Random Musings: Weekend Wrap up

 

 Caramoor's Office Garden: aka Flowering Fields of Fennel?

Scene of much dirt therapy, weeding mayhem, squash scratches, and so many cucumbers ...

Given that I was notoriously anti-outside, anti-sweating, anti-getting dirty, anti-bugs, and anti-weeding as a child, the fact that I'm the one out there playing the dirt/mud, weeding, talking to the bugs, and picking the veggies this year for the office? The irony is not lost on me.

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I came home on Friday with two bags of veggies from the Caramoor office garden semi-daily harvest designated for the neighbors and friends, and it seemed one bag was oozing. Reason 150.85b why I don't like tomatoes. I think they are trying to kill me. Those sneaky buggers.  All innocuously healthy looking on one side. Beady eyes and oozing wound-y mouth on the other saying: We are going to killlllll you.

Granted, it is a derpy face saying WE ARE GOING TO KILLL YOU, but I still think the tomato is out to get me.

Read: I don't particularly like tomatoes. On a scale of chocolate (love) to bananas (loathe), the tomatoes are closer to bananas, though I will eat them on BLTs and as sauce/ketchup, gazpacho, and soup. I'm weird. Get used to it.

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If all advertising for eggs was as cute as this roadside stand, I would buy more eggs. The lady offered to go get them "fresh out of the coop" for $6 - but I know what "fresh out of the coop" looks/feels like. I'd rather just look at the cute sign.

Spotted somewhere in Fairfield County, CT

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It was nice to hang with my friend Barli on Saturday, running around parts of CT exploring estate, tag, and yard-sales, but then she decided to park near Campo Beach in Westport and check an app to find our next destination. This was the closest to the beach I have been in almost a year. It took all my will power not to dash out of the car and into the surf. There was free wi-fi at the beach ("Yes. It is Westport, after all!"), so yay for wi-fi distraction or the fine WASPy folks of Westport would have seen a scarey sight.

So close and yet so far.

I'm still kicking myself that I didn't buy this at an estate sale so I could totally rip it off. "Take a picture, it last longer" doesn't work when you are trying to replicate a pattern.

WHOOOO's a wise one? Not me!

This flag was my BEST PURCHASE OF THE DAY! Totally appropriate as it was Doctor Who premiere day. My Attic is turning into an Anglophile/beach/shabby chic mecca. Would it be inappropriate to use the Union Jack as a throw blanket, and/or hang it out on my fire escape on July 4th?

Keep Calm and Take a Nap!

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Today was more of a traditional old-school Sunday. Sleep in, my date with Charles Osgood and the "church" of CBS Sunday Morning, brunch with my friend Susan-who was driving through town, a shop, the Sunday papers, chores, phone/Skype calls with friends and family, and catching up with my correspondence. (Almost all the elements of a traditional religious Sunday - minus church and a nap, but .... it's better than when I was working.)

Yes, Virginia, people still write and send old-fashioned letters.

~ all photos iTouch

Happy First Birthday!

I can't believe it's been a whole year since my newest honorary niece Ariadne and nephew Leonidas were born, Happy First Birthday!

Sadly, they and their parents, Ayako and Adonis, live in the U.K., so I never get to see them.

Ayako, I must to be getting SKYPE! Miss you!

Thanks for letting me post the photos.

Trucking Along

You know that phrase:

"Close your eyes and think of England?"

I don't think my British ancestors ever thought about the implications of doing that while driving behind a semi. That's probably one of the places you shouldn't close your eyes and think too hard.

A Fish Out of Water

Dear Friends,

I know it’s been awhile since I took my adventure “across the Pond” to England, but I’ve been a busy fish and am just now getting around to regaling you with tales of my journey (or is that tails? giggle.)


I began my English journey in the city of Brighton. This city is best known for its rocky shores and its Pier. And the movie Quadrophenia, if you’re a Who fan. Here I am on the beach. You can see the pier in the background.

It was here on the Pier while posing for the photo below that I was almost snatched away by a hungry seagull. Once he had figured out that I was not a real fish at all, I would have been dropped into the English Channel and floated off to France. Thank goodness I was not!

I spent a lot of time visiting the “big houses” of the Kent countryside. My first journey was to Sissinghurst, home of the writer Vita Sackville-West. This is a beautiful castle, of which only the main tower survives. It has taken many different forms over the hundreds of years that it has been standing and there is quite a good summary here.

It was here that I saw THE original Hogarth Press, the printing press that Virginia and Leonard Woolf had used to print some of their early books at Hogarth House in London. Virginia had given it to Vita as a present in 1930. This has special meaning to my travel companions because they are Hogarths and one of them has a self-publishing company called Hogarth House.

Anyway, we next went to Leeds Castle, which is situated on two islands on the River Len. There has been a castle there for 1000 years! It was refurbished by an American heiress, Lady Baille, and used by her family until 2003. You can find a short history here.

After a little mix-up in travel plans, we moved on to Tunbridge Wells, a delightful suburb about an hour outside of London. It is very populated with retired, wealthy lawyers. Each day, we began our journey with a quick trip to town. On the way, we would pick blackberries from the hedgerows along the side of the road. Delicious! (Even fish like blackberries, you know!)

We visited more manor houses while we were here. We started with Chartwell, home of Winston Churchill. It was quite a rainy day when we were there, and the power went out in the main house, but we were able to see the lovely gardens. They have a great vegetable garden and a fish pond. Plus, Mr. Churchill put a swimming pool in, and it looks just like a natural pond. I seriously considered go for a swim.

As you can imagine, there was a lot of driving on this trip. Luckily, we had a very experienced driver, who navigated the roads very well.
We finished up our trip at two houses, Knole and Ightham Mote. Knole was given to Henry VIII by the Archibishop of Canterbury in 1538. It was also the birthplace of Vita Sackville-West, who you know from Sissinghurst. (Everyone is inter-related around here.) It has a 1,000 acre deer park on property, and the deer wander freely through the carpark. I was a bit worried that I might be picked up by one of those “friendly” deer, but luckily my traveling companions kept me safe. Here I am goofing off with a lady of the house.

And, then it was off to Ightham Mote (which is pronounced Ig-am). It wasn’t really a castle, but a very old house dating back to the 1300s. It had lots of OLD parts, like a Tudor chapel, and lots of newer things from the 1950s when it was updated by an American, Mr. Charles Robinson. These Americans really like their English houses, don’t they?

So, that’s my trip to the lovely land of England. (Oh, and how could I forget my cuppa and fish and chips [just kidding!] sandwich?)

I hope you enjoyed my travel tales.

Mr. Fishy

With thanks to Jane for her help with the transcription of Mr. Fishy's tails.
To see where else she travelled in England, go here.

Which Jane Austen Character are You?

I know most people want to be Lizzie Bennet, but I'm not at all surprised by the results of this quiz. I identify with Anne on so many levels, and there were moments on recent family trips when it was all I could do to keep from laughing at just HOW much I was like Anne. Not the easily persuaded part, but so many other aspects of her particular situation.

I love Persuasion, especially this adaptation with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, so I'm delighted that it's the picture that comes up with the results. When nothing else is on t.v., I pull out the Austen flicks and spend many a happy moment wandering down the streets of Bath and at the seawall on the coast.

Take the Quiz here!

Fish out of Water -- the Response

From Jane:


I would be happy to take Mr. Fishy Friend to England with me. I hope he won't feel like a fish out of water. We'll be going to watery places in England---Brighton and Keswick---and then our hotel in London is right near the Tower, also close to the Thames.



Auntie Nettie is totally jealous of a stuffed fish!