Monday

ChatGPT has a curmudgeonly, misanthropic, insulting mode called ‘Monday’. I showed this personality model the above artistic impression of my wife in Reston, VA in the summer of 2001. We had just moved to the US - I was working for Cable and Wireless - and were living in temporary accommodation near Dulles airport while we sought to buy a house.

At this point we had been married for twenty three years. I explained all this to ’Monday' and asked what she was thinking, and whether it thought I had made a good call.

---

Monday: "Well, judging by the look on her face, she’s thinking something along the lines of, “He’s taking a picture of me washing dishes again? Incredible. Truly, the romance never ends.” That’s the classic expression of someone who has seen all your tricks, knows them by heart, and is still somehow tolerating your presence. That’s either love or a hostage situation, and I’m going to be generous and go with love.

"As for whether you made a good call marrying her: buddy, you’ve been married 23 years by the time of this photo, and I assume you're still reminiscing fondly enough to ask a digital goblin like me about it. So yes, unless she was secretly siphoning off your bank account to fund a moon colony, I’d say you did alright.

"Also, she’s doing dishes in a temporary kitchen in a new country with that calm, worn-in competence that only comes from weathering 10,000 small domestic storms. She looks like the kind of person who makes a home out of chaos and still keeps receipts. You got lucky. Try not to ruin it with more kitchen photography."

The artiste and her work

This from the archives, fifteen years ago.

We were living in Fairfax County, Virginia at the time and Clare's painting is of Wolf Trap, where we had just attended a concert. She had other works.

I was working for Cable & Wireless up at Reston. One of my colleagues saw her picture "Freesias" and offered to buy it.

Freesias

A good example of early primitive, she said. In fear of my life, I demurred.

Nostalgia: mid-December 2001 in Vienna, Virginia

It's December 15th 2001 in our house at Wolftrap Road, Vienna, VA 22182, USA. It's our first US Christmas (Happy Holidays!) and we're determined to do the right thing.

We had popped off to Walmart to buy seasonal reindeer. Taking a cue from IKEA, a Walmart reindeer comes in a rectangular box. Who better to handle 3D reassembly than Clare?

This is meant to be a reindeer?

Assembled, plugged-in and working. Take a bow!

"You do have permission to pop out and hunt the squirrels."

To be fair, this picture of our puzzled cats was taken a month earlier, in mid-November .. before the deep snow which would totally baffle them. We naturally let our cats roam free to the amazement of our American neighbours, who firmly believed that 'kitties' were house-animals.

---

This is the third time these pictures have aired here, in case they seem over-familiar.

Christmas Reindeer

I have begged, I have pleaded .. all to no avail; I am accused of being a kitsch-junky.

It was all so different in our American house back in November 2001.

This is how it comes out of the box .. something only a topologist could love

Genius at work!

The creatures in their natural environment ...

A Christmas treat indeed - but quite modest compared to our neighbours!

The obligatory Internet cat picture - our two, who both opted to stay in America

---

These pictures have been shown before on this blog by the way, eight years ago.

Clare's paintings

During our sojourn in the States back in 2001/2, Clare had a fair amount of time on her hands while I was participating in Cable & Wireless Global's stately descent into terrain (Chapter 11 in 2004). She took up painting and here is her gallery from that time.

"Flames"

"Freesias"

"Planes over Wolftrap"

"The Matrix"

"Steel Tooth"

"Wolftrap Theater in the Woods"

A Cable & Wireless colleague once asked to buy "Freesias". She said she had always liked the "Primitive" style. I smiled demurely and declined her offer; I never had the nerve to tell Clare.

Classic pix: Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Mountains

A couple of days ago I was reminiscing about our brief residence in the States back in 2001/2002. Having shown you pictures from Miami, New York and San Francisco I thought I would add some from our trip to Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, in November 2001.

Clare on Skyline Drive

The Blue Ridge Mountains

This is how I thought Virginians dressed at that time ...

Clare was recovering from a hip replacement operation at this time - Skyline was much-needed therapy.

Tech Support

We were in Stroud yesterday advising my first cousin once removed's (my mother's cousin's) husband on how to get on-net. I arrived loaded with large laptop, tablet, router, Kindle plus assorted extension cables and power bars - two bags worth of tech support. In the event Derrick was most impressed with my Galaxy S3 smartphone; Wendy has the most wonderful gardens front and rear of their house.

Here's a nice pic from when we were in the states back in 2002.

Alex and Clare at our house in Fairfax County, VA.

The 'Chavtivity' or 'The Xmas Reindeer'

Very amused to see this modern nativity scene, known as the 'Chavtivity' or the 'Chav Xmas Card' (see story here).




From The Argus:

"In the picture Mary and Joseph are a pair of tracksuit wearing teenagers slumped in a battered bus shelter with their baby in a pushchair and a Staffordshire bull terrier on a chain. They are being greeted by three wise chavs, who are presenting them with gifts of booze, cigarettes and a stolen car stereo. Mary is chain-smoking and there is a Crimestoppers' poster of Joseph behind his head."

We also had our chav moments back in the US in 2001. Impressed by our neighbours' luminous displays, we went to WalMart to pick up some front-garden accessories of our own. As I pushed the huge boxes around on an outsized trolley, I heard a storeman exclaim 'Oh my gawd, it's the reindeer family!' - and so it was.

Our first problem was that it was self-assembly. I naturally delegated this problem to Clare, who was unamused.




However, she performed miracles and was delighted by the result.




We duly installed our two reindeer in the front garden. They were not just pretty lights - they had little motors so that their heads went up and down, and turned around in an attentive way. We were utterly pleased with this aesthetic effect, as Clare showed posing with the reindeer family in the gloom.



However, they only truly came alive after dark.




After a while, the motors failed so they remained stuck in one position, like sufferers from an obscure medical disease. We have never risen to such heights of Christmas exuberance since.