“November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year”
~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
People often complain about the dreariness of November. Mr. H is not a grumbler in general, but he does often grumble about November. There is something monotonous and even depressing, here in England, about the onset of the dark months. The days are still growing shorter, it is getting colder, the winds whip the last of the dry, brown leaves off the trees and the rain – oh, the rain – it comes down sideways in gales, or it swirls around in the gentle air currents, creeping underneath our hoods and brollies. The rain can be unrelenting, and yes, the month can feel very disagreeable, indeed.
“There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast.” ~ Paul Scott Mowrer
“OK, keep your eyes peeled. After we cross the A46 your shortcut will be the third road on the right.”
It is always wise, when leaving the main road and heading into uncharted territory, to remind your husband that this was his idea and any chaos which may ensue is all entirely his fault.
It was a sunny Sunday in July, which happened to coincide with the seventh anniversary of the day I arrived to live in the UK. Tired of our four walls and the same walks around the home fields, we had packed our face coverings, hand sanitizer, the dog and a picnic lunch into the car and set out in search of adventure. Our destination: Woodchester Park in the Cotswolds. Continue reading →
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
“From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay home.”
On the 23rd of March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a speech telling the nation it was time to pull together, do the right thing, and stay home. That is exactly what the majority did, working from home and only leaving for essentials or for a once-a-day outdoor exercise break. Society contracted in an unprecedented way and our lives suddenly revolved around our homes.
In the weeks before lockdown British people began stockpiling, and it was not just jumbo packets of toilet rolls flying off the shelves. People were buying books. Continue reading →
A lot can happen in two years. It has been two years since my last blog was published, and in that time we have seen some major shifts in the world, not the least of which is the current situation we all find ourselves experiencing. Who would have thought, on that hot day in Cardiff when my husband and I waited at the Premium Service Centre for my settlement visa to be approved, that two years later we’d be more or less housebound due to a pandemic? Continue reading →
“Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
Katherine with her granddaughter in the 1960’s
The Homesteading Act of 1862 is sometimes cited as the most important piece of legislation in the history of the United States of America. Under this act homesteaders could file an application and lay claim to a surveyed plot of government land. If the homesteaders were able to build a dwelling, make improvements to the land and produce crops for a five year period they could then file paperwork to have the land deeded to them free and clear. By 1934 over 1.6 million homestead applications had been processed and more than 270 million acres of land had passed into the hands of individuals.
Those Americans who were enticed west by the lure of free land faced a difficult journey across the plains and mountains to reach their destination. Those who made it all the way along the Oregon Trail to the fertile Willamette Valley found…my family already there. Yes, I am the daughter of pioneers who in the late 1840’s decided the East was growing too populated and struck out from Independence, Missouri in a covered wagon to a land where one could get some peace and quiet. Continue reading →
The sound of steady dripping emanated from the bathroom where my sodden raincoat was hanging up in the shower to dry. The hollow drip, drip, drip as the water hit the tub below created a syncopated counter-beat to the drumming of the rain on the roof above my head. The world can be a dank, dark, dreary place in the depths of an English winter.
On days like this, when the rain falls relentlessly, a question asked by a visiting American friend comes to mind. It was the third day of her visit, and the third day of intermittent showers. She turned to me and asked, “Doesn’t the unrelenting gloom get depressing after a while?” Continue reading →
“No life is so charming as a country one in England, and no flowers are sweeter or more lovely than the primroses, cowslips, bluebells, and violets that grow in abundance all around me here.” ~ Marianne North
Like many of my fellow Americans I have long been a devotee of British period dramas, but while scores of women’s hearts raced at the sight of Colin Firth jumping into a murky pond and emerging with his white shirt plastered to his frame, my eyes were glued to the stunning scenery in which all the action was taking place. Others might swoon at Mr. Darcy in his tight breeches; I swooned at any sign of a bluebell wood. Continue reading →
For a few months well-intentioned, kindly people have been asking me when they can expect to read my next blog. These people do wonders for my morale. They foster a naïve belief that somewhere out there a bevy of avid blog followers are pining to read my latest drivel, rather than just my family who have to read it or risk me telling all, like the time my brother…
But I digress.
There is a simple reason why I have not written for a few months. There is a simple reason for my messy house, my inability to have a normal conversation, my untrimmed hair, my aching back and my recently acquired stoop. That reason has a name, and his name is Jethro. Continue reading →
“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold rather a large amount of Gratitude.” ~ A.A. Milne
My favourite American holiday has always been Thanksgiving. When I was a child I looked forward to the dining table groaning with roast turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and pumpkin pie, as well as the fact that my birthday sometimes coincided with the fourth Thursday of November. When I became an adult and entered the workforce the four day weekend shone as a beacon in the midst of the short, dreary days of driving to and from work in the darkness of late autumn. As time marched on and I experienced my share of the griefs and joys that make up a life, the actual meaning of the day began to take on greater significance. It may be hokey, but I actually do like to take time to think about all I have to be thankful for on this day. Continue reading →
“The water was not fit to drink. To make it palatable, we had to add whisky. By diligent effort, I learned to like it.” ~ Winston Churchill
Tasting room at Penderyn Distillery
In Latin it is aqua vitae. In Gaelic it is uisge beatha. Both have the same meaning: the water of life. Over the centuries the mispronunciation of uisgebeatha (oosh’-ge ba’) gradually morphed into the word now known the world over as whisky, specifically, Scotch whisky. Continue reading →
“OK, keep your eyes peeled. After we cross the A46 your shortcut will be the third road on the right.”
An American Wife in Wiltshire 