Friday, 5 August 2011
Monday, 1 August 2011
Missing America
Back to everything I love/hate about Britain : taxi drivers who sit staring straight ahead while I struggle with a heavy suitcase, a cup of tea made properly, dull cloudy weather, another royal wedding,Radio five live, BBC news, litter, chavs, petrol prices, beautiful gardens, kids playing out, no country music station, my daughters, oh the list goes on.
I love America but ' England you're my home, my heart's heart, crashing thunder of love'
I love America but ' England you're my home, my heart's heart, crashing thunder of love'
Sunday, 17 July 2011
In a big country
We have now reached Washington DC, by a very indirect route, taking in the breathetaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the serene island beauty of Cape Charles on the way.
This really is a big country, for someone from a tiny island (although very beautiful), the sheer scale of everything is stunning. From the Blue Ridge Parkway the mountains stretch back in wave after wave like a vast frozen sea, and they really are blue. To get to Cape Charles we went over bridges and under tunnels for what must have been 20 miles accross the sea.
Next stops are seeing one of Vince's hockey buddies near Wilmington, onto Baltimore and then hopefully see his cousin in New Jersey.
This really is a big country, for someone from a tiny island (although very beautiful), the sheer scale of everything is stunning. From the Blue Ridge Parkway the mountains stretch back in wave after wave like a vast frozen sea, and they really are blue. To get to Cape Charles we went over bridges and under tunnels for what must have been 20 miles accross the sea.
Next stops are seeing one of Vince's hockey buddies near Wilmington, onto Baltimore and then hopefully see his cousin in New Jersey.
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| Lovely old sign in Roanoke |
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| Roanoke again |
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| From the bridge to Cape Charles |
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| Cape Charles - my furture home when I win the lottery |
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| View from hotel balcony in DC (DC - how hip am I?) |
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Duelling banjos
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| corn bread, fried chicken, okra, macaroni cheese and iced tea |
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| Driving Miss Daisy |
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| Do-nuts |
Monday, 11 July 2011
In the garden of good and evil
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| Live oaks in one of the many beautiful squares |
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| Williams Mercer House |
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Rainy night in Georgia..
..and several in Florida; in fact you could say heavy rains a fallin'has been the theme of our first week in the sunshine states! Yet we are not down-hearted - apart from making the gators a bit shy, and being too overcast to see the shuttle launch from St Augustine it hasnt detracted from the holiday at all. Its been fun - the rain is like a warm shower.
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| St Augustine - trolley tour gave out free rain ponchos - makes you think all this sunshine state business is a bit of a con |
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| View from Savannah hotel - we were inside with free wine and cheese so who cares |
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| Everglades Park - wear 'long pants because of the bugs' they said - advice you wish you hadnt taken! |
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| Shuttle in the rain |
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Starship troopers
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| Life Jim but not as we know it |
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| Huge building where they build/repair the shuttle |
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| Hard to see through the rain but this is THE shuttle 23 hours before lift-off |
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
King Ralph
Travelling day yesterday, we decided to stay in Cutler Bay because the hotels in Homestaed got such poor reviews on Tripadvisor and we are in a Motel 6 which is excellent, better than some smart hotels Ive stayed in.
We got a bit lost so we went into McD's to use their wifi, and a man asked Vince, completely seriously, if he'd been at the royal wedding. I could have kicked him when he said no!
We got a bit lost so we went into McD's to use their wifi, and a man asked Vince, completely seriously, if he'd been at the royal wedding. I could have kicked him when he said no!
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| Trying as many different beers as possible - this one has a particularly cheeky nose! |
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Born on the 4th of July
We had such an amazing day yesterday, the photos cant come close to the experience of sitting with our legs dangling over the sea wall watching hundreds of tiny boats line up on the horizon to watch the biggest fireworks display I have ever seen.
Here are a few of the daytime pics instead.
Here are a few of the daytime pics instead.
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| Ernest Hemingway House |
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| Lots of six toed cats descended from Hemingway's wander about the property |
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| EEw freaky foot eh Molly? |
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| Americans do rain big too |
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| Just chillin' on Ernest's chair |
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| Ive got friends in low places |
Monday, 4 July 2011
Thursday, 30 June 2011
The mother-in-law from hell
I found the full text of the email on the Toronto Star web-site. No-one over here seems to have picked up on the fact that this girl has diabetes - it casts a new light on starting her food before everyone else and taking seconds etc. I beg you Heidi - kick him into the long grass and move on!
“It is high time someone explained to you about good manners. Yours are obvious by their absence and I feel sorry for you.
Unfortunately for Freddie, he has fallen in love with you . . . and Freddie being Freddie, I gather it is not easy to reason with him or yet encourage him to consider how he might be able to help you.
It may just be possible to get through to you though. I do hope so.
Your behaviour on your visit to Devon during April was staggering in its uncouthness and lack of grace . . .
Unfortunately, this was not the first example of bad manners I have experienced from you. If you want to be accepted by the wider Bourne family I suggest you take some guidance from experts with utmost haste . . .
There are plenty of finishing schools around. You would be an ideal candidate for the Ladette to Lady television series.
Please, for your own good, for Freddie’s sake and for your future involvement with the Bourne family, do something as soon as possible.
Here are a few examples of your lack of manners:
When you are a guest in another’s house, you do not declare what you will and will not eat — unless you are positively allergic to something.
You do not remark that you do not have enough food.
You do not start before everyone else.
You do not take additional helpings without being invited to by your host.
When a guest in another’s house, you do not lie in bed until late morning in households that rise early — you fall in line with house norms.
You should never ever insult the family you are about to join at any time and most definitely not in public. I gather you passed this off as a joke but the reaction in the pub was one of shock, not laughter.
I have no idea whether you wrote to thank (your future sister-in-law) for the weekend but you should have handwritten a card to her.
You should have handwritten a card to me. You have never written to thank me when you have stayed at Houndspool.
(Your future sister-in-law) has quite the most exquisite manners of anyone I have ever come across. You would do well to follow her example.
You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why.
It is tragic that you have diabetes. However, you aren’t the only young person in the world who is a diabetic.
I know quite a few young people who have this condition, one of whom is getting married in June. I have never heard her discuss her condition.
She quietly gets on with it. She doesn’t like being diabetic. Who would? You do not need to regale everyone with the details of your condition or use it as an excuse to draw attention to yourself. It is vulgar.
As a diabetic of long standing you must be acutely aware of the need to prepare yourself for extraordinary eventualities, the walk to Mothecombe beach being an example.
You are experienced enough to have prepared yourself appropriately.
No-one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity style behaviour.
I understand your parents are unable to contribute very much towards the cost of your wedding. (There is nothing wrong with that except that convention is such that one might presume they would have saved over the years for their daughters’ marriages.)
If this is the case, it would be most ladylike and gracious to lower your sights and have a modest wedding as befits both your incomes.
One could be accused of thinking that Heidi Withers must be patting herself on the back for having caught a most eligible young man. I pity Freddie.”
“It is high time someone explained to you about good manners. Yours are obvious by their absence and I feel sorry for you.
Unfortunately for Freddie, he has fallen in love with you . . . and Freddie being Freddie, I gather it is not easy to reason with him or yet encourage him to consider how he might be able to help you.
It may just be possible to get through to you though. I do hope so.
Your behaviour on your visit to Devon during April was staggering in its uncouthness and lack of grace . . .
Unfortunately, this was not the first example of bad manners I have experienced from you. If you want to be accepted by the wider Bourne family I suggest you take some guidance from experts with utmost haste . . .
There are plenty of finishing schools around. You would be an ideal candidate for the Ladette to Lady television series.
Please, for your own good, for Freddie’s sake and for your future involvement with the Bourne family, do something as soon as possible.
Here are a few examples of your lack of manners:
When you are a guest in another’s house, you do not declare what you will and will not eat — unless you are positively allergic to something.
You do not remark that you do not have enough food.
You do not start before everyone else.
You do not take additional helpings without being invited to by your host.
When a guest in another’s house, you do not lie in bed until late morning in households that rise early — you fall in line with house norms.
You should never ever insult the family you are about to join at any time and most definitely not in public. I gather you passed this off as a joke but the reaction in the pub was one of shock, not laughter.
I have no idea whether you wrote to thank (your future sister-in-law) for the weekend but you should have handwritten a card to her.
You should have handwritten a card to me. You have never written to thank me when you have stayed at Houndspool.
(Your future sister-in-law) has quite the most exquisite manners of anyone I have ever come across. You would do well to follow her example.
You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why.
It is tragic that you have diabetes. However, you aren’t the only young person in the world who is a diabetic.
I know quite a few young people who have this condition, one of whom is getting married in June. I have never heard her discuss her condition.
She quietly gets on with it. She doesn’t like being diabetic. Who would? You do not need to regale everyone with the details of your condition or use it as an excuse to draw attention to yourself. It is vulgar.
As a diabetic of long standing you must be acutely aware of the need to prepare yourself for extraordinary eventualities, the walk to Mothecombe beach being an example.
You are experienced enough to have prepared yourself appropriately.
No-one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity style behaviour.
I understand your parents are unable to contribute very much towards the cost of your wedding. (There is nothing wrong with that except that convention is such that one might presume they would have saved over the years for their daughters’ marriages.)
If this is the case, it would be most ladylike and gracious to lower your sights and have a modest wedding as befits both your incomes.
One could be accused of thinking that Heidi Withers must be patting herself on the back for having caught a most eligible young man. I pity Freddie.”
Pinning my life away...
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Turns out I AM that clever! (and so is Bee)
Flower
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| Paper flower wreath - a lot easier than I thought - looks amazing! |
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| Broyony's flowers |
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
More ideas...
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| I want to make these with my cloud 9 fabric (see below) |
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| Lovely original Xmas decs |
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| Gorgeous bag |
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| Just a doily glued to a jar but how lovely |
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| My Cloud 9 FQ stash from Fabric Rehab |
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| I want to be this clever |
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| Or this clever |
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