Happy Easter!

No Easter eggs for me this weekend.  Disappointing.  I'm teased by the presence of Cadbury Creme Eggs at the grocery stores - but I'm not tempted because the ones for sale here are made by Hershey and taste significantly inferior to the ones back in the UK.  Just like all the other Cadbury-branded products they sell here.  It's an absolute disgrace.  No wonder that whenever I come back to the UK, I'm forced to return to the US with loads of chocolate in my luggage.  Which inevitably doesn't last as long as it should.    

Sunday Roast

I had a really bad craving for a Sunday roast today.  Like I could drive a ways just to get one.  It's kind of tragic that there isn't anywhere in the Seattle area that I can go - at least that I'm aware of.  There are a few British/Irish pubs - but most of them are just British in terms of decor, and don't offer British food.  And the few that do, I don't see Sunday roast being offered.  They are the kind of places that offer shepherd's pie, but made from beef so they are not really shepherd's pie but cottage pie.  I just did a Google search, and I see somewhere in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle that offers a traditional Sunday roast.  But it looks to be a fairly high-end restaurant where reservations are necessary, and the price of the roast dinner is definitely on the high end.  Not exactly the British pub type roast I really desire.

Hummingbirds

I haven't been seeing, or hearing, many hummingbirds recently.  I didn't think much of it - it's that time of year when there are plenty of other food sources for them.  But they must be around because the levels in some of the feeders have been going down.  So I went to refill my feeders yesterday.  And was devastated to find a dead hummingbird on the ground by one of the feeders.  No idea what the cause of death was or how long it had been there.  But if this was the dominant hummingbird controlling the territory around my house, then no wonder things had been quiet.  It'll probably take a while for other hummingbirds to return.  And let me also say there is something fundamentally sad about seeing such a small and lifeless body of a hummingbird.  You realize just how fragile these creatures are, and what a privilege it is to have them around.   

Not So Good Friday

A rough day at work to end the week.  Or, to be more accurate, another rough day at work to end the week.  The usual culprits - too much to do, too little time to do it, blah blah blah.  I wouldn't say I'm suffering from burnout just yet, only that the job is causing me stress and I'm not handling that stress very well.  But I think I've said all this in previous posts, so I don't need to repeat myself.  I just hate the fact that Easter Monday is not a public holiday here, so it's just a regular weekend before back to the grind on Monday.  Sigh.       

World Cup tickets (Not)

It hasn't even started, and I'm already over the World Cup.  The last official stage of ticket sales is underway, and I just checked and there are no tickets available for any of the Seattle games.  It was first come first served, so this isn't really a surprise.  I tried checking when the window first opened, but I didn't seem to get very far in the queue I was placed in - so I gave up.  Not that I would have bought a ticket at the outrageous prices they are going for now.  So I'm not going to see a World Cup game in person, which is a bit disappointing.  But maybe not, because I think this World Cup is going to be a total bust.  Too many games, too many mediocre teams, an England side that I don't think is going to do particularly well, and the large unwelcome shadow of Trump and his policies lingering over the entire tournament.  

Dramas

There seems to be a preponderance of episodic biblical dramas that have come out this Easter.  Certainly more than I've seen in previous years, and with significantly bigger production budgets.  I'm not sure what that says about the people making these dramas, or the people that consume them.  I suppose one shouldn't be surprised considering the lack of original content being produced by studios.  I am no fan of faith-based content, so I haven't watched any of these shows and cannot comment on their quality - but I can't say I'm surprised at their popularity in the US.

Italy

They may have beaten us in rugby and made the World Baseball Classic semi-finals, but at least we qualified for the World Cup.  Again.  Shocking.