Will I have to change my blog's name?

Well hey there! It has been a while I know! Since I last blogged it has been a bit of a whirlwind. Dad had a heart attack on May 8th and instead of the parental much anticipated visit to Texas, Texas went to visit them with offspring 1, 2 and 3. Yes! We flew all the way to Brisbane for 7 weeks to reassure ourselves that Dad was fine - and Thank God he is - and we had the best time visiting with the fam! Have already booked our flights to do the same thing again next summer - although Dad, I sure would appreciate it (as they/we say around here) if you would omit the heart attack step :)

So - September is here and even though it's 100 degrees still, the part of me that is still English feels that it should perhaps be Autumn and the pull of the misty mornings and mellow English fruitfulness is calling loud and clear. Stupidly I swung by Barnes and Noble to pick up a Country Living UK Edition. Stupid! Stupid! When will I learn that it makes me feel worse rather than better??

So, on the eve of my last step in the Naturalization process here I am wondering whether I will have to change the blog's title if I am soon to be a real, honest-to-goodness American? I've paid the huge amount of money to the US government, and the Immigration attorney, I've had my fingerprints taken and filled out a ton of paperwork. I have learned the 100 questions for the civics test and am now just waiting to have my interview and oral examination.

Exciting, strange, weird, a whole range of emotions and a gamut of new opportunities. Maybe now I will get involved in politics as I will at last be able to vote in a Federal election??? I'll let you know. In England we say that "God is an Englishman." In America we say 'God Bless America". Please God, bless an English-American too!

Bertram - Home to the Oatmeal Festival and perhaps to a Brit or two also?

It may not have escaped your attention that sometimes I get a bit homesick! Saturdays are notoriously bad for homesickness because even though you are still busy, the usual frenetic crazy routine of the week is gone and there is a bit of room to remember that your nearest and dearest are a long way away and that you are not in your home town doing home town things.

I think today I had a bit of a break through in this regard!!

For anybody who doesn't know, Bertram is a very small rural Texas town. We proudly boast 1122 people on the city limits sign and I'm not altogether sure that I have yet found the one horse...

However, a family trip to Bertram today gave me the warm fuzzy feeling that I might be beginning to belong here! We managed to occupy a whole morning in this town and spend only the princely sum of $11 - not including our delicious breakfast at El Rancho :)

Children 1, 2 and 3 expressed the desire to walk along Main Street and go into the Feed Store to pet the chicks that were advertised as being for sale in there. We'd never been to the Feed Store before and I can tell you that it was our loss. A lovely lady called Joanna made us very welcome and Mr. Henry showed us his luxuriant tomato and dill plants which made me very happy as I love discussing gardens even though I have no green thumb at all. It reminds me of Great Grandad and his perfectly manicured pocket handkerchief garden!

We ambled along next to the Balcones Rock and Gem Shop also on Main Street, which is Daughter #2's favorite place in the world (this from a child who has been to England, Australia and Italy!). This girl could spend hours in that shop if I let her and I think that the terribly kind and patient proprietors, Becky and Jerry would be quite okay with hosting this junior geologist for as long as it took her to agonizingly pick out the gems and rocks it takes to spend her allowance.

This shop is truly one of a kind, an experience not to be missed. It's a geologist's and jewelry lover's Aladdin's Cave and even though what sparkles may be fool's gold rather than the real thing, it is simply stunning!Take your kids! Take your Grandkids! They'll come away with treasure and a lovely poster explaining all the rocks found here in Texas!

We were feeling pretty good by now so we returned to the car to drive home for a lunch break. We parked outside the yet-to-be-revealed "Globe" theater. I hear it's going to show classic movies, perhaps serviced by a tea room in the somewhat restored cottage opposite it. I can only hope!

After lunch we bit the bullet and got children 1, 2 and 3 a haircut in Poofy Doo's. How could you resist a place with a name like that? The ladies in there showed patience beyond what was believable especially seeing as they had been fixing prom hair all day for tonight's festivities! Shout out to them!

The day came to a close with a giant ice cream cone in The Moose, where I am proud and astonished to say, works Bertram's other English daughter . The first time I heard her switch out her Texas drawl for a Scouser (Liverpudlian - think Beatles) accent, I'm sure my jaw bit the ground in a most unbecoming way!

Bertram, Oh Bertram! Famous for your Oatmeal Festival on Labor Day weekend. Thank you for your hospitality. You did much to make this gal smile today!

Missing the Boat

Wow! I sure do feel that I may have missed the chance to blog about a couple of very cool English occasions in the last week!

Of course, on Friday last the whole world watched Kate Middleton say "I do" in an outrageously classy and elegant wedding service in Westminster Abbey in London. I basked in the reflected glory of all things English on that day. My Texan friends and colleagues were so gracious in their felicitations and interest in that event that I too began to feel a tad princess-ish (or at least Duchess of Cambridge-ish!) on that day! I may have missed the boat and not married a prince of the realm (sorry husband - you're pretty good too!) but I am magnanimous enough to still have enjoyed the lucky girl's big day!

Sigh! I was a bit homesick for the next 24 hours and ended up going on line to my new favorite purveyor of fine British goods here in Texas. This wonderful emporium is called British Isles, in Houston and their service is so swift and terrific to be unbelievable. I adore my new Emma Bridgwater mug - can't wait for next month when I can order another one! Wish they'd open a store in Austin with me as proprietor - what a fun gig that would be! I'll put a link to the store in the link section.

Also missed May Day - a big deal in Oxford - the 'other place' where the students of Magdalen College annually sing in the May dawn from the college tower with a few thousand of their followers to cheer them on and then celebrate a bit! Big event but since it happens in Oxford I think I can mention it and skate graciously around it.

One more month until Mum and Dad pop up from Down under! CANNOT wait!!

It's a Mystery to me

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately. I have been reading and writing other things and as you all know there are only so many hours in the day!

About three weeks ago I called in at my local Barnes and Noble to collect my monthly fix of Country Living Magazine so that here in unseasonably hot Texas I could torture myself with images of an English Spring. Sadly B&N had no Country Livings to sell me so in high dudgeon I was just stalking towards the door of the shop through the "New in Paperback" aisle when an all-too familiar image caught my eye. There, nestled between some un-noteworthy tomes was the Mathematical Bridge of Queen's College, Cambridge, a site/sight I cycled past at least twice a day for 5 years during my time at Cambridge.

 Interest piqued I halted my stalking pace and backed up to the book. It was called "The Devlin Diaries" and had one of those covers that just sucked you right in, made you want to plop down on the floor right there and just start reading. Well, with dinner to put on the table and homework to oversee, laundry to do etc I didn't plop down on the floor but I did buy the book and spent the next three days reading it until it was done. Boy! That was a great book and it made me want to read more books so before I knew where I was I had spent the next week's grocery bill on used books from Amazon.com! Sorry husband! Does that explain the rice and beans in our diet lately?

Historical Mysteries have been the breath of life to me these last three weeks. Restoration Period London, Who-dunnits featuring Elizabeth I as investigator and even a forensic pathologist from Twelth Century Sicily transplanted to my beloved Cambridge. Wow! It has been like taking a little vacation from everyday life. Even the rejection of the first few pages of my children's novel by a literary agent didn't phase me as much as I had thought it might. I could justify my lack of sorrow over that by telling myself I was doing research into how a good book does get picked up by an agent!

So, I have resurfaced from my reading binge and tell myself it is time to return briefly to the real world! Obviously I will order some more books from Amazon and this time discipline myself not to read them until the summer vacation which now looms on the horizon (brief pause for shouts of joy!), but more pressingly it seems like time to start Royal watching as the wedding is THIS WEEK! When all that is on your TV is basketball or Disney Channel, the most important news tends to creep by you. Off to Google Royal Wedding and figure out how I am going to get up early enough to watch it!

Cambridge in America

Cambridge was indeed in America on Thursday evening as the choir of St. John's College, Cambridge University performed at St. Austin's Catholic Church under the conductorship (is there such a word?) of Andrew Nethsingha. Their music did much to restore the soul and everyone seemed to enjoy it hugely, but we in the Long Family - that is to say self plus daughters 1 and 2 enjoyed the 90 minute performance for reasons that were only tangental to the music.

We sat in the front row because the novelty of not having naughty child #3 with us meant that we could revel in front row ambience rather than cowering in the back row ready to beat a hasty retreat. Therefore we had a really good view of all of the singers' facial expressions, elbowing of eachother, yawns and unashamed staring of the ten year old treble boys at daughter #1!

I am not a music buff so will not pretend to speak with authority about the splendor of Bach's Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Bless you!) but I do know that the soaring notes of clear voices in harmony with eachother made me very nostalgic for England and not a little tearful. I absolutely loved it!

The program was very worthy with lots of pieces by composers I had vaguely heard of but I suspect everyone's favorite piece was when the tenors and basses sang "Surfing USA", Barber Shop style. The senior lads (probably second year undergraduates at a guess) were just witty and droll in their version of the song and when Mr. Nethsingha made the Hook 'em Horns gesture, the crowd went wild - well, as wild as such an august and undisputeably senior crowd such as it was could go wild!

My special thanks go to George, Basil and Tom, 3 of the choristers who took the time to meet and greet with my daughters after the perfomance, still splendidly attired in their Harry Potter-esque gowns and bow ties. They were very kind in a non-patronising way to my small ones and I think have struck a chord in a couple of small hearts to be on the look out in about 30 years' time or so (Ha!) for a nice young Englishman. A mother can dream right?

Good times! Perhaps I might even go as far as to give generously next time the alumni phone call comes around!

First Scottish Bank of Burnet

Last night husband and I took the rare opportunity to go out to dinner together on our own with no children. After the initial sense of being at a loss for words due to the unusual chance to speak to eachother without constant interruption we had a lovely meal. After our meal we made a quick trip to my favorite ATM.

How can you have a favorite ATM you may ask? Well, my ATM not only dispenses money with ease and efficiency but when it speaks to me, you know, phrases such as "Please enter your pin number now", it does so in a lovely, soothing Scottish accent! I have no idea why a bank in Burnet, Texas would have a Scottish female voiceover but it does and everyone in my family loves it! There is always an expectant hush in the car as we breathlessly wait to hear Jeannie (or whatever Scottish name you care to substitute) give us the next instruction. As this 'north of the borders' voice calmly tells us what to do, everyone in my car choruses back the words in their best pseudo-Scottish voice.

Thank you First Scottish Bank of Burnet! It is worth paying an extra $2 for using a bank not my own just for this moment of pure entertainment. I can't wait for the day when my kiddoes meet a real Scot. They'll expect him or her to hand over wads of cash!

Rule Britannia's National Health Care Service

Sorry for the week's hiatus! The re-immersion to the workplace after a week off for Spring Break's virtual trip to England has been a reverse culture shock! Actually, the shock has mostly been the getting up at 4:45 again and driving 43 miles one way to work!

Today I celebrate the British National Health Service through a pair of rosy tinted spectacles. I was horrified this evening to open up a medical bill for $662 for a 10 minute trip to the GP's and three labs. The price was so enormous because the labs were done at the doctor's office rather than the laboratory. If they would have been done at the laboratory instead of the doctor's office where I was too sick to remember this minor detail in my vertiginous state, the cost of the labs would have been covered at 100%. Cost to me...nada.

It simply isn't in the nature of people who were raised in the National Health Service to remember to ask whether such and such is covered under the health plan for which one pays through the nose each month. In England, admittedly we pay high taxes but when you go to the doctor's you can go and not worry about whether you can afford a basic doctor's visit (and yes, I am not talking about serious surgery or anything here). You call the practice, get an appoinment within the day and s/he makes you well. When s/he says "We're going to take some blood work" and you are so nauseous that you can't raise your head through fear of spray painting the room with puke, you don't tend to think "Gosh, I must first ascertain whether they are in my lab network" before you consent to allow them to do all in their power to restore you to health.

I'm not a political creature as anyone who knows me will testify but this made me cross at the plain unfairness and stupidity of it. I am really mad. I'm going to fight it. The cost of a phone call and 20 minutes of excruciating negotiations with the billing department of a large hospital will be the price I pay for reducing the cost of this ludicrous bill.....I hope. I will use my most reasonable voice and articulate my vowels slowly and clearly in case they are not used to talking to a Brit. I don't want that to go against me!

If anyone has got any advice for me before I place the call and say all the wrong things, please do not hesitate to let me know!

Home from Home

Today is our last day of virtual vacation and I have to confess that I am really going to miss Suffolk and my virtual home at the Swan! I have become quite fond of the place! You know, the funny thing is that although Suffolk is undoubtedly beautiful, historical and culturally fascinating, ALL of England is beautiful, historical and culturally fascinating. Whether you visit Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Tyneside or London, you will find interesting places to visit, old and comfortable hotels or Bed and Breakfasts, eccentric folks to talk to and yes, I do dare say it, good, tasty food. You may have to do your research to find it sometimes but it's there. Real England. Ancient, mysterious, atmospheric, and then again, contemporary, cross-cultural and fast-paced, Quite a lot for such a small island!

Today we're going to leave Suffolk and wend our way south prior to our virtual trip home to Texas from London Gatwick Airport. Because Gatwick is so close to where I grew up, I thought it would be nice to spend a day in Sussex prior to our flight home. So, we are going to spend our last day on this side of the pond in Brighton.

It feels funny to be back in Sussex. In Suffolk I really felt like a tourist and a foreigner. In Sussex I feel a real sense of returning home. I look for faces I might recognize and wonder whether my own face is recognizable after 13 years away. I identify what is a sense of loss. When I last lived here my Grandparents were still alive and my own nuclear family still lived here. Now they have either gone on to better things or emigrated. What is now London's second airport was once my Grandfather's delivery route when he was a butcher's boy on his push bike! When you land at Gatwick you can clearly see Gatwick Village Church where my Grandfather would have worshipped (had formal worship been up his street!).

In Brighton we walked down by the sea front between the two piers, one now a condemned and burnt out wreck and the other a grade 2 listed building but in need of some serious TLC. Luckily nobody was down at the nudist beach today so we didn't have to have any awkward conversations or explosions of embarassed and unsubtle giggling! We admired the distressed elegance of the Georgian architecture and ooohed and aaahed at the unlikely sight of the Royal Pavillion, an Indian looking palace built by the Prince Regent in the eighteenth century shortly before that trifling matter of 1776......

Brighthelmstone as it used to be called was once a smuggling center on the south coast and the smugglers used to hide and sell their wares in the warren of narrow streets just off the front, called The Lanes. These days you are more likely to find deliciously expensive boutiques, eateries and antique shops. And in one of those very nonchalent English juxtapositions, you will also find there a Quaker's Friends' House.

We eat overpriced sea food. No kalamari or squid for us however - but whelks and jellied eels, the kind of fruit of the sea local to Brighton. The kind of food my grandparents would have eaten along with a Mr. Whippee ice cream and loads of cups of sweet tea. OK - so in my virtual reality that's what we ate but in truth there's no way on earth that children 1, 2 and 3 would have eaten anything of that kind! They would have been more fascinated by visiting an English McDonalds! They would have loved a stick of luridly pink peppermint Brighton rock however!

Tomorrow we will take the train from Brighton through the Sussex Weald, the rolling south downs where I took so many walks as a child. We'll stop at my old home town's railway station, race through the village where I was born and eventually get off the train at Gatwick airport. I'll buy every magazine and English candy or souvenir available in duty free before we board the plane home. Home from home. Hard to say which is which any more.

I never really have been to Suffolk! I'd really like to go now though. All the people I have contacted for their permission to use images from their websites were super friendly and helpful. Thank you for accompanying me these last few days. We should do it again one day! Say in about ten weeks time when I'm next off school and looking for a distraction!? Just tell me where you would like to go!

Our England is a garden

Poetry at Easton Farm Park

I like poetry. My children like poetry. Nonsense poems, rhymes, sonnets. We are drawn to them and after today's virtual excursion, Rudyard Kipling's poem certainly came to mind. Of course, to children 1, 2 and 3 Mr. Kipling is famous only for the Jungle Book and perhaps some of his excellent cakes (Translation: English people of my generation saw lots of commericals for a brand of cake called Mr. Kipling - not that we ever bought them because my 'mean' mum insisted on home made!) but in truth the man wrote a mean poem/short story/essay!

This is a long poem so I have picked out our 3 favorite stanzas - sorry Rudyard!

The Glory of the Garden


Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the glory of the garden lies in more than meets the eye.

And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the glory of the garden occupieth all who come.


Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the glory of the garden, that it may not pass away!
And the glory of the garden, it shall never pass away.

Beautiful gardens are everywhere in England - perhaps we are not so much a nation of shopkeepers any more but rather have become a nation of gardeners. Lovely window boxes and hanging baskets everywhere overflow with a profusion of spring flowers, bright green pocket handkerchief gardens in front of houses and of course the gorgeous, manicured, landscaped gardens associated with just about every historical building.

by kind permission of Easton Farm Park

Today we headed to Easton Farm Park, a working farm with its own luscious bright green grass and blooms that caters to family days out. I wish we had places like this in Texas (I haven't found them if they exist so please feel free to tell me if they do!) because we were busy and happy all day long. We petted goats and lambs, saw the gorgeous Suffolk Punch Mares and Highland cattle, trekked down a horse trail, made arts and crafts and even got a chance to see traditional artisans at the blacksmith's forge where they made an array of iron works. Walking by the river we glimpsed herons and kingfishers and smelled the wild garlic and blossom everywhere. What an amazing place. It made me wonder how I could turn my 52-acre ranch into something more productive! When child #3 saw a toy tractor that he could ride on his day was complete and it was with some difficulty that we left the farm. Definitely a place to revisit one day.

Oh - and for you Texans with your love of Longhorn cattle, here is a picture of the Highland cattle at Easton Farm Park. I really love these cows - they have such a friendly fluffy appearance that Longhorns, for all their rugged charm just do not possess! 

After a wee drive home on the left side of the road, we decided to spend the rest of the evening relaxing and letting the children watch some excellent BBC children's TV. As for Mum? Asleep in front of the telly within about 30 seconds!  hope they do room service at this hotel 'cos, as we say on this side of the pond, I'm cream crackered! (Cockney rhyming slang for knackered. Translation: tuckered out!) "And so", as the diarist Samuel Pepys so famously said, "to bed".

Beatrix and her hitherto unknown descendent Harry

Well, we are half way through our virtual vacation in Suffolk but we still have so much more to see, eat and experience. This morning's kippers and malted granary loaf was certainly an experience for kiddoes 1, 2 and 3 who were vociferously aghast at the idea of fish for breakfast!!!! Their complaints gave me additional enjoyment to this gustatory treat :)


I am fortified for the day ahead!

We started off the day at Bridge Cottage at Flatford Mill. This cottage is situated in the heart of Dedham Vale and houses an exhibition on John Constable who painted such famous pictures as the Haywaggon in this area. Much as I would have been happy to stay awhile and perhaps do one of their guided walks, it was not to the taste of three young children so we decided on a trip back to Lavenham - by now becoming gloriously familiar, almost homelike and a trip to Curiosity Corner - a specialist shop selling Steiff Teddy bears.

With three new furry friends added to our party we had the difficult choice to make as to how to spend the afternoon. We decided to nip to the corner shop (Translation: very small locally owned grocery store) and buy bread, cheese, pickle, fruit, crisps (Translation: chips) and some orange squash (Untranslatable) in order to have a picnic. No trip to England with hybrid English-American children would be complete without an English parent forcing aforementioned children to endure a cold, windy picnic in the open air, "Just like we had when I was a girl". They've got that T.Shirt now!

During the squabbling and bickering held during a traditional cold English picnic we had to decide between visiting Gainsborough's house in Sudbury and a National Trust property called Melford Hall, an Elizabethan House. Melford Hall had gardens for unrestricted running around and a tea room. It was the favorite hands down!

I am so glad that we bothered to find out about this place. It was brilliant! not only was it actually interesting and quirky and atmospheric but it really gave the kiddoes a feel for a family house that made up a bit of their historical and cultural heritage. Built in the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I was entertained here (the red headed queen with the white face!) and more interestingly for the kiddoes, Beatrix Potter visited here often as her relatives lived here. There is a room called the Beatrix Potter bedroom and all sorts of sketches she made of squirrels and of the old ponds, the inspiration for the Jeremy Fisher stories that Offspring #3 so loves.

Melford Hall by kind permission of The National Trust

Games of Hide and Seek and Tin Can Alley amongst the Beech trees and Yew Hedges, not to mention 'grass angels' in the soft English grass that harbors no stinging fire ants perfected the day. Terrific tea rooms and a satisfying gift shop made this a place that we will long remember. A perfect memory.

On the drive back to our home, The Swan, in Lavenham, a sleepy #2 Offspring was heard to murmur sleepily about the coincidence of Beatrix and Harry Potter both having the same last name. "Perhaps they are related?" she asked.

A Virtually Perfect Day

After a great night's sleep we all awoke virtually famished - if not actually! We grabbed our virtual Swan Breakfast menu and decided what to eat. The kiddoes decided on pancakes and toast - not just plain old white sandwich toast however but home baked toasted apricot and walnut granary bread - heaven! Personally I went for 'The Full Suffolk', local free-range pork sausage, smoked dry cured Suffolk bacon, Lane Farm black pudding, field mushrooms, tomatoes and free range Manor farm eggs. The menu is so delicious that I've already made a mental note of what to eat tomorrow for breakfast!

We have fun-packed day ahead of us! First stop is Colchester Castle. Colchester was the first capital of Roman Britain (not Londinium/modern London). There was a huge Temple of the Emperor Claudius here which was attacked and destroyed during the revolt of the Iceni Queen Boudicca. A terrific virtual tour of the castle and Roman remains follows for your delight and edification! I love the fact that there is a lot of hands-on activities here for children 1, 2 and 3 who could choose from trying on togas, handling real Roman artefacts, talking to historical character re-enactors and taking part in pottery or weaving workshops. So cool!

http://www.colchestermuseums.org.uk/castle/castle_vr.html

After a quick sandwich near the castle we headed off to Colchester Zoo to see the new Gelado Baboon baby and the endangered species Dragons of Komodo. Telu, the  Komodo Dragon on display was small but to be fair to him was only 3 years old. When fully grown he could be as long as 3 meters!!!

Today has been a huge success. Lots of kid-centered things to do, so to redress the balance we went shopping for Mummy at J & J Baker Antiques. Always wanted a Welsh dresser....wonder how I'm going to get it back?

Munnings Tea Rooms

To round off a perfect day we went to Munnings Tea Rooms in Lavenham for English afternoon tea. Now, this is not exactly a novelty for my kiddoes because I often bake and make tea but the idea of going 'out' to tea was the novelty factor. Wow - just as well we had done so much walking today! We had a huge pot of tea, scones with clotted cream, tea loaf and Yorkshire Curd Tart! SOOO delicious. The kiddoes drank Elderflower Cordial because they have never tried that before. What a treat! the atmosphere in Munnings reminded me of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books and every other novel tea room I ever read about.

To celebrate the feel good factor of English tea, here's my Mum's recipe for scones - they're deceptively simple but you must eat them on the same day that they are made - they don't keep well!

English Scones
8 oz Self raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 oz butter or margarine
2 oz dried fruit (optional)
1tblsp sugar (optional)
1 egg, beaten
3 fl oz milk

1) Sieve the flour and salt in to a bowl and rub in the fat. Add the sugar if using and the fruit and stir well.
2) Add the beaten egg and milk and mix to a soft dough
3) Roll out on a lightly floured surface to 3/4 " thickness. Either cut out with pastry cutters or leave in a large round and indent sections with a knife.
4) In either case place the scones onto a greased baking sheet and bake towards the top of the oven for 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees. As oven temperatures vary I would check after 8 minutes!

Are we (virtually) there yet?

"Main Street" Lavenham

It has already been established that I am a magazine junkie - as long as the magazines are about England. As I devour every word of the magazines, I peruse even the advertisements at the back of these publications. This week an advertisement for a beautiful historical Conde Nast hotel in Suffolk caught my eye and gave me the idea for taking a virtual vacation with the kiddoes and y'all of course.The reality of spending a week in England currently seems a tad remote!

So - we're going to spend the week staying at the Swan Hotel in Lavenham, Suffolk and exploring some of the National Trust properties in the area as well as privately owned farms, museums, cathedrals, zoos and of course gorgeous tea rooms. I'm really looking forward to it! To make life easier and cheaper we'll be using our British Heritage Pass - sort of a ticket/passport to places of interest.

Lavenham is one of Britain's best preserved Medieval villages. It was prosperous in the 14th century on account of its thriving cloth trade and is one of those gorgeous villages that had a market square and a guildhall, an almshouse, a warren of winding narrow streets (studded, I trust, with antiques shops and second hand book sellers). The Church of St Peter and St Paul there dates to 1486 and has fabulous stained glass windows.

The Swan hotel is definitely a hotel with a history. Imagine waking up in this room! Built in the 1400s the hotel is made up of three Medieval houses. In 1667 the landlord was called John Girling and in that fantastic English dynastic tradition where families live in one location for generation after generation, there are still Girlings living in Lavenham today.

My American friends will certainly appreciate the American contribution to this inn's history. The hotel's historic bar was haunt not only of the RAF but also of the U.S. 487th bomber squadron during the second world war. Some of the stories from this period are probably better told in the bar there itself!

On our first day here in Lavenham I think we may be pretty jet-lagged so we'll take it easy, settling into the sumptuousness of the Swan and strolling around the village window shopping. We'll probably need a place for lunch so will go and enjoy the home made organic food and real ales (well, not the kiddies!) provided by The Greyhound Pub. Please understand that a pub in the U.K. is not a place from which children are necessarily banned - most have lovely beer gardens (sadly and wistfully, as hubby points out, beer does not grow on trees in these gardens!)and do excellent food. DO not think of an English pub as being anything like an American re-creation of one!

I think after lunch we will return to our home away from home for a nice restorative nap. We'll need to acclimatize asap because tomorrow there's going to be a lot to see. Dig out your walking shoes and a brolley - it looks like it might rain!

Gosh I have enjoyed traveling this way today. I haven't spent a dime yet, children 1, 2 and 3 have been politely cordial about the pictures they've been shown of Lavenham, have learned what the Medieval period was and best of all, no plaintive cries from the back of the car/boat/plane....."Are we nearly there yet?"

Recipe for Flapjack

Artistically displayed English flapjack!

Spring Break starts today so I have time to make real food for children 1, 2 and 3 AND to do something I LOVE!! I get to bake!! Baking runs in my family. My Great Grandfather was a baker in the trenches of France in the First World War. My Grandmother was an exceptional baker and my Mum is also a whizz in the kitchen.

I never said I was a great baker - but I really do like it and making family recipes and traditional English cakes and breads is one more link with the mother country.

I don't think I'm giving away any major family secrets by posting these recipes here!

Flapjack

4 oz rolled oats
2 oz butter or margarine
4 oz syrup*
2 oz soft brown sugar

* Syrup can be bought at a good grocery store (Here in Texas HEB has it!). It is in a squishy plastic bottle and its official name is Lyle's Golden Syrup. It can be found either with the baking stuff, the molasses/waffle syrup or the jellies!

1) Melt the fat in a pan
2) Add the sugar and syrup
3) Warm (but don't let it boil) 'til sugar melts
4) Stir in the oats
5) Press into a well greased tin forming a layer 1/4 " thick
6) Bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees
7) Leave for 10 minutes to cool and then cut into squares or fingers while still warm. Leave until nearly cold before removing from the pan.

My kiddoes love flapjack when it is really chewy and hard around the edges - if that sounds good to you then let the flapjack cook for another 5-10 minutes in addition to the 30. The house smells soooo good while this is cooking!

It's in the bag!

It's corny I know and any men who follow this blog will already have tuned out, but here is a picture of my lovely Cath bag together with my friend's new Cath bag at our recent church retreat! A beautiful sight! (Both the retreat and the bags!)

Another beautiful sight would be my order from Cath Kidston arriving some time soon. For heaven's sake! I placed that order on February 19th and today is March 11th and nairy a sign of this order. I ADORE this product and am impressed by their kind and polite customer service but I think I must have become impatient in my old age. I think 3 weeks is a long time to wait for an order to arrive!

Out of a sense of sheet altruism and knowing that this product has to be shipped from England which apparently takes an annoyingly long time, I offered the nice people at Cath Kidston the use of my 2000 square foot barn as a warehouse here in the States so that their customer base over here doesn't have to wait so flaming long for an order. Funnily enough I have heard nothing from them in this regard!

Grhhhh. Rant over. I still love Cath and will place another order soon so if you want to order anything  (link to website is at top of blog) let me know and we can split the shipping. It might get here before Easter..........

On a less shallow note, I heard the birds singing today and it made me think of England. Not that birds don't sing here but I spend so much of my day in a building or a car with all the associated white noise that I guess I rarely hear the birdies. I used to love the birds in my back garden in England. Black birds, thrushes, robins (real English robins - check picture), sparrows, chaffinches - they all make such beautiful music. In England you can hear birds either from the inside of your house with the windows open (without fear of letting the air conditioning out or some nasty flying and stinging insect in) or while you are walking (yes, walking!) around town instead of having to drive everywhere! I miss bird song!

Robert Browning says it best in Home Thoughts from Abroad - and yes I know it's not April yet!

Oh to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!
And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark! where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge -
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recaptureThe first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower

Have a great Spring Break all of you! 9 days of not having to get up at 4:45 sounds good to me! Hope to see some of you soon!

Pancake Day

Today in the life of our local church we are celebrating Fat Tuesday. We will have a community gathering and eat real American pancakes with sausage and syrup. The proceeds will go to a good cause, I won't have to think of something for supper that will please all five people in my family and a good time will be had by all!

In England, a little less imaginatively, they/we are celebrating Pancake Day! Today is Shrove Tuesday - not a name you hear often around these parts! it seems to me that Fat/Shrove Tuesday and Pancake day are pretty much the same thing just celebrated a bit differently. No cheap shots please from my overseas friends about the use of the word "Fat" on this side of the Atlantic :)

Both terms describe the day before the start of Lent, a day of releasing high spirits and using up rich foods before the sombre time of denial and reflection. The word "Shrove" is the past participle of "Shrive" - or obtaining absolution for sins by way of confession and penance. I love these archaic English terms!

In England today in addition to the consumption of wafer thin pancakes with lemon juice and sugar, all sorts of traditions are taking place. As part of the community celebrations there may be a "mob football" game, a tradition dating back to at least the 12th century if not earlier where teams from different villages would play this somewhat violent game as part of the festivities or there may be a pancake race! Pancake races are terrific fun! The story goes that a housewife was so busy making her pancakes that she forgot the time. When she heard the church bells ringing to call her to Shrove Tuesday service she dashed out of the house still flipping her pancakes in the pan!

Vive la difference!

So before we enter our time of reflection and denial here's a moment of levity

What did the young pancake say to the old burnt pancake?

"I don't like your flip side"!!! GROAN!!!!!

Here, courtesy of Emma Bridgewater is a lovely recipe for English pancakes!

Ingredients
1 Cup plain Flour, 3 eggs, 2 Cups milk, 2 Tablespoons melted butter, 1 Tablespoon of sugar, 1 Pinch of salt

Method~Sift the flour and salt in a bowl and add the sugar
Make a well in the flour, stir in eggs and milk (beaten well together) and the melted butter, whisking it into a cream thick batter Leave it in the fridge for an hour to stand if possible
~Heat a thick frying pan and coat with oil. Pour in less mixture than you think and tip the pan about until the batter covers the base the thinner the pancake the better
~As soon as it has crisped underneath FLIP with a confident gesture and cook the other side
~To avoid screaming make the first few before you admit they are ready then the wait for the first pancakes is shorter
~Keep eating them till the batter is gone

Happy Pancake Tuesday!

Gnome Place Like Home!

Yesterday I allowed myself to be emotionally blackmailed in to going to see the movie Gnomeo and Juliet with daughters #1 & 2. So, today, rather than treating myself to 90 minutes in the company of Colin Firth in The King's Speech, as would have been my d'rathers for my 12 year anniversary outing with hubby, I found myself fulfilling my promise and staring at a number of cavorting gnomes on the big screen in Marble Falls. One of the gnomes was particularly distracting as he was sporting a flesh- colored, spandex one piece swimsuit and a beard.....

I'll be honest and admit that I took some work to do via my I-phone but it only took about ten minutes before I found myself being sucked in to the plot. Like an idiot I hadn't put 2 and 2 together and figured out that a movie featuring garden gnomes to a large degree MUST be shot in England and the characters have English accents. Here in Texas anyhow I have NEVER seen a garden gnome. I don't know about the rest of America. This piece of kitsch is unique to England - and dare I say especially the southern counties from where I hail.

I mean, garden gnomes are a point of humor back home, synonymous as they are with prissy and snooping neighbors in a semi-detached suburban context. Mrs Bucket from PBS's "Keeping up Appearances" would probably have a small army of them in her garden. No-one of real taste and class would be seen dead with one nicely appointed in the hydrangeas or rhododendron bushes! To illustrate my point, a quick Google of garden gnomes informed me that the Chelsea Flower show, England's most prestigious horticultural event banned them in 1990 because they were so hideous!

Still, in the movie the gnomes were rather cute and I allowed myself a quick wistful longing to acquire some just so that it could be one more cultural experience of English-ness for my kiddoes who prior to this adventure had never even heard of 'em. Then again, I only really want gnomes who can speak and interact like the lovely James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine and Maggie Smith who played the protagonist gnomes in the movie. What a cast and what a shame the movie isn't doing great statistically - we were 3 out of 10 people in the audience!!

Still - what started out as an exercise in resentment for me in not really wanting to go to see this particular movie turned in to a jolly old trip down Memory Lane thanks to Gnomeo's director Elton John - yeah - surprise!! Red buses, cars driving on the wrong side, tea pots and strange terracotta figurines in tunics and pointy hats. Awwwww! It's true after all that there's Gnome place like home!

Cambridge in America

In what I hope is a non-arrogant kind of way I am pretty proud of the fact that I graduated fairly well from Cambridge University - a fine British establishment. Nostalgically and sentimentally I also remember that hubby and I were married at one of the college chapels so Cambridge holds a dear place in my heart. If ever I have any spare money I will bequeath it to my alma mater. I know Cambridge would like some money now but I am afraid they will have to wait until I peg out as there is none to spare currently!

Daughters #1 and 2 have been early indoctrinated to believe that Cambridge is better than Oxford and they are probably the only people under the age of 18 in a 30 mile radius of our house who know about the Oxford-Cambridge boat race, or even what the university is! Sadly, we never go back to Blighty any more so the long cherished dream I hold of walking with my children along the Backs or through my college's beautiful gardens, or riding bikes through the city's medieval streets will have to stay on the back burner for a while.

HOWEVER!!! I am thrilled to report that through the wonderful Cambridge in America initiative, St. John's College Choir will be performing at two different venues in Austin in April. Daughters #1 and 2 and I will so be there ('with bells on' as we say in England). I don't even mind that one of the performances is on a school night. I think it is important for my kiddoes to hear some beautiful music in eccelsiastical surroundings just as they would have been dragged to had we lived in England! Daughter #1 happens to really like good choral music - something I was surprised by when I found her listening to my collection on my I-pod. That particular apple didn't fall far from the tree!

I hope you enjoy this YouTube clip about the college and the choir!!

If you're in the Austin area let me know if you want me to get you tickets for the concert!

Crikey! Where are all the Brits?

OK! I have to know the answer to this question!

Who is buying all that English fare in HEB?

I am not complaining (un-British of me I know!) about the fantastic and large selection of English food available in Leander's HEB, but I would really like to know who's buying it? I know a few English people in this area and I know a few Anglophiles who like British biscuits, tea, Ribena, Marmite etc, but there is a huge choice of grocery products at this Hill Country store and some of it is pretty specialized so I am curious to know who is lapping it up? I may find some new friends or some new English playmates for my kiddoes!

My children are so used to going down HEB's International aisle with me and standing longingly in front of all of those (over-priced, irresponsibly carbon-footprinted) English foods that they didn't even bat an eyelid when I took photographs of the shelves. They have their own favorites - English baked beans, English tomato soup, any kind of sweet but especially wine gums! The latter are not at all alcoholic by the way, but I think the name adds a certain 'je ne sais quois' to the eating of them! I sure do feel very happy after I eat them! The kiddoes' Dad also likes English fare but tends to find the malted, hopped (is that a word?), beverages of his choice down a different aisle in HEB and they have a good selection of those too!

On a different note, in class today, my junior Anglophile students who enjoy the Harry Potter books were asking me what "Crikey" and "Blimey" mean. They get the general sense of surprise and exclamation implied by those terms but wondered whence such colorful and strange words derive. It was interesting! "Crikey" is a shortened form of "Christ the King", used to express displeasure at an event and "Blimey" is a shortened form of "God blind me" used when someone saw something that they should not have seen.

Well who knew?

To be or not to be....a citizen

Last week I had one of those rare awkward moments where I truly feel like a foreigner. I have lived here for twelve years so this doesn't happen often any more. To be honest, folks around here seem to like having a Brit in their midst and have been kind and forgiving towards the gaps in my Texas upbringing.

I don't presume to know everyone in our wee rural hamlet (pun re. title unintended) but I know and am known by the folks in my everyday life such as our church, the school, the post office, the grocery store and the library.

It was in the library last week - where you might remember that they held the grand opening of the new building, that I had my rare foreigner moment.

Quite properly and with due regard to protocol, at the start of the ceremony everyone stood for the pledge to the U.S.A. Right hands over hearts they honored the flag that the boy scouts were holding.

This act of patriotism always both simultaneously moves me and immobilizes me into a frozen statue of embarassment. As a Brit, I don't say the pledge or do the hand over the heart thing. I am quiet and respectful during this time. I appreciate respect for the U.S.A but I am not a citizen here just a permanent resident. I have a queen. God save her and long live her! 

Thankfully no one has ever pointed out my apparant crass rudeness, but I am aware of the disapproving and questioning glances from those who don't know me. I squirm and push my dual citizenship children in front of me and make sure they are pledging appropriately!

This year I am eligible to change my immigration status from that of permanent resident to that of citizen. My immigration attorney tells me that I can become a U.S. citizen without it affecting my British nationality. Officially and legally that is. Mentally is a whole different ball game. It is a weird thought to consider being something other than the nationality one was born. It feels a bit disloyal really. Would being a U.S. citizen make me any less English? Would I suddenly hate tea and cake and cricket? Would I speak Texan and lose my British accent?

How would you feel?

When in doubt I make a cake. So here's a picture of my lemon sponge that I made with daughter #2 today. Once I get the hang of how to do a drop down menu I will add some of my English recipes!

Have a nice day y'all! (See! I'm more Texan already!)

Kids today!

AISD needs to wake up and smell the roses!!

Today I have been a derelict mum to my biological children and instead of doing all the usual weekend Mum stuff have been with my 'other' 37 kiddies at our Area Latin club competition. It has been a great couple of days and a reminder (as if I needed one) that today's youth are truly fabulous young people really and we don't hear enough about the good things that they do! Contrary to popular belief there are young people who study hard, set goals and are generally pleasant, courteous human beings.


Shocker I know!


So to redress the balance....


At today's Latin convention in Pflugerville there were 576 middle and high school students devoting their Friday and Saturday to their study of Latin and the ancient world. They have participated in a fast paced buzzer game that tests the ability to think quickly on their feet as well as show breadth and depth of knowledge. They have designed and made costumes of mythological characters, they have sung in Latin, painted pictures on a classical theme, given speeches in Latin and played Latin scrabble! That is just to name a few of the many different contests!

Best of all? It was encouraging to see these young adults passionately defending Latin as they rallied against the proposed elimination of Latin from three Austin high schools. These students are people who recognize the value and benefit of Latin to their lives and were willing to fight for it. Fox News filmed the rally so I hope it gets the coverage and support it deserves (and by the way the school with the orange shirts were the coolest kids and teacher! LOL  :)

Good for them! We'll see what unfolds!


Today's picture is of a paper bunch of flowers that was on a classroom wall where I was proctoring exams this morning. Not only is it appealing and fun but it was a hopeful portent to me that Austin ISD would wake up and smell the roses and keep Latin in our Austin public high schools! Youth like the ones I saw today and all the other great kids in Texas deserve a chance to learn it.

This is a Download from the BBC

"This is a download from the BBC".
Short of "You can go back to bed", these are my favorite words to hear at 5:30 in the morning as I start my long drive to work. With the exception of KLRU, the local PBS radio station from the university of Texas, podcasts from Aunty Beeb provide my only access to intelligent commentary on current events, history, food, gardening, religious programming, comedy, interviews and ...well, just about everything you could want to hear about.

At last count, I currently download 22 podcasts from the BBC. Seeing as I spend 11 hours on average in the car every week these downloads provide me with company in an English accent for a goodly chunk of my week. My kiddoes think it's completely normal to have these fruity voices as background to their squabbling and games in the back of the car as we drive from day care to home each day but on a recent trip home with a non-family member, this kiddo thought it was about the most bizarre thing ever. HER mum and dad listen to country music. The implication being that country music has much more to commend it than the BBC. Clearly that is true from her perspective. My kiddoes just squirmed with embarassment that THEIR mum had to be different! Tough luck on them!

Keep it streaming BBC! Those of us marooned in a foreign place (however happily marooned and however much we like our adopted countries) appreciate it! 

What is my favorite podcast? The lives and loves of The Archers! Ambridge is part of my cultural landscape if not my actual landscape and the theme music is so evocative of my childhood as my parents did the dishes after dinner listening to this drama series!

If you don't currently listen to any BBC podcasts - check them out!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts

Let me know which ones you enjoyed!!!

How to throw a Royal Wedding Party

Time to haul out the Union Jack bunting, send out the embossed invitations and show off the Emma Bridgewater china!

Kate and William are getting hitched and the children and I intend to hold a street party to celebrate the royal wedding!!

The last royal wedding that I remember celebrating was that of Charles and Di. Now THAT was a wedding! The dress! The ring! The Cathedral! Never mind the debacle it turned into. The event performance and all the accompanying jollities were a lot of fun! Loyal subjects camped out overnight along the processional route so that they could say they were there and for a chance to wave at our future monarch and his bride. Elsewhere there were community street parties with tea and cake and lemonade...and possibly something stronger although at age 11, I was not aware of that!

So how does a good English citizen in the U.S.A throw a royal wedding party for her closest Anglophile Texas friends?

#1: Handwritten invites. "Lord and Lady Long request the pleasure of your presence at a celebration of the marriage of Kate and William on April 29th 2011. Flowery dresses must be worn by ladies and something half way decent by any men brave enough to accompany their women."

#2: Beautiful and patriotic decorations - the aforementioned Union Jack bunting and lots and lots of red, white and blue paper chains and little flags to wave.

#3: Plenty of Veuve Cliquot for those who wish for something stronger than tea and cups of Earl Grey (obviously in your gorgeous Emma Bridgewater commemmorative cup as seen above!) for those driving home.

#4: Have one's humungous flat screen TV streaming in the Royal wedding live with loads of lace trimmed hankies at hand to delicately wipe one's eye as one weeps tears of envy that one savvy chick swiped a prince of the realm!

#5:Smashing eats such as smoked Scotch salmon, Russian salad, cucumber sandwiches and cake after blooming cake!

It's February. It was cold today and cheerless. We have 3 weeks until Spring Break. A girl has got to have something to look forward to! You'd better save the date and watch the mail for your party invitation!