1) That walking to and from town is now a piece of cake.
I've made a little "rule" for myself recently, that unless it is precipitating in some way, is slippery, or there are other extenuating circumstances, I will make the journey to and from town under my own steam.
2) Good strong coffee with cream.
Does this require any explaining?
I didn't think so.
Well, maybe just a little... in that, not every coffee shop in England has cream... the usual liquid to make a coffee 'white' here is milk (hot or cold). And since the color of coffee is paramount for me, in addition to being very, very hot, milk doesn't cut it... if I try using milk, it takes too much to get the right color... and then the coffee is no longer piping hot, even if I used hot milk.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
3) Sore muscles after a good workout.
There are those who think me loony when I say I love being sore... but, there are others who understand what I mean... they are my kindred spirits. I'm not talking about injuring oneself and loving that. What I'm talking about is asking my body to do what it was meant to do, and having it come through for me! And knowing that my muscles are growing and becoming better fat burning machines. Its all good!
sending love-
susie
Friday, December 30, 2011
Chipwrecked, with the Chipmunks, Chipettes & Cheech and Chong
Who are Cheech and Chong you ask?
Melissa and Stuarts two wonderful girls.
Not their real names, no.
But then, I probably didn't really need to tell you that, did I?
They've been off from school for the last couple of weeks, so, there's been alot of fun activities going on!
I had the honor of taking them for dinner and a movie last week, as a Christmas gift to them, from me. Though I think it was more a gift to myself!
We were planning to go to the 6pm show, so we walked down to town about 4:30.
We caught an early dinner at The Catherine Wheel. It is a great, inexpensive family oriented pub here in town. I like that they let me order a kids meal too... I had something traditional... cold ham slices with a fried egg and chips. The girls had their usual, chicken nuggets, baked beans and chips.
I'm not sure if they all do, but, many of the movie theatres here in England have reserved seating and require purchasing tickets ahead of time! I had purchased our tickets online earlier in the day. But, as it turned out we ended up getting to the movie theatre very early, and could not get into the theatre itself as there was another movie going... So, we sat in the lobby and enjoyed eating most of our popcorn before the movie.
Chipwrecked... what can I say? I've seen the other Chipmunk movies and this one was similarly, silly, funny and entertaining enough so that we got our fill of laughing!
M&S had opportunity to go out for a dinner date of their own, that night...
and... A good time was had by all!
ho-ho-ho
susie
Melissa and Stuarts two wonderful girls.
Not their real names, no.
But then, I probably didn't really need to tell you that, did I?
They've been off from school for the last couple of weeks, so, there's been alot of fun activities going on!
I had the honor of taking them for dinner and a movie last week, as a Christmas gift to them, from me. Though I think it was more a gift to myself!
We were planning to go to the 6pm show, so we walked down to town about 4:30.
We caught an early dinner at The Catherine Wheel. It is a great, inexpensive family oriented pub here in town. I like that they let me order a kids meal too... I had something traditional... cold ham slices with a fried egg and chips. The girls had their usual, chicken nuggets, baked beans and chips.
I'm not sure if they all do, but, many of the movie theatres here in England have reserved seating and require purchasing tickets ahead of time! I had purchased our tickets online earlier in the day. But, as it turned out we ended up getting to the movie theatre very early, and could not get into the theatre itself as there was another movie going... So, we sat in the lobby and enjoyed eating most of our popcorn before the movie.
Chipwrecked... what can I say? I've seen the other Chipmunk movies and this one was similarly, silly, funny and entertaining enough so that we got our fill of laughing!
M&S had opportunity to go out for a dinner date of their own, that night...
and... A good time was had by all!
ho-ho-ho
susie
Movies and Things That Go Scratch, Scratch, Crinkle, Crinkle in the Night
After John dropped me back off at Bore Place Friday afternoon, I was going to be on my own until his workshop Sunday Morning.
I made a fire in the woodstove, creating a goodly amount of smoke in the process (too much newspaper). I was hoping I would not set off a fire alarm somewhere!
Thankfully, I did not.
John had given me a map of the property and also a map of the local footpaths that connect to it. I decided to save the walk for Saturday and just gather up all of my wood and dinner etc. and just get cozy for the afternoon and evening.
My McAfee Antivirus Software had been telling me for several days, first, that "I was going to be without protection" and then that my computer was NOT PROTECTED and susceptible to any number of horrible things. I contemplated trying to re-up with McAfee and decided the very last thing in the world I wanted just then, was that aggravation.
I opted instead to watch "The Santa Clause", on YouTube, in 10 minute increments. A little bit of a hassle, but it was worth it for a little holiday cheer. What I really wanted to watch though, was "White Christmas", with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye...
If I was a smarter cookie, I might have just said forget it and dug out my book when the YouTube thing diverted me to a different website.
Apparently. Not. Smarter. Though.
There was the movie opening playing ... how bad could it be? It seemed like a website on the up-and-up, I mean, they are showing a Bing Crosby movie for crying out loud. How much more wholesome can you get?
So I tried to watch... but it kept getting hung up at the same point. I think I watched the first 7 minutes six or seven times, dealing with various pop-up ads (thanks to no McAfee) until, the last straw was an ad asking "if I wanted to know what Russian girls were available in the area".
Um. As a matter of fact, NO, I do not...
Or Russian men either for that matter.
Nothing against Russian men or women.
My resolve to watch White Christmas died a pain free death, because there was my computer in it's 'unprotected' state and the last thing I wanted was some stinkin' virus taking over. That was the end of my movie night. That's OK. I did have the book after all.
So I got myself all settled in bed and cozy under the comforter with my book... and the next thing I knew I was waking up... it was something like 11 and 1/2 minutes later...
Have I mentioned that reading sometimes puts me to sleep?
So much for reading then... I turned off the light. And was just about to doze off again, when I heard something. I tried to ignore it and pretend I wasn't halfway back to a state of wakefulness. Then I heard it again...
You know how, when you are a kid and someone is saying something you don't want to listen to, you stick your fingers in your ears and say "la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la"... to drown them out?
(OK. All right. I distinctly heard someone say - "Hah! Whatd'ya mean by, 'When you are a kid' You still do that!" It was either Kathy, Bernie, Lee or Karen. I know it was one of you.)
That's what I was trying to do... minus the actual sticking of fingers in my ears... and minus the 'la-la' part too...
Surprisingly, no... it really wasn't all that effective.
I turned on the light and sat up, listening intently.
Nothing but silence. And the sound of my own heart beating in my ears.
I was having a short little conversation with myself when I heard it again. A tiny little sound... like little feet scratching on a hard surface or someone gently crinkling a plastic bag. I got up out of my warm bed, grabbed my torch from the bedside table (QUIZ... do you remember what a torch is?) and looked in and under everything. That loft was clean and neat as a pin. Except for my clothes, hung, draped and otherwise strewn about. Absolutely nothing anywhere that could possibly be making that little sound. I satisfied myself beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was nothing living in that loft with me.
It had to be something outside, a branch or something, being blown by the wind and scratching against the side of the barn maybe, or the roof.
(I will confess that this was what my first night there had been like as well... I had slept in fits and starts).
A little more talking out loud to 'moi'. A decision to turn off the alarm and sleep in in the morning since I was now awake so late! And then off with the light again and... eventually... sweet slumber.
It was 8 am before I fully woke up. I crawled out of bed and went down to wee and make a pot of coffee which I then brought back upstairs with me, along with my computer deciding to tackle the task of getting the McAfee Virus Software renewed while I was still fresh.
Right.
You will not believe how long that took.
4 hours.
I bet in that time my Internet connection failed 20 times, easily, probably more. I'd get partway through the McAfee form and would need to 'continue' to the next page and I'd lose the connection.
It was frustrating.
To say the least.
I don't know why I persevered in it, really. I just get stubborn about some things and have a hard time 'giving up' because I think "What if this is the time it will work?!" I have an even harder time giving up on people and relationships.
I am never sure if the message I am getting from upstairs is saying...
"Don't give up Susie!" OR "Susie, would you give up already!?"
If any of you know how to tell the difference, would you please let me know?
Anyhoo...
McAfee installed. I made myself some lunch and then it was time to get outside for a walk!
My plan was to walk around the gardens first and then do the 2.5 mile walk around/through the Bore Place property.
My camera battery died before I was even halfway through the gardens. During my trying train travels I had been thinking I had managed to pack everything but the kitchen sink. Well, guess what else I didn't pack?
My camera battery charger.
Dang.
Next time I'm there, I'll get the rest.
So. I've downloaded all the pics I have from my camera now I need to upload them to the blog...
That will take some time.
'C'est la vie'.
love-
susie
PS... QUIZ ANSWER: a torch is a flashlight!
I made a fire in the woodstove, creating a goodly amount of smoke in the process (too much newspaper). I was hoping I would not set off a fire alarm somewhere!
Thankfully, I did not.
John had given me a map of the property and also a map of the local footpaths that connect to it. I decided to save the walk for Saturday and just gather up all of my wood and dinner etc. and just get cozy for the afternoon and evening.
My McAfee Antivirus Software had been telling me for several days, first, that "I was going to be without protection" and then that my computer was NOT PROTECTED and susceptible to any number of horrible things. I contemplated trying to re-up with McAfee and decided the very last thing in the world I wanted just then, was that aggravation.
I opted instead to watch "The Santa Clause", on YouTube, in 10 minute increments. A little bit of a hassle, but it was worth it for a little holiday cheer. What I really wanted to watch though, was "White Christmas", with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye...
If I was a smarter cookie, I might have just said forget it and dug out my book when the YouTube thing diverted me to a different website.
Apparently. Not. Smarter. Though.
There was the movie opening playing ... how bad could it be? It seemed like a website on the up-and-up, I mean, they are showing a Bing Crosby movie for crying out loud. How much more wholesome can you get?
So I tried to watch... but it kept getting hung up at the same point. I think I watched the first 7 minutes six or seven times, dealing with various pop-up ads (thanks to no McAfee) until, the last straw was an ad asking "if I wanted to know what Russian girls were available in the area".
Um. As a matter of fact, NO, I do not...
Or Russian men either for that matter.
Nothing against Russian men or women.
My resolve to watch White Christmas died a pain free death, because there was my computer in it's 'unprotected' state and the last thing I wanted was some stinkin' virus taking over. That was the end of my movie night. That's OK. I did have the book after all.
So I got myself all settled in bed and cozy under the comforter with my book... and the next thing I knew I was waking up... it was something like 11 and 1/2 minutes later...
Have I mentioned that reading sometimes puts me to sleep?
So much for reading then... I turned off the light. And was just about to doze off again, when I heard something. I tried to ignore it and pretend I wasn't halfway back to a state of wakefulness. Then I heard it again...
You know how, when you are a kid and someone is saying something you don't want to listen to, you stick your fingers in your ears and say "la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la"... to drown them out?
(OK. All right. I distinctly heard someone say - "Hah! Whatd'ya mean by, 'When you are a kid' You still do that!" It was either Kathy, Bernie, Lee or Karen. I know it was one of you.)
That's what I was trying to do... minus the actual sticking of fingers in my ears... and minus the 'la-la' part too...
Surprisingly, no... it really wasn't all that effective.
I turned on the light and sat up, listening intently.
Nothing but silence. And the sound of my own heart beating in my ears.
I was having a short little conversation with myself when I heard it again. A tiny little sound... like little feet scratching on a hard surface or someone gently crinkling a plastic bag. I got up out of my warm bed, grabbed my torch from the bedside table (QUIZ... do you remember what a torch is?) and looked in and under everything. That loft was clean and neat as a pin. Except for my clothes, hung, draped and otherwise strewn about. Absolutely nothing anywhere that could possibly be making that little sound. I satisfied myself beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was nothing living in that loft with me.
It had to be something outside, a branch or something, being blown by the wind and scratching against the side of the barn maybe, or the roof.
(I will confess that this was what my first night there had been like as well... I had slept in fits and starts).
A little more talking out loud to 'moi'. A decision to turn off the alarm and sleep in in the morning since I was now awake so late! And then off with the light again and... eventually... sweet slumber.
It was 8 am before I fully woke up. I crawled out of bed and went down to wee and make a pot of coffee which I then brought back upstairs with me, along with my computer deciding to tackle the task of getting the McAfee Virus Software renewed while I was still fresh.
Right.
You will not believe how long that took.
4 hours.
I bet in that time my Internet connection failed 20 times, easily, probably more. I'd get partway through the McAfee form and would need to 'continue' to the next page and I'd lose the connection.
It was frustrating.
To say the least.
I don't know why I persevered in it, really. I just get stubborn about some things and have a hard time 'giving up' because I think "What if this is the time it will work?!" I have an even harder time giving up on people and relationships.
I am never sure if the message I am getting from upstairs is saying...
"Don't give up Susie!" OR "Susie, would you give up already!?"
If any of you know how to tell the difference, would you please let me know?
Anyhoo...
McAfee installed. I made myself some lunch and then it was time to get outside for a walk!
My plan was to walk around the gardens first and then do the 2.5 mile walk around/through the Bore Place property.
My camera battery died before I was even halfway through the gardens. During my trying train travels I had been thinking I had managed to pack everything but the kitchen sink. Well, guess what else I didn't pack?
My camera battery charger.
Dang.
Next time I'm there, I'll get the rest.
So. I've downloaded all the pics I have from my camera now I need to upload them to the blog...
That will take some time.
'C'est la vie'.
love-
susie
PS... QUIZ ANSWER: a torch is a flashlight!
Willow Structure Restoration
December 15 & 16, 2011
John came to Bore Place to collect me Thursday morning and we headed to Dorton House School near Sevenoaks. Dorton House School is a school for the blind and visually impaired. Used to be a boarding and day school, but, I'm not sure if there are any boarding students there these days.
To get to the school we passed through a very upper class neighborhood comprised of 'Russians and football players'...
I'm told.
Don't ask me any more than that because I. don't. know.
The houses were big, but, what impressed me most were the large trees running along both sides of the street. Here's where it would be good to have that tree ID thing nailed, so I could say what they were... or a better memory, because I did ask John and he told me, but alas, 'je ne sais pas'.
If I had to guess, I would say they might very well have been oaks...something about the bark and the straightness of the trees makes me think that.
Now I'll be really embarrassed when I have to come back and tell you it was something different.
Nigel met us there, having traded his motorbike for a properly enclosed form of transportation, a cute little blue car. He's been driving that motorbike around for 4 years spring-summer-fall-winter. He's had the car for some time but has been studying for the license exam... recently took it and passed on his first try.
Well done!
Here in England, you do not need a license to operate a motorcycle.
You heard me write...
(I did that on purpose, I know it is spelled r-i-g-h-t.)
I know... not sure what that line of thinking is... but, that's the way it is.
You do however, need a license to operate a chainsaw... If I was hearing a recent conversation correctly.
(If any English folks reading can clarify/explain these things...please do make a comment and do that... then we'll all know.)
So, John had planted this willow structure 12 years ago and they have neither done any maintenance themselves nor had John back to do maintenance.
12 years of growing and blowing about in the wind... this is what it looked like when we got there.
It had started out as a circle of willow with a twisted willow column at the center. Each willow rod on the outside was connected to the central column, so, it was not the same dome shape we've seen before. I'm not sure really what to call it?
The reason John used this central column design was because the diameter was quite large (I am guessing 15' or more maybe?) and at the time of planting, it would have been impossible to be able to join the opposite willow rods (and be able to stand up inside).
As you may or may not be able to see from the picture. What we had was a circle of willow that was somewhere around 24' high and some of them were 5 inches in diameter or so.
In looking at it, John determined that some pretty significant cutting back was in order. Particularly in the front.
Most of the willow at the front was growing in an outward direction and was so big it would have been impossible to pull it back in towards the center.
So the strategy would be to first remove most of the willow at the front, cutting it at about 2' from the ground and then anything dead or incapable of being reconnected with the center. Then reconnect the side willow that is remaining with the central column and weave all the smaller new growth back into the top or sides Recreating a few arched 'doors' into the structure.
With that established we set to work... John with the chainsaw and Nigel and I clearing away the fallen trees, removing the branches and loading it all into the truck.
A note about chainsaw safety which John went over with me since it was my first time being in close proximity to him using a chainsaw... the two most important rules I noted are:
1) DO NOT tap John on the shoulder to get his attention when he has a running chainsaw in his hands and
2) DO NOT be in the way of a falling tree.
John came to Bore Place to collect me Thursday morning and we headed to Dorton House School near Sevenoaks. Dorton House School is a school for the blind and visually impaired. Used to be a boarding and day school, but, I'm not sure if there are any boarding students there these days.
To get to the school we passed through a very upper class neighborhood comprised of 'Russians and football players'...
I'm told.
Don't ask me any more than that because I. don't. know.
The houses were big, but, what impressed me most were the large trees running along both sides of the street. Here's where it would be good to have that tree ID thing nailed, so I could say what they were... or a better memory, because I did ask John and he told me, but alas, 'je ne sais pas'.
If I had to guess, I would say they might very well have been oaks...something about the bark and the straightness of the trees makes me think that.
Now I'll be really embarrassed when I have to come back and tell you it was something different.
Nigel met us there, having traded his motorbike for a properly enclosed form of transportation, a cute little blue car. He's been driving that motorbike around for 4 years spring-summer-fall-winter. He's had the car for some time but has been studying for the license exam... recently took it and passed on his first try.
Well done!
Here in England, you do not need a license to operate a motorcycle.
You heard me write...
(I did that on purpose, I know it is spelled r-i-g-h-t.)
I know... not sure what that line of thinking is... but, that's the way it is.
You do however, need a license to operate a chainsaw... If I was hearing a recent conversation correctly.
(If any English folks reading can clarify/explain these things...please do make a comment and do that... then we'll all know.)
So, John had planted this willow structure 12 years ago and they have neither done any maintenance themselves nor had John back to do maintenance.
12 years of growing and blowing about in the wind... this is what it looked like when we got there.
from the back
It had started out as a circle of willow with a twisted willow column at the center. Each willow rod on the outside was connected to the central column, so, it was not the same dome shape we've seen before. I'm not sure really what to call it?
The reason John used this central column design was because the diameter was quite large (I am guessing 15' or more maybe?) and at the time of planting, it would have been impossible to be able to join the opposite willow rods (and be able to stand up inside).
As you may or may not be able to see from the picture. What we had was a circle of willow that was somewhere around 24' high and some of them were 5 inches in diameter or so.
In looking at it, John determined that some pretty significant cutting back was in order. Particularly in the front.
from the front
Most of the willow at the front was growing in an outward direction and was so big it would have been impossible to pull it back in towards the center.
So the strategy would be to first remove most of the willow at the front, cutting it at about 2' from the ground and then anything dead or incapable of being reconnected with the center. Then reconnect the side willow that is remaining with the central column and weave all the smaller new growth back into the top or sides Recreating a few arched 'doors' into the structure.
With that established we set to work... John with the chainsaw and Nigel and I clearing away the fallen trees, removing the branches and loading it all into the truck.
A note about chainsaw safety which John went over with me since it was my first time being in close proximity to him using a chainsaw... the two most important rules I noted are:
1) DO NOT tap John on the shoulder to get his attention when he has a running chainsaw in his hands and
2) DO NOT be in the way of a falling tree.
the front willow cut
removing some wood from the central column at about 10' height
trimming away the dead or non-useful wood around the rest of the diameter
the truck filled up fast! Nigel is up there jumping up and down on it all, packing it down so we could fit more on!
Bert the dog inspecting the work... John, thinking, envisioning or singing... I'm not sure which.
entrance number one re-established on left side... can you see the woven willow archway?
It was a great day. Educational for me, and John managed to keep Nigel and I well entertained into the bargain. For that matter, Nigel is quite a card himself. In their presence I feel completely comfortable being my own goofy self.
The weather held for the work. Cold and sunny in the morning. JW made a trip back to Bore Place to unload the truck leaving Nigel and I to carry on for awhile on our own. That seemed like a significant vote of confidence! When he got back, the nice folks at the school let us in for our lunch break. Its always nice to be able to warm up a little and for me, nice to have a loo!
... ...
Next morning it was ccccold and I stayed in my cozy loft bed under the warm comforter as long as I could before I needed to get up and dressed. If you've read "Proper Job Nigel, Proper Job" then you already know that it snowed Friday morning, which had me jumping for joy! I was on my second cup of coffee before I opened the shades and saw the snow.
Yes, I did have the presence of mind to put the coffee cup down before I started jumping...
Hoooorrraaayyy!!! Hooooorraayy!!! Hooorrraaayyyyy! I had visions of inches accumulating!
John again collected me from the Small Barn and it was a winter wonderland drive to the school. The big fluffy flakes falling down and sticking, until the still green grass on the hillsides was almost completely hidden under a blanket of white.
It was a feast for my eyes to behold... I was in heaven!
Back at the job. More pruning, more clearing away debris and raking up the small stuff (with a little snow mixed in for good measure!), filling the truck full again making 3 truckloads total, and of course, more tea.
Here's the final structure as we left it.
that's Nigel on the left and John on the right...
I wish I had gotten a closeup of the central column because it is so cool!!! I think you can see though, how John twisted the willow when he planted it 12 years ago and it grew into an awesome twisted willow column!
So, everything that was cut will ultimately sprout. Those sprouts will be woven back in to become either the 'walls' or 'ceiling', obviously depending on where they are. The front might possibly end up with some sort of window(s) in it... that will be determined once it has had opportunity to sprout and grow.
I think it looks amazing!! Don't you?
Yes... definitely, a proper job!
hugs-
susie
Monday, December 26, 2011
Put up Your Dukes...
It is Boxing Day here in England!
I actually have no real idea what boxing day is all about... lets see if I can find something about it that I can pass along...
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/boxingday.html
That website explains it for kids... and thats about where my level of understanding is right now too...
From what I gather, it seems that it has evolved from several different traditions, all of which had something in common...
a box!
Hence the name "boxing day".
Go figure.
Essentially, I think all those nice traditions have been forgotten for the most part and Boxing Day has emerged as pretty much a big shopping day when many stores have "sales" much like the day after Thanksgiving in the US.
I hear the word boxing though and it immediately brings to my mind the "sport" of boxing.
And from the news today, it looks like there are those here in England who have put on there boxing gloves...
figuratively speaking that is.
Train drivers and London tube drivers are holding a 24 hour strike causing major disruption to travelers here today. You can read this article from the Guardian about it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/26/boxing-day-travel-disruption-uk?newsfeed=true
So glad I was not traveling today!!!
Looks like I don't want to be traveling on January 16th either. Or February 3rd or 13th. Shall we take bets on whether I will remember that... or not?
Yawn... I have done essentially nothing today and cannot seem to keep my eyes open. Guess i'll call it a day even though I am wondering...wondering...wondering what is going on with Alanna (and Jacob) and whether or not that new great neice has made her entrance into the world yet?!
Maybe she is on strike?
Guess I will find that out tomorrow...
love, susie
I actually have no real idea what boxing day is all about... lets see if I can find something about it that I can pass along...
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/boxingday.html
That website explains it for kids... and thats about where my level of understanding is right now too...
From what I gather, it seems that it has evolved from several different traditions, all of which had something in common...
a box!
Hence the name "boxing day".
Go figure.
Essentially, I think all those nice traditions have been forgotten for the most part and Boxing Day has emerged as pretty much a big shopping day when many stores have "sales" much like the day after Thanksgiving in the US.
I hear the word boxing though and it immediately brings to my mind the "sport" of boxing.
And from the news today, it looks like there are those here in England who have put on there boxing gloves...
figuratively speaking that is.
Train drivers and London tube drivers are holding a 24 hour strike causing major disruption to travelers here today. You can read this article from the Guardian about it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/26/boxing-day-travel-disruption-uk?newsfeed=true
So glad I was not traveling today!!!
Looks like I don't want to be traveling on January 16th either. Or February 3rd or 13th. Shall we take bets on whether I will remember that... or not?
Yawn... I have done essentially nothing today and cannot seem to keep my eyes open. Guess i'll call it a day even though I am wondering...wondering...wondering what is going on with Alanna (and Jacob) and whether or not that new great neice has made her entrance into the world yet?!
Maybe she is on strike?
Guess I will find that out tomorrow...
love, susie
Saturday, December 24, 2011
In Everything...Beginnings and Endings... I Will Testify to Love
I am sitting on my bed, back against the wall looking out the window... have been here the last 20 minutes or so, just lost in thought...
my window sill has become my own personal Merry Christmas space... with the cards i've received... one from Melissa's folks with holly, one from 'Mom and Dad Wiggett 'with a pair of cardinals, an old fashioned, snowy Vermont scene (with glitter) from Bernie, Kathy and Mahaliah, a photo greeting from Jessie, Ben and Madie (you are all a sight for sore eyes), a home made one, with a thumbprint reindeer from the Wallers and another handmade "Merry Christmas" from "Chong" (M&S's oldest...)
I have a willow star wreath and a perfect willow reindeer made by JW.... and 2 "salt" ornaments, made by Chong in school. One is a star and one is a bell, with the word "family" on it. She gave me the card and ornaments as soon as I got home on Monday, which really touched my heart.
Oh, and the felt heart I made last fall, too.
That big ole tree outside has lost all it's leaves now. And in the last 20 minutes or so, the grey sky has turned to blue, and the sun is shining.
Isn't that just like life?
One minute it may be blue skys and sunshine and the very next it can be raining.
And I guess that's sort of what is on my heart right now... this last week I have experienced both incredible joy at the news of another great niece being born... Alyssa Marie... welcomed into the loving arms of her proud Papa, my nephew Sam and his wife Amanda.
and deep sorrow at the death of an old friend, who took his own life. Dealing with the death of a friend or loved one can be excruciatingly painful and difficult to get through. When someone dies by their own hand though, it is, for me anyway, so much more difficult to reconcile my emotions...
Being so far away, and feeling somewhat estranged from the family, I do not know the circumstances that made him decide life was completely hopeless... or not worth living.
I can honestly say, I wish I was home... to join with my family in welcoming Alyssa to the world and to hold her! She'll be 4 months old before I get that chance.
I also wish I could attend the service for S.B. and give his loved ones a hug 'round the neck... because I really don't have any words...
Since I got the news the other day, I've been thinking about "Broken Vessels", a small, country gospel group I used to sing with. Perhaps we should have come up with a different name, because we all sure have experienced alot of brokeness over the years.
S.B. was our sound man for part of the time the group was together. This song, "Testify to Love", by Avalon was one we used to sing. I have not been able to get it out of my head since I heard the news.
I have no idea who these lovely ladies are doing the drama/creative movement... or where they are... presumably they are at a church somewhere on the planet. Anyway, this is my favorite version of the song on youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbZIpASArAY&feature=related
To me, this song is simply about loving people, exactly the way they are whether you 'agree with it' or not - and it is my personal goal in life to do just that... though I fail, I shall continue to persevere...
In the time it has taken me to write this, the sun was shining in so strongly I needed to shut the curtains in order to see and now, the sky has gone grey again.
And I am not home, I am here... Sending love across the sea.
susie
my window sill has become my own personal Merry Christmas space... with the cards i've received... one from Melissa's folks with holly, one from 'Mom and Dad Wiggett 'with a pair of cardinals, an old fashioned, snowy Vermont scene (with glitter) from Bernie, Kathy and Mahaliah, a photo greeting from Jessie, Ben and Madie (you are all a sight for sore eyes), a home made one, with a thumbprint reindeer from the Wallers and another handmade "Merry Christmas" from "Chong" (M&S's oldest...)
I have a willow star wreath and a perfect willow reindeer made by JW.... and 2 "salt" ornaments, made by Chong in school. One is a star and one is a bell, with the word "family" on it. She gave me the card and ornaments as soon as I got home on Monday, which really touched my heart.
Oh, and the felt heart I made last fall, too.
That big ole tree outside has lost all it's leaves now. And in the last 20 minutes or so, the grey sky has turned to blue, and the sun is shining.
Isn't that just like life?
One minute it may be blue skys and sunshine and the very next it can be raining.
And I guess that's sort of what is on my heart right now... this last week I have experienced both incredible joy at the news of another great niece being born... Alyssa Marie... welcomed into the loving arms of her proud Papa, my nephew Sam and his wife Amanda.
and deep sorrow at the death of an old friend, who took his own life. Dealing with the death of a friend or loved one can be excruciatingly painful and difficult to get through. When someone dies by their own hand though, it is, for me anyway, so much more difficult to reconcile my emotions...
Being so far away, and feeling somewhat estranged from the family, I do not know the circumstances that made him decide life was completely hopeless... or not worth living.
I can honestly say, I wish I was home... to join with my family in welcoming Alyssa to the world and to hold her! She'll be 4 months old before I get that chance.
I also wish I could attend the service for S.B. and give his loved ones a hug 'round the neck... because I really don't have any words...
Since I got the news the other day, I've been thinking about "Broken Vessels", a small, country gospel group I used to sing with. Perhaps we should have come up with a different name, because we all sure have experienced alot of brokeness over the years.
S.B. was our sound man for part of the time the group was together. This song, "Testify to Love", by Avalon was one we used to sing. I have not been able to get it out of my head since I heard the news.
I have no idea who these lovely ladies are doing the drama/creative movement... or where they are... presumably they are at a church somewhere on the planet. Anyway, this is my favorite version of the song on youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbZIpASArAY&feature=related
To me, this song is simply about loving people, exactly the way they are whether you 'agree with it' or not - and it is my personal goal in life to do just that... though I fail, I shall continue to persevere...
In the time it has taken me to write this, the sun was shining in so strongly I needed to shut the curtains in order to see and now, the sky has gone grey again.
And I am not home, I am here... Sending love across the sea.
susie
“Death belongs to life as birth does. The walk is in the raising of the foot as in the laying of it down.” Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Toasty Temps & Tasty Food Trumps Trying Train Travel...
I know these blog posts get out of order... Sorry about that...
Hope that doesn't make you too crazy, or worse, not finish 'the story' if it takes me more than one post to get it all out.
I have discovered that blogging about real life is very much like real life, a little disorganized at best and downright troublesome at worst.
Some posts are easier to finish than others... either because I just have less words (perhaps we have not experienced that yet...) or because there's nothing to upload or download or create links to.
I had the most amazing time last week at Bore Place/Commonwork... traveled down on Wednesday and made my return journey to Henley this past Monday.
The trip down "they" made me go through London rather than my usual route... I had planned my packing and the luggage I used... everything... based on the fact that usually I have only two short sets of stairs to do (Twyford & Redhill) with lifts in Reading. The time of day I was traveling the trains would not be too full... I could keep my bags nearby.
Well, in Henley no one was around so that I could purchase a ticket, nor did I see the conductor once I boarded the train. Fortunately someone was working the ticket booth at Twyford, but, he said I had to go through London.
Oh man! Not the end of the world really, just that I knew I'd have to ride the tube partway and while it does see daylight in places, my experience thus far is that it is located in the bowels of the earth, sometimes there are lifts down and back up... sometimes not.
As it turned out, in this particular case... not.
I have learned, to find a rail/tube worker to ask for assistance in where I should go, what line to take etc. It is much faster than me trying to locate the tube map display... figure out where I am, where I need to be, how to get there... Not that I can't figure it out, it really is pretty simple and straightforward. The various tube lines are color coded with corresponding colored lines on the floors that lead you to the correct platform. Thank God then, I am not color blind! I have found my way alone before, but, while I am taking my own sweet time, trying to do it "all by myself" I can conceivably cause myself to miss the next train.
So. Unless I am up for that particular kind of adventure that comes from missing the right connection, I just ask. The rail/tube people hardly ever steer me wrong. And, as I've mentioned before, they seem to know everything by heart. This time, the first guy I asked did not know, but pulled out a map, from which he determined that I needed to catch the green line and I headed off in the direction he said, sure enough, found the green line on the floor and I was golden...
Or rather, as it turns out, I should have been following the golden (yellow) line, because that was in fact the right one and the green line was not.
You are wondering if I figured that out before I got on the green line tube?
Negatory.
The tube always seems busy, sometimes you are packed in there like sardines nose to nose with a stranger. That's not always so bad either! Hee hee.
Just kidding... really.
Sometimes your nose is in someone else's armpit. And you are hoping you are not wedged in next to a pick pocket. Or someone infected with some terrorist induced virus, or God knows what else.
Am I the only person who thinks of these things?
There is really no such thing as personal space on the tube. Except last Wednesday wasn't so bad. I had my pocket book over one shoulder and pulled around front... my backpack appropriately on my back and the duffel bag Stuart had lent me over the other shoulder and kind of to the right side. (I had tried putting it to the back before I left home and nearly fell over backwards!) When I walked out the front door, Melissa was laughing her head off at me.
I do make for good entertainment sometimes, even when I'm not trying. Glad I can be of service to humankind in that way.
(BTW. It is true, that if you roll your clothes you can fit way more in, just remember it will weigh more-I don't know what possessed me!? I wanted to be clean, dry and have things to do... I am banning myself from rolling next time.)
So, I was sitting... on the front edge of a seat because my backpack was taking up the comfortable part and looking at the little map on the other side that lists the stops in order and straightaway I had a sinking feeling something was amiss. It looked like the yellow and green took the same path for a piece, so I was hoping somehow miraculously I'd end up in the right place. It takes a couple stops before I can make sense of what I'm hearing the announcer saying and make it jive with the map thing...
Yessiree. I should be on yellow and not green.
Aaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!
I got off at the next stop... located the yellow line, got on that tube, made it to Victoria, climbed out of the bowels of the earth and discovered I needed to be at platform 15 in less than 5 minutes and it was only, oh, say 500 miles away! (well, it might as well have been, the way my little legs felt at that point.) I made it to platform 15 and verified that it was calling at Redhill, the guy said yes, leaving right now do you have a ticket?
Ahhh yes... I do... I could tell from the way he was looking at me that he wanted to see it, plus, another big clue was that he was not opening the gate for me to pass... and so I started to dig... then I said, are you really going to make me get it out? He just kinda smiled and opened the gate.
What was that about, anyway? My accent probably.
I literally got on the train, found a spot and the train pulled out of the station. Redhill here I come!
Whew.
Train out of Redhill was from the same platform I came in on.
Glory hallelujah!!!
Called the Relyon taxi company (en route thanks to that trusty cell phone) in Edenbridge, and arranged for a ride out to Bore Place... almost there!
Any UK people reading? Relyon is a great company, very friendly and helpful, the nice lady who answers the phone always calls me dear! Very reasonable fares too.
So, finally. An hour later than planned, I arrived at Bore Place.
Despite the fact that they were in the middle of a huge party for local families, Jacqueline, the Commonwork Director took time out to show me around the place; introduce me to Chef Andrew, who had put together a smorgasbord of decadent delights in the fridge for me; and help me get all my stuff over to the Small Barn which would be my home away from home... away from home... for the next few days.
Elaine had a fire going in the woodstove for me, a huge basket of fruit on the table and a host of 'staples' in the fridge and larder... organic milk, butter, jams, juices, granola, fresh bread, a variety of coffees and tea...
When I was in college one of the projects I did was the design for a carriage barn renovation for the lady who owned the property my folks rented. The carriage barn was where she stayed when she visited Vermont. I spent some of the next Summer working with my Dad, a skilled finish carpenter, as he implemented that plan. The layout and feel of the Small Barn at Bore Place was uncannily similar to Lillian's barn in Jericho, Vermont, right down to the sleeping loft.
It was like coming home.
My time there was so, so wonderful, and there are a few posts coming to tell you all about it. Lots of pictures too. For now, I'll just say this... it was as if everyone and everything was in a conspiracy... to bless me, and I truly was.
susie
Hope that doesn't make you too crazy, or worse, not finish 'the story' if it takes me more than one post to get it all out.
I have discovered that blogging about real life is very much like real life, a little disorganized at best and downright troublesome at worst.
Some posts are easier to finish than others... either because I just have less words (perhaps we have not experienced that yet...) or because there's nothing to upload or download or create links to.
I had the most amazing time last week at Bore Place/Commonwork... traveled down on Wednesday and made my return journey to Henley this past Monday.
The trip down "they" made me go through London rather than my usual route... I had planned my packing and the luggage I used... everything... based on the fact that usually I have only two short sets of stairs to do (Twyford & Redhill) with lifts in Reading. The time of day I was traveling the trains would not be too full... I could keep my bags nearby.
Well, in Henley no one was around so that I could purchase a ticket, nor did I see the conductor once I boarded the train. Fortunately someone was working the ticket booth at Twyford, but, he said I had to go through London.
Oh man! Not the end of the world really, just that I knew I'd have to ride the tube partway and while it does see daylight in places, my experience thus far is that it is located in the bowels of the earth, sometimes there are lifts down and back up... sometimes not.
As it turned out, in this particular case... not.
I have learned, to find a rail/tube worker to ask for assistance in where I should go, what line to take etc. It is much faster than me trying to locate the tube map display... figure out where I am, where I need to be, how to get there... Not that I can't figure it out, it really is pretty simple and straightforward. The various tube lines are color coded with corresponding colored lines on the floors that lead you to the correct platform. Thank God then, I am not color blind! I have found my way alone before, but, while I am taking my own sweet time, trying to do it "all by myself" I can conceivably cause myself to miss the next train.
So. Unless I am up for that particular kind of adventure that comes from missing the right connection, I just ask. The rail/tube people hardly ever steer me wrong. And, as I've mentioned before, they seem to know everything by heart. This time, the first guy I asked did not know, but pulled out a map, from which he determined that I needed to catch the green line and I headed off in the direction he said, sure enough, found the green line on the floor and I was golden...
Or rather, as it turns out, I should have been following the golden (yellow) line, because that was in fact the right one and the green line was not.
You are wondering if I figured that out before I got on the green line tube?
Negatory.
The tube always seems busy, sometimes you are packed in there like sardines nose to nose with a stranger. That's not always so bad either! Hee hee.
Just kidding... really.
Sometimes your nose is in someone else's armpit. And you are hoping you are not wedged in next to a pick pocket. Or someone infected with some terrorist induced virus, or God knows what else.
Am I the only person who thinks of these things?
There is really no such thing as personal space on the tube. Except last Wednesday wasn't so bad. I had my pocket book over one shoulder and pulled around front... my backpack appropriately on my back and the duffel bag Stuart had lent me over the other shoulder and kind of to the right side. (I had tried putting it to the back before I left home and nearly fell over backwards!) When I walked out the front door, Melissa was laughing her head off at me.
I do make for good entertainment sometimes, even when I'm not trying. Glad I can be of service to humankind in that way.
(BTW. It is true, that if you roll your clothes you can fit way more in, just remember it will weigh more-I don't know what possessed me!? I wanted to be clean, dry and have things to do... I am banning myself from rolling next time.)
So, I was sitting... on the front edge of a seat because my backpack was taking up the comfortable part and looking at the little map on the other side that lists the stops in order and straightaway I had a sinking feeling something was amiss. It looked like the yellow and green took the same path for a piece, so I was hoping somehow miraculously I'd end up in the right place. It takes a couple stops before I can make sense of what I'm hearing the announcer saying and make it jive with the map thing...
Yessiree. I should be on yellow and not green.
Aaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!
I got off at the next stop... located the yellow line, got on that tube, made it to Victoria, climbed out of the bowels of the earth and discovered I needed to be at platform 15 in less than 5 minutes and it was only, oh, say 500 miles away! (well, it might as well have been, the way my little legs felt at that point.) I made it to platform 15 and verified that it was calling at Redhill, the guy said yes, leaving right now do you have a ticket?
Ahhh yes... I do... I could tell from the way he was looking at me that he wanted to see it, plus, another big clue was that he was not opening the gate for me to pass... and so I started to dig... then I said, are you really going to make me get it out? He just kinda smiled and opened the gate.
What was that about, anyway? My accent probably.
I literally got on the train, found a spot and the train pulled out of the station. Redhill here I come!
Whew.
Train out of Redhill was from the same platform I came in on.
Glory hallelujah!!!
Called the Relyon taxi company (en route thanks to that trusty cell phone) in Edenbridge, and arranged for a ride out to Bore Place... almost there!
Any UK people reading? Relyon is a great company, very friendly and helpful, the nice lady who answers the phone always calls me dear! Very reasonable fares too.
So, finally. An hour later than planned, I arrived at Bore Place.
Despite the fact that they were in the middle of a huge party for local families, Jacqueline, the Commonwork Director took time out to show me around the place; introduce me to Chef Andrew, who had put together a smorgasbord of decadent delights in the fridge for me; and help me get all my stuff over to the Small Barn which would be my home away from home... away from home... for the next few days.
Elaine had a fire going in the woodstove for me, a huge basket of fruit on the table and a host of 'staples' in the fridge and larder... organic milk, butter, jams, juices, granola, fresh bread, a variety of coffees and tea...
When I was in college one of the projects I did was the design for a carriage barn renovation for the lady who owned the property my folks rented. The carriage barn was where she stayed when she visited Vermont. I spent some of the next Summer working with my Dad, a skilled finish carpenter, as he implemented that plan. The layout and feel of the Small Barn at Bore Place was uncannily similar to Lillian's barn in Jericho, Vermont, right down to the sleeping loft.
It was like coming home.
My time there was so, so wonderful, and there are a few posts coming to tell you all about it. Lots of pictures too. For now, I'll just say this... it was as if everyone and everything was in a conspiracy... to bless me, and I truly was.
susie
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
"Proper Job Nigel, Proper Job"
... speaking of technology... again...
I also got a new digital camera before I flew across the ocean and have yet to really figure it out. I know it is capable of doing far more than i've been asking it to.
The other day I wanted to video JW seranading us while we worked. I'm not kidding you. He sings songs. He also does impressions. And if he's not 6 feet up on a ladder, he'll do the dance steps that go along with whatever it is too.
Nigel had to show me how to work the video thingie, part, on my camera. But, by the time we got it figured out -well, I was standing there after all, even if Nigel was doing the figuring out bit- the show was over.
Golly.
Fast forward to the next day. I wanted to get an 'after' shot of the willow structure restoration we had just finished. So I grabbed my trusty camera not realizing until after trying several times to snap a picture of the willow structure, it was still on video record...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuqpQEwHgSg
It started early Friday morning! If you know me, you've gotta know I was jumping for joy and making happy exclamations when I put the shades up in the Small Barn to find those big fluffy flakes falling on the other side of the cold glass.
It pretty much snowed the entire morning. Not alot, but enough that the hillsides were white. Snowed the whole time we were working.
I was a happy camper, that's for sure. It didn't stay around long-by the next morning it was just a memory. But one that I have recorded!
I caught the snow falling due to technical difficulties in operating my own camera. "Mistakes" can often have a wonderful outcome.
You just never know.
XO, susie
I also got a new digital camera before I flew across the ocean and have yet to really figure it out. I know it is capable of doing far more than i've been asking it to.
The other day I wanted to video JW seranading us while we worked. I'm not kidding you. He sings songs. He also does impressions. And if he's not 6 feet up on a ladder, he'll do the dance steps that go along with whatever it is too.
Nigel had to show me how to work the video thingie, part, on my camera. But, by the time we got it figured out -well, I was standing there after all, even if Nigel was doing the figuring out bit- the show was over.
Golly.
Fast forward to the next day. I wanted to get an 'after' shot of the willow structure restoration we had just finished. So I grabbed my trusty camera not realizing until after trying several times to snap a picture of the willow structure, it was still on video record...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuqpQEwHgSg
Yes. That IS snow you see falling and sticking to the grass...
I. was. SnOw. excited!
It pretty much snowed the entire morning. Not alot, but enough that the hillsides were white. Snowed the whole time we were working.
I was a happy camper, that's for sure. It didn't stay around long-by the next morning it was just a memory. But one that I have recorded!
I caught the snow falling due to technical difficulties in operating my own camera. "Mistakes" can often have a wonderful outcome.
You just never know.
XO, susie
Monday, December 12, 2011
Speaking of Technology...
Back home, I was consciously working on reducing my reliance on technology... had gotten rid of TV service for TVs sake figuring that I could watch things online if I needed to. I do really like movies though, and discovered that I could rent 'older' flicks at Video King for just a dollar a night. That is pretty cheap entertainment, when all is said and done... and sometimes I need entertainment in order to get those whirling wheels to stop turning in my head.
You know what I mean... when there is so much to do and so many things going on you just can't stop thinking about it all.
So I set about to watch as many British based things as I could... like Beatrix Potter, who happens to be one of my favorite authors, illustrators and conservationists of all time. Multiple renditions about the Boleyn's, Queen Elizabeth, various kings etc. etc. I wanted to hear the British accent, see the countryside, learn something about England before I got here. Even if it was the Hollywood version!
But I digress.
Technology. Right. So, I only had a land line, no cell phone. And I have to say, people found that a bit odd... I was forever having to remind people I only had a land line and no, I couldn't really call them when I was 'en route' to get directions or let them know where I was.
I did have a laptop... which had a cracked LCD(?) screen for the last 2 years or so. You know how if you write something and while the ink is still wet, put something over top of it that doesn't absorb the ink, but rather makes the ink bleed out? That's what my screen was like and it was getting so bad I could not see what I was doing. It was at least an artful crack... it looked like a pear. The initial spot being where the stem and leaves would be and then curving out, and down and around in two directions. It had almost come together again at the bottom... but not quite.
How did it get cracked you are wondering?
I had my laptop, in my suitcase, well-cushioned, or so I thought. My suitcase gently plopped over, on a carpeted floor, and that was all it took. To this day, I have no idea how it managed to crack the screen, but, cracked it was.
(Nope. I do not ever pack my laptop in my suitcase anymore. Sometimes. Yes, sometimes I am capable of learning from my own mistakes.)
I spent the next two years watching it grow from a small blob into a pear, and hoping I was not somehow subjecting myself to toxic somethings emanating from the screen.
Finally, on the 4th of July, when I almost had enough money saved up to buy the new, lighter laptop with all the current bells and whistles that I wanted to replace it... it crashed. Took it to the computer doctor who said it was gone for good.
Bye-bye Sony.
I went a few weeks without a computer and that, my friends, was a challenge!! Not to have immediate access to my email, or the internet at my fingertips was awful and wonderful all at the same time. Prior to the crash, I had been spending oodles of time on the thing- I had been job searching and apartment hunting the eighteen months or so before, non-stop. Looking for work had in fact, become a full time job in and of itself!
At that point I was still looking too and had a couple of inquiries "out there"... having not gotten responses back from any willow places in England yet. And not having yet stumbled upon Johns website.
The laptop I wanted was on sale through the end of July and I, not being techno savvy, and wanting to keep the money in my savings account as long as possible, waited until the very last day to go buy the laptop at Staples. It seemed like a good plan to me, but, guess what? They were out. Not only were they out, so were the stores in South Burlington and Williston. As a matter of fact, there was not a store in the state of Vermont that had one, or in all of New England for that matter.
Huh...
Really, what went on in my head at that moment was more like you frequently see in comic strips... with all the exclamation points and ampersands etc... etc.
!?@#?%&*!?$
I mean. How was I supposed to know that that particular laptop was on sale because there was a newer version coming out with a few more bells and whistles, for alot more money. To the tune of $150 bucks to be exact. That's $150 more than the original price, not the sale price of that other one...
Crikey. No wonder everyone else bought up the one I wanted. How did they know?
Sometimes I definitely feel 'out of the loop'.
As you've probably surmised by now, the end of that little story is, I bit the bullet and bought the latest and greatest, more expensive, laptop.
Despite my desire to have less technology in my life it seems I've ended up having more...
I had contemplated getting a cell phone once I arrived in England. After my initial train ride down to Bore Place, where the train was delayed and I was late with no way to reach John to let him know. I decided it would be good to be able to reach people and have them reach me. Guess what I did? I bought a cell phone. Granted, it was the least expensive one they had at 12.99 GBP, came with a free SMS(?) card which is the type my friend Mark K. suggested I get, but by the time I paid for the service and topped it up the mandatory amount (plus a little bit more) it came in at something like 55 GBP, which is just under $86 in US dollars.
I hardly ever use it so the money I put on it seems to be going far, which is a good thing. But, hardly ever using it means that sometimes there are messages and texts sitting out there in cyberworld that I don't know about. For instance. Pat, of Pat & Terry, that I met in Tunbridge Wells called to verify I got home okay the day I was traveling because there were lots of strikes happening here in England that day... I never turned the phone on until 3 days later at which point I got her voicemail message, and returned her call.
All I can say is bear with me English people... and sorry American friends and family... I did not spring for the international calling option. You can always send me an 'old-fashioned' email. When I'm home, I check the inbox frequently.
And BTW, I love to get old-fashioned emails (or blog comments)... so please, could you write every so often??? It helps keep the homesickness dragon at bay... and thank you so much to everyone who has emailed or commented so far. You know who you are.
The phone has one feature I am really excited about which is an alarm that works and the phone doesn't even have to be on. I brought a little digital kitchen timer with me, which was one of the suggestions I'd read in a travel guide. It's small and compact for travel... but, you actually have to know what time it is before you can set the thing to go off how ever many hours later you want to wake up... The other issue with it is that it has such a sweet little sound, "Dee-de-dee...dee-de-dee" which is fairly easy to either ignore or I don't know about you, but my subconscious can work things like that into a dream pretty efficiently.
The alarm on the cell phone is annoying enough to wake me up without scaring the heck out of me in the process. It keeps going off every 4 minutes for about an hour, until you turn the thing off.
Yes, I know that by experience.
Do I think about all those 'waves' bouncing all around me and through me from the cell phone to whatever tower it's getting it's signal from?
Yes.
Does it bother me?
Yes, but only when I think about it.
One other positive note, is that the plan I chose (O2) seems to have pretty reliable coverage, everywhere I've been in my travels so far. That said, it has given me a certain sense of security in theoretically being able to reach someone if I was stuck somewhere, and in some sort of trouble. However true or false that sense of security is... I don't know.
I spend oodles of time online here blogging, trying to find lodging and checking on train and bus schedules... ad infinitum. Also, in case nobody has noticed, I am checking in on facebook more frequently than once in a blue moon, striving to maintain some sort of contact with family... I lost Jordan. Where did he go?
I did spend a goodly amount of time on one train ride down to Kent figuring out how to 'reply' to a text message from John's wife, Mandy. I did manage that, but, still have no idea how to compose my own message, let alone send it. Jeepers. Just to type a word I have to go through all those letters to get to the one I want... sometimes I press the button one too many times and end up with a very mis-spelled word... so have to backspace and then go through them all again. I can tell you right about then my eyes start to glaze over. Capital letters? Punctuation? Forget it. Do I blend in better with most of the other people on the train engrossed in their various forms of technology?
Yes.
Oh yeah... and my phone has a radio that came with those little tiny speakers that are supposed to fit in your ears. Don't ask me how, when I tried it they either kept falling out or I had to shove them in so far they hurt.
"Wow" I thought, "this is f-u-n."
Or not. so. much.
On the one hand I did feel sort of like a grown up, with a phone and everything... and then there was the 'blending in' and being like everybody else. On the other hand, I have pretty much marched to the beat of a different drum my whole life. I mean, being the unique person I am, how could I not, really?
How am I doing at reducing my reliance and use of technology? I guess I've got a little internal conflict going on...
It is nice to be free of it when I am working in the woods... to hear the birds, the sound the billhook makes when it is cutting through green wood (not by my doing, mind you, because I have not managed to cut through anything bigger than a small branch with mine. Don't ask me to hit the same place twice if it needs another whack either, if I do hit the same spot, it is purely by accident.) John can fell a small tree with one powerful swipe of the billhook. Nick pretty much too. Impressive. I like the sound. The pheasants. The wind in the trees...
On the other hand, when I get home, one of the first things I do is check email.
I guess ultimately I want to use it, not have it rule my life. Whether I am here or back in the states. It's a balancing act as is so much of life.
For now, "it is what it is"...
susie here... signing off quickly before my battery di
You know what I mean... when there is so much to do and so many things going on you just can't stop thinking about it all.
So I set about to watch as many British based things as I could... like Beatrix Potter, who happens to be one of my favorite authors, illustrators and conservationists of all time. Multiple renditions about the Boleyn's, Queen Elizabeth, various kings etc. etc. I wanted to hear the British accent, see the countryside, learn something about England before I got here. Even if it was the Hollywood version!
But I digress.
Technology. Right. So, I only had a land line, no cell phone. And I have to say, people found that a bit odd... I was forever having to remind people I only had a land line and no, I couldn't really call them when I was 'en route' to get directions or let them know where I was.
I did have a laptop... which had a cracked LCD(?) screen for the last 2 years or so. You know how if you write something and while the ink is still wet, put something over top of it that doesn't absorb the ink, but rather makes the ink bleed out? That's what my screen was like and it was getting so bad I could not see what I was doing. It was at least an artful crack... it looked like a pear. The initial spot being where the stem and leaves would be and then curving out, and down and around in two directions. It had almost come together again at the bottom... but not quite.
How did it get cracked you are wondering?
I had my laptop, in my suitcase, well-cushioned, or so I thought. My suitcase gently plopped over, on a carpeted floor, and that was all it took. To this day, I have no idea how it managed to crack the screen, but, cracked it was.
(Nope. I do not ever pack my laptop in my suitcase anymore. Sometimes. Yes, sometimes I am capable of learning from my own mistakes.)
I spent the next two years watching it grow from a small blob into a pear, and hoping I was not somehow subjecting myself to toxic somethings emanating from the screen.
Finally, on the 4th of July, when I almost had enough money saved up to buy the new, lighter laptop with all the current bells and whistles that I wanted to replace it... it crashed. Took it to the computer doctor who said it was gone for good.
Bye-bye Sony.
I went a few weeks without a computer and that, my friends, was a challenge!! Not to have immediate access to my email, or the internet at my fingertips was awful and wonderful all at the same time. Prior to the crash, I had been spending oodles of time on the thing- I had been job searching and apartment hunting the eighteen months or so before, non-stop. Looking for work had in fact, become a full time job in and of itself!
At that point I was still looking too and had a couple of inquiries "out there"... having not gotten responses back from any willow places in England yet. And not having yet stumbled upon Johns website.
The laptop I wanted was on sale through the end of July and I, not being techno savvy, and wanting to keep the money in my savings account as long as possible, waited until the very last day to go buy the laptop at Staples. It seemed like a good plan to me, but, guess what? They were out. Not only were they out, so were the stores in South Burlington and Williston. As a matter of fact, there was not a store in the state of Vermont that had one, or in all of New England for that matter.
Huh...
Really, what went on in my head at that moment was more like you frequently see in comic strips... with all the exclamation points and ampersands etc... etc.
!?@#?%&*!?$
I mean. How was I supposed to know that that particular laptop was on sale because there was a newer version coming out with a few more bells and whistles, for alot more money. To the tune of $150 bucks to be exact. That's $150 more than the original price, not the sale price of that other one...
Crikey. No wonder everyone else bought up the one I wanted. How did they know?
Sometimes I definitely feel 'out of the loop'.
As you've probably surmised by now, the end of that little story is, I bit the bullet and bought the latest and greatest, more expensive, laptop.
Despite my desire to have less technology in my life it seems I've ended up having more...
I had contemplated getting a cell phone once I arrived in England. After my initial train ride down to Bore Place, where the train was delayed and I was late with no way to reach John to let him know. I decided it would be good to be able to reach people and have them reach me. Guess what I did? I bought a cell phone. Granted, it was the least expensive one they had at 12.99 GBP, came with a free SMS(?) card which is the type my friend Mark K. suggested I get, but by the time I paid for the service and topped it up the mandatory amount (plus a little bit more) it came in at something like 55 GBP, which is just under $86 in US dollars.
I hardly ever use it so the money I put on it seems to be going far, which is a good thing. But, hardly ever using it means that sometimes there are messages and texts sitting out there in cyberworld that I don't know about. For instance. Pat, of Pat & Terry, that I met in Tunbridge Wells called to verify I got home okay the day I was traveling because there were lots of strikes happening here in England that day... I never turned the phone on until 3 days later at which point I got her voicemail message, and returned her call.
All I can say is bear with me English people... and sorry American friends and family... I did not spring for the international calling option. You can always send me an 'old-fashioned' email. When I'm home, I check the inbox frequently.
And BTW, I love to get old-fashioned emails (or blog comments)... so please, could you write every so often??? It helps keep the homesickness dragon at bay... and thank you so much to everyone who has emailed or commented so far. You know who you are.
The phone has one feature I am really excited about which is an alarm that works and the phone doesn't even have to be on. I brought a little digital kitchen timer with me, which was one of the suggestions I'd read in a travel guide. It's small and compact for travel... but, you actually have to know what time it is before you can set the thing to go off how ever many hours later you want to wake up... The other issue with it is that it has such a sweet little sound, "Dee-de-dee...dee-de-dee" which is fairly easy to either ignore or I don't know about you, but my subconscious can work things like that into a dream pretty efficiently.
The alarm on the cell phone is annoying enough to wake me up without scaring the heck out of me in the process. It keeps going off every 4 minutes for about an hour, until you turn the thing off.
Yes, I know that by experience.
Do I think about all those 'waves' bouncing all around me and through me from the cell phone to whatever tower it's getting it's signal from?
Yes.
Does it bother me?
Yes, but only when I think about it.
One other positive note, is that the plan I chose (O2) seems to have pretty reliable coverage, everywhere I've been in my travels so far. That said, it has given me a certain sense of security in theoretically being able to reach someone if I was stuck somewhere, and in some sort of trouble. However true or false that sense of security is... I don't know.
I spend oodles of time online here blogging, trying to find lodging and checking on train and bus schedules... ad infinitum. Also, in case nobody has noticed, I am checking in on facebook more frequently than once in a blue moon, striving to maintain some sort of contact with family... I lost Jordan. Where did he go?
I did spend a goodly amount of time on one train ride down to Kent figuring out how to 'reply' to a text message from John's wife, Mandy. I did manage that, but, still have no idea how to compose my own message, let alone send it. Jeepers. Just to type a word I have to go through all those letters to get to the one I want... sometimes I press the button one too many times and end up with a very mis-spelled word... so have to backspace and then go through them all again. I can tell you right about then my eyes start to glaze over. Capital letters? Punctuation? Forget it. Do I blend in better with most of the other people on the train engrossed in their various forms of technology?
Yes.
Oh yeah... and my phone has a radio that came with those little tiny speakers that are supposed to fit in your ears. Don't ask me how, when I tried it they either kept falling out or I had to shove them in so far they hurt.
"Wow" I thought, "this is f-u-n."
Or not. so. much.
On the one hand I did feel sort of like a grown up, with a phone and everything... and then there was the 'blending in' and being like everybody else. On the other hand, I have pretty much marched to the beat of a different drum my whole life. I mean, being the unique person I am, how could I not, really?
How am I doing at reducing my reliance and use of technology? I guess I've got a little internal conflict going on...
It is nice to be free of it when I am working in the woods... to hear the birds, the sound the billhook makes when it is cutting through green wood (not by my doing, mind you, because I have not managed to cut through anything bigger than a small branch with mine. Don't ask me to hit the same place twice if it needs another whack either, if I do hit the same spot, it is purely by accident.) John can fell a small tree with one powerful swipe of the billhook. Nick pretty much too. Impressive. I like the sound. The pheasants. The wind in the trees...
On the other hand, when I get home, one of the first things I do is check email.
I guess ultimately I want to use it, not have it rule my life. Whether I am here or back in the states. It's a balancing act as is so much of life.
For now, "it is what it is"...
susie here... signing off quickly before my battery di
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Our Father, Which Art in Heaven...
Today is my Dad's birthday. Born December 11, 1911. He would be 100.
(I didn't even need a calculator to do that math.)
So, I've been thinking of him... and still missing him even though it's been 16 years since he passed over to the other side of life.
What a very different world he was born into. One that was much, much simpler. One with far less dependence on technology and far more self sufficiency. One where home made and hand crafted things - like the types of traditional woodcrafts John Waller makes - were common, and valued. I aspire to make my own personal world more like that world, even though I am sitting at my laptop writing this... watching Michael Buble's Top 20 Christmas Videos on a flat screen television as I write.
I guess 'more' would be the operative word there.
My Dad typed this poem on his old fashioned, manual typewriter... and all of my growing up years it hung in our bathroom, where he could see it every morning as he was getting ready for the day. I love it, and have made myself a copy to hang in my own bathroom... carrying on the tradition.
(I didn't even need a calculator to do that math.)
So, I've been thinking of him... and still missing him even though it's been 16 years since he passed over to the other side of life.
What a very different world he was born into. One that was much, much simpler. One with far less dependence on technology and far more self sufficiency. One where home made and hand crafted things - like the types of traditional woodcrafts John Waller makes - were common, and valued. I aspire to make my own personal world more like that world, even though I am sitting at my laptop writing this... watching Michael Buble's Top 20 Christmas Videos on a flat screen television as I write.
I guess 'more' would be the operative word there.
My Dad typed this poem on his old fashioned, manual typewriter... and all of my growing up years it hung in our bathroom, where he could see it every morning as he was getting ready for the day. I love it, and have made myself a copy to hang in my own bathroom... carrying on the tradition.
Look to this Day
Look to this day, for it is life,
The very life of life,
In its brief course lie all the realities
And verities of existence:
The bliss of growth, the splendor of action,
The glory of power.
The very life of life,
In its brief course lie all the realities
And verities of existence:
The bliss of growth, the splendor of action,
The glory of power.
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday
A dream of happiness!
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, unto this day!
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday
A dream of happiness!
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, unto this day!
~Sanskrit Proverb~
It speaks to me of being in the present... cherishing each day for what it is... and all it brings.
A couple other 'Dadisms' that I treasure are...
"It is what it is"... a phrase I heard him say alot. And, something that I purposely call upon when things don't quite go the way I want or hope. Like sitting on that bench in the cold for an hour waiting for the train...
"Do not bruise a wound you wish to heal." Good advice. And something I wish I was better at taking heed to.
ditto on this one...
"A thought unspoken can fall back dead, but even God himself can't kill it once it's said."
Now... if that ain't the truth, I don't know what is...
One of my big brothers said recently that he thought my Dad would be proud of me for the gardening work with the willow and for my very great adventure... I hope so.
I like to think he's watching, and listening and cheering me on from that other realm... and loving me still, as I am him...
Happy Birthday Daddy.
Love,
susie
Snippets of a Day
John had scheduled another day of hazel coppicing for us in Bushy Wood on Monday, December 5th. We were joined again by another volunteer, Nick, from Surrey.
I am still learning about the way the trains work here. It seems I might never fully "get comfortable" with it all. When I was checking the National Rail website the day before it was saying the route for the 6.36 train was through London rather than through Reading and Redhill the way I usually go. I decided to leave on the earlier train... just to be on the safe side...
My day began earlier than planned... I had woken up at 3.30 and had not been able to get back to sleep.
I caught the 6.06 Monday, purchasing my ticket en route from the conductor, who assured me that I could go the way I usually did, and the ticket was in fact, the cheaper of the two. Oh goodie!!
Leaving earlier gave me time in Reading to get a soy chai latte, (which always reminds me of my friend Rhonda) and warm croissant packing some kind of protein punch. It was nice to have some extra time so that I could sit and eat before traveling. It was quite a chilly morning though… and the Reading station, while it is a very large building with walls and the like, it is open to the outside where all the platforms are located for the trains to park… so, if it is cold outside… it is cold inside. That said, I did sit down at a table, but didn’t waste any time eating my croissant.
So far, all the pictures I’ve taken from a moving train have not really turned out all that great… I will keep trying. But, I did write down a few snippets along the way, from Reading to Redhill… which may or may not seem all that interesting to you.
To me, even the names of the villages are interesting. I might have mentioned the train traveling through countryside that reminded me very much of Vermont… that is true for certain parts of the journey, particularly closer to Redhill… but we also pass through the residential areas of several small hamlets and villages, sometimes very close to homes. Other times, we travel through the industrial areas of bigger cities.
Wokingham… trying to extricate my journal from my backpack… everything is really packed in. I’ve got my rain pants and coat… extra shirt… extra socks… baseball cap… work gloves… mittens… my lunch… water bottle… torch (flashlight) a book (The Woodland House by Ben Law) and finally, my journal.
Crowthorne… my pen…. good grief… ok, now I’m ready. In my defense, I was doing all that digging with my backpack in my lap while trying to hold the remainder of my latte between my knees… so, it took a bit of concentration…and, it was still a little too dark to see too much outside the train anyway... looking out the window all I could see were reflections of myself and everyone on the other side of the train.
Sandhurst… The Village Inn, looks like a nice pub!
Blackwater… huge water treatment looking place.
Farnborough North…
North Camp…
Ash… beautiful, stately tree silhouettes against the pink of the early morning sky.
Guildford… ponds… heavy frost… white stucco house with 2 greenhouses… train track city… home of the University of Surrey… 2 tunnely things…
Shalford… hillside allotments (community gardens)… lots of airplanes in the air, I counted five at that particular moment (I think we were near Gatwick airport)…
Chilworth… new apartment building under construction, with its corner about 10 feet from the train… very, very frosty… hilly open field with one very large tree felled along the woodland edge. This tree has been there since my first ride by a month earlier… someone had cut and removed all the branches between last week and now.
Gomshall… beautiful little hamlet with homes of white stucco and thatched roofs just before the station… huge field of FROZEN rapeseed… huge area of hillside allotments… outskirts of the city... stacks of crushed cars….
Dorking West… school kids get on (like, secondary school aged) and the noise level goes up several decibels… hilly… herd of beef cattle, mixed breeds including belted Galloways… sheer white cliffs yes, chalk cliffs like ‘the white cliffs of Dover’…
Betchworth… it is 8.20 am… gates across the road to let the train pass and a very long queue of cars waiting… fields and long range views… sheared hedges act as fences dividing fields…
Reigate… school kids get off… ivy on buildings (like what we have in the US as houseplants) still thriving despite frosty temps… four trees directly along the back of the platform have been pollarded and so look like ivy covered columns…
Redhill… city… highrises and all…
We had a great day of work in Bushy Wood, me, feeling a little more confident with the bilhook. I also had my first experience with a Kelly Kettle... probably Trish or Cathy and Ken who do tons of camping would laugh at how proud of myself I was too.
The days work done, I caught a ride partway with Nick. It was nice to have conversation with someone... not something I usually get to enjoy on the train.
He dropped me off at the station in his hometown, which seemed like it should be fine... I would simply catch the next train to Guildford and continue on my usual route from there...
Simple is defined as "Not involved or complicated; easy". Well this turned out to be anything but... No Staples 'That was easy' button for me.
I had just missed the train I needed, and long story short - because the trains run less frequently at night - the delay at each subsequent station got longer... and longer... and longer.
By the time I got to Twyford, it was 9pm. I had a wait of nearly an hour. Sitting on a metal bench. Outside. By myself. Hungry. Cold.
We had left Bore Place at 5pm... and I usually arrive in Henley at 8.20...
Ya live and learn I guess...
Normally, I tend to like getting my ducks all in a row, being a planner by nature. So, it's good to shake things up a bit and do things on the spur of the moment sometimes... Even if you do end up sitting all by yourself on a metal bench...in the cold... dreaming of a warm home and dinner.
Having plenty of time on my hands, I contemplated how many people there are in the world that end up on a cold bench every night dreaming of a warm home and dinner, because they are homeless... and concluded that I have it made in the shade.
I was thankful that John had lent me his copy of Trees and Woodlands in the British Landscape by Oliver Rackham. Nothing like a good book to take you away from reality... and that came in handy right about then!
love-
susie
I am still learning about the way the trains work here. It seems I might never fully "get comfortable" with it all. When I was checking the National Rail website the day before it was saying the route for the 6.36 train was through London rather than through Reading and Redhill the way I usually go. I decided to leave on the earlier train... just to be on the safe side...
My day began earlier than planned... I had woken up at 3.30 and had not been able to get back to sleep.
I caught the 6.06 Monday, purchasing my ticket en route from the conductor, who assured me that I could go the way I usually did, and the ticket was in fact, the cheaper of the two. Oh goodie!!
Leaving earlier gave me time in Reading to get a soy chai latte, (which always reminds me of my friend Rhonda) and warm croissant packing some kind of protein punch. It was nice to have some extra time so that I could sit and eat before traveling. It was quite a chilly morning though… and the Reading station, while it is a very large building with walls and the like, it is open to the outside where all the platforms are located for the trains to park… so, if it is cold outside… it is cold inside. That said, I did sit down at a table, but didn’t waste any time eating my croissant.
So far, all the pictures I’ve taken from a moving train have not really turned out all that great… I will keep trying. But, I did write down a few snippets along the way, from Reading to Redhill… which may or may not seem all that interesting to you.
To me, even the names of the villages are interesting. I might have mentioned the train traveling through countryside that reminded me very much of Vermont… that is true for certain parts of the journey, particularly closer to Redhill… but we also pass through the residential areas of several small hamlets and villages, sometimes very close to homes. Other times, we travel through the industrial areas of bigger cities.
Wokingham… trying to extricate my journal from my backpack… everything is really packed in. I’ve got my rain pants and coat… extra shirt… extra socks… baseball cap… work gloves… mittens… my lunch… water bottle… torch (flashlight) a book (The Woodland House by Ben Law) and finally, my journal.
Crowthorne… my pen…. good grief… ok, now I’m ready. In my defense, I was doing all that digging with my backpack in my lap while trying to hold the remainder of my latte between my knees… so, it took a bit of concentration…and, it was still a little too dark to see too much outside the train anyway... looking out the window all I could see were reflections of myself and everyone on the other side of the train.
Sandhurst… The Village Inn, looks like a nice pub!
Blackwater… huge water treatment looking place.
Farnborough North…
North Camp…
Ash… beautiful, stately tree silhouettes against the pink of the early morning sky.
Guildford… ponds… heavy frost… white stucco house with 2 greenhouses… train track city… home of the University of Surrey… 2 tunnely things…
Shalford… hillside allotments (community gardens)… lots of airplanes in the air, I counted five at that particular moment (I think we were near Gatwick airport)…
Chilworth… new apartment building under construction, with its corner about 10 feet from the train… very, very frosty… hilly open field with one very large tree felled along the woodland edge. This tree has been there since my first ride by a month earlier… someone had cut and removed all the branches between last week and now.
Gomshall… beautiful little hamlet with homes of white stucco and thatched roofs just before the station… huge field of FROZEN rapeseed… huge area of hillside allotments… outskirts of the city... stacks of crushed cars….
Dorking West… school kids get on (like, secondary school aged) and the noise level goes up several decibels… hilly… herd of beef cattle, mixed breeds including belted Galloways… sheer white cliffs yes, chalk cliffs like ‘the white cliffs of Dover’…
Betchworth… it is 8.20 am… gates across the road to let the train pass and a very long queue of cars waiting… fields and long range views… sheared hedges act as fences dividing fields…
Reigate… school kids get off… ivy on buildings (like what we have in the US as houseplants) still thriving despite frosty temps… four trees directly along the back of the platform have been pollarded and so look like ivy covered columns…
Redhill… city… highrises and all…
We had a great day of work in Bushy Wood, me, feeling a little more confident with the bilhook. I also had my first experience with a Kelly Kettle... probably Trish or Cathy and Ken who do tons of camping would laugh at how proud of myself I was too.
The days work done, I caught a ride partway with Nick. It was nice to have conversation with someone... not something I usually get to enjoy on the train.
He dropped me off at the station in his hometown, which seemed like it should be fine... I would simply catch the next train to Guildford and continue on my usual route from there...
Simple is defined as "Not involved or complicated; easy". Well this turned out to be anything but... No Staples 'That was easy' button for me.
I had just missed the train I needed, and long story short - because the trains run less frequently at night - the delay at each subsequent station got longer... and longer... and longer.
By the time I got to Twyford, it was 9pm. I had a wait of nearly an hour. Sitting on a metal bench. Outside. By myself. Hungry. Cold.
We had left Bore Place at 5pm... and I usually arrive in Henley at 8.20...
Ya live and learn I guess...
Normally, I tend to like getting my ducks all in a row, being a planner by nature. So, it's good to shake things up a bit and do things on the spur of the moment sometimes... Even if you do end up sitting all by yourself on a metal bench...in the cold... dreaming of a warm home and dinner.
Having plenty of time on my hands, I contemplated how many people there are in the world that end up on a cold bench every night dreaming of a warm home and dinner, because they are homeless... and concluded that I have it made in the shade.
I was thankful that John had lent me his copy of Trees and Woodlands in the British Landscape by Oliver Rackham. Nothing like a good book to take you away from reality... and that came in handy right about then!
love-
susie
Wednesday, November 30 (Part 2)
Alrighty. So, I had passed by a place on my way to the hotel Monday. It was closed, but, one glance in the window and I knew I was going there one way or another before I left town. The front window was overflowing with teapots, big ones, little ones, some with roses on them, some shaped like flowers, houses, round ones, square ones... You think one up and they probably had it! That was enough right there, but, just in case... there were cakes and other goodies on pedestal plates and a wonderful eclectic mix of tables and chairs and lighting fixtures. It had my name written all over it, except for the fact that it was called "Juliets". Fitting then, that the line, "Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?" played over and over in my head for the next two days...and even now.
Romeo, where are you? Indeed.
I intended to go for lunch, and did, but there was quite a que (line) and so I decided to grab a sandwich elsewhere and come back to Juliets later for a pot of tea before I caught the train out. And that's what I did.
It proved to be one very special experience! There were several empty tables when I came back. I chose one way at the back and in the corner, where I could enjoy my tea and do some people watching. I ordered a pot of tea and was delighted to get a pot that looked like a little brick English cottage china shop and a mismatched cup and saucer, with yellow and red roses and rosebuds. Red. Roses. My faves.
First, let me ask you... do you remember those folded paper games from when we were kids? Check it out here :http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/fortune_teller.htm.
Okay, so, now you know what I'm talking about. Well, the guy, opened the book to that pointy edged map and started opening and closing the book and counting, like it was one of those folded paper games.
Even now, a couple weeks later, as I write this post, I find myself chuckling just thinking bout it!
I recognized right away exactly what he was mimicking and, oh my gosh, did that ever strike me as funny. He didn't just do it once, the woman picked right up on it too and they were laughing to themselves. Well, I just could not contain myself, it tickled me so, I burst right out laughing- the guy noticed me laughing, which made him laugh more which made his partner laugh and she turned around and we laughed together, me, apologizing for carrying on so, and imposing on their moment. They noticed my "accent" and asked where I was from, and we were off...
Pat and Terry joined me at my table and we spent the next hour or so engaged in the most delightful conversation together. They live in London and were visiting the Tunbridge Wells area, Terry's old stomping ground, in honor of Pats birthday. (Hope you had a wonderful Birthday Pat!!) They gave me lots of pointers on places to see for free in London and where to eat very economically, ie... The Crypt(http://www.sjss.org.uk/pages/Restaurant/restaurant.htm). And I was writing as much down as I could. Pat even suggested that they would happily be my 'London tour guides' sometime, and she and I exchanged telephone numbers. Terry gave me the assignment of picking up a DK travel guide for London (and something else too that I can't remember right now... but, I wrote it down!)
The time passed quickly, and before we knew it, it had grown dark outside. That meant it was high time for me to make my way to the train station and begin my 3 hour trek back to Henley-on-Thames. They too needed to get on with their afternoon. So. For the second time that day I found myself saying goodbye to new aquaintances.
I marvel at the ease with which I can connect with people sometimes. Often, that connection lasts for just that particular moment in time, but I enjoy the person and appreciate the "moment", none-the-less. Just as often, though, the crossing of paths with someone that might seem random, coincidental, almost irrelevant even, turns out to be so very much more. I really love that about life, in general and my life in particular.
What absolutely lovely people I got to spend Wednesday with. I look forward to reconnecting with Sue, Pat and Terry in the near future.
Romeo, where are you? Indeed.
I intended to go for lunch, and did, but there was quite a que (line) and so I decided to grab a sandwich elsewhere and come back to Juliets later for a pot of tea before I caught the train out. And that's what I did.
It proved to be one very special experience! There were several empty tables when I came back. I chose one way at the back and in the corner, where I could enjoy my tea and do some people watching. I ordered a pot of tea and was delighted to get a pot that looked like a little brick English cottage china shop and a mismatched cup and saucer, with yellow and red roses and rosebuds. Red. Roses. My faves.
my mismatched tea service. beauteous.
Before long, a guy sat at the table in the opposite corner and immediately pulled out his cell phone, clearly there would be no interaction there... soon after a couple took the table directly next to me. Because my chair was wedged in between the wall and the table I was sitting sideways facing the couple. So, while I tried not to eavesdrop too much or pay too much attention to them, really, I couldn't help it. They had a little book that they were looking at, and seemed very engaged in conversation about it. First, the woman was looking at it, but her back was mostly to me, so I couldn't really see it very well. When they finished their food, the guy took the book and now I could see it pretty well, it was a book about Paris and in the center was a sort of pop up map and the edges were kind of zig-zaggy. "Hmmm, that's pretty unique" I thought. Then a funny thing happened...First, let me ask you... do you remember those folded paper games from when we were kids? Check it out here :http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/fortune_teller.htm.
Okay, so, now you know what I'm talking about. Well, the guy, opened the book to that pointy edged map and started opening and closing the book and counting, like it was one of those folded paper games.
Even now, a couple weeks later, as I write this post, I find myself chuckling just thinking bout it!
I recognized right away exactly what he was mimicking and, oh my gosh, did that ever strike me as funny. He didn't just do it once, the woman picked right up on it too and they were laughing to themselves. Well, I just could not contain myself, it tickled me so, I burst right out laughing- the guy noticed me laughing, which made him laugh more which made his partner laugh and she turned around and we laughed together, me, apologizing for carrying on so, and imposing on their moment. They noticed my "accent" and asked where I was from, and we were off...
Pat and Terry joined me at my table and we spent the next hour or so engaged in the most delightful conversation together. They live in London and were visiting the Tunbridge Wells area, Terry's old stomping ground, in honor of Pats birthday. (Hope you had a wonderful Birthday Pat!!) They gave me lots of pointers on places to see for free in London and where to eat very economically, ie... The Crypt(http://www.sjss.org.uk/pages/Restaurant/restaurant.htm). And I was writing as much down as I could. Pat even suggested that they would happily be my 'London tour guides' sometime, and she and I exchanged telephone numbers. Terry gave me the assignment of picking up a DK travel guide for London (and something else too that I can't remember right now... but, I wrote it down!)
The time passed quickly, and before we knew it, it had grown dark outside. That meant it was high time for me to make my way to the train station and begin my 3 hour trek back to Henley-on-Thames. They too needed to get on with their afternoon. So. For the second time that day I found myself saying goodbye to new aquaintances.
I marvel at the ease with which I can connect with people sometimes. Often, that connection lasts for just that particular moment in time, but I enjoy the person and appreciate the "moment", none-the-less. Just as often, though, the crossing of paths with someone that might seem random, coincidental, almost irrelevant even, turns out to be so very much more. I really love that about life, in general and my life in particular.
What absolutely lovely people I got to spend Wednesday with. I look forward to reconnecting with Sue, Pat and Terry in the near future.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Wednesday, November 30 (Part 1)
Catchy title, huh. Draws you right in...
I can't always be clever you know.
Pilates and coffee helped yesterday. Some. I am trying to relocate my obliques. Where have they gone? They used to be in there somewhere.
Wednesday was the last day of my three day trip to Royal Tunbridge Wells...
My hope was to explore the town a bit and had scheduled a time to meet a Tunbridge Wells Transition Town member, Sue, for a cup of coffee and a chat.
I planned to sleep in that morning, but, no way. I was awake by 6.30 or so. Tried to go back to sleep, but gave up a little after 7. I desperately wanted a cup of coffee but didn't want to have to get and dressed to locate one. I wanted to stay all cozy under the comforter, so I called room service to see if I could get a little pot sent up. I am not doing too much "splurging" here, because money doesn't go far. That's a blog post unto itself... Money. Anyway, I thought, how much could a little pot of coffee cost anyway? He said it would have to be after 7.30 so I declined and we hung up. Less than a minute later he called back saying the cofee was brewing and he'd bring me a pot in five minutes or so.
As promised, he knocked on the door a few mintes later with a tray... and informed me that my key was in the lock on the outside of the door and I really should have that inside with me. Really? D'ya think? It's not like I was in some huge place with a long hallway and a bazillion rooms. It was just mine and one other room at the end of a short little hall. But still. Probably a good idea to not leave the key in the lock on the outside. Sort of defeats the purpose of locking oneself in for the night. Guess someone is looking out for me...
I notice things... like when things I really like come to me unexpectedly. For instance, the little coffee pot had a flying goose motif on it... the bed had a canopy and curtains and a comforter, and one of my favorite prints was on the wall... little gifts, each one.
So, I poured myself a cup of coffee and crawled back in bed and pretended I was Queen Anne.
I can't always be clever you know.
Pilates and coffee helped yesterday. Some. I am trying to relocate my obliques. Where have they gone? They used to be in there somewhere.
Wednesday was the last day of my three day trip to Royal Tunbridge Wells...
My hope was to explore the town a bit and had scheduled a time to meet a Tunbridge Wells Transition Town member, Sue, for a cup of coffee and a chat.
I planned to sleep in that morning, but, no way. I was awake by 6.30 or so. Tried to go back to sleep, but gave up a little after 7. I desperately wanted a cup of coffee but didn't want to have to get and dressed to locate one. I wanted to stay all cozy under the comforter, so I called room service to see if I could get a little pot sent up. I am not doing too much "splurging" here, because money doesn't go far. That's a blog post unto itself... Money. Anyway, I thought, how much could a little pot of coffee cost anyway? He said it would have to be after 7.30 so I declined and we hung up. Less than a minute later he called back saying the cofee was brewing and he'd bring me a pot in five minutes or so.
As promised, he knocked on the door a few mintes later with a tray... and informed me that my key was in the lock on the outside of the door and I really should have that inside with me. Really? D'ya think? It's not like I was in some huge place with a long hallway and a bazillion rooms. It was just mine and one other room at the end of a short little hall. But still. Probably a good idea to not leave the key in the lock on the outside. Sort of defeats the purpose of locking oneself in for the night. Guess someone is looking out for me...
I notice things... like when things I really like come to me unexpectedly. For instance, the little coffee pot had a flying goose motif on it... the bed had a canopy and curtains and a comforter, and one of my favorite prints was on the wall... little gifts, each one.
So, I poured myself a cup of coffee and crawled back in bed and pretended I was Queen Anne.
view of the Pantiles from me room..
That was in English speak that was...
The Pantiles Hotel... can you see the sign above the colonade (to the right) that says 'coffee house and tea rooms'? My room was the double windows 2 floors up... so, I had a nice view of the Pantiles.
Read what Wikepedia has to say about the Pantiles:
It was sunny and mild that morning so I was waiting outside for Sue, and she was right on time. We went next door to Woods for a cup of coffee and then we walked up to town so I could see a garden planted by their Transition Town group. Pictures below...
Thats Sue, and the beautiful garden! Yes, things still in bloom. They've done quite an excellent job at providing plenty of food and shelter for the insect populations and have even grander plans for that in the future.
mostly intended to promote biodiversity this year... last year was fruit and veg and they have plans in place for next years Olympic themed garden.
one last pic... Sue had fixed the sign and is waving at all my friends at Transition Town Montpelier!
Sue gave me a bit more of a tour around town and then back to the Pantiles and we parted company for this trip. It was wonderful to be able to make this connection with her, via the ning website... and that she was willing to take the time and make the effort to meet up with me. Such a nice lady! I'm sure we'll have opportunity to get together again another time while I'm here and even hope I might meet more members of the group too!
So. I wandered around the Pantiles a bit and took a few pictures. There is something very special about being in a place that has so much history... it feels very different to me, almost like there is an interaction with the people and events of the past on some kind of other-worldly plane. Do you know what I mean? I just can't find the words to describe it...
the colonade... along part of The Pantiles
standing on the lower level looking back towrds the hotel
I turned around and took a picture of this, the building that houses the chalybeate springs
I failed to get a picture of the springs... it was actually less of a focal point than I imagined it would be and no water was flowing, so, I felt somewhat disappointed. Much the same as when
I visited Plymoth Rock in Massachusetts... when I finally saw that -a little rock, fenced in and enclosed in a gazebo type building - it was a letdown. I had always imagined it to be a gigantic rock that people stepped off the boat onto.. perhaps it once was, but, not any more. In this case too - my minds eye envisioned a large and elaborately decorated fountain- not the case. I had wanted to dip into the water for myself... guess i'll need to come back sometime between Easter and September to do that! At any rate it is down right fascinating and cool to know the history and there is history here, every where I turn!!! Sue pointed out to me the rust colored stain on the bottom of the fountain, from the high iron content in the water, which is supposed to be the quality that gives it its 'healing' properties.
a wonderfully diverse mix of paving materials... including, once again, a use of very small stones... seems to be common here... in buildings as well as paving materials.
left foot in Kent, right foot in Sussex... Sue had told me about this paver and we had looked for it a little bit... I happened to notice it pretty much by accident. It was raining when I was heading to the church and consequently had my head down to avoid getting my glasses wet... and there it was!!
This stone is outside of a church, King Charles the Martyr, the very first building in Tunbridge Wells. Built in 1642. Amazing architecture and the plasterwork of the ceiling was incredible. I desperately wanted to just lie down on the floor and look up... but, didn't quite dare since I was not the only person inside. Sorry. No pictures. Maybe another time. I just needed to enjoy it and take it all in for myself.
more later.
love-
susie
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