(The piece of paper says I passed my theory, hazard perception, independent driving and practical tests, just in case you can't read it in the itty-bitty blog photo)
Saturday, October 15, 2011
I feel 16 again
I can drive all by myself now!
(The piece of paper says I passed my theory, hazard perception, independent driving and practical tests, just in case you can't read it in the itty-bitty blog photo)
(The piece of paper says I passed my theory, hazard perception, independent driving and practical tests, just in case you can't read it in the itty-bitty blog photo)
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Oh, the places we’ve gone
I try not to casually throw out that we spent the weekend in London. But it’s kinda hard somedays – it’s a bit hard even for us to comprehend that we live an hour & half from a city that many people only dream of visiting. So I’ve thought of some other ways to describe my weekend:
We stayed this weekend in a major settlement for the last two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans.
No?
Adam & I went this weekend to a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's largest financial centre (alongside New York City) and has the largest city GDP in Europe. We fit in well, as it has the most international visitors of any city in the world.
Still no? Okay, I’ll get there in a minute.
Somewhere along the way, I told someone in my office that one of my goals while over here was to travel. I meant that I wanted to take lots of vacation time with Adam and we wanted to see Europe. What they heard was that I don’t mind working out of town. So, for the last three weeks, I’ve been in Aylesbury and London. If I were to compare the two, I’d say there are slightly more than a billion more things going on in London than in Aylesbury. Aylesbury is mostly a commuting city. It is 57 minutes on the train from Aylesbury to London Marylebone Station. Based on the time I made the mistake of trying to catch the 5:55 train out of Marylebone, with the exception of the 200 people who work at my client in Aylesbury, the entire town takes the train in daily. Aylesbury is a bit sleepy, but a charming stereotypical British town while London is fast paced, lively, a people-watching mecca, and expensive.
Colleagues in my office here often ask why I came to Bristol rather than London. The criteria we had when selecting locations were 1) somewhere predominately English-speaking – I have a fear of not being able to go the grocery store & understand what I’m purchasing (which incidentally does still occasionally happen over here) 2) somewhere that was good for my career (ie had clients that fit with my experience and where I eventually want to end up) and had an University to give Adam the opportunity to go back to school and 3) wasn’t a mondo city (I still tell people I’m from Fort Worth not Dallas because Dallas is too big for me to live in!).
Though Bristol is slightly larger than I thought, it’s probably the size of Dallas proper, but without all the Frisco, Plano, Arlington added bits to it, we live in the suburbs and that’s an okay fit for me. Can I complain for a moment? Thanks. The traffic. I will never again whine about 121 through the mid-cities (okay, I might...but not for the next 20 months). Our house is 7.4 miles from my parking lot (which is another 15 minute walk uphill to the office, but that’s a bellyache for another day). I have to be in the office by 9am. If I leave the house by 7:45, I can get to the parking lot by about 8:30. If Daisy is being particularly cute or Ginger throws a fit and won’t go in her crate and I don’t leave the house until 7:55, no chance I’ll make it in until 9:30. Insanity! I don’t know that I’ll ever understand the highway (or motorway, as they call it) system. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is that the motorway ends at a stoplight. (Remember 121 from Coppell to Frisco before the Rayburn extension? Add another 3 lanes on each side and about 2,000 more cars plus busses – oh I hate buses these days! – and you’ll have the M32 south.) Okay, I’m done...for now.
So, back to last week. In my tour of the UK office buildings, they decided I needed to see one in London last Thursday & Friday and that the big boss who I needed to present the results to couldn’t meet with me until Monday morning. I took the train in Thursday morning and as Adam doesn’t have class on Fridays, he followed me Thursday night and we spent the weekend in the city then he came home Sunday evening to pick up the dogs from the kennel before his class on Monday and I came back Monday evening after my meetings. One thing is for certain, I am going to be good at reading a train schedule by the time I get back to Texas – a skill that I don’t see benefiting me long-term.
Thursday evening, Adam & I decided to be adventurous in the culinary world – anyone who knows us understands what a big deal this is. You see the British are not known for their food (well, maybe they are, just not in a positive way). What they are known for is conquering a civilization and taking all the parts they like of it, then calling it their own. Cuisine is no exception to this statement. You will see Indian restaurants all over the country. They’ve very much taken curry as their own recipes now. Not dissimilar to Texans feeling that Mexican food is theirs. Anyhow, when I was walking back to the hotel from my client’s office, I saw a poster in a restaurant window for ‘Moroccan Meatballs’. I’d never had anything Moroccan before, but the picture looked good – you know me, very visual! So after Adam got to town, we headed down to explore. We ate tapas style because we were afraid we’d order something we didn’t like and then be disappointed. After Googling several of the items on the menu (how did people order dinner before the iPhone – we’ll miss your genius Steve Jobs!), we settled on 3 dishes. Every single one was amazing. It has been by far one of my favourite meals in the UK. If you’re going to be in London, let me know & I’ll tell you where to find them. Apparently, I like Moroccan food?
Friday morning, I headed back to the office and Adam went off to see two museums that I have no desire to go to: the National Army Museum and the Churchill War Rooms. He thoroughly enjoyed both. I’m glad he went without me. I will let him share the story (and photo he took) of Napoleon’s horse – the PG version, not the NC-17 for graphic violence and gore that he told me.
Friday evening, we did one of my favourite things – we went to a musical. I can’t sing. AT. ALL. Infact, after about 3 months of attending church services in Bedford, the lovely older couple who had been sitting in front of us every week started sitting behind us. She sang beautifully, by the way. I can’t sing, but I admire those who can – those who understand words like rhythm and tone and range. And I love musicals. We’d kinda wanted to see Shrek the Musical, but when I got to the half price ticket booth Friday afternoon, there were only obstructed view seats remaining. Even at half-price I wasn’t paying for an obstructed view seat! So, I asked the ticket agent what else he had in that price range. He said he had Billy Elliot tickets. Thought I’d heard of Billy Elliot, I had no idea what it was about or what the reviews had been like. Then the ticket agent said, the seats are on the floor 11 rows back 6 seats off center (I’m sure he thought he said ‘centre’). I was sold. So back to the hotel I went, we changed & went to the show. It was really good. I’m glad we saw it. And I loved my date night. Adam was a bit disappointed that I’d forgotten that London theatres sell ice cream in the isles during intermission and he was not properly prepared with cash to be able to partake. Next time, we’ll know.
Saturday morning, we had some great hot chocolate then went to the Tower of London.
Adam would like me to point out that the tower of London isn’t exactly a tower in the way that you would call the Leaning Tower of Pisa a tower. Something akin to the mythical standalone tower that Rapunzel was trapped in. It never occurred to him that people referred to the Norman castle and surrounding fortifications as “the Tower”. For future visitors, the place is huge. The sheer magnitude of the grounds make it interesting. There is the original Norman castle commissioned by William the Conqueror and known as the “White Tower” due to the pale white stones that make up its façade. Throughout the centuries, it has been used as a royal house, an armoury, bunkers during the war and now a museum. I’ll give the Brits one thing; they never tear down a building that they might use again in another 100 years or so.
Directly across from the White Tower is the Jewel House – where the crown jewels are kept on public display when not in use by a member of the royal family. Among the jewels on display is the Coronation Ring and the world’s largest absolute clear cut diamond “The Star of Africa” at a whopping 530.4 carats. It is at this point in the story that I’d like to point out that my 7th anniversary is in less than 3 months. I’ll pause for a moment to let everyone fully consider that statement and email Adam.
When you go to the Tower, make sure to take one of the Yeomen Warders tours. They are hilarious. One of my favourite anecdotes from the day came when our guide was talking about a set of housing buildings that King Henry VIII commissioned for Anne Boleyn while they were dating and he was busy trying to get rid of wife #1. They were intended to be her private quarters once they were married. The only problem was the speed at which they were built. During construction, she went from mistress, to girlfriend, to wife to woman that couldn’t have a son and by the time the buildings were completed so was she.
In the interest of full disclosure of our time over here, I should say I’ve been having a bit of homesickness the last couple of weeks. I love fall in Texas. That time that you finally break the 100 degree days and get a chance to be outside again. Work is usually a bit slower during this time of year and the State Fair is in town (I’m seriously missing a corney dog with ketchup!) and for the second year in a row, the Rangers are in the playoffs. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change what we’re doing for a millisecond, but if another person tries to convince me that corn is an appropriate item to accompany chicken and spinach on a sandwich, I might scream! So when we left the Tower of London and saw a restaurant advertising Kansas City BBQ, I jumped on it. It wasn’t Smoke Stack (which I will always contend is better than Haywards – but my family will continue to debate), but it was good. And, they were showing the ESPN Game Day (Texas / OU at the Cotton Bowl) on TV. It was a very surreal experience. We were sitting within ½ a mile of the Tower of London eating a brisket sandwich served by an Argentinean waitress and watching College Game Day.
We capped our evening by attending Evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral. This was another one of those things that I read about in a tourist book, thought it sounded fun and then made Adam go to. Evensong is a completely sung Anglican worship service. We got there just as they were starting, so we missed the processional in, but we were able to sit near the front and watch as the choir lined the Quire and sang everything from the opening hymn to the prayers to the Bible verses. Not that I would want to have this type of service every week, but I thought it was something different and thoroughly enjoyed it. Adam’s comment was that the organ sounded a bit like a car screeching to a halt. For an organ installed in 1694, I thought it sounded pretty good.
I came to a realization about 5 years ago that I no longer saw my Mother on a daily basis and therefore she wouldn’t know if I didn’t have a vegetable with dinner every night. You might note that I’ve been married for nearly 7 years and was in college for 4 more leading up to that; why it took me 6 years of not living at home to come to this epiphany, I will never figure out. Anyway, with this freedom I also concluded that if I wanted a piece of chocolate cake and a glass of Merlot for dinner, I could have that. We’d eaten our lunch about 3pm and didn’t really want dinner, but I needed a snack. So, after the service, we found a restaurant and asked for the dessert menu. British dessert menus have a cheese platter on them. Always seemed odd to me, but today sounded good. So we ordered it...and a decadent Chocolate Mousse.
Sunday we went to the British Museum and the Tate Britain. Both boast large collections of British artwork and relics. Back to my earlier comment of the British conquering a civilization and taking all the parts they like of it, then calling it their own. Their art museums are full of Egyptian, Roman, French, Italian, American, Australian, and Asian items, but not a room we walked into did I say, oh – that looks British. I guess you can’t bottle grey skies and roundabouts.
I did find the medals for the Olympic games interesting. Apparently they're being manufactured at the Royal Mint about an hour from us. I checked, they don't do tours :(
The British Museum houses the Rosetta Stone. It, as you can see from the photos, is the most popular attraction there. (It's the chunk of rock inside the glass case that you can barely see becuase of all the people).
That’s it for this adventure. I’m home for a couple of weeks, then there are rumors (or rumours depending on your perspective) that I might be heading to Leeds for a few days. Leeds, I’ve been told by Wikipedia, is the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. Doesn’t that sound impressive? Adam has started at school. He has 4 courses this semester and 5 more next. Those who knew him through our college years would see a completely different student today than the one 10 years ago. He studies without being prompted (or forced or threatened). He’s taking an accounting class and asked me for help on one of his homework questions. I had to double check the answer before I could walk him through it. This doesn’t bode well for my career.
We stayed this weekend in a major settlement for the last two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans.
No?
Adam & I went this weekend to a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's largest financial centre (alongside New York City) and has the largest city GDP in Europe. We fit in well, as it has the most international visitors of any city in the world.
Still no? Okay, I’ll get there in a minute.
Somewhere along the way, I told someone in my office that one of my goals while over here was to travel. I meant that I wanted to take lots of vacation time with Adam and we wanted to see Europe. What they heard was that I don’t mind working out of town. So, for the last three weeks, I’ve been in Aylesbury and London. If I were to compare the two, I’d say there are slightly more than a billion more things going on in London than in Aylesbury. Aylesbury is mostly a commuting city. It is 57 minutes on the train from Aylesbury to London Marylebone Station. Based on the time I made the mistake of trying to catch the 5:55 train out of Marylebone, with the exception of the 200 people who work at my client in Aylesbury, the entire town takes the train in daily. Aylesbury is a bit sleepy, but a charming stereotypical British town while London is fast paced, lively, a people-watching mecca, and expensive.
Colleagues in my office here often ask why I came to Bristol rather than London. The criteria we had when selecting locations were 1) somewhere predominately English-speaking – I have a fear of not being able to go the grocery store & understand what I’m purchasing (which incidentally does still occasionally happen over here) 2) somewhere that was good for my career (ie had clients that fit with my experience and where I eventually want to end up) and had an University to give Adam the opportunity to go back to school and 3) wasn’t a mondo city (I still tell people I’m from Fort Worth not Dallas because Dallas is too big for me to live in!).
Though Bristol is slightly larger than I thought, it’s probably the size of Dallas proper, but without all the Frisco, Plano, Arlington added bits to it, we live in the suburbs and that’s an okay fit for me. Can I complain for a moment? Thanks. The traffic. I will never again whine about 121 through the mid-cities (okay, I might...but not for the next 20 months). Our house is 7.4 miles from my parking lot (which is another 15 minute walk uphill to the office, but that’s a bellyache for another day). I have to be in the office by 9am. If I leave the house by 7:45, I can get to the parking lot by about 8:30. If Daisy is being particularly cute or Ginger throws a fit and won’t go in her crate and I don’t leave the house until 7:55, no chance I’ll make it in until 9:30. Insanity! I don’t know that I’ll ever understand the highway (or motorway, as they call it) system. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is that the motorway ends at a stoplight. (Remember 121 from Coppell to Frisco before the Rayburn extension? Add another 3 lanes on each side and about 2,000 more cars plus busses – oh I hate buses these days! – and you’ll have the M32 south.) Okay, I’m done...for now.
So, back to last week. In my tour of the UK office buildings, they decided I needed to see one in London last Thursday & Friday and that the big boss who I needed to present the results to couldn’t meet with me until Monday morning. I took the train in Thursday morning and as Adam doesn’t have class on Fridays, he followed me Thursday night and we spent the weekend in the city then he came home Sunday evening to pick up the dogs from the kennel before his class on Monday and I came back Monday evening after my meetings. One thing is for certain, I am going to be good at reading a train schedule by the time I get back to Texas – a skill that I don’t see benefiting me long-term.
Thursday evening, Adam & I decided to be adventurous in the culinary world – anyone who knows us understands what a big deal this is. You see the British are not known for their food (well, maybe they are, just not in a positive way). What they are known for is conquering a civilization and taking all the parts they like of it, then calling it their own. Cuisine is no exception to this statement. You will see Indian restaurants all over the country. They’ve very much taken curry as their own recipes now. Not dissimilar to Texans feeling that Mexican food is theirs. Anyhow, when I was walking back to the hotel from my client’s office, I saw a poster in a restaurant window for ‘Moroccan Meatballs’. I’d never had anything Moroccan before, but the picture looked good – you know me, very visual! So after Adam got to town, we headed down to explore. We ate tapas style because we were afraid we’d order something we didn’t like and then be disappointed. After Googling several of the items on the menu (how did people order dinner before the iPhone – we’ll miss your genius Steve Jobs!), we settled on 3 dishes. Every single one was amazing. It has been by far one of my favourite meals in the UK. If you’re going to be in London, let me know & I’ll tell you where to find them. Apparently, I like Moroccan food?
Friday morning, I headed back to the office and Adam went off to see two museums that I have no desire to go to: the National Army Museum and the Churchill War Rooms. He thoroughly enjoyed both. I’m glad he went without me. I will let him share the story (and photo he took) of Napoleon’s horse – the PG version, not the NC-17 for graphic violence and gore that he told me.
Friday evening, we did one of my favourite things – we went to a musical. I can’t sing. AT. ALL. Infact, after about 3 months of attending church services in Bedford, the lovely older couple who had been sitting in front of us every week started sitting behind us. She sang beautifully, by the way. I can’t sing, but I admire those who can – those who understand words like rhythm and tone and range. And I love musicals. We’d kinda wanted to see Shrek the Musical, but when I got to the half price ticket booth Friday afternoon, there were only obstructed view seats remaining. Even at half-price I wasn’t paying for an obstructed view seat! So, I asked the ticket agent what else he had in that price range. He said he had Billy Elliot tickets. Thought I’d heard of Billy Elliot, I had no idea what it was about or what the reviews had been like. Then the ticket agent said, the seats are on the floor 11 rows back 6 seats off center (I’m sure he thought he said ‘centre’). I was sold. So back to the hotel I went, we changed & went to the show. It was really good. I’m glad we saw it. And I loved my date night. Adam was a bit disappointed that I’d forgotten that London theatres sell ice cream in the isles during intermission and he was not properly prepared with cash to be able to partake. Next time, we’ll know.
Saturday morning, we had some great hot chocolate then went to the Tower of London.
Adam would like me to point out that the tower of London isn’t exactly a tower in the way that you would call the Leaning Tower of Pisa a tower. Something akin to the mythical standalone tower that Rapunzel was trapped in. It never occurred to him that people referred to the Norman castle and surrounding fortifications as “the Tower”. For future visitors, the place is huge. The sheer magnitude of the grounds make it interesting. There is the original Norman castle commissioned by William the Conqueror and known as the “White Tower” due to the pale white stones that make up its façade. Throughout the centuries, it has been used as a royal house, an armoury, bunkers during the war and now a museum. I’ll give the Brits one thing; they never tear down a building that they might use again in another 100 years or so.
Directly across from the White Tower is the Jewel House – where the crown jewels are kept on public display when not in use by a member of the royal family. Among the jewels on display is the Coronation Ring and the world’s largest absolute clear cut diamond “The Star of Africa” at a whopping 530.4 carats. It is at this point in the story that I’d like to point out that my 7th anniversary is in less than 3 months. I’ll pause for a moment to let everyone fully consider that statement and email Adam.
When you go to the Tower, make sure to take one of the Yeomen Warders tours. They are hilarious. One of my favourite anecdotes from the day came when our guide was talking about a set of housing buildings that King Henry VIII commissioned for Anne Boleyn while they were dating and he was busy trying to get rid of wife #1. They were intended to be her private quarters once they were married. The only problem was the speed at which they were built. During construction, she went from mistress, to girlfriend, to wife to woman that couldn’t have a son and by the time the buildings were completed so was she.
In the interest of full disclosure of our time over here, I should say I’ve been having a bit of homesickness the last couple of weeks. I love fall in Texas. That time that you finally break the 100 degree days and get a chance to be outside again. Work is usually a bit slower during this time of year and the State Fair is in town (I’m seriously missing a corney dog with ketchup!) and for the second year in a row, the Rangers are in the playoffs. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change what we’re doing for a millisecond, but if another person tries to convince me that corn is an appropriate item to accompany chicken and spinach on a sandwich, I might scream! So when we left the Tower of London and saw a restaurant advertising Kansas City BBQ, I jumped on it. It wasn’t Smoke Stack (which I will always contend is better than Haywards – but my family will continue to debate), but it was good. And, they were showing the ESPN Game Day (Texas / OU at the Cotton Bowl) on TV. It was a very surreal experience. We were sitting within ½ a mile of the Tower of London eating a brisket sandwich served by an Argentinean waitress and watching College Game Day.
We capped our evening by attending Evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral. This was another one of those things that I read about in a tourist book, thought it sounded fun and then made Adam go to. Evensong is a completely sung Anglican worship service. We got there just as they were starting, so we missed the processional in, but we were able to sit near the front and watch as the choir lined the Quire and sang everything from the opening hymn to the prayers to the Bible verses. Not that I would want to have this type of service every week, but I thought it was something different and thoroughly enjoyed it. Adam’s comment was that the organ sounded a bit like a car screeching to a halt. For an organ installed in 1694, I thought it sounded pretty good.
I came to a realization about 5 years ago that I no longer saw my Mother on a daily basis and therefore she wouldn’t know if I didn’t have a vegetable with dinner every night. You might note that I’ve been married for nearly 7 years and was in college for 4 more leading up to that; why it took me 6 years of not living at home to come to this epiphany, I will never figure out. Anyway, with this freedom I also concluded that if I wanted a piece of chocolate cake and a glass of Merlot for dinner, I could have that. We’d eaten our lunch about 3pm and didn’t really want dinner, but I needed a snack. So, after the service, we found a restaurant and asked for the dessert menu. British dessert menus have a cheese platter on them. Always seemed odd to me, but today sounded good. So we ordered it...and a decadent Chocolate Mousse.
Sunday we went to the British Museum and the Tate Britain. Both boast large collections of British artwork and relics. Back to my earlier comment of the British conquering a civilization and taking all the parts they like of it, then calling it their own. Their art museums are full of Egyptian, Roman, French, Italian, American, Australian, and Asian items, but not a room we walked into did I say, oh – that looks British. I guess you can’t bottle grey skies and roundabouts.
I did find the medals for the Olympic games interesting. Apparently they're being manufactured at the Royal Mint about an hour from us. I checked, they don't do tours :(
The British Museum houses the Rosetta Stone. It, as you can see from the photos, is the most popular attraction there. (It's the chunk of rock inside the glass case that you can barely see becuase of all the people).
That’s it for this adventure. I’m home for a couple of weeks, then there are rumors (or rumours depending on your perspective) that I might be heading to Leeds for a few days. Leeds, I’ve been told by Wikipedia, is the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. Doesn’t that sound impressive? Adam has started at school. He has 4 courses this semester and 5 more next. Those who knew him through our college years would see a completely different student today than the one 10 years ago. He studies without being prompted (or forced or threatened). He’s taking an accounting class and asked me for help on one of his homework questions. I had to double check the answer before I could walk him through it. This doesn’t bode well for my career.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Quandary
Lawn mower or vacuum cleaner?
No wheels, plugs in and includes a removable basket for clippings.
We're still trying to decide.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Indian Summer
I’m in a bit of a pickle.
You see, I had this blog written – in my head, at least. No, I hadn’t actual committed pen to paper or in the highly electronic world I live in, fingers to keyboard, which doesn’t sound nearly as romantic. My post was going to be called ‘Fall has ... fallen?’
You see, the temperatures around here the last couple of weeks had been hovering in the mid to lower 50’s and the overnight lows were dipping dangerously close to 40. Adam and I had been discussing the issue of turning on the heat. Or more accurately, we had been discussing trying to figure out how radiators work. I held strong though; I was adamant that we wouldn’t turn on the heat until October 1st. I don’t care how far north of Texas I am, it just seems absurd to me to turn on the heat in September.
The long-range forecast was calling for snow by the middle of October. I just wasn’t sure I could have my birthday with snow on the ground. I remember years where I went swimming at my grandmother’s house on my birthday. Snow seemed crazy. I cleared anything without sleeves and most things with short sleeve out of the closet. I moved in all the sweaters and turtlenecks I could find – we were lucky in the fact that we found out we were coming over here in mid-February just as winter clothes were going on clearance in Texas. My winter wardrobe selection is much broader than it’s ever been before.
I took pictures of trees in the autumn colors. They are beautiful, reds and oranges a few deep purple berry flowers mixed in. Sunflowers as big as your head. Even the pine trees were cooperating and I was able to get some pictures of their needles covering the walkway through the park I walk on my way to work. It was going to be an amazing post.
Amazing.
Then something happened.
We’ve entered into an Indian Summer. It is warm. Or hot by British standards. The temperature got to (you might want to sit down from this) 82 degrees here today. The locals are flocking to the beaches, the National Health Service is urging people to check on their elderly neighbors and parents (Mom, Dad – you guys okay?), the television news is running 10 minute segments on how to apply sunscreen and tips for staying cool (apparently, stay in the shade & drink water not beer).
At work today we had our ‘away day’, similar to your 5th grade field day. The 70 or so in my group all met at a historic manor house in Bristol – well, one of them, there are several, you know. The day included several team building challenges all of which were outside. It was pre planned – we would have done the same activities whether it was 80 & sunny or 50 & raining. I loved it. Couldn’t have been happier (except maybe if my team had won a challenge or two). Today was a beautiful day; sunny, warm, I got to wear shorts to work and enjoy the day outside. Days like this are much better outside than in front of my laptop. My colleagues, on the other hand, spent most of the day trying to huddle under a tree to avoid the sun and fanning themselves with the team challenge instruction sheets.
Though I’ll always be excited to come home, I’m not looking forward to our first Texas summer back (especially if it’s anything like the one you all went through this year), but a few more days that top 80 degrees are going to be very welcomed by this transplant.
You’ll just have to wait until I get cold again to see my fall pictures. Until then, I hear some ice cream calling my name!
You see, I had this blog written – in my head, at least. No, I hadn’t actual committed pen to paper or in the highly electronic world I live in, fingers to keyboard, which doesn’t sound nearly as romantic. My post was going to be called ‘Fall has ... fallen?’
You see, the temperatures around here the last couple of weeks had been hovering in the mid to lower 50’s and the overnight lows were dipping dangerously close to 40. Adam and I had been discussing the issue of turning on the heat. Or more accurately, we had been discussing trying to figure out how radiators work. I held strong though; I was adamant that we wouldn’t turn on the heat until October 1st. I don’t care how far north of Texas I am, it just seems absurd to me to turn on the heat in September.
The long-range forecast was calling for snow by the middle of October. I just wasn’t sure I could have my birthday with snow on the ground. I remember years where I went swimming at my grandmother’s house on my birthday. Snow seemed crazy. I cleared anything without sleeves and most things with short sleeve out of the closet. I moved in all the sweaters and turtlenecks I could find – we were lucky in the fact that we found out we were coming over here in mid-February just as winter clothes were going on clearance in Texas. My winter wardrobe selection is much broader than it’s ever been before.
I took pictures of trees in the autumn colors. They are beautiful, reds and oranges a few deep purple berry flowers mixed in. Sunflowers as big as your head. Even the pine trees were cooperating and I was able to get some pictures of their needles covering the walkway through the park I walk on my way to work. It was going to be an amazing post.
Amazing.
Then something happened.
We’ve entered into an Indian Summer. It is warm. Or hot by British standards. The temperature got to (you might want to sit down from this) 82 degrees here today. The locals are flocking to the beaches, the National Health Service is urging people to check on their elderly neighbors and parents (Mom, Dad – you guys okay?), the television news is running 10 minute segments on how to apply sunscreen and tips for staying cool (apparently, stay in the shade & drink water not beer).
At work today we had our ‘away day’, similar to your 5th grade field day. The 70 or so in my group all met at a historic manor house in Bristol – well, one of them, there are several, you know. The day included several team building challenges all of which were outside. It was pre planned – we would have done the same activities whether it was 80 & sunny or 50 & raining. I loved it. Couldn’t have been happier (except maybe if my team had won a challenge or two). Today was a beautiful day; sunny, warm, I got to wear shorts to work and enjoy the day outside. Days like this are much better outside than in front of my laptop. My colleagues, on the other hand, spent most of the day trying to huddle under a tree to avoid the sun and fanning themselves with the team challenge instruction sheets.
Though I’ll always be excited to come home, I’m not looking forward to our first Texas summer back (especially if it’s anything like the one you all went through this year), but a few more days that top 80 degrees are going to be very welcomed by this transplant.
You’ll just have to wait until I get cold again to see my fall pictures. Until then, I hear some ice cream calling my name!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
A walk in the park
Adam & I have realized that we’ve spent most of our time talking about our trips and vacations. Probably because they’ve been really cool and we’re excited about them – I mean, who doesn’t love a good holiday! We, though also want to remember our day-to-day living while we live over here. You know, the mundane things of life, going to the grocery store, work, walking the dogs, even the randomness of the television shows. It’s all been pretty entertaining.
So, in an attempt of ‘normal’ – that’s a really hard concept with us! – I want to show you where I get to walk the dogs. I’ve always considered walking the girls a bit of a chore. We usually went after work to run some of their energy out so Adam & I could eat dinner in peace. But I never loved it, they would pull on their leashes, we walked around the neighborhood & about half way through Ginger would get tired & sit down, then there was about 20 minutes of coaxing to get her to finish the walk & get back in the house.
It’s a completely different story here. A great thing about this house is it’s location to a park. We are about a 5 minute walk from Oldbury Court Estate. It is a huge (about 190 acres) of wooded area, open fields, children’s play ground, and football (not the American kind) and cricket pitches.
They have traced the land and estate’s history back to it’s first mentioning in the Domesday Book of 1066 when a riding man is shown as holding a land deed to the area. The property passed through many families throughout from the mid 1400’s to 1715 when it was taken over by the Oldbury’s. They built the first buildings on the property and over time made it a grand estate. In 1799, Thomas Graeme bought the estate and called in Humphrey Repton, the famous landscape designer, who made substantial changes to the character of the grounds around the house. Graeme died in 1820 and the property eventually passed to the Vassall family, relatives to Graeme’s sister. The Vassalls held the estate until 1936 and with no male heir, the last descendent of the Vassall family sold the estate to the city of Bristol.
The city opened the lands up for public use. Then, a fire in 1948 severely damaged the main house and coach house and completely burnt down the stables. By February 1949 the house had been demolished, but the grounds remained open for the citizens of Bristol to enjoy.
Today there are several open grass land areas where you can let dogs off leash. (We’ve noticed that several people let their dogs off as soon as they enter the park area, but we don’t trust ours enough yet!) The girls sure do know as soon as we approach the area where we do let them roam free. And they’re excited about it every time. I have never seen them (especially Ginger) run as much as they do here.
A lot of the times, it’s just the four of us in the area, so Adam & I walk around the border eating off the blackberry bushes…okay, I eat, Adam watches. I never knew how much I loved fresh picked blackberries until we moved here and there are bushes and bushes of them as far as you can see. I’ve thought about picking enough to make a pie or jam or something of the like, but they just seem to keep going in my mouth instead of in a basket to take back to the house…
Occasionally, there are other people or dogs in the area we like, but the girls have done really well at going up to them & sniffing then coming back to us and continuing our walk. We’ve been quite impressed at their manners. It probably doesn’t hurt that they get a t-r-e-a-t when they return to us.
After about 40 minutes of near pure running for the two of them and a slow, meandering blackberry picking walk for Adam & myself, we leash back up and return home…up a hill.
So, in an attempt of ‘normal’ – that’s a really hard concept with us! – I want to show you where I get to walk the dogs. I’ve always considered walking the girls a bit of a chore. We usually went after work to run some of their energy out so Adam & I could eat dinner in peace. But I never loved it, they would pull on their leashes, we walked around the neighborhood & about half way through Ginger would get tired & sit down, then there was about 20 minutes of coaxing to get her to finish the walk & get back in the house.
It’s a completely different story here. A great thing about this house is it’s location to a park. We are about a 5 minute walk from Oldbury Court Estate. It is a huge (about 190 acres) of wooded area, open fields, children’s play ground, and football (not the American kind) and cricket pitches.
They have traced the land and estate’s history back to it’s first mentioning in the Domesday Book of 1066 when a riding man is shown as holding a land deed to the area. The property passed through many families throughout from the mid 1400’s to 1715 when it was taken over by the Oldbury’s. They built the first buildings on the property and over time made it a grand estate. In 1799, Thomas Graeme bought the estate and called in Humphrey Repton, the famous landscape designer, who made substantial changes to the character of the grounds around the house. Graeme died in 1820 and the property eventually passed to the Vassall family, relatives to Graeme’s sister. The Vassalls held the estate until 1936 and with no male heir, the last descendent of the Vassall family sold the estate to the city of Bristol.
The city opened the lands up for public use. Then, a fire in 1948 severely damaged the main house and coach house and completely burnt down the stables. By February 1949 the house had been demolished, but the grounds remained open for the citizens of Bristol to enjoy.
Today there are several open grass land areas where you can let dogs off leash. (We’ve noticed that several people let their dogs off as soon as they enter the park area, but we don’t trust ours enough yet!) The girls sure do know as soon as we approach the area where we do let them roam free. And they’re excited about it every time. I have never seen them (especially Ginger) run as much as they do here.
A lot of the times, it’s just the four of us in the area, so Adam & I walk around the border eating off the blackberry bushes…okay, I eat, Adam watches. I never knew how much I loved fresh picked blackberries until we moved here and there are bushes and bushes of them as far as you can see. I’ve thought about picking enough to make a pie or jam or something of the like, but they just seem to keep going in my mouth instead of in a basket to take back to the house…
Occasionally, there are other people or dogs in the area we like, but the girls have done really well at going up to them & sniffing then coming back to us and continuing our walk. We’ve been quite impressed at their manners. It probably doesn’t hurt that they get a t-r-e-a-t when they return to us.
After about 40 minutes of near pure running for the two of them and a slow, meandering blackberry picking walk for Adam & myself, we leash back up and return home…up a hill.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Day Tripper
This weekend Amanda and I decided to stay a little closer to home and find sights we might be able to take a few visitors. Thanks to our Royal Oak guide book, we found two estates within 45 minutes of the house. So, Saturday morning we loaded up into the car and headed north with a full tank of gas and a dozen mini chocolate chip muffins.
The drive was easy and went by quickly, especially with Amanda quizzing me on baseball history as we drove along. (My brother-in-law got me a page-a-day Ranger’s calendar for Christmas last year & with the move and chaos in our lives, I hadn’t been faithful to it. So in the 45 minute drive, it went from August 3rd to September 17th – man, time flies when you’re having fun!) Our first stop of the day was Brockhampton Estate. This 1,700 acre estate traces its existence to the 1200’s and comprises of pasture, orchards and woodlands with streams that meander throughout. There are two houses on the property, Brockhampton House which is leased to a private residence and closed to the public (why couldn’t we have found that during the housing woes!), and Lower Brockhampton House which is maintained by the National Trust and open to the public. There are also multiple walking paths that travel up and down the rolling hills of the estate.
Upon our arrival, we decided to take the shortest path that promised magnificent views of Brockhampton House, Brockhampton Church and the surrounding countryside. In truth Brockhampton House was behind a grove of trees and barely visible from the path. However, the surrounding views were impressive and the church was pretty. One of the more interesting aspects about the church is that it was designed by George Byfield who specialized in designing and building prisons. I guess architecture is architecture, but it seems odd to switch building types like that. The Church was completed in 1798 and is still occasionally open for services.
After completing our one mile walk we hopped back in the car and made our way down to Lower Brockhampton House. Situated at the bottom of a hill and surround by a moat Lower Brockhampton House was surprisingly picturesque. Built in the late 1300’s Lower Brockhampton house is in remarkably good condition, even if the gate house leans a little bit. Of course when your building has a stone roof it’s probably going to last for a while. Inside the house has been furnished with period pieces from throughout the estates history as well as a few pieces on loan from other National Trust properties in the area. For instance the canopy bed circa 1500’s was brought over from Croft Castle just down the road.
One of the things I enjoy so much about the National Trust properties like the two we saw today is that they have volunteers in almost every property who act as tour guides and docents within various rooms. From our (admittedly limited) experience, these volunteers also have a connection to the property in some fashion or another. Today, I spoke to the most interesting man…well, he spoke, I nodded a lot and added the occasional ‘wow’ or ‘oh, that’s neat’. He’s the individual that told us about canopy bed from Croft Castle but that’s not where his wisdom ends. He also told us about the main dining table that was designed with removable ends instead of leaves that are added to the middle of the table. He related stories of how portrait artists would typically spend their winters painting backdrops and outfits before approaching the individual they were hoping to be hired by and he showed us a Goat’s Foot which is a hinged implement used to draw back the string of a crossbow. He also had a several personal stories about the ten years he and his wife had been working at this particular site. On display within the house are a vintage 1940’s typewriter and a family bible that’s several hundred years old that he donated on behalf of his wife who passed away five years ago. It’s rather amazing because when I approached him I was really only hoping that he would grant my request to take a couple of photos of the interior and after nearly 20 minutes I came away with so much more than a few photos could have provided.
Amanda also found ways to amuse herself while I was gone. World's largest Jenga game, anyone?
Beyond the house a short distance are the ruins of a Norman chapel which they believe was constructed around 1086 when the area was medieval settlement in the valley. After taking a few photos of the chapel and wandering through the orchard the skies began to open up so we made our way towards the car and our next stop of the day.
Croft Castle is about 20 miles from Brockhampton Estate and was home to the Croft family for nearly 1,000 years. Situated on 1,500 acres at the top of a hill this castle has great views and the impressive stone façade one should expect to find when touring a grand family estate. Inside the castle is well appointed with family heirlooms, portraits and busts throughout. Most of the furniture was very impressive with exotic finishes and inlays of mother of pearl. This was definitely a wealthy family! Mom would love the dentil molding in every room that matched the ornate plaster ceilings. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside, so you’ll just have to take my word that it’s amazing.
After strolling around the interior and visiting with some more of the guides, we made our way to the Walled Garden. While not as impressive as the gardens at Dyrham Park they were still very well done and included a small vineyard.
I’m going to own one of these someday.
I did manage to pick up a couple of souvenirs at the gift shop while Amanda was distracted with the used bookstore inside the stables. Happy with our efforts to discover places we can take guests for a short day trip we decided to make our way home and treated ourselves with a return trip through Wales and a few more mini chocolate chip muffins. It was a great day made even more exciting by the prospects of being able to share it with friends and family when they come to visit.
Cheers!
The drive was easy and went by quickly, especially with Amanda quizzing me on baseball history as we drove along. (My brother-in-law got me a page-a-day Ranger’s calendar for Christmas last year & with the move and chaos in our lives, I hadn’t been faithful to it. So in the 45 minute drive, it went from August 3rd to September 17th – man, time flies when you’re having fun!) Our first stop of the day was Brockhampton Estate. This 1,700 acre estate traces its existence to the 1200’s and comprises of pasture, orchards and woodlands with streams that meander throughout. There are two houses on the property, Brockhampton House which is leased to a private residence and closed to the public (why couldn’t we have found that during the housing woes!), and Lower Brockhampton House which is maintained by the National Trust and open to the public. There are also multiple walking paths that travel up and down the rolling hills of the estate.
Upon our arrival, we decided to take the shortest path that promised magnificent views of Brockhampton House, Brockhampton Church and the surrounding countryside. In truth Brockhampton House was behind a grove of trees and barely visible from the path. However, the surrounding views were impressive and the church was pretty. One of the more interesting aspects about the church is that it was designed by George Byfield who specialized in designing and building prisons. I guess architecture is architecture, but it seems odd to switch building types like that. The Church was completed in 1798 and is still occasionally open for services.
After completing our one mile walk we hopped back in the car and made our way down to Lower Brockhampton House. Situated at the bottom of a hill and surround by a moat Lower Brockhampton House was surprisingly picturesque. Built in the late 1300’s Lower Brockhampton house is in remarkably good condition, even if the gate house leans a little bit. Of course when your building has a stone roof it’s probably going to last for a while. Inside the house has been furnished with period pieces from throughout the estates history as well as a few pieces on loan from other National Trust properties in the area. For instance the canopy bed circa 1500’s was brought over from Croft Castle just down the road.
One of the things I enjoy so much about the National Trust properties like the two we saw today is that they have volunteers in almost every property who act as tour guides and docents within various rooms. From our (admittedly limited) experience, these volunteers also have a connection to the property in some fashion or another. Today, I spoke to the most interesting man…well, he spoke, I nodded a lot and added the occasional ‘wow’ or ‘oh, that’s neat’. He’s the individual that told us about canopy bed from Croft Castle but that’s not where his wisdom ends. He also told us about the main dining table that was designed with removable ends instead of leaves that are added to the middle of the table. He related stories of how portrait artists would typically spend their winters painting backdrops and outfits before approaching the individual they were hoping to be hired by and he showed us a Goat’s Foot which is a hinged implement used to draw back the string of a crossbow. He also had a several personal stories about the ten years he and his wife had been working at this particular site. On display within the house are a vintage 1940’s typewriter and a family bible that’s several hundred years old that he donated on behalf of his wife who passed away five years ago. It’s rather amazing because when I approached him I was really only hoping that he would grant my request to take a couple of photos of the interior and after nearly 20 minutes I came away with so much more than a few photos could have provided.
Amanda also found ways to amuse herself while I was gone. World's largest Jenga game, anyone?
Beyond the house a short distance are the ruins of a Norman chapel which they believe was constructed around 1086 when the area was medieval settlement in the valley. After taking a few photos of the chapel and wandering through the orchard the skies began to open up so we made our way towards the car and our next stop of the day.
Croft Castle is about 20 miles from Brockhampton Estate and was home to the Croft family for nearly 1,000 years. Situated on 1,500 acres at the top of a hill this castle has great views and the impressive stone façade one should expect to find when touring a grand family estate. Inside the castle is well appointed with family heirlooms, portraits and busts throughout. Most of the furniture was very impressive with exotic finishes and inlays of mother of pearl. This was definitely a wealthy family! Mom would love the dentil molding in every room that matched the ornate plaster ceilings. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside, so you’ll just have to take my word that it’s amazing.
After strolling around the interior and visiting with some more of the guides, we made our way to the Walled Garden. While not as impressive as the gardens at Dyrham Park they were still very well done and included a small vineyard.
I’m going to own one of these someday.
I did manage to pick up a couple of souvenirs at the gift shop while Amanda was distracted with the used bookstore inside the stables. Happy with our efforts to discover places we can take guests for a short day trip we decided to make our way home and treated ourselves with a return trip through Wales and a few more mini chocolate chip muffins. It was a great day made even more exciting by the prospects of being able to share it with friends and family when they come to visit.
Cheers!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Thank you to everyone who played in our What does this mean? challenge. Adam & I loved reading your responses and guesses. Believe me, most were not far off from our original guesses!
Congratulations are in order to Paul Anthony for successfully answering 10 of the 15 (when I scored or 8 when Adam did – who would have thought he was the tougher grader out of the two of us!)
For those still scratching their heads, here’s the official answers.
Well, isn’t that just keen as mustard?
Ain't that grand?
It’s good to have insulated walls in your house, incase you want to have a row.
If you have a big fight, your neighbors can't hear.
That is so waffle.
That is lame!
Don’t mug me off.
Don't brush me off / ignore me.
You can have David help you, he’s just doing noddy work for me today.
David was doing easy (childish) work. (There is a children’s cartoon with a character called Noddy – kinda like Dora the Explorer)
That’s no cricket.
Very unfair!
White goods included.
Washer, dryer, and dishwasher included. (Sometimes also refers to the oven/stove, but most of the time those are standard in rentals now)
You’re a brick!
Thank you so much, you did a solid job.
Give it welly.
Step on it. Not so much in the car context, but like do your job really fast.
The best of British to you on that one.
Good luck!
I thought I’d come check with you so we didn’t play Chinese Whispers all day.
I don't want to play phone tag.
Before this goes pear shaped, let’s chat.
Before the situation gets out of hand, let's discuss.
PTO
Please Turn Over (usually written at the bottom of the page, for those of us who think people usually end sentences midway through a thought, it’s a good reminder)
British Summer Time ends October 30th.
Daylight Savings Time Ends October 30th.
Your rubbish pick up is once a fortnight.
Trash pick up is every two weeks. (Yes, really. Can you even imagine!!)
Congratulations are in order to Paul Anthony for successfully answering 10 of the 15 (when I scored or 8 when Adam did – who would have thought he was the tougher grader out of the two of us!)
For those still scratching their heads, here’s the official answers.
Well, isn’t that just keen as mustard?
Ain't that grand?
It’s good to have insulated walls in your house, incase you want to have a row.
If you have a big fight, your neighbors can't hear.
That is so waffle.
That is lame!
Don’t mug me off.
Don't brush me off / ignore me.
You can have David help you, he’s just doing noddy work for me today.
David was doing easy (childish) work. (There is a children’s cartoon with a character called Noddy – kinda like Dora the Explorer)
That’s no cricket.
Very unfair!
White goods included.
Washer, dryer, and dishwasher included. (Sometimes also refers to the oven/stove, but most of the time those are standard in rentals now)
You’re a brick!
Thank you so much, you did a solid job.
Give it welly.
Step on it. Not so much in the car context, but like do your job really fast.
The best of British to you on that one.
Good luck!
I thought I’d come check with you so we didn’t play Chinese Whispers all day.
I don't want to play phone tag.
Before this goes pear shaped, let’s chat.
Before the situation gets out of hand, let's discuss.
PTO
Please Turn Over (usually written at the bottom of the page, for those of us who think people usually end sentences midway through a thought, it’s a good reminder)
British Summer Time ends October 30th.
Daylight Savings Time Ends October 30th.
Your rubbish pick up is once a fortnight.
Trash pick up is every two weeks. (Yes, really. Can you even imagine!!)
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