England #2

Hello again from England! We arrived back to London about two weeks ago and have been busy visiting friends, relatives and wonderful places. The very first things we did, though, were some long showers, a few loads of laundry (thank you Ann!) and some shopping in a grocery store where could actually read what we were buying to eat. After taking care of some banking tasks due to the stolen wallet in Greece, we were off on the train on rainy Good Friday to south Devon. We had been looking forward to our visit at Sharpham Barton with good friends the Zeitlyns for months; we knew it would be an absolute highlight of our 4 1/2 months abroad - and our six days there did not disappoint.

Rain was expected throughout the Easter weekend, but while the wind howled and the clouds poured all over the rest of England we had glorious sunshine and the white, puffy sort of cloud everyday till the last. You cannot really imagine the beauty of the place we had the gift of staying in: the greeness of the hills, whose steep ups and downs as far as you can see gave us the vocabulary lesson of the day for the word 'undulating' - Anna and Michael will never forget that definition now! There is the River Dart peaking in and out of those hills (where Dartmouth gets its name, after the town in Devon at the end of the river), the paths to walk across the fields to village and market town, the woods, the spring daffodils, primroses, wild garlic, the lambs, the calves, just so, so amazing each day. The best part of all, though, was the company of the Zeitlyns; their three children are such good friends with ours. Anna and Michael had a ball playing badminton and croquet on the lawn, getting milk from the farm up the lane, riding bikes to the local town of Totnes, hunting for Easter eggs, playing music, taking walks. On and on the fun they had out in the open air was wonderful to watch. And I greatly enjoyed talking and playing with dear friends Spike and Tory, and with Tory's extended family.

The house at Sharpham is old and pretty: there is a terrace out front to enjoy the view while having tea in the afternoon, a fire burning in the BIG kitchen fireplace, the kettle always boiling, interesting old magazines and books to read, delicious fresh food to cook and eat together, and the MOST comfortable big bed (with a hot water bottle each night!) to sleep in from which I awoke with an amazing view, especially on Easter morning (see the sunrise over the hills in the photo). When we weren't walking across the hills (and spying the sheep shearing van that serves the local farmers - funny that 'Sam' had left no phone # to call, guess everyone knows him? See the photo!), we were just hanging out doing lots of relaxing into what we like to call 'Devon Time' Time for breakfast, time for a walk, time for Elevenses, time for lunch, time for another walk,, time for afternoon tea, etc. etc. Two especially fun things while in Devon were going for a hike on Dartmoor and finding Anna a sweet little traveling celtic harp; it will fit on the plane to bring home!



















We returned a week ago Wednesday during a thunderstorm, very loud and exciting and wet, but the skies were sunny by the time we reached London: such is the incredibly changeable English weather. We have had a couple days exploring London: the Imperial War Museum with its great displays of the WWI trenches (which we especially liked after being in real ones at Gallipoli), the Blitz and too many tanks to count; the Tate Modern art museum; The London Dungeon, Madame Taussaud's, and enjoyed a sunny picnic hanging out in Green Park. Michael was a bit jealous of Anna's harp and was missing his music so we've picked him up a small guitar. That purchase was rather exciting because as we were checking out all the guitars in Tin Pan Alley (the music and recording street off Tottenham Court Road), a film crew was setting up to film that night's scenes of the new Harry Potter movie in the small street and alley way outside. The cast wasn't going to show up for hours - they film from midnight till 5 am! but we took a good look all around to see if we can recognize the buildings in the movie next summer.

We've very much enjoyed just hanging out in Upminster, the eastern suburb of London where we're staying with our friends Michelle and Benjamin. The local playground, library and tea shop have become favorites. We even found the local pie and mash shop! In a pie and mash shop there are just four things on the menu: pie (meat), mash (potato), jellied eels, liquor sauce (kind of a thick, flour-y parsley mixture), and of course, 'afters' - the dessert of the day. We weren't brave enough to try to the eels, but Anna and Michael found the liquor sauce rather interesting. Anna's favorite cake at the tea shop has been Victoria Sponge (after Queen Victoria, popular dessert during her reign?), so she decided to make one herself the other day. And we all agreed it was the best one we've had so far! She's so clever: downloaded an English recipe, figured out how to use the stove and all the metric measurements, even put in fresh strawberries! Michael and a local bobby obliged me by posing for a photo; it's so fun to see the bobbies out on their beat, and I don't think they get many Americans around here asking for their photo!


We've also had time with cousins in Kent, which I always love because it's nice to see the generations of our family reconnecting across the years and miles; I so much hope that our English-American cousins continue to enjoy spending time together. We had four generations together on Sunday. My cousin Marjorie's grandchildren, Jasmine and Olivia, are exactly the same age as Anna and Michael so they had loads of fun learning games that Marjorie used to play with two balls against the wall, and looking at the latest summer fashions with Jasmine's mum, Sam, all while Chelsea played in the background.... And, of course, we ate a delicious Sunday roast dinner with roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding! I don't understand the big complaints about English food, I love it and ALWAYS go home gaining tons of weight, yum, yum!