Ten more sleeps...

The Legendary Eye of London is the only way to see all of London in one fell swoop!

What was once just fanciful thinking is soon to become reality. The day we depart for England is looming large and I am excited to be sure. But really, "deliciously frightened" (in the words of Anne of Green Gables) would be more accurate. :)
My daughter will hear nothing more of my immature quaking so this will be the last public expression of that sentiment no matter how overwhelming it becomes.
Oh,to have the naive confidence, nay, obliviousness of youth!

On that note, three of my grandbabies are celebrating their second birthdays this week. This event alone gives reason for pause and moments of sheer amazement...and lest you think me ungrateful, I hasten to add: It's a blessing like none other and words fail me when I try to talk about it. (okay, okay, you're surprised to hear this?...just wait your turn!) Here's a poem that will have to speak for me until I find something better.

Motherhood's Reward
She rocks another baby...
hums an age-old lullaby.
She hopes no one is watching
as with thanks, she starts to cry.

Remembering the time
when the babies were her own,
And her mother told her gently
too soon they would be grown.

Lots of bedtime stories,
skinned knees, and tears to dry,
Teddy bears, toy trucks and dolls
and kites up in the sky.

First days of school, first loves, first cars,
the proms, the wedding days,
Sand castles and snowball fights
and teaching them to pray.

Now, as she holds her grandchild
and gives thanks unto the Lord,
She knows to be a grandma
is motherhood's reward!

And now to refute the simpering jellyfish sound you think you may have detected in this post, please be advised that it is my full intention (DV of course) to board the Eye of London since we have but a single day to visit the city...

Interesting things you never knew about the London Eye
A TEAM EFFORT
It took seven years and the skills of hundreds of people from five countries to make the London Eye a reality

A VIEW FIT FOR A QUEEN
You can see around 40KM (25 miles) from the top as far as Windsor Castle on a clear day

FLYING HIGH
The London Eye welcomes an average of 3.5 million customers every year. You would need 6,680 fully booked British Airways Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets to move that number of fliers!

DING! DING!
The London Eye can carry 800 passengers per revolution - equivalent to 11 London red doubled-decker buses

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
Each of the 32 capsules weighs 10 tonnes. To put that figure into perspective, it's the same weight as 1,052,631 pound coins!

SLOWLY BUT SURELY
Each rotation takes about 30 minutes, meaning a capsule travels at a stately 26cm per second, or 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour - twice as fast as a tortoise sprinting; allowing passengers to step on and off without the wheel having to stop

THE ONLY WAY IS UP
The circumference of the wheel is 424m (1.392ft) - meaning that if it were unravelled, it would be 1.75 times longer than the UK's tallest building - One Canada Square in Canary Wharf

TONNES OF FUN
The total weight of the wheel and capsules is 2,100 tonnes - or as much as 1,272 London black cabs!

UP, UP AND AWAY
The height of the London Eye is 135m (equivalent to 64 red telephone boxes piled on top of each other) making it the fourth tallest structure in London after the BT Tower, Tower 42 and One Canada Square in Canary Wharf

BLAST OFF
The spindle holds the wheel structure and the hub rotates it around the spindle. At 23 meters tall, the spindle is around the size of a church spire and, together with the hub, weighs in at 330 tonnes: over 20 times heavier than Big Ben