My request for a photo almost made grandson David late for work, but he was willing to pose with the finished family puzzle. Some of the crew stayed up quite late finishing it. I liked niece Chrissie’s stance, leaning on grandson Nathaniel. I’m pretty sure Nate was on his knees.
Chrissie took this photo the day before of Lise, David, and me.
Friend Linda chose photos from our family reunion to have the puzzle made. This is one we will work again and again.
The suitcases were packed and ready to go when Nathaniel did the mirror ritual. John, Chrissie, Lise, and son John $pencer were there for the final photo.
Daughter Lise had been with us two weeks before flying back to Denmark. After she went through security, we had a few more minutes with Chrissie in the airport before she boarded her plane to Massachusetts, and then we drove Nathaniel to Charlotte. I don’t know how far John and I drove, but Lise was over the ocean and Chrissie almost home when we returned to our house. This had been a most satisfying visit.
Last Sunday John and the girls went to an Advent carol service at St. Mary’s that was dramatic. The church, at one point, was in total darkness; one large candle in the center of the church was lit, and from it, others, until the youth group that was doing that part of the service had spread light into all the corners of the building. The hymns were all Advent ones that John was familiar with.
The new entrance into Co-op from the parking lot was open Monday. What a delight! It saves so many steps in this cold weather.
One of the Micklefield ladies, Eileen, invited me to a coffee at her house. She is Irish, raised in Dublin. Nichola, another guest, is an identical twin who never swapped identities with her sister. I asked her if they had ever tried to fool anyone, and she said they were required to wear identification bracelets in school to prevent just that kind of thing! Fanny was also there; she runs a farm shop where John went to buy our Christmas tree. I couldn’t believe she had a son named Angus. All I picture is a cow! And, last, there was Liz who is a church goer. She told the tale about her mother who always said, “Oh! Shakespeare!” when angry. Liz was almost grown when she discovered that was the name of a writer and not a swear word. Two of the four ladies had gone to boarding school; one loved it and one hated it. The two other mothers would consider sending their girls away when the time comes. All said it would really depend on the child as to whether they would be sent away. I really enjoyed meeting and visiting with these women. John $ got into the potted plants only twice. I solved the problem by feeding him cereal pieces VERY SLOWLY.
In the U.S. things are straightened out. Here people get things “sorted out.”
I was so glad John $ helped me clean house one day. He found a plate from his dad’s midnight snack under the living room chair and called my attention to it. Not much later the door bell rang, and there was a visiting health nurse. She said she had come to tell me about the services of the medical practice; I had the feeling she was also checking to see that we didn’t live in a hovel and that our children weren’t battered. I asked if they ever checked healthy children routinely. The place to go is Shaw’s corner clinic just down the road where they will weigh, measure and check $. It’s called a developmental check. I must make an appointment soon. The lady who came is a trained mid-wife, a nurse and is qualified to teach. She has 400 families to check on, is available to answer questions about child rearing, and gives immunizations.
I believe I’m right that they don’t do a 4th DPT here. We should be able to get the 4th polio immunization.
Names are something. I was introduced to Judy Catt from New Zealand. Her daughter is Victoria. She missed her chance. Why didn’t she name her Katherine and call her Kitty?
We were rather rudely awakened this week. $ was making noises about getting up, so I pried myself out of the warm bed, groped for slippers, and caught a Fischer Price toy instead, and it landed with a thump and a loud ring from a bell inside. Now you may not think it the usual thing to store such a toy in one’s bedside table, but in this house it is logical. Daddy John hopped up quicker than ever for the real alarm. I was more alert than normally! $ keeps us on our toes!
Fish report: both are doing fine, just as lively as can be. Wouldn’t have believed it a week ago.
So often I report what Kate says because she can get things royally mixed. This week it was Lisa: “Can we have a piece of John for bread?”
Mr. Wolters, the agent, arrived unannounced this week. $ came in handy as an excuse for certain things being out of place. He and I were standing in the kitchen as Clewes rolled the barrow by, and Clewes told me later he looked in as I waved to him and was sure the corrective collar Mr. Wolters wears was the collar of a vicar. He couldn’t figure out why I was bringing the vicar into the kitchen.
I wanted to point out that the school has non-uniform uniforms. This being the year of the change of suppliers, some girls have the old uniform and some the new — a motley group.
In deploying Christmas decorations around the house, I dropped a small candle over the banister. The race was on – $ at the bottom of the stairs and me at the top. I could just see him reaching it first and chomping on it like a cigar. I won, however.
You know how I often laugh when I shouldn’t? This time I did it to myself. In putting $ in the push chair, I got the shoulder strap from my purse tangled in his feet. The more I tried to undo it, the more twisted he became. I got tickled, began to laugh aloud, and looked up to see a Micklefield mother staring at me. Made me laugh even more. Finally $ had to be taken completely out before I could get him untangled.
The generation gap in our house is amusing. It was shown in a non-verbal controversy over toys. Kate was having her hair washed, and $ decided she needed toys to play with. He threw in all he could reach, and she just as quickly slung them back in the toy tray.
John $ has a casual disregard for clothes. He is constantly crawling out of his booties and would probably leave his pants behind as well if they weren’t firmly anchored over his shoulders with straps.
We had a busy weekend. Chris G, who works with John, came out Saturday afternoon to see the sugar shakers in the antique/junk shop. She’d been wanting one, was aghast at the prices in London, and was eager to see the ones here. While she was looking, I bought a toast rack, a neat gadget that will keep the toast from getting soggy! I had seen one a few days ago but forgot to buy it while concentrating on something else. This one was 50p cheaper. We walked along the High Street just looking and came on home. I enjoyed walking without my usual encumbrances.
Chris spent the night with us, and this morning we went to Canterbury Cathedral. The weather was very cold. They got chilled sitting in the choir during the service; $ and I got cold walking around waiting for them. Warmed ourselves with hot tea, sizzling chips and steaming hamburgers. Then we felt warm enough to walk along part of the old wall. The music was glorious in the church and worth the effort. Drove around the town and home. $ was so good – only cried about two minutes the whole day!!
Niece Chrissie was here only one full day, and it was certainly full. Four of us walked to the creek. John and I let the young beauties pose with Jonathan Creek.
Daughter Lise saw the bag of horse cookies on the counter. We went out for a photo shoot with DW and Vixen, our horse neighbors. Having the horses back, after being gone for several months, was a delight for neighbor Joyce and us. In fact, we saw Joyce earlier, petting them when we set out for the creek.
Lise gives DW his treat,
Vixen has her treat from Chrissie
Lise requested Christmas dinner for her last night here, only we would have the standard Danish dessert instead of English Christmas Pudding. For the foodies: we had Chicken and Stuffing casserole, carrots, frozen cranberry salad, cranberry sauce, and lime Jell-O salad.
Grandson Nathaniel pretended to be in a food coma before he headed for bed. Son John $’s ghostly presence can be imagined behind the candles. David had his share of the meal when he came home from work.
Lise posed with the dessert she had me prepare. I forgot to get her to write the name in Danish. It was basically a rice pudding of cold rice, whipped cream (substituted frozen whipped topping), sugar and almond flavoring. I left out the slivered almonds for the one who doesn’t like them. Cherry sauce was passed around to go on top for flavor and a pop of color.
Lise explained that this dessert is always served on Christmas Eve, the day Danes celebrate the holiday. One whole almond is stirred in, and the one who gets it is given a prize. It seems there is always a huge amount of pudding for people who are much too full to eat it. Everyone is required to take a serving, and if no one finds the almond, the dish is passed around until the almond is found. Lise had stories about people who found the almond early on and hid it until all the dessert was eaten. They were shameless!! Thankfully, Lise took pity on us and admitted that she got our almond on the second round.
Lise holds the almond.
The prize was a marzipan pig Lise brought from Denmark. We cut it up and ate it so quickly that we didn’t hear it squeal.
The last four days of daughter Lise’s visit were full of activities. We picked up grandson Nathaniel from college and ate dinner on the way home.
It was after midnight when we did the mirror ritual.
Lise, John, Nathaniel, and David watch the mirror go up.
The next afternoon Lise went in the airport to meet niece Chrissie while John and I made a loop around the area. They took a selfie with Santa in the terminal.
The younger generations took a walk, which was a good antidote for lots of sitting the previous hours. This is Chrissie’s selfie at the creek.
Chrissie, David, Nathaniel, and Lise
Chrissie took a photo of Lise that I would call “Cavorting at the Creek”.
In the evening we began to work a jigsaw puzzle. This was a special family puzzle that dear friend Linda ordered for us. She used photos we took at our family reunion last summer and had a puzzle made from them. There is nothing like putting your own face together if you can find the pieces!
When John $pencer plays with a ball, it reminds me of a baseball player, only $ does his sliding while he’s chasing the ball.
I knew it! I knew someday when we played musical beds no one would be in the right place in the morning, and it finally happened! There had been a scary show on TV that we watched about natural phenomena. First Kate came, then Lisa. The girls were in our bed together, and we in theirs separately. At 5:30 John $ woke up – it was terribly cold, so I think he’d been running around his crib to keep warm and ran into something. At any rate, at the getting up time, he and I were out of bed. Several nights this week the girls have elected to sleep in the same bed, partly for company and partly to keep warm.
$ got his measles vaccine and didn’t bat an eyelash while getting it. We’d made the appointment ahead of time, were ushered into a hallway to wait, and taken almost immediately by the nursing sister (not a religious term) who gives all the immunizations. Didn’t cost a cent, directly, that is. I’m sure we’re paying through the nose for such as this in taxes.
Our fish pond was poisoned. We can’t prove it, but we think one of the men working on the trees washed a can of petrol or oil in the water because it had a film on it. Clewes was the one who discovered it, because one of the fish was floating on the top of the water, and the others gasping for air at the surface. Lisa and Kate rescued two, but one is not doing well at all. John bought them a rectangular fish bowl made of plastic, a green bridge and two plastic plants. Looks nice. At first the girls were upset for the fish. Then Lisa said, “Think how Mr. Clewes must feel because he put so much work into the cleaning of the pond. We’ll clean it out ourselves next spring.”
We got something on Thanksgiving Day that you didn’t – regular mail delivery! Of course, it wasn’t a holiday here. However, we got the Thanksgiving card from Stony Brook on Thursday. I was thinking of all of you in the states as we were getting ready for our feast. We ate in the evening, so we were probably stuffing ourselves about the same time as you were.
Shortly after the girls and I came home from school, John arrived with Chris from New York, John from North Carolina and Phil from Kansas, all people who work with him in London. Chris had brought paper plates and napkins with big turkeys on them, two Hallmark cookie cutters, decorative posters which the girls had taken to school with them and brought home in time to stick up before they arrived, canned pumpkin and sweet potatoes. All this John had brought home days before, but Thursday she brought gifts for the girls – chocolate turkeys!
We began eating shortly after 5. They ate so much that they asked if dessert could be delayed. We all got sleepy, but Lisa and Kate kept us awake. The guests got up from the table after having pie and went right to the station to get the 10 p.m. train. We all had such a good time.
During the night of Thanksgiving there was a terrific storm with rain blowing ice at the windows to make a big racket. I woke and knew someone would be with us soon. Yes, Kate came first. As she was getting her pillow, Lisa invited her into her bed.
$ has found he can open the door where the tennis rackets are kept. There are holes drilled at the bottom of the door, probably for ventilation, and he can open the door by pulling it with one finger. He had a merry time among the sports equipment and spider webs until I found him. Put up the gate inside the door to keep him out. That was fine until the weekend when we wanted to hear the Christmas records playing in the study and had to use the gate at that door.
Have we ever had snow!!! It is supposed to be fairly rare here, but we had it anyway. Friday afternoon I looked out the window and saw the Downs looked white. The thought went through my mind that it could be snow, and sure enough, in a few minutes it was snowing mightily until the trees in the next street were blotted out. I ran to pick up as many apples from the two far trees as I could. I even called a mother of a girl from school to see if they ever dismiss school early. She just laughed. She said when it snows during the day, it’s always gone by tea time. It stuck more up here on the hill than elsewhere, but the mother said they never close school early for anything! I was concerned about getting out of the driveway. Should have gone out there earlier, but I thought I could make it. Backed up repeatedly, only to slip and slide half way up. Finally got a broom – don’t think there is a snow shovel in Reigate – and brushed off as much as possible. We made it! Other sections of the town didn’t have much sticking, but ours lasted several days. Had more during the night, too. It was fun having Merrin in the car on the way home, because they hardly ever see snow where she lives in Australia. She said they had none to speak of last year here, so this was the most she’d ever seen.
In the interests of Harold’s head, John relocated the angel mobile. John’s cousin Harold is coming for Christmas, and he is tall. I’d always wanted the mobile in a stairwell, and that is where it is now. Those angels really fly around and around. After a birthday party yesterday, John tied Kate’s huge balloon on the mobile, and that makes it go even faster.
We walked to church, walked home and left the push chair in the hall. Later I heard $ being too quiet; found him standing in that stroller helping himself to papers on the table. While I’ve been writing this in the dining room, $ opened the cabinet with the china and put a salad plate on the floor — gently, thank heavens! Just now he opened the door with the glasses for the first time and had his hand on the handle of a ship mug when I shouted at him. I’m glad he let go before withdrawing his hand.
Lisa and I had a long walk this afternoon with $. Found the public bowling green hidden away by a footpath! Love this town!
Both photos in this letter were shown before, but they really seem to belong here.
A favorite neighbor came to visit. His active mind explores all kinds of possibilities, and even he doesn’t always know where he is headed. We stay entertained and amused.
If you think of a title for this photo, please let me know.
Daughter Lise said she was not using the step stool to get up on the high bed, but she would spring and roll to go to bed. Just after we got up, I was in her room and saw the evidence. By reading the slippers for placement and direction, I knew which side of the bed she was using and that she went head first. The evidence was right there on the floor.
A little later she walked to the creek with us, and her now-sneakered feet stopped for her to pet CAT. It was foggy, making CAT’s house look a bit spooky.
Grandson David, son John $, and Lise played disc golf at the rec center. She had David take her photo to mark the occasion. Last week David thrashed about in a brier patch to retrieve a disc, and another day he swam in the creek (brr!) to pull out a disc that was hung on a rock under water. This day $ lost a disc that was quite visible – on the roof. I’m sure they didn’t want their games to be that exciting.
Almost everyone’s Thanksgiving celebration was different in this viral year. We went to church via a recorded service, since there were no services in the building. There were no neighbors for dinner and only one special guest. Laurel, a friend from the church choir, was going to spend the day with her cat, but she agreed to spend the afternoon with us. What a delight she was! She brought liveliness and a party spirit to our table.
John $, Laurel, John, Lise, and David
For the foodies: We had the basics for Thanksgiving dinner – turkey, gravy, dressing, homemade cranberry sauce, cranberry frozen salad, butternut squash, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry-mince pie, and Aldi’s cheesecake slices. I was lazy and did not bake the usual pumpkin cheesecake.
I hope everyone had some special happening for this strange Thanksgiving Day.
Lisa says of her brother, “He’s a clever little freak.”
The uninitiated would wonder why the toilet brushes are on the backs of the toilets, the bathroom waste basket is on the hamper, and the bed crowned with a clock, hand lotion and a tissue box. Things on tables recede inch by inch, as if the tide is going higher week by week. I’m afraid the passerby will soon think the refrain here is, “NO!”
Guess who John saw this week – no less a person than the Queen of England! The King of Nepal had arrived at Victoria Station, was met, and processed by open coach to Buckingham Palace. John was waiting for his lunch appointment to arrive at the restaurant and could look out the second floor window with the clearest view. I saw it all later on TV, but seeing it in person was marvelous he said. Also saw Prince Philip and Prince Charles.
Bet you think you know how to pronounce the names “Launders” and “Saunders.” In America, yes, but here the “d” is pronounced as a soft “g”. Comes out “Laungers” and “Saungers.” Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?
This week our car had her 5,000 mile check-up. I had a little blue Renault to drive. Wouldn’t start very well, but once you got your foot on the gas pedal, away she went! The electric locks were the most fun. Instead of a button there were plastic jiggers in which a red stick would pop up when the lock was engaged. I unlocked the car to put John $ in and discovered undoing one undid them all!
We’re getting ready for Thanksgiving. This past week I de-cobwebbed the house with the special wire brush on the end of a bamboo pole. I try to think of this as just removing cobwebs and not dwell on the fact that they were once INHABITED!!
I almost witnessed an accident. When I got on the scene a little red VW was overturned, and I could hear the screams from quite a distance away. In reconstructing the event, I think $ stood on the toy car, reached in the toy box, and tumbled in. When I got to his room, all I could see under the partially open box was a pair of streaming eyes and one little hand trying desperately to push up the top which was resting on his head. The shock of it wore him out – sang him two songs, and he fell asleep!
The old dead tree at the front of the property was removed this past week. The tree surgeons also “stopped” the row of trees between the back garden and the tennis court. They trimmed 5 or 6 feet off the tops and squared off the bottoms. Certainly looks different. I comfort myself that most of it will have grown back by the time the owners come back. Looks scalped.
I finally got everything together that we needed to begin getting a doctor. Didn’t take much, but I kept forgetting to do it. Here you have to ask a doctor if he will accept you on his register. I made the first call and got a very friendly and informative lady who told me just what to do. She explained that Dr. Ingram, who I think lives on this street, would accept us. It helped to give our address and the assurance that we wouldn’t be here more than 18 months more. She told me to hang up and call for an appointment. Did this, and the appointment lady asked if I was the one who was just talking to someone else in the office. They work not more than three feet apart, but have no switching equipment for the phone, so you have to hang up and dial another number.
Took $ to see about his immunizations. Dr. Ingram was interested in seeing what is being done in the States, but explained that they don’t do rubella for boys at all and they don’t do mumps. He didn’t think he could even get the serum for that. He did agree to do measles, polio and DPT. He wrote down the measles vaccine and told me to come back this week because they do shots only one day a week. There was nothing like a routine examination – no weighing, no looking at ears, etc. I was just asked if there were any questions or anything he should see.
I had 45 minutes to kill after dropping off the girls for school and the time for the doctor. The two things were only one street apart, so I couldn’t see battling rush hour traffic for that. $ and I took a nice walk and discovered a whole block of offices and workrooms for the blind. The shop wasn’t open, but there were some nice looking things inside.
Have I mentioned that there is a super drying rack hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen? Now that the heat is on from time to time, it is an excellent place to dry things. All the clothes get hung on hangers before dangling from the rack, and we have to eat without getting the coat tails of things in our food. (Usually things are removed before breakfast, and we eat in the dining room at night. It is mostly me dining among the clothes.) The other day Kate and I were eating, and she’d moved her stool under a particularly long nightgown. We hadn’t been there long before she was playing with the hem of it and finally tied it in a knot under her chin!
Yesterday Lisa went to Natasha’s birthday party which lasted from 1:45 until 7!! They assembled, went to the school which her brother attends for three short plays put on by the boys, and came back for a meal of hamburgers, chips (French fries) and cake. Today she went to Andrea’s party. Philippa’s parents were going somewhere and asked us to take her, and they’d pick the girls up. Merrin also needed a ride. So, we had Philippa go to church with us, picked up Merrin, and drove a fair distance to get to the party. It was nice to put the car away and have Lisa delivered back home.
Kate was angry, came storming up the stairs and said, “I’m going to give up my temper!”
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 