It's entirely possible that the roads here in central Texas were not as safe as they could have been last Saturday. Running around with the kiddoes on my usual Saturday morning errands, I decided to block out the mellifluous tones of my darling offspring talking peacably and equably amongst themselves in the back seat (not) and treat myself to a podcast from my favorite Aunty Beeb. Saturday's choice was The Food Program, about, well, food, you guessed right! To be more precise, the topic of conversation was breakfast, a meal I had skipped that day, being too overwhelmed by the plethora of chores presenting themselves, in favor a of  strong and sweet cup of coffee.

Now, as someone who tries to present a balanced life to kiddoes 1, 2 and 3 and by balanced I mean half English and half American, I about drove off the road when I realized that I had never, ever, ever considered offering them the full British breakfast experience. Now, I'm not talking about lightly toasted bread with Cooper's shredded marmalade with a cup of milky tea, or even toast and Marmite, I'm talking the bacon buttie or the fried eggs,fried  sausages, fried bacon, fried black pudding,fried kidneys, fried bread, fried tomatoes and possibly baked beans. I was mortified. Poor kiddoes! What kind of a derelict mother have I been? To rectify matters I am going to attack this problem head on this weekend during the birthday celebrations for kiddo #3 whose 5th birthday passed just yesterday in a blur of Star Wars Lego building. I will blog the results of this coronary on a plate on Monday :)

On a side note, thought I would be heading to England this summer. Am sad to say it will not now happen in 2013. Bummer.

If you want to know the relevance of this picture, check out Captain Ahab!!!

On a side, side note, hear that J.K. Rowling has been at it again and that her new best seller is hitting the shelves today with nairy a wizard or patronus in sight. If you are missing that whimsical and magical world of Harry and his chums, please do check out my debut children's book for 5 through 8 year olds, Captain Ahab. See the top right hand tab on my blog? Click on it and read it! Just to prove you have done so, shoot me an email with your (acclamatory) remarks and the phone number of a children's publisher who you just know will be interested! Go on - I dare you - prove to me you really read my blog!!

Have a great day - back to cleaning the house for this weekend's Star Wars invasion party!! As Yoda might say "cleaning I hate!"

Meet the Romans

My supervisor from Cambridge, Mary Beard, has just finished a series for BBC2 called, Meet the Romans. Seeing as all I ever watch is episodes of Disney TV shows or Star Wars, all blurred as I race by with armfuls of laundry or toting piles of grading, I would never have known about this pheonomenon unless my mum, watching the TV series in Australia had alerted me to it. She said that several of her colleagues had been addicted to this documentary and discussing it was the first and most animated conversation held in her office every Monday after the show aired the night before. One colleague even went as far as to opine that a week spent in Rome with Mary would be his idea of heaven.....which just goes to show what an esoteric brain box he is. Personally I imagine a week in Rome with Mary might be a bit intellectually exhausting. A once a week supervision with her used to leave me feeling wrung out and inadequate. A week might kick me off this planet much as I admire her.

Mary Beard on subject of Roman tombs. If you find her as compulsive viewing as my family and friends she is to be found in great abundance on YouTube!

So, other than that, what's new? Nothing teribly exciting. We came back from summer (actually coldest winter in twenty Queenslander years) in Australia and came straight back to a new house at the camp where beloved works. Old house still hasn't sold and new house bears striking resemblance to Little House in the Big Woods a la Laura Ingells Wilder. Laura I-W didn't have to drive 70 miles to work one way though. She had more common sense :)

Kiddoes 1, 2 and 3 doing great. Kiddo #1 is playing volleyball this year and is studying Latin. Hear she has a fab Latin teacher :) Kiddo #2 sharper than several tacks and kiddo #3 going to be a theologian. Today's conversation. "Mum, why is it raining today". Mum, driving the car and feeling rather jaded thanks to self same son's inconsiderately timed 2:30 a.m. asthma attack says weakly, "because God wants it to rain today." To which angelic son says "then if God knows I get asthma when it rains, why does he want me to have asthma?" ermmmmmmmmmm............

Thank you and Goodnight!



The Art of Monarchy

When I was a newby ex-pat, I used to speak with affected scorn about our royal family. I would say that they are little more than a useful marketing tool for the English Tourist Board, an anachronism and a drain on the resources of decent tax payers. Truly, I now cringe that I ever spouted such ignorant claptrap. I've had this in the back of my mind for a while, but first there was that outrageous attack on the (fine British) institution of the boat race and then I started listening to an fascinating, erudite, intelligent podcast from BBC Radio 4 called The Art of Monarchy and I realized it was time to think again publically.

The commentator of the Art of Monarchy follows the British tradition of monarchy from 1066 (and all that!) and William the Conquereor up unto the present day. That's 1000 years of the same family (more or less) ruling the country, plus at times a commonwealth and/or an empire. That alone seems pretty incredible. This program was about the art purchased by, at times made by and at all times used for, their own agenda by the king or queen of that time. I learned SO much that I didn't know about my own heritage plus the music was fabulous.

I don't claim to know all there is about the rights and wrongs of our system of constitutional monarchy but I do understand now that there is so much more to monarchy than I had ever imagined and that right or wrong, the institutions that support and guide our queen and her (however many) predecessors are worthy of respect, if for no other reason than they have survived in a dog-eat-dog kind of world for a bloody long time!

I highly recommend this podcast which you can access by clicking on this link The Art of Monarchy

Let me know what you think!

It just wasn't cricket!

Protestor nearly gets his head sliced off!

I completely forgot to watch the boat race at the weekend, despite my good intentions....something to do with an unwarranted belief that my house was going to view that day and urges to do a complete Spring Cleaning.

I was gobsmacked when my English Mum, living in Australia gave me a blow by blow account of the drama that unfolded as she listened to the race on the radio!

If you don't know about the boat race, it comprises two boats of 8 men and one cox, one for Oxford, one for Cambridge. The course covers 4 miles of the River Thames. The crews have trained for years for this prestigious and traditional event and it IS an event that is watched, nay enjoyed,  by thousands world over, whether or not they attended an Oxbridge college.

Two miles in to the course, the Oxford cox alerted the crews to the fact that a man was swimming in the water, about to have his head sliced off by the flashing blades. The race was halted while police arrested the man, a protestor against elitism. PURLEEAASE............

The man, an Australian, as it turned out was angry. No kidding...really? As someone who was cox of the 3rd boat at her Cambridge college (I was pretty bad at it but it was still a lot of fun) I can attest to the amount of training that goes into an event like this and as an ex-pat who finds such events even more important now that I am not surrounded by them,  I mourn the disruption of a pageant which is usually fun and part of my cultural heritage, especially by someone who isn't even part of that heritage!

I hope they throw him in the Tower of London!

Union Jackie's Old Glory!

Union Jackie's first product! For Dawn, my dear friend and Girl Friday at TSJCL!

I Know that pride is not a pretty virtue and generally as a rule I'm a pretty humble gal, but I do have to say that I am SO proud of this attempt at applique!

In my desire to have a business one day which sells artisan made English crafts here in Texas, I thought I might try my hand at some new skills, applique being one of them.

Photographic artist: Lindsey Porter

I think it has turned out pretty well, although I can already see a coupla things I would change to make it even more gorgeous :)



I love the colors and the cheerfulness of the flag. The hearts make it country and the gingham and the spots make it English.

Just wait until you see the English Country Garden wall hanging I am working on! Liberty of London fabric(esque?), quintessentially British in its quirkiness.

FUN!!!

Cambridge Blues

Not only are the daffodils and the bluebells springing to life on the backs of the Cambridge Colleges as I daydream, and Robert Browning's lines,"oh to be in England, now that April's there", are going through my head, but now also an email from my alma mater plopped into my inbox this morning to alert me to the fact that

The 158th Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race will take place on Saturday 7th April at 9:15 A.M.

(obviously it will be about 2:15 in England!)

and the beauty of it is that it will be broadcast live  on BBC America! Terrific!

Just wanted to alert you to this tidbit of Britannica (akin to Americana) that is taking place this weekend.

Obviously anyone with real taste and breeding will be rooting for the pale blues - Cambridge that is :)

On Saturday I will be watching the telly while wearing my Newnham scarf and rooting for my lads to cruise to victory under the Putney Bridge. Can't wait!








Time

Congratulations Your Majesty!

Official Diamond Jubilee Portrait

It's a funny thing but apparently if one is frantic busy  and never has time to watch the world news, let alone the BBC world news, you miss what's going on in the world. When my brilliant friend sent me a copy of the Daily Telegraph for February 18th, I realized that one's monarch had recently (February 6th) celebrated the date when 60 years ago she took the reigns of our kingdom upon the death of her father, Colin Firth (not really).

I believe that the hoopla that celebrates this epoch making event will take place on June 5-8 but it seemed a shame to me not to recognize the real date right here, even post de facto!

It was a really strange feeling to read an English newspaper though. I can't say that I have read an English newspaper in 13 years, or since I arrived here. I was blown away by how intelligently it was written (apologies for implied criticism of Austin American Statesman) and how much of a cultural nature I am missing out on by my mourned lack of proximity to London. Theater, galleries, museum collections, public lectures. Wow. I am impoverished by my inability to see any of them. But...who am I kidding? I work full time, drive 3 hours every day and have 3 children...AND as I have already told you, I don't have time to watch any news so it's highly unlikely that I would have time to do any of the cultural things I miss even if I was living in Bloomsbury with all of it on my doorstep!

So...I will continue to be virtually cultured and live it vicariously through the Internet and other publications. It's all good!

Off to a State Latin convention in San Antonio today after practicing for it for 3 months. Can't wait (for it to be over.)

next blog, I think we'll go royal! I've a renewed interest in the monarchy!

Not quite Jan Constantine!

The Countdown has begun!

Spring is here. In fact, Spring Break has been and gone, but the light of the summer is on the horizon and with that comes for me a new venture, one that gives me a sense of relief and hope and endless possibility - but one that I am oh so annoyingly not permitted to blog about just yet. I will reveal this great mystery just as soon as I can! You will hear it here first and just be assured that at last it will allow me more time to write.

Traditionally Spring Break seems to make me feel more English. Perhaps this is because the weather seems so much gentler and more akin to what we experience in the U.K. or maybe it is simply that I have more time to do things that interest me and they are often to do with my heritage country.

So, in terms of baking it was a luscious golden fruit cake that filled the house with a rich fruity aroma that had the kids all running to the kitchen to see what they could scrounge. Then there was a very tasty leek and potato soup and a shepherd's pie. I don't really like making shepherd's pie because it never takes me less than an hour to go through all that peeling and chopping, but my middle offspring loves it and I'm too frazzled to make it during the school year.

In terms of reading I was captivated by C.J. Sansom's 'Sovereign', a murder mystery set in Tudor England. I've never really been a big fan of the Tudor period. It's so harsh and dark and I grew up a stone's throw from the Ann of Cleve's House in East Sussex which had a horrible spooky atmosphere that just compounded everything I sensed or knew about that time of history, but Sansom's hero, an unlikely, hunchbacked lawyer was plausible and compelling and I found myself sucked in to the plot. In fact I will go on Amazon after this blog post and try to get a used one cent copy of another of his books!

Another book I picked up at Hobby Lobby was Jan Constantine's 'For the Love of Hand Stitching', a beautiful, slightly (who am I kidding, completely) above my level of ability embroidery and applique book. It has been a lot of fun to resurrect sewing skills learned at my rarified private girls school! My first two offspring were gung-ho about learning this art and creating some of the gorgeous projects in this book. Sadly their enthusiasm lasted as long as it took to make their first mistake and now they are back to their previous passtimes which is how I have the time to blog this post :)

 

I'm looking forward to more adventures as the spring blossoms into a highly anticiipated summer....