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....

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!