom of the road Highbury is now a façade shell with War of the Worlds scale cranes looming above all the streets around it. So as ever some things change, while others stay the same.
Lucy and Rory hosted a party for us at their house in Brixton – THANK YOU – which was super. 
Terrific to see everybody (a really good turnout) on such good form: children growing, wedding preparations underway for Matt and Marisa, work and business success, holidays and adventures all round. We hung out in the garden until the rain pattered down, ate huge quantities, gossiped and teased. Just like old times. 
On the Sunday we had Sunday lunch with Cindy and Adam, Alex and Sonia, and Zoe and Peter, plus kids. It was also my venerable father’s birthday whom I embarrassed by proposing a toast. A lovely sunny day, after perfect roast chicken 
we played in the park opposite my parents’ apartment. Hard to tell who were the children at times in our party as the playground provided many creative opportunities for mischief. Top
It's Catching
Bumps and Babies
Really it is highly infectious. 
On a short trip home I saw 5 new babies (Colman also met Finn for the first time) and compare bumps with 5 girlfriends as well as my cousin Jessica who is due the same day as us! It was lovely seeing her and Archie before they moved to Manchester at the end of July. 
And also spending time with my sister and her family before they move to Pakistan for 2 years at the end of August. 
Proud parents and expectant couples shared their dreams, dreads and delights with us.
In Dublin we met Roisinn (Tom and Janet) and Fergus (Conor and Valerie).
In London: Freddie (Catherine and Gary), Theo (Ali & Rado), Aiobhe (Marion and Dan).
And bumps for Moyra, Flo, Emily, Kasia and Cindy.
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Restaurant of the Month
The restaurant at the Dylan in Dublin is the best room in the hotel. Long, white and high ceilinged, with champagne leather-studded walls, it has a wall of French windows dressed in muslin that allows light to pour in from the exterior, whether by floodlights at night, or daylight at day.
Tables were traditionally upholstered in white linen, we loved the inventive chandeliers, and furniture was white pearlised leather. We were joined for dinner by friends of Colman’s from teenage years: Kealan, Carol-Ann, Ronan and Rebecca. The food was marvellously presented – the first amuse bouche was a lentil soup with pork belly; my fresh pea soup was as light as a feather and so tasty with a quail egg and smoked bacon to add depth of flavour; which was followed by a pink grapefruit granita palate-cleanser; Colman’s tasting of artichokes would not have looked amiss at a confectioner’s convention; and the final tasting proved to be a jasmine tea, lime, peach and cream froth. Mmmmm.Bird of the Month
For weeks now, we’ve been hearing the liquid inventions of the Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos who sings on 20th St between Guerrero and Valencia, high on rooftops or atop a lofty Norfolk Pine – Colman hears him on the way to work, I on the way to yoga. Sometimes, he (or his cousin) sings in the gardens behind the apartment. Mockingbirds are quite large, a rather nondescript grey and cream, and are renowned for their mimicry and ability to sing unperturbed for hours at a time, continually repeating phrases that vary slightly each time. We have really enjoyed looking out for him and acknowledging the song.Stencil of the Month
Wine Tasting of the Month by Mission Boy
10 drinkers. 10 bottles of Zinfandel - blind. Black Tongues and Good Laughs.
Prize Wine Note: ‘its like an old lady rising from a rocking chair with her slip showing.
Mural of the Month
Bumper Sticker of the Month
It’s a planet not an empire.
Love and hugs Nadine and Colman xxx
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