Today I went to the Catholic Gift Store near to my place of employment. I am not Catholic but I was/am in dire need of a Joseph to plant in the back yard of my beautiful country house so that it sells soon. This was not something I had heard of while living in England but I am told by a number of different people that it works. We shall definitely see. To be honest, we did try it once already but now I am wondering whether the chipped nose Joseph ended up with as a result of the children burying him for me has meant the house hasn't already sold. I am willing to try again for the price of $12.
So, unashamedly, here is a plug for my house,
for whatever it is worth and just in case anybody chances upon my house this way. After all, if I can bury a Joseph made in China in my back yard, surely I can write about my house sale on my blog?
Here's a picture of my house. It is lovely. It sits on 52 acres of land and you can buy all of it, or you can buy it in two parcels of 25 or 27 acres. We have a big barn and room for horses and cows.
There is absolutely no noise and you can sit on the deck and just hear, well, nothing. Maybe the cows lowing or the birds calling. It's so nice not to hear car traffic of any sort. Our garden is lovely in the spring and summer and over it all our windmill soars, its blades creaking.
We loved living in this house, in this neighborhood. We just don't need to live there any more due to work commitments. It is a happy house, filled with memories of children's laughter and happy gatherings with friends and families. We want it to go to another happy family of one sort or another.
It is priced at $480K
If you like it, please call our lovely realtor Katy Duke at 512-252-8900 or email her at Katy@katyduke.com
Today in England (and a little part of the Texas Hill Country!) the feast day of Saint George is being variously celebrated. Our national saint, George, was first mentioned in British sources by the Venerable Bede in the seventh century A.D. as a warrior saint who frequently came to the aid of troubled Brits in military distress.
Another national hero of ours (not quite a saint), Will Shakespeare invokes George before the battle of Agincourt, "Follow your spirit, cry "God for Harry, England and St. George". Rousing stuff, enough to make you want to belt out a few verses of "Jerusalem" - which in actual fact IS another St. George's day activity the likes of which is enough to reduce ex-pats like me to tears!
St. George eventually made his way to the New World also as his
flag
was flown above/on the Mayflower as it arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. I think (unless someone corrects me) that it stopped there though and none of the more 'modern' St. George's day celebrations have crossed my radar while living here. I haven't, for example, seen any St. George's day
Morris dancing or Punch and Judy shows.
Ah well, I will celebrate the best way I can by wearing my red rose in my lapel and of course by drinking tea. Mind you, a 21st century addition to tradition might be in order by visiting the Cath Kidston page where red items of the day are prominently showcased in George's honor!http://www.cathkidston.co.uk
Good Morning from rainy Texas! I don't get to write that very often! As I type, the rain is actually pouring down onto my tin roof. It sounds great. The kids are all at home today for various reasons and it's lovely to be able to sit and enjoy it all rather than haring off in to the rain to drive 70 miles in the darkness to get to work :)
As a means of whetting your appetite as to all the gorgeous things that Union Jackie's is going to be able to source for you, I am starting a blog series of gorgeous English items being handcrafted in the UK at the moment.
I'm going to start with Poppy Treffry, a business established in picturesque St. Ives in the west of England. If you watch Doc Martin on PBS then you will know exactly the kind of fishing village that I am referring to. Poppy and her team of sewing ladies make whimsical homegoods such as tea cosies, tea towels, pictures, bags etc. As an avid tea drinker I particularly like her tea cosies and mugs
Having said that, I am in love generally with the slightly retro and gentle English way of life suggested by her products. You have to love this photo below right......
that was recently submitted to a Poppy photo contest where the competitors were asked to show how they were using their Poppy Treffry goddies that they had purchased. That outside picnic table laden with delightful tea time items and the snazzy VW van is about as eccentrically English as I can imagine.
So, check out Poppy's online store at poppytreffry.co.uk and let me know which items you like the most. Come August it is my fervent prayer that the Union Jackie's market stall near you will be stocking them :)
Okay - so I am a little late with the annual felicitations but, hey, it has been terribly busy these last few months in my little part of Texas!
Living 70 miles away from where you work three days a week, but where your kids go to school 5 days a week is not for the faint of heart and my heart must be fainting because I have decided, for the sanity of our family, not to return to my place of employment next year. I have very mixed feelings on this as I truly rnjoy my job, but sanity is important too, as well as physical health so needs must!
So. What next? Great question. Money must continue to pour (dribble?) into the family coffers so I must do something. I'd prefer to keep office hours with the kids and that means school but school non-teaching would be my preference, para professional with a short drive even better. I'm kind of thinking it would also be neat to start a small business. I have a name for it and everything. "Union Jackie's": Sourcing English Nostalgia, Deep in the Heart of Texas. Catchy huh? I have so many ideas to bring a little bit of England to the Hill Country and to enjoy it too. As soon as school is out and I have some TIME!!!
So that catches me up a bit.
Other things, am enjoying reading Philippa Gregory books. I avoided this series for a while because they looked a bit boddice ripping for my taste but they aren't that way at all. I have learned so much more about the Tudors and the Elizabethan period from reading them than Mrs. Hancock every taught me in 7th grade back in the day! I think I was the last person on the planet to read The Other Boleyn Girl, followed by The Constant Princess and now the rather salaciously titled The Virgin's lover. I highly recommend.
More to come....and I pledge to write more often than once every 7 months!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
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!"
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............
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
