January 1, 2008 The Wee Hours

It hasn't been 2008 for long, and we already have excitement. :) We came from Clinton up to Farmington Hills to hang out with a friend for New Years, and the snow has reached 3 inches almost (it's now 1:30am). If you're in England you're missing out on a beautiful snowfall- it's so quiet and peacefully drifting down out of the sky and blanketing the world in a beautiful white. We've decided to stay here for the night (we brought stuff with us since they were predicting the snow) but we might be here longer than we bargained for if they can't clear the roads and the parking lot here. They're expecting 10 inches, and we have my parents' car which isn't going to make it through 10 inches of unplowed snow. Hopefully they're already plowing....if not we might be here all day. It'll be great for photography though, that's for sure. It seems like we tend to get at least one heavy snowfall over the holiday break every year.

It is way past my bedtime- my niece and nephew are staying with my mom and dad, and I bet they all went to bed before the snow started. I wish I could see their faces when they wake up to all the snow! For you Michigan folks- be careful driving. :)

December 20, 2007 Travelodge edition

I couldn't resist the temptation to blog about the experience we just had getting down to this Travelodge, even if I can't post it until I get back. So we chose a Travelodge that was reasonably close to the airport, via the Underground. What we didn't consider is that we might end up in a not so good part of London. It's not bad here, really. In fact there are car dealerships and things here, nice ones, and there are no bars on the windows like in Detroit. But when we got off at the Park Royal stop and came up out of the Underground and saw 2 resident policemen that should have been a stronger indication than it was. I just thought it was increased security for the holidays. :) Anyway the Travelodge is only 200 yards away, how bad can it be, right?

What they failed to tell us was that the Travelodge is on the other side of a divided highway from the Underground stop...and the cross over point is half a mile down. We couldn't just run across, and believe me I had that thought, but there was a nice big fence to keep people from doing just that. So we started walking with our 2 suitcases, backpacks, and obvious electrical equipment. It got slightly seedier gradually as we walked, and we had to walk past and through some seedy groups of people, who praise Gd didn't give us any problems, but I didn't feel easy until we were in front of this Vauxhall dealership with all it's shiny new cars. It being at this point 9:30pm and foggy as anything and occasionally seeing hooded men way far back behind us added to the atmosphere. :) Seriously if someone had mugged us they would have made off with quite a stash- with our 2 laptops and my camera at least. It really wasn't as bad as parts of Detroit that I've been in.

Anyway we made it to the Travelodge, and the Receptionist had to let us into our room, which is special because someone broke a key off in it and it hasn't been fixed yet. :) Outside our window (we're on the 4th floor) is the Red line of the Underground, although I haven't heard any trains for at least an hour so maybe there's no service now.

Given all this, we decided to get a taxi the rest of the way to Heathrow. :) Our room is pretty nice overall- much nicer than many I've stayed in, and reasonably quiet. We'll be glad to be home though that's for sure. :) Unfortunately I left my cell phone at home (very disappointing) so I can't take any pictures to post up here just yet.

G just jokingly said I should put "We took a picture of us getting mugged but the guy stole our camera." We can joke about it now that we're safe in our room. :) I don't think we were in any actual danger at any point, but it was still creepy.

6 hours of sleep until the taxi picks us up! At least we can sleep on the plane. :)

December 21, 2007

This will be quick- we're taking the bus from Swavesey in like 2 hours and there's still a wee bit of packing left....anyway thanks for the prs for Nelly and the cat sitter situation, because G was able to catch someone today who could come by everyday and feed Nelly and pet her and give her some wet food so she'll be happy. :) Praise Gd for so graciously providing at the last minute! We're all checked in for our flight and most everything is already done....back to finishing off that packing.

December 20, 2007

It's almost 10pm here in Swavesey and I haven't packed a thing, although we're leaving tomorrow night for the hotel near Heathrow. Nothing. In fact I haven't even pulled out a suitcase. What have I been doing? Dishes, laundry, shopping, cleaning, discovering that there are actual pet visiting businesses and desperately calling them all in hopes of finding someone who can come and check on Nelly....I left one message, and one woman told me that although she is extremely busy that if I was desperate to call her back and she might be able to squeeze a short visit to our house in to get a key and stuff. I may be calling her tomorrow. All of our neighbors and our friends are going away for xmas and New Year. I dropped off the key to our place with our friends who are going to come and pick Nelly up so she can stay with them while we're in Sydney, and I'm feeling some stress about that as well because poor Nelly has been handed off to so many people, I don't want her to be afraid or stressed or wondering if these new people are her new people forever. Besides having comparative strangers come in and grab her and take her somewhere else....I wish there was another way, but there just isn't.

I've learned a good lesson about parenting from this, although I'm not a parent- some things have cross over application. :) I've come to the conclusion that no matter how hard I try I simply can't keep Nelly from experiencing a cat version of concern about what is happening, wondering where we've gone, being afraid of these new people and a new environment, or remembering all of her past transfers to other people over which she had no control. I have to make the best decision for her even though it is going to result in some fear and anxiety for her, and having 2 people who will love her and give her attention and care for her needs for 4 weeks is infinitely better than being stuck in a cattery in a small cage or being alone at home for 4 weeks. Anyway, pr that father will provide someone who can come over the next 2 weeks. Although Nelly will be experiencing some unpleasant things, I will be pring that she will trust us as best a cat can.

There are many many parallels to my lessons in taking care of Nelly and Gd's taking care of us. In part because he has given every person free choice, we will experience negative things in our lives that are outside our control. But when things are difficult and we feel like we can't see him or we can't understand why something is happening, or why he would allow it, we have to trust him and remember his great love for us, and rely on that knowledge to keep us going. I'm so thankful for a Gd who cares about these things, even my cat.

We're looking forward to seeing you all and spending time with you all- FYI for those at CCBC my little niece is in a pageant at my mom's chch on Sunday (the pageant was pushed back due to the snow storm) so although we had originally planned to be at CCBC Sunday, we'll see you all Monday night at the srvce then instead.

Now I'm off to pack. Who knows what I'll forget, but thankfully there's always Kiwanis and A2 thrift stores. So long as I have my passport I'm good. :)

December 18, 2007

Some B&B's remind me of staying at my grandma's house- it's hard to say what exactly, but it's one of those things I guess. This is the B&B we stayed at in Bakewell.

Our trip to Chatsworth this weekend very great. There wasn't any snow, but it did get below freezing and there was a lot of fog- as you'll see by the pictures. We stayed in a great little town called Bakewell, right on the riverside. Since adventures seem to follow us wherever we go (in fact after reading back over my own blog I'm starting to wonder- we seem to have an unusual amount of adventure) there was of course some adventure. Said adventures began with our trying to find the B&B...

G had excellent directions to the B&B. We made it in great time, 2.5 hours, which for a one day trip is basically unheard of in the UK. People were shocked when we told them we went up Friday night and came back Saturday night. Several people mentioned that they only drive that far if they're going on holiday for a week or 2. For me, 3 hours is my limit for a an overnight trip. But 4 or 5 is ok if it's a weekend.

We got to Bakewell, and it was really foggy. We had a printout from Google maps, showing us on the map where this place was. Well, unfortunately it wasn't very accurate when it came to the right house...the directions instructed us to turn right at this sort of street, which we did, and then we found ourselves staring at a bunch of ruins. We were behind a row of houses, in the complete dark. Obviously that wasn't right. So we called the woman, who had no idea where we were. Eventually we went back to this little intersection, and the only other option was to go straight, and there was a very clear sign saying "Riverside Business park only!" It turns out that the B&B was down that little path.

Our B&B was down this road.

It was a very nice B&B- a family home with 2 rooms above it converted. The family had 2 grown sons who were now married, and so they ran the B&B. Everything was great, we went to sleep (although I did have to use a throw pillow in place of the bed pillow because the bed pillow was too fluffy and made my neck hurt) and I slept fine. G didn't sleep so well, but neither of us slept very well when we heard a banging stumbling sound in the stairway at like 4:30am. I was like "Uh, that sure sounds like a drunk person stumbling up the stairs." B&B clientele aren't usually that type. But, sure enough, it was a drunk guy and his wife. Said drunk guy put his keys into our door, at which point I was like "Uh, G, someone's putting keys in our door" so he jumped up and put his hand on the door just to make sure, and eventually the guy got the point and tried his own door.

The next morning after breakfast we found out the whole story from the lady- this couple had gone to some big party down the way and came back at 4:30am (which we already knew.) The couple came down for breakfast after we'd finished ours, and both of them were still drunk (it was only 5 hours later) and what happened next is one of those moments of hilarity which stick in your brain forever. :) The man, who was over 50, started talking really loudly to G and the landlady about this party and how he knew they guy and the sorts of things drunk people think are important to tell others. The guy and G were right across from each other, and his wife started shouting across to me about the party, so it's like there were 2 really loud conversations being shouted across each other, and we didn't know these people or really care about their party. :) I had to bite my tongue not to laugh at the crazy loud talking and the complete lack of interest we had in knowing what it was that they were shouting. :)

Morning foggy picture just outside our B&B.

G taking pictures of the lake in front of Chatsworth

Anyway, Chatsworth house had lots of cool xmas decorations up, and the grounds were nice too, although it was windy and slippery and cold. :) The best place to get info on Chatsworth is to go to www.chatsworth.org.

Chatsworth house from one end.

They decorate 12 or 13 rooms for xmas.

The library.

The Dining Room

The Dining Room from the other end. :)

Victorian decorations of citrus slices

Chatsworth is famous for their collection of statues- I like this giant foot. It's 4ft long!

Even the statues get decorated.

Me and a giant stone lion.

Fortunately we didn't have any issues coming home, we got home in good time and went to bed early. Our house has been really cold because it's so drafty, and we've been filling up our Focus water bottles with warm water to warm up the bed. And sleeping in layers. :) Yesterday I bought some draft blocker things and G installed them all over the house, and it's made a huge difference. I also got a convection heater to heat up our bedroom, which is at the end of the radiator line and never gets warm. Needless to day we'll be happy for the 80F weather awaiting us in Sydney. :)

I thought you might like to see a funny sign that we saw in Bakewell. Here in the UK they are very serious about picking up your dog waste, and they have very detailed signs just in case you didn't understand what "Pick up your dog's waste" meant. This one shows the person picking up the dog waste. :)


Time is flying here as we prepare to head back to visit everyone, and with the preparations for our being gone from here for 5 weeks. Some kind friends from our home group will be taking Nelly for 3 weeks while we're in Sydney, and since all the catteries are full Nelly will have to stay here by herself for 2 weeks. I'm trying to enlist a neighbor to at least come and check on her once a day or every other day. I think she'll be fine but I would feel better if I knew that someone was stopping in just in case she got injured or something like that. Thanks for your prs about this- our friends love cats, even vocal ones, and will give Nelly the attention she needs while we're gone. Pr for her 3 week adjustment and that she'll be ok for the first 2 weeks while we're gone.

We're staying Friday night in London so we can catch our flight at Heathrow on Saturday morning, and we'll be in Detroit at 12:40pm! It still feels surreal right now to be seeing everyone so soon! We've heard all about the snow storm, and we're ready for some snow and real winter weather. :)

I'm hoping to get together with E this week before I leave- she's been sick, so please pr that we can meet up and chat once more before I leave.

December 13, 2007

I had my first "I can't find my keys and I can't get into my house" event today. :) I went into town for our last ladies group study of the year, and that went great. Then I stopped by the store to get some food, and took the bus back. Th 1:45pm bus is the best one I think, at least these past few weeks, because the sun is so beautiful on the fields at about 2:10 when we are driving through them.

Well I got home at 2:35, and realized I didn't have my keys. I had no idea where they were. I'm obsessive about locking doors and windows, so I knew there was no way that I'd be able to get in that way. The landlords weren't home. So I called G, in hopes that he might be able to catch the next bus. But then I remembered that the bathroom window doesn't latch right, and although it is on the second floor, inside our landlord's little courtyard they had a long wooden ladder. So I decided to try it. I called him first to let him know I was going to do it, just in case something bad happened. :)

I grabbed the ladder (which by the way is like 100 years old) and navigated around their plants and into the rose bush. I climbed the ladder and sure enough, the window was unlocked. So I pushed it open. Not 5 seconds later this is what I saw:

Nelly the ever faithful, greeting me when I came home. She wanted me to pet her right there on the windowsill. :) She was clearly happy to see me, although I think she wondered why I was coming in the window. :) Anyway she was like "Oh hey it's you! You're back! What's out here? " I had to shove her off the windowsill into the bathroom because she wouldn't get out of the way for me to climb in. :)

The window only opens about 2 and a half feet, and the ladder didn't reach all the way and was out from the window by at least 2 feet.

I took a picture of my view down from the ladder. :)

Well the situation was just so funny to me, imagining someone on the outside watching me scoot through the window and pull one leg in to leverage against the wall, and trying to not fall onto the radiator which is just under the window...I laughed so hard the entire time. :) The window sill is very thick, so it was harder to get in.

After I climbed in I took a picture of the ladder disappearing over the roof edge.

You can see how deep the windowsill is...and my footprint on the left side next to the windowsill above the plant. :)

Anyway, I'm sure many of you are thinking "You should be careful! What if you fell!" I should tell you that I was full aware of the potential for falling, and was very careful climbing up the ladder, after having first shoved it well into the ground to make sure it didn't move. I also very very carefully climbed in the window and didn't let go of the ladder with my feet until I was sure my weight was full transferred safely onto the window sill. That is in fact what made me look so funny, with my stomach on the sill and each end sticking in or out. :) But I was very very careful, and thought through what I would do if the ladder moved and I had to grab the window. Fortunately our roof is sloped.

Nelly was very glad to see me, but she scolded me for doing something unusual, which is her way- she doesn't like strange, and she doesn't like change either. :) But I made it in, and one of the virtues of blogs is that you can record an experience just after it has happened, with all the freshness of feeling and excitement.

On a side note, it has frosted for several nights in a row here- it's interesting because we're farther north here so the sun doesn't come up very far before it goes right back down. Many patches of things have been frost covered for days and days, and they look like they were snowed on, because the frost doesn't melt like it does everywhere else. People have been complaining about it being -1C here (30F). That seems like a warm day for a Michigan winter. :)

We are not yet packing since we don't leave for another 8 days, but we are already thinking about the interesting packing job we're going to need....Detroit where it's like 20F, to Sydney where it's summer and 85F. :)

Some of you might be wondering what we're doing without a car. Well, to quote a military phrase, we're "improvising, adapting, and overcoming." We take the bus during the day, or several (I have to take 2 buses to get to my women's group.) If there's something in the evening, we either don't go, or we get a ride from someone (we got a ride to our home group last night), or we take a taxi. We took a taxi back from the performance Tuesday night and we got this great Scottish driver- he was so nice, and really friendly, and he said he and his family had lived in Cambridge for like 20 years, and they sold their property here and with that money bought a 10 bed enormous house on the seaside near Inverness! Housing is crazy expensive here. Anyway they've just moved and he's spending 2 weeks here, 2 weeks up there learning the roads and stuff, and driving the 11 hours to get between them! He said he thought he'd be set to stay up there by February.

We've decided to just get by without a car until we get back in February. We rented a car for the weekend (a really teeny one that was very cheap) to go out to Wimpole, and this weekend we're going up to see the xmas decorations at Chatsworth in the Peak District, which might actually have snow now, and would be great for photography. And we can take pictures inside there, so I'll post some up for you all to see.

December 12, 2007

Our international ladies small group has been doing various events with it being xmas so that we can invite other international friends who don't know the meaning or history of xmas. I told you about the truffle making event, which went very well, and today we had a Mince Pie making event. I was just as curious as the rest of them about how to make mince pies. :)

We had about 30 minutes to chat, learn names, and generally arrive and such. Then the person who was giving the demonstration showed us how to make the pastry part of the mince pies, and told us the history of mince pies, and why there is no meat in them although they are often called mince meat pies. :) Several of the ladies helped her with the pastry, then we used cookie cutters to cut out the circles for the pies (which are more like a tart size.) While the pies were cooking, K gave a short talk about xmas, what it's about, why we feel it's important, etc. Then we sampled the pies. It seems like a very simple structure, but people really enjoy it. So- on to my photos of how to make mince pies!

Instead of making the mince to put in the pies, they tend to buy it in a jar. :)

Mince meat pies used to have meat, as well as dried fruit (raisins, currants, etc) but over time the meat disappeared. There is suet in there though- not an appetizing thought. If you're interested in making some let me know and I can either send you the recipe she gave us for the mince meat or I can bring back a jar. The filling is killer sweet.

To make the pastry you start with 2 parts flour to one part butter. Then you use your fingers to break up the butter into little clumps.

Next you put in a little water and mix it, and repeat until the dough is sort of dry and vaguely crumbly looking- not thick like bread dough.

Then you take a rolling pin and roll it back and forth- she's demonstrating what not to do on the left- don't roll it all the way to the edge. And make sure the dough doesn't split as you roll it.

After the dough is rolled out, you can use a round cookie cutter or a jam jar to cut the circles. Then you put the circles into a tart tray- don't try to use a muffin tin because those are too deep and they'll turn out soggy.

You're supposed to put about a tablespoon of the filling in, but I think I'd put in less because it's too sweet to eat a whole one with that much in it, and they tend to leak while cooking if you put that much in.

You can use the same size or smaller cutter for the tops.

Actually, during the reformation mince meat pies were banned because it was common to not put a full piece on the top, but to put instead a dough replica of the baby JC, and reformationists were very anti that. You can also put star shapes or circles or whatever.

Almost ready for the oven.

You have to leave them to cool for awhile or you'll burn your tongue. A warning for my Asian friends- these are very very sweet, and unless you are ok with extreme sweet you might want to only make a few, and share one with a friend.

This is my Korean friend's little girl, Hamin (Ha-meen). She is just so cute. :)

You know, having a small party like this is a good way to meet international friends. At holidays like now and Thanksgiving and Easter etc invite some internationals to come to your house and enjoy the holiday with you. We missed our Chinese friends on Thanksgiving this year, and have missed not having a xmas dinner here, but these events have been fun too.

December 9, 2007

I somehow managed to get these last 2 posts in the wrong chronological order. :)

Sunday we went out to Wimpole for their Victorian xmas event. Most of the hall is closed because it's the off season now, but they decorate a few rooms for xmas, as it would have been in 1843. It was very interesting! I learned some interesting facts about xmas then:

1. 1843 was apparently the year the very first xmas card was sent.
2. xmas trees became fashionable in 1841 when Prince Albert introduced a German xmas tree to court.
3. Traditional victorian decorations included ribbons tied on the branches, slices of orange or lemon strung up, cinnamon sticks tied with ribbons, and little sachets of good smelling herbs, as well as small presents, and candy sticks.
4. Victorians still used Yule Logs and Kissing Boughs which are remnants of pagan celebrations of "Yule."
5. On xmas day wealthy families served a boar's head stuffed with truffles, rabbit, chicken, or partridges. Lower class families usually had beef or goose, and there were special clubs to help them save up for a xmas goose.
6. Turkeys (which are now the main xmas food here) became popular in the 1880's.
7. Plum pudding and mince pies were popular deserts.

We can't take pictures inside the hall, but they had some fun things in the Stable Yard. They had roasted chestnuts, which we bought and really liked. They taste a bit like yams, and are good with salt. If you decide to try to roast chestnuts make sure you score them so they don't explode. :)

They gave the chestnuts to us in this bag- they were super hot, right off the fire.

G's very first chestnut ever!

A closer look

My very first chestnut ever!

The grounds at Wimpole are amazing- the trees are nice and big, and it's very picturesque.

It's amazing what a shift of 20 feet can do for a photo- this is almost the exact same place. Next time you're taking a shot, walk around a bit before (or after) to see how things look from a different viewpoint.

Besides the chestnuts we also had this great stuff called marzipan- I guess it's made out of almond paste? Anyway it is really good and Victorians would make little fake fruit displays out of it.We're really enjoying learning about different xmas traditions of the past.

December 11, 2007

Many of you in Michigan may have been beneficiaries (or victims depending on your viewpoint) of my personal zeal to take large groups of friends to see the performance of Handel's Msia (ha ha that's a bit of a strange code one- I just made it up). :D If you've come with us one of the past, I don't know, 5 years, then it's no surprise to you to know that we've been keeping an eye out for a performance of it here in Cambridge. Cambridge, as you may imagine, is home to about a million fabulous orchestras, ensembles, etc etc due to the university. If you love ancient music, this is the place to be. I love baroque music, especially anything with a harpsichord, although organ pieces come in a good second. Particularly if they're being performed at Kings College Chapel. But I digress.

We heard through a co-worker of G's that tonight was a performance of Msia at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, featuring the Academy of Ancient Music. How much more perfect could it get? So we managed to get some tickets, I took the bus down and brought G down some nicer clothes, and off we went. They were having this really cool thing at 6pm where you could come and talk with the conductor, Richard Egarr, so we went, and you know there weren't even 30 people there! More like 20! It was awesome- he talked about his background a bit, and how he'd been out of the Msia performance loop so he was hoping to bring a fresh take to it, and even how some parts of the choir bits hadn't been rehearsed because the choirs tend to think they have Msia down because they perform it so often especially in December. He seemed like a great guy- totally down to earth, but very knowledgeable in his field. What he didn't tell us is that he is a famous keyboardist (meaning instruments with keys like piano and harpsichord, and I think organ) who was not only conducting but also playing harpsichord himself during the performance!

The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) has about 17 orchestra members, and 20 choir members. They use instruments which are appropriate for the time, and are a size that is appropriate for the time as well. Msia was written in 1742 (at least that was the first performance of it) and it was first performed in Dublin. Small orchestras were the thing then. I've never been to any performance except the one at Hill, which I absolutely love, and I have to say that I was spoiled by the accoustics there. :)

About the performance- it really did have a freshness that I had never heard before. Because of the small numbers I could clearly hear all of the harmonies, especially in the choir. The choir voices were all incredible- beautiful and clear. And the conductor had an amazing level of control over the orchestra- they seemed so much more responsive than I've seen other orchestras. He did occasionally look funny using his head to conduct, or one hand conducting while the other hand was playing! It was amazing. :) As for the soloists...I'm a bit picky about solo voices I have to say- not everyone's style or type of voice sounds beautiful to me. Many soloists seem mediocre, and quite a few sound downright not good to me. Msia is particularly telling on voice quality because the range that each person has to sing is wider than in a lot of pieces. Because of that you frequently get bass soloists who sound bad in the absolute lowest part of their range, and have to sing there. Same for altos. Frequently tenor soloists in Msia sound what I'd call cloudy in their lower range, and unfortunately you frequently get sopranos with ugly sounding vibratto in their upper range. All that to say that the soprano had a very nice clear bell like tone, the poor alto didn't sound good in the lower range, the tenor didn't have any volume, and the bass sounded good throughout his entire range. I often wonder why Handel wrote a piece with such a wide range for each voice that it seems so difficult to sing it well. :) The instruments were cool too- they had a baroque trumpet which was cool, and flutes, which were made out of wood. The harpsichord was really cool.

Beyond all of the performance issues though, I wouldn't recommend going to a classical concert at the Corn Exchange. In fact, I don't think I will go there again unless I can sit very close to the stage. The Corn Exchange was built for corn trading, but quickly began to be used for concerts and such. You can see the history at http://cambridge-live-cornex.runtime-collective.com/ccm/cornex/pages/virtualtour/history-of-the-cambridge-corn-exchange.en

But- but- but- but- the Corn Exchange simply is not well suited to classical music because there is a huge black stage thing hanging directly above the stage, which as you might guess, blocks the sound from reaching the ears of the audience. Being thoroughly spoiled by Hill Auditorium (where you really can sit basically anywhere and hear perfectly) I was shocked at the flat sound- the poor tenor was almost unhearable for about half of his solo pieces, as was the alto. At Hill my favorite place to sit is in the Balcony (still called the Second Balcony for many of us) on the right hand side, right at the edge of the balcony. The sound there is amazing- it just floats to your ears....Anyway if any of you went to Msia at Hill let me know how it went. :) We're hoping to go to some more performances by the AAM- the rest of them are in a different (and I've heard much better) venue. :)

December 8, 2007

My womens' group a few weeks back made a sort of English truffle as an outreach- I think I mentioned that. I didn't mention that I made an interesting discovery as a result of this recipe.

If you grew up in the South, or had a parent or grandparent who did, you may know what a Flitter is, also known as a Flitter Cake. Well, if you have followed me so far, you probably also know that the best thing to put on flitter cakes is Golden Eagle Syrup. Mmm....

Funny enough, this recipe for truffles called for golden syrup. Once we finally found it, not in the baking section (which seemed like the most natural place, and the place you might find it in the US if you live in the South- forget even looking in the North because I've never been able to find it.) It was in the section with jams, peanut butter, and Nutella! At first we thought that was just another odd British place to put things, but it made more sense when we read the label. First of all, there are like 3 or 4 varieties, which is nice. Our family orders Golden Eagle from Fayette, Alabama, and there's basically only one brand. :)

Can you guess why they had put it in with the jams and spreads? Well, right on the back of the bottle it says something like "tastes wonderful on pancakes!" I was so surprised- this Southern tradition of flitter cakes and golden eagle syrup has it's root here in England- in Scotland actually, where they've been putting golden syrup on pancakes for about ever! I just couldn't believe it- I thought that that was so cool, to find the root of a family's Southern tradition here in the Old Country!

For those of you who are interested in language, apparently "flitter" is a corruption of the word "fritter" which was in the past used for pancake. Going one step farther than that even, in Scotland they make something which is called Drop Scones- you mix up the batter, drop it onto a smoking hot pan, and leave it a bit thick, and then flip it over after a bit so you get....a flitter cake!! They are often called griddle cakes in Scotland, which isn't that far removed from flitter cake either. It amazes me again and again just how much influence Scottish immigrants to the US have had ever since the founding of our country, reaching down into the very fabric of our culture, from fiddle music to flitter cakes.

I realize I may have a limited audience on this one, but I have high hopes that at least our dear Living Proof friends will know what I'm talking about. (We miss you LP class and can't wait to see you all in a few weeks!) :) And, if you've made flitter cakes, could you please please PLEASE send me the recipe? I just can't wait to try it here and bring our culture full circle. :) For the rest of you, bless you for reading my flitter cake rant anyway. :)

Special pr for a depressed friend

Today I met with a new friend, E. E is from an eastern European country and is working here in the UK. She's lived here for about 3 years. She is a Chrstn, but I don't know a lot about her specific beliefs yet. In fact I've just really met her. I met E because she attends a bbl study for internationals at Stag. E was very recently diagnosed with clinical depression, and had been depressed for a couple months before she sought medical help. Her depression is severe, to the point that she doesn't enjoy doing anything, even the things she used to love. She finds it very hard to go to work, and even when she is there she frequently can't get any work done because she simply can't make even a small decision. She said she has felt like her mind is dead- silent, blank, no thoughts, no feelings, just nothing. She admitted that she had had thoughts of suicide in the past, that her life wasn't worth living in this state. She was able to get on some medication 3 weeks ago, and just yesterday she began to notice some improvement.

Beyond the medication, she has recognized with her doctor's help that she has a lot of negative self thoughts, which cause her to think negatively about herself and to view things in her world negatively. She has made an active choice to change those thoughts, and today she asked me many deep questions, although we have just met. She asked me where I found my self value, how I knew that my husband loved me, what things give me true happiness... she said she feels she is not pretty, and that no one would love her. When she looks in the mirror she said she feels she has aged a lot because of the depression and now looks old. Some of these things are because of her depression, but she said she had some of these thoughts before she felt depressed as well. I only met with E for an hour, but I struggled with not crying with almost every sentence she said- it breaks my heart for her to look at herself as worthless and valueless.

I pr-ed about what I could offer to E in our meetings together. After all, I am not clinically depressed, and I am not a trained counsellor, and although we all go through bouts of minor depression, I have never been in her shoes. What could I offer her? How could I be gentle with her feelings, and truly help her walk through this experience? I so desperately want her to see her real value! As I pr-ed about it, I felt like the most important thing I can offer her is the truth about herself, and to share with her the absolute root of where my own self worth comes from, and that is from my relationship with JC. My relationship with Gd is the source of my life purpose and my self worth. Even though she believes in JC, because of her illness right now she may not be able to accept that she is valuable to Gd, and that her life impacts others in a valuable way. But over time I hope she will. I want to give her a listening ear, and words that affirm her self worth- a human contact who loves her and can consistently affirm her with positive words. A confirmation that she isn't the only one, and that although it is difficult for her to believe, her view of herself right now simply doesn't reflect the real truth about her.

When you look in the mirror at your reflection, I hope E will come to mind, and that you will say a short pr for her. She is far from home, in an alien culture, speaking a different language, and struggling desperately with this depression. Until E's medication begins to work, she will not be able to fully tackle these issues of self worth and negative thoughts about life. Will you please pr with me for E that the medication will be used by Gd to make her brain function properly again? Please pr that Gd will give me resources and insight into how to truly help her during this time, and to help her eventually to begin to replace her negative thoughts and feelings with positive feelings of her self worth, her value, and her appearance. She knows that I am pring for her, and that others are as well.

If any of you have been clinically depressed and would be willing to share your experience with me, please email me. E is asking me questions about the experiences of others who have recovered from depression, and I think it would be encouraging to her to hear the successes of others who have been through it. Also, if you know of any truly helpful and accurate books about depression, do pass those one. In researching this I've found an awful lot of horribly wrong concepts and ideas about depression, and I'd like something from an accurate counselling perspective.

Thank you for pring for E with me!

December 4, 2007

Today I took a bike ride just a little way outside of Swavesey to watch the sunset. The sun sets here really early, so I left at 3pm to have enough time to bike out and not have to rush. Well my trip out was well worth it- the sunset was stunning today and I had a great view out over the Fen Nature Preserve. But first- a look at the famous English hedgerow. :) The road on the way out is dirt and is lined with hedgerows. Hedgerows are cool- they're basically trees planted in rows, that get whacked down every year or so, so they have big thick trunks and teeny little branches. They're important for wildlife because they allow animals to travel along the hedgerows to different areas of the field. Without them the fields are devoid of animal life.

I found this very small cemetery on the way out to the nature preserve. It was interesting that they have a garden on one side, and the cemetery on the other side...a bit weird to me that the cemetery is providing fertilizer for their crops! Kind of a yucky idea.

A hedgerow with the windmill in the background.

When you get closer you can see that the hedgerow is made of trees.

I'm bad about taking pictures of other stuff and not taking pictures of me! So here's a picture of me. My cell phone camera has a great little mirror so you can see yourself and if you're in the picture or not. What will they think of next?

The ground in these is dark because I had to reduce the exposure for the sunset, otherwise it was washed out.

Isn't this cool? My camera has a panorama feature that helps you line up the 3 shots! Unfortunately the exposures are a little different. But still cool.

Swavesey is a nice place to live with tons of parks and places to hike- since it's so warm here and will be all winter (compared to Michigan) I hope to brighten your winters with beautiful pictures of the English countryside. :)

December 3, 2007

I can hardly believe it's December already- with our car problems December 1st sort of snuck past. But we'll be visiting Ann Arbor as of December 22nd, and will be in Michigan until about January 8th. We've decided to fly to Sydney straight from Detroit instead of flying back to London and then down to Sydney, so that we can be here for the Scottish Ball in February, and also save on airfare. :) That will make for very interesting packing of course- it's spring there now, and will be summer I guess when we get there. :) But it'll also allow us to bring a bunch of our things back from Ann Arbor with us when we fly back to London in February.

The official news on the car is worse than we thought. We didn't completely understand the mechanic's news about it being not worth fixing- he really meant the car is basically dead, and if you fix one part of it the next day something else will break. So we're continuing to look for a new car. :) We're getting around just fine with the bus, although we have to be back in Swavesey by 7 because that's when the bus stops running. :) The Swavesey Garage has been really very helpful and understanding with the whole car thing.

I wanted to post some pictures of us putting up our xmas tree- I have video too if I can figure out how to get it on here. We couldn't bring our nice tree with us so we got one here- one of the kind you have to stick the little branches in. They make xmas trees slimmer here- this one is called Rocky Mountain Tree Slim. It has cones too like ours, and Nelly has been loving playing with the cone that fell off.

G made a good point about the xmas hedgehogs when we were in Tesco the other day stocking up on them to bring them back as presents. He pointed out that maybe British people think hedgehogs on your tree is an American thing, and they stock them in the store for Americans. When in fact Americans see them and think how funny and cool they are and buy them all up. :) We bought the last few they had- we'll be searching other Tescos for more hedgehogs as soon as we get a car. :)

Checking the directions

The directions for these things never make any sense. :)

The tree trunk labels...it's always hard to find the right branches for each level

Putting in the branches

Our tree looks so goofy!

Fluffing the branches

Putting on the lights

I hope you have all gotten your trees up and enjoyed decorating them. Our chch has been having carol servcs for 2 weeks now, and we have like 3 more yet to go. 2 more evening ones. If we have a car, I think I'll be in the choir again. It was a good way to meet people- lots of my international friends here recognized me in the choir, and it's a good way to invite them to a servs too.

Speaking of international friends, here are a few pictures of our ladies' group xmas truffle making get together. We had lots of time to talk about the real meaning behind xmas and why that is important to our lives.

We used the rice cookers to create a water bath to melt the chocolate, and everyone did different tasks, chopping the raisins and cherries, smooshing up the cookies (they taste like animal crackers), mixing, and stirring.

A new friend from Europe rolls out the fondant to make the teeny holly berries for the top of the truffles.

My friend S in the middle helped to plan the event. The 2 ladies on either side of her are from China.

Pr for our next ladies outreach- we're making mince meat pies! Which you might be interested to know have absolutely NO meat in them. :) Instead they have raisins and cherries and other dried fruits, and some other stuff- I don't know what all is in them. :) This event is a bit bigger, and we're having child care and a special speaker come in.

Also if you would, pr for a new friend M from Poland. Some friends of his came to the Monday evening course that I helped with, and he's investigating his beliefs right now. And I'm meeting with another new friend, E, on Thursdays at lunch who struggles with depression- pr that I would be able to support her during this difficult time, and that her medication would begin working soon so that she doesn't lose her job. Thank you for remembering them and us!