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....

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!