Building

Knocking down walls. This is what HoF has been up to.

Making a way between the laundry room and the back of the garage

And building walls. Across the garage, so that the laundry room is bigger.

Have now had three prayer meetings. For those of you for whom these are commonplace or even boring, you've probably no idea how refreshing and novel it seems here. We hope that we are both knocking down and building up.

The Light that came into the World

I went out to photograph the marvellous light but only managed this fleeting glimpse on the hills before the clouds came. It symbolises something more for me, as last week we had our first prayer meeting in the village. We've prayed at other times, but never before got a nucleus of 'one accord' together just to pray for light to come into our patch of the world. Feeling hopeful, which is good because the weather is gloomy and cold today and HoF is snuffling, and shuffling between bed and rest of house.
I have a new role. I am the future editor of the village rag. Bit scarey.

Blaise Hamlet

On Monday we had a Saga Day out with brothers and wives. One cheeky niece remarked that she hoped we all turned up! Really! Courtesy of the net I organised a good place, though I say it myself. I even used another blog, called Heatheronhertravels, which came up when I put Blaise Hamlet in the search engine. We used her ideas although the weather wasn't quite up to scratch for walking. We met at the cafe in Blaise Castle car park, walked to the Hamlet and then had lunch at Kings Weston House where the tearoom was a little disappointing but it did have a real fire and the meal prices were good.
Blaise hamlet is owned by the NT and was built for pensioners of a grand estate many moons ago. Just look at those wonderful chimneys. He must have been quite some lord of the manor to build houses like these for his aged workers. It's the sort of place I'd like to take American visitors to. The nine or so cottages are not open to the public, but you can walk round the green.

Did you see what I saw?

Spotted on our way back from Bristol and should be still visible this week, cloud permitting. Occultation: a new word to us, which means that the moon passed in front of Venus. Wish we'd got a photo because I haven't seen as good a one on the web as what we actually saw.

Winter Chill

While some are sweltering under the African sun, we are toasting ourselves by our 'real' fire because its decidedly chilly outside and in the morning we will need to scrape the ice off the car. Not a lot happening here in some ways. My 87-year-old cousin says the way to keep young is to find younger people to be friends with. Too true. But where are they? It seems that most of the families with children are too busy doing their own thing to attend community events, so it's more old fogeys wherever we go. And they are the ones organising everything too.
Having said that, two couples are going to start a Sunday School in the village church next week, which is great. But how they'll manage in a necessarily quiet, cold and loo-less side chapel, I can't imagine.
Our rector is retiring, so this week we have initiated a prayer meeting for God's will to be done and the Right Person to come. It's a promising development.

Long Mynd

While we live here we intend to make the most of the beautiful countryside, but don't always live up to those intentions. Last week we took a 'day off' from knocking holes in walls and other stuff, and went to the Long Mynd.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me!! I start to feel like a ticking time bomb, wondering when the explosion will come. But according to Joan Bakewell on the radio (I almost said wireless) yesterday, old age doesn't start till 70, so I am still middle-aged. Which means I will still be at the top end of the range when my sons become middle-aged!
Speaking of whom, I opened a new jar of Marmite this week and looked at the pristine new surface and remembered when we used to do that together. Which also reminded me of our arrival in the Big Town many years ago, and agreeing to think of one another when Concorde flew over. History.
The picture above is of HoF's works in progress. Our new kitchen looks more and more like an African one, but thankfully in this chilly weather I can still cook a meal indoors. Drying the washing inside isn't so easy though.

Minutiae

Inspired by the African family's blog, I thought I would try the diary idea too.

Tuesday.
Not so late getting up. Have had two good nights sleep, not so guaranteeable these days. Porridge for breakfast. Misty outside but not so cold as last week. Clean some sooty patches from the lounge carpet and look ruefully at the black hole where last night's Real Fire spat. Whilst HoF lies in, so I couldn't possibly use the vac, I search online for info to follow up my researches yesterday in the record office into the minutes and roll books of Methodism in our area. When Himself arrives he works on getting me a new email address for my future role as editor of village mag.
Walk down to village and pop in on monthly coffee morning held in the Methodist Chapel, with 'free nail clipping'. Are about half a dozen there. Ask about some of the things I'd learned yesterday, like The Plan and share my favourite howler: 'Brother S was dismembered for drunkenness.'
I have the bones of an article for the local history journal but feel I need to get a real grip on what it was like to be a Methodist in the 1840's, how classes worked and so on. I have copies of some letters written by a young convert and am following her story as well as finding more on our American cousins' ancestor. Feel gleeful that yesterday's research shows these two would have known each other. Meet the chapel organist who is interested in the history of the house he used to live in, so take his email address.
Walk on to visit J who is very unwell with symptoms physical and mental. Feel pretty useless but then don't think we're meant to find self-satisfaction this way. Drop a library book at S's. We go to the same book group and as I borrowed from her last month, she is having this month's first. Then to M, a good friend, whose company I have been missing, to invite them round, but end up being invited there for Sunday lunch instead. How did that happen? Meet current editor who says he is going to send me a mountain of info. Gulp.

Home to mist indoors as well as out, as HoF grinds away at the chimney he is paring in the laundry room. No point in housework, (crocodile tears) so upstairs to research for man spoken to this morning and email results. Also invite a friend from church to dinner tomorrow.
After lunch, using last of homemade soup, there is time to read. Start 'Travels with My Aunt' by Graham Greene and take it with me to read on bus. Have to go to town as the book I borrowed for the book group is due back there today. Initially I am the only peron on the bus and instinctively sit in the middle. How bizarre. So that my conversation with the driver is shouted down the aisle. A friend gets on next, and last, so we chat all the way and agree to see each other on the way back when the bus will be crowded with school kids.
Go to the library and decide to join. Browse the Local History section and get in a queue to speak to the helful local historian but leave before I reach him because I have a bus to catch and am a bit vague as to what I want. Info on local Methodism, but more of an idea on how it all functioned. Wander through a few shops, looking for gift ideas. Men as usual are the tricky ones. Shall have to persuade HoF to get interested. Get to the bus stop where hoards of youth are milling, read a little, realise my friend is nowhere to be seen. Has the bus gone, I ask the girl next to me. Think so, she says, that one always goes early. Oh no, and I was trying to be good and save money. Now I have to phone to be fetched, blah.

Home and make us a cuppa to compensate for my error. Then research some more online stuff. Methodist distinctiveness I read was 'They preached salvation by faith and they practised a prayer life'. Hmmm
Made dinner. Butter beans in tapenade says the recipe, but I do my version. We are trying to eat healthily and economically since America plus dubious goings on in banks. C comes as we reach pudding stage to talk about the school club where HoF plays guitar, and some thoughts on the coming interregnum. HoF is so grubby after his day of grinding that he heads for the bath. J phones to apologise for being rude in the morning and seems quite chirpy now. I do cross stitch which I started for travelling and can't decide whether to abandon it in favour of knitting which is more of a winter sport. Listen to the radio, including item on high suicide rate amongst older Asian women and of course, more on the American election. I like these cosy autumn evenings.

American Reflections 5

An 'encouraging' sign in a Pacific coast hotel

That bird is a drainpipe! We like it, wonder if we could copy it?
Final thoughts are mainly about language. Basically we use the same words but mean different things. One day I said to a young lad 'your room's a tip, but then I haven't got a leg to stand on'. Total mystification! Firstly 'what's a tip'. Secondly, 'what do you mean, a leg to stand on'.
HoF used the phrase 'something rotten'. Again, incomprehension. Well, no, it wasn't exactly the best English.
Pre-owned = secondhand
Spendy = pricey (rather like that one)
We had fun with each other's incomprehension and the need for frequent translations.

Another thing that had our eyes boggling was drive-thru banking. Yes, really. We thought it might be really handy for crooks, but actually it's probably safer. You are outside where everyone can see you, the bank clerks inside, like at a petrol station. You put your request slip in a bottle thing (like at Jacksons) and whoosh it goes, sucked up and deposited with the clerk who sends back your money and watches while you count it.

American Reflections 4

I realise that my reflections are coming out rather negatively and I don't want to give the impression that we didn't enjoy ourselves, because we certainly did. The people we stayed with and met were a great joy, hospitable, caring, kind, fun which was way the most important thing.
Food however was a whole new experience, more than you might think. I calculated last night, reading back through my diary, that we ate out about 24 times. It's the American way. And one elderly relative said she hadn't cooked in 20 years. I don't think that meant she ate out a lot, she just bought stuff readymade. It's cheap and it's easy and Americans work hard enough to appreciate eating out. And yes, my family will say I am a food snob, but let's just say that on the whole I'm glad the prices were in dollars. Over- salted and over-sugared was the general lament. An example of the general difference in diets (well mine, if not yours,) is that it was nigh impossible to buy natural yoghurt. HoF says by the end of the month he could only get in one of the five pairs of trousers he took.
The top photo is of Beckie's at Union Creek, Oregon where we ate out for dinner and breakfast. Speciality: pie. Speaking of which, in Minneapolis, we were treated to outings to a pie restaurant where a flip menu at each booth illustrates the range of fillings on offer and to a milk shake parlour with an amazing array of choice. Fun, I confess. Years ago, when a small American in my Sunday school class said his favourite food was pie, I didn't really know what he meant. Now I do.

Growing weary with eating out, we searched in a supermarket for something for breakfast in our motel. All in one packet we got a juice carton and a bowl filled with cereal and a cereal bar. The coffee was free from the foyer. Not sure how the Pringles got in there.
So right now, we're enjoying eating in.

American Reflections 3

HoF prefers this photo for our anniversary

The second Jones reunion took place at Lake Zurich which didn't bear much relation to its namesake. There were fewer of us but it was still a joy to meet more cousins.
A surprising (to us) number of cousins are in to hunting. It explains something about Americans and guns, and incidentally, shows Sarah Palin is not a rarity. Guys and gals both like to go and hunt deer, pheasant and wild turkeys. My English cousin Betty remembers going poaching with her brother who was famous for his skills. I had always thought he did it for the domestic pot, but apparently there was a dealer who came to the end of the lane to exchange cash for game.
We are glad to be home. The acres of 'temples to shopping' which connect the suburbs were dispiriting and although we saw a variety of scenery it is in such large swathes and on usually straight roads that the impression can be monotonous. In England, every wonderfully twisty corner of the road brings a new view, and round here anyway it's of 'uppy-downy' countryside as the Irish cousin says. I reckon we live in the best place in the world. For now anyway.

American Reflections 2

This was a sign outside a Wisconsin Lutheran church. Some states do not allow churches to get involved in political campaigning. We heard a Talk Radio programme in Oregon where the presenter, who did all the Talking, said Obama was evil in relation to the abortion issue. It is a topic that divides families. I know my opinion on the topic but am not sure that the political arena is the right place to discuss it, any more than for divorce. One family we were with went on a demo. Their audience was increased by the traffic jam caused by the HoF inadvertently driving in the wrong lane in the street!
On the other hand, I'm rather impressed that the churches are bold enough to take a stand on anything. Would yours?

American Reflections 1

A sign on the side of a warehouse. We also saw a truck, it's side totally covered with the slogan 'Jesus Christ is Lord not a swear word'. Such signs are fairly liberally scattered about. No wonder politicians court the 'Religious Right', the four churches we went to were well attended, and with all ages too. And that in spite of the fact that only one of them was modern in the sense of having contemporary music. It was quite puzzling. How has America managed to remain 'backward' in this area? I thought that in the countryside it might have been because the church played a central role in the scattered communities, but why then is our English village church so poorly attended? Moreover, there are loads of different denominations in America, one for every personality as my cousin said.

I would like to be able to say that it is because they are all full of the Holy Spirit, but I'm not sure about that. The ones we attended were all pretty relaxed though, warm and friendly, with laughter in the air. And three out of four were decidedly old-fashioned by our standards with hymns and choruses decades old, in spite of overheads.
I found the whole subject thought-provoking.

Return Journey

On our last day in Oregon we visited Multnomah Falls and did what felt like a month's worth of exercise in climbing up to the top. A mile the signpost said but it was a very steep, zizzaggy mile and felt more. We were treated in the evening to a meal in a snazzy restaurant by the Columbia River and found that there was elegant food in America after all, but at a price, so the HoF suffered the usual pangs of embarrassment.

38th Wedding Anniversary. Photo taken en route (pronounced rout here) to the plane back to Chicago. On Sunday at the last Jones reunion we were given a cake with Happy Anniversary iced on top. It was good to meet new cousins, and even some returnees who had travelled three hours to be with us again. I left my jar of Marmite with the English sister-in-law of our host. Tomorrow we fly back to England, via Amsterdam. Speak to you then.

On the Farm

In spite of not taking any work clothes the HoF managed to help out on the farm and everywhere we've been he's been Chief Computer Fixer too.

The Horse Whisperer!
We have left the farm now, said goodbyes to the folks there and have one more day in Oregon before we fly back to Chicago.

Pacific North West

We made it to the Pacific, dipped our fingers in the ocean and picked up a small white pebble from the beach for a souvenir. Then we drove back all in one day to the cousins where we are staying in Clatskanie. This is the couple whom H&J met when they considered buying a farm over here, and they have since purchased this place where they have sheep, chickens, cats and dogs. They work extremely hard, both getting up very early and going out to work six days a week as well as the farm work. And they've given up their bed for us, sleeping in the basement.


Clatskanie base. It has been a delight to us to meet not only cousins but ones with 'like precious faith'. We have really enjoyed their company and had lots of laughs.
Have you seen a house before with the front door on the first floor?
Today we are off to Seaside, which is at the seaside, not surprisingly.

Politics and Oregon

We explored Corvallis on our first night in Oregon and had our first independent meal in an independent cafe and brewhouse. I recommend Golden Glo. The second debate by presidential candidates was on the TV. Only the older folks were watching. Folks here generally seem to think that the selection on offer is a choice between two poor ones. One untried guy, who Chicago folk say has done nothing for them, and one rather elderly guy who's choice of running mate has alarmed them. We bought a book about Obama and left it with the Minneapolis friends. I think if you read about his fusion of Christianity and Islam, you would be alarmed. Have a worrying feeling he'll win though, because just like England before Blair, Americans want a change. They may get more than they bargained for.
I think it's bizarre seeing the Obama/Biden signs. Looks like someone's made an anagram of Osama Bin Laden.

Crater lake, the deepest in America. Really is as blue as this.

A native

Minneapolis

Childcare

Skywalks ?think that's what they're called


Sculpture

Sorry if you're getting confused. We are currently in Oregon but it has taken a while to upload photos. So these are of Minneapolis, twin city of St Paul where we went by double-decker train from Wisconsin. We stayed nearly a week with friends who we met many years ago in the south of France.
Re our previous comment about women and trousers. It seems that the only ones wearing skirts are:-
New Agers with dreadlocks and flowery clothes
Muslims
Mormons
And one English female.

Maggie Mae

While we were in Wisconsin we were treated to breakfast out at Maggie Mae's Cafe in Oxford. Ruth, our hostess, rang to book a place but was told that Maggie had a sore throat and wasn't singing that day. She had just started cooking the bacon when the phone rang and we were told Maggie had just started singing, so hurry on down. We had a super breakfast of cinnamon pancake stack with bacon and maple syrup (yes all on the same plate) and refills of coffee while Maggie serenaded us with Country songs and yodelling. Apparently Wisconsin people are called 'Cheeseheads' but don't take it as an insult.