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!