Apple Fritters in the Moat

A week ago, we brought home apple fritters and left them on the kitchen counter. That evening grandson David saw tiny ants on the box. Not only were they on the box, they were IN the box, crawling all over those lovely fritters. This time I was determined the ants were not going to feast on our treat. I filled a shallow bowl with water, stood a tall glass in the middle, added a plastic container to support the box, and put the fresh fritters on top. I knew the ants would not be able to swim to the glass and get in the box.

David snickered when he saw the fritter tower. Son John $pencer saw us eating breakfast and asked, “Are you eating the Critter Fritters?”

Yes, we ate those ant-free fritters and enjoyed every bite.

Do you have a story of outwitting ants or mice?

England 40 Years Ago — August 31, 1980

I apologize for last week’s letter which John intimated wasn’t worth reading. I waited until too late at night to start, and we all know what happens to me at night!

We’ve had a good week, and I’m still enjoying the memories of my brother’s visit. Today I served Baked Grits to the Mary and Tony L. They loved the grits, wondered about having the recipe, but backed off when I said we’d had it flown over special delivery! [Susan and Bob brought the grits to us.]

Last Monday John was outside, and I saw him suddenly shade his eyes and look up. He is sure he saw the my brother’s plane go overhead! The time was right, and he said he could identify the Delta tail. That reminds me of when we were waiting for them to arrive, John having already left to go to the airport. Every once in a while Kate would say, “I hear a plane. It must be theirs.” It seemed odd to me, but then I thought that we have often listened for trains in Stony Brook or for the bus, and that is all she was familiar with. So often we are the ones flying and being met.

I’m not sure I mentioned it last week, but it hit home to me how far away all of you are. I had all the linens from the beds of Bob and his family washed, dried, and put away before they could have gotten to Atlanta. And as you might have guessed, one does not hurry the drying here!

[At some point we drove by a field for the game of bowls, which I think was near the shopping area of Reigate. We must have gotten out of the car, judging by the photo I took. I looked up the rules for the game, but there were too many permutations for me to get a clear idea of what we saw.]

Kate and I had a different shopping Tuesday at Co-op. We’d dropped Lisa off for her French lesson, parked and got a sticker, and realized we’d left John’s stroller at home. She agreed to help carry heavy things back to the car, so we set off with me carrying $. On the return I had one heavy bag and $ on my hip, like a bag of potatoes. Gee, come to think of it, he doesn’t weigh much more than a sack of spuds. I should have had an extra bag with me and stuck him in one. Wonder what he would have thought of that.

Wednesday Mr. Wolters, the agent, came here to discuss house business with us, John having taken the day off from work for it. Clewes said, “I hope he’s in a good mood.” Clewes dreads his visits and transmitted a little of that to me. Mr. Wolters is a very meticulous man. Let me describe him. He’s in his 60’s or 70’s, dresses extremely neatly, even wearing an ascot tie over his neck brace. I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of him! He appeared promptly that day bearing gifts!! He presented each girl with a “sensitive plant”, explaining that he grows them to give away. They are marvelous! They fold up their leaves if you touch them, and even droop on the main branches if you rub the branch. They also go to bed between 6 and 7 at night. That evening the girls checked every few minutes to see if there was something in nature that actually wanted to go to bed so early! They did. I thought the poor plants would be worn out much earlier for all the exercise they got, opening and closing. I was as guilty as they – great fun!

A little later before we did the grand tour of the house, Mr. Walters brought out another gift – a crown coin minted in honor of the Queen Mother’s 80^th birthday. He had one for each girl and handed me one for $. He said he thought it would be a nice keepsake since they were here in the country when the event took place.

We went over questions we had about the inventory book and discussed some plumbing work. While Mr. Wolters was here, some of the system went on the blink, so he immediately put in a call for a plumber. We also walked around the grounds discussing upkeep of the plants. We all breathed a little easier after he refused the invitation to lunch and left.

That night we went next door for an after-dinner drink to visit with that couple and meet the people in the next house down. We had a pleasant time, and I was just about to suggest we go home when they served coffee and cookies. Then we had to stay longer. The girls stayed home with John $, and Lisa stayed up reading until 11:30. We were home about midnight. Ken C. works for Phillips, as does Peter B. Ken seems to be upper management, while Peter must be much lower. Peter’s wife, Pat, is a teacher in the Priory School. Doris C. doesn’t work.

[I still remember a story Ken told on himself that night. He didn’t know what a big deal Thanksgiving was in the US. He was traveling on business and accepted two invitations for Thanksgiving dinner, one at noon and one that evening. He ate heartily at the first and could hardly bear to put anything on his plate at the second.]

Thursday I took the car for servicing, a much-dreaded job. We were waiting for the plumber, so the girls stayed here while I dropped John off at the station and drove on to take the car. Had to drive almost to Gatwick to get to the place and nearly lost my cool when I found the car they would rent to me was straight shift. The nice fellow must have noted my panic, for he managed to find an automatic for me. Got home before 9, and no plumber. In fact, he never came at all that day! What a nuisance! I could have told him what was wrong – the whole system has arthritis. There is a strange swelling of the joints in a pipe in the cloakroom. When the boy came the next morning, he fixed the problem (restoring water, both hot and cold, to all taps other than the one in the kitchen). Gradually, one by one, the taps had failed the days before until there was cold water, and that only in the kitchen. I’d heated water on the stove for John to shave and $ to take a puddle bath in the kitchen. His solution – to scrape calcium deposits off the holding tank valve in the attic. Now doesn’t it sound like arthritis? Poor old house. [Cold water came directly from the street to the kitchen tap and to that holding tank in the attic. After we had lived there a few weeks, someone told us that birds often fell in holding tanks, and that’s why you shouldn’t drink the water except in the kitchen. That advice was too late. We’d already established the habit of brushing our teeth in our rooms. Another odd fact for Americans – English houses often had a sink in every bedroom. I think there were four or five sinks upstairs in this house.]

[We went to Dover on the English coast during August of 1980. I took a photo of the Roman lighthouse, said to be the oldest building in England. It must be the hexagonal ruin near the middle of the picture.]

Friday John took the girls to London to have them try on their uniforms for school. They had been delivered here, but we thought most of the things too large. The ladies reassured him that bagginess was the fashion! My only comfort is that the girls will grow and perhaps look better in the uniforms.

[This month I used all but three of the photos I took during August of 1980. The last is one of John. I have no idea where he was or why I took the picture.]

Yesterday John bought two carp, two eely things and two water snails to keep the goldfish company. They have been more active ever since.

Today, as I mentioned, Mary and Tony came for dinner after church. What I didn’t mention to you or them was that John was sick. He’d had a sort of stomach virus, thought he was over it, but had one last attack just at the time we were leaving for church. He wouldn’t chance going to church with the nearest loo across the road in the church hall. Of course, he wanted to go to church and also didn’t want to have to admit to the company that he wasn’t entirely well. We didn’t think he would give it to them, so we just blithely announced that he had stayed home with the baby. Luckily for me they had someone coming to their home at 4 because I began to feel green around the gills during coffee. [Going through the COVID-19 pandemic now, I’m horrified that we did not postpone the dinner.]

Served Lemon Rub Pie today, and Mary asked if there were any foreign ingredients before requesting the recipe.

Hope all of you are fine. We certainly do appreciate all the letters.

Peanut Butter on the Wall

The title should be How to Bathe a Dog, but that would turn off people who have/will never own a dog. Son John $pencer spoke of giving Sadie a bath, and I wondered why he didn’t dread it. He said, “It’s easy. I put peanut butter on the wall.”

Sadie rolled in something smelly in our yard, making her socially unacceptable. I asked to observe the cleaning routine. $ smeared peanut butter on the tub wall before whistling for Sadie, and she trotted in eagerly. She didn’t struggle a bit as he lifted her into the tub. If she noticed when he rubbed in the dog shampoo and rinsed her off, she never let on.

I presume the trick is to know how quickly your dog will clean the wall. Of course, it would also be good to know whether the pet likes peanut butter. If you have used the p-butter method, please let me know if it worked for you. If you had a disaster, I will consider removing this post for the good of mankind and best friends.

Vitamin Box to Waste Basket

This is the story of how a vitamin box became a waste basket. When it is time to gather the trash to take to the collection center, we swoop around the house emptying waste baskets. I line two with supermarket bags, one in the bedroom and one in the master bathroom. The photo, with Sadie as background, shows one basket properly lined.

Sadie asks, “Why are you taking a photo of me behind a wastebasket?”

Son John $pencer was the one swooping that day, and it was hours later that I thought of getting replacement bags. John ties up used bags for recycling in the laundry room, so I struggled to retrieve two and put them on the kitchen counter. More hours later, I opened a box with vitamins and threw it in the bathroom basket without thinking. This made more sound than usual, alerting me to the unlined basket. Out came the box, and I tucked in a smaller box from a toothpaste sample. By bedtime the vitamin box had two more additions, a tissue and a flossing pick. It wouldn’t take long for this new little litter basket to overflow.

Valiant vitamin box aka Little Waste Basket

The next morning I looked for the bags I had put on the counter, but they were gone. I tugged two more from the tied bag, then saw the original two wadded up. John, bless his heart, must have tidied up the counter. I can see that a 24-hour time limit for replacing liners was a bit too long. Does anyone have a tip about reminding yourself to do something on opposite ends of the house when it isn’t related to what you are doing at the moment? In other words, I NEED HELP!

England 40 Years Ago — August 25, 1980

We’ve had a marvelous week with the my brother and his family [Bob, Susan, Kathie, and Julie]. They arrived Tuesday, and John took the morning off to get them from the airport. We stayed here, letting them unpack and get their feet back under them, until our washer-dryer came. Then we did a quick tour of Reigate and Redhill and walked in Reigate.

Bob, Julie, Kathie, and Susan. Background: John, John $pencer

They took a double-decker bus for a tour of London Wednesday, met Gerhard for lunch, and poked around the British Museum. [Susan and Bob knew Gerhard at college, too.] Wednesday I drove, and Bob navigated us to Windsor Castle. What an impressive thing it was! I’m so glad to have seen it. We ate pasties from a quick food place while sitting on a low wall surrounding a grassy area in the shadow of the castle. John’s push chair had to be left outside whenever we were in buildings, but we shared the burden of him, and he behaved very well.

Kathie, Bob, and Susan with crowds of people at Windsor Castle

The ancient keep at Windsor Castle with the backs of Julie, Bob, Lisa, and Susan. Katie aimed her camera at me.

Friday I’m not sure what all the tourists did – the company chauffeur took them around in the car, and they saw the changing of the guard, the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. They got home after John did!

Saturday we saw Petworth House, which Bob had wanted to go in for a display of carving. I was glad to hear him talk about it. [I was impressed by this portrait of Henry VIII by Holbein the younger. I knew Henry by sight! Bob talked about the wood carvings, a special interest of his because he had carved wood himself. The most impressive carver was Grinling Gibbons. He carved the most delicate pieces. If you have time, Google his name and look at a few of his works.]

Henry VIII amid wood carvings at Petworth

The house was interesting, but the grounds were more so, I thought. It had been landscaped by Capability Brown.

John $pencer, Julie, Lisa, Kate, John at Petworth House

That night we were late getting back to the house, so the men got fish and chips for us. That is certainly better than Wimpy burgers.

Sometime during the week Carol and her children came over to beg boarding for four goldfish, so my family got to meet them. They were setting off for a holiday for a fortnight. Mary L. also dropped by to return a bootie of John’s that had gotten lost at her house.

After church Sunday we had a chance to chat with Rene A. and have a quick hello with Mary again and Barbara C. I was so glad they got to meet these people.

Yesterday after sandwiches here at the house, we set out for a trek on Pilgrim’s Way. I’ll be glad to point out our walk to anyone who comes to visit – looks terribly far from our back garden!

View from our bedroom looking over Reigate to the North Downs, Pilgrim’s Way runs along the ridge.

[This ancient walkway linked Winchester to Canterbury along the south slopes of the North Downs. According to Wikipedia, the walkway has been in use for 3,000 years. In more modern times, people made a pilgrimage to see the tomb of Thomas Becket who had been murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.]

I can’t read the sign, but we were on Pilgrim’s Way.

Kate, John, and Bob carried the baby in the push chair over rough terrain.

The weather deserves a paragraph all its own. Would you believe it never rained on them??? It looked threatening several times. Even today after they left, the rain held off. Susan suggested we take a picture of rain here – they don’t believe all the stories they’ve heard of how wet it can be.

Kathie and Julie were so good with $; I certainly did appreciate all those helping hands. Lisa and Kate were happy to have a vacation from minding him.

Speaking of helping hands, once I went back to my room and found my bed made up before I was even thinking of getting that job done! Everyone helped set and clear the table.

That’s all for now. Hope to be in better writing form next week. Now that we’ve seen how much we can enjoy company, y’all come!

Fun is Where you Find It

Son John $ and grandson David like to play Backgammon on a phone. I had them in a captive pose when they folded themselves into chairs. Not to be left out, Sadie brought a toy and enjoyed David’s divided attention.

After church and lunch, we used our annual passes to go to the grounds of Biltmore. John knew the trains were running in Antler Village and might not be available next month. I’d call this equal opportunity fun, something for everyone. The fellows liked the setting for the trains and enjoyed watching them move. I enjoyed seeing the trains running among the plantings.

Has low-key fun found you lately?

Like Riding a Bike

I’ve heard it said that once you learn to ride a bicycle, you never forget. I hoped the same rule applied to driving a stick shift car. I learned on an old army Jeep when I was 16 years old. My grandmother quit driving and let me use her car when I was 20, and I was 57 when my brother gave me his older car. All told, I had driven a stick about five or six years. This week I was the only one in the family who could drive son John $’s car from the rental home to our house. Would I be able to do it? It would take an hour and a half, starting on steep mountain roads and ending on the interstate highway.

As anyone knows who has tried it, the tricky part is getting the vehicle to move smoothly when you start up. One foot presses lightly on the gas pedal as the other eases the clutch out. If you don’t get it right, you lurch forward as your car moves like a bucking bronco. $’s driveway was so steep that all I did was keep my foot on the brake until we got down to the road. Because of the angle, I couldn’t see the road on the right, and $ said either “Gun it!” or “Floor it!” Talk about pressure! If a car had come around that curve fast, I needed to be moving. Everything was fine. No car came, and we didn’t lurch down the road.

I didn’t expect the trouble I had. I was used to three or four forward gears, not five. Almost every time I shifted to third, I went too far and ended in fifth. Both $ and I could tell by the sound that it wasn’t right, so I’d press the clutch in as he shifted the lever with his left hand. That’s the way we made it home. One of us would suggest shifting up or down, and I’d say, “Clutch in.”

Sadie was calm, sleeping on $’s lap much of the way. She sat up and was alert when he went in a store to get cigarettes. I’m going to let Sadie rate my driving, and I expect the rating to be “Boring”.

England 40 Years Ago — August 18, 1980

From now on, please presume we have company if the letter is delayed. Not too many weeks ago someone was sure half of us were in hospital when the letter didn’t arrive on time. I had planned to write last night, but during dinner, John C. got this funny look, pushed back from the table, said he was afraid he was going to be sick and to please excuse him while he took a nap. So, instead of calmly writing here, I cleaned up the kitchen, entertained Gerhard (college friend), and got the children to bed. John felt much better when I woke him to change into pajamas. Must have been a quick virus. Now back to the beginning of the previous week.

Last week was Holiday Club at St. Mary’s. It’s similar to Bible School in the mornings, but includes the whole parish for that plus games in the afternoons and two special evenings. Kate (8) determined she would go, thinking neighbor Mary Anne might go with her. Mary Anne didn’t go, but Kate went right ahead! I went with her to find her group the first morning, and she did fine! The morning sessions were from 10:15 to 12. Lisa disdained to go. She’s determined not to enjoy anything here.

Monday afternoon we went to Priory Park for the afternoon games. Lisa and Kate joined in, and I went window shopping in town. They played all sorts of games, and I rather think Lisa didn’t like it because it was all strange to her and she couldn’t beat everyone else. That lasted each afternoon from 2:30 to 4. Tuesday afternoon we went down to watch Hunt the Hairy. What fun most of the children had! They filled squeeze bottles with water and hunted for the specially dressed young leaders to chase and squirt. The Hairys were drenched from head to toe before a halt was called. It was like watching something in a movie to see all these children – must have been 100 – 200 there – swirling over the green lawns like waves on the beach as they chased the Hairys. Lisa and Kate didn’t join in, but we had a good time watching. Afterwards there was something at the church itself called Sizzle the Sausage, which I think was a cook-out. Kate didn’t want to go by herself and I had to fix dinner for the rest of us. One other afternoon we went to watch the goings on, this time a team game of youngsters against leaders.

It seemed so odd for a church group to use public land until it dawned on me that they don’t have separation of church and state here. I don’t know where the funds came for the Holiday Club, but all youngsters in the parish were invited – meaning all residents in this town, I guess. Kate came home with a few pictures she’d drawn, but they don’t have elaborate things to do as with Concordia publications.

Kate went every morning, which was the time they acted out Bible stories and sang songs – the more Christian part of the week. We had meant to take her to the park Saturday afternoon but forgot about it. Sunday, yesterday, they had a family service at church, and she enjoyed that because they had a sword drill right in church and sang songs she’d become familiar with during the week. I was so proud of her for over-coming her shyness and entering into things. As you can imagine, our week was hectic getting her there and running errands in the allotted time. It’s nice not to have such restrictions today.

One morning Lise and I went to the freezer center and stocked up on a freezer full of meat. I bought a quart jar of mayonnaise there. You’ll never guess the cheapest brand I’ve seen here – Hellmann’s!!! I am trying to get as much food in the house as possible to save trips the rest of the week. Went to Co-op four times and the freezer center twice.

Thursday Clewes began cleaning out the pool at the bottom of the garden. The children asked him to, and he finally did it. What an awful job! He cut down a big bush or so, cut back stinging nettles, and dragged broken glass and the bottom of a bird bath from the murky depths. Yuck! The girls were interested in helping and really pitched in Friday. They scrubbed the sides which were slimy green and the bottom which was slate gray. The whole thing was beige when they got through! They hauled bucket after bucket of water down there. John asked about gold fish, but the man said not to get any until the middle of this week while the chemicals settled out of the water.

Friday Lisa began working on the pool before Clewes came. She caught three frogs and a newt, put them in a bucket, and left them on the front stoop. At my protest, her reply was, “They’re my GUARD FROGS!” With a daughter’s imagination like that, what chance does a mother have?

Saturday John was out shopping with the girls, and I knew I must wash my hair before Gerhard arrived. The problem was what to do with John $. Finally I hit on a good solution. I put him in his room with toys, closed all the doors except those allowing a path from his room to the shower room at the other end of the house. I could tell from the shower where he was by the sound of the toys. He was closer when I heard a truck thump and racing down the hall when I could hear a musical push toy. Then I could hear his talking sounds and spoke to him. In a minute he got so quiet I couldn’t imagine where he was. When a boy gets quiet, it’s time to be suspicious. I shut off the water, turned and looked down, and there just visible below the shower curtain were two little hands happily splashing in the water at my feet.

Gerhard arrived at least an hour before we expected him. He called from the railroad station, so we had time to change clothes quickly before John drove to get him. Luckily it was a beautiful day and I had gotten all my laundry dry for a change before we did a load for him. He and John hung it out while I cooked dinner. We sat up quite late and had a nice visit.

Yesterday we went to St. Mary’s, had sandwiches for lunch, and set out for the vicinity of Tunbridge Wells. We walked through the ruins of Scotney Castle and all about the lovely gardens. The Castle was very old; when the Hussey family inherited it in the 18^th century, they decided they’d rather look at a castle than live in one. They built a huge stone home on the hilltop, and for the romantic effect, demolished much of the castle to make it into an instant ruin! In those days ruins were considered romantic, more so than an old building well preserved.

Gerhard, John, Lisa, Kate, John $ at Scotney Castle

We came home for dinner as described in the first paragraph, and Gerhard went in by train with John this morning. Today I’ve been trying to ready the house and ourselves for the arrival of my brother and his family tomorrow morning. Their plane is due in at Gatwick at 8 a.m.

Grandsons 20 Years Ago

I’ve been looking at my letters written in England 40 years ago and decided to see what was happening 20 years ago. I found one of my favorite photos of grandsons David and Nathaniel. In the year 2000, David was patiently holding the bottle for Nathaniel. These days, the roles would be reversed. Nate would be baking a cake for David.

A Day with Logan

We saw neighbor Logan (10) on his porch as we came back from our morning walk. John asked him to come over to get Sunday School activity sheets we had printed for him. He asked to stay, ran home to get permission from his parents, and thus began a whole day with our special friend. None of us knew at the time that it would last until evening.

After breakfast and David’s leaving for work, Logan went to town with us. The fellows ran an errand or so while I had my teeth cleaned. We headed for Walmart. Logan has been shopping with us before, and we let him pick out a small toy to take home. Understandably, Shawn and Bob did not want their son to be in the habit of ASKING for things. We cleared it via text that we could get him something. Shawn had said Logan was so good to her, fetching things when she had limited mobility after her hip replacement. He did whatever she asked without complaint. I felt a minor miracle like that from any child should be rewarded.

When we came home, Logan helped John in the garden, picking up leaves and limbs from John’s recent trimming job, while I prepared our main meal. We three sat down to eat, and it didn’t occur to me until then that Logan had not played with his new toy. He brought it out on the porch, and only after we ate did he ask if he could open it. I realized many children would have already opened and broken a toy in that time. What remarkable restraint and self-control! (Round of applause for Logan, please!!)

After lunch I took a photo of the fellows playing Go Fish. John said Logan had already trounced him in a game of checkers. I suspect we will win only games of chance with him from now on. For the record, I quit playing games of strategy with our grandsons many years ago.

When John excused himself to do paperwork, I set up soda-can targets for Logan to shoot. He hit six in a row, I think, but naturally that wasn’t when I was taking a video. I saved one short clip of the cool marksman hitting the target. Looking at it frame by frame, I could not see the bullet at all.

Logan and I played an unscramble word game until he tired of it. He picked up a shrunken balloon from another day’s play, and I remembered I had a bat for him. It was a cardboard tube that had been the center of a roll of wrapping paper. He used it to play baseball with the sorry balloon, not wishing to get a new one from the closet. John rejoined us, and we all laughed at the bat that was slowly uncurling. At the end, there was a whooshing sound as he swung at the “ball”. The impromptu rules were like baseball, but in a real ballgame, the batter wouldn’t be able to hit the ball twice in one play as Logan did. I don’t know what else we might have found to play with, but Bob came over to take Logan home. What a fun day it had been for us!