END of OCTOBER BLOG #8
I miss our good friends in LA most of all, and the Tennis Club. I am so happy we were lucky enough to live in and enjoy the Canyon for all those happy years, and I feel we made the most of it and really appreciated it. Fortunately, although I know I'll miss the canyon hikes in winter, the countryside here is divine in any season.
The purples and pinks of the heather and gorse on the heath have transformed, as Winter approaches, into swathes of russet, gold and green (as they are all evergreen). Elsewhere the countryside is decked out in flame reds, burnished coppers and all the rich earth colours from the deciduous trees, and the ground is thick with crispy leaves, which gusts of wind sweep up and swirl around, playfully.
It's not quite cold enough for gloves yet, but this morning my breath came in cloudy bursts as I walked the dogs in bright golden sunshine against a crisp turquoise sky. The field where the ponies graze was layered with a light silvery film of dew. When it gets colder that will become early morning frost and will shimmer and sparkle if the sun is out, until it melts. I remember when I was little, my mother would put washing out on the clothes line, and, if she forgot to bring it in at night, the next morning all the clothes would be stiff and frozen!
I think the ponies, which are the shaggy kind, belong to some travellers. I am not sure, but a hastily hand-painted wooden sign appeared recently, leaning against the fence, with the roughly scrawted words "dont put no aples in the feeld"!
I am putting raw sesame seeds and pine nuts out on the patio wall for "our" robin. He has started coming near the kitchen window each morning and looking at me sideways with his beady eye, almost as a signal that he'd like some food. I am sure the other birds are also feasting, but the it's the robin I see most.
We are hoping and hoping that Obama will get in. It is looking better now, isn't it? Can't imagine if he doesn't...let's not think about that.
It sounds as if your children are all getting a good grounding in street smarts, as you say. It's a good thing (as long as they're safe) to have that independence, too. It's just a shame they have to spend so long getting to and from school. That was something we really wanted to avoid in moving back here, and I think we have succeeded.
November 5th is fast approaching. That's Guy Fawkes' Night here. A big celebration, but not known in the US. It commemorates the thwarting of an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder in the 17th Century by a certain Guy Fawkes (although now it is thought he may have been the scapegoat and others were actually the planners of the failed attack). Guy was burnt at the stake as a traitor, and the tradition on Nov 5th became for children to make a "guy" out of rags, old clothes stuffed with newspapers, and collect "pennies for the guy", with which they bought fireworks.
Now of course, safety regulations forbid the setting off of major fireworks, except with permits, but when I was a kid we had bonfire parties where brave dads would precariously set off fireworks in the garden and we'd have a bonfire. Invariable one of the rockets or catherine wheels would go off in the wrong direction (horizontally instead of vertically!) and we'd all have to dive for cover. We'd all drink steaming cups of tomato soup and eat hot sausages. It was always cold and misty, or damp, and there was an unforgettable smell of smoke and leaves and gunpowder in the air.
Nowadays you can still buy sparklers and small fireworks, but mostly people get together at public places and a huge bonfire is lit and fireworks set off. It's more of a community gathering. T's school is doing a Guy Fawkes evening in the field, so we'll go. Mulled wine and roasted chestnuts as well as the soup and sausages!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Snow in October!
SNOW IN OCTOBER! (Oct 28) BLOG #7
We were lucky enough to have both our fathers here yesterday evening. JD arrived from Texas yesterday morning to stay the week (it's T's half term) and my father drove here on his way home from a London visit. Both of them were in fine form, and put the world to rights over a sherry or two. We persuaded my dad not to drive all the way home in the dark, but to stay overnight.
Luckily he agreed, because it started to snow - the first time it's snowed in England in October for many years! (We had had an unexpected cold snap starting yesterday, but snow was not in the forecast.)
We were very snug in the house,and awoke this morning to 3" of soft white stuff coating the landscape, under a brilliant blue sky and sunshine. Absolutely gorgeous!
It didn't stay on the roads, but the forest is still tipped with white.
2 days later, it was warmer and sunny, and I went for a walk in the woods.
The noise was surprising; thousands of little clumps of ice were falling from the trees. Between the crackling, crunching, and falling of ice, and the piles of wet leaves being rustled by the breeze, it was far from the usual peace in the forest.
The Scottie dogs are fine. Loving the weather here, I think. They were in heaven with the snow this morning. Saint was biting it and tried to roll in it, and Maisy daintily picked her paws up at each step, and would occasionally plunge her nose in as she caught an interesting smell.
There are so many horses around here that I am itching to ride again! (I was horse-mad when I was younger, and rode a lot in Los Angeles). I am glad to see that most of the animals have warm blankets on at the moment, as they stand about, heads down eating, in the brisk air.
A is already on the local tennis team but games are less regular during the winter months, as they are outdoor courts.
T hasn't been playing a lot either, because he's so busy, and he has rugby starting next week.
Work-hunting is going slowly but I am meeting lots of good people so it's a matter of finding the right niche at the right time. Patience is not my strongest virtue! I am raring to get on with it.
I have had loads of good meetings and am sowing seeds for the future, although no actual jobs have come out of all this - yet! I have met with (or am about to meet with) TV companies, record labels, publishers and continue meeting with people all the time.
There are a couple of possible short-term consultancies in the melting-pot.
Even though London is easy-access via the train, it's still an hour each way, and I am thinking how great it would be to not have to go in EVERY day!
I have been diligently pursuing meetings and networking here, re potential job leads, or consultancy work. It's very interesting and quite positive, but I keep having to repress feelings that maybe I should seize this opportunity to do something completely different! Not yet! Maybe if A. gets a job I'll allow myself to pursue that thought more! Right now I am still interested in entertainment. Maybe it's because I have discovered such a joy in life without crazy work schedules over the last 3 months. I was so burnt out after LA. I didn't even realise it. I don't need a huge income. We have a simpler, pared-back lifestyle here, and I love it, but we do need to earn money to maintain it, and to take holidays!
We were lucky enough to have both our fathers here yesterday evening. JD arrived from Texas yesterday morning to stay the week (it's T's half term) and my father drove here on his way home from a London visit. Both of them were in fine form, and put the world to rights over a sherry or two. We persuaded my dad not to drive all the way home in the dark, but to stay overnight.
Luckily he agreed, because it started to snow - the first time it's snowed in England in October for many years! (We had had an unexpected cold snap starting yesterday, but snow was not in the forecast.)
We were very snug in the house,and awoke this morning to 3" of soft white stuff coating the landscape, under a brilliant blue sky and sunshine. Absolutely gorgeous!
It didn't stay on the roads, but the forest is still tipped with white.
2 days later, it was warmer and sunny, and I went for a walk in the woods.
The noise was surprising; thousands of little clumps of ice were falling from the trees. Between the crackling, crunching, and falling of ice, and the piles of wet leaves being rustled by the breeze, it was far from the usual peace in the forest.
The Scottie dogs are fine. Loving the weather here, I think. They were in heaven with the snow this morning. Saint was biting it and tried to roll in it, and Maisy daintily picked her paws up at each step, and would occasionally plunge her nose in as she caught an interesting smell.
There are so many horses around here that I am itching to ride again! (I was horse-mad when I was younger, and rode a lot in Los Angeles). I am glad to see that most of the animals have warm blankets on at the moment, as they stand about, heads down eating, in the brisk air.
A is already on the local tennis team but games are less regular during the winter months, as they are outdoor courts.
T hasn't been playing a lot either, because he's so busy, and he has rugby starting next week.
Work-hunting is going slowly but I am meeting lots of good people so it's a matter of finding the right niche at the right time. Patience is not my strongest virtue! I am raring to get on with it.
I have had loads of good meetings and am sowing seeds for the future, although no actual jobs have come out of all this - yet! I have met with (or am about to meet with) TV companies, record labels, publishers and continue meeting with people all the time.
There are a couple of possible short-term consultancies in the melting-pot.
Even though London is easy-access via the train, it's still an hour each way, and I am thinking how great it would be to not have to go in EVERY day!
I have been diligently pursuing meetings and networking here, re potential job leads, or consultancy work. It's very interesting and quite positive, but I keep having to repress feelings that maybe I should seize this opportunity to do something completely different! Not yet! Maybe if A. gets a job I'll allow myself to pursue that thought more! Right now I am still interested in entertainment. Maybe it's because I have discovered such a joy in life without crazy work schedules over the last 3 months. I was so burnt out after LA. I didn't even realise it. I don't need a huge income. We have a simpler, pared-back lifestyle here, and I love it, but we do need to earn money to maintain it, and to take holidays!
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