mid-June in England

On June 21 I flew back from Spain, bringing Harlowe along with me...slowly reassembling the family...Harlowe was eager to see Anna and Michael, so as soon as we could drop some bags at 'our home away from home' in London we then turned around to hop on the bus for Oxford. My sister had generously offered to take care of Anna and Michael while I was fetching Harlowe, and they had a great time playing all weekend with their cousins Sarah and Maria.

Harlowe is quite striking these days, so it's rather fun walking around a city with her for people keep stealing glances (usually good looking young men)- I'm not sure she's even aware. Maybe you can see the man in the reflection in the photo in front of the Oxford bus...

We arrived in Oxford, found my sister and all the children in a park near the River Thames, and Harlowe was promptly attacked from all sides. I was expecting a big hello from Michael and Anna after not seeing them for a week, but I evidently had become absolutely invisible as they ran right past me at full speed, and leapt onto Harlowe, cousins included. It was quite a funny sight to see lanky Harlowe trying to balance one sister, one brother and two cousins, all screaming at once. Harlowe was very tolerant and sweet with them all. After a walk in the nearby meadow, we all enjoyed a beautiful summer's evening meal outside at the local pub. I thoroughly enjoyed one of the last Ploughman's Platters I'm going to have for awhile (yummy chunks of cheddar cheese, crusty bread, pickled chutney, various crunchy vegetables like cucumbers, radishes, onions).

While in Oxford we were able to meet up with the Raff family and share some locally made creamy ice-cream in a grassy square, where ensued a jungle exploration of the tall border plants for their son Jamie and Michael and a game of tag that the older children were drawn into. Cousins from Kent came to visit too, and we had a really great day watching Wimbledon and listening to my 85 year old Uncle Reg's stories of family lore. We also had to take a quick trip to the Eagle and Child pub; Harlowe and Anna wanted to see the place where CS Lewis and Tolkien made up all their stories over a few pints many decades ago.

The following days continued at full tilt as Anna, Harlowe and I traveled into the West End to see 'Les Miserables' (I HAVE to read Hugo's novel now, can't wait to borrow it and start!), we caught up on journals and homework, Harlowe and Anna shopped on Oxford Street for a Homecoming dress (successful mission), we visited the art galleries of the Modern Tate and the Courthauld Institute, we caught 'As You Like It' at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (I couldn't believe how hard Harlowe and Anna laughed as this story unfolded, guess they understand more Elizabethan English than I would give them credit for) and on a day full of laundry and business details, I sent Harlowe back into Central London to explore this glorious city alone. I'm not sure when my love affair with London began, maybe at two with my first taste of Cornish dairy ice-cream?, but it certainly became a sweet thing when I was a teenager and found my way around wandering alleys, streets, parks and bridges. Harlowe found herself meandering down the river on a boat from Tower Hill to the Embankment, through the narrow streets to the National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar Square, through St. James Park and onto Knightsbridge and Harrod's - shoes were a Homecoming mission for this day (no success, yet...). I feel perfectly at ease wandering around London myself, and as the sun does not set till close to 9:30pm I wasn't worried, but very happy, that Harlowe didn't appear at home until after 10. She was glowing from her big day out.

Benjamin was out of school for the weekend and we took full advantage of the sunny weather to take trips to Greenwich Park to see the Prime Meridian and the Maritime Museum on Saturday and traveled up to Cambridge on Sunday. I always forget how incredibly full of history architecture and beauty is Greenwich. The easiest way there is via boat from the Tower of London, getting off at the pier to see the Cutty Sark (a 19th century tea clipper ship) and the Royal Naval College, designed by Christopher Wren and beautifully set on the Thames. Walking up the hill a bit you come to the Royal Maritime Museum and the Queen's House (such a pretty palladian building designed by Inigo Jones) on the left and central Greenwich with its bustling covered market on the right. The maritime museum is so full of fascinating exhibits on all things about shipping (exploring the North-West Passage, development of passenger travel, slave trade, simulations of docking great big ships in Dover Harbour, sea warfare, information on tides, water, currents, on and on) that we knew we'd have to return with Bill the following week. Anna, Harlowe and I shopped in the market while Michelle took Michael and Benjamin to a very funny play about pirates, and we found some great items: cute little (very little) pink plaid skirt, some funky pins, and Harlowe bought a clock for her bedroom made from a Pink Floyd 45rpm record.

We walked through the sprawling Greenwich Park, up the hill to the Royal Observatory (also designed by Wren, as was St. Paul's Cathedral and many of the churches of central London - following the Great Fire in the 1666) to learn about the Prime Meridian. We caught a show by a person dressed in period costume who taught us all about the history of longitude, time, jealous astronomers and navigation. Michael was one of the few children there so was recruited to stand as the Prime Meridian (which actually moved about quite a bit in its early years). Our favorite place of all, though, was a place somehow I've always missed....tucked just behind the Observatory is the Astronomy museum. I had to drag Harlowe and Michael out from the interactive exhibits, back to the sunshiny Saturday, promising them we'd return soon.

We opted for a bus and tube trip home, but the tube at the O2 Stadium station turned out to be shut down, so it was back onto the bus. The thunderstorm which had been growing in the heat all day broke through. It was quite thrilling to sit on the top of the double decker for a very long trip as the rain poured down and the sky flashed in jaggedy shapes. Fortunately, the rain stopped just before we had to hop off for our walk to the house, so it was an absolutely perfect day.

The next day, though, was even more perfect, if that could be possible. We all slept in a bit, tired from all the walking the day before, and just before lunch took off for Cambridge; it's about an hour's drive. First stop at Grantchester Orchard (early 20th century haunt of the Bloomsbury Group of Virginia Woolfe and friend/poet Rupert Brooke). This is a tea house under the apple trees next the River Cam, it could not be more quintessentially English. We had brought a picnic, and ordered tea and scones to complement it. Bliss, simply bliss. We sat, chatted, and rested in the green sling back chairs, and Michael and Benjamin played secret agent amongst the caves of trees surrounding the orchard. Finally, we sighed and lifted ourselves from our relaxed state to drive across town to the Zeitlyn's house, where we sat again for more tea and chatting in their pretty and cozy garden. Everybody had somebody to entertain them: Benjamin was surrounded by big boys Michael and William, Isobel went off with Anna to the local fair that had come to Midsummer Common (one of the many parks beside the river), Harlowe remembered the way over to her childhood friend's Holly's house, and Michelle, Spike, Tory and I spent the afternoon sipping tea and dealing with the drama of the two little birds who had fallen out of their nest (the mother bird eventually found them and we think it all ended well). The day continued to get even better as I joined Harlowe at her friend's house to spend time with my friends (Holly's parents) Rob and Anne, who had freshly made Pimms and strawberries, cream and merengues ready to enjoy. Rob and Anne were my tennis buddies while we lived in Cambridge so we talked all about Wimbledon, while also catching up on parenting angst and joy - their eldest daugther Isobel just finished her first year at University, our first friends to have made this parenting leap!

Leaving Harlowe to have dinner with Holly, I took a quiet, contemplative walk through my favorite Cambridge park, Alexandra Gardens, peaceful with its surrounding trees. After a delicious dinner with the Zeitlyns, again in the garden because there is nothing as pleasant as summer evenings in England, we ate a fair-supplied cotton candy and donut dessert, and headed home to fall into bed. Tomorrow morning Bill would arrive!!