Ayscoughfee Gardens

Really, the purpose of this post is just to put up a few pictures (for those of you who need something to do while you're at work today) before I leave for London. I'll be back to my computer on Sunday evening. The kids took me to Ayscoughfee Gardens yesterday. I had no idea where we were going but Inan kept talking about "the park with the birds in the cages and we can buy ice cream there!" So off we went. It's on the other side of the river right near that church I went to the other day.

It was quite beautiful and the museum is free so I think I'm going to have to find my way back over there sometime next week and have a good look around.

I really don't have any idea what this building is or was built for but I like the way it looks especially bathed in all of this fantastic sunlight and on a background of perfectly blue sky.

Evidently Imge fell into this little pond thing a while back... She was riding her bike on the little slope and just toppled right in. Inan really enjoys retelling this story but Imge has become quite frightened of any water that she might fall into and she gets really upset when Inan goes near the water. She's afraid for him too.

I love the gardens. They're so manicured. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. Lots of things here remind me of Alice in Wonderland so I picked up the book from the library. I've never actually read it before and I decided now was as good a time as any.

Inan was a little timid about chasing the ducks at first but with a little encouragement, he really got into it. Growling and everything.

We had a really lovely time. The kids were on their best behavior and didn't even complain about the long walk. I'm looking forward to walking back over to those gardens with my book sometime soon.

Random Facts.

1. My ipod is currently on shuffle but so much of what's on my ipod right now is Harry Potter that every other song or so I have to skip through 4 tracks of Harry Potter before it goes back to real music.

2. I keep seeing signs in the neighborhoods that say "To Let." I know it means "for rent" but I keep thinking they say "toilet."

3. Yesterday, while out walking, I was picturing a map of the world in my head. I pictured the country you're in and the country I'm in and almost got dizzy thinking how very far away they are. I don't know about you but I have a hard time fully grasping the concept of distance in that magnitude. The greatest distance I really understand and have physically experienced would be driving from Seattle to LA.

4. I haven't gone a day without eating some kind of chocolate since I got here. I tried not to have any yesterday but that only lasted until about noon. While I can practically hear Hilde cheering right now... I think it's something I need to cut back on. That said, I have decided not to take my m & m's to London with me this weekend.

5. I feel like I stand out here. Like everyone who looks at me automatically knows that I'm American. I guess I didn't expect to feel like I look so very different from people here.

6. This neighborhood sounds like Country Village. Probably not all that many of you have been to Country Village (smallish cute shopping center in Bothell) but I know Mom and the girls know what I'm talking about. I think it must be all of the wood-pigeons and their "coo"ing. There are other birds here too that remind me of Country Village.

7. People here don't ask "how are you?" or "how's it going?" when they run into you they ask "you alright?" I always think I must look terrible like I'm sick or very tired or something. It's as if they're assuming that I'm not alright or something. I know they don't mean it like that. I think.

8. When my camera is in my back pocket, sometimes I think I feel it vibrating... that's where my cell phone used to live.

That's all for now. I just had those thoughts and needed to share them but they didn't fit nicely into a proper post.

The kids are a bit difficult.

To say the least. And for those who have heard the details, that is, indeed, saying the very least. I'm happy to be here and I like the town and I'm settled and I like my bedroom and the little routines I've got going for myself and my walks to the library. I like it here, but the children are challenging. So... after a rather long day with the little rascals I decided I needed a walk.

I walked into town and made a beeline for the river. I'm not sure why exactly. I think I had originally thought I would like to sit on a bench and just chill out. Turns out I wasn't in a sit and chill out mood. I was in a walk-very-fast-and-enjoy-the-nice-weather mood. So I walked. I found the Spalding Court building,

and then I made me way down to the river where I could see this tallish point of a structure on the other side of the river and a few streets a way. It has caught my eye on a few other occasions as well but this time I decided to cross the river (woohoo! first time I've done that!) and go find out what exactly it was attached to.

I found it. The Church of St. Mary's. It was a very interesting building, as are most buildings here, and the gate was open so I walked onto the grounds.

It was pretty much deserted at the time but I think they had had a service there earlier in the evening.

I tried to read some of the head stones in the church yard but most of them are too worn down to tell what they say. It's crazy how old the buildings are here. We don't really have anything like this at home.

I'm always curious to know what the history is surrounding these places. I think I might have to start spending some money and go on tours and into museums to really take advantage of my time here. I like living among the structures and just walking by them and experiencing them in that slightly less "tourist" sort of way but to really hear all of the interest bits, you either have to do the tourist thing... or do a lot of reading, which, I could do, I suppose. I could go find interesting things and then come back to the house and sit here and google them, that just seems so inefficient and not nearly as much fun.

This pub is called "Ye Olde White Horse" and is one of the few buildings I've seen to have a thatched roof.

At the conclusion of my walk, I strolled over to Sainsbury's, the largest of the grocery stores in the area to buy some cereal. Yes, I needed cereal. My first thought was Ben and Jerry's (I doubt I could find it anyway) but as soon as the idea of cereal popped into my head, I knew it was what I wanted. It made my day SO much better. I spent 4 pounds (um, yes, that's about $7) on two boxes of cereal and walked home feeling far better than I had when I had escaped the house an hour earlier.

Here it is! My box of honey-bunches-wanna-be cereal. It was quite good but just not as good as the real thing.

It looks like I'm heading to London for the weekend sometime tomorrow evening. I am definitely looking forward to that. It will be a nice break from being in the house and, well, it's London! I'm just excited to be there.

Missing you! Loads and loads!

Love,

Steph

I've made a friend.

It's true. She's not even a cat. She's 100% human. Today was another lovely day with a warm breeze AND blue sky and I went to my first tap class. There were two instructors and 7 other ladies in the class. As I expected, I was the only one there under the age of 65 :-) However, they've all been taking this tap class together for a while and I haven't done any tap in over a year so I was way behind them! They even have a couple of routines worked out and they just turn the music on and go. I had NO idea what was happening but I double-shuffle-ball-changed and flap-stepped as best I could trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. Here's one of the songs we danced to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABV8oIdecyo it was hilarious! We laughed a lot and I was really glad that I went. They were all extremely kind and I'm really looking forward to going again next week.

When we were walking out I was talking with one of the ladies whose name is Jill. She lives in Pinchbeck, which isn't far from here, and gave me her phone number and address. She said to feel free to come over whenever I like. She even invited me to go shopping with her this afternoon but I had to pick Inan up from school. I can't wait to call her! Maybe we'll be best friends and drink tea together three times a week. I can only hope!

Nothing at all?

While I was sitting on a bench by the river today watching people feed ducks, it wasn't long before I noticed my hands were rummaging through my purse looking for something to do. I couldn't think of anything that needed to be done so I closed it again.

It was peaceful. I saw lots of ducks being strange doing that weird head bobbing thing kind of how Lucy does in that episode where she learns to jitterbug, and I saw a rat scampering around on the other side of the river, which I thought was gross but not as gross because it's a country rat not a sewer rat but then it made me think of Scabbers, which reminded me that I'm turning into a Harry Potter nerd, and all of the sudden it hit me. I have no need for a "to-do" list. WHAT?? This has never happened before! I couldn't believe it. How is it even possible that I don't have a single thing that needs to be done. I wasn't really okay with this so I pulled my list book out anyway, stared at it for a few moments and then quickly came up with nearly a dozen lame little bullet points for a pathetic little to-do list.


Yes, of course I took a picture of my blank to-do list for you. That's how big of a deal it is.

I mean, come on, what's there to live for if not a list to cross things off of? (well, okay, Hilde would say chocolate, Chelsea would say music, and Claire would say chocolate peanut butter ice cream, but I know ONE of my roommates has my back on this one! Paigey, of course.)

What a lovely day.

While walking the kids to school this morning, I was pleased to discover that the weather was absolutely perfect. I mean really, truly perfect. Not the super pretty type of perfect just superb walking-about-town-weather perfect. It was overcast but still bright and the warmest day we've had since I arrived. Some people were even in shorts and t-shirts. I, however, opted for my pumas, jeans and a thermal layered over a cami (levi jeans and forest green thermal over dark tan cami -- Lena would want the details). So, I came home, showered, grabbed a pear, made some tea, quickly hung the wash out on the line...

...where I made my first Spalding friend, in the back garden...

...and darted out the door for a nice walk in town. I found the post office and purchased some stamps and envelopes, then dropped by the 90 pence store for a box of tissues and just strolled around stopping by the river to sit for a while, walking through the bookstores and enjoying the architecture. There was a lovely breeze and I was just so comfortable and happy to know that I probably won't freeze every day that I'm here. And, very important detail, I made a pretty marvelous sandwich for lunch. I think I really like having that time while the kids are at school. Tomorrow I'm starting my tap class so that will also help to keep me busy.

After school we read every single one of the 20 or so library books we had brought home the other day and carted them back to the library to trade them in. We were going to max out my library card so I told the kids they had to use their own. They didn't know the difference anyway. As Inan would tell you, "we got loads, and loads of books!"

All in all it was a pretty successful day. In fact, I think it was the most stellar day we've had. They behaved themselves and even tidied up nicely when we got home. We had a heart to heart about doing what I ask the first time I ask and I think we've come to an understanding.

Today they taught me how to eat...

...properly. If you've ever eaten with my dear housemate, Claire, you may have noticed that she has a rather peculiar way of eating. She holds her fork in her left hand (upside down, as in, well, you know, the eating part looks like a hill instead of a valley) and her knife in her right hand and she scoops up a little pile of food with her knife then repeatedly stabs at it with her upside down fork while pushing food onto the hill part of the fork with the knife. I just thought this was something quirky that adds to the flair of our dear, sweet, awkward, friend Claire. (Just kidding, I totally knew it was influenced by her time living in Britain.) Regardless, I didn't have any great desire to learn how to eat this way but was informed today that if I ate with anyone from an older generation here in England without using the bizarre Claire method, it would be offensive. So, I gave it a go and it took me forever to eat! It doesn't make any sense at all--forks are curved so you can both stab and scoop your food and when it's upside down everything falls off. And yes, of course we were eating peas! Why wouldn't we have been? I was still sitting at the table trying my best to finish my meal 15 minutes after everyone else had left the dining room. My word.

Oh, by the way, I might have told the kids the other day that I speak both "cat" and "dog." Kids that I babysit for at home would have known straight away that I was just being silly but these ones didn't. Imge started asking about my pets. She asked how long I'd had them and then said "wow! You've been learning their languages for a long time!" Then when she found out I didn't have a cat anymore she was concerned that I would stop learning and forget all of it. I assured her we have enough other cats in the family to keep me fluent.

Church was lovely today. Very, very similar to the City Church except a little smaller and not quite so dressy/formal. I felt right at home from the minute I walked in. AND they sang Hillsong worship songs. It's always better when I know the lyrics right away. It makes me happy. Hopefully I will be in a "young adults" small group by the end of this week.

Peace.

Steph

Claire, you're wonderful and your awkwardness makes me smile--I know you're laughing about this right now or I wouldn't have written it ;-)