International Thanksgiving

The only Thanksgiving decoration I could find here

We shared our Thanksgiving celebration this year with families from four countries: England, Trinidad, Spain, and United States. It was our fourth and final Thanksgiving that we will celebrate in England.

Our friends were anxious to partake of the feast they had heard about and they were not disappointed. The cajun-fried turkey is always a success. Using cornbread mix and mini-marshmallows brought back from America, I was able to make the traditional cornbread dressing and sweet potato casserole. Pumpkin pie is something our guests were anxious to try as they don't associate pumpkin with dessert. To them it is a vegetable. They liked it.

Three years ago it was difficult to find canned pumpkin in the stores here but that is no longer the case. I have since learned that the stores even carry refrigerated rolled-out pie crust, canned evaporated milk, and bottled whip cream. I'm sure they had those ingredients when we first moved here, I just didn't know where to find them in the store or even what to call them. If you ask a store clerk where the "pie crust" is, they have no clue. You have to use the proper term: "shortcrust pastry". They also look at you funny if you ask for green onions, known as "spring onions" here.

Just as on the first Thanksgiving when the Pilgrims and Native Americans learned from each other and celebrated their harvest in a shared feast, we learned a few things from our Thanksgiving guests and they in turn from us. Okay that's a bit of a stretch, but I just can't help indulging my overactive sense of drama so play along with me...

We learned:

• that the English expect "custard" sauce on their apple pie, not whipped cream or ice cream.
• the proper way to prepare and present after-dinner tea using a teapot.
• "Time for Pud-Pud!" means it's dessert time (pudding).

Our guests learned:

• Pumpkin pie is not made from Jack-O-Lantern type pumpkins but from smaller baking pumpkins, or better yet from canned pumpkin.
• Turkeys can be deep-fried in about 45 minutes.
• the joy of one special day to give thanks with family and friends in a traditional feast.

Exciting that the card shops here sell Thanksgiving cards

Hollywood Comes to London

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for all the blessings in my life: friends, family, health.

I am also thankful for the excitement and opportunities that living near London brings.

Last week some friends and I saw an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled "Hollywood Costume".

Appropriately, it was someone in America who told my friend about the exhibition. I'm so glad she did.

Imagine seeing the actual iconic costumes worn in movies such as:

Wizard of Oz

Titanic

Gone With the Wind

Saturday Night Fever

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Pirates of the Caribbean

Harry Potter

Superman

and so many more.

There was the dress Marilyn Monroe wore standing over the subway grate in "The Seven Year Itch".

Marilyn Monroe's "subway dress"

There was Dorothy's blue gingham dress from "The Wizard of Oz".

Dorothy

The actual ruby-red slippers were the grand finale. This was the first time they have left the United States. They were on loan for only a limited time. We got to see the faded real ones before they were replaced by bright red replicas.

Wizard of Oz red slippers with dress in background

Remember Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds"? I loved watching that scary movie with my sisters when I was young. We saw the green suit worn by Tippi Hedren. I liked how the mannequin was posed as if falling backwards from being attacked by birds.

Costume from "The Birds"

The creators of the exhibit did a good job with the presentation and with educating the audience on the important role of costume designers. Hollywood-themed music played in the background. Actors' faces were put with the costume, sometimes a still photo, sometimes a moving video of the face.

Costumes from "The Addams Family"

Do you recognize any of these?

This assortment of characters share a gun theme:

I'm so glad I could experience the magic of Hollywood all the way over here in England.

Autumn Color... For Free!

Painshill Park, Cobham

Today I spent a total of 4 hours driving in the car. Not all at one time, just many trips here and there: taking Lexi to school, picking her up, driving a friend to the hospital with a badly sprained ankle, then back and forth to soccer training. I had plenty of time to add up the hours as I sat in traffic.

In between all that driving, I took advantage of the beautiful sunny Autumn day we had today. I headed to nearby Painshill Park for a nice hike through the colorful trees. This time of year the days can be dark and dreary. On a day when we are blessed with sunshine, it's practically a sin to be inside. The choice of Painshill Park was perfect, lots of color to brighten my mood, hilly paths to get my heart rate up and stress level down, and on top of that, it was free today. It is normally 6 pounds (about $9) to enter, but Wednesdays in November there is no admission fee.

You may wonder why there is a charge to go into a park, but this is a historic 18th century English landscape park. The entrance fee goes towards the restoration of the historical features of the park. Many of the trees and shrubs were sent from Philadelphia between 1738 and 1773. The park was visited by Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. You gotta love the American connection!

The Gothic Temple

Now I'll be quiet and let you enjoy some of the magnificent scenery I was fortunate enough to partake in today (when I wasn't on the road!)

A Year of Milestones

While Skyping our son last night and discussing Lexi's upcoming birthday, we realized that 2012 is a year of milestones for all of us. Ryan turned 21, Lexi is turning 18, and Chris and I are both 50 now.

It's interesting that these markers on the road we call "life" have converged in this year. Lots of changes are getting ready to happen in all our lives. Both kids are now of legal drinking age in the countries they live in. Both kids will graduate from either high school or college at the end of the school year. Both kids can now vote.

This time next year we will all be living different lives in different places. We don't know where we will end up, just that it will be different. Ryan will have a job somewhere with some company. Lexi will be at some school studying something. Chris and I will move back to the USA living somewhere in the Houston area. All of this is God-willing of course. So many questions. Will it be a different job assignment for Chris? What the heck will I do as an empty-nester? About all we know for certain is that change is coming.

It's a good time to stop and take stock of where we are and acknowledge the milestones in our lives as we also look forward to the future and wonder what is in store for all of us.

Box Hill

The Friday morning country hikes just get better each time. Our latest trek was a climb up Box Hill. This was the area where the Olympic Cycling event was held this summer. The Olympic men cyclists rode around the trail 9 times but the women were smart enough to get the job done in just two loops.  :-)

Carefully going down a hill

We were warned that this hike would be a challenge as it had a lot of ups and downs and slippery steps. I was almost scared away especially as Friday morning started out bleak and rainy. But the weather cleared up and I found my courage and decided to go for it. It was just under 6 miles and we completed it in about two hours. That makes it sound like we crawled along at a snail's pace of just 3 miles an hour. It sure seemed like we were going faster than that. We had several breaks to take in the scenery and let people catch up and most importantly to catch our breath!

The leaders of the hikes do a great job in planning out the paths and pre-walking them earlier in the week. They point out interesting sights as we go along which is good. Otherwise I would spend the entire time looking down watching my step.

There was a flock of sheep grazing in this meadow beside us. The sign says "Public Bridleway".

Grazing sheep

I wish my pictures had come out better. I traveled light and didn't bring my camera so these photos were taken on my small cell phone.

Huge yew tree

Apparently, I only snapped pictures on the paths where we were heading downwards. I guess I was too out of breath to consider taking pictures as we climbed upwards.

Coming down slippery steps

Our climbing was rewarded with a magnificent view at the top.

At one junction we were given a choice of an easier path taking a bridge over a creek or the more adventurous path of stepping stones right through the creek. Before I could change my mind I opted for adventure and was so happy I did.

Proud to say I crossed the creek on these step stones

We ended the walk with a delightful lunch at The Running Horses Pub.

Across the street from the pub is this lovely old church which can trace its history to at least the year 1180:

St. Michael's Church, Mickleham 

At lunch I found out that the wife of Mohamed Al-Fayed had been on the hike with us. He is the father of Dodi Al-Fayed who was killed in the car crash with Princess Diana. He used to own Harrods department store in London. He now owns the Fulham Football (soccer) club. My husband is a fan of Fulham and received an Al-Fayed gnome for his birthday. His wife is from Finland and is a former model and Miss Viking pageant winner. I didn't even realize I was so close to a celebrity. Her driver brings her to the walks and then picks her up afterwards. I wonder what she would think if she knew I have a gnome figure of her husband in my house?

Al-Fayed Fulham gnome

And on that strange note I will end this posting....

Exploring England

On a hike

Last week I took a day trip to Dover Castle and then the next day I hiked four miles through the Surrey Hills. After that I came home and napped!

Our Fourth and Final year of living in England has commenced and the clock is counting down the time we have left here. I feel the need to get out and explore before it's time to go home.

The "American Women in Surrey" organization that I am a member of is helping me with the exploring. This year I joined the "English Experience" subgroup as well as the "Country Hikes" group.

English Experience

English Experience alternates lectures on English history with visits to where the history was made. Salisbury was our first trip, it is a cute little historical town with a huge amazing cathedral. Our guide through the town was an older lady that walked so fast we could hardly keep up with her. She had so much she wanted to show us in so little time and she did a great job of it.

Salisbury

Salisbury Cathedral

After learning about the Norman Conquest of 1066, we journeyed to Dover, as in the "White Cliffs of Dover", to tour the castle there. Our guide, Dr. Marc Morris, is a TV presenter on the Discovery History channel. He has hosted a series called Castle. He was able to give us great insight while also making the tour fun. He grew up near Dover and enjoyed exploring the castle grounds as a young boy. Now he gets paid to share his passion with others, what a dream job he has!

Lighthouse and Chapel at Dover Castle

Dover Cliffs

Walking through one of the arches at Dover Castle

View from top of Dover Castle looking across the English Channel to France

Country Hikes

To take a break from educating myself on English history, I joined the "Country Hikes" group to enhance my physical well-being. Each Friday morning a group of about 40 women goes on walks averaging 6 miles. In order to complete the walk in around 2 hours, the leader sets a fast pace. We go through some lovely countryside but with not much time to stop and take photos. I snapped a few quick shots last time on my camera phone.

We walked right past these horses.

As we climbed over a fence one by one, I had a chance to snap this.

Passing by Denbies Vineyards.

I am looking forward to more tours and walks and possibly more material for my blog!

Trees Trees Everywhere

I joined the National Trust of England. It's an organization that preserves historic buildings, gardens, and countryside. My membership lets me enter the locations for free. I joined back in February and then we proceeded to have the rainiest April on record followed by the wettest June. The weather is beautiful now so I decided to get some use out of my membership.

I chose a place nearby called Winkworth Arboretum that had a guided walk scheduled. I thought that would be a good way for me to become familiar with that property. It was a great walk except we had to keep stopping to hear educational stuff about the trees. I like trees and all, in fact I love looking at trees. I just didn't realize I was getting mixed in with tree experts on the walk who are all about tree facts and names and types and blah blah blah. There I was with my bottle of water thinking I might need it for a vigorous one-hour hike in the woods. I had to laugh at myself for having different expectations of the walk. Oh, that's why it's called an Arboretum! It's all about the trees.

I'm sharing the photos that I took labeled with my own very unscientific captions.

Pretty flowering shrub

Cool carved bench

Pretty flowering tree

I think I captured the spirit of a purple ghost in this photo!

The place goes on and on for 100 acres.

Cluster of trees

Someone's clever nature artwork

More trees 

The path we were on

This tree looks like a Christmas tree no one wants due to its sparse branches:

Cool tree, wish I could remember the name.

So why are there so many types of trees here? A tree enthusiast, Dr. Wilfrid Fox, bought the estate in 1937 and it became his retirement project to assemble a large-scale collection of trees and shrubs. Quite an impressive retirement hobby I'd say.

There are even some "National Champion" trees in the arboretum. Trees of the largest girth or height in the country are recorded in "The Tree Register".

As our guide was pointing out different varieties of magnolias, I couldn't help myself and had to tell him that I was from America and I definitely recognized the American Magnolia with the large fragrant white blossom on it. A lady asked if it made me homesick and I have to say it did a little. I should have kept my mouth shut because later the guide asked if I recognized another tree from America and my tree ignorance was shameful.