Lisa says she’s quoted the old saying, “Curiosity killed the cat.” The reply came back, “Satisfaction brought it back.”
John $ had such a good time on his second birthday. While I was making his cake, he pretended to be a chimney sweep. As I went looking for him, he slipped upstairs to play with his dad’s pipes. The best mess was the licking of the spatula from his cake batter.
John $pencer with his birthday cake
$ opening gifts with Kate holding his new outfit
$ loves real telephones as well as toy ones. He can even have a pretend one in the bath! As the water was going out, he used the stopper on a chain as the ear piece and the over-flow fixture as the mouth piece to send important messages in the Evisneps language.
Loraine (John’s good friend and former secretary from NY whom a few of you don’t know) arrived Tuesday night. She’d had a week’s coach tour of Scotland and told us about the marvelous weather and lovely sights. Wednesday she met some new friends in London for an ALL DAY tour of the city and came back with her tongue hanging out. Sights included Madame Taussaud’s or however you pronounce it and spell it, changing of the guard, a brewery, an embroidery or tapestry works, the Tower, St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey. Of course, they got out at each place and had a thorough tour with lots of walking.
Thursday and Friday she elected to stay with me to see how daily life moves in the suburbs. We “did” Walton in the rain, going to the butcher shop, green grocer, Cullen’s, the bakery, and looking at everything in between. Friday we went to Redhill to see Co op, Woolworth’s, Boots, and the freezer store. Reigate got a quick walk up and down the high street. When Kate came out of school, we drove to Godstone, doubled back for Lisa, went to Dorking, Box Hill, and home. That night the next door neighbors came for dessert so that we had a nice sit-down visit.
Our children, John, neighbors Catherine and Phillipa and gift to $ from them
Saturday Catherine (neighbor who is Lisa’s age) went with us to Heathrow (emphasis on the “row” of that name) to take Loraine. Kate was at Philippa’s delayed birthday party seeing, or rather crying over, Charlotte’s Web. It seems they were all nine crying when they emerged from the cinema. Beefburgers, baked beans, sausages, chips and a thickly coated chocolate cake soon had them in high spirits again.
We put Loraine to work professionally while she was here. John’s and her former boss called from NY to give John an order, but he couldn’t hear me on the phone, being hard of hearing. I shouted to him that Loraine was here, so he told me to give her a pad and pencil and put her on. I did. She took the message in shorthand which fascinated Kate. I was so glad she was here at that particular moment!
One night the funniest thing happened. I’d prepared a Christmas pudding the week before so that she could have one here with us. I mentioned what was coming, so John put on a Christmas record. As the flames were dying down, Loraine produced the crowning touch with a Christmas gift for each of us! She’d brought Smurf Christmas tree ornaments! What a laugh we had!
Loraine more than earned her keep. She kept $ out of untold numbers of things, refereed several sibling fights, and I found Kate in bed with her one morning reciting poetry for school! As you can imagine, we were very sorry to see her go.
There is lots of rain here these days. The way people talk, it is the usual for autumn (NOT fall) weather.
Below is a photo of autumn colour in the town where we lived, Walton-on-the-Hill.
Having said that, I must hasten to add that today, a Sunday, we had a perfectly gorgeous day of sun and brisk breezes that made us want to get up and go somewhere. Catherine and Phillipa went with us to the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court. Those of you who have seen Hampton Court saw the chapel from the balcony. We were invited to park free of charge in a special parking lot and walked around a side way to get into the chapel. We were among the first to arrive, were seated in the congregation, then later invited to go into the choir. The sidesman (usher) said, “Since you are all ladies, would you like to sit on the women’s side in the choir?” John was outside with John $ at the time. They reserve the back row of the choir for women on one side and men on the other.
There were a fair number of people there to worship with the choir of men and boys. The men were fantastic; the boys were not as precise as many we’ve heard, but lovely, nevertheless. I thought the sermon the best of any we’ve heard outside the parish churches we’ve been to. The man took a text, developed it, and didn’t quote any works of fiction or radio broadcasts. After the benediction, we sang “God Save the Queen.” I felt so stupid to know the tune so well and have not the foggiest notion of the words. We wondered if it was sung because it’s a royal chapel.
After the service everyone was invited for a drink in the chapter house. We were intent on finding the car with John and $, but missed our way and ended up following the others. When we came to a dead end and everyone else was going into an apartment, we began to swim upstream. One kindly usher saw us and asked if we had lost our way. He walked back with us, telling us that we were invited for the social hour. I explained we had to find the rest of the family, and he quietly said, “You could tell him about it afterwards.” In any case, we saw parts of the palace that are normally closed to the public.
We had a drink of lemon squash at the car and drove on to Richmond on the Thames. We ate lunch at the Golden Egg, a chain of semi-fast food restaurants. After a walk along the Thames seeing swans, long boats, and ducks, we drove a short way to Ham. Ham House was built in 1610 and remodeled in 1670. Most of the furniture was original to the rooms they were placed in, having been redone by the Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale at the time of remodeling of the building. The whole place overlooking the Thames was gorgeous, especially the carved panels about the stairs. I enjoyed the floors with beautiful designs all in wood. The ceilings were equally ornate.
We often walked right by Mere Pond when running errands in the village.
Lisa laughed at me for feeling sorry for the Queen. I read that when she dines alone or with only family members she eats meat, salad and a vegetable for lunch and dinner. No appetizers, no soups, no desserts. She does have a choice, ticking off desired items the day before from menus sent to her. The day I read that I fixed myself a mouth-watering sandwich of thin home-baked bread, crisp bacon, juicy vine-ripened tomatoes, and layers of snappy lettuce. As this feast ascended toward my mouth, I said, “Poor Queen.”
Warrants are issued to merchants or companies who supply the royal household with any item for over a period of three years. This entitles them to put the appropriate crest on their adverts, delivery wagons and letter paper. The Queen has issued the most because her household is so large – including Buckingham Palace, Balmoral, Sandringham, Windsor, etc. The Queen Mother has the next largest number and Prince Philip fewer still. Most of his are on sporting goods. I presume Prince Charles hasn’t issued any up till now since he hasn’t maintained a separate establishment. $’s first pair of shoes had the Queen’s crest on the insole, and it took up the whole heel part of the shoe! This week I picked up a high-class can of baked beans with her crest! I can’t imagine her eating baked beans, can you?, but someone in her household does.
The book also said the Queen always has her favorite blend of tea and an electric kettle that travel wherever she goes. Someone must always remember to pack her favorite soap. I feel sorry for her because I think half the joy of using products is in the trying of new brands. Poor Queen! Crest toothpaste tastes superb to me right now because I bought a really vile one put out by Co-op and wouldn’t let myself throw it away till it was finished. The Queen has probably never had the worst of toothpastes to compare with her best!
Another view of Mere Pond.
Friday night we had gale force winds whipping around. Were we evermore glad to be far away from tall spindly trees!
Yesterday Kate and Phillipa went with George to a charity bazaar. Kate didn’t buy anything, but Phillipa bought a pair of shoes for $ for 30p. She has a good eye; I think he could have worn them a month ago! Had to explain to her that they wouldn’t go on his feet, but I purchased them to give to a friend. I know Paula will be glad to get anything for her baby.
Lisa had a croupy cough and stayed home Thursday and Friday. We strung that guitar that Jeremy has loaned us, and she finished the beginner’s book! She’s enjoying it.
Once, and only once, the pond froze over while we were living there. Lisa and Kate were used to the idea of walking on frozen ponds from being on Long Island. We dressed in our warmest clothing, and the girls stepped onto the ice from the sidewalk in the distance here. Nothing could have been further from our minds the day this photo was taken.
If you’re not in the mood to read about one John $, you might as well put this down right now. Absolutely nothing unusual or extremely interesting happened this week; all that is written in my calendar book are incidents with a little imp.
John $ all of a sudden just stepped off into space and down the whole flight of stairs, never touching anything with his hands! He does this now from time to time, but when he’s in a hurry he flops onto his tummy and zooms down.
He is a great one for imitating whatever he sees. If one of the girls chokes at the table, he promptly tries, too. If someone spits out a bit of fat, $ partially chows and spits each mouthful thereafter. However, he doesn’t always get things in the right order. By imitation he has learned to wripe (that’s a cross between wring and wipe) his feet on the mat inside the door. One really rainy day he walked in, wiped his feet, and walked out again. Five times in a row he ran around the hall, carefully wiped his feet, and ran outside again. Guess it helped keep house dirt off the stoop!
$ loves to peek in kitchen cupboards to see what he can see. He found some old hard candy that had cemented itself to the shallow candy dish. Before long he picked it up and tried to extract one piece. Impossible. It didn’t take long for him to figure out what to do – he held the dish and licked the whole mound of sweets. I stalked him with a camera round and round the kitchen. He would grin so wickedly, give a quick slurp on the candy and put the dish down again so I couldn’t get photographic proof of my tale.
$ licks hard candy
Candy smeared on the face
Have we mentioned that Lisa is continuing her flute lessons? She started at Micklefield, but Dunottar doesn’t offer instruments other than the piano. We discovered that her teacher lives in the next town, Tadworth, and made arrangements for her to have a lesson on Saturday mornings. John took her and picked her up last week, but yesterday she walked home on her own. It took her about half an hour.
Kate has her group violin lesson after school on Thursdays. It lasts half an hour. I can pick her up and still have time to spare before Lisa is released from school.
This morning I went to St. Peter’ s by myself. It was dedication Sunday; we renewed our baptismal vows as a congregation and after the service processed around behind the church to the grave of the founder of this church where some prayers were said and the Doxology was sung.
John is taking the girls to London to meet Loraine [John’s whiz of a secretary in NY] at her hotel. She flew overnight from NY and is supposed to have time to get settled in before they get there. The plans are for them to go to one of the big churches for Evensong since this is the only Sunday Loraine will be in this area. She leaves on a bus tour of Scotland tomorrow and will be with us in Walton on the 13th for a few days. We’re looking forward to that.
We think of all of you often and appreciate your letters.
Last week in the continuing series on Winston Churchill we saw a scene where a man is sitting on the red carpeted stairs inside Polesden Lacey. The show is on very late and is so filled with political talk that if it weren’t for trying to spot the places in the background, I might fall asleep.
Polesden Lacey
I think I wrote a year ago about being so happy to find the absence of white baby shoes which I loathe. Boys wear T-bar buckled shoes which I think only girls would wear in the US. I’m so used to seeing them now that they don’t appear girlish. I was thinking how marvelous it’s been to avoid the tussle of keeping toddler’s shoes tied when I felt a tug at my foot. John $ had untied MY shoe! I can see the race will be on – I’ll be dancing jigs to keep my feet moving while he will be making attacks at every pause.
Kate was a bit slow getting ready for school. I said, “You don’t have time to play in the mornings.” She replied, “I don’t have time to play in the afternoons, either.” Poor thing, she’s right. We should have a big bell and a fireman’s pole to speed things up in the morning. Kate often takes a bath with John $, dresses, eats breakfast, gets together her school things, and practices her violin in less than an hour.
$ loves to take things from my gadget drawer in the kitchen. Lately his favorite has been a red measuring spoon which he smokes like a pipe. It’s so realistic to him that I expect smoke to come out one of these days.
Kate has been having a real struggle with preps (homework). The crunch comes late in the afternoon when she’s tired, John $ wants to play, and I’m preparing dinner. We tried a new system that is working for the moment. I allow her a certain amount of time for each segment of work, and she tries to finish before I ring a bell. That seems to help her concentrate. Lisa does all her work shut up in her room, so she is no distraction to Kate. But John Spencer! He is total distraction from tossing head to wiggling toe! I wish Kate had enough determination to work in her room alone, but she just can’t seem to do it.
Lisa continues to love Dunotter despite the hard work. Schools in England give double preps over the weekend (they’d say “at” the weekend). I think Lisa worked about six hours this weekend to get through. I’ll be glad to get back to the American system!
Because of all the trading John is doing at home, a new telephone line was ordered. A quite likable young chap came early Friday to do the work. One can see why the British telephones are no match for American ones. Any time we had work in the US, one man would appear, size up the work in minutes, and have the job finished in an hour or so. This fellow wandered around for an hour deciding how he was going to put in the line. He went about his tasks leisurely, said he couldn’t get the line over the trees without help, called twice for another man, waited around doing the part he could do by himself, and finally left when I went to get the girls from school. He said it was no use starting another job because he had only an hour and a half until quitting time. The thing that was holding him up was that he was afraid of throwing the line with a heavy object attached because he might hit someone on the footpath. My offer to act as sentry was kindly refused. He is supposed to come first thing Monday morning. Time will tell!
John has been feeling somewhat better this past week until yesterday when the pains in his arm came back in full force. Thank you all for your kind wishes for him. Think you’d better forget the wishes now and PRAY for him! He said he felt miserable wherever he was, so why not go somewhere interesting? Today we went to church in Westminster Abbey where the boys were back from their summer holidays and sounding as divine as ever. There was a rather sophisticated sermon on a simple text with not much point to it, but still, it was better than some we’ve heard there.
We were thinking of several outdoor things to do, but came out of Burger King to find rain pelting down. We headed for the London Museum of transport, driving around in ever widening circles trying to find a parking place. We found ONE in half an hour, and that one was blocked by a big German bus. The city was really still full of tourists. We gave up when we found the only place to park was a garage that charged a minimum of 4 pounds 20.
We headed for Kensington Palace not far away where Princess Margaret and soon the Prince and Princess of Wales will live. Queen Victoria was born there, also. We weren’t sure if we saw the actual building or not because of the huge park surrounding several buildings. Traffic and small commercial buildings came between. At least we know what the area looks like and what these royal persons see as they come and go.
I had often wondered if royalty ever got behind the wheel of a car, because I only see them being driven in big cars or state coaches. The Prince of Wales was pictured driving Lady Di back to Windsor after the races at Ascot, so I figured he drove. Just last night, I sat to read one of the papers the Brownworths had left, and it mentioned that both Prince Andrew and Prince Edward drove themselves to the final wedding rehearsal, even mentioning the type of car each owned. Prince Andrew, the elder of the two, almost collided with a cyclist the paper said. Prince Edward is a very careful driver, having just recently passed his driving test.
John $ fell asleep in the car on the way home. Usually he wakes up when we get home, but today he was out cold. We slipped out of the car, opened a window, and left the front door open with the car just outside so we could hear him when he woke. Wonder what he thought when he woke up?
John says the NY office will be closed to our mail traffic and that you are now to write to an address in Miami. The plan now seems to be to have one pouch a week in both directions.
We see so little of the neighbors who live under the same roof, that when they come over for a chat, we try to shoo the children outdoors. Phillipa had twisted her ankle in her own garden, tried to track down her own parents for sympathy, but they were busy getting ready to come over here. She came here for treatment. John filled a basin for a soak and sent four children outside. Quote of the week from Kate: “May we have umbrellas? It’s raining and we’ll get wet.” Would that we had such obedience ALL the time! We shepherded them all to the kitchen for a snack to keep them quiet.
John $ has a new way of going downstairs. He opened a book, began singing, then slid down each step on his bum, facing forward. It isn’t as efficient yet as the cog movement of arms and legs going down on the tummy.
Many of you will be happy to note we had leg of lamb for John’s birthday. It’s the first time I’ve ever cooked one! Surprise of surprises, everyone loved it and asked for seconds! After dinner the neighbors came over for a piece of birthday cake.
Kate’s first day of school, Wednesday, was successful. She had a good attitude to begin with, which is half the battle. Caroline H came here for the morning, we ate lunch, and Gillian took both girls to Dunottar School for Caroline’s La Crosse practice. The games mistress had Lisa join in some of the exercises. They were told secretly by a member of the staff that both are in the advanced section of their form and will be in the same classroom.
Kate on the first day of school this term
On Lisa’s first day of school, John $ and I walked her to the front door. The head mistress was there to greet new girls and tell them where to go.
I thought the rest of the day would be peaceful. Haven’t most of you at some time had the “help” of a two-year-old in making beds? The fitted sheet posed no problem since $ couldn’t get a good hold on it. When it came to the top sheet, he had his strategy prepared. I’d get the sheet in position and he’d dart around to pull it off with all his might, giggling all the while. I chased around several times before using my head: position sheet, hold with knees, lunge across to break $’s hold, tuck like lightning. Whew! After he stole the pillows twice, disrupted the quilt and the spread, he gave up. I’m glad he gave up before I did!
I made a statement early in the week about being in the car an hour a day. Wishful thinking! We leave at 8 in the morning, dropping Lisa first, then Kate, and I get home about 9. In the afternoon I leave at 3 and get home at 4:30. Kate is through at 3:15, Lisa not until 4. [Lisa was attending a new school, having aged out of her last one.]
Lisa came out radiant after her first day, saying how much she is going to enjoy going to Dunottar. Of the four girls from Micklefield, three of them are in the top class. Speaks well for the school, doesn’t it?
We’ve had lots of extra traffic in our town because the Ryder Cup Gold tournament is going on in our back yard. The club house is two to three blocks from here if you walk a footpath or two. We heard the roar of the crowd and saw the same brilliant rainbow they showed on the TV screen. Jennifer said they enjoyed the TV coverage because they take their dog to the gold course every day for a good run. Today we had the TV on watching the final bit of the ceremony, stepped outside, and heard the words first hand!
Last night George (nickname for Georgina next door) stayed with our children while we went to a farewell party for a couple of Americans in Gotaas Larsen. It was held in a small flat in Wimbledon and catered! I was surprised to see a man and woman in uniform attending to everyone’s needs. The cold buffet was beautifully laid out – chicken salad surrounded with lettuce, a delicate green mold decorated with slices of cucumber, lettuce salad, and tomato aspic with caviar. The unusual thing was mushroom rolls. They were warm buns filled with creamed mushrooms. The dessert was a choice of rich chocolate mousse or cheese and biscuits. I had a chance to chat with Phil H and John G whom I’ve met on many occasions. John G is the one famous for not liking anything in England. He did admit last night that he has mellowed somewhat and now enjoys his life in London, especially compared to the hurried pace of New York. Wonder of wonders! I also enjoyed talking to John’s good friend Udo K and his wife. There were about 20 to 25 people there.
I knew from seeing lots of horses around that this area supports riding in a big way, but I didn’t realize what a business it is. In a local leaflet dropped at all the homes was the statement that there are 20 commercial riding establishments in a radius of five miles!!! Riders were being urged to stick to their allotted paths.
This morning the girls and I went to the family service at St. Peter’s. John is going to try going to evensong. He is still in great pain from his neck bones down and has to walk around waving his arms frequently. I know many of you think he does it all the time, but this is exceptional. Wonder if he has warned the rector. Poor [Rector] Derek might think John is trying to speak in tongues and can’t get the words out.
We watched the first in a series about Winston Churchill on the telly, and I particularly enjoyed the scenes filmed at Blenheim and Chartwell. There were outside shots of both, a dining room scene from Blenheim, and recognizable backgrounds of the bedroom and dining room of Chartwell. It was like history coming alive to see these things taking place in rooms we had been in!
Had someone inspected our parcels at the end of a shopping trip, they would have known the opening of school was near. Six pairs of shoes and nine library books demolished the morning.
Phillipa and Catherine went with us to Gatwick Airport just to watch planes. We’d noticed when driving near Heathrow that Phillipa got terribly excited at the sight of planes (aeroplanes). It was fun to be with them on their first visit to an airport – enthusiasm unbounded! We first went to the observation deck, then wandered around the major terminal areas.
[I’ve added the photo below, just because it shows the four girls I wrote about in this letter. It was the first day of term for Lisa. You may remember that we rented half a large house that was owned by neighbors at the bottom of our garden. The other half was owned by the parents of Phillipa and Catherine. These girls were the same age as Lise and Kate, and we loved the fact that they were constantly in and out of each other’s homes. For over a year they were closer than cousins.]
Phillipa, Lisa, Kate, and Catherine
Cooperation was the name of the game one day when Kate went with me to Co op and Lisa volunteered to water all the roses while I was setting out about a hundred pansy seedlings.
John $ has no need to talk. He doesn’t fight having his hair washed, but doesn’t relish it, either. He picked up my hand, put it right on the shampoo bottle, and said emphatically, “UH..UH!!”
John has been in pain recently. He woke up with a stiff neck and tingles around the shoulder. A day or so later as he was writing at his desk in the office, his arm became numb. Not about to play games if something were serious, he sped to a doctor. X-rays showed that the bones in the left of his neck have settled too closely together and must be pinching nerves. The doctor advised aspirin, said it should go away in a week, and if it didn’t John could consult a neurosurgeon or osteopath. His health has been so good all his life that we’ve decided having 40 staring him in the face this week must be his undoing.
We wanted to go somewhere close by since John felt better walking about but not sitting. I drove us and Phillipa to Guildford. The car park we found had entrances directly to stores. Many major London stores have branches there – Marks and Sparks, Debenhams, C and A, A and N, etc. We walked along the deep canal running through the downtown area of the city. Imagine, if you can, a car with three wheels, the solo one being in the REAR! We are used to seeing the three-legged variety, but the one wheel is in the front. This one was really different. We walked cobbled streets closed off for pedestrian malls and wandered in a lovely toy store. The height (literally) of the tour was seeing the ruins of Guildford Castle high on a hill. The gardens flowing from one bed of colourful flowers to another were the prettiest I’ve seen since we moved to England. Each bed was a different fancy shape cut out of lush grass. No camera! You’ll be amused when I tell you the featured tall plant in several groups was maize (corn)!!
Napping, I tried to rouse myself when I heard Phillipa insistently saying, “We’ll cope. We’ll cope.” There were no more distress sounds, so I went on drifting. Kate came quietly to stand by the bed to wake me by staring at me. Works every time! How can I pretend to be asleep feeling those eyes boring into me? She proudly announced, “We (meaning Phillipa) changed a dreadfully dirty nappy. Could you take care of it in the loo while we put on his clean one?”
Wow!! Phillipa said, “It looks terrible when YOU do it, but it’s not so bad when I did it myself.”
Afterwards we had a special tea with homemade biscuits to celebrate.
After a whole year of living here, I made another discovery. To = of and past = after! We sent word to the neighbors that their girls should be ready to go with us at a quarter of nine the day we went to Blenheim Palace. Jennifer told me later they did a bit of head scratching and decided we meant before the hour rather than after. They would have said a quarter TO nine or a quarter PAST nine. They never say three thirty, either; it’s always half past three. (Be sure to put “Aah” in half and past.)
Blenheim Palace
Library
Fountain garden
Monday was a Bank Holiday. We stayed at home, though John was on the phone quite a bit since Europe and the US were open for business. John $ and I walked to Old Tadworth where I found the fishmonger and poulterer. I must return to sample their wares.
The highlight of that day was the horse race in the garden – Kate on John and $ on Lisa. Philippa was here all day, and we briefly met Catherine’s friend Brigitta who has a Canadian accent but is Danish.
Tuesday I intended to run errands in the afternoon, but Mr. Hughes (owner of our first house Tymberly) called to say he was coming by with a package. He and Mrs. Hughes were so nice – said they felt we’d taken good care of the house and that they were able to move right in. They are going to put the house on the market because their four children are grown and they don’t need the space. The package was a pair of Kate’s jeans we’d left in Oslo.
We met Paula (a check out girl) at Co op, did our shopping and went on to Woolworth’s in Redhill and Reigate. After lunch we took her to Polesden Lacey for the afternoon. Lisa and Kate have been there several times, but there was a new dimension that day. Each child was given a clip board of questions if they wanted to participate in the quiz. There were several things to look for in each room such as two golden fish in the drawing room and who gave a cabinet in the library. What a marvelous idea! It kept children interested and quiet for ages! I know other parents appreciated it as much as I did. Lisa and Kate did very well; think they only missed two things – the number of soldier jars and the pink lobster in the hall.
In that mansion, one elderly crippled lady was slowly making her way around the house. She smilingly studied $ for a few minutes and said, “I wish someone would hold me up in a harness!” I felt like telling her I was sure she wouldn’t be as much trouble as one small boy.
I had thought Paula might mention future plans, but she didn’t. She has finished working in Co op and expects her baby to be born in November or December. We are really going to miss her when we go shopping.
The girls kept $ in the car for the 15 minutes it took for my hair to be trimmed. Then we picked up Caroline and her French guest, Muriel, to spend the day with us. Several hours were spent watching the Royal Wedding on tape. They also played tag outside and got out all the Fischer Price toys to play with in the entrance hall.
Thank heavens for understanding neighbors! They accept the love behind funny gifts. I made Phillipa a birthday cake – chocolate cake with fudge frosting. I almost misspelled her name with her sister standing at my elbow advising two “L’s”. After the cake was delivered, I heard Catherine in our hall saying in a concerned whisper, “Don’t tell her, Lisa.” Lisa replied, “Aw, she’ll just laugh.” Louder, “Guess what, Ma! You left the ‘A’ out of birthday!” Who could help laughing? We talked about”birth-ay” the rest of the day. What was just as bad was that the frosting appeared to have set, but the weight of the piped border pulled half the decorations half way down the side of the cake.
We were invited to tea next door to celebrate the birth-ay and have some of the cake. As Phil cut her slice of cake, she screamed. I had visions of maggots in the middle, but it turned out to be a custom here to make a wish and scream as you cut. Phew!
Yesterday Lisa elected to enjoy a day by herself while the rest of us went to the Cotswolds for the day. She had lunch next door and was with Catherine much of the time.
We were slightly north west of Oxford seeing the mellow yellow stone buildings of this area. All the towns seem squeezed together surrounded by mile upon mile of lush farm land.
Modern house in the Cotswolds
We walked around Bourton-on-the-Water where the River Windrush ripples through the center of town. Behind an inn is a model of the village in 10/1 scale built of concrete and slate. The buildings are about 2 to 3 feet high, and you walk around the streets. The model is complete, even with running water for the river. We were surprised to find the model inn had a model behind it – about 3 feet x 3 feet. Even it had running water for the Windrush! In that model was the tiniest model of the village, just as cute as could be.
Near Chastleton we went through a dusty, ill-kept manor house that made us appreciate the sparkle and shine of all National Trust houses. If it were dusted and polished, it would be impressive. I was intrigued with the 425 year old book of Roman History bound in wood with pages NOT yellowed because of the linen content. Also there was the carved Bible box the Archbishop of Canterbury, who happened to come from the area of Chastleton, had presented to King Charles I at the scaffold where he was executed.
The guide pointed out some hideous antlers and said it had to be explained. It seems that one of the early owners of the manor house had been to Denmark to a castle there and had been impressed with antlers. He took the measurements and had a set carved for himself in England out of wood. Then the fake horns were mounted on a funny looking animal head and mounted on the wall. At some later date someone painted a brown body on the wall that did nothing to enhance the original antlers. I think this house seemed to have belonged to more real people than those in which odd things were weeded out by people of good taste and breeding.
Catherine spent the night with us last night so she could go to church with us this morning. She, Lisa, Kate and I went around the corner to St. Peter’s. John will go this evening.
Do you want to know what a “gang kit” is? It is not a packaged version of West Side Story. It is $’s pronunciation of “blanket”, still a very important part of his day and night.
This afternoon Phillipa and Kate went to the parish children’s party down the lane. They started off with pony rides, a tug of war, jumping mats, and such and went on to a barbeque in the rectory garden, ending with a service in church. The weather couldn’t have been better – sunny, but not hot.
Speaking of weather, I don’t think it has rained during the day at all since we returned from our holiday. It may have rained or sprinkled once or twice during the night. This is so different from the cold, wet time we had for the first several months after we arrived here last summer.
Our tomato plants are doing fine, showing small green tomatoes in profusion. I don’t know when they might decide to turn red, but when they do, we will be inundated. I’ve already planted indoor ones for the winter. We’ll have to wait to see if my black thumb is turning green or just molding.
When Derek B, the rector, heard from Kate that we had been to Norway, he said he loves brown cheese. His deadpan humor is hilarious: “All English cheese tastes like soap. There is one good one, but I forget its name.” Turning to his wife, “Pat, what is the name of that good cheese that has maggots in the middle? Ah, yes, Stilton.”
Lisa was complimenting Kate on her thoughtfulness to a guest and said, “You’re getting quite hospitalic.”
This is a photo not related to anything I wrote. Caption says $ loves hats. It is Kate’s uniform hat. Aim was no good.
I have searched England for a dolls’ baby bottle that will hold water. Doesn’t seem to exist. Phillipa has loaned me her Tiny Tears for working with John $ and potty training, but no bottle. [The idea is to let the toddler feed the doll and see it wet its pants afterwards.] We’ve tried $ on the pot for two days, but he simply doesn’t get the idea. Even when we stuff him with salty snacks and lots of drinks, he only wets about four times a day. Bet that would make some women jealous!
We’ve spent several afternoons working jigsaw puzzles. Princess Diana in all her white finery billowing about her is something else again. [I wish I had that puzzle now. I don’t know what happened to it.]
We spent a delightful afternoon with the neighbors who lived across from the last house we had. Friends of the family were there – Kirsten who is Lisa’s age, Bryony who is 11 and goes to Micklefield, and their mum, Lorna. First everyone but $ and I went swimming at Dunotter, the school on our former street. $ loved watching on the sidelines, but the extreme heat got to us, and we went out in the sunshine to cool off. Caroline has a French girl as a guest; her family wanted to improve her English so sent her over for two weeks. The poor girl was really thrown in the deep end, if you ask me. She looks tired – and with reason. It’s a real struggle to try to follow a strange language. Both Muriel and Caroline want to see our recording of the Royal Wedding this week.
The girls have been good about running errands in the village. My voice has been out of commission for almost a week; I’ve diagnosed my trouble as either emphysema or pneumonia. I’ve been tickled at the various reactions of the people who call on the phone. I scared the telex room man who called to report to John; he must have thought with such a wild voice, I must be totally out of control. It was obvious he thought he’d gotten hold of a nut and couldn’t wait to hang up. Others are sure they’ve gotten the wrong number or that I’m at death’s door. The neighbor girls like to make me talk to see what will happen next; our girls are used to it by now.
Another stray shot of Kate, Phillipa, and $
Friday night Sarah M, the assistant of John’s boss, came home with John for dinner and spending the night. All were up early Saturday to set off for Dunkerque (Dunkirk), leaving John $ and me to play together in near solitude. We had a good time. I fed him lunch and then went next door for a sandwich with the neighbors. That was a nice interlude.
The others came home much later than they had intended. They boarded the dirty coal ship and were fed a five-course lunch that lasted over two hours – everything superbly cooked. The tour of the ship took longer than they expected, so they were late leaving. A slow ferry and unhurried dock workers delayed them further. They got home at midnight.
The girls enjoyed their day in France, though they didn’t see anything they hadn’t seen before. Most enjoyable was being with Sten’s children whom they’ve seen on several work-related occasions before. Sarah was taken back to her home by the other family.
Today John went to morning service with the girls, and we’ve enjoyed the summer weather in the afternoon. We cooked, ate dinner outside, and even had tea outside. Pleasant.
Below are two photos of the lovely little town we lived in, Walton-on-the-Hill:
The travelers had to clean the car inside and out. It was filthy with fine coal dust.
Legoland was three-dimensional fantasy. I loved all the details – guard boxes for the Lego soldiers marching in front of the palace, delicate stairs and banisters, figures in native costume, a stave church, water locks that really worked, trains, and windmills – all made of Lego plastic building blocks. Photos only give you an idea of what the scenes look like.
[Getting a Lego driver’s license was a high point for Lisa. Kate, three years younger, did not grasp the knack of turning corners. One of these girls has spent the last 40 years laughing about it.]
Lisa
Kate
Kate getting help
The ferry from Esbjerg to Harwich is the nearest to a cruise ship I’ve ever sailed on. There was a tiny playground for children, several restaurants and spacious cabins.
Our impressions of Norway were mountains, hills water, colourful wooden houses with bright tile roofs and lovely costumes for special occaions.
Sweden has larger shopping centers and easier parking than Norway and England. We loved the word “parkering”.
Denmark is full of brick houses and old brick churches with hardly any wooden buildings. Many small houses have red tiled roofs, are almost square, and have receding foreheads for roofs. Ends that normally peak have sloping triangular ends. Transformers for electricity seemed to be housed in obelisk towers – lots of wires running to and from them. They were often metal, though sometimes of brick with a tile roof. I particularly liked a double-lane bike path.
Flowers were everywhere in Scandinavia. It gradually dawned on us that we are used to gardens in England, and that is why we didn’t at first think they had an exceptional amount. Scandinavians are more likely to have flowers in boxes and on windowsills than around the yard.
As you may have guessed by now, we had a wonderful trip. So many of the things we did, we couldn’t have done at all had John $ been with us. At the end of the trip we could look forward to seeing our little fellow with John’s sister and her family.
These photos show our two families eating breakfast, playing with trains, and getting ready to leave.
You deserve an endurance medal if you are still with me!
At Aarhus we walked through the open air museum of old houses which had been taken apart and reassembled, coming from all over Denmark. It was something like Mystic Seaport or Williamsburg.
Open air museum of old buildings from Denmark
A prehistory museum had artifacts from the stone age and up. We were most impressed with the well-preserved man who had lived about the time of Christ. His throat had been slit, and he was thrown in a peat bog where the tanic acid kept his body in such shape that scientists could identify the seeds he’d eaten just before he died.
In Odense we lost all track of time reading all the labels in the Hans Christian Anderson museum. The poor fellow was indigent when young, fell in love three times, but never married, and lived most of his life staying with well-to-do people who befriended him. He repaid his hosts by entertaining them with stories, giving them his drawings, and cutting fancy paper shapes for them.
We saw the cathedral in Odense and discovered an organ concert scheduled for that evening. We ate at our motel, then went to hear the largest church organ in Denmark. Beautiful.
Organ in rear of church
Front of the cathedral
Kate before the altar
For dinner at the motel John and I had plaice fillets bonne femme with onion and mushroom sauce, boiled potatoes and home made ice cream with fruit sauce.
My name is Suki, my human is a writer, and this is about my world. The world according to Suki The Cat. My humans smell funny, look weird, and I can't understand a thing they say, but they feed me, so hey, what are you gonna do?
Mehrling Muse 