Life Across the Pond

Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-25T21:47:00.009-05:00

This Christmas was always going to be very different from any we had known before, hubby (and me since arriving here) having always spent the day with his parents in Oil City. With me having returned to work (hopefully for good this time!) there was no way we could go away so it was very much a case of start some new traditions.

Hubby dictated number one: we were having beef for dinner! Before I hear cries of disdain from England I wasn't really that bothered for several reasons;
a) we have a freezer FULL of turkeys bought very cheaply at Thanksgiving so we eat them regularly during the year (so I am not missing am English once a year tradition)
b) Brussels Sprouts just don't taste the same here ( I reckon they need some Fen soil/frost)
c) best of all ........... hubby cooks the beef for HIS traditional dinner = works for me!

Number two: we were not going to open presents Christmas morning! Since we have never been here Christmas morning we have always opened at night the last non working day before Christmas. This has made me discover it's somehow more fun opening presents by the lights of the tree than daylight, so I declared this year we wouldn't open gifts until Christmas night! This kinda worked except us being us we have opened odd things all week long as hubby has been here all week on vacation - I am taking the British longer Christmas holiday to a whole new level extending it to a two week period in this household at this rate (and hubby has admitted he actually likes that part of the English way).

So with the beef in the oven after a late start we decided to head out and go for a walk in the park

The geese didn't look too pleased to see us, or else it was a misunderstanding at the conversation regarding a bird being well hung that sent them scurrying!

A very happy looking hubby and he hadn't even had his beef and presents

Me becoming quite attached to a tree

I have no idea what it is that is intertwined around this tree but it sure looks impressive

I think I do recognise whats peeping out from this one but I guess to me it's impressive too

It is an impressive park whatever the season, and I love the trees at any time of year

Only here could I find a Stop sign in a tree!

the creek cold but beautiful

All in all it was a beautiful day and fun. We haven't as yet had any real snow though it is getting colder (until now it has been way above normal temps throughout December) with the sun shining it was the perfect day to be "out and about". We hardly saw another soul but it sure beat sitting indoors and just "vegging" and for some reason it is always a place where I manage to forget all cares and woes, almost as if its like stepping off the planet for a while, whatever the reason we arrived home refreshed and rejuvenated and ravenous for dinner.

We'd probably both have wished it could have been as a Christmas of old but life and times move on and for a new beginning this was a lovely day round of with beef, presents, A Touch of Frost and the best company of all.

The Scream Ohio style

2011-10-19T01:57:00.007-04:00

I have no doubt that during the course of the last year or so Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" has come to mind, today though was one where it wasn't for the wrong reasons. Over the years I have bored the reader with sunsets, sunrises and storms, just beacause sometimes the sky here can be either amazing or beautiful or both. Today though was a little different.

Very late this afternoon hubby happened to glance out the window and immediately said "Wow that's wierd look at the sky!". He wasn't kidding and we both grabbed cameras (looking at facebook tonight I see we weren't the only ones). I have no idea what caused the cloud formations that rolled through for several minutes. We had no strange weather forecast only thunderstorms for much later tonight. Those much brighter than I can probably explain what was going on, but when my hubby says he has never seen anything like it you know it's special. This is definitely one of those occasions when I really wish the pictures were in 3D to give them their true intensity these pictures really don't do the sky justice.

Weird and creepy but definitely brought "The Scream" to mind.

You just never know

2011-10-12T23:30:00.003-04:00

Wow I haven't really posted that much in the last year not least because my mother who was one of the most avid readers of the blog wasn't able to read it anymore and circumstances meant that I haven't had the time or inclination. Now without the main reader the purpose of the blog is gone. I have only vague ideas of where it will go but hopefully I will re find the inspiration, in years unlike the last, it's actually fun for me too look back at the content and take stock. There is certainly much to write about but vast swathes of it I have decided to post on another blog purely because it isn't the light and tongue-in-cheek content that this has always been so for now this is the best picture and thought that I can come up with for the day

On July 16th 1969 a small boy stood with his family at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and watched the Apollo 11 Space mission launch. Five days later he would be back home in Pennsylvania watching TV. At that exact same moment in time I was in England huddled with my family watching TV that boy and I shared a moment in time as Apollo 11 fulfilled President Kennedy's dream of putting a man on the moon

Had someone suggested to either of those two children that day, that years later their lives would be joined, they would both probably have declared the utterer crazy and state there was probably more chance of one of them being on the moon!

This conjoined moment in our childhoods has been recently revealed by the discovery that the sweat shirt that was bought as a souvenir and then lived in by said awestruck boy was kept all these years unbeknown to him by his mother or father and has been found now as their house is cleared. It is so very strange how life's threads weave and fray, the only certainty is we have no way of knowing which way they will lead next .............. and now what to do with a very old, very worn, very loved, husband, ooops I mean sweat shirt.

Too Much

2011-08-01T23:34:00.003-04:00

How do you take things almost for granted for a lifetime and then in a matter of less than three weeks it is as if a tsunami has wiped out the earth beneath your feet. On June 30th hubby and I had the last two of our parents alive both very old and not in the best of health but with us, our focus. Who would ever have guessed that by July 21st both of these amazing people would be dead. Yes having lost his father, just three weeks later my mother died peacefully ten days after suffering a stroke from which she never really woke.

In character they were two totally different people but what they did have in common was that they were both the heads of their respective families. One words describes my mother - indomitable. That is how she featured throughout my life and why the final disease which took her from us, dementia, was so hard to bear - it stole her being. There have been many, and unforseen, consequences to both of these deaths that will wreak havoc for months to come but for now there is just an unmeasurable grief. Having gone to England for a month in April/May, the second time in a year, I got to see mother and am happy at that goodbye. Even though I cannot be at the funeral I will be watching via the miracles of modern technology/live streaming/hubbys tech skills today. My final gift to my mother has been the chance, in my abscence from the funeral, to have written the Eulogy that will be delivered at that service a few hours from now ................

Eulogy for my Mother .........

I have no earliest memory of you, my Mother.

There has never been a point in my life, when I don’t remember you being present in my corner. It was you who washed my hair, in the middle of the night, when I was sick as a child. You who filled my pockets with pennies, a dozen to a shilling in those days, and took me on the bus to the fair. You in the headmistress and headmasters office (yes I mean both, just different occasions) fighting my corner, even if I did get it when you got out!

You had three passions in life: music, gardening and family, and your expectations of each were the highest. You excelled at the piano, and as a teacher, you shared your passion and your skill, garnering the respect and results from all you taught. In the garden you had the patience of Job and would spend hours tending and nurturing. You reaped the rewards and in virtually every season our home was filled with your fresh cut blooms, and if it wasn’t, a parade of African Violets would be weighted with flowers on a winter window sill.
I suspect the greatest challenge was us three children. We didn’t come with a score like a piano sonata, or instructions like on the back of a seed packet. With yours and daddys mix of genes you created, after too long a wait, three formidable children - we were definitely NOT wall flowers.

It is we who are your proudest achievement. You put your all into giving us everything it was within your power to give, throughout our childhood and beyond. However tough times got, and yes at times it got very tough, it was you who went without not us - you made sure of that. You instilled in us values that sometimes now seem lost: respect, both for ourselves and other , hard work, decency. We pushed our boundaries and from what I remember, you pushed back! I’m not sure what you dreamed of for each of us because you encouraged us to fly but never told us which path to take. The testament to the strength of your nurturing is the distances we have flown, but always your love kept us coming home.
You have had a good life, 90 years of independence, fun, friends, family, music. Always your own woman. When illness took its toll in the final months, as we had watched you care for your mother, we too came home in turn to care for you.

I have to say watching illness ravage your character and independent ways I often prayed for your release. That release has now come, but with it I know you are in a better place - once more playing Ragtime! I cannot be here for your final goodbye but I know in my heart you are forever with me in a thousand ways which were your ways. The lessons I learned from you are charting my course and yes the reflection I see in the mirror is your reflection.

Where Diana, Richard and I go from here who knows , but you will be with each one of us in everything we do and all we say. We will miss your presence, but know that in our hearts, you will forever be our mentor, friend and Mother and I love you yesterday, today and forever.

You were very special

2011-07-01T10:44:00.004-04:00

At the end of one's life there is no better epitaph that can be said than "He was a good man, he was loved". Never can these words be spoken with more truth than today in the passing of my husbands father.

I can honestly say that he was all the things any man could aspire to be, and had more than any man can hope for. I didn't know him until I met my husband ten years ago, but in those years I have seen so much that makes him very special. At the core of his being was a love of family. The love he showed his wife, children and extended family was almost palpable and in return he was their rock. If the mark of a man is the regard in which others hold him then the people who turned out for his 80th birthday a couple of years ago, some travelling oceans to be there, and the amazing tales they told of the workmate, friend, brother are a testament to his character. Fortunately he had lived some years in England and he understood my odd ways and welcomed me into his family unconditionally with the same warmth and love that was his trademark.

I know the loss to my husband is going to be devastating, how ever much old age and ill health predicts the inevitable when someone is so loved and so present there can be no other way. They spoke everyday, they shared their lives and passions, he has been his lifelong guide and inspiration. We have lost a good father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend but the overwhelming sadness will in time be be replaced by the love, memories and lessons that were his life and that will live on.

Utterly Quackers

2011-06-23T21:34:00.005-04:00

Life can sometimes be too much. Right now is one of those times we are surrounded by "things" coming at us from every side. Such is life you wait to see what your dealt then deal with it. Occasionally you say hey can we stop a mo and just breathe!

Today was one of those days. It's been way too hot and muggy lately and I wanted out and to the seaside. Well we are 500 miles from the seaside so I came up with a plan ......... Let's go feed the ducks at the park! Well it was water and fun so it seemed like the next best thing. I have to say when we arrived it was absolutely beautiful

We had had a storm earlier in the afternoon (what a surprise) and the air was clean and clear for a change. The sun was warm on our backs and the water was as still as a mill pond, funny that, it is a mill pond!

But hang on a minute isn't something missing from these pictures. Ducks, where are the ducks, who stole the ducks?!?! We have been to the park, this pond, a ton of times and every time this pond is full of ducks (well geese if we are being totally honest) and every time we forget to bring any food. This time we come laden with food and not a duck in sight (actually there were two but they swam off determined NOT to be fed). Of course you think I am exagerating the normal abundance of feathered friends well here's our last drop in last fall ..........

Like I said normally an abundance and food laden I was pissed. So we sat for almost an hour enjoying the peace (doesn't anyone take their kids out in the fresh air anymore) trying to work out a cunning plan to get the two escapees from the other bank over to us and food. It was not to be. So defeated I decided to walk round the pond while hubby moved the car so that we could walk down past the mill - if the ducks weren't to be fed so be it!

Imagine hubbys surprise and glee therefore when he moves the car and comes rushing to find me, waving the camera, saying LOOK! LOOK! Yes, while we had been sitting for an hour one end of the park the ducks, ok geese, had been waiting to be fed at the other end.

Oh boy were there geese and I was in heaven

But singlehandedly there was one little fellow who was able to cast aside all the worries and woes of the last days, weeks, months

The youngest by far of all this years additions and my heart was melted, and cares cast aside by those big eyes (and his wibbly wobbly gait).

Ah back to reality sucks.

Happy Birthday

2011-05-19T00:21:00.003-04:00

Today I wish you flying with sparkling wings, a chocolate bar hidden in the feathers. I hope you awoke to whisky and allsorts in unlimited abundance I wish you peace and contentment ............. but most of all I wish you were still here on earth. Nothing is as you left it, in theory you are now re-united with all your brothers and sisters (I wonder what sort of gathering that was) mother is here still in body if not completely in mind (although at times I think she rages now no more than when she was labelled of sound mind it's just there is less logic to it) and the three of us children can no more stand to be in a room together than we ever could. Yes perhaps you are in the better place, but I miss you, I miss all the intangible qualities you held, I miss your smile, I miss your strength, your humour, your warmth, I miss your love.

I know your at peace I just wish I could share some more time with you and on this your birthday I miss you more Happy Birthday Daddy Love you lots miss you more xox

Feeding time can wait!

2011-05-15T22:31:00.001-04:00

It has become a matter of habit that whoever gets to the pond first each day during the warmer months feeds the fish. Seems such a simple statement and an easy task but then when is anything ever easy around here? For the most part working nights hubby arrives home long before I start to stir so the job falls to him yesterday I happened to be at the pond first!

Hubby was clever enough to put a shelf behind the top window of the gnome house to hold the fish food.

Unfortunately he didn't tell other natives to keep clear

THIS is a sticky icky Tree Frog taking a snooze and I'm afraid so long as sticky icky Tree Frog slept off his night time activities I was not opening that door for a shark let alone for a pond full of hungry goldfish.

I just don't understand

2011-03-11T00:31:00.002-05:00

so many things in this life at various times have caused me to pull myself up short and say I just dont understand that. From which point you can just shrug it off or delve deep and try to see the reasoning, oft times to no avail.

I'll be honest there is so much craptastic going on in my life at the moment that some days I just wake up and immediately think "hell which ways are the balls gonna fly from today" but I haven't drowned or been knocked out yet so all is usually good. Then sometimes something beyond one's own life happens and makes you stop and gasp at lifes enormous inequalities and suffering.

This week in our local paper there have been listed perhaps 10 obituaries so far (I've always read the matched, hatched, and dispatched columns as my mother always called them) of these let me summarise just three

1. 24 yr old mother of four died due to complications of child birth

2. 14 yr old girl died in ER (I have heard she had flu like symptoms)

3. 30 yr old mother of two

I have to admit we are only at Thursday night, I'm having a little trouble getting my head round those bare facts. There is something so painfully wrong when someone dies before their pre-concieved allotted three score years and ten. I sometimes have a problem with God, especially when it comes to justifying these types of stats. And please don't ask me to pray after the event I'd kinda like to know where the big man was when all these were going down, not after the fact.

For me the saddest part of that too long list above is that number three is too close to home. She is the daughter of one of my managers at work, she died suddenly and leaves behind a small daughter and five month old son and when I attend the funeral home tomorrow I have no idea what words of comfort I can offer a mother in that situation. "I'm so sorry" how pathetic is that! "My heart breaks for you" it feels like it does, because I really cannot get my head round what she must be going through today and in the days ahead, but I know in truth I have not one iota of comprehension of how much her heart is broken and the pain which she is experiencing now her life has been ripped apart. What are the emotions for burying your own child, what are the words you tell the small child left behind with no mother. I hope that just being there gives some comfort, that there will be hope, sunshine and laughter in the months and years ahead but I don't understand where you find the words to help that happen.

I remember when my daddy died I believed at that moment I saw and felt the peace that passeth all understanding, right now I'd really like the understanding that passeth all peace.

some (good) reasons I haven't posted lately

2011-03-11T00:25:00.002-05:00

1. I don't have my own PC at the moment and so no unfettered access to this or any photos

2. After six winters here there is a point where you cant post another "ooh look six inches of snow photo" snow of which we have had much this winter is only ever white and what varies is merely depth!

3. A lot, which one day I will write about, for now can't be put out there so I feel kinda tougue tied .... yeah me!

normal service will be resumed at some point so those who ask dont stop looking

One day, two battles, no justice

2010-11-02T23:35:00.006-04:00

On two sides of the Atlantic two amazing events take place today, and two amazing people fight there own horrendous battles against the injustices that this life can throw at them. I'm not sure which one my heart goes to most, or which I will be routing for hardest. When I first learned that April's surgery would take place today I knew I couldn't forget the date, as on this very same day my mother will be celebrating her 92nd birthday in England.

April, to those who do not know her, is fighting an amazing battle against breast cancer. She has shown a strength and courage way beyond her 31 years

Nellie (April's mom) & April at the yard sale fund raiser in June

She has spent the last nine months undergoing debilitating chemotherapy, picked herself up, got back on her feet, and then gone back and done it again and again. All so she can reach this day where the tumour is small enough to allow the surgeon to perform his magic and remove hopefully every last trace of the cancer, as he removes both of her breasts. I know she will come through this ordeal with the same amazing resilience that she has shown in this battle thus far. That she is having to face this battle is one of life's many injustices, that she has shown such strength and dignity is one of life's rewards. The battle wont be over, there is most likely radiation treatment to follow, but with every fibre of my being for such a lovely young woman I do hope that after tomorrow there is a light at the end of this long dark tunnel and cancer will slowly become a memory and something she once had, not an every waking moment curse and all consuming darkness. Good Luck April may all you deserve be yours soonest.

On the other side of the Atlantic, in a care home now, my mother will be celebrating her 92nd birthday. I wish her the happiest of birthdays but know that in her own way she is fighting a bigger battle and there is no victory to be had. The diagnosis of dementia since this photograph was taken has been a hard truth to face.

Mothers Day 2010

Dementia is an evil diagnosis, it takes away the core of a persons being, it takes away dignity, it takes away life itself, until as the sufferer tries desperately to locate their place in time those around try equally to hold onto all they know to be true of their loved one. Having worked many years ago in a old peoples home it holds few surprises for me, but to watch such a strong, independent, formidable woman be taken from us one brain cell at a time is hard. I wish I could be there to spend what may just be the last time mother may be able to celebrate her birthday with family she recognizes, it isn't possible. My sister will be there, flying in on a day trip from Italy! Hopefully it will be a day where when I talk to her on the phone she will hear and recognize me, those are the small blessings. I'm not certain what I wish for her in the coming year, knowing there will be no recovery the best one can hope is a happier acceptance as the disease ravages her mind, may it find peace with her soul.

As I go to bed tonight I am so aware that since moving to America my faith has been challenged so I find it harder to offer up prayers for both April and Mother in their different and yet similar fights in the days ahead. The Christianity I have found here is not the charitable, compassionate, forgiving Christianity that I grew up with and looking at both April and Mother I challenge where the loving God I know is that he allows either illness to ravage either one of them. It is through the strength inside each of them that I know they will both face tomorrow in their own inimitable way, my thoughts and love are with them both neither deserve what lays ahead.

"Let's lose the Brit"

2010-10-23T23:47:00.008-04:00

this is the cry that I have been hearing all week, and reminiscent of the Tea Party of 1773 I wasn't too sure if I was about to be tossed in the brink or some other dire fate was about to befall me. Whatever it didn't sound good - for me!

Social activities are virtually non-existant here in the depths of Ohio, it has been noted by me before that, the natives tend to go indoors in the fall and not reappear outside till the sun comes out again in Springtime. One of the problems for me hanging with anyone I work with is the fact that all our schedules are different every week, and we only get three weeks notice of shifts. So if you find something to do you and friends are most probably working and vice versa. So it was with some surprise three of us discovered we were all off this weekend and discussions quickly turned to what we could do. I think we can "blame" Krista for coming up with the corn maze idea but it was definitely Amanda who re-named the event "lose the Brit" (little did we know then who could and couldn't read a map?!).

So what you ask is a corn maze?

Aerial shot of the "Safari Maze" we were about to conquer

Think Hampton Court meets Little House on the Prairie! It is literally a sweet corn field planted and then ploughed to an elaborate maze you then get the local idiots to pay money to walk the five plus miles of said maze solving "Crime" clues on the way and Voila you have a venture more profitable than growing the corn for consumption! Today we were those money parting suckers and we had a blast!

"you lines up, you pay's your money" and your on your way ............... note they reassuringly give you a phone number to call if you get lost (failing to tell you that there is no cell signal in the middle of a field in deepest Columbiana County!). On asking hubbby was told they don't get many calls during daylight hours but after dark they get plenty.

Eat your heart out Grissom the "Farm Scene Investigators" are on the case!

Proof of womens intuition? From the moment we set off hubby was at the front map reading and showing the way.

At each checkpoint we marked our cards and did our best to lose those who were following us, and not be seen by those weren't.

This is the look of total pride at having successfully completed the first half of the "easy" maze two miles down two plus to go.

This is the mystery photo of the day as I clearly recall there was NO point in the proceedings where we put hubby in the pack me at the back (with camera) and therefore let Krista and Amanda out front as guides No way! No Sir!

YAY! We did it! I am pointing to number 12 on the check point we had completed the entire maze, solved the crime and had a really good time. I also think it would be fair to say without hubbys unbeknown to me navigational skills we might still be there or at the least somewhat more tired from having walked double the distance to get out!

Then we got to play with the "stuff" outside the maze. Exactly what is it about four full size painted cutouts that requires four (supposed) grown adults to stick their heads through the hole?

Krista the Chemist

Rosie - shouldn't this have been a Kangaroo

Amanda - I won't forget NO kissing!

Hubby - no they really aren't with me

And of course if there is a haystack then it has to be climbed by one and all (though do get the idiot you hand off the camera to to include the height of it in the picture) and this pic kinda sums up the fun had by all of us (though exactly how did my hubby get the dirty knees evident in this pic?)

and if the cameraman wants to take multiples there's always the class idiot who'll get up to mischief.

Love this pic...... All American woman ......... food in one hand cell phone in the other ....... love you Amanda!

And just to show I didn't miss the scenery while we were out playing

this is the colour of Autumn here in Ohio, beautiful!

So when are we all off together again that was FUN!

Oooops I did it again!

2010-10-20T23:04:00.005-04:00

My husband can attest to the fact that I am not at my best first thing in the morning........... give me two large strong cups of coffee and slowly I'll awaken, like a flower blooming, but hit me up before the coffee and its "caveat emptor"! So to be only half way through the first cup of elixir when I hear the tell tale wail on the stairs is not a "Good Morning" moment.

My cat is adorable, my cat is devoted to me, my cat is amazing, my cat also has one appallingly bad habit ............. it hunts! It hunts and it catches things (with alarming frequency) but it appears almost incapable of maxing out on the jugular and killing anything. So the tell tale wail proclaimed to me she had "something" else in her mouth and was fast approaching up the stairs to deposit the catch on the living room floor just for me. Aren't I the lucky one.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see her dropping what appeared to be a dead critter at the top of the stairs. Whoopee Allah be praised she actually killed something. Fortunately (for me) I know her propensity for playing with her victims so it quickly occurred to me if I wanted any peace to continue my coffee(s) then I'd better cover said catch. So having placed an inappropriate dish over the poor wee chipmunk (yes that was todays speciality like it has been the past fortnight) I settled back to my coffee, cat pissed off and dead chipmunk beyond caring.

I was a little irritated when ten minutes later I can hear the cat going nuts batting the dish and positively not responding to yells to stop it. So knowing I was going to get no peace till I disposed of said dead beastie I begrudgingly set down my coffee and head to attend to the deed. Imagine my surprise when this is what I behold

Obviously Mr Chipmunk wants to be nominated for this years Lazarus award at the Critter Oscars (if you ask me he stands a darn good chance of winning). He was dead, I swear it but it was quite obvious he wasn't any more and the intent in Buffers eyes in this pic

meant that the only option was to wake hubby and get HIM to set chippie free (I don't do live chipmunks)

So our regular repertoire of catch and realease ensued though someone didn't look too happy on his way too freedom

Of course we have yet to discover if we have lots of chipmunks or if it's merely a case of Buffer recatching the same chipmunk who has developed a lust for being tossed off our deck

2010-08-29T00:40:00.001-04:00

I love living by the river so I can watch the trains (it's different in !America!

2010-08-28T01:03:00.002-04:00

This isn't as easy as it looks!

(woohoo posting from mobile phone!)

While the cats away

2010-08-18T23:16:00.003-04:00

Of course while I was away in England poor hubby got left behind ............ one day we will get that extended trip to England. He wasn't idle though.

Once again, unbeknown to me, he got out the tool kit and worked away, only this time he didn't have to worry about me discovering what he was up to. I returned home to this sitting on the deck

All his own design and handiwork

Woohoo I now have my own greenhouse!

I'm not actually sure what form of heating we may have to use if we have another winter like last year but I'm game to try and over winter some things and try to get a jump start on seedlings without having hubby tripping over seed trays to get to his desk (hey it's not my fault this house has no window sills).

He's definitely pretty awesome ........ maybe I shall have to go away again to see what's up his sleeve next!

Not the best month ever .............

2010-08-05T00:00:00.004-04:00

July wasn't the best month I ever had, but as always out of the worst comes some of the best. It will come as a shock to some who randomly dip here just to check if I'm still alive, to discover that I spent the major part of July in the UK. It wasn't planned and I didn't get a chance to look any friends up so please don't feel offended. Hardly anyone saw me and I came away more exhausted than on my arrival.

I was summoned to England by an email from my brother. My mother, now almost 92, is finally in failing health and my brother basically demanded one of me or my sister go to England to help him sort "rest of life care" or sign all responsibility to him!! In hindsight I don't believe he expected for one moment that within a matter of days I would be in England but such is life. Unfortunately by the time I arrived Mother had had a further fall and was in hospital. I spent the first week of my trip cleaning her house, liaising with social workers and care workers and trying to restore some semblance of order to he garden which had been untended all year and sorting through a list of "To Do's" from my brother which in truth should have been done months earlier! It was a sharp learning curve I never realised just how many agencies could be involved and I have to say that from her local GP practice to the hospital I could not have been given more help and assistance. I don't care who wants to fault the British National Health service I cannot fault the care, help or assistance they are able to offer. Then every night I visited mother in hospital.

There is something very strange about visiting an elderly relative who is no longer the person they once were. By now we had a diagnosis of extreme vascular degeneration manifesting as dementia. Dementia is a cruel disease! It strips you of the essence of the person you once were leaving the sufferer confused, paranoid and unable to comprehend fully the world they now inhabit. In effect the person that you have forever known has already died and in their place in this instance is a frail, lonely and confused old lady - certainly not the formidable lady that was my mother.

Having cleared an underlying infection a decision had to be made as to what should happen next. After a long assessment process the conclusion was made that due to physical frailty and mental confusion Mother was not safe to be at home. But nothing is ever as easy as it seems and due to my brother backing my mothers wish to go home she was returned home. I have no idea why, that will forever be a conundrum I'll ponder, but should he ever care to spend a few days sharing her world he might discover what a crazy decision this has been. I spent the last two weeks in England continuing to liaise with all involved agencies and trying to make the situation as tolerable as possible - it isn't. There is something incredibly sad watching someone confused, lonely, paranoid and basically alone effectively waiting for an accident to befall them before they will be placed in an environment where they will receive both 24 hour care and the company of other people both staff and residents in a nursing home!

So much for helping my brother, in the three weeks I was in England he did everything in his power to avoid me and I only saw him twice and one of those occasions ended up with him screaming in my face and forcing me out of his car. I have no idea what his problem is or what his motives are but I saw no actions that led me to believe he had our mothers best interest at heart.

Such was my visit to England! But like I said out of adversity there is always the decency of human nature that inspires, such was the case on this trip. It started before I even left America without my knowledge my store manager at work instigated a collection at work to help me fund this trip (I'm going to be paying for it for a long while to come, last minute fares are unreal I discover!) to say I was blown away by this gesture and all the generosity of those who contributed is an understatement. Then in England those few friends who discovered I was there could not have been more helpful, from Linda who ran me to the hospital every night, Sharon who brought a phone across country and two special friends who gave me a bed and Oscar who calmed my soul every night! I wish I had had the chance to see more people but know there will be trips in the future to socialise. To all who saw me and offered their help I thank you it meant so much more than you will ever know.

I went to England with a heavy heart and thanks to my brother it was equally as heavy in my leaving. I've been back in the USA almost a month and since then we have hardly heard from him despite repeated requests for updates. It is pretty sad that when all my sister and I want is to see our mother living in a safe environment surrounded by people who can help, care and offer company that we have to battle our brother at every corner. He may warn my sister "I am in England so beware!" but for us we really don't care mother's well being is our ONLY concern.

Our new neighbours

2010-06-13T23:08:00.007-04:00

This post has been a while in the making purely because it has taken me a few weeks to, paparazzi style, snatch a photograph of our new neighbours - camera shy doesn't even get close!

Backing up a bit last fall hubby, for want of something better to do, decided to build a birdhouse (this was in pre-gnome house days) and place it in the middle of the garden. OK I admit it ,I never really liked it (more for the 2x4 he put it on, than for the house itself.

And even in mid-winter it stands out proud!

The one thing that we both silently agreed on was that it would never get used as a bird house ,and I could always try and get a clematis or something to climb up it.

Move on to today and it has weathered well and looks perfectly at home even without the clematis.

But in truth, as with any house, it isn't really what you think, it's all about the homeowner and whether they are happy with it. Well I am pleased to report with all the happy chirping and all the evidence that they are already raising a happy young family there let me introduce the new neighbours!

Mr & Mrs House Wren are exceedingly happy in their new home, are too busy to accept visitors, and would be much delighted if the idiot with the camera would leave them alone, but are happy to have as many bugs disturbed as they can collect.

Somehow I reckon with a zillion toads and this happy brood insecticides are not required this summer!

And what can I say of the man I married, that Harley riding, leather clad gent who the first day I spotted our new residents was heard to say "Ooohhh that has made my day!". Oh my, what have I done to this man who now names flowers in Latin with a flourish and has his day made by birds moving into his birdhouse!

Who needed the one that got away .......

2010-06-12T22:51:00.010-04:00

I did something today that I have never done before and never wanted to but it was fun! The Lake had a fishing competition for kids so I invited April and her little boy Andrew out to fish as unlike me I know they do enjoy the "excitement" of sitting watching a piece of thread disappear into the water!

As it turned out I may not have fished or taken the sport to heart but the fun of the competition did brighten my day. Having stepped outside this morning to discover the humidity levels through the roof again it was with some trepidation I headed to the beach (OK 20' of imported sand but it IS called the beach) only to discover that if you get to the waters edge there is a breeze and clean air - YAY the day was already looking up.

Sunshine and water - perfect

It's round about now that I should admit that April and Andrew brought with them a secret weapon, and it certainly wasn't me! Bring on Uncle Ricky.

First get Uncle Ricky to help you bait and cast your line

Take some tips from the expert

Wait awhile patiently
with some words of encouragement from Mom

and get ready to reel her in

the one that didn't get away

then enlist a new friend to take you to the weigh station

Then come back and do it

Again

and Again

AND AGAIN

In total Andrew landed eight fish and won the prize for catching the most fish! Not everyone was impressed. This little girl fishing just ten feet from where we were fishing visibly seethed as Andrew landed his second.

you've either got it or you haven't

But walking off and leaving that spot may have been that little girls biggest mistake as not five minutes after she left fishing in exactly the same spot this little boy

Yes he really is using the cheapest of cheap pink Barbie fishing rod

caught this beast

a lot of folk assisted in landing it

perhaps because it was almost as big as the kid that caught it

Yes it did win the biggest fish of the day!

So then it was back to the pavilion for some tucker

and to collect some prizes

And the lesson of the day for me was that whilst I might never get enthusiastic about fishing to spend some time with friends is fun whatever and the look on Andrew's face after he collected his prize was priceless joy. Come back soon Mr Andrew and I will gladly watch you play in the playground, heck bring a bucket and spade and I might even be persuaded to build you a sandcastle! Yup it was fun.

Back where I belong

2010-06-12T00:36:00.004-04:00

no not in England ! On my knees in the dirt in the garden yard sales forgotten, in a world of my own.

It's restorative, relaxing and utterly stress free, and then occasionally informative.

Today was one of those informative days. Having posted pics of the toads mating a month or so ago we have watched amused as we have had a pond full of tadpoles for the last month or so waiting to see "something" happen. A couple of days ago we noticed that most of the tadpoles appeared to have vanished and we assumed that either the frogs or fish had decided they were an honourable delicacy after all and they had all been eaten with relish. Shows what we know.! This morning I happened to be talking with Ed from next door by the pond when he says "look there's one of your toads" so I look down expecting to see a big brown chubby mobile clod of earth and there instead is a itsy bitsy teeny weeny "thing". I'm not kidding it was SMALL, very small indeed!

I don't know quite what we expected but on discussion later with hubby it wasn't this. We thought they'd grow a bit, chub out like any youngster, grow some legs, sunbathe on the lily pad for awhile and then promptly leave - yes we knew toads don't live in the pond. What we weren't expecting, like first time parents, was for them to leave home so young, so small, so soon.

Today was Exodus day! We have watched all day as one by one by one by a hundred by a thousand itty bitty toads have, with their hair like legs, crawled out of the pond, up the rocks and then leapt like Lemmings into the garden and head across the gravel drive into the woods (How do they know where to head? Who gets to go first? What happens if you get left behind?). Don't believe me then look........

Too tiny for the big bad world

"Where's Waldo?" there are at least five on this rock at the top of the pond side, one enormous leap and they'll be free

A helping hand

More than 8 hours of constant emptying (I can't believe there are any left) a truly unbelievable sight which we might have missed. I guess the bugs in my garden had better look out but I shall miss them all, That is until like today I'm weeding away and suddenly the earth moves and a trusty toad says hi!

OOOps I did it again

2010-06-07T21:00:00.009-04:00

I'm sure one day I will learn to think before I speak but it sure hasn't happened yet , at least not when it comes to putting my head above the parapet and volunteering my own good ideas. You'd have thought that I might have learned my lesson when I wanted to collect a hundred bears to send down to the kids hit by hurricane Katrina back in 2005 (TeddysforHope). This time what moved me was a little closer to home.

I have muttered disparagingly about health care here on several occasions, in a nutshell it blows me away. There are either the haves (can afford to pay for good health coverage and can afford any additional costs that come along with it - I don't think I know anyone in this category), the have nots ( no health coverage relying on emergency room care and endless bails) and the haves but may as well not have (this covers the vast majority because it means you have basic health insurance which is adequate if you have a minor ailment). In the latter category the problems arise when you get really sick. SO sick that you have to stop work, did I mention there is no Statutory Sick Pay here, and have to keep paying your 80/20 health insurance. Before you ask (if your reading this in England) that "20" means you are paying 20% of any health bill you get be it hospital, doctor visit, x-ray, absolutely any last plaster they can bill, your going to pay 20% that is off course after you have paid your co-pay (your part you pay regardless of any insurance) and your annual deductable (bit like the excess on your car policy though believe me it's much higher). Oh but don't forget that you now have no income because you are too sick to work and if you don't pay your premiums you aren't going to have that insurance anyway. Maybe your starting to get the picture, the reason why medical bills are the biggest cause of bankruptcy in this the "greatest country in the world"!

Bring on April a co-worker/friend of mine, aged 31, mother of one little boy and daughter of another co-worker Nellie who is just one great lady. A couple of months ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is way to young to be facing this health battle but to me a Brit whom back home, would have not one medical bill to worry about (nor mammoth waiting list to maneuver as they are so fond of telling you here) just be free to concentrate on the treatments ahead, this all seems wrong. So we have had the benefit dinner for her at work, and as the annual Lake Yard Sale was approaching here I decided to hold a yard sale fund raiser for her. Not because she is a friend and a really nice person, not because the chemo she is currently undergoing nor mastectomy she faces is enough of an ordeal but because to have to worry about how she pays for the next prescription, blood test or PET scan just shouldn't be on her agenda and it makes me sick and angry that it is. For the wealthiest nation, leader of the world, that one young woman should have to face the financial headaches, her mother should contemplate taking another job is WRONG in every sense of the word . So you just do what you can and it is all so inadequate in the greater scheme of things.

Three weeks of begging, cajoling and scheming for donations of goodies culminated in three days of hard selling last weekend, Hubby was awesome in spending days constructing tables out of every available piece of material he could find (or borrow) I could argue that the weather did not play ball with us but this would only be part true. the two days we sent setting up was a relay of taking stuff out of the garage and setting up and then the heavens opening and returning it all to the garage but for the sale itself although at night we had horrendous thunder storms (even a tornado watch the night before) for the sale itself on all three days the sun shone and not a raindrop fell until ten minutes after we closed.

Ready for Business

Take a cluster of tables and a pile of pink table cloths (and ignore the rain)

Transformation

Everywhere you looked there were tables laden with bargains

No space to precious to be used

It began to look more like a street market then my garden

Then Nellie (April's mom) and I wait patiently for our first customer

By the second day, Friday, we had been loaned a tent/carport which would proved invaluable during rain and shine that followed (and gave me my best ever gotcha moment when I texted Nick and told him I'd sold it for $25 :-( )

Sunshine and customers

Hubby smiling through exhaustion and Heather maybe taking a tipple for sustenance

"If your going to fill the bird bath to demonstrate it, it's your job to empty it it when you sell it!"

Jody and Heather without whom we couldn't have managed Friday (and Linda and Shauna too)

Hubbys favourite pic : Heather performing "Riverdance"?

Saturday morning just after torrential rain stopped just before opening

Nellie & April

Did Arlene really have time to read the paper?

"I'll ride this home if you don't mind"

Arlene & Sally

Shop shop shop

April, Anna & Brittany

Three days of hard work, sunshine, rain , camaraderie and sales sales sales. Utterly exhausted on Saturday afternoon I was able to put out the word that we had raised over $1200 ! Way above what we had anticipated but in terms of what April will need in the months ahead a mere drop in the ocean. So an idea had been realised once more. To all the many many people who donated (even the lady, our second customer, who came spent a couple of dollars and then returned an hour later with a box of donations!!) ,the many people who came out and helped, and all those hundreds who shopped over the three days you made this possible and without you it would not have happened. And finally an enormous thank you to my amazing husband whatever anyone who see's us together may think we are an awesome team and I am his biggest cheerleader it would never have happened without him and I am so so grateful if amazed at how much he enjoyed himself. No I am not planning on doing it again next year!

All that's left now is for April to get better and that would be the greatest reward of all :-)

Not as it should be

2010-05-12T22:26:00.002-04:00

Walmart We’re proud to announce our new campaign to help fight hunger in America, “Fighting Hunger Together.” By supporting hunger organizations with $2 billion over the next 5 years we believe we can reach a day where no one in this country has to go to hungry. To find out more about “Fighting Hunger Together,” visit: http://walmartgiving.com/

I'd love to say I was shocked and horrified when I got this Walmart update on my Facebook page today. I wasn't. Though I am sure the odd reader in England may be a little surprised, just as I was when I came here and discovered that in this the land of plenty, the "leader of the Western world" the "American Dream" consisted for many countless thousands of hunger, homelessness and desperation.

Of course your thinking this only happens in the big city, not in my rural idyll of Ohio , ha think again! This quote from the Second Harvest website kind of sums it up nicely -

"Each day, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley distributes approximately 35,000 pounds of food to 151 hunger relief organizations in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties including church pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, shelters for battered women and after-school programs. In 2009, our distribution was 7.4 million pounds of food including over 2.3 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables."

Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley

I live in Columbiana County population about 108'000, it isn't abnormal it's middle America!

OK so you think I exaggerate take a look at this -

Hunger in the USA

In contrast if you search hunger in the UK on Google all you get are links to charities dealing with third world hunger. That is where I grew up, believing hunger existed not in America. It wasn't in America that people, everyday folk as they would say here, went to a food pantry to get free food, that was what happened in India or Africa not America where the street were paved with gold.

The reality of life in America is as far removed from the western image as a belief in the streets being paved with gold. I'm more than happy to say that I cannot get used to such facts. To listen each day to the radio talk show hosts sneer as they refer to "socialist" Britain may get tiresome but I have lived both lives and I know which has a more decent caring attitude to the community as a whole. And much as one would like to portray itself as forever a christian society, I know which lives the christian values.

Todays gem ..........

2010-05-12T16:22:00.003-04:00

It doesn't really matter that it's hardly 60F outside after yesterdays constant rain and really cold temperatures I did not resist the urge to get outside today (even if I probably caught pneumonia or upped my chances of arthritic knees in a year or two). I cannot believe how quickly the landscape changes here on a day to day basis.

If a fraction of the tadpoles that we have whizzing round the pond survive this year we aren't going to have a bug in the garden when they start chomping. On the flipside though if all the baby fish we can see mature then we have a problem ........ I have this vision of a pond packed like a sardine can and the fish only only being able to move on the command "flip left". Nature no doubt will take care of such issues.

For the moment it's just a case of being in awe of natures ever changing display as she brings each new star centre stage ......

Last weeks star, butterfly included

Todays

Next weeks star waiting in the wings

Sustenance for the soul ...............

2010-05-02T17:27:00.006-04:00

I was looking at snow pics today from back in February, I have only one thing to say ................ I'll take a grey rainy day in May over a snow day in February any day of the year! I'm British so long as it isn't lightening or hailing and the temperature isn't below zero then I will be found on my knees somewhere in the dirt. I spent the morning planting up the deck, pricking out Night Phlox and just generally messing and making a mess as hubby slept.

I did though stop at some point and took some pictures (oh what a surprise) and was taken aback by the total transformation crocus, chiondoxa, snowdrops, daffodils and tulips are already memories again until next year . Most surprising of all though, when you stand back and look, is how things that weren't there a month ago, like the peony, now stand three feet tall, and plants that mere weeks ago were laying flat under feet of snow are now resplendent in their Spring coats. Yes a walk round the garden on the first weekend in May in the rain is restorative to much much more than the soul.

Toad (top pot) and frog (bottom pot) thinking about Spring

Buffer smelling the Sage

In Spring a young man's/toads thoughts turn to

Mating!

Amazing to think the flower bed to the left didn't exist this time last year (not to mention the Gnome House)

Forget-me-Nots resplendent

Proof positive that Azaleas need no care, I dislike them and these are at the unseen side of the house and are left untended year round!

The view from above, like I said beats snow any day

Even the Gnomes look cheery in the rain.

Dare I admit that this pic will soon hold a second house

View from my perch! Never count the hours spent sitting "planning" the garden as anything other than gardening!!!

Full Occupancy !!

2010-04-30T22:38:00.005-04:00

Well that didn't take long! Just one week after the final installation, the Gnome House has no more room as we now have a full compliment of resident gnomes exceedingly happy in the sparkling new home. Meet our new neighbours ...............

Best present ever!

2010-04-28T00:19:00.016-04:00

OK so this post has been a long time coming, but as it all started many months ago and was only completed last week you'll see why.

In many ways the subject matter is a microcosm of my life and marriage here, a mixture of desire, mis-communication, laughter and teamwork. It all started with many, many drives to the local greenhouse. Each time we went we drove past a display area of various garden buildings; pagodas, sheds, garages, swing sets. But always there at the front was a large childrens playhouse. Without fail, every time we passed I would declare I wanted one. Needless to say the price tag (and my age) dictated it wasn't about to happen. Move on a bit and we build a pond and whether anyone ever noticed, or if I carefully managed to edit it out, always next to the pond was the eyesore of the "Kitchen Cupboard" alongside the bench.

"Kitchen Cupboard"

Although butt ugly it was necessary to keep protected the electrics for the pond pump and filter and store fish food. I have to admit it was one of things in life that although gross you just "know" your stuck with it, and after awhile you don't even notice it anymore - just remember to edit it out wherever possible (obviously quite successfully as shown by the time it just took me to find a picture with it in). In steps hubby!

Having successfully carved me the mushroom for my birthday

"Mushroom"

he decided to step it up a notch and excel himself for Christmas. Not only did we have the problem of a hideous "cupboard" at the pond but, as previously noted on the blog, we were becoming overrun with homeless Gnomes. To solve both problems hubby decided to build me a Gnome House for Christmas! No comments please about the fact that five years of marriage to me has brought this man to building Gnomes Homes!

And thus began a secret project in the garage on freezing cold nights in November and December. With only a general idea of the type of crooked gnome house I wanted he designed and started building. Initially this proved fairly easy, with a wife working evening shifts you get to have a few hours to play unsupervised, but as time ran out, nights got colder and Christmas fast approached he was rumbled - well it was either that or a divorce! Let me explain - when your husband, with the temperatures at 10F, declares he is going to the garage to "tidy his tools" (he has never been known to tidy anything let alone at sub sub freezing temps) any wife worth her salt demands answers or else. And so it was that mid December I discovered his little secret in the garage

"Happy Christmas Honey!!"

OK so the surprise was blown, but he could look on the bright side ......... he didn't have to wonder how he was going to wrap it anymore! I of course was delighted, but he pointed out I should have noticed something was going on as for the last month he had, panel by panel, been removing the pine ceiling from the room where I dress everyday (Got me I admit I'm not that observant).

There were bonuses to being found out. No longer did he have to continue working in the freezing cold garage (I'm a mean woman but not that bad) and I got to have input on the finished product.

Once the snows melted and the nights warmed (marginally) I lost my husband to the gnomes and the garage became a feverish home builders paradise.

Slowly a transformation took place

One by one he cut dozens of individual roof shingles and screwed them each in place

a roof window/sky light appears

a door and windows appear, and future residents stop by

and slowly a box becomes a home

It was about this time, I think, that I was sitting on the patio opposite the garage with hubby admiring his handiwork through the open doors when I casually remarked that it reminded of the guy who built a boat in his garage without contemplating how he was going to get it out. To say hubby's face went white is an understatement, and the speed with which he dashed tape measure in hand to the garage was amusing. He calmly declared we had 2-3 inches to spare.

Hubby will freely admit that he "slightly " miscalculated the scaling and what should have stood three foot tall now rose over six feet off the ground! And the problem of getting it out of the garage to the pondside wasn't mine but his.

Primed and maybe ready to go ...... if only the garage door was bigger

After much, much, much discussion and debate the paint colour was chosen

and the choice is YELLOW

and finally the day came to move the gnome house from garage to pond. I freely admit that hubby knew I did NOT want to be present when this occurred. My age dictates I avoid stressful situations and I could not see this one ending happily. So without even telling me that today was the day while I was at work things started moving at home ......

little

by little it edges to the pond

almost there

fittings and trims installed and we are Home

I don't think I mentioned that along with a roof that opens (as well as all windows and doors) the house is fully equipped with lights so that the first I knew of the Gnome House relocation was arriving home that night. This is the sight that greeted me

Totally awesome !!

When you have seen something take shape in the garage, worried about it, tweaked it, and in hubby's case sweated over it, I cannot begin to explain the emotion of seeing it finally in place.

Yes, it's slightly bigger than I'd envisioned

Yes, I can now send hubby to the "Gnome House"

Yes, the new residents are totally happy with their new home.

It has met with nothing but smiles and admiration from all who have seen it including the neighbours (thank goodness) but most of all it is, I am sure, the best Christmas present I have ever had and I love it and now have the perfect sanctuary in the garden.

Thank you hubby and now on to the next project ........... repeat after me small small small xxxx

still 12 days to go and it's snowing

2010-02-17T11:59:00.003-05:00

Statement as of 10:10 PM EST on February 16, 2010

... This month second snowiest ever...

As we continue to add to the record February snowfall, we are also
closing in on the snowiest month ever. As of 10 PM, todays snowfall
measured 2.8 inches. This brings the monthly total to 38.5 inches.

The previous record for February was 25.3 in 2003. The normal for
February is 8.5 inches.

February 2010 now ranks as the 2nd snowiest month ever.
The snowiest months...

40.2 January 1978.
38.5 February 2010.
36.3 December 1890.
34.1 March 1993.
32.3 November 1950.

The snowiest season on record was 82.0 inches the winter of 1950-51.
Our season total so far for 2009-10 is 66.7 inches. Normal for
Pittsburgh is 40.6 inches.

Snowfall records for Pittsburgh date back to 1884.
Source: http://www.wunderground.com/US/OH/041.html?MR=1

You know it's bad when ............

2010-02-16T14:51:00.008-05:00

............. you have more snow than the Winter Olympics! Yep we have way way more snow than Vancouver! It's amusing to watch the downhill skiing being canceled due to lack of snow and Spring like weather when outside here a blizzard is raging and yet ANOTHER 6 - 9 inches is forecast in the next 24 hrs

This was the latest bucket load starting yesterday afternoon since when we have had another 5+ inches - I know because I just yomped over to the neighbours and it's still snowing and the paths we had all cleared out to get around are gone.

........... I can no longer see if the pond has a hole in it because the snow around it has completely obscured the pond let alone a hole!

This is the pond exactly one month ago (and yes those are cat prints in the snow)

Now the pond sits in an oasis of snow bench and mushroom almost gone.

Only an idiot (not this one) would venture into the knee deep snow to attempt to find the pond - I'm reassured that though we have way more snow, temperatures are not as low as last winter which the fish survived quite happily.

.............. you suspect the gnomes have headed to Florida for the winter

Last month they were still to be found waist deep in the white stuff, now not a trace - shame they didn't ask me to tag along on their trip south!

.................... even hubby starts to wonder how much snow the decks can hold and finally starts digging off last weeks snow as this weeks comes in fast

Too late to enter in the snow tossing championship at the Olympics this year

......................... when you look out the window and you have this awful flashback to another time and place

and begin to feel you know what it was like to sail on the Titantic !

Enough already I somehow don't think my snowdrops can grow 30+ inches high to peep through the snow!

Awesome II ............

2010-02-07T23:23:00.007-05:00

Sunday as the sun shone I got the opportunity to get out and look at the area covered in snow. When you get shots like these you don't have to say much at all. It was never quite like this in Fenland and hopefully it will be a long time before we see snow like this again but while it is here it was a pleasure just to enjoy it's beauty ....................

The white mass here is the lake itself as you approach from higher ground!

Awesome ............

2010-02-07T20:00:00.009-05:00

it's one of those words if you live in America you can become heartily sick of, much overused, frequently out of place and bandied about to almost become a worthless description of anything ............. until that is ....... you get to this weekend. This weekends snowstorm and the sights it produced was utterly, totally AWESOME!

Anyone who thinks Americans used to regular snowstorms cope any better than Brits are sadly mistaken. At the first mention here of an impending storm heading our way its a mad dash for supermarket and the inevitable lines and clearing of shelves (as I heard someone say what do Americans do during a show storm with all the eggs , bread and milk they are compelled to buy - eat French toast?). OK I admit I headed to the store and joined the chaos the night before the storm was forecast to hit but in my defence I can claim a) my trip had been planned days in advance and b) I long since choose to ignore storm warnings, call for six inches we get two and so on. SO what would be new this time they were calling for a max of 6 - 8 inches total overnight Friday and as I had nowhere to go it wasn't likely to be a problem. Little did I know we were about to get the biggest snow storm this area has seen since 1993 or 1950 depending on who you listen to.

It all started inauspiciously late Friday morning and prompted by the neighbour I headed out and hauled a couple of loads of wood in - ever the hero as hubby slept. By 8pm it was just a normal snow fall, the deck was starting to look pretty

and I guess we were interested enough at 8.47pm to notice we were getting a build up of snow at the deck window, which isn't usual as we normally get snow from the north (God bless you Canada) which doesn't collect on the deck close to the house and this was coming in from the east.

By 10.09pm when hubby had to leave for work we did notice it was accumulating but no worries. I didn't really pay a lot of attention after that and when we lost power at 1am it was a case of "oh shit" texted hubby to report it and headed to bed, wood burner stocked and torch in hand.

What I awoke to Saturday morning was truly an amazing sight .............. we'd had a few more flakes in the night!

That's kinda more than 6 - 8 inches (and no the electric wasn't on the coffee was made by boiling water on top of the wood burner)

There's a deck under there somewhere!

Needless to say hubby had had a pretty hellatious drive home from work, some areas locally declared a Level 3 emergency meaning only emergency traffic was allowed on the road.

This might have been why!

Hubby was one of the few who wasn't digging to get the car out of the drive but instead digging to get INTO the driveway.

and anyone who is wondering why he didn't just leave it on the roadside hasn't seen how and where they drive the snow plough out here on the lake!

Hubby measured the snowfall here at 23 inches

first dig out to get to the garden

snow wasn't quite like this where I come from

Utterly beautiful

The day was spent with some of us digging others taking pics and keeping warm and awesome neighbours strolling round with a snow blower and showing off

The house looks cute surrounded by snow

This is what the snowbirds who head from here to Florida for winter want to escape crazy

Dig baby Dig

Awww did someone forget the puppy stuck up the hill?

I'm here ! Daddy dug me out!

I cannot tell you how happy and grateful hubby was when Ed came round with his blower and worked like a trojan clearing the drive and routes to the mailbox

The sun sets on an eventful day a million flakes re-organised but only a couple melted .......... hubby did mention something about it all not going till July 4th, I chose not to hear him.

If you cant peck ..........

2010-01-27T23:43:00.004-05:00

should you be in the pecking order?

This thought came to mind when I happened to look up from whatever task was not getting my full attention (yeah list them !) and saw the following sight ..........

Strangest looking birdy I've seen in a long time! And before the "Feed the Squirrels" brigade start up I quickly add, as regular followers know, there is a very large and busy squirrel feeder out back. This is the BIRD feeder on the deck (do we have to signpost the one at the back?). In truth, I am very happy to see this fellow out front, they are so much fun to watch. Moreover as is quite evident, this is a red squirrel and all the ones at the back feeder are grey. So eat on, there is plenty for everyone.

As for the "pecking order" it was not until I lived here and paid any close attention to the bird feeders that I realised exactly where that expression comes from. Although it might appear at first glance the birds feed as a free for all that isn't really the case. Watch them for a long while and you slowly come to the realisation that they feed in groups and at regular times of the day. If you don't believe me look at this shot. rarely to be seen during the day, these pigeons/mourning doves or whatever are always in pairs and always to be found at dawn or dusk

At different times of the day you will find different mass grouping be it starlings, blue jays, sparrows whatever. In many ways it is as we do in life. Sometimes we go with the group, sometimes we stand alone and at other we just stand afar on the branches of life and merely look on. And if we get really brave just like that squirrel we dare to take a stand where we really shouldn't be.

Help is at hand .........

2010-01-24T02:15:00.004-05:00

Ok so I have been really bad of late and posted nothing, could give a load of excuses but don't need to. Let's just get back to business

There is a rumour floating around these parts that we are actually getting back to the decorating, a little more than a rumour methinks but don't anyone hold their breath hoping for any bit to get finished anytime soon ......... but progress is progress however little or slow!

Of course if you have a task it's always better to have help or so they say. When hubby set about removing the dishwasher today help was at hand (yes, I did say removing the dishwasher. I have this theory that if you haven't used it once in five years it's a waste of space and space is at a premium in the kitchen so out it must go).

As these pics show as hubby tried to work out how to unplug said dishwasher Buffer was on hand to lend a paw so to speak.

"I've got the drill, tell me when your ready"

" and screwdriver when you need it?"

Of course if you get amateurs to assist they can get easily distracted!

With or without Buffers help the dishwasher was extracted from the kitchen and now sits forlornly on the deck awaiting disposal. as the neighbour was heard to say;

"How do you know your a redneck?
When you have both a grill and a dishwasher on your deck!"

Ah progress indeed.

Happy Birthday Mother!

2009-11-02T22:56:00.001-05:00

It seems totally unreal to me that twelve months have passed since I was back in England. One year ago today I was waiting with total excitement and trepidation for my brother to return my mother to her home so that I could say Happy 90th Birthday face to face. This is the photo that never got posted here last year when I returned as it was to become a present to both my sister and mother. Strangely it is possibly one of the only pictures of the three "Cave" women together during our entire lives.

I only wish that the three of us could be together again this year for her 91st today, but sadly it cannot be as she sits at home in England one of us will be in Italy and me I'll be here in the USA - guess that's one life plan she never saw panning out. But do not fear in love and spirit we will all be together raising a glass, celebrating and hoping that very soon we can be together again as last year. Till then may your good health continue and Happy Birthday and many many Happy returns

2009-11-02T01:04:00.001-05:00

It isn't only Buffer who brings wildlife in from the garden. Hubby has his moments too! I am also pleased to say I treat them both fairly and scream abuse at hubby in equal measure when he thrust his latest find under my nose.
This little beauty was, he claims, clinging to the front door the other night - can't say I blame it as it was pretty darn cold outside. It is , I am reliably informed by hubby, a tree frog (must need an exceedingly small tree methinks) and it is the creature that transforms the still and quiet of an English summer night that I am used to into the cacophony of jungle calls that are our summer nights here.

OK I admit it it is one cute little critter , but no I didn't want to hold it and NO I didn't want hubby adopting it. I trust it is back in the garden like I asked, and I trust it has a warm hidey hole for the bitter winter to come, but if it fails to make it from the sound of things we have a couple of thousand of its cousins to make up the numbers!

Bad Buffer

2009-11-02T00:48:00.001-05:00

Buffer is up to her usual tricks again. This poor little fellow brought in by the intrepid hunter was, unmarked, caught by ME and left under a weighted mug for the night. On hubby's arrival home it was revealed in all it's tiny glory - shaken but not stirred. I sometimes wonder as hubby tosses the nights haul from the deck into the bushes whether it is actually just one mouse we have and it is a continual game that Buffer and the hubby are playing night after night.

Shit Truly Happens .....................

2009-09-30T23:39:00.010-04:00

Oh boy when shit happens round here it happens in style, and I suspect we are going to be recovering from what will only be forthwith be referred to as the "poop pile" for some considerable time to come........... such is life as they say. I'm reaching a point where on a day to day basis I can be stoic about it all (in between bouts of voiced and unvoiced Rage). The poop pile was not my doing, and as such it creates a weird reaction in that I will try to be as supportive as I can and silently (yeh me right) take the consequences as they are surely affecting me. But as with all things, from disaster rises revelation in this case a slap in the face to me that I have some amazing friends both here in my new home and still back home in England. To those of you who are aware of the "poop pile" and have aided me, or just listened while I ranted and railed, I can never thank you enough believe me you have helped more than words can say - it can be a lonely place. and it is only when you are forced to accept you are not alone in times of trouble you see the sun truly does shine on the cloudiest of days.

And in the midst of this, September is drawing fast to a close here and the leaves are daily setting the skyline ablaze with the display they put on before they slowly float to the ground revealing winters coming cold and barren skyline. We have had a glorious September, weather wise, and have enjoyed many an evening if not smelling the roses, at least smelling there much more fragrant bed fellow my ever faithful Nicotiana.

Somehow I don't think in England in the last week of September we could sit outside of an evening and enjoy this.

Of course we are fully aware that winter is approaching. and as I have been bemoaning the fact someone ignored me and went about his business. preparing for the cold reality of January to come.

Truly down to hubby's hard work we now have an enormous, stacked, wood pile outside and the promise that we will be warm whatever winter throws at us (well at least for the first weeks)

I was also amazed on my birthday to discover that whilst up in the woods .no doubt irritating the neighbours with the chain saw running for days on end, hubby wasn't just chopping wood. Sometimes you discover that even your own hubby can be that little bit more wonderful and talented than even you knew. I now have my very own mushroom ! Yes hand carved by hubby from a solid piece of wood using the chain saw he created the perfect pond side perch.

This garden is turning into a veritable hideaway for gnomes, bugs, mushrooms and rabbits and of course ......................... the very strange lady from England.

Scenario

2009-09-21T03:03:00.000-04:00

Scenario: You are up a ladder trimming branches from a tree, you fall from the ladder breaking ten ribs and two vertebrae at the base of your spine. But for doctors working on you for ninety minutes while you lie in your driveway (including opening your chest to gain access to your trapped heart) you would be dead. You are then life flighted to a specialist hospital where you are placed in intensive care where you are attached to machinery that nurses inform your wife costs $32000 a day to run. Three weeks later you are still in intensive care making a slow but certain recovery - your wife has been able to stay free of charge in hospital provided FOC accomodation to save endless travelling to remain at your bedside.

I wonder what the bill would be running at by now, that is if you have health insurance?

Fortunately this happened in the UK and there will be not one bill arriving from the ambulance/doctor/hospital and no insurance company will decide how long you are allowed to stay till your are fit to go home only the consultant in charge of your care. Yes this is the true face of "socialised"medicine in the UK ............. and before anyone mentions the words "death panels" this happened three weeks ago to my friends father who is 78. God speed his recovery and I know he is recieving the best possible care in the world.

Where did it go?

2009-09-02T23:29:00.003-04:00

Impossible though it seems to me today is the fifth anniversary of me stepping off an airplane at Pittsburgh airport and beginning my new life here in America. The day went unnoticed by everyone and totally uncelebrated ....... maybe I should get a second birthday?

I find it incredible that it has actually been five years, it has gone by in a flash, but at the same time it seems like forever since I lived with all things secure and English. Let's get one thing straight I love living in America, married life is nothing if not eventful and I wouldn't do a thing differently given a "do-over". I am frequently asked which country do I like best .... almost a stupid question I have never answered it mainly because it is just that, and this is now my home and wherever you live life truly is what you make it. But I would be dishonest if I didn't admit that in my heart England is still home not in any tangible sense but more in the same way a black man whatever ever he changes in his life will always be a black man. The longer I live here and the more accustomed and assimilated I become it will forever be England and the English ways which course my veins.

I wasn't a sweet young thing that stepped off that plane, yes yes far from it. I had had almost fifty years taking an awful lot of things that I assumed were facts of life for granted and though you can re-learn the tangible - how to mail a letter, new tax forms and letters, - there are many intangibles that I discover I cannot re-learn, or perhaps more accurately don't want to. It isn't possible to truly explain, in the same way a tourist however long they stay never fully understands a country the same is true here. The things I find hardest are the core values. I come from a place that has health care for all, its isn't free every taxpayer pays, and it sure never seemed "socialist" as it is portrayed here. But it was a fundamental right of all just like education, free speech etc. I cannot understand a country where they claim to be the leaders of the world but their citizens can lose everything by an illness or accident that means at any moment anyone can be wiped out financially. I was used to a country where a news channel presented facts, and debate or discussion meant hearing two sides to an argument with a reasonable unbiased view mediating and at no point did it degenerate to lies, abuse and name calling.

I came from a country which for a large part of my lifetime faced regular terrorist acts on its soil in the name of freedom and religion but with a government who eventually negotiated a peace with those said same terrorists because fundamentally that is what reasonable people do - to a country where the mere talk of talking to "the enemy" can be a cause of derision and abuse. I came from a country where even the police don't carry guns let alone the citizens, to a country where even my own husband (and yes I do not understand why) would defend his own constitutional right (set out in a document in a time and place oh so different from now) to bear arms, to his dying breath. I came from a country where servicemen were doing a job they had chosen, no different in that regard to many others, to a land where just by joining up you can become a "hero" and acquire a host of benefits for life regardless of any true reasons for joining up in the first place. I'm sorry I just don't get that an American is any more patriotic than a Brit. I come from a place where we have some respect for others be they old, young, black, white, gay, straight and although I have no illusion that there isn't prejudice galore in England it has absolutely nothing by comparison to what I have experienced here, in the country that truly does believe itself to be intrinsically the greatest place on earth. In a hundred ways it is not my country and I know that because of who and what I am I will never truly belong even if one day I do learn to speak the language properly.

But it is my home and I love it. After a long and lonely first year I have made friends and despite everything possible conspiring against us hubby and I have a life together and are happy - you never know one day we may retire and actually get to see each other. It is a totally different lifestyle to that which I left behind and I miss both the people and places I left but this is my life now and somewhere whilst I wasn't looking five years have passed and I look forward to the next five years which the same sense of adventure with which I approached the last five.

Boys 'n their toys

2009-08-13T22:20:00.005-04:00

I have never been quite able to hide the fact that cars do nothing for me. They are merely functional in the same way a typewriter is merely a box to create a neat readable missive. A car is just a box to transport you from A to B. So when husband took possession of his dad's treasured Oldsmobile I wasn't quite as enthusiastic as he was and I promise it had nothing to do with the fact that it is PINK (sorry as husband forever corrects me it isn't PINK its "Coral"). When you have a car that needs more cleaning than any other car has had in its entire lifetime and then once gleaning you don't drive it anywhere to this dumb female it's kind of defeated it's production line purpose - sort of the sissy of the car world.

It isn't cute, it isn't phallic its just big with a weird kind of charm. Of course hubby loves it and is having a ball with it this summer. I once lived with someone who revealed to me (oh lucky me) just how much boxing there was on television I now have the car equivalent ....... have you any idea just how many "Classic Car" Shows there are ? Well I hadn't either until we took possession of the beast, I can now reveal it's one every weekend whoopee!

Don't even begin to try to explain to me the fascination of lining your old car (dare I say Clunker .... perhaps not) up alongside everybody elses old car and standing back and sharing the "your cars older than my car" stories with all who pass by. OK I admit it I'm cynical and really don't have any problem with hubby wiling away his Sunday afternoons, whilst I am at work, in a field with a bunch of old motors and motorists

Occasionally you even get a pretty cool picture out of the days events

And a plus is some prime bonding time, sharing his passion with a grandson.

And I admit that occasionally me and a friend can get ourselves chauffeured out to dinner in the beast.

And somehow from this angle even I find her vaguely attractive.

But best of all to justify your summers efforts are moments like this one

When on his 82nd birthday you get to share the spoils of your summer with your Dad, precious moments, precious memories.

Just sad

2009-06-25T23:57:00.002-04:00

It was a strange day, the passing of two icons of a generation, my generation. It was with little surprise that I heard the announcement this morning that Farah Fawcett had died, finally succumbing to the cancer she had battled so hard against. In contrast it was with total shock that I took the news of Michael Jacksons death when hubby came out to the garden this evening and told me.

It would have been impossible to grow up in the 70's or 80's with access to either a radio or TV and not to have been effected by one or both of these two icons for a generation. Did you want Farrah's hair, figure or whatever she had that certain something that any teenage girl wanted! Personally I wasn't a fan of Charlies Angels, have never had any urge to go blonde and have always been "blessed" with big hair. I much preferred her later work especially the film "The Burning Bed". I recently watched the video diary of her battle against cancer and was impressed by her strength and what shone through as an amazing woman with a wonderful zest for life and the relationship she shared with Ryan O'Neal. Her imminent death was obvious but no less sad when it comes.

By contrast no-one my age hasn't danced to the music of Michael Jackson. His music has been part of my life since I can first remember watching Top of the Pops with the Jackson Five and then as a solo artist. Again I wasn't a big fan but his influence was everywhere and like much of the music of my generation many of his songs can evoke a memory and take me back to another time and yes like many million others I do have a couple of his records in my collection. Unlike Farrah there was a fragilty to what was undoubtedly the genius of Michael Jacksons character. I suspect the fame may never have brought him true happiness and from childhood onwards it would appear behind the facade was a deeply troubled human.

Two icons so different but who were both a part of our lives for so long both now dead before their time. Death comes as an end to us all but its inevitabilty doesn't lessen the shock. I hope for both that they are now at peace one from the pain at the end of her life the other from what appeared to be the pain that was his life. Their work means that both will live on for a very long time.

This is how it is .......................

2009-06-19T12:13:00.003-04:00

Rarely do I direct anyone reading this to another blog, basically because I'd rather you waste your time reading mine, but then you find something and just know you have to share.

In the last couple of weeks I've had a few "wake up" epiphany moments. First I was making my usual banal, mindless, conversation with a customer who just happened to have lived in Europe for a few years (England four years, Spain two) and she said something that I have been thinking for the last three years and now hearing come from a middle-aged American made me want to leap the register and hug her. What were these words of wisdom, so profound? Actually something very simple ......... "Americans are so brainwashed!". This wasn't an observer this was someone who is American but who had stepped outside and lived the other life just like me! And her conclusion astounded me, not for it's content, I long ago realised the same conclusion, but because this was the first time I had heard an American with knowledge of the other side articulate the same. She cited lifestyle, healthcare, transport infrastructure etc. and stated the Americans haven't a clue about the truth of the UK system and that it far outweighs what is on offer here. As I am actually not allowed to leap registers and embrace strangers at work I just smiled to myself and realised I'm not totally going crazy living here ..........

Another wake up call has been watching numerous of my colleaugues at work get sick of late and enter the American health system. Couple this with the current arguments going on here regarding Obama's desire for health reform and I spend my time feeling like I need a pemanent roll of Duck Tape in my hand to apply to my mouth at any available moment! Here is not the place to comment on the disparities in treatment that I see. Just to say to those I know who believe the current system here is "the best" and shouldn't be meddled with I disagree whole heartedly and that is from someone who has experienced the "socialist UK model" for the better part of 47 years and would take it over everything I see here every day of the week. Healthcare here may be good if you have ful access to it but if you live in a depressed area where wages are low and access to insurance is poor, you don't have the choices that others have and that is not right or fair in a civilised society - choices in basic healthcare should not be determined by either your wage packet or your employer human rights 101 in a civilised society in my book. I believe in universal healthcare provided via a single payer system (there I said it) and that is from someone who has lived both sides of the coin.

And so to my blog recommendation if you are looking for an amusing take on life/politics here. Take two 80 year old ladies, living on opposite sides of the country, creating a discourse on current news today.

MagaretandHelen

This blog not only makes me smile but really does give me hope that there are like minded thinkers here ......... and you never know maybe an activist or two god forbid.

And should anyone wish to create a similar style blog dicourse on the UK v American healthcare system (Malcolm?) I'm up for it !

Allsorts and Johnnie Walker

2009-06-16T23:09:00.005-04:00

Much as I hate even the smell of whiskey and only rarely have a craving for Liquorice Allsorts today I would have killed to have had to go out and buy both! As Fathers Day approaches there is some sort of trigger that says I must buy both, I guess it comes of many years buying my daddy both. Each birthday, Christmas and Fathers Day - it never mattered what else I bought these were the two items he sought out and I never disappointed.

It's strange because when I am alone and my thoughts wander I can find myself with him once more. He died in 2002 and I was fortunate enough to be the one to hold his hand as he slipped away but I have never ever felt that he has left me. Don't get me wrong I would give the earth to spend just one more day with him, to arrive at my parents house and see him sitting in the chair he always occupied as I pulled up, to see him pushing the wheelbarrow he sometimes seemed attached to down their road or have him stick his tongue out at me when I tried to kiss him. He had so many qualities that I admired and with the exception of my mother and brother (interesting combination) I have never heard anyone say anything but good things about him - or maybe it's just that I never wanted to hear. Oh he wasn't perfect by any means but when I remember what he endured on a daily basis I know he was a much better person than I could ever be. And now though he is physically gone from this world for me often it as if he sits with me in the garden passing on that inner strength. I found a poem I wrote after his last birthday and for this fathers day I only hope that somewhere he has the largest bottle of whiskey he can share with Bertie Bassett and is wearing the shiniest, brightest pair of wings ever.

You said that the problem with living to be so old is that there is no-one you know left alive,

But you joked (was it a joke) that they would all be at heaven first (“take note I do mean heaven”) and that by the time you got there, there would be no angels wings left for you

And you would just end up with an old “floppy pair”

My daddy, My hero

Summer sunshine

2009-06-16T00:05:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I wonder why I spent a mini fortune on hubby's camera (though I admit it seems to be in almost constant use by one of us) and then I get a shot like this one and think yup I know why I got it.

I love these Scabiosa and today in the sunshine they are close to perfection.

These are the sunshine that I should gaze at in January when there are inches of the snow on the ground

My favourite aspect to the garden I've created is the fact that wherever you sit or walk there is a completely different view and array of natures glory

Did I mention snow, just in case I forget it how about a white astilbe to bring back total recall

Coreopsis are now everywhere and then some

but the hard work has been oh so worth it ......... but must remember to ask my mother when a gardener ever gets a chance to sit and enjoy it all.

OK admit it ....... you didn't believe me !

2009-06-09T23:41:00.005-04:00

OK so you believed me when I said

Fat Freddy was a media whore, albeit a very cute one

and you knew that he'd let us get close just to get that perfect shot

you weren't too sure when we said he could be hand fed worms but here's the proof (look close he doesn't pose with the worm it's half way down before the shutters closed!)

But go on admit it you really didn't believe me when I said he was this tame that hubby can hold him contentedly in his hand

This guy is so focused on where his next meal is coming from (i.e. hubby) that he'd probably kiss Miss Piggy if hubby asked him

But compare this picture to the first one. The first one was taken when hubby got home from work at 8am the last at 8pm between the two he has consumed five or six worms (the frog not hubby) notice how the lily pad is still floating in the first pic, by 8pm he's so fat the pad is virtually sunk. Goooo Freddy!

And what did you do on your day off......?

2009-06-02T23:21:00.004-04:00

In truth I guess, unless I want to fabricate some imaginary adventure, I don't want anyone asking me this when I go back in to work tomorrow! The truth is just a little to weird to have to explain(especially to those who think I am just a "weird" Brit already!). Today I spent over an hour hanging over the fountain in the pond trying to catch a fish. Well actually we weren't totally sure what I was trying to catch was a fish that was the whole point of the exercise.

For the last couple of weeks the tadpoles have disappeared they are still there (with growing legs we have now discovered) but are keeping a low profile literally and figuratively! But as we have hung over the edge on the look out for them we had also spotted "something" else. Initially we thought they were mosquito larvae even though the pool is not stationary water which they are supposed to prefer but we have had our doubts. Today these "things" seemed to be getting larger and we kind of wondered so what else was a girl supposed to do but hang over the edge and try and catch one ............. much to Fat Freddy's amusement as he watched me the whole time.

If I am honest I didn't manage to catch one, after an hour I gave up and along comes hubby who immediately nets one (his youth was far more mispent than mine). So we can now proudly announce we are not only about to become proud "parents" of a pond load of frogs but we ARE the proud "parents" of a host of baby goldfish!!

Let me introduce you to Goldilocks!

Yes they are crap photos but it happens to be less than half an inch long and hardly immediately disposed to posing for the camera - personally I am amazed we got a shot that proved we had baby fish.

Goodness only knows what is going on in the pond at night but I suspect that the solar light we installed have given a certain ambience to the night time air!

Media Whore!

2009-05-27T11:20:00.002-04:00

There is absolutely nothing else that can be said about this chap!

except perhaps that he's fat due to the fact that he'll follow you round the pond with big doe eyes until you hand feed him worms and it works with hubby every time!

What's for dinner?

2009-05-22T00:24:00.004-04:00

Anyone who has read this blog for the last year knows Buffer has a penchant for frogs and the odd fish. With the prospect of a fair few frogs emerging and seeing that she has lost no interest in the pond I decided to erect what I hoped might be a deterrent fence for the side of the pond where she is keenest to approach and the frogs sit. Oh silly me! I hadn't seen her near the pond for several days but today saw that the expression where there's a will there's a way applies just as much to the feline world!

To be honest I didn't think she would fit through the gaps that I had left, but now think they could have been an inch square and she would have worked out a solution. The look on her face is a picture in concentration and patience so I suspect I may well be fighting a losing battle - we will have frogs in the lounge this year too!

Fat Freddy, poor thing, just has to leave his favourite pot and hang on the side looking at me with eyes that scream "get that bloody cat off of there!"

We raised the side wall after these shots were taken but I don't have the heart to tell hubby I have since seen my cat walking the walk!

Bubbles and Jello Shots!

2009-05-17T00:53:00.009-04:00

Last weekend I went to my first all American wedding. It's pretty obvious from the picture below that the bride and groom looked utterly gorgeous and as happy as anyone can be on their wedding day. Why is it that the world over couples straight after the ceremony bare a striking resemblance to two cats that have got, not only the cream, but a life stake in the cow as well.

I could do an utterly soppy post about the wedding (I am getting old an nostalgic these days lol) but will refrain and instead comment on the things that interested me on the day - the differences between an American and a British wedding.

The ceremony was much the same as an English church wedding, though I have to say the minister was perhaps one of the most pleasant and affable that I have heard and the church itself was gorgeous both small and in its layout (curved) very intimate. Two things struck me as special. Firstly the groom cried - it still amazes me how openly men cry in America, I can number on one hand the times I have seen an English man cry but have become used to the fact that there is nothing unusual (or shocking) for a man here to be seen in tears. The other part of the ceremony that I did find new and very symbolic was when the two respective mothers lit flames and then the couple lit from these candles a single candle uniting the families.

The only other difference for me was the addition to the wedding party of several "groomsmen" as in England their was a maid of honour and several bridesmaids but on the mans side in addition to the best man there were also groomsmen. I can't fault this, you can never have to many men beside you!

The reception was very similar to an English wedding party, the chief bridesmaid sulked because her beau was flirting, everyone snuck outside for a cigarette and the alcohol flowed freely. The traditional throwing of the bouquet

amongst the single girls was followed by a new one on me . Here it is the tradition for the groom to retrieve the garter and dispense it in a similar fashion amongst the single men.

As for the alcohol it flowed freely, which in itself is interesting as many partaking were under the age for consuming alcohol (yes this is the land where you can die for your country in a foreign war before you are ever legally able to drink an alcoholic beverage!). But the amusing element for this Brit were the Jello shots! These I can only describe as little pots of jelly made not with water but alcohol. The photos below show just how much my friend Karen enjoyed said delicacies (thank god she didn't desire to build a bigger tower!)

The other "interesting" or more honestly shocking fact connected to the alcohol consumption is that no-one seems to have any thought to drinking and then getting in a car and driving. It reminded me very much of my teenage years in England not the England I left where no-one of sane mind has one drink and gets behind a wheel of a car. Of course it could have something to do with the penalties and odds of being caught. Here, even if you lose your licence ,you are still allowed to drive to work /shopping which to my way of thinking kind of defeats the object!

And then there were the bubbles! Despite what anyone who was there might tell you I was not obsessed with the bubbles - it was just that we don't have bubbles at weddings in England and I haven't played with bubbles since I was a lot younger than I am now. The object was to blow bubbles over the happy couple (a kind of confetti substitute) but I am not sure many of ours reached anywhere close to the bride and groom.

Note that though I was the one who was supposed to be "into" the bubbles everyone else seems to be having just as much fun with them as me!

And finally to my favourite shot of the day. A wedding is a long and tiring affair and when you get to the dance with the bride it can be real tough trying to keep your eyes open even if it is mummy your dancing with ....... or maybe just because it is mummy.

How do you photograph a tadpole?

2009-05-07T23:12:00.008-04:00

The answer I discovered is with great care - more so because I was using hubby's camera and on more than one occasion I came perilously close to dropping the camera in the pond. As I'd posted the spawn pics yesterday I thought I'd make an effort at getting some tadpole shots to keep the blog up to date for a change! Believe me the tadpoles do not pose and hanging over the edge of the pond trying to get something ion focus was amusing to say the least the end result does at least show they exist

We have absolutely no idea how many we have suffice to say wherever you look in the pond there are tadpoles by the dozen and then some. How many will make it to adulthood I have no idea (do the fish eat them?) but at the rate they are growing it's soon going to get pretty crowded in there.

I also managed to get get proof of why Fat Freddy is called Fat Freddy he ios one FAT frog! The rest of the frogs that are already hanging out at the pond are half his size - hubby did wonder who the offspring are going to take after- for overcrowdings sake I hope it isn't this specimen

When not idling the spring hours and sunshine gazing into the pond we have managed to get some work done outside. Finally the last to the deconstruction of the front lawn is complete (for now) and we have managed to complete the path and bed behind the pond.

and completed the bed and edging along the side

from now on I promise all logs hubby fells and chops are for the fireplace not lawn edging!

Finally (though I am not sure how well it will come out her) perhaps the reason there is so much romance and breeding at the pond

we have installed some solar lights and as can be seen there is a very romantic glow once the sun sets.

Where did March and April go ?

2009-05-06T21:41:00.013-04:00

I honestly had not realised that it had been SO long since I had posted on here. It occurred t0 me the other day that living here is a bit like telling a child that Christmas has been postponed till the end of February. It gets to the end of February for me and I know Spring should be showing signs of life and there is nothing but ice and snow, for weeks still to come.

I do believe it gets harder the longer I live here (apart from the benefit of time flying the older I get) by the time March arrives I am done with winter. Fortunately we only had a couple of inches of snow in April which meant we only had the third snowiest winter on record - wasn't that lucky for us! To be honest we only had one deep snowfall but instead we had constant snow which started as we drove home from the airport on November 17th and lasted through to March and cold cold cold. My other problem is that staying healthy through such a long winter is a very big concerted effort of healthy eating and living which I havent quite mastered. I fell ill with a cold/cough in March that I am only now getting rid of completely and to top it all I got food poisoning which had my insides a bombasting liquid projectile for twenty four hours - you know its bad when you actually want to be sick to get the fifteen minutes of euphoric relief iit brings! So amidst the dark winter days, work and fighting to stay fit I didn't get a thing put up here.

And once the sun began to shine I headed to the garden pondering amongst other things what I am supposed to be posting here anyway. What started as a "here's my life in the states" expose for the folks back home acquired an equal amount of American devotees and it leaves me with the unfamiliar territory of not wanting to offend anyone by my sometimes outspoken opinions. My every day dealings with Americans make me painfully aware that I can offend in translation and what I now realise is a total non-understanding of the American way of life for the British reader make it very difficult to sometimes write what I want without offending one and losing the other. Oh well that's my problem to be resolved at some future point for now lets get up to date with some pics from the last couple of months that for one reason or another are worth sharing.

I'm not the only one who is waiting for winter to end! This was taken March 5th, when the pond finally froze over completely despite the heater (space ship beside Buffer) and someone had found a new way to keep herself amused. What is even more amazing is the next picture was taken four days later

We couldn't believe our eyes when we spotted a couple of frogs back at the pond. I have no idea where around the pond they hibernate or how they possibly survive the winter temperatures here (I often wonder how I manage that) but they are our frogs as big fat Freddy is back and happily still eating as many worms as hubby can give him.

20th March and it may make a good picture but it is still in the bleak mid-winter as far as the garden is concerned

OK so we had a good Easter with both of us working all the way through the weekend and not an English Easter Egg in sight. But have you ever wondered what happened to the Easter bunny AFTER Easter (I just know I'm going to get in trouble for this)

This is what I found on the living room floor the day after Easter, obviously one of the cats was pretty pissed we didn't get any English eggs too ........... and ate half the Easter Bunny. The strange thing is we have never seen bunnies in the yard so goodness knows where they found him or her. And before anyone gets grossed out at me for posting it just look on the bright side I was kind enough to crop the photo and remove the entrails which were sitting close by!

Back to the pond! Just a few weeks after the pond was frozen and with no signs of life April brought a reawakening. All the fish survived winter, since when we have lost two to Buffer! OK hubby one may just have leapt out of the pond to land in the herb bed where we found it but I doubt very much the other one walked(swam) up the garden path, through the cat flap, and up the stairs to collapse exhausted and die at the top of the stairs where I found it one morning! Yes Buffer is up to her old tricks (we've also returned to the pond three frogs she has brought into the house alive, actually it may be one frog three times as hubby did comment the last time that it seemed to know the routine!). Despite all this stress the frogs are doing what frogs do best

Look closely and you will see strings of frog spawn which I am pleased to announce are now dozens of tiny tadpoles swimming round the pond........... which I guess are dozens of future frogs for someone to bring inside into the warm!

And this is the offending assassin! How could something so cute be so wicked!

Unless of course she is the Wonder Woman of the feline world. To those of us old enough to remember Lynda Carter used to have an incredible "spin" as she went into action. Well here you go Buffer in spin mode

Of course Wonder Woman I seem to recall went on to do good following her "twirl" but it sure makes for an amazing photo!

No place like gnome

2009-02-21T19:42:00.010-05:00

I think I have a secret ........ and none of you will tell. I seem to have started a collection of gnomes. I didn't intend to, I mean people like me don't collect gnomes - or is that what four years living in deepest Ohio does to you.

Well my excuse is that having the odd garden gnome tug at your heart strings when you are out shopping is the nearest you can get to gardening here in the arse end of February when it is still snowing outside (and yes it is!). These are the two little darlings that leapt into my shopping cart this last week.

Now how cute are they! Of course I am not cruel enough to have set them outside yet , they are in acclimatisation mode next to the fire (when not on photo shoots). There are of course additional advantages to adopting these two little charmers. Unlike the rest of the population of this homestead they do not need feeding, don't scratch, involve vets bills, get fleas, bark, meow or bring indoors live playmates.

Hmmmm know anyone who want's to trade thee cats and two dogs for gnomes?

Paddington would be prouud of me .........

2009-02-21T19:42:00.006-05:00

Paddington Bear eating Marmalade

OK admit it how many of you thought to yourself getting the oranges and making the marmalade weren't one and the same and one might not lead to the other. Well you have no faith!

I have just spent the last two days peeling , pithing, chopping and cooking the most delicious marmalade I have ever tasted (modest huh!) or else it's just sooo long since I tasted decent English marmalade. The amazing thing is that hubby even stated it tasted pretty darn good - the kick kind of gets you! What amazed me is that in both the loads I made I managed to get the setting point just right (without a thermometer) and on setting the peel is still in suspension not all floating on the top.

OK so we had some left over just going to have to eat it!

Every jar too hand, and then some, were used for this crop!

Yes I reckon we have enough to keep me quiet for the next few months - except I am now going to have to take up bread making to get decent toast to do this stuff justice lol So Paddington Bear no longer has to travel to London from Peru he can stop off here.

In looking for the pic of said bear I proved how easily I can get sidetracked and homesick ............
how more English can you get than this found on the BBC website

A guardsman uflappable , Paddington AND Noddy lol

Oh my a store that sells everything jam making ...... wonder if they ship overseas?

Oh gosh there is a world marmalade festival ........ I can enter my yummy fare ...... except it happened last Sunday!

Take a look at these last two's websites ........ ah theses are the things I miss

Marmalade Festival

JamJarShop

Sometimes out of nowhere

2009-02-17T23:54:00.003-05:00

Sometimes in the middle of a cold, dark, depressing February when you think life will be grey and miserable forever someone does something that just blows you away and brings a whole new ray of smiles and sunshine into your life. Crazy but that's what has just happened in my life - someone just did something that to me seemed so kick ass extraordinary that I shall be smiling, thinking there are great people still in this world.

Let me explain. This little Brit in the midst of every February goes on an real world and online hunt for Seville oranges. It may surprise most who read this that real marmalade (and the sweet sickly jelly sold here is NOT real marmalade) is made with one specific breed of orange. A nasty little wrinkly orange that is bitter and definitely not a juicy navel! I have failed miserably each of the four February's I have been here to find any and so have not been able to make my annual batch of the good stuff. Toast is just not the same without real marmalade.

So this year I suddenly thought what I'd be doing if I was back in England and once more started the hunt. In searching online I found a man in Arizona listing a recipe including the said Seville and in desparation I emailed him asking if he knew of anywhere where I could purchase said orange here in the states. He kindly replied (my first shock) stating that he knew of only one online source but that they appeared by their disfunctioning website to no longer be trading. He did however state that perhaps he could pick me a few from his very own orange tree and send them to me - state laws permitting the shipping of fruit across state lines (yes there are some strange laws on trafficing here).

Well to cut out a few emails and get to the point ....... this is what arrived in the mail this afternoon

A big box of sunshine

I cannot begin to state how grateful I am (the added bonus of the lemons a needed addition for my recipe a complete surprise!) and how utterly humbled by a total strangers generosity of time, thought and produce. I'd happily print his name and links to his website but fear that he may be inundated with requests from misplaced Brits for more fruit make me resist (should he wish to start up a sideline I know there is a call because I found several requests in my search of others looking to)

So please don't ring me Friday, my next day off, as I shall be knee deep in pith and peel as I make my marmalade still smiling at the act of kindness that has made this old Brit one very happy lady.

Happy Valentines

2009-02-13T14:11:00.002-05:00

I'm about to get ready for work and expect to be inundated with all the last minute Valentine shoppers (can't really comment on that as I will be amongst them at some point). What really does amuse me though is how the consumer capital of the world, that is America, has managed to take virtually every vestige of romance out of this celebration of love. Here it seems a mega card and candy fest. In England it is a pure celebration of love, sometimes unrequited, but each young lady awaits the postman for that "one" card that tells her someone out there cares. Here none of it from an early age it is a celebration where everyone shares cards and candy with EVERYONE. Children are expected to give and receive cards/candy from everyone in their class and it becomes a veritable consumer fest. Imagine my shock when I found cards sold here by the BOX just the same as Christmas cards - how much of a cad would you need to be in England to require a box of cards.
To me it is a celebration of love and romance and I still remember the hand typed verse I received from a totally unknown, genuine admirer, as a teenager (I still treasure it) that epitomised the tradition in its purest form. So imagine my amusement when I received the following cartoon by email this morning

My sentiments exactly!

So hubby I shall be sending one card and hope to receive just one. Tomorrow and for the rest of the year you will be my one and only Valentine.

Enough already .......... it's still February

2009-02-11T12:28:00.004-05:00

Ok so I was/am totally sick of five weeks of perma snow but the last few days the temperatures have soared today we'll hit 19C/66F. Yes that is totally unreal for mid February and yes there is a price to pay. We are now under a severe weather watch for thunderstorms and winds reaching 60mph tonight and tomorrow (guess who will be sleeping on the sofa downstairs tonight!). and don't even think tornado watch I knowI'll never get used to the weather here either in its severity or in its dramatic changes from day to day - we will be back to snow covered by the weekend.
It's great for getting some super pictures, like the two above taken in the last week, but enough I say my nerves just can't take it all.

Dumb Act #53

2009-01-22T10:05:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you realise, usually too late, that something you just did was utterly stupid!

I just had one of those moments. I went downstairs to stock the wood burner (the only thing that is keep me sane and warm during this extended frozen spell we're "enjoying" at the moment). Yesterday I swept and washed the tiles in the basement and as I entered the room today I wondered why I bothered. As I looked at the tiles they actually looked worse than before me cleaning them - of course this could have something to do with the fact that we (yes I do mean we) haul the wood indoors on a four wheeled, snow dumping, leaf mulching, puddle creating, cart. Whoopee we have a floor covered in foot prints, mud and leaves what dumb ass cleaned it yesterday?

Of course Dumb Act #52 was marrying the idiot who put down WHITE tiles in the basement where he intended hauling wood on a four wheeled, snow dumping, leaf mulching, puddle creating, cart (he put down a white floor in the kitchen too bless him!)

Ooooh I so love the country-wife-life!

A unique moment in time ......

2009-01-20T00:41:00.003-05:00

IF
Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

It is no secret that I have admired Barack Obama since I first heard him speak the night he won his senate seat in 2004 - when I first told my husband that I had heard a future President speak (never dreaming that day would come so soon or that I might be right!). We watched the primaries here and then the election process transfixed. The end result was more than we could dream and more than I ever hoped for.

I admire Obama for many many reasons not least because the manner in which he has handled himself from the outset regardless of whatever dirt, lies and slander has been thrown at him is with more grace and purpose than I have ever seen from anyone let alone a politician. I do not envy him the role he will have bestowed upon him tomorrow. To choose to place yourself and your family into the most prestigious role in the western world a target both literally and figuratively is beyond my comprehension. But if ever there was a man more fit for the role in what I have seen so far that man is now about to take on that mantle.

Despite what some may believe I do not share his every political view (actually quite opposed to a couple of planned actions) but I share a core belief that there is a better day ahead for America, that the path the country will take with this man and the country behind him is the right one and that if anyone can restore this country's prestige in the world then it is behind Obama - no other candidate would have created the buzz that he is making.

He is not the fulfillment of Martin Luther Kings "dream" there is still much to be done in this country before all men are equal but it is a step in the right direcion. In the most part he is a unifying figure perhaps with the exception of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity most of the country is wishing him well, there will be many dark days ahead and I have no idea where we will all be in four years from now but if the hope that is evident in the air at this moment in time can in any part be realised then maybe just maybe we wont be at war, health care may be available to all in this country and we will know our neighbours better.

He is almost the embodiment of Kipling's "If" a man raised a black child in a white home who eventually found himself and having come out of Harvard with the world at his feet chose not the rewards of wealth in a law firm but the streets and politics of Chicago. The problems he now faces are almost unmatched in history both at home and abroad and his years as President are not going to be easy but I wish him only well and all the success in the world.

And - which is more - you'll be President

Don't make me go outside!

2009-01-16T14:01:00.001-05:00

I made the fatal mistake today of looking up the conversion chart for Fahrenheit to Celsius .... BIG mistake! As an old Brit I grew up with temps being in Fahrenheit but sometime mid-teens the UK switched to the Celsius scale and all those old numbers went out of my head. Four plus years living here and I am back coping with the old way again whilst we are in summer, in winter it is a different matter. It has it's advantages things don't sound too bad on the Fahrenheit scale when 32 is freezing (0 is freezing on the C scale) and so I tend in general not to look at the weather forecast and see the implications of what is coming. Today though having felt it get colder over the last few days I made the big mistake of going to find out just exactly how cold we are!

I can now declare the temperature here is -23C and that is bloody cold! It is even more depressing when you look at the five day weather forecast and the forecast HIGH doesn't even get UP to freezing day or night. Maybe I am beginning to realise why Americans as I always declare in this part of the world go indoors in October and don't re-emerge until April - I may soon join their ranks! I have this vision of looking out to the garden sometime soon and seeing Polar bears or Penguins strutting by. So far today for the last three hours there has been one fat dove glued to the bird feeder on the deck and I cannot work out if it has eaten too much to fly or is plain dead, frozen to the spot - I promise I'll check on it in the Spring.

Further proof that it is cold was the fact that hubby actually put on a coat to go to work last night and this morning he woke me to tell me one of our outdoor dogs is now an indoor dog - he's currently laying at my feet looking al innocent with a "no it wasn't me who ate the kittty food" look on his face.

It does have it's advantages over a chilly grey miserable English winter .............

It is on a sunny day absolutely breathtakingly beautiful here just a shame this wimpy Brit has no desire to venture further than the porch to explore it's beauty ................ time to go throw another log on the fire.

Squirrels don't hibernate .......

2009-01-14T18:14:00.003-05:00

As indicated in the last post when we hadn't seen the squirrels at the feeder in a couple of days after it started snowing hubby stated they were hibernating. Well I blew that theory out of the window when I saw them filling their faces today but hubby would like to redeem himself by proof that other species do attempt to sleep their way through the constant snowstorms given half a chance ..................

Will someone please take that camera off that man!

Why I didn't go out today

2009-01-14T17:21:00.006-05:00

well actually that is a lie as hubby worked over and if I wanted wood for the fire it was a case of go out and haul it myself. So out I went and hauled a cart load off wood in. Now whilst outside I contemplated for the merest moment going for a walk as it beautiful outside today but after a nano second I headed with my wood indoors. So why the haste? Was it a rush to iron or do some other menial task commonly referred to as housework ....nope. Was it because it was freezing out .... well actually nope freezing here is 32F today was way beyond that, hell freezing would have been positively warm ! Today is around 10F then factor in wind chills and then listen to the weather forecast that talks of below -5F by Friday morning and no its not cold its bloody freezing outside. Frigid as they call it here which amusingly in "English" is what you call a woman/man with no interest in sex ...... never saw the connection before but at these temperatures I have no interest in sex!

So its cold outside but beautiful and therefore the only pictures you are going to get are from the confines of the house (or maybe a step or two outside ) so here goes and yes as you may tell from some of the shots its still snowing!

This one's for hubby - no my dear squirrels don't hibernate if you fill the feeder out they come for dinner.

We maybe wont be eating out on the deck tonight !

Before you ask the pond is still being cared for ........ we are fairly pessimistic that we can get our fish population through the winter but we are trying and though the heater has disappeared under the snow the air pump is still working and the air bubbles are creating a veritable cauldron. This is the nine inch whole it creates surrounded by a a frozen buried hidden pond but as yet no dead fish!

There is something majestic about watching the cardinal out in the snow

Let me pose for you

Actually it wasn't me he was posing for if you look closely you can see a plainer brown bird on the branch - the female - and his Spring intent is already clear.

Out back it's a a total bleak snowy woodland scene

Out front there are hints of civilisation buried under the snow

But it's still hard to think in another ten weeks or so this will be my Springtime deck blooming in all it's glory ...... at the moment it reminds me most of a lunar landscape.

Happy New Year and bring on the snow ..............

2009-01-10T14:10:00.005-05:00

Well better late than never to wish everyone a happy new year! As usual I am lax in getting anything posted here I still have the remaining English pics , Christmas pics and now some snow pics! Ah well it will all get caught up eventually!

Today we are getting our first bucketfuls of snow! It has been snowing almost daily since I returned from England mid November and has been bitterly cold but compared to what those around us have had we have had no quantities of snow until this morning. I amazed myself today and wrapped up, took hubby's camera and walked round to the end of the lake to get some snow shots. To say it was bracing, as it has started to change from snow to icy rain, is an understatement but in the name of a good pic I braved it so here goes ..........

Don't think we'll be having a picnic tonday!

Decided not to take the direct route out as this path doesn't seem to have an edge anymore!

Now I know why the neighbours across the road go to Florida every winter!

From the road the house looks faraway and cold

It does have a beauty though

It's only in winter that you can see how close to the lake we are - is on the hill off centre in the pic

Hard to believe this is where we sit and watch July 4th fireworks

Yup definitely more beautiful in the bleak mid winter

I tried to convince Ed next door that he'd never get it all shifted but he wouldn't listen.

OK so I got my pics now it can stop!

Every picture tells a story....................

2008-12-25T00:18:00.004-05:00

If anyone were to see my hubby from the road that runs along the back of our house sitting at the window, binoculars focused on the distant skyline, they might wonder what he is up to. I'm happy to announce that I did not marry a voyeur or pervert instead I have a husband who is fascinated by the squirrels and their daily antics at their feeding box.

These pictures taken last week may give a glimpse into the daily trials and tribulations of being a squirrel...........

"Hi nice weather today, mind if I join you for lunch?"

"Well actually this is a table for one and I am the one!"

"Perhaps I could just squeeze in here"

"Good grief! Some squirrels have no table manners"

"Ooops who turned the lights off in here!"

Happy Christmas one and all

2008-12-24T22:53:00.005-05:00

Finally it is the the night before Christmas and I assume I am ready, guess if I am not now I never will be.

We are heading out in the morning to hubby's sisters to spend the day with family here and as usual I will be missing family scattered across the world. It will forever I think be strange to be spending Christmas this side of the pond when with the exception of hubby I really do feel all my nearest and dearest are way way across the water. Never mind as my mother is now telling everyone I am well and happy here and this is very much now home - just wish I could sit down to Christmas dinner just once more with my mother and sister instead of hubby's family. I just hope that they are enjoying their Christmas in their respective abodes.

Of course working the last six days straight, and stupidly volunteering for some extra long shifts maybe leads to my current tiredness and pre post christmas blues. I think I feel like this pic that I took of the Christmas tree tonight (no it isn't one of hubby's drive by shots) all is but a blur.

Hopefully by the morning I will feel as bright as this

an excellent winter use for a terrarium!

Of course having bought hubby a GPS system for the car we may never arrive at his dad's or sisters so if no posts are ever made again we'll be somewhere in Kentucky driving like crazy (and it's all your fault Sharon lol).

To everyone reading I do hope you have a fantastic Christmas and even better 2009 surrounded by all those you love and hold dear and please keep reading in the next year.

Christmas Sucks!

2008-12-18T00:24:00.005-05:00

Don't get me wrong I love Christmas but why is it all such hard work! I think I have decided I want to be my husband he has the best of it all. Why this sudden revelation on my part ......... could have something to do with the fact that I showed him the full list of Christmas presents bought and wrapped and his response was WOW! Yes dear that's why I've looked like a disheveled Santa's elf and arrived in bed with sellotape stuck to unmentionable parts of my anatomy. Maybe he really does still believe in Father Christmas himself and assumes that it is he not I who pulls it all together come the big day.
I do believe that in the same way that mother nature gives you nine months to prepare for childbirth and thus raising the little darlings it she also gives you (under normal circumstances) twenty odd years to get your act together to prepare for being a grandma ...... me I missed those steps and dived in full throttle and acquired seven grandkids at age 47 - it's hard like coming up with Christmas presents for an entire kindergarten class! Add to that that I have a total dislike for gift cards and batteries (weakened on that one a bit this year) and I make a rod for my own backI mean how the hell do I know what an eleven year old boy wants for Christmas (a twelve year old girl?).
Mission is accomplished now though but I then get to miss out on the fun part. Hubby get's to play Santa alone delivering the presents (no doubt looking unruffled and unstressed) and I get to work for the next six days straight right through to Christmas. Yes I love the season but I just wish it was possible to just step back and enjoy it all a little more ........... maybe I should just have been born a man!

Christmas nostaligia, touching gestures

2008-12-11T00:33:00.004-05:00

As I get older and older I discover that it is always the smallest, simplest, gestures that manage to touch me the most. I am slowly drowning trying to get organised for Christmas, tree decorated, cards written, parcels posted. Each year I promise myself more organisation and getting ahead of the game. but this year with the trip to England, Thanksgiving and pow it's but two weeks away.
Don't misunderstand me amidst the commercialisation it is my favourite time of year. I love the traditions the religious elements and the core values I was brought up to celebrate. The tree, the carols, midnight mass, turkey, and snow. Here it is always so much more poignant sharing the season in a totally different way to what I am used to. Christmas here is a similar build up of frantic shopping and expectation but is somewhat of a let down in its one day and all over aspect! Trying to explain to Americans that in England it is a week long celebration is beyond their comprehension as the tree can be taken down here the day after.
I miss midnight mass in St Peters, the inevitable choking on the incense and wondering if a drunk will make it in. Being able to go out and know that you will bump into someone who is home for the festivities who you haven't seen for ages (guess that was me this year but I was there too early). A party or two with a crowd of friends. Turkey and over cooked brussel sprouts and Christmas pudding. Family and friends. Just the whole continual spirit of optimism that vanishes as soon as Big Ben finishes chiming in the new year and a long cold January stretches ahead.
Here one of the pluses of the season is that I get letters from people who may only write once year so I always rush to the post box with added optimism. Today was no exception and I was rewarded beyond measure. When I was back in England I was in the main post office and there behind the counter were two of the women who have been working there for the last thirty odd years (?!). I have used the the same post office for years as I worked with two businesses over those years and had been a regular patron. Needless to say they were shocked to see me walk in after a four year absence and we laughed and joked as if I hadn't been away. I even commented that I'd been touched when they had written a note to me on a parcel a friend was sending a couple of years back. We talked about my lack of decent chocolate here and one of them said she'd send me some if I gave her my address - I scrawled it down walked out and forget the conversation. So imagine my utter surprise when I go to the postbox today and find a parcel (scrawled on the back from the Old bag at Bridge St PO) and on the customs label "chocolate (the reason for living)" inside was an enormous bar of Galaxy and Christmas card. I cannot put into words how touched I was by that small gesture from an almost stranger (and have no idea how to repay the kindness). But for a moment I was transported back to my home town and a host of reasons why at this time of year it's much much harder to be away from it. So if your in Wisbech Bridge Street Post Office please tell Mel she made someones day on the other side of the Atlantic by that simple gesture!

Of course my Christmas blues aren't helped by a song discovered on a DVD compiled by one of hubby's work mates the first year I moved here and which I forget all year then suddenly is remembered and played constantly all the time over the season!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX3c0DumGio

England 5

2008-12-09T16:29:00.004-05:00

Of course it's only a rumour that I visited England because I was craving too many English foods that I just cannot find here in America. Rumours aside it was good to be surrounded by decent chocolate such that when I walked into Woolworths and hit the sweet aisle I was so overcome by choices I left without buying anything (that didn't last too long!).

This is the array of things I'd waited four years to eat.......

An Indian meal with Sharon. I'm sure that there are Indian restaurants in America but definitely not in this area. The other thing that was a delight was being able to sit in a restaurant and immediately take off my coat (I still haven't the answer as to why American restaurants are so cold but I sure prefer warmth in the comfort zone)

Pork Pie from the Sandringham food fare ..... no we weren't seen running from the food tent to the car with our wares but it wasn't far off it

but we had resisted these game pasties

Best of all and well worth the wait fish and chips (in my case Plaice) utterly utterly delicious. I have no idea what Navrady's in Upwell do with their fish 'n chips but one mouthful is the equivalent of dying and going to heaven. And in answer to the Americans asking what is the green stuff on Sharon's plate ....... woohoo mushy peas!

The evidence as to why I cringe at the sight of American bacon. Look meat on Bacon ..... it really doesn't have to be 95% fat. Also note this is unsmoked bacon another rarity in this neck of the woods

I've never worked out why I can get American, German, Italian, Spanish even Polish sausages here but not this the elusive British Banger that I yearned for .... no that's my sister she is eating the banger aka a pork sausage (with the compulsory mash and beans!)

Not sure that this is too clear but this apple is bloody enormous! That is a pint glass next to it. It's a Howgate Wonder if memory serves me right and courtesy of Linda's mum I now have seeds.

Frank's pork pies and pork and ham pie ........ yummy!

And this is how a ham should look unadulterated, no water added, just cooked on the bone and carved and eat !

Maybe it's the wonderful ham and the real farmhouse crusty bread (that isn't sweet!) that makes us Brits such happy folks

England 4

2008-12-09T03:05:00.007-05:00

On the previous post there was actually one friend missing. Sharon and I go back forever and she knows me better than most (we frequently say we are only friends now because we both know too much!). She traveled over to Wisbech from her home on the other side of the country to spend the weekend with me and we managed to head off to the coast for a great day of catchup and sea air.

Sharon and her Aunt Jen - seeing them sitting together takes me back almost forty years to West Parade

I have never been a fan of minis but Sharon's little "bug" had me converted by the end of the weekend

A secret mission (more later when completed) gave us the excuse to stop off in the woods at Sandringham House the Queen's residence close to my home town. We got to play tourist and sample the wares at a food fare - couldn't have been better

Cliffs at Old Hunstanton, in the distance off shore is yet another wind farm which once again reminded me of "War of the Worlds"

Almost sunset on the coast 0 a more interesting picture as this is the east coast and yet the sunset is offshore!

I've waited over four years to once again watch waves breaking o the shoreline - anyone who knows Hunstanton will understand the miracle of finding the sea "in"

"Who stole the Pier?" as a child holidaying here there was a pier with rides etc right behind where Sharon is standing. Not sure whether it was the time of year or a general upgrade but we both commented it was as shabby and "kiss-me-quick hats" as we both remembered Hunstanton

I may have walked the beach this is positively as close as I got to going for a paddle - might have done it thirty years ago but this body no longer paddles in November!

Above and below proof positive I have blackmail powers over Sharon ..... how else did I get her to pose with all the local wildlife ..... ah only in England.

They don't build buildings like this in America, constructed in 1846 it marked the start of what would become a booming seaside resort of the Victorian era

The sun sets on a beautiful day

England 3

2008-12-09T00:50:00.005-05:00

Taking a break from decorating Christmas tree, writing Christmas letters and writing rants to Air Canada I thought I'd better get back to promised pictures of my trip home (Do I think of it as home ? No. But I cannot deny a large piece of my heart is there with all things familiar).

One of the things that struck me whilst I was there was just how many people I was able to see. It is one of my few laments here in the states that there is little social life - no helped by both hubby's and my crazy work schedules. In general though barring a meal out or a summer barbecue "getting together" here in the states seems to be a rare event. or else we are a weird couple! (I await the comments section with bated breath on the one!). So it was with much enjoyment I was able to spend time with old friends in England, simply relaxing in good companionship be it curled up on a sofa or in a traditional English pub.

In no particular order ............

Sue & Pete ...... Sue is one person who can always make me laugh within moments of getting together and has sent me far to few letters/emails but never fails to hit a truly warped English spot and leave me feeling brighter for the whole day.

I enjoyed a wonderful lunch catching up with Martin & Kevin and failed to get them together but captured them on film later separately) and yes Kevin really is the Centre Manager!)

Marylyn & Steve

Sandra can claim to be my "oldest" friend in that we go back to primary school age 7 - just a few years ago lol

Linda - who hid me on my first night in England, who I got to spend the most time with and who while I am in America keeps me regularly in chocolate and long letters that take me home to her garden in a heartbeat - the friend everyone wishes for themselves.

Former boss & friend Tony

Marylyn, me & Carl - oh to be able to sit and chat in a pub stateside on a Friday night

Carl & Mandy - Carl was the originator of the phrase ooh you've lost weight have you got Aids which has caused such shock in the retelling this side of the Atlantic. Humour they can't even spell it properly here!

Andrew

Martin caught in yet another pub ( at lunchtime .... shame on me)

Jackie & Tom mother's neighbours to her right

Pat the neighbour to the left

Daphne & daughter Caroline - another former boss, friend and nutcase!

And all the others who made the trip so memorable, Linda's mum & dad, Shirley, Rob, Simon and Oscar (how did I manage NOT to get your picture?) Eric, Samantha & bump, Jan, Roger, Amanda & Brian (you wouldn't want me to publish the pic I took), Linda and two people who made me certain that Wisbech is my "home town" firstly Linda (Plitsch) who I haven't seen in 6-8 years who I bumped into in town and chatted with as if we'd spoken the day before and the lovely lady in the gift shop in town who when I walked in said hi I haven't seen you in a long while! (I didn't think I went in that often lol but I did get some beautiful tree decorations that I must get back too).
I may tell people here that life is what you make it wherever you live but I cannot stress how much I enjoyed being with old friends and how much I'd love to ship you all here!

Thank You Mother & DIana!

2008-12-02T00:14:00.002-05:00

Finally exactly two weeks after I landed at Pittsburgh airport I can finally say I have been reunited with my suitcase! I'd love to thank Air Canada for all their help but I'm afraid I can't and wont. Even up to today I have been given the total run around and am so sick of them I have cried. Today I was told very unpolitely that they were still trying to trace my bag - this after I was promised it would be delivered to me on both Friday and Saturday - today it reverted to being missing. Then out of the blue at 4pm I got a call from a courier saying that they were delivering my case and it arrived at 11pm! I just checked the tracking service and according to it "tracing continues" yet there is a Fedex tracking number (which Fedex doesnt recognise) and my case is due to be shipped to Pittsburgh!

So why the thank you to mother and Diana? Well I now realise but for them giving me a present addressed from them which sat on the top of my packed case, and the only helpful girl I got in India Catherine going back over my file and seeing that on the list of contents, I may never have been re-united. I don't actually care what is in the present but thank you for getting my photo's and wedding dress back.

My only problem now is where to store all the socks and knickers as anyone who has been following this saga knows I'd already replaced them all and now I am reunited with the originals oops!

I didn't scream I cried .......

2008-11-28T11:48:00.002-05:00

Yes thank you Air Canada today you reduced me to tears ........ tears of total frustration!

Let me backtrack a bit. If you remember last time I was ranting here I stated that my case had NOT been found and that the conversation saying it had been had never took place (?!?!?!?) well after daily incredibly frustrating calls to the baggage tracing service finally a week after the original "found" call someone admitted that yes that conversation did take place and yes that was my bag. Well now three days later, many calls .and yes I do speak to supervisors, I still haven't a clue where my bag is.

It was one thing when it was lost, but the incredible anger and frustration of knowing over a week ago it was found but could now be anywhere between Toronto and Quebec (long story but true) and nobody has a clue or will take ownership of the problem is utterly unreal.

Most of all I am internally raging at Air Canada! How can any business whose whole nature of business is service to the public have absolutely NO CUSTOMER SERVICE telephone number or contact point - yes zero, zilch, nadda NOTHING! I have never in my entire life had to deal with such incompetent service such that at the end of the day no-one will take responsibility for. Utterly utterly unreal!

So where does that leave me, banging my head against a brick wall of frustration! I have to continue to take this crap and bullshit on a daily basis until someone will tell me where my case is and when it might be returned to me. On the basis it has been located once and then sent back into the quagmire of lost luggage do I hold out hope of seeing it again? - I'll let you answer that for yourself!

Marks & Spencer ROCKS!

2008-11-27T10:20:00.002-05:00

Having now had ten days of luggage frustration (current state of play I know they have located my case getting them to admit it and return to me totally different issue!) it was with some pleasure I got a surprise when I got home from work last night.

When I discovered my case was missing and maybe lost for ever I ordered new stocks of M & S knickers online (see previous post) imagine my shock yesterday when arriving home from work I found the mailbox stuffed full with my M&S parcel and once again I have sock 'n undies galore. OK I admit it was an expensive replenishment but oh what glee. Of course I then got to thinking what amazing service. In less than a week they have processed, packed, shipped and delivered my order and Air Canada in that time is merely arguing over whether or not they have my case!

Can someone next time remind if not to fly via M & S at least to let them process and ship my luggage. They at least provide a customer support number to speak to a live operator, something I have still to find for Air Canada (do you detect a hint of frustration here). Of course maybe those companies which offer good service are happy to provide such a facility knowing full well it wont be needed, where others needing it hide behind the pre-recorded bullshit that blocks the customer from accessing any support/help whatsoever.

Of course I could ring M & S and let them know how great they are but I don't have the time as I have to make yet another call to AC so let it be known here and know I think M & S ROCKS!

England 2

2008-11-26T09:40:00.006-05:00

One of the things I was looking forward to on my return trip to England was to see the buildings and countryside of my home town again.

Don't get me wrong there is a beauty to Ohio that is all its own with the rolling hills, farmhouses and vast skies, but I was born and bred in the flatland's of East Anglia and there will always be a tug on my heart when I see a vast expanse of bleak fields stretching for miles on an autumn day. America also has no buildings that stretch back the hundreds of years that are my home town and so it was with a warmth of heart and a true feeling of "coming home" that I spent several hours walking the streets of my town absorbing that culture that once was a life blood to my soul.

Of course many of the pictures I took languish at the bottom of the infamous lost case but some thankfully made it back home with me ..............

The entire countryside of the Fens is a series a drainage dykes constructed centuries ago to keep the area dry these waterways on a cold autumn day are beautiful and bleak

Not at all clear but if you look on the horizon you will see rows of wind turbines, on my trip I became fascinated by these modern marvels which stride across the fields and off shore at my local coastline. If England can make such use of this basic source of electricity I wonder why the same cannot be said of my much more windy new home.

Black Fenland soil, the drainage results in the richest most fertile soil in England leading to a former thriving agricultural basis for all commerce in the area.

Many who move into the area find the interminable flatness, where one can see for miles on the horizon, too bleak for comfort but for this native this flatness and skyline is what tugs at the innermost soul each time I return and says "welcome home"

View from the riverside looking towards the old bridge

Look the other way and there lies the "new" bridge which I can remember being built

My sister illustrating that UK shoppers are perfectly capable of walking and carrying their shopping whilst they walk!

These two pictures above and below illustrate to me a difference in life UK and American style. Around me here in Ohio I see towns where major industry, through changing times, pull out and towns are left to decline and decay. These picture cover an area that once was a thriving port with ships carrying both grain and timber. Now a regeneration of the area has taken place and it is becoming a thriving marina with small crafts now moored where big ships once stood

I loved the designs of the major buildings going up in the area to adopt the mantle of the nautical theme and stand proud like boats.

As modern designs rise up at one end of town, the proud Georgian building remain untouched at the other as if in a protected time warp.

Post Office and monument to the towns most famous resident Thomas Clarkson

The oldest buildings adopt the latest uses

Taken from the top of a bus (yes I got to not only see a bus again but ride one too what a big kid!) part of the riverside in my home town with my old school in the distance

England 1

2008-11-24T13:55:00.006-05:00

So having bitched about Air Canada for nearly a week now it's about time I talked about all things good about my trip to the UK (and before anyone asks still no news on my missing luggage!) I've stolen this pic from a friend I love it but in truth I am sure this is the only view some people got of me while I was in England

I took a ton of pictures while I was there but, you've guessed, most of the films were in my missing suitcase but I do have the pictures from the latter part of my second week.

To anyone wondering why I never mentioned the trip (I did book it back in July) the object was total secrecy as the main purpose of the trip was to surprise my mother on the occasion of her 90th birthday. Despite cries from workmates that she would drop dead from a heart attack from the shock (hey we are made of sterner stuff than that) I was determined she wouldn't be exhausted from pre-trip preparations so it was very much a case of "mum's the word"!

OK so I admit she was initially surprised (understatement) when I walked in, but the look on my brothers face (he was expecting my sister to walk through the door) was the better picture. As the above photo shows once recovered she was very well pleased to see me and having first me and then later in the trip being joined by my sister didn't seem to have any detrimental effect on her health whatsoever.

Three Cave women in one place wow scary prospect ......... my sister and I actually believe this is the first picture of the three of us together that has ever been taken.

The nicest part about the trip was finding my mother doing amazingly well. Yes she really is 90 though she looks and acts years younger. Of course it could be something to do with a lifetimes fresh air in the garden and a willingness, still at 90, to whoop your daughter at Scrabble

When can I start screaming!

2008-11-22T12:16:00.003-05:00

In the words of Victor Meldrew "I don't believe it!". Lets timeline this

Monday - arrive back at Pittsburgh airport and discover my luggage missing nice baggage woman takes my details and says luggage will arrive next day and be couriered to me (OK so I was new to this lost luggage lark and took her at her word, silly me) having filled out a missing bag form we left the airport me in a daze after virtually 41 hours no sleep!

Tuesday - no sign of bag ring number and get the distinct impression I am speaking to India give more details on bag and am told to wait.

Wednesday- begining to lose hope another call another Indian accent no news.

Thursday - little hope make daily call to lost baggage line and amazingly am told there is a possible match found for my bag, go over various contents of my bag and am told yes it looks like this is my bag and the operator will arrange its transfer to Pittsburgh and I will have it tomorrow Friday. I cannot begin to explain how happy happy happy I was at this point having given up hope.

Friday - no sign of bag so once again call and am told they will chase it beginning to get a little peed off to say the least. Feeling it's about time I escalate the issue I start a long and totally fruitless search for a real-live-customer-service number for Air Canada. Only to discover there isn't one. Unbelievable, unreal and totally beyond my comprehension that an organisation involved with "people" and the size of AC does not have a single real live rep you can talk to when issues arrive. The best I got was a very helpful booking agent who confirmed the baggage line was in India and there was absolutely no-one else I can talk to! Hell even Walmart has a customer Service desk! Finally thinking the day could get no worse I rang back India and the day got worse, the not too pleasant rep I got this time informs me my suitcase never was found that I was never told it had been and there was nothing I could do!!!!

Saturday - can't bring myself to ring India! I've been back five days I still have no luggage (last seen when I re-checked at customs point in Canada) and no-one can give me a clue where it is was or may be. I can honestly say the few days I had to recover form the trip before returning to work have been utterly ruined by Air Canada and their disservice and I am no nearer knowing whether I will ever see my case again - the only thing I am certain of is I will never fly Air Canada again!
Guess at some point I will have to ring India for another fairytale!

Maybe I should send this pic to Air Canada as a hint to what they are looking for! Yes this is the infamous case that is now floating in the quagmire that is lost luggage somewhere between here and Australia. Little did I know that when my sister snapped this shot of me messing around packing it twenty four hours later it would have vanished of the face of the planet. And yes I did ring India once more (I just can't help myself) and got the same bullshit that I have had for the last few days "we are still awaiting an update from Pearson International" I feel a scream coming on again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oooops

2008-11-19T23:32:00.002-05:00

Well the bad news is there is still absolutely no news on my missing luggage, worse I can make no contact with intelligent life at Air Canada. I'm almost certain that when I put down the phone having called them this morning they could hear me scream in Canada from here in deepest Ohio! It wasn't that I spoke with a rep that had marginally less personality than the speaking clock he actually made me long for the days of Indian reps a million miles from you and your problem but who at least listen to your problem and can at least fake a modicum of empathy and passion - a trait wholly beyond the moron I was speaking to who neither heard a word I was saying or gave me any information pertinent to the questions I was asking. So I wait with virtually all hope of ever seeing my case and every memory of my one trip in four years all but gone.
On a brighter note having lost not only my first purchase of M&S knickers in four years but all my old knickers too I discovered that M&S now deliver to the US of A and so promptly re-ordered everything that has gone missing (prompted by a one day only 20% off sale that's my excuse and I am sticking to it) ah god bless M & S always there when you need them. I also have this awful feeling that if I re-order then that's the quickest way to get my luggage containing my original purchase to re-appear as if by magic .............. I can but hope!

There will be pictures..........

2008-11-18T22:36:00.002-05:00

Well if you missed me and didn't know where I was *drum roll* I can now reveal *louder drum roll* that I have been in England for the last two weeks. I cannot tell you how hard it was to keep the trip quiet for the last few months, the reason being that I didn't want my mother to know I would be arriving on her 90th birthday as a surprise birthday present.
Having surprised the initial shock of my arrival I have had a wonderful visit both with her and catching up with many old friends. I arrived back yesterday and am currently trying to emerge form the fog of jet lag and try to track dowm my lost luggage! Having spent an inordinate amount of time worrying with my sister (yes she came over from Italy too) about how to transport a small mountain of chocolate across the Atlantic I now find myself with said mountain but without every other scrap of everything. Yes the small bag with chocolate arrived safely but the large case with all my clothes and all other gifts and purchases is nowhere to be seen. I know it arrived in Toronto with me but on arrival at Pittsburgh it had vanished I wish I could say I had some optimism that it will reappear.
So once developed I will have pistures a plaenty and hopefully I will again see my old and new slippers (and hoards of M & S underwear)

That time of year again .................

2008-10-31T19:19:00.007-04:00

Ah Halloween a night of fun and heebie geebies for all the local kids. Of course I swiftly add my husband to that group of innocent young (?) things that get their kicks once a year by touring the local neighbourhood being scared witless and collecting candy. Oh how I'd love to say trick!

My husband of course does not tour the neighbourhood, he spends all week dressing the yard, then himself, and terrorises the local kids - and I am not sure which gets the greatest pleasure. Let the pictures tell the story.

Ghosts and ghouls numerous skulls and gravestones adorn the garden

Everyone, dresses up grandkids included

The booty is laid out

And everyone is set to go ......... the kids on the candy crawl and pappy to go Boo!

This picture perhaps tells the cutest tale of the evening ........... The mother informed us that the child on the right had insisted on having a clowns mask just like the man at the scary house on the corner! It is fascinating to wonder just how many kids my husband manages to traumatise from one year end to the next. It certainly seems our house is not forgotten in a hurry.

These sweet little candy grabbers inform hubby that it's the first year that one of them has been brave enough to travel our driveway of creeping, moving objects and is proud to announce that her little sister is at the bottom of the drive and is too scared to venture in so "She wont get any candy!"

Of course it may all have something to do with the fact that as daylight dims (hubby is disgusted that the proceedings actually start in daylight) the whole scene of our yard becomes a different picture aglow with real and imagined nasties

Auds just for you!

My hubby doesn't doesn't quite look so innocent and charming when the lights got down!

Innocently carved pumpkins take on a life of their own

and graveyards move and groan

weird little men appear in hidden corners (the pumpkin man not hubby)

and skulls glow in every corner

Yes tonight the holiday season here has begun in earnest, hubby is a happy contented clown, the local kids will probably not sleep to easy in their beds and all that is left to do is await the grandkids with their stash and to hand over their Halloween bags from us (and not a candy bar will be found inside).

Now can someone please turn off the creepy music as your scaring my cat .......... next stop Thanksgiving!

Anniversaries and birthdays.

2008-10-08T00:31:00.004-04:00

Seems like it has been a month of birthdays and anniversaries all good.

First came the fourth anniversary of my arrival here in the states to live. It seems incredible to me that I have been here four years now. I have to admit that it does get easier with each passing year and I do begin to feel I belong here. I say it again that I never dreamt I would be here four years and not get to visit home, family and friends - but so it has been, economy, minimal holidays and circumstances, dictate these things not desire! If I am honest I do not miss England as much as I would have expected but I do miss people but even that is mitigated by phone and emails such that I don't feel so far away. I also have to say that I am gaining some wonderful people who I call friends and that makes all the difference in the world. Yes they may mock my accent or turn of phrase but they are essential I have discovered to being able to call a place home. I am no longer that woman of four years ago who on being given a mobile phone by hubby told him I didn't want it as it only emphasised the fact that I was "Billy-no-mates" - now my address book has numbers and my phones rings. Nothing perhaps meant so much to me as a little incident a few weeks ago when hubby was unable to give me a lift to work and a friend immediately offered to drive out and pick me up. Thank you Heather it wasn't the lift that m attered as much that day as the feeling that at last I belonged.
Next came my birthday, not at work so it was a sunny day spent in the garden with hubby. Hubby decided to announce my age to all by getting me a cake replete with candles ..........

........ bless him.
Once again my mother and Linda (in England) and my sister (in Italy) astounded me by managing to time their cards/parcels to arrive across the Atlantic in the mailbox on the actual day. To all who sent cards and presents a giant thank you - I may be old and a long way away but I really do appreciate being remembered. And it was really touching to have my phone going off all day with text messages with birthday greetings - it is really strange how it is the little things in life that make living here at last feel the norm. Finally my friend Cinda came out to visit and the day was complete.

Finally we reached our fourth wedding anniversary to complete the trio for the month. This one is quite odd as even I for the most part of the year couldn't name the date. I don't do the romantic bit so hubby received a 3 foot moving spider to add to his Halloween collection (with an observation that is was probably as creepy as being married to me for four years!). I got a new monitor which means finally I can read what I am typing here and so chances are I may get to update a bit more frequently! Don't hold your breath.

Sarah Palin

2008-10-03T00:18:00.002-04:00

Since her first being chosen (after one or was it two meetings) as John McCain's Vice Presidential pick Sarah Palin has fascinated me. I have read up on her purely because for perhaps the second (and so close to being first) most important role in the world today I wanted to know what she "had" that a dozen more qualified candidates didn't. I admit I am still searching for the answer. I personally believe that the choice was made as a nod to the evangelical right of his party and not with any notion that it was a pick for the best person for the job (and definitely not the "other" job). For me it was a fundamental sign that McCain had judgement issues.

Since then she has had a honeymoon with the Republican party and to an extent with the public at large but in recent days she has been found wanting in her responses to some rare questioning in interviews. In a recent interview by Katie Couric she was asked what other decisions by the Supreme Court did she disagree with apart from Roe v Wade she could name none. As a layman I couldn't either not my forte. I heard on the radio that night a dozen that any right minded Republican should know by heart, but today I read this article on a blog I follow and which I would any one to read if that have the time to read from start to finish (it is both incredibly enlightening and at times very amusing.)
I am quoting the piece in full and will leave any thought and comments to the reader it is an eye opener, remember Sarah Palin is the Governor of Alaska and she could think of no Supreme Court decision she disagreed with.

Taken from : http://mudflats.wordpress.com/

Sigh… Palin can’t name a single Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade. Not one. Now, there might be some reasonably intelligent people out there who can’t rattle off a long list of Supreme court decisions. And, picking one you don’t agree with while you’re on the spot might not be easy for most Americans either. Granted most Americans are not running to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, but even if we cut Palin a little slack here, I’ll tell you why we shouldn’t. And I’ll tell you why this particular gaffe makes the blood of many Alaskans run cold.

The first time I watched this clip, I chuckled. Then it hit me. It hit me like a smack in the face with a dead fish.

Below is part of a piece I wrote back in June, when a Supreme Court ruling came down in a case known as Baker v. Exxon. Most of you will recall the devastating oil spill that occurred in Alaska in 1989 when the supertanker Exxon Valdez slammed into Bligh Reef, pouring 11 million gallons (some say over 30 million gallons) of crude oil into the pristine waters of Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Many of those in Alaska at the time probably either know someone affected, or were themselves affected personally by the spill. Many of you who were out of state, cut up your Exxon credit cards, watched footage of oil-soaked otters and sea birds, and deeply mourned the loss of a place you’d never even seen.

The Alaska Natives in the area, and those who fished the Sound lost their livelihoods, and their ‘holy place’. The loss on many levels cannot be overestimated. Today, in 2008, if you dig down about 8 inches into the sandy beaches of many islands in the Sound you will find thick black crude oil.

***********************************************************************

Screwed. (originally posted on Mudflats 6/25/08)

Well, the extremely predictable ruling came down from the U.S. Supreme Court today. In a 5-3 vote the court decided to hack and slash the original $5 billion settlement, which had already been hacked and slashed to $2.5 billion in punitive damages. Now the Supreme Court says the amount owed to Prince William Sound fishermen and Alaska Natives affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill is $507.5 million.

First, condolences to the 32,677 plaintiffs, their families, and all those affected by the spill who have been waiting and watching for almost 20 years, while lawyers get fat sucking on the marrow of the oil soaked bones littering the beaches of Prince William Sound. This was hard to take for ALL Alaskans, but for the plaintiffs, and all those who love the Sound, it was twisting the knife.

Second, to all those people who have bought into the idea that the oil companies have been good to Alaska by donating to charities, sponsoring sporting events, and plastering their logos on anything that doesn’t move (and some things that do), listen closely. They. Don’t. Care. Exxon has been fighting this since the moment the $5 billion was awarded to plaintiffs in 1994. Think that’s a lot of money? It’s not. Exxon’s recorded profits last year were $40.6 Billion. That’s PROFIT. Doesn’t make $507.5 million sound particularly punitive, does it? If the health, well-being and welfare of the Alaska people mattered to Exxon Mobil, these people would have been paid 13 years ago. So when you see the oil companies doing something that looks ‘nice’, remember it’s the cost of doing business to shut us up.

Third, any Alaskans who are outraged by this announcement today, and are still planning to vote Republican in the upcoming presidential race - wake up. Who were the only supreme court justices voting with the Alaska people and against the interest of corporations? The progressives. Who were the ones that voted against the interest of Alaska? Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, & crew - those conservative judges that John McCain wants more of when he appoints the next 2 or 3 members of the court. Presidents are gone in four to eight years; Supreme Court Justices last a lifetime. A court like this is what we get when so many of us swallow the red Kool-Aid, and don’t think about the political ramifications of our votes to our own interest when the chips are down. So, in November, think. Please.

By the time all is said and done a huge portion of the $507.5 million has evaporated with the shrinking value of the dollar since 1989, another huge portion went to the lawyers, 8000 of the plaintiffs are dead, and the Sound has still not recovered, and won’t in our lifetime. They got about 10% of the oil, they think. Sometimes in life, you get a cheap lesson…this wasn’t one of those times.

Don’t forget this when they tell you Pebble Mine won’t destroy the Bristol Bay fishery. Don’t forget this every time we negotiate with the oil companies about anything. Don’t forget this every time you see a warm fuzzy TV commercial. Don’t forget that anyone who is in our state to develop finite natural resources is here for the money. Period. And don’t forget this when you vote in November.

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Since that post, Exxon has reminded us that this $507.5 million figure is actually the upper limit of what they owe. And they are also balking at paying interest on that money. They are stalling, because they are literally waiting for plaintiffs to die.

So, I ask you, Sarah Palin, as the Governor of Alaska, a state whose land, water, wildlife and people have been ground under the wheels by corporate oil interests, backed up by a conservative Supreme Court put there by your party, is THIS one of those Supreme Court cases that you also disagree with? Or did you just forget about it?

Election Fever plusses

2008-10-02T10:51:00.002-04:00

Ok so as a known political junkie I admit I don't mind watching endless political coverage but sometimes I admit to a desire to see some other news - a kind of reassurance that the rest of the world is muddling along quite nicely.

Well it appears unless you can read the news ticker on the bottom of the cable news channels here (Why does it always go to commercials when it gets halfway through an interesting line?) it's almost a "news" void at the moment. Of course I have to report that with the nature of news here this can be a definite plus! It sometimes becomes evident that there are only two types of warranted news story; firstly it is salacious preferably involving a "celebrity" or politician (better still both!) or secondly they have "pictures" from the local news affiliate! I often wonder how many "good" stories go missing just because they don't fit either of these categories. We, that is hubby and I, long ago realised we could get more "news" by watching the one hour highlights of the UK BBC Newsnight programme on a Friday than by watching wall to wall coverage of Fox all week.

With 30 days to go to the election (yes there is a counter running on the screen ) it seems ALL other news has stopped. This has a giant plus. We have been spared the wall to wall minute by minute coverage of the OJ Simpson trial which will be sent to the jury today (I read my news online lol). To be honest this alone is probably indicative of just how bad things have got politically here. We followed the Jackson and Spectre trials and were expected to be bombarded with this one so I guess we can thank Messrs McCain and Obama for something concrete in the achievement list so far.......... of course good old Nancy Grace has on channel flicking been revealed to so far have failed to notice an election is even taking place!

Get over it!

2008-10-01T23:03:00.001-04:00

There is something essentially grown up in the ability to have a discussion and share differing views and then either be persuaded to change stances or agree to differ. How many of us remember as a child falling out with our best friends because they sided with someone else's viewpoint and then with growing up we realised that wasn't the essential essence of the relationship, we could disagree and still be friends it was our core beliefs and values that held the frienship not the case in point.
I have now lived here in America for four years and spent the last year watching and learning how the politics and principles of the country work and my only piece of advice is (not that anyone is listening) is get over it just like the small child child in the playground!
There is a fundamental flaw to both domestic and more scarily foreign policy here. Everything is black or white, right or wrong, you are either with me or against me. Add to this what I have discovered among a large number of Americans, the core belief that all things American are bigger better and superior to all else and it all becomes a tad waring. On a day to day basis it becomes repetitive to explain that in Europe I hadn't seen a top loading washing machine in eons before moving here, that health care is available to all in the UK from the cradle to the crave and no we dont pay large chunks more in taxes, that every 18 year old worker is entitled to three weeks paid vacation by law, a myriad of ways where just the simple values of life are just treated more equally rather than if your rich you can afford it and if your not buckle down and dream.
I jokingly claim to hubby that it starts with the indoctrination of every kindergatener with the pledge of allegiance said every day but I'm not sure it is such a joke.
But it is within the political sphere I hear scarier things that are just wrong. When I moved to the states it was just after the outbreak of the Iraq war and the target of much abuse in the media and on the street were the French to the extent that there was a push to rename french fries Freedom fries (I am totally serious). Why such strong anti french feeling well they weren't supporting the Americans over the Iraq war. Of course this may have been just a view on the street you say, but no this sort of sentiment goes right to the top. In a recent interview John McCain was asked if he would meet with the Spanish Prime Minister (apparently something George Bush wont do) and he basically said no. Why you ask, simple Spain, due to political reasons at home removed its troops from Iraq. And if you think it's no big deal well it is as Spain is supposedly a NATO ally to the USA. Oh my if this is how you treat your allies God help your enemies. There is a view here that the UN is a waste of time and more importantly money why because a lot of the time it doesn't agree with the US governments position.
I'm sorry but a long while ago I grew up politically, I know that any democratic election will always be decided not by the party stalwarts on either side but by those "swing" voters in the middle - the voice of reason or ignnorance depending on the way you look at it. This is the big world the grown up playing field there are many views, many opinions sometimes yes America you may be right but just sometimes you may be wrong but that doesn't give you any right to stomp off the play ground please oh please just GET OVER IT!