I Lied

It was just a momentary lapse of adventure caused by lack of sleep, maybe, but I have dug my way out of the doldrums and am now ready for the next phase of this trip to England. And to be fair I have to tell you about some of the wonderful people I have met while I am here.
First impression of England was that the people are anti social and will walk across the street rather than encounter an American. (They must have some sort of radar that gives us away. As soon as we open our mouth people know where we are from.) Now according to the man we met in Salisbury, the English HATE Americans. And so it seemed at first. We would get one word answers to questions and no one ever made eye contact. I was constantly checking for that piece of spinach caught in my teeth, bad breath or some other faux pas. But we have come to think that perhaps the English are just a little wary of strangers or in our case, strange persons. By now we have made all sorts of acquaintances with the mums at Abby's school. There are Debbie, Jax, Heather (the other American, so we hit it off RIGHT away, especially since she is from the South.) There is the nice lady with the adorable puppy that I stop to pet every morning. Ger is making friends with the guy in the bodega and then there is Sam. Sam is the receptionist at the chiropractors office. She and "her bloke" have been together 11 years. She is originally from Salisbury (where we stayed when we went to Stonehenge)so that was the immediate bond. We chatted about the different streets and pubs of Salisbury, great places to see in England and when she found out I loved Scotland we have become soul sisters. If she could get the time off I think Ger and I would have a personal travel guide through this entire country. Sam is just a riot and is all that I am missing in my two best friends back in the states. When we ran into Sam in the drug store yesterday it was like 2 old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages. Combine that with the sweet young girl who worked in the drug store and took the time to be our personal shopper, I have to say the English are looking better and better.
We can add to this list of nice folks . . . the woman who delivers the fresh fruit and veggies each week. She is concerned that I have too many bananas and since Abby and Ger don't like bananas I am FORCED to bake and consume endless loaves of banana bread. Today when she arrived she gave me a recipe she looked up for banana ice cream with strawberry whirls. Given the chance I believe she would be here after work to make the ice cream with Abby and I. Then there are all the people who haven't honked their horns at me as I attempt to drive on the wrong side of the road, the mail man, the bus drivers and of course the pub owners are all turning out to be very nice people.
Who knew we could fly across the ocean and meet people who were just as nice as our friends back home. It's just possible I may not want to leave here.

A Deep Breath

WE are at the half way point of this adventure and it is time to STOP and take a deep breath. K&B need to breathe, Abby needs to breathe and dammit I am going to breathe and count to 3 million. In the best of time I am a basket case ( Just go back and read some of these blogs.) But I am pushing the envelope these days with all this togetherness. How we ever made it through 41 years of marriage is beyond me.
But enough already . . . our anniversary was yesterday so I guess I am committed to another year at least so I might as well make the best of it.
Today's England adventure took us driving into the heart of Windsor. One might ask "WHY", to which there is no good answer. It all started because of mass on Sunday. The priest said, "Tuesday is a holy day. The feast of St's Peter and Paul." Ger and I shrugged and thought nothing more of it until that evening. Back in the states June 29th is NOT a holy day so how come here it is? Whatever . . . the plan was to take Abby to school, drive to the chiropractor and then drive into Windsor, park at the church and walk into town for breakfast and then go to noon mass. At least that was the plan that I had. Either I was talking to myself yesterday or Ger was not listening because as I was headed for the parking lot at the church husband became all agitated. "I thought we were parking in town" says he. Stupid me says, "HUH?" Bottom line after a U turn, a trip through almost every one way back alley and dead end in Windsor I parked in the down town lot, got out of the car and we never made it to mass. On the best of days driving in Windsor is an adventure and having a passenger who is gasping and clutching the dash at every turn and telling me what I just passed rather than pointing out the UP COMING turns is less than helpful. The good part was we found a delightful place to have breakfast with lovely garden seating right in town. Then we hit the jackpot at the drug store where we not only found the exact "ZuZu pet" that Abby has been searching for but we actually found an ICE PACK and hair color for grandma's hair that has suddenly become greyer than usual. (When Abby fell 3 weeks ago Bridget had to use a hard ice pack that you use in a cooler. I have been searching for the plastic bag of gel that you freeze and reuse only to be met with odd, blank looks. I was beginning to think England had not progressed to that high a degree of wizardry.) That find made the day and all else has paled in its shadow.
As for K&B . . . they have returned to the small village where Roman's orphanage is. Forms are signed and now they must wait to see a judge in that region. Kyle is returning to Windsor on Thursday evening for 5 days to spend time with Abby and catch up on work. Bridget has opted to stay in the Ukraine and keep visiting Roman each day to reassure him that he will soon be leaving with them to start his new life as a big brother to Abby. Kyle will return next week to go to court with Bridget and then they must both return to Windsor for the 10 day wait.
I guess all my "trials and tribulations" are nothing compared to what these 2 amazing young people are doing for a child they don't even know. God Bless them!

Stupid Country

This is one really messed up place to live. K&B seem to be enjoying it but I am DONE with England. Give me the good old US of A any day.
It is 32 degrees . . . Celsius that is. To figure out the temperature we have to divide by 5, multiply by 9 and then add 32. Got that? All that to find out that it is freaking H O T and there is not an air conditioner in the entire country! (Not only do we not have air conditioning, half the windows are painted shut so you can't even open them with the hope of a breeze.) I live in South Florida, I know HOT. I love the summers in Florida when all the tourists and snow birds are gone and we have our roads, beaches and restaurants to ourselves. All of which are made bearable by AIR CONDITIONING. Yes, even the beaches are air conditioned by Mother Nature and those wonderful summer breezes. But this silly ass country goes from freezing one month to broiling the next with no comfortable heating or air conditioning to help you survive. And seeing how EVERY BODY walks here because the roads are insanely too small and congested and constantly going in freaking circles, I am dying of the heat. My feet hurt, my body has lost 300% of it's natural fluids and yet it continues to swell to ungodly proportions. My feet look like my daughter-in-law Kristen's who is 8 months pregnant. And forget sleep . . . How do you sleep when the sun doesn't set till 10PM and then is up again at 4AM ? Even the birds have bags under their eyes.
I have hit a slump and am missing home. K&B know how I feel cause they are still in the Ukraine and missing home also. I always used to tell Ger that I would never get tired of being on vacation . . . I lied.
But this too shall pass and I am offering it up to God. I am just hitting a down day and know that by tomorrow or the next day I will be feeling totally different about being away from home. It has been a fantastic opportunity to be with Abby. I keep thinking how very blessed we are to have this chance to be here with her. As her grandparent's O'Connell pointed out, we are making memories. I just would rather the memories were of the Bahamas and not hot, old England.

A LLLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG WEEKEND

Remember those days when the phrase "LONG WEEKEND" sent chills up your spine because you knew there were endless possibilities for the days ahead. Well that's NOT what I'm talking about. In this instance the term "LONG WEEKEND" means, "OH DEAR GOD WILL MONDAY NEVER GET HERE?" Ah Yes . . . this was the first FULL weekend with Abby. MuM & Da are still in the Ukraine and getting closer to "A" Day when they really will get to adopt Roman. They still have at least a week in the Ukraine and they are missing Abby terribly. But NOT nearly as much as we are missing them ! Don't get me wrong, we adore our 5 year old grand daughter and love her to pieces and are doing very well as surrogate parents, but GOOD GOD, the weekend was endless. First and foremost you must remember once again that Grandma is "The Queen of Sleep". Abby is the "Queen of Early Birds". During the week, no problem . . . Abby has school, Abby gets up, Grandma and Grandpa get up, Abby goes to school and GM & GP return home to nap half the morning. NOT SO on the weekend. Abby gets up, EVERYONE gets up and STAYS up . . . ALL DAY ! Once again let me remind you, I love Abby but she is not a child who will entertain herself especially when she knows grandma is a sucker and can't say "NO".
Saturday was spent pretending. We went from being bunnies in a forest to kids in a class. We set up "house" (nest, den, class, etc) in every room of the house. And YES, that includes 2 of the 4 bathrooms. Cooking was the only thing that got Abby away from her games so we had about seven meals on Saturday. Abby FINALLY went to bed at 8, Grandma went to bed at 8:20. Thus no blog yesterday.
Today, Sunday was MUCH better. Even though my little Early Bird jumped into bed with me at 7:06 AM the day was GREAT! (Another HOT day here but the nights are almost cold so sleeping is wonderful.) We made pancakes for breakfast with blueberry eyes, a strawberry nose and whip cream mouth. Then it was time for church and a drive to the leisure center to swim. Abby understood that GM couldn't ride the slide because my arm is still not right and GP won't ride the slide cause he is chicken. So off the 5 year old went, up the huge set of stairs to the top of the building to ride the slides alone. 3 hours later we left to go to the small (as in minuscule) amusement park just down the river.(See pictures) We needed an ice cream (don't tell mom and dad!) for energy to ride the motorcycles, tea cups, train and swans. She had a ball and was so happy to run from one ride to another. (Sorry K&B but your daughter now knows that those rides at the stores MOVE! You just have to put money into them!) After rides there was a short interlude of feeding the swans in the river and then a drive home by way of Prince Albert Pub for dinner. (And a well earned beer for GM & GP.)
Ger is asleep already and I am soon to follow. Abby conked out at 8 tonight and hopefully will be fresh and full of life for school tomorrow. Ger and I already are planning out tomorrow. It goes something like NAP, LUNCH, NAP. I think we can manage that for the next 5 days before we get to another weekend.

Not About England

The vacation is over. A week of being "parents" has returned husband and I to the primal state of survival of the fittest, kill or be killed, very man for him/her self. The fact that the World Cup is on TV EVERY DAY is not helping. Also the fact that being in a foreign country Husband is not going to get in the car and go someplace on his own . . . OH, wait, silly me . . . he doesn't do that when we are home. Bottom line, all this freaking togetherness is REALLY getting to me. 24/7 is not a healthy state to live in with your spouse so I am looking for one of you out there to volunteer to come get Husband and take him AWAY for a month or two. PLEASE !!!!!!!
Today we returned to the grocery store for the umpteenth time. It is the only place I know how to get to. Of course Husband came along and clutched the dashboard the whole way. I thought about going alone but it is like leaving a small puppy home. They look at you with those big, sad eyes and you just can't walk out the door without them. Once we get to the store it is TORTURE to shop. I am followed a foot away so every time I stop I get plowed into. Forget trying to turn around. I have tried giving the cart to Husband but then I get my ankles smashed every couple of minutes. "Focus" is not in Ger's vocabulary. Along with the physical abuse I have to put up with the endless questions like, "Why are you getting that?" "Can I get something for you?" Where would I find that?" (If I knew the answer to that question I would get it myself!) The HELP is more work than it is worth.
Then when we are finished shopping and are on our way home I have to reward the Husband with a treat. Usually this is some sort of "Fast Food" because Heaven forbid we should go home and eat some of the healthy food I have just bought. Today's stop was at KFC. (Yep, the Colonel has made it across the pond.) When we get home Ger brings in all the groceries and pulls them all out of the bags, leaving them on the counter tops and the bags on the floor. By now he is exhausted and has returned to the TV set all proud of himself for having done so very much to help.
I, on the other hand have gone up stairs, into the bath room and stuffed a towel in my mouth so I can scream! Once I can catch my breath again I pop a happy pill or two and continue on with the day. Picking up Abby from school is a similar experience except that the extent of "help" is limited to walking with me to and from the school. This trip is accompanied by the various questions, "Does Abby have her lunch? Does Abby have her water? Did you put sun screen on Abby? Did you sign her book list? . . ." This morning I waved my hand in Husbands face and asked him if he saw my hand, because it was about to slap him silly if he asked me one more thing. He got that message but I am sure tomorrow will just be more of the same.

GREAT NEWS

WE JUST HEARD FROM KYLE AND BRIDGET WHO ARE IN THE WILDS OF THE UKRAINE . . .
ROMAN WILL BE ADOPTED BY THEM.
They met with Roman today and he said he wants to come and live with them. He wrote a letter to the courts saying just that and now the final steps will be taken to bring him "HOME".
I guess your prayers are working. Thanks to one and all and we will keep you posted on the proceedings.

The Cheese Ball

Today's blog is for Kyle & Bridget who are trying to stay sane in the Ukraine. (Sounds like Country Western song!) They have been gone almost a week now and are running into all sorts of blockades to the adoption of Roman, the 10 year old boy who came to stay with them for a month over Christmas. K&B are working with an agency who tries to place children from orphanages in the countries that once were the USSR. Things have been moving along and now that they are in the last stages of the adoption proceedings they are running into one road block after another. Just before they left for the Kiev they made their weekly call to Roman, during which he told them he did not want to be adopted. K&B were devastated. Nothing they could do and no one they could talk to, they just went on with the hopes that this was a passing thing. They spoke with other parents who were also adopting and they too had had the same experience, only to have it all work out.
Last Sunday K&B left to fly to Kiev for a court date on Tuesday, sign papers and then move on to the other side of the country to the town where Roman's orphanage is. Kiev turned out to be a pleasant surprise for them. A big, modern city with good food and accommodations. They ran into a few minor set backs but after a day's delay they flew to Donetsk, drove 2 hours to the town with the orphanage only to be told Roman was not there. (They are traveling with a translator because the language is so impossible to understand because it uses a totally different alphabet.) It was down hill from there. Roman was at camp, another 2 hour ride into the country. The towns are awful, the steel mill in town makes the entire area stink with rancid pollution, the roads are so potholed you can't drive on them and it is hot and humid.
Bottom line . . . We are praying for a better day for them today. Thus the following blog about "THE CHEESE BALL" in order to cheer up Mom & Dad, if they have Internet connection out in the country.
Some time in the early years of Abby's life Aunt Keri referred to Abby as "A Cheese Ball". There is no literal meaning to this but it is the perfect term for this child. She is a character and a half and is keeping Grandma and Grandpa laughing. Abby is one smart cookie and getting smarter every day. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, (no no mom & dad, it is not cause of grandma's cursing!) but because she always asks the meaning of a word that she doesn't know. Abby is 5 going on 40, going on 5. She is the perfect mix of smart and silly. We have been doing a lot of laughing this past week trying to keep the "Miss yous" a bay. Now that it is the end of the week Abby is tired so it is harder to not miss mom and dad. She LOVES school so that is a great diversion. I don't think Abby the Cheese Ball goes to school, that Abby is reserved for the family. Her teachers all think she is a quiet child. We know better. Last week Ger and I wanted to buy a plastic whistle for Abby, (she "coaches" mom and dad playing soccer on the lawn outside. She doesn't PLAY, she is the coach). Bridget told me a whistle would be too noisy for the house they are living in. Let me tell you that there isn't a plastic whistle around that could be louder that the SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH Abby lets out when getting dressed in the morning and Grandma accidentally "tickles" her. If the neighbors aren't awake before that they surely are after. There is now doubt as to who is in charge with mom and dad gone. From dinner menu to wardrobe, (thank goodness for school uniforms), to planned activities, Ger and I just follow Abby's lead and the Cheese Ball shall lead us.
So MoM and DaD . . . don't you worry one bit about Abby. She is doing fantastic taking care of us and herself. Her biggest concern is that Grandpa is not eating his vegetables and fruit and he is watching too much TV. Abby is ONE SMART COOKIE !

A Afternoon Off

Abby is playing at a friend's house this afternoon and grandpa and I are wandering around like 2 lost souls. Ger and I had a wonderful morning in Windsor watching the changing of the guard and being treated to a mini concert by the palace marching band that comes through the streets of Windsor, leading the "New Guard" from the barracks to the castle. The changing of the Guard was amazing and I am so glad we made the effort to go see it. We then took a ride on the "Windsor Eye", a large Ferris wheel that is set up near the river Thames. The views or the river, Windsor and Eaton were beautiful. After that we had a lunch of fish and chips down by the river which is FILLED with swans, ducks and geese. You can see from the photos that it is another beautiful day today. We have all the heat of Florida without the AC. Thankfully the windows in this house are HUGE floor to ceiling panels so with them open there is a beautiful cool breeze blowing through. By morning it is actually cold in here, the temperature drops so much.
I have included some photos of Kyle and Bridget's house taken from the path that cuts off to Abby's school. It gives you a good idea of the lovely setting this house is situated in. There is a small play ground to the right of the large gates and Abby's school is about 100 yards off to the left.
We just heard from Abby's friends mom and the girls are doing great. Looks like grandpa and I will have dinner alone tonight. Abby is staying at Savanna's for pizza and then will be home around 6:15. Savanna and family are fellow Americans here in England for work. All the young moms from the school are lovely but it is extra nice to speak ENGLISH, even though Savanna's mom is from South Carolina and talks funny.

Yesterday's Blog Today

After a good nights sleep and a full day of sleep I hope to battle the mini computer and get this blog written AND posted. Yes, I did say a "FULL DAY OF SLEEP" . . .Today while Abby was at school I slept from 10:30am to 2pm when Ger woke me. Being the "Queen of Sleep", as husband calls me, I have been going into shock with these full days, early mornings (7am is Ungodly for me), late nights, (because the sun does not go down till after 10pm so you just don't even think about going to bed until then). We have been "On the go" every day until today when I just wanted to STOP! Abby slept until 7:10am, we played in bed for 20 minutes until we were all awake enough to go down and have some breakfast. Then it was make lunch, get dressed, check the swim kit,(bag) to make sure Abby had her swim suit, hat, towel and goggles, brush teeth, comb hair, put on sun block lotion and head off to school. Today Abby road her scooter rather than her bike and we had a mishap about 1/2 way to school. Ger and I both thought this was going to be a trauma but after a few tears and a wipe of the slightly skinned knees we were off and riding again. She is a trooper! Today Abby's school started a weekly swim program where the kids are bussed to the near by leisure (recreation) center for swim lessons. Abby is a water rat and has been swimming in deep water and going off diving boards for a couple of years now. She said she was the best in the class today and was the only one who was told, "Well Done". To celebrate we went to Mac Donald for dinner and even had an ice cream cone. She was exhausted tonight so we were very glad there was no reading homework. Which brings me to the topic of yesterday's blog . . .
LEARNING TO READ IN ENGLAND
From the time that Abby arrive in England in early April to now she has learned to read! Each day she brings home a book from the class room and has to read it to us for home work. Do you remember learning to read with Dick, Jane and Spot? Well, Abby has MUM, KIPPER AND PIP. "Mum makes a dress. Kipper makes a lorry. (We gathered from the picture that a lorry is a truck.) Mum and Kipper make a mess." When was the last time you met someone named KIPPER ? But the child is learning to read so who's to worry that she won't be able to recognize names like Jasmin and Bubba when she returns to Atlanta.
And as for me and my sleep . . . I am a new woman after the total of 13 hours sleep in the last 24 hours. This is what I am used to and all these days of "going" combined with the constant sneezing from hay fever had caught up to me and I just couldn't go another step. But like Abby and her scooter today I am now ready to get back on and keep going.

#^%)&@@%$%&*_&$e_(*^#@#$

I have written this freaking blog twice tonight and twice this GD computer had eaten it and spit it into God only knows where. So much for my day today.
Sorry but I don't have the energy or desire to start again.
WE are alive and well . . . Good Night !!

Glad To Be An American

I think I am living in the twilight zone. You cannot imagine how strange this country is. And we are speaking the same (not really) language. The longer we are in England the more I am missing America. YES, we are spoiled, over indulgent, living beyond our means, living in excess and always rushing around and I miss every thing about it!
Our days here are falling into a routine now that K&B are in the Ukraine. Abby went to school, came home, ate dinner and went to bed. (K&B are doing great but missing their little girl. They called tonight to say good night to Abby just before she went to bed and she ended up in tears and I think the 2 of them were close behind.)
But she is asleep now and we will continue to try to keep things as normal as possible. Not an easy task here in the UK for 2 American Senior Citizens. (Make that one senior citizen, the other one is totally oblivious of anything and everything around him.) The novelty is wearing off for me and the reality of living in an Old World country is settling in. We met a man in Salisbury who matter of factly informed us that English men HATE Americans. Well, guess what, I'm not to fond of you either old chap. This country is living about 200 years in the past. The whole country seems to have gotten stuck in another century. To start with, it is DIRTY over here. Buildings and roads are old and dirty and worn looking and to go along with that the Brits seem to think that when you have garbage the best thing to do with it is drop it where ever you are. There is litter EVERY WHERE ! Roads, side walks, yards, highways. It is one huge litter box. As I have mentioned the roads are no where near straight and direct, everything goes in circles and twists and turns.
It takes twice as long to go a mile away because you are actually traveling 3 miles because there is no direct route. But that doesn't matter because every thing else in the country takes forever. The washer and the dryer in this house are new and take about an hour and a half to complete their cycles. The washer is so small that you can wash one set of sheets and a towel at a time. Then before you can dry the clothes the dryer has to be emptied of water from its previous load. The dryer doesn't vent so it collects all the moisture from the clothes it is drying. You have to empty the tank before you do the next load or the clothes will never dry. And forget the settings on appliances, you need to be able to read Egyptian Hieroglyphics in order to set the machines. There are wiggly lines, pictures of fans, straight lines and various combinations of all. The first try at cooking dinner, washing and drying clothes and dishes I had no idea of where to begin. And speaking of signs and symbols, what ever happened to international road signs? There are road signs over here that I have never seen in my life. A round blue sign with a red ring around it and a red X through it. I take it to mean DON'T do something but I can't figure out WHAT I'm not supposed to do. This sign will appear in the middle of the block. Got me!
I think I am just missing home and all the things we take for granted, Large cars for one. Cars that you can get in and out of without pulling a muscle. Large and efficient appliances that do a great job in a short amount of time. Comfortable beds and furniture, a dozen stores to choose from when you want to shop, grocery stores that have an entire aisle filled with canned fruit or vegetables. Publix bakery! (Even though I am loving the pastry here) And what I am missing the most is talking to people who don't sound like they are bloody English. The accents are no longer entertaining and quaint. I want to have a conversation with someone who doesn't sound like they are Hugh Grant or James Bond. I am about to strangle Ger if he says "Ellooooo" one more time.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Happy Father's Day from England. Abby's daddy and mom are in the Ukraine at the moment so the day was a celebration for Abby and Grandpa. As you can see they had a great time celebrating and there was cake!
K&B left early this morning for their trip to Kiev. Abby, Grandpa and I drove them to the bus stop for a bus to the airport. I offered to drive them to the airport but they felt the bus stop was enough of a challenge for my new driving experiences. It just happened there was a Mac Donalds at the bus stop so we said our "good-byes" and went in for breakfast. It was a painless separation for both parents and child. Abby told us she was sad but then scarffed down 2 pancakes, half of Ger's sausage and a hot chocolate. After that it was home to bake banana bread and then off to mass, a stop at the play ground by church and a trip to Tesco, the grocery store. Home again for lunch, (which included some very fine banana bread with cream cheese) and a DVD for a quiet afternoon rest. Dinner was a roast chicken with stuffing AND mashed potatoes because Abby didn't know if she liked stuffing but knew she liked mashed potatoes. ((She didn't even want to try the stuffing once she saw the potatoes.) By this time we were all a little silly and once the cake came out there was no holding Grandpa and his girl.
We had a lovely day and heard from K&B to let us know they had a good trip and were
settled into their apartment for their 3 day stay in Kiev. There is another couple from the same adoption agency also staying in the "hotel" and they were all meeting up for dinner. K&B seemed pleasantly surprised at the city and their accommodations. Hopefully they will get some good information from the other couple and by their court date on Tuesday will have relaxed enough to enjoy their adventure. Wednesday they are supposed to fly to the area where Romans orphanage is and then finally get to see Roman again for the first time since January. They will be in touch with us every afternoon so we will keep you up to date on how they are doing.
As for Abby, Ger and I . . . we are doing fantastic for the first 15 hours and we are looking forward to a great 2 weeks.
Love to all you dads ! Hope you enjoyed your day as much as we did.

It's Cold in England

I am not missing the heat and humidity in Florida but today was a bit to cold for me. We went over to the Long Walk again today to see the Queen. It is the last day of Royal Ascot and the last day the Queen will be driving out of the palace and down the Long Walk on her way to the races. We wanted Abby to see the Queen so the whole family packed a picnic lunch and headed into Windsor. We parked the car at Kyle's office and walked through town to the castle gate where the Queen would exit. We got there early and spent about 2 hours out on the green. By the time the Queen drove past we were so cold we could barely lift our hand to wave. It was in the 50's here today and the fact that tomorrow is the official start of summer made no difference. Every once in a while the sun would come out from behind a cloud and warm us up only to disappear again. On our way back to the car we stopped at a playground for Abby to play a while. From there we walked into town to feed the swans down at the river and have dinner at WAGAMAMA. This was an adventure in dining for us. IT is a restaurant that serves Japanese "fast food". Abby had some sort of soup with ramen noodles and tofu. I thought poor Ger was going to cry but he and I found something that we thought would be edible and it actually was quite good. We are now home for the evening and the boys are watching the World Cup.
Tomorrow is going to be a rough day for all. K&B are heading for the Ukraine in the morning and will wake Abby before they go. I am not looking forward to the morning but I am sure we will all survive. We have plans for baking tomorrow with hopes that it will distract Abby enough so she doesn't miss mom and dad too much. I also see a quiet afternoon of movie watching and popcorn. If it is as cold tomorrow as it was today I think we will all be happy to stay in.

World Cup Fever

I don't know how things are back in the states regarding the World Cup Soccer but over here it is THE thing to talk about, read about, and watch on the telly. Tonight England is playing Algeria and this part of the world has come to a screeching halt. Ger and I went to the grocery store today to stock up on some supplies for next week. The place was a circus! Between the folk decked out in their top hats and tails buying champagne to take to the races at Astor and the common folk buying their beer and crisps to snack on while watching the World Cup tonight, there were lines of people every where. The isles were packed with people wandering and stopping suddenly in the middle of the isle. The fact that the "carriages" have the type of wheels on them that allow them to move in ANY direction, (forward, backward AND sideways!)caused Ger a great deal of trouble. He was managing to control his carriage but couldn't keep out of the way of the little old ladies who would suddenly dart out in front of him. Then to add to his nervous condition he had to get back into the car with me driving for the trip home. Under the very best conditions Ger is not a good passenger. He sucks in his breath, moans, flinches, grabs at the dash board and shouts "WATCH - WATCH - WATCH". I have yet to know exactly what I am supposed to watch but that is all he can manage to get out. Add a few round a bouts to this and the man is almost in tears by the time we get home. Today was particularly trying on Ger but we did manage to arrive home in one piece where he ran for his favorite chair in the kitchen to sit and read the paper and have a soda to calm down. Good plan except the chair leg broke and he landed on the floor.
All is well now. The rest of the day passed quietly and the nerves are settling down. The USA tied in soccer today and the English are not winning as of this posting. Tomorrow is the last day for K&B to be here so they are busy packing and spending time with Abby. Keep us all in your prayers, Please. And have a good night.

The Afternoon Edition

We had a lovely lunch with Bridget today. K&B are under a lot of stress this week as they get ready to travel to the Ukraine. Today Bridget needed an afternoon out in the beautiful sunshine. Off we all went for a drive outside of Windsor to visit The Windsor Farm. This is a farm stand, gift shop, tea room just outside the walls of Windsor Castle out in the country. All the produce and meats that are sold come from the castle farm. Ger and I WILL return there to shop for veggies and meat. The products were wonderfully fresh and the prices were great. Bridget, Ger and I had lunch there and it was delightful.
And then Abby came home . . . last night, just as we were finishing dinner and Abby was getting ready for bed, Abby anounced that she had something up her nose. Bridget's reaction was exactly the same on that I would have had when my children were 5, "Abby, why didn't you say something earlier today?" To which Abby replied "I don know." Abby then informed her parents that she thought they should take her to the hospital that Grandma went to so the doctors could get the thing out of her nose. She also told her parents that she had put a plant up her nose some time during the day. Kyle's soulution to this was a quick look with a flash light and after seeing nothing, a bath. In the bath Abby could go under water, blow some bubbles out of her nose and that would be that. Abby took a bath, went to bed, got up this morning, went to school and no more mention was made of the "thing" in her nose. UNTIL . . . Abby came home today and was told she had to come inside to read the 3 books that she never read yesterday. Suddenly the "thing in her nose" began to bother her. Next thing she and mom took off for the hospital. (We were happy with this decision because we didn't want a problem next week when K&B were gone.) Two hours later the girls were home again, minus one LARGE piece of plant from Abby's left nostral. Poor kid DID have something up there after all. Seems she takes after her dad who stuffed a pebble up his nose when he was 2. She aparently was a trooper and let the 2 EMT'S remove a piece of who know's what without so much as a "Bloody Hell" that the rest of us would have been yelling. (But then I guess we wouldn't have shoved a plant up there in the first place.)
What a day! My heart goes out to K&B for all they are dealing with this week and then a trip to the hospital besides. When it rains it pours. Even though the sun was shinning all day and it was just amazingly beautiful outside.

The Morning Edition

For all you lucky folks who have nothing better to do with your lives than follow this doepy blog, today you may get TWO (2) postings. Don't know what the rest of the day will bring but I had to write this morning edition for my BFF Sharon.
Hey Shar, remember all those years of delivering "Meals on Wheels" in Sound Beach? Those days before GPS when we thought we were lost forever in the winding streets, never to be heard from again? Well, Sound Beach has NOTHING on this ENTIRE country! There isn't a straight road in this town, county or country. Every road twists and turns around on itself and just when you think you have got it, the road ends! I cannot believe the streets, they are so narrow. I think they were originally sheep paths that got paved over the years. Ger and I are walking more but have also started driving around. I have gotten pretty good with my internal compass and can usually keep from getting too turned around while still remembering to drive on the left side of the road. Not an easy task. Yesterday I drove to the chiropractor's office that is probably 1/8 of a mile away as the crow flies. This would be a lovely walk except there is no direct route. Driving there involves going North, then West and then South and is a distance of 3 miles. We bought a street map the other day but that just proved that there is no easy way from HERE to THERE. Even if you find a "direct" route there are ROUND-A-BOUTS thrown in that totally confuse the issue. After the third trip around the circle we are tempted to just call it quits and return home if only we could find a road that would take us there. Naturally I am in the wrong lane to exit the circle so we take another 2 or 3 turns around. By now we are so dizzy that there is little to no hope of ever getting anywhere. I do think we will stick to walking. It is safer and faster considering all the roundabouts. When you are walking thre are tunnels under the roads so you don't have to worry about crossing traffic. A great inovation that some of our cities should adopt. Everyone here walks every where but as I have mentioned before, it is not a soulution for weight loss because there are tons of pubs and tea shops along the way. Heaven forbid you go without food or drink for more than an hour. Which I suppose is a good thing because you never do know when you will get lost in the maze of streets never to find your way home.

A Tour of the Castle

Today we walked into town with Bridget and she took us on the tour of Windsor Castle.
The tour is a self guided audio tour. It walks you through the court yard outside the castle and then proceeds into the castle through the public rooms. It takes about 2 hours and is really great. Interesting information and fun to see a video of the Queen holding receptions in the very rooms you are standing in. After 2 hours in the castle we decided to finish the tour another day. Having bought our tickets today we got a pass to return to the castle tour any time within the next 12 months. We will take them up on that if we can remember where we put our tickets.
After our tour we stopped at a little cafe down the street from the castle and had a nice lunch out in the sun. As we were finishing lunch we realized we could head down the street and see the Queen as she left the castle to drive to Ascot for the afternoon races. The cars you see in the second picture are the Queen and others driving toward Ascot down the LONG ROAD. This road runs from the castle towards Ascot with a HUGE statue of (can't remember who) at the other end. The road is indeed LONG. We are told that on nice days the Queen will drive to a point near the end of the Long Road and get out of her car and into her horse drawn carriage to enter the races in style. People line the Long Road to catch glimpse of the Queen and to see what color hat she is wearing today. We did arrive in time to join the crowd and saw that the Queen was dressed in RED today.She actually looked quite good for a woman her age but if I lived in a castle as large and opulent as Windsor I suppose I would look pretty good also. Instead, I am looking as haggard as most of the women waking about town. All this walking may be healthy but let me tell you it is KILLING me. My toes have blisters and my legs ache. I am ready for bed by 21:00, (that's 9PM for all you Yanks) and am popping Advil like they were M&M's. I am being passed on the street by old women and crippled dogs. It is getting quite embarrassing. Hopefully the chiropractor that I started seeing today will help me with the leg and back pain and if I can stay away from the pubs and pastys I just might go home healthier than when we arrived.
FYI . . . I have tried ordering salads for lunch and what I get is a plate full of something that looks like they just pulled it up from next to the road. There are green things in the salad that I have NEVER seen before in my life. They taste rather like grass so I am thinking that because salad is NOT a big seller here in England so they just throw anything green into a bowl when you order salad. I expect to start "mooing" any day now. Then to top it off there is NO dressing of any kind on the green stuff. They offer you "sauces" which turns out to be ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise. If you order "chips", (remember they are french fries) you get vinegar to put on the chips.

Part 2 for Today

First of all, the blog this morning was supposed to be titled, "A Night At The Races". How it came to be titled "windsor" is beyond me. I am really looking forward to getting myself a big ass desk top computer when I get home. This mini notebook is great but my big fingers and hands are always hitting something that is deleting or moving or rearranging what I am writing. There is nothing like writing a note to someone for 20 minutes and then all of a sudden it disappears.
Can you tell it was a quiet day today? I am rambling once again because I have nothing important to say.
Today we got up late, (a relative term . . .9 is late for Ger and EARLY for me), had a leisurely breakfast of crumpets and tea and then I caught up on my email and blog. It was quite chilly this morning. Jeans and jacket weather. Sun was out but it was cold. I LOVE IT ! I hear my darlings in Florida and Maryland are roasting. Kristen said it was 97 and HUMID in lovely Florida today. I DO NOT MISS THAT ! Ger and I finally got up off the couches and took a walk to the local pub where we had a nice lunch. No beer or cider for lunch today, just a tuna sandwich and a soda. Great sandwich but it was loaded with big chunks of onions. It tasted fabulous but it is killing me tonight. These English Onions are tough little buggers. Bridget called to find us and she walked down to meet us to sit and chat for a while before we all walked to Abby's school to pick her up at 3:30. I am getting to meet a lot of the moms of kids in Abby's class and they are very friendly. All are offering "play dates" for Abby when K&B are in the Ukraine.
Have I mentioned that K&B leave on Sunday to fly to Kiev where they go to court on Tuesday, June 22? Hopefully the adoption papers will be set in order and this will be the beginning of the end of the whole adoption process. After spending a couple of days in Kiev they will fly to the town where Roman is living. It is 16 hours by train to make this trip so they decided to fly. K&B will then get to see Roman and spend some time with him before they head back to the UK on July 2. (There is a 10 day waiting period before Bridget returns to the Ukraine to FINALLY bring Roman home.) Ger and I will be here in Windsor waiting with Abby who will hopefully be alive and well after being in our care for the 12 days.
A lot going on here and Abby is having some trouble with K&B leaving for the 12 days but I think we will all be fine once things get moving. Ger and I are beginning to feel comfortable with the area and are settling into a routine that makes us feel at home. (that routine does include beer)Tonight Ger. Kyle and I are sitting in front of the TV in the beautiful formal room, complete with massive fireplace that has a mirror over it that has got to be 10 feet high and 5 feet wide. It doesn't come near to touching the ceiling that is at least 30 feet high. Have I mentioned that this house is amazing? Ger is watching the World Cup and Kyle and I are working on our computers. Just a quiet night in the English country side.
Tomorrow's adventure . . . a tour of Windsor Castle ! Can't wait, maybe we'll see the Queen.

windsor

Sorry I'm late writing this but it got to be too late last night so today you will get 2 blogs to make up for it.
This is the week of the Queens Birthday and there is a lot going on in town. One of the BIG events of the week is THE ROYAL ASCOT. This is a horse racing event that starts today, Tuesday, and continues through the weekend. The Queen attends every day because she "loves her races". Ger and I did consider attending the Royal Ascot until we saw the cost of admission and the dress code. Ger did NOT bring his tails and top hat and I did not bring anything nearly fancy enough to attend such a fete. We are actually sitting here at the kitchen table watching a man and woman who are obviously going to the races. He is decked out in a waistcoat and tails and top hat and she has on her basic black dress with an EXTRAORDINARILY LARGE WHITE HAT ! It is probably more entertaining watching them than the races would be. To be honest there are places at the Royal Ascot that the common folk can go for a lesser admission fee but from what we hear the traffic and the crowds are overwhelming. So I think we will take a bye on this race and be satisfied with our own night at the races last night.
Kyle has a young man from his Atlanta office over here working for him for the week and Kyle wanted to take Jonathan to the Windsor races before Jonathan returned to the states. Ger and I were invited to join them last night and we had a great time. We chose to go with the common folk and pay 8 Pounds to stand up by the rail rather than sit in the stands for 17 pounds. (a pound is worth about $1.50) There was a building where we could buy sandwiches, (known as BAPS), sausage and chips, (french fries are chips), fish and chips, or, my personal favorite, Pastys. (Remember those little "stews" in a pastry shell?) The pasty is mostly potato with some gravy and a hint of meat but it is the actual pastry that I adore. I ordered a PAAAAASTY and the young server had no idea what I was saying. He finally said, "Oh, a Paw hsty". It's all in the pronunciation over here. WE are getting better at understanding the English English but it isn't easy.
Back to the races. Once we figured out how to bet and where the horses were actually starting from we tried our luck at the "bookies". There were about 8 different stations set up in the field, each one run by a different "betting company". Most gave the same odds but every so often one would give a different odd on a horse and people would rush over to bet with him. Races were every half hour and we had a great time. We watched about 5 races, bet on three and won on none! Jonathan won on the last race and made 11P from the 1P that he bet. It was great fun, COLD as anything standing out in the field but a fun time for all.
During the day Ger and I had walked into town for lunch at the "Windsor Trooper" and we had a great time just sitting in the pub watching the world go by. We are adventuring outside of our comfort zone in Windsor and getting to see the other parts of town beside the main shopping street. Took the bus home and relaxed for a while before our adventure at the races.
FYI Main streets in England are usually called HIGH STREET.
Another side note for all of you readers out there, I picked up a copy of THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett when we were in Salisbury. I had read this book years ago and LOVED it and seeing it there in the town where the story takes place I just had to get it to read again. I started it yesterday afternoon and am so glad I bought it. It is a wonderful book that is a great read for summer vacation. It is long but never boring. Check it out if you want something great to pass the summer days.

My Body is in Pain

I am about to spend a few moments groaning and moaning so if you don't want to hear it just go to the next paragraph to see what we did today.

For a relaxing weekend I would like to say that I feel like I have been run over by a truck. (Or in England, a lori.) On the best of days I can be full of aches and pains but honestly, tonight I am hurting. I will not go to a doctor over here to have my shoulder checked out because I have seen the hospitals here and they all look like something left over from Medieval times. My shoulder is sore from the fall 2 weeks ago and just when it starts feeling better I reach for something or jam it and it "pops" into a very painful spot. I then have to smack it on a wall to make it go back to where it should be to get the pain to stop. Sounds like fun doesn't it. But I can and will live with this. The bruise on my thigh is now the size of a dinner plate and slowly turning green and purple, rather than black and blue. And then to top it all off, my back is giving me twinges. Tomorrow I will make a call to a local chiropractor that a friend of Bridget's uses and see if I can get an appointment to get some of this checked out.
I think a chiropractor will be safer than a doctor but I'll let you know.

Today, being Sunday, was church day. Back to St. Edwards and a nice mass.This week Abby went to "Children's Liturgy" where she made a flag that said "LOVE". She did a great job and was very proud of her work. After mass and a light lunch at home we put our bathing suits on and drove over to the Windsor Leisure Center. This indoor complex contains a large gym, a lap pool and a water park complete with 2 huge water slides, a small lazy river, a wave pool, water falls and water spouts plus an area for little kids. Abby is not a little kid so she went right for the water slides. The one slide is "The Shark" and is very fast. That is the one Abby loves. These slides are huge, 5 story drops filled with twists and turns, partly enclosed and really quite fast. Abby talked me into the "slower" slide and I thought I would die. (Plus it really wasn't a good idea for someone with a sore shoulder !) But I had to try it out for myself and I am glad I did.
We only spent about 2 hours there but now I am ready for bed and it is only 7PM. What the hey . . . I'm going to bed and lie there and read for a hour or so. We had a good day and will be finishing up week two in England. We are also looking at tours of Scotland for a few days once K&B return from the Ukraine. I'll keep you posted on that.
Good Night for now.
P.S. No pictures of the water park because Bridget says they will not allow any pictures to be taken inside the complex. These Brits are really up tight and stuffy over the stupidest things. And then on the flip side they drive like idiots on the wrong side of the road. Go figure!

Quiet Saturday

I am too tired to fight the computer tonight to do a long blog. The clock says 22:19 so I have to get some sleep. Is this the most rediculous thing - telling time by the 24 hours? I have to translate 22 into 10PM before I know if I can go to bed or not. What's really freaky is when I wake up in the night and the clock says 00:19. I have NO idea what the hell time it is. Seriously . . . 19 is all the clock says. Weird!
I had a horrible night's sleep last night. Couldn't get comfortble, couldn't fall asleep, thought I was keeping Ger awake with all my tossing. NOt a good night! Ger and I are sharing a DOUBLE bed. It is way to small for 2 people that are old and large. Tonight we have brought in one of the bunk bed mattresses from Abby's room and I will sleep on that on the floor. It has got to be better than the little bed with the mushy mattress. Tonight I am so tired I could probably sleep in the bath tub which is the size of my pool in Florida.
Today was a day of rest and relaxation for Abby and I. Ger and K&B walked into Windsor to go the the "fish monger" who was closed because of "holiday", (he is on vacation).
Abby is not the sort of kid who can entertain herself when Grandma is around so we spent the day playing all sorts of imaginary games. Ger and I came down to the kitchen this morning to find Abby and Kyle on the floor between the stove and the center island with all the drawers pulled out to make a roof over them. Not sure what the game was but we heard that they had been there playing for over an hour.
Tonight Abby, Ger and I had dinner together while K&B went into town to meet a few friends and go to a pub where they could watch and cheer for the American soccer team playing the English in the World Cup. They aren't home yet so I guess they're having a good time.
Church tomorrow and who know what else. K&B will be here for the week and then a week from tomorrow they will fly to the Ukraine to start the final steps in
adopting 10 year old Roman. Abby, Ger and I will be here to hold down the Windsor end of the family so tonight's adventure of an evening with Abby was good practice. Aside from setting the loaf of italian bread on fire we did pretty well. These English appliances are crazy. NO clear on/off buttons so it is a challenge to cook, clean dishes or wash and dry clothes. But we got the fire out and managed to open some windows so hopefully the smoke will clear by the time the kids return home. Hopefully they will be too drunk to notice the smell.

Back in Windsor

We said good bye to Salisbry today and it was actually sad to go. We came to really like this town over the past 2 days and were feeling quite at home there. But Abby was waiting so it was time to go. I've included a few pictures from our time in Salisbury. The first is the river Avon down near the train station. It gives you a good idea of how lovely this town is. The river winds its way through the town and most views of it are as nice as the last. Then there is the Cathedral that dominates the countryside. You can see it from miles away and it is just a magnificant inside as it is from the outside. There is a reflecting pool inside the main part of the cathedral that reflects the stained glass windows in the water. (Ger got some good pictures of it but I can't download his photos onto this little computer.) Next photo should speak for itself. This is one of many shots that we took of Stonehenge. It's one of those places that either facinate you or bore you. I am facinated and so glad I got to see it in person. The last photo shows you the path through the sheep meadow and the gate we had to go thorugh to get up to Old Sarum. There really isn't much to show you of Old Sarum because it is a ruin but the path was fun.
And now we are back and into our second week in England. Our trip back to Windsor was as uneventful as the one going. The rail system is wonderful and we feel we could travel anywhere in the country.
FYI The English are pigs . . . "they litter everywhere and never pick up after themselves". This is a quote from an English couple that we met in Salisbury. The woman thought Americans were wonderful because they always clean up after themselves. And she is right! Every where you go there is litter. It is hard to find a litter basket to throw the trash into because, (according to the English lady), after the LOndon bombings they don't want trash bins on the streets because a bomb could be consealed in them. So I guess the alternative is to just throw your trash on the ground! It makes for a very messy country.
But what they lack in clean streets they make up for in pastry. I always thought France had the best pastry but I am coming to REALLY appreciate the English. I had a "pie" for lunch today. It was a flaky pastry pie shell,(tiny-about 3 inches across), with cheese and sweet potato and spinach in it and it was WONDERFUL. I have yet to try the breakfast pasty with clotted cream and jam but that in on my list. Thank heaven we are walking all over the place because between the pastry and the ale I am a Weight Watcher's nightmare.
A few more FYI'S :
Dogs can ride on the trains with their masters.
The windows here are double paned glass and you cannot hear ANYTHING through them.
You can buy wine anywhere! Drug store, grocery, gas station.
The roses are ENORMOUS and their fragrance is in the air where ever you go.

Day 8 - STONEHENGE !

This was an amazing day. I have ALWAYS had a facination for Stonehenge and today we finally got there in person. The throngs of people and the audio tape tour do take something away from the spiritual/other worldly atmospheer of the place but all in all it is quite an experience.
Ger and I had breakfast at the B&B and walked into town to get our tickets for the off and on bus tour. First stop, Stonehenge. The bus came up over a hill and there it was in the distance, just standing in the center of the open plain. At first you don't even realize what you are looking at and then you see that those are the monilithic stones arranged in that circle that you have seen a hundred times in photos. The bus dropped us off along with the hundred or so other tourists to get our hand held audio tour. At first it felt like just another stupid tour of following the fellow in front of you and pushing the on/off button of the tape player to go from station to station. I had always envisioned standing alone on the plain, walking amoung the huge stones, listening for the ghosts of who ever built this circle. But surprisingly once we got listening to the naration and walking around the circle, ( no one is permitted within the circle of stones. It is considered sacred ground and only on rare occasions are people allowed inside the stones.) we were transported in time and it was a fantastic experience. I can now cross this off my bucket list!
Jumping back on the next tour bus that came along we continued the journey through the country side to OLD SARUM. What a great surprise this turned out to be. Listed in the tour guide as where the original city of Salisbury was located it didn't give us a clue to what we would find. The tour bus dropped us off on the side of the road and the driver pointed over her shoulder with instructions to walk that way and return here for the next bus into town. Get off we did, crossed the road and walked about 100 yards to a dirt path that went off into the trees. There was a small sign pointing to OLD SARUM and a gate that said, "sheep grazing, keep dogs on their lead." We unlatched the gate and in we went along the dirt path, past the horse and sheep dog sleeping in the meadow and on up the hill to another gate leading us out of the pasture. WE were now at the bottom of a hill that turned out to be the old castle battlement on the far side of a HUGE, DEEP (but dry) moat. Long, long ago the area was settled and a castle was built on the top of this hill. There was a cathedral built next to it and the area was all protected by the hill and the moat and the battlements. Today there are some remains of the walls that you can wander through with markers and drawings showing you what they think it looked like all those hundreds of years past. IT WAS WONDERFUL ! We must have spent 2 hours wandering around. It was cold and very windy up on the hill with an over cast sky that just added to the mood. (We took tons of pictures which I promise to share a few of as soon as we get back to Windsor tomorrow.)
When we returned to the present we wandered back through the sheep meadow to catch the tour bus back into Salisbury where, after a stop at a sidewalk cafe for a soda and piece of cake, we continued to our last stop on the tour, THE SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. We caught up with a walking tour of the cathedral and wandered through with our mouthes hanging open looking at the amazing stained glass windows and HUGE beautiful ceilings. In the cathdral they have one of 5 remaining, ORIGINAL copies of the MAGNA CARTA. Now I don't know much about this document other than what our guide told us but considering it was written in the 1200's and is the basis for all the laws of the country, it was a pretty amazing thing to see.
So much for history and culture. Our adventure ended with a pint at one pub then a walk to another pub that served dinner. Lamb and a second pint and a walk home brought us back to the B&B by 6:30PM. We are done for the night and will probably be asleep by 8 tonight. I bet I dream some interesting dreams tonight. My head is spinning and it is't from the pints of ale.

Day 7 - Rail Trip

Today we road the rails from Windsor to Salisbury, England. It took 4 trains and 2 hours and it was a great trip. And why are we in Salisbury? . . . No, it is not becasue 2 of our children graduated from Salisbury University in Maryland, it is becasue it is the closest town to Stonehenge. This is someplace I have always wanted to visit so we thought we would give K&B & Abby some time to themselves and take a couple of days to tour the country side. The English train system is fantastic. We got off one train, walked across the station and caught our next train within minutes. Luck? Don't know but we didn't wait more than 10 minutes at any point. And the trains are amazing! They look new, they are clean, comfortable, have bathrooms and snack service. A person comes through the cars with a cart like on an airplane, selling sandwhiches, drinks, snacks and pastry. Amazing! I may spend the next few weeks just riding around the country eating and drinking.
Once we arrived at Salisbury Station we walked into town and wandered around trying to get our bearings. Kyle had given us a map and we did fairly well but after stopping at a pub for lunch we headed for the information bureau in the center of town to get pointed in the right direction.(NO, we did not have any beer for lunch so that isn't the reason we needed to get directions!) At the info station we met Simmon, an adorable Englishman who was so kind and helpful in setting us on the right path to the B&B where K&B had made reseervations for us. (They had made this journey with Abby a week or so before we came over so they gave us good pointers and recomended this wonderful place to stay.) After a long walk along the River Avon we arrived at the B&B, checked in, rested and then walked BACK into town. (I cannot believe the amount of walking we are doing but the blisters on my pinky toes are living proof.) We wandered through the town just looking at the people and the shops and then returned to Simmon for a recomendation for a place to eat dinner. He actually remembered us from the afternoon but didn't invite us to dinner at his house as Ger suggested. He did send us to the HAUNCH OF VENISON. A haunted pub with a restaurant on the second floor. WE did take a picture but you will have to wait for us to return to Windsor before I can down load it. The place was GREAT and the food was wonderful. Ger had lamb with yorkshire pudding and I had a venison stew. The atmosphere and the food were terribly English, in a good way. After the pint of beer and the dinner we just couldn't walk another step so we took a taxi back to the B&B where we have crashed for the night.
Tomorrow we will walk back into town to get a tour bus out to Stonehenge and go back in time some 5,000 years. I guess we will have to fill up on a big English breakfast before we leave in case we get lost in the past. Until tomorrow . . . Cherrio

Day 6 with some photos

The first picture is Kyle and Abby in their back yard. We had gone outside after dinner to play a bit when I got this shot. I know it looks like they are at the Queens Palace but it is just the little garden in the back of their house. The garden is filled with lavender that is just starting to bloom and the most magnificant yellow roses that I have ever seen. Many of the houses have rose gardens in their 6 foot front yards. Small spaces are overflowing with the most beautiful roses I have ever seen. It is a pleasure to walk the streets looking at these flower shows.
The second picture is Ger, KYle and Abby standing on the main corner in Windsor with the castle behind them. Windsor is a touristy town but remains quaint and inviting. In this photo we were on our way to the train station to go into London for a ride on the "London Eye", the gigantic ferris wheel that you see in the last photo.
Hopefully I can now include more photos now that I have figured out the process.
Today was a quiet day because we are getting ready for our next adventure to Stonehenge tomorrow. This is a big adventure that entails 4 train changes and a 2 night stay in Salisbury. What are the chances we'll find our way back from this trip?
So today we spent the day doing some laundry and catching up on little things that we have put aside since we got here. Ger is nervous about our adventure but I figure we can't get that lost. We are doing pretty good on our own and I am getting more and more comfortable with our new surroundings. This afternoon we walked over to Abby's school to pick her up and got to meet her teacher, Mrs. Jones, and some of the other moms and kids. We have gotten lots of invites for play dates for when K&B are in the Ukraine so I think we will do fine.
The day today was a mix of rain and sun. Woke up this morning feeling quite chilly and am now sitting here in my tank top and shorts. You need a complete wardrobe to just make it through a day.
Another FYI for you . . . Government healthcare over here is interesting. The night we went to the hospital to check out my shoulder it didn't cost us a penny. No question of insurance or payment. That was fantastic! It was also very speedy. From the time we walked in to the time we left was exactly an hour. That was also great!
BUT . . . They don't have a doctor seeing you. We were seen by a paramedic and there are signs all over telling you that there are no doctors available. You can't go to just any hospital as most of them don't have emergency care. When we saw the "doctor" he asked why we were there and that was the only thing he focused on. He didn't care that my hand was bleeding, my arm was scraped or my hip was bruised. I came in and said "I HURT MY SHOULDER" and that was all they cared about. Didn't take a temperature, blood pressure, ask about meds, NOTHING . . . just the shoulder. So although it is efficient there is a good possibility you could die.

Day 5 - BURP!

It was a lovely day of exploring and eating! Ger and I took our first adventure on our own today and actually made it back in one piece. We walked to the corner and took a bus into Windsor. The first bus that came along was not going to Windsor, the second bus was going to Windsor but we didn't have the exact change so they put us off. After an hour we finally got on a bus that would make change AND take us to Windsor. We had no idea where in Windsor we would end up but I was comfortable enough with the town to figure we really couldn't get too lost. As it was we got off at the last stop which was on a street that we were familiar with. After such an exciting journey we needed to renew our strength so we had a lovely lunch at a French restaurant. From there we went exploring some of the shops and picked up odds and ends along with some post cards and stamps. Next a stop at the phone store for a cell phone that Kyle and Bridget can reach us on should we be off on one of our excursions. (Or a phone for us to call for help when we are lost.) All that shopping really wore us out so we needed to stop for an ice cream cone. It was really, really good ice cream and we will remember where that shop is! (We have to keep up our travel tradition that was started 10 years ago when we went to Ireland with Gerry's sister Ann Marie . . . an ice cream a day keeps the sore feet away.) So far that has worked very well for us. Next stop, the grocery store for some supplies. They sell Coke Zero but not creamer for your coffee. The eggs are not refrigerated, sometimes the milk is. The potato chips are called crisps and they have the most delicious assortment of cheeses. We bought 2 plastic tote bags for 20 pence a piece and off we went, groceries in hand, in search of the bus stop to hopefully return home. No problem with that and before we knew it we were back at Prince Albert Pub. This was the pub that we all had dinner at the night we returned from London. They have the BEST BBQ ribs and chicken that I have ever tasted. (This is quite a compliment coming from Cath & Ger who LOVE ribs!)
Now if you remember, The Prince Albert Pub not only has ribs but they serve that wonderful cider that I told you about the day I fell. How, after a day of traveling and walking, could we not stop for a pint? It was a delicious as I had remembered! So now I have totally stuffed myself for the day with crepes, ice cream, and cider and now have to walk the 1/4 mile home with our groceries. I am trying to convince myself that all the walking is balancing off all the eating and drinking. But I am not so sure that is the case as my pants are getting tighter and we haven't even been here a week. But at least I didn't fall in the street this time.
FYI . . . It stays light here until almost 10 PM and the sun is up by 4:30 AM.

Day 4 - Sunday

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh a cooler, quieter day and a lovely roast for dinner. Last night was a challenge to find a comfortable position to sleep after my flop in the street. A huge bruise on my leg and my right arm is still very sore but I think I am going to live. Ger and I slept in till 9 and then after breakfast with the family we all headed off to church. Thankfully Bridget drove us into town so we didn't have to walk in our Sunday Best. The church, St Edward the confessor, is a lovely old stone church. Not too big but beautiful stained glass windows and great stone statues. We met the priest on our way in and he immediately welcomed us to the "best,(and only)Catholic church in Windsor. He asked where we were from and at the end of the mass he welcomed all the visitors from Florida, Australia and wherever else. It really was quite nice. After church Abby and I spent the day playing while Kyle got to the gym and Bridget got to do some clothes shopping for their trip to the Ukraine on the
20th of this month to get the final paperwork done for the adoption of Roman. Abby tired me out playing princess and queen, (I am the queen because "Queens have wrinkles on their faces, princesses do not"), so that when Kyle came back from the gym I took a nap and left Abby in charge of daddy and grandpa. I needed a hour to just crash and have some uncrowded sleep. (Have I mentioned that Ger and I are sharing a DOUBLE bed? It is tight quarters but we have been so tired that it hasn't mattered.) Princess Abby woke me after a much appreciated hour and we all had a lovely roast chicken for dinner. Dessert tonight was a, ("A" as in ONE), cookie. The cookies are a bit strange, a round cracker like thing with chocolate coating on one side. They are called,. . . (are you ready for this?). . . DIGESTIVES ! Now how appealing is that? They don't taste bad but what a name!
Our First Sunday in England was lovely and quite enjoyable. It was a little cloudy today and quite a bit cooler, thank goodness. I could have stayed in Florida for hot and humid. Tomorrow Kyle leaves for Germany for 3 days, Abby returns to school after her week off and Ger and I may attempt a bus trip into town to check it out on our own. If there is no posting tomorrow night you will know we are lost somewhere in the wilds of Windsor, riding a bus never to be heard from again. Maybe we'll meet the queen.

Day 3 - London and a Fall

Another HOT day here. Who told me to pack warm clothes? We were all up early today, Abby at 6:30, me at 6:45. We're going to take a train into London so I don't want to miss a thing. Kyle drove us into town (no mile and a half walk today. Got to save our strength for walking in London ). We still had to walk about 1/4 mile to the train station but that was O.K. Abby is a trooper . . . she plods along doing a pretty good job of keeping up. An hour later our train arrived in Waterloo station, London. Great ride through the lovely country side and into the station that looks exactly like something out of Harry Potter. Huge glass ceiling and wide open area with hundreds of people rushing through. We walked out of the station, across the street and found ourselves at the base of the London Eye. It is a Huge, Gigantic ferris wheel on the banks of the Thames. Great, glass capsules holding 25 people at a time, slowly rotate up and over the top giving you fantastic views of London, the river, Big Ben, Westminster Abby and Buckingham Palace. We got to see the changing of the guard from way up in the air. What a show. We then walked along the river enjoying all the street performers. Abby got to make a HUGE bubble with the "Bubble Man" and stood in awe watching some acrobats contort themselves into unbelievable shapes. After a nice lunch we took a boat tour on the Thames down to Tower Bridge and back. We learned a few things about the buildings along the river but really have a very difficult time understanding these Englishmen. They don't seem to be able to pronounce the letters "TH" as we do. Rather they pronounce it as an "F" sound. As in,"I frew the ball". But it was a fun ride anyway. We took the train back to Windsor and went to a local pub for dinner. This is where the trouble started. Kyle introduced me to CIDER. WE know cider as the juice from apples. Not in England. Cider is a type of beer, light and fruity and absolutely delicious. (and apparently rather potent). I had 2 pints with dinner and it was quite fine. After dinner Bridget, Abby and I started walking home while the boys paid the bill. Almost home I turned to see where Abby was and fell over my own two feet. I WAS NOT GRACEFUL ! Landed on my right shoulder, cut my arm and my hand and thought I was fine. A half hour later Kyle was taking me to the ER at a local hospital along with Ger. Bottom line, x ray showed no fracture or dislocation but my shoulder is sore. I will be attending mass tomorrow in a sling.
So much for a great day in London.

Day Two

My computer is giving me a hard time so I hope I can get this written without too much cursing.
Day two has been HOT and quiet. How come I packed all those long sleeves when it is near 80 degrees outside? As warm as it was yesterday it is hotter today, but at least we stayed home today. Abby was her usual early bird and up before 6 AM ! This is NO grandchild of mine. Ger and I rolled out at around 9 and once we were able to stand we felt fine. Yesterdays walking did take a bit out of us but we are managing to keep standing. Abby and I spent the entire morning playing "Baby Bird", a favorite pretend game of hers. I am the momma bird and she is my baby. We make a nest of pillows and fight off attacking raccoons and buzzards. This house is perfect for pretending. There are nooks and crannies to hide in and stairs to climb. The gargoyle outside the bedroom window makes a great evil buzzard to hide from.
After lunch we were going to all walk to the "pirate" park but Abby decided she needed a rest. I do think all the walking yesterday tired her out. After all, it almost killed us. Abby and Bridget returned home for a rest and Ger and I set out to check out the neighborhood. The "castle" sits on a huge piece of property with beautiful lawns and giant oak trees surrounding it. There is a large new apartment complex built off to the side and back that you don't even realize is there. To the front of the "castle" there is a car park with an avenue of cone shaped trees in the center. Following the road out of the car park you walk past a school for girls and out onto the main road. Once out there we turned right and followed the sidewalk to the next intersection where we found a few shops. And after that . . . we got lost. Don't ask how . . . we just did! We finally found our way "home" and crashed on the couches in the big, beautiful living room. And here we will stay till Abby wakes up. No more adventures for today. WE need to save up our strength for a trip into London tomorrow.
FYI . . . EVERYTHING in this country is backwards. Not only do they drive on the "wrong" side of the road, the light switches are upside down. To turn the light ON you have to push the switch down, not up. There are NO screens on the windows! You just open the window and hope nothing flies in. The telephones ring funny . . . a very high pitched British "bringggggggggggg". Just weird stuff! OH, and in our guest bathroom we have a bidet in front of the mirror. The sink is across the room by the window so if Ger wants to shave he has to wet the razor in the sink and then turn around and cross the room to see what he is doing. I suppose he could use the bidet to shave in but that seems a bit gross. It's all very strange and quite different!
But we are glad to be here and enjoying our adventure so far. See you tomorrow !

The First 24

Hi there. I'm writing from "ACROSS THE POND". I got thinking that this would be a great way to journal our adventures here in England with grand daughter Abby. BFF Sharon asked if I would be keeping a journal because she wanted to know ALL about England. So here we go Sharon and all else who could possibly give a rat about my trip.
We arrived at Heathrow, outside of London, yesterday about 3PM England time, 9AM Florida time. (Only 3 hours late, thank you Delta Airlines) Our suitcases did arrive on the same plane so at least we had that going for us. Abby and Bridget were there to meet us and off we went on the first great adventure . . . finding our way out of the airport and back to the house, I think we went around at least 20 round-a-bouts before we found the correct road to Windsor. If you think the roads in the US are crazy the British roads are insane. Narrow does not even come close to describing them. And of course there is that driving on the WRONG side of the road thing. Not a problem till you come to a roundabout and naturally start to go to the right. But we made it "home" and got our first view of Castle Lawlor. This place is amazing. (I am in love with the stairs to the second floor and am very tempted to try sliding down the banister.) We had a quiet afternoon playing on the playground next door and after dinner we were sound asleep by 9:30 PM.
Today we WALKED into Windsor! A long, long walk. Once there we took the Windsor double decker tour bus around the castle and into the town of Eton. It is beautiful countryside and the towns are quaint and picturesque. The weather is fantastic . . . high 70's and sunny.
So far we are having wonderful time and enjoying Abby and family. I think they are happy to have us here to bring a little America into their lives. The British are pleasant enough but can't compare to USA Southern hospitality. We did meet a couple of wonderful Scottish ladies yesterday who were on the plane with us. They were returning from "holiday" in the US after visiting Memphis, New Orleans and a few other Southern cities because they love jazz. They were delightful and invited us to come to Scottland to see their beautiful country. Maybe later in our trip we will do just that.
For now we are happy to be here with the family and get our English feet under us.
Don't know what's in store for tomorrow but I'll be sure to include you in our adventures. TA TA for now . . .