light in august

Summer is in full swing over here in the Northern Hemisphere and wonder | wander | women are enjoying every sunny minute that we can. In London the heat waves come in between cooler grey days, so our brick houses don't overheat like previous summers.

Fountain at Southbank Centre

Events like ESEA Encounters at the Southbank Centre, Barbican's Outdoor Cinema and the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition get Londoners out of the house, a "staycation" away from the crowds of tourists visiting our parks and palaces.

Rainbow in the fountain

Londoners, like wonder | wander | women, are historically river people and love water. Although the city is away from the sea, the citizens love playing in the fountains and boating down the many canals and smaller rivers that run though town.

Houseboat mooring at Coal Drops Yard

The old industrial areas on the Regent's Canal around Kings Cross have been turned into a residential and commercial complex with shopping, restaurants, canalside apartments and outdoor events. 

Watching Frozen at the Everyman Cinema on the canal.

But on the canal itself, the historic boating community still thrives along the new developments. The Canal and River Trust operates guided tours through the area, and regular houseboat owners often come by, passing through the ingenious canal locks.

If you prefer a quieter weekend and a simple walk around the neighbourhood, the Sunday farmers' market at Chapel Market is a comfortable experience. Cheese, bread, pasta and fresh produce stock the tables of some of the friendliest people we've met, coming in to sell their wares in classic British style. 

And on days when not much is going on, we spend what time we can at the nearby parks and gardens. Summer is a brief but flamboyant time for British gardens, and we love seeing the peonies, roses, irises, and hydrangeas in rampant bloom everywhere.

Mini hydrangeas

Spring is the season most famous for flowers, but the intermittent cool rains of British summer time nourish a range of summer colours, as well as lots of flowers preferred by bees and other local pollinators. 

Pale peonies

This mix of fun, community, culture and convenience is what we love most about living in the city. It's also why summer is our favourite season. While we miss our home country and its beaches, for just a few months we can feel like our true selves in our adopted home.

bird on the water

On this blog wonder | wander | women never get tired of talking about the waterways of our beloved London and the wildlife that live there. We made several posts about the birds that thrive in the marshy areas of London canals and how it's a precarious balance of human and natural residents.

We found a totally unexpected species of bird living on the water this week! But first to set the scene: a visit to our favourite Word on the Water, the fantastical bookshop on a boat.

exploring curbside gardens with PlantNet

London is a city of parks, gardens and little squares of green. In spring and summer, there are flowers everywhere.

Red Valerian with English roses

new adventures in comfort food

Even before quarantine, I always preferred staying at home to going out and even eating out. It was a good time to discover what my comfort food was, and experiment with whatever was in my fridge.

Pork and mushroom noodle soup

I enjoyed getting restaurant and even grocery deliveries, and was grateful to be able to order whatever I wanted when sheltering in place. Although I tend to have a repetitive taste - I just cook my favourites over and over again because they're easy and I don't get tired of them.

Chicken congee with crispy garlic

barrio fiesta easter

It's never too early in the year to enjoy some bone licking good barbeque. Summer is the height of the season - when backyards send of wafting scents to tantalize us on our neighborhood walkabouts. 

their local branch in Hoboken

For our Easter feast this year, we went with Myron Mixon's Pitmaster Barbeque from close by Hoboken, New Jersey. Going whole hog with Myron's award-winning competition recipes of the best sourced meats cooked in custom built smokers. 

half rack of baby back ribs

New Jersey staycation

Our Lincoln Center jaunt was such a good time - and just in time too, as the looming threat of Omicron finally descended on Broadway and shut the bright lights for several weeks. On top of that, I caught a virus (we tested to make sure it was not THE virus) and we had the first big snow of the new year.

the colours of autumn

It's been a wild and walk-filled autumn! This year wonder | wander | women have been exploring again and we're happy to be safely outdoors (with masks and distancing) and viewing the changing leaves again. Of course some of the most vivid scenes can be spotted from our own back window.

don't just look down, look around

Sleep has been patchy lately. Our worst emotions feel closer to the surface, ready to bubble up at each new shock. We're hyperaware and hypersensitive, over-mindful of our space and the proximity of others. We have to remind ourselves that we are still in a living, vibrant world.

the language of flowers

Artists and art lovers are always fascinated by visuals with multiple meanings. Layering symbolism into an image can hold our attention for longer, engage our senses and brain, and leave us feeling more satisfied than an image with shallower appeal. Maybe that's why wonder | wander | women take so many pictures of flowers.

Summer in Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross, London

food trips: neighbourhood restaurants

The best thing about living in Central London is that so many amazing restaurants are in walking distance. You can walk down to the gastropub after work, take in some amazing Thai food, fill up on vegetarian Japanese, or have a limoncello-ginger cocktail with some handmade pasta carbonara - without having to shell out for a taxi or ride a busy train.

living with buildings

It's safe to say that wonder | wander | women like buildings.

We really, really like buildings. Especially weird little buildings.

grey and green - a stormy New Year!

While typhoons ravage the Philippines, wind and rain hit the UK at speeds of up to 60 kph.

Picture from BBC Weather

the doors of islington

Living near two of the busiest London boroughs can be noisy and disruptive, but we find it endlessly stimulating! Just going about our daily routine we find small surprises, like this Invader artwork outside a busy fast food joint...

Glittery rainbow tiles - maybe Invader was celebrating Pride!

barrio walkabout

Walking around our neighborhood we always find something to intrigue and entertain us. 

In these days of the global village we love to find different ways migrant cultures integrate into and adjust to their relocation. Interesting mutations like Syncretic shops sell a mixture of Catholic saints and varied vodoun or other paraphernalia. Gods, goddesses and figures of ritual are displayed with the Madonnas and Santo Niños.