Echoes of a Dream

It's (nearly) all over ..................

Yep, it's over - well nearly - the children don't go back to school 'till next Monday but in effect summer hols are over aren't they? We've had our trip-of-all-trips to America and been to Wales for a week and now it's a week of going to the Dentist, getting haircuts, buying stationery and new shoes. Boo hooo hoooo.

We had a great week in Wales with my sister and family and the house we rented was perfect (for once). There were two sitting rooms - one for the six children and one for us adults and a games room in the garage that had table tennis and pool in it. The garden was huge so many games of cricket were played too. We had a glimpse of the sea from the garden but if you walked along the road you saw this:

and if you crossed the main road and walked down to the beach you saw this:

that's Harlech beach. Beautiful isn't it? It never got very busy and even if there had been a lot of people about I don't think it would ever get full. There are some pics of Harlech here courtesey of Flickr.

We had some days on the beach and the brave swam and then trembled in the chilly wind afterwards. One day we went on a steam railway:

another day we walked in the hills - that's after going down the wrong road and the boys hopping out about twelve times to open and close gates. We went to Portmeirion one morning which is an amazing place:

 

More pics here. Another time we went to Shell Island on Rebecca's recommendation and it is indeed a nice place with lovely sand dunes, a harbour and a beach. It's not really an island but does get cut off at high tide I believe.

In the evenings we adults sat and chatted and watched a few films like the old Belles of St Trinians with Alistair Simm; Shadowlands which made me weep into my knitting and an old 60's film called The Leather Boys. Yes, I did say knitting and you'll laugh to hear that I took two projects with me one which was a bit of a disaster and the other which was OK but not what I'd had in mind to knit.

You see I'd hastily grabbed the wool that Kristin had given me and some other balls from my stash and decided to crochet the Ripple Stitch blanket that I'd seen at Georgia's. Amber read the pattern for me and got me started but at some point I started making mistakes at the edge which meant that my dips and peaks didn't lie flat and whole thing was bumpy:

So I gave up and cast on to make a small cotton hand-towel for the kitchen. However, the pattern that I had printed was not the same as the one in the picture so I had to unravel that and determined not to let my hands sit idle during the films I cast on as for the King Charles Brocade dishcloth hoping that my wool wouldn't run out before it was long enough:

I think that thought might be in vain as I'm nearly at the end of my ball. Might have to ask Jodi to try and get me another ball from Weaver's sometime or else keep it as a dishcloth.

Sadly, the last day came all to soon and for some crazy reason we decided to drive back across country which in the end took all day rather than the four hours it had taken on the first day. Still it meant that we stopped off at Colinette and I bought some wool (from the sale section) for Amber and Rohan:

there wasn't enough of the turquoise for Amber so she went for the green and Rohan opted for the former. However, he's having second thoughts now about how bright it is (although one of the sales ladies was gushing about how it suited him so much with his colouring).

Then we stopped briefly in Montgomery, far too briefly. What a find. The town has a beautiful market square, nice buildings and an amazing view if you climb up to the castle (we didn't as we were in a hurry). Sorry I didn't take any pics but if you look on Flickr you'll see what it's like or click here.

That was the last of Wales and we passed into Shropshire where we saw the nicest views and the prettiest houses before we finally arrived in Ludlow just in time for tea:

Of course, it had to be a cream tea - how else were we going to bribe the children to sit in the car for eight hours?  More pics of Ludlow here.

We finally reached home around 6 o'clock and hastily made supper for ten. The children who had got on so well all week decided to have a huge row that night leaving Rohan and his girl cousin in tears, the older two sulking and being told to apologise by their parents to no avail. We finally locked them in their bedrooms at nine and managed to have another cosy evening.

After a quick visit to the local farmer's market next morning and a speedy lunch it was the moment I'd been dreading all week - saying goodbye to my sister. We always end up in tears every time and wish with all our might that we could repeat those years that we lived near each other in London and saw each other all the time.

So hols and fun times with family are over. I've done four machine loads of washing and hoovered half of the dirty house. I need to go to the supermarket and stock up, nag the children to finish their scrapbooks and get ready for school - welcome back to the real world.

PS I hope those links to Flickr work. If not, go to my Flickr page and type in the various place names into the search bar. There are some great pics of Montgomery, Ludlow, Portmeirion and Harlech, taken by many people, to see.

The Blog Tour - final part

For this last bit of our trip we were staying with Wylie in Long Island. She and I had hit it off as soon as we exchanged our first emails and when I announced that we coming over to America Wylie had invited us to stay with her. Oh my - what a lovely place Long Island is. The drive from the ferry to her house had us open mouthed and oohing and aahing at every turn.

Wylie's house was equally lovely and she had made our rooms so inviting - the boys had story tapes next to their beds; Amber had a copy of Adorn and a book called Knitting for Peace; Tom had the Wall Street Journal and I had a Martha Stewart magazine next to my bed. We arrived, dived in the shower and drank copious amounts of cold drinks. Now Wylie did say that she hoped that the highlight of Raj's visit wasn't going to be the fridge/freezer that dispensed ice cubes because he was rather taken with it. Wylie, I'm pleased to say that although he loved it and used it often he didn't mention it until yesterday in the car and talked more of other things that we'd all done together.

On Thursday morning we dropped the car off at Budget and took the train to Penn Station whereupon we decided to split up. Tom took the boys to see the Statute of Liberty and Amber and I headed off with my list off fabric/trims/buttons shops.

She and I didn't get past 39th St that afternoon because we went to M&J Trimming:

Tinsel Trading. Lou-Lou's. Macy's and Lord And Taylor - the latter being for the toilets really. Then we found Daytona Trim which was much cheaper than M&J but didn't have the range. After that I rested my feet at Sephora whilst Amber went mad in there trying to decide which shade of eye pencil to buy. Then it was off to Grayline Linen which I had first heard about from Steph:

I have to tell you if you are ever in the area do get down there because their range is wonderful and the prices are fantastic. I did have to limit myself to just a few yards though as our suitcases were heaving by now:

Having ticked off everything on my list now I just had Purl Soho to visit but I was meeting Tom back at Penn at 6pm and it was now 5 o'clock. Do you remember that I had a got myself a mobile phone just for this purpose - to contact each other when we split up? Well guess what - the phone conked out or rather I thought it had conked out but really it had read 'unregistered sim' in Vermont when it meant 'no signal'. I took unregistered sim to mean that the phone didn't work so I didn't use it again and let the charge go. Boy was I livid when I got back and called Orange and they explained what had happened. Anyway, to cut a long story short I tried to call Tom from a call box and through the operator, who was going to charge me $46 and I just couldn't get through to him. So Purl was left till the next day.

Meanwhile we met up and found a great little Japanese cafe called Omsbi (on 156 East 45th St) that had been recommended by my ex boss where we ate Japanese rice balls, miso soup and hijiki (seaweed). Yum. Then we walked over to the Rockefeller Centre and had a hot drink in Dean and Delucca - very disappointing that place and then it was off to 76th St to stay at a friend's that night.

Next day we woke up to torrential rain and we spent most of the day ducking it. A few hours in Barnes and Noble and these purchases:

an hour or so in M&M World. I couldn't believe I was in there but the children loved it:

Then we got a cab to Soho and ate at Silver Spurs which is excellent and went to Kate's Paperie which was OK and then back to Kinokuniya which was a huge disappointment. I used to shop there in Tokyo and I came over to spy on them about 15 years ago when I worked in a Japanese bookshop in London. I have to say that their selection of craft books was terrible. There were lots of books there but nothing new or inspiring and none of the more popular ones either.

After that, wet and tired we decided to get back to the safe haven of Wylie's house. It was when I was sitting on the train that I remembered that I hadn't gone to Purl and I was so cross and disappointed. I had planned to get my sister the Barcelona skirt pattern and some fabric, some bits for a couple of bloggers over here and some fabric for myself of course. Grrrr.  I was mad cos I could have had a bigger splurge at Valley Fabrics. Oh well, never mind there is always mail order I suppose.

On the train back an older lady got talking to Tom and the boys and asked him what the English thought of George Bush. He looked a bit sheepish and said do you really want to know at which point I noticed a couple of men put down their papers and prick up their ears. Ooops be careful Tom I thought but he was very diplomatic thank goodness.

That night we went out for a most delicious Japanese meal where at first glance it looked as if we'd ordered way too much but the greedy Brits managed to finish most of it off. Next day Wylie and Matt took us to a couple of yard sales which were such fun. Tom went mad and bought a suit, a jacket, some shirts AND a little suitcase to take them all home in!

Oh I wish this day had gone on and on as there was so much to do and see. After the sales Matt took us to eat egg sandwiches which were yummy:

what a delicious combination of bacon and eggs. Then it was back to their house briefly before we went to Sue's for a chat and a swim in her pool. The boys and Tom swam and the girls chatted. It was so nice meeting Sue who's from Texas and we had lots to talk about as you can imagine. The boys had to be dragged out of the pool two hours later as they were having such fun. 

I had a quick trip to the supermarket with Matt to buy some bits and bobs to take home - the ingredients for s'mores, ghiardelli chocolate chips and some kool aid too and umpteen packets of Junior Mints which Amber is crazy about. Back home to pack it all up or rather to jam everything in the suitcases and then the evening was finished with a lovely barbecue. Oh Wylie, I wish we'd all had another day together at least, there was so much more to do and see and talk about.

We tumbled into bed around midnight that night as we were getting up at 4.30am. Wylie had borrowed her boss' car and they drove us to the airport at that crazy hour in the morning. So kind........ thank you so much Wylie and Matt it was lovely staying with you. We enjoyed your company so much and you really spoiled us.

So that was it - the trip in a nutshell. You can see why I was so sad on the plane back and why I found it hard to settle back for ages. We really did have the trip of a lifetime and we will all be talking about it for many years I reckon. The hardest thing for me was getting to know everyone and then saying goodbye. I made such lovely friends and I wish I could see you all again soon.

We loved America and the Americans we met - everyone was so friendly to us even the man on the street. We loved the sense of space too and nearly empty motorways. We loved the clapboard houses and the water everywhere that you could just dip into to cool off. I loved the choice and am very envious of what is available to crafters out there and the prices too. We definately plan to go back sometime. Meanwhile, we're making plans in our heads of where we'll take all our friends when they come and visit us next year.

Before I go here are some pics of me and some of my friends. I figure after sticking with me for a year you ought to really see what I look like! 

 

From top left: me and Jodi, me, Kristin and Julia, me and Sarah and finally me and Wylie. Apologies to the other ladies as some of the pics were just too blurred to put up.

..........................................................................

A footnote to say goodbye for a week as we're off to Wales with my sister. Pretty timely this trip because our garden is like this at the moment:

We're having it levelled, a porch built (that's an English porch) and the stable in the background done up before it falls down. More on all that when I get back ...................

The Blog Tour - part 3

So where were we on that Sunday morning? Ah yes, wondering where to go next - Boston, back to Ashfield or The Berkshires even? - when the phone rang and someone answered our prayers. It was Kristin sounding really pleased that she hadn't missed us as she'd just got back the night before from New Jersey. Can you come and stay she asked? I nearly fell out of my seat. When Kristin and I had spoken about this trip we realised that we probably wouldn't get to meet as she would be away when we passed by her place and it was only because this friend in Boston couldn't have us that we were now free.You know I've spent this whole trip saying how blessed we were and it's things like this that made me say it.

Anyway, I did not need asking twice so it was off in the car and back down Tom's favourite motorway:

On route we stopped off in Grafton (what a pretty place):

and somewhere near there we stopped on the side of the road and bought lemonade and brownies off two lovely girls. We told them we'd come all the way from England for their treats and they looked suitably impressed:

Then it was another quick dip in a river somewhere (near Newfane, I think):

before arriving at Kristin's.

Oh Joy. What a beautiful house she has - the downstairs rooms are painted in soft leafy greens:

piled high with books, decorated with beautiful textiles, rich coloured cushions here and there, molas and paintings decorate some of the walls, other walls are painted like so:

Talk about eye candy. I just drifted from one room to another with my mouth wide open. It's such a lovely house in itself but the internal decoration really is quite stunning. If you want to see more there is a link to a magazine article here. Just scroll down till you get to Country Homes.

That night we had a barbeque, ate some more s'mores and all the children played board games till late whilst the adults chatted. The next day - guess what - we took Kristin and Julia to Elmers for brunch but we were too late - they'd finished serving and cleared up the kitchen. So we went over to the pizza place instead which was actually really nice. After that it was a visit to Historic Deerfield:

and a tour through one of the lovely houses which my children patiently bore but Julia loved and then back to Kristin's where the boys helped her husband to herd sheep that had gotten astray. They had a great time - my boys that is - and Rohan has gone back to his original dream of wanting to be a farmer. He got sidetracked by wanting to be a cricketer and then a rugby player in between.

Now next morning we were supposed to get up early and go to Boston but the children woke up asking if they could please go to Elmers and then to the glacial potholes before we left. So Kristin and I managed a bit of extra time together thankfully. I tell you I should have packed the others off and spent a day with K as we had so much to talk about and I wanted to see her work and her studio. As it was I managed to look through the books she's written and see some of her projects close-up. She is so talented and such an inspiring person too. I feel so lucky that I finally got to meet you Kristin and to stay with you too.

Look what she gave me as I left. A signed copy of:

and some balls of her lovely wool which is as soft as can be (it's a wool/mohair/alpaca blend). She let me pick what I wanted and I tell you it's so lovely I could have taken a ball of each colour but I didn't want to appear greedy:

So after a snatched hour to ourselves we went back to Elmers - "Hi it's us again" - and had a great brunch and a lovely chat with the owner who is from New Orleans. I didn't catch her name but I just want to say if you're reading, 'please come to England and open up an Elmers near us'. My children will love you forever and do all the advertising for you ....... and get pretty huge too, I suppose.

Well after a quick swim we really did have to leave for Boston and we did it with tears in our eyes. Thanks Kristin, Mark and Julia for being such wonderful hosts - can we come back next year please?

Three hours later we were in Boston where we got to stay in our first hotel. It really made us appreciate how amazing our trip was that we only did it once. That afternoon/evening we walked around Boston and then met Brenda and her family for supper. Brenda and I have been e-mailing each other for a while and I was so pleased that we were able to meet up. Sadly, the evening was far too short but we were well entertained by Jason, Brenda's other half who is a real character. The boys loved him as they did the two little boys - Jack and Nash. We all had a cuddle with Nash who is just six months old. To prolong the evening we went to Ben and Jerry's down the road but it really was time to go back to the hotel as we were all wilting by now. A sad goodbye was said and we went back saying what a lovely family you have Brenda and thanks so much for supper and for the lovely gifts you gave us too. We just wish we could have spent some more time together - you and I had so much to talk about.

Next morning we went to Cambridge and had another American brunch at Zoe's before we sped off down the motorway to Bridgeport to get the ferry to Long Island. In retrospect we should have spent the morning in Boston as Cambridge was far too busy and touristy but never mind.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that the fourth and final part will be coming up soon and then we can resume normal broadcast - as they used to say on the telly. Thanks so much for reading and for being interested in our trip. I wanted to share it with you to show you just how amazing this blogging community really is and also to pay tribute to all our lovely hosts and to say thank you to my wonderful (new) friends.

The Blog Tour - part 2

I'm sorry I haven't been updating as often as I would have liked but we've had cousins staying - or rather I had cousins staying because Tom was back in London. What with the awful weather and all, I seemed to do nothing but wash clothes, chuck children in the bath and feed them. By the time my sister arrived on Thursday I was knackered and still feeling unsettled being back. What a weird week. Anyway, on to part two of our fabulous trip:

After a whistle-stop tour of Target and Old Navy in Holyoak Mall we arrived in Northampton where I was meeting Lee. We were so hot and bothered by the time we got there that we made straight for Herrell's and their superb ice-creams. Tom took the children for a look around the town while I went in search of a lady with a long plait and crazy socks. She in turn was looking for me with a pink top and mauve culottes and somehow we found each other .

Lee took me to Valley Fabrics, which is such a lovely shop. There was a great choice of fabric and I was only tempted to buy a little (huge mistake in retrospect) as I thought I would be going to Purl Soho the week after. The ladies in Valley were lovely and very friendly. Everyone was intrigued to hear about how we were making our way across New England, staying with people met through my blog.

then we went to Webs, where I'm afraid I walked around like a child in a sweet shop. I was so overwhelmed with all the choice that I couldn't choose anything. What a great shop though - if you live in the vicinity of either of these shops you're very lucky. There was a huge range of wool, needles, spinning supplies and books. I really could have spent ALL day in there.

Now here's a bit of 'random act of kindness' for you. As we were chatting outside Webbs, Lee showed me her Sat Nav or GPS and how to use it and then out of the blue asked if I wanted to borrow it. We were complete strangers as we had only started leaving comments on each others blogs a few weeks ago. How incredibly kind and trusting is that? Tom and I couldn't believe it. Thank you so much Lee and thanks to your husband too - it was really useful and we're so touched by your kindness.

So GPS jabbering away to us, we headed off to Shelburne Falls to find Tonya who we were staying with that night. First it took us off the beaten track onto a private road that said CLOSED and deeper and deeper into an increasingly spooky forest. Then when we were told we'd got to our destination it looked remarkably like the middle of nowhere (although we were only a few hundred yards away actuallly). So we pulled up outside another house and I went for help, opening the screen door and calling out in my best British accent:

"Hello, I wonder if you could help me please, we're lost"

"I'm sorry but I haven't got any clothes on" said a reedy voice from inside.

"Oh! It's just that we're lost and we're trying to find number ... on this road".

"You can come in but I haven't got any clothes on," added the ancient voice, which became half a wizened face peering at me from around a corner.

She looked worryingly like Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

"Oh hello" I said. "I'm so sorry to trouble you but we're lost and we need to find ......."

"I haven't lived here long" she said "I used to be a Professor at Amherst. Youshould ask Marion so-and-so down the road - she knows everyone".

"OK. Thank you so much and I'm so sorry to have troubled you," I gabbled.

"It's alright. I'm sorry I haven't got any clothes on. I got hot and took off my outer garments....." - at which point I ran.

It was so surreal and so funny .........

I did, however, finally meet Tonya and her beautiful daughter Zoe (we got there in the end). Tonya and I discovered that we had a lot in common being raised my immigrant parents in England although she's miles younger than me. That night we all sat in her garden and chatted and the next day Tonya took us to the best place for brunch in New England - the children are still talking about Elmers in Ashfield:

Pancakes, waffles, home fries, eggs, sausages and lovely hot chocolate. This is where we discovered the "American Portion". Diet, what diet? I didn't even get to swim it off in Ashfield lake, unlike Tom and the children, but I did have a lovely chat on the beach with Tonya. How civilised, having a lake in your town to swim in. Ashfield is the most beautiful little town. Elmers is worth a stop too not only for the food but for the gifts and things they sell in the back but I think you have to be a resident to swim in the lake I'm afraid. Don't miss the ironmongers or hardware store either. It's great as is the pizza place next door.

Next stop a quick dip in the glacial potholes at Shelburne Falls to cool down again:

and then it was off to Vermont to spend the evening with Sarah and Nelson before they dashed off to PEI the next morning. It was so lovely to arrive and slump in their gorgeous home - it was still very hot at this point, perhaps about 30C, and we certainly weren't used to it:

Sarah and Nelson's house is truly stunning. They built and designed it themselves following the guidelines in a book called something like the Not So Big House or some such. I think the idea is that every room in the house should be used every day, a kind of antidote to the McMansion. It was lovely. I particularly liked the three sided bookcase where the fireplace is the fourth side. It's all open plan downstairs with an enclosed verandah (porch as I learned to call it) where we sat and ate as dusk fell. We all discovered that we had masses in common as we are both Waldorf families and I was eager to hear about Sarah's job as an Historian. Tom grilled poor Nelson about the house and he got very excited by the cellar - particularly the plumbing down there. The children all played Skip-Bo which was new to us and I discovered that Helen, aged 11 makes lovely earrings. I rather greedily snapped up about six pairs - some for Amber and some for me and we've been wearing them off and on since. Thanks so much Helen - I really think you ought to sell some at the school fair this year.

The evening ended far too soon and we naughtily tried to persuade Sarah and Nelson to not rush off in the morning so that we could spend more time together. I know they were tempted but they had reservations and a long drive so they got off at 9, but not before giving us a delicious breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Then that was it we waved them off and went back inside their house which felt decidedly odd I can tell you. Another act of faith and trust though to let us stay on in their house for which we were so grateful. It was just nice to stop, relax, get some washing done and to slow down a bit.

So that day we visited Woodstock which is such a pretty town and then onto Killington. We were hoping to take in a Sugar House on the way back but had left it too late so we went and ate out instead. On Saturday we went to the excellent Norwich Farmer's Market:

What a great market with such wonderful produce for sale. There were fruits and vegetables, maple syrup, pottery, wool and delicious pastries by these two people:

Again well worth a visit if you're ever up there. Then the rest of the day we visited Queechee Gorge, ate at the Farmer's Diner:

and then we went back down to New Hampshire to Long Ridge Farm where I was to meet Nancy Zellor as I wanted to buy some Earthues plant dyes from her. Sadly, another hurried visit but we managed a quick chat and I bought some dyes before we went for another swim at Westmoreland. I'm hoping to get some colours like these in the future with the dyes:

Then Sunday morning came all to soon and we were suddenly in a dilemna as to what to do as our friend in Boston couldn't put us up that night. We had three days before going down to Long Island and we decided that we didn't want to spend them in a hotel in a city. I voted to go back to western Massachusetts as we'd come through it too quickly but where to stay and which bit to go to .......... then the phone rang and I tell you someone heard my prayers. Part three next time ...............

The Blog Tour - part 1

It really is time to pull myself together you know. I've been back for three days and I've been moping around the whole time. I'm finding it really hard to settle back into a routine and who wouldn't if they'd had the holiday that we had. Eighteen days of sun, fun, no cooking, great company and lots of cheap shopping. So sit back with me whilst it pours with rain outside and see what we did and where.

I think it was Georgia's husband that called our trip 'The Blog Tour' so here's part one:

We spent the first four days in Pennsylvania with Jodi and her family. From the moment we met at Trenton Station in New Jersey to take the long drive to their house we all hit it off so well. It put my niggly feelings of 'what if they don't like us' firmly away as we wittered away for nearly two hours. Jodi and Mike knew exactly what everyone wanted to do and see and had planned everything beautifully. On the first morning the children played badminton and paddled in the pool with Bron who is eleven and was very happy to share her playthings with the children:

Then we went off for a spot of local shopping. Clothes at American Eagle for Tom and Amber, baseball hats and Converses for the boys and craft shopping for me at AC Moore's and Jo-Ann's. I couldn't resist getting scrapbooking stuff for the children and card making making things for myself:

I must say we all went a bit crazy seeing the prices as everything was so cheap for us and that theme continued the whole way around New England too. That night Jodi and Mike took us to a Diner as we really wanted to see what one was like. Well, they picked a great one called Ruby's which was so retro inside. That was our first introduction to American portions and I have to say that we were fit to burst afterwards:

We had a great waitress with a really loud voice and strong accent. We loved her voice so much that we recorded it for posterity on my camera - she must have thought we were crazy.

The next day we went to a baseball game to see the Wilmington Blue Rocks and the boys, thanks to Jodi, got invited on to the pitch to take part in a big shoe race:

They were so thrilled especially when the customer services chap gave them signed baseballs and other goodies when he realised we were from England. Before the game we had a 'tailgate picnic' and ate Philadelphia Cheese Steaks and Hoogies (sp?). Jodi told Raj not to eat the cheese steaks outside of Philadelphia as they wouldn't be as good and that he should laugh at them if he saw them on a menu elsewhere. Well, Jodi I'm pleased to tell you that Raj saw some on a menu on a street stall in NYC and he went up to the picture and said 'look it's a Philly Cheese Steak' and he proceeded to hold his stomach and laugh! That boy.

On Sunday we went into Philadelphia briefly to visit Reading Terminal which makes our Covent Garden look boring and commercial I can tell you. What a wonderful place with such lovely stalls - my fave one has to be this one:

where they sold the most delicious looking cakes and biscuits:

That night Jodi and Mike had a barbecue in their garden for us where we ate the best corn and shrimps and lamb cooked by their son Alex. Jodi had made some delicious Gazpacho with tomatoes from her garden too. They had also invited my friend Sue and her family who happened to live about twenty minutes away. We had a great evening all of us chatting and drinking Pimms that we had taken over for a present. We also got to try S'mors which I have never had before and although they are a tad sweet we loved them. No wonder I've put on about half a stone! However, I did have to bring back the ingredients so that we could initiate our friends and family this summer:

By now it was Sunday night and I was very conscious that our time together was coming to an end. My three were so happy the whole time playing with Bron, Joy and Alex and it's a testament to how lovely Jodi's children are that the older two who are in their early twenties played and chatted and laughed with them all day long for four days. The adults sat up far too late in the evenings chatting and I had to drag myself to bed most nights.

Monday was our last day and Mike had hired a bigger car to take us all to Lancaster County and what an interesting place that was. On the way we stopped off at this amazing place chock full of antiques and old things at very reasonable prizes:

We looked around the Amish Village, visited the lovely Country Store and a couple of other places and most of all saw some of the Amish people themselves. It was a very intriguing place:

I couldn't resist these for presents for the folks back home:

On the way home we stopped at a shop called Weavers where I couldn't reisist a few bundles of fabric at 79 cents each:

All too soon it was Tuesday morning and the children were begging to stay an extra day. Jodi and Mike, made us feel so welcome and it was really hard to leave them I can tell you.

I can't finish their story without telling you about one of the kindest deeds that I know of. On Friday Amber purchased some clothes from American Eagle and we spent about $80. Somehow the bag got left somewhere in some shop by one of us and when we got back to Jodi's it was missing. Alex, her son spent a long time on the phone calling around shops we had visited to see if they had it but it was nowhere. Tom and I decided that we wouldn't let it ruin our holiday and that it could have and would have happened in England too.

Well, listen to this. When we came back from the baseball on Saturday Alex handed Amber a bag with all the clothes in that she'd bought. He had gone shopping with his girlfriend and REPLACED everything. He didn't want her to have a bad experience in his country. Boy was I on the verge of tears when he handed her the bag and I'm even tearful now. This is a young man that is working his way through College and can't have pots of money. Thank you so much Alex - at the risk of embarrassing you I have to say you are a great guy.

See what I mean when I say that I have learned so much about human kindness and generosity. The whole family were such an example to us all. It's funny isn't it that five months ago we didn't even know each other.

Well, sad as it was leaving Pennsylvania we got into our hired Dodge Charger and took to the road to drive to Connecticut to Georgia's which was our next stop. This is the house that they rent and boy have I coveted it since I first saw it on her blog:

I was so excited about meeting Georgia as we had written to each other a lot and seemed to be on the same wave length. The boys too were keen to meet her boys and play a spot of cricket:

Well, they played more than cricket that day. There was kayaking, talking about bird-watching which Remi and Rohan realised they had in common and a fantastic Aussie barbecue too thanks to Matt, Georgia's other half. After we'd got the children off to bed the chaps drank beer and watched baseball on THE biggest telly I've ever seen whilst Georgia and I sat and chatted and she slowly revealed all the things she makes. My goodness that woman is a dark horse - she makes the most beautiful cards which I just had to buy, handmade paper, lovely pottery and she paints too. Oh and I forgot to mention the wool that she spins so well on her drop spindle. Now she's gotten into dyeing too. I really need to go back into her archives to see what else I've missed. Here's a pic of some of the cards I bought:

and here is a link to her granny square blanket (which I forgot to take a pic off). I have to say it would get my vote for the best blanket - the colours are great and I love the way she's done some big squares and some smaller ones - it felt gorgeously soft too as she'd used a blend of merino and alpaca. I tried not to feel too inadequate as we left that morning!

Well, after a delicious breakfast of pancakes it really was time to leave although it took us all of two hours to actually say goodbye. Oscar and Amber, both thirteen decided that was the time to hassle their Mums about having mobile phones but Georgia and I stuck firmly with the age fourteen deadline. Then it was back in the car to drive up to western Massachusetts where I was meeting Lee very briefly in Northampton (that was after we'd stopped at Target at Holyoak Mall as I just had to see what this place that everyone mentions was).

Massachusetts and Vermont coming up next time (after I've recovered from doing this post which seems to have taken ALL morning).

............................

PS Just a couple of pictures of the faerie house that Jodi made for her children. I just had to show you all as it's so enchanting - please click on each pic to view the bigger one:

 

Speechless for once

I have been prevaricating all day about writing this post and for once I'm actually lost for words believe it or not. How do I tell you about the AMAZING, WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC time that we had in America? How can I begin to tell you about the generosity and friendship that we experienced? Where shall I start when I tell you about my lovely new friends and the fun time we had together?

I'm lost for words because I'm a bit overwhelmed to tell the truth. The whole of the last 16 days I felt as if I were in a dream. A dream where strangers opened their doors and their hearts to us and enveloped us with their love. A dream in which everyone made us feel so welcome that I cried each time I said goodbye. I know everyone talks about the kindness, the support and the sharing that goes on in the blogging community but I defy anyone to have the experience that we have had these past eighteen days. We were welcomed by readers of this blog - some that have blogs and others that don't - and they couldn't have done more for us.

I have lots to tell and many pictures to show too but first I need to unpack all this lot:

and to get my head around all the building work outside and the dust inside:

As we only arrived back at 11.30pm last night I just need a day to process everything but I will be back. I have so much to tell you about our wonderful holiday and about friendship, trust, generosity and kindness.

So please be sure to look in tomorrow .....................

I'm off then ...................

You know I feel a bit guilty going on and on about our trip to America. Do you think I'm a bit sad mentioning it all the time, being SO excited? I obviously don't have enough excitement in my life as this seems to be the highlight of my year/s. Do other people bang on about their holidays I wonder? I suppose if it's commonplace for them to go abroad in winter and summer they may take it for granted or something. As you know by now we go to Wales with my sister each summer with a bit of camping thrown in here and there and then maybe a long weekend in Devon in the spring.

The last time we went abroad was four years ago to India and that was the first time in ages to anywhere far away. It's not that we're not adventurous but I guess we just like chucking things in the car and driving to Wales!  Also foreign holidays are so expensive and after paying a hefty mortgage, school fees, commuting & staying in London there isn't always lots left over from Tom's salary.

So this holiday is exciting and special and such a treat and that's why I'm so happy and go on about it so much I suppose. It's more than a holiday too as it's a time to meet new friends, experience a different culture and see a new country. But I do want to thank you all for putting up with so many posts about it and apologise now for all the posts when we get back. Thanks too for all the lovely bon voyage messages you've sent to me - you're all so kind.

Talking of kindness look what we got in the post yesterday. A whacking great parcel from this big gal and her little gals:

It was chock full of such lovely things tempting us to Philadelphia. Thank you so much Sue.

Then this morning I received this gorgeous travel journal from Kate whose blog is here:

What a lovely gift and something that I will definately be taking with me. Kate has just started her blog and I know it's going to be very popular as she's so creative and full of ideas.

The sun has actually been shining today and I've been putting some finishing touches to some presents I'm making and taking for my hosts. I'm afraid I can't really show them to you as they are meant to be a surprise. I've also been to the supermarket and stocked up on some English goodies but unfortunately I can't take any Elderflower cordial with me unless I put it in my suitcase and I'm a bit wary of doing that - such a shame. I also sat outside and crocheted a brooch to put on my (new) sun hat:

I don't really suit hats but I know I'll need one in the heat over there.

Other than that we've been eating up the fridge so here's what we had for lunch. Bacon and botch pancakes as we call them (drop scones or scotch pancakes to you).

With a big drizzle of this lovely stuff that Sarah sent to me ages ago:

I've also cleaned the fridge today and tomorrow I'm hoovering the house and actually packing. I've made a huge list of all your recommendations and now I just need to scribble down everyone's phone numbers otherwise I won't be meeting or staying with anyone in America.

So it's Goodbye then for a while. Our flight is at midday on Thursday but we'll need to set off from here about 6.30 am and if you don't know already we're back very late on Sunday 12th August. I know we're going to have THE most WONDERFUL time EVER and I feel so blessed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PS So many of you have asked if we've been affected by the flooding and I can say thank goodness we haven't although it's not that far from us. I was in the supermarket this afternoon and people were buying water like there was no tomorrow as rumour has it the supplies will be shut off at midnight. I don't think it will affect us but nevertheless we're all having baths tonight and filling up a few buckets just in case. Thanks so much for asking.

The kindness of strangers .........

well not strangers but friends. Friends made through this blog. Friends that have offered to have us to stay whilst we are in America. Friends that have made suggestions and given tips on where to go too.

What a WONDERFUL bunch of friends I have.  It occurred to me the other day that this upcoming trip to America wouldn't be happening if I didn't have a blog. It's because of the blog and my American friends that I had the urge to go and visit their wonderful country and to meet them. It's only because of the blog that we're able to afford to go and stay for sixteen days because we certainly couldn't afford for five people to stay in hotels and eat out for that long.

I feel so blessed to have these wonderful friends in my life. Take Jodi for instance who we will be staying with for five nights in Pennsylvania. She's planning on taking us to the dutch Amish country, to a baseball game, to do some shopping and I know she's got other things up her sleeve. She and her husband have been soooo helpful telling us where to hire cars, how to get down from JFK. I can't wait to meet her in person as we've found we have so much in common - a lot of late nights there me thinks. Sue has invited us over for tea one afternoon and Amber can't wait to meet her three lovely little girls - she lives nearby and Melody wants me to go to her sewing group one evening whilst I'm there.

Then we leave PA on July 31st and drive up to Vermont but stopping in Connecticut on the way to stay with Georgia and her family. The boys are really keen to hang out with her boys and I'm really looking forward to having a chin-wag with her. After that we're going to drive up to Deerfield on Kristin Nicholas' suggestion and meet up with her the next day, if she's free. That night we stay with Tonya in western Massachusetts.

 

Then it's up to Vermont to stay with Sarah albeit it for one night as she's off to Canada early the next morning but she has offered us the use of her lovely hand-built house on 3rd August. I'm so grateful as that will be a day to chill out and so NO driving. Then we think we'll head over to Portsmouth, NH and get a B&B (if they exist in America) for two nights before heading down to Boston to stay with the step-sister of Tom's first girlfriend. (My neighbour said - how have you kept in touch with these people?) So a couple of days in Boston where we'll also meet up with Brenda and then Sturbridge Village on the way down to get the ferry over to Long Island.

There we will be staying with the lovely Wylie, another blog friend and having two days in NYC and one day in the sea with her and her partner. Then that's it - we fly back on 12th.

Doesn't that sound like an amazing trip? I am a bit concerned about all the driving we're planning to do as we are just not used to being in the car everyday for hours but we can always cut down and linger a bit longer in places once we're out there. We're all so excited as the last time we did a big trip was four years ago to India.

I'm still open to any suggestions anyone might have and I'd also like to know about fabric shops, wool shops, craft places. Of course Amber wants to know where a teenager might want to shop aside from Gap. Kristin pointed out that Green Mountain Spinnery is up near her and I've gleaned a few tips from other bloggers who've been to New York. Does anyone have any suggestions for places that Tom and the boys could go to in New York whilst Amber and I are shopping? I've discovered some interesting places in Boston already as Wylie's mother sent me a whole load of leaflets last week. (Wasn't that the kindest thing?)

So now we're getting haircuts, buying new sandals, sunhats and new underwear - that's me and Amber. Ever since my washing blew over into my posh neighbour's garden in London and he came over and gave me back my knickers in a brown envelope I've been paranoid about people seeing my knickers. So I'm getting new ones as I'll probably be chucking my laundry in with my hostess's.

We're off on July 26th and in between I'm visiting my parents and then we have to pack. Meanwhile I'll be making lists everyday I guess .............

PS I will post up the recipe for cinnamon buns next time as this post is way too long already.

PPS I posted out four packets of fudge on Friday night as promised to Lucette, Simone, Denise and Julie. I've been paranoid ever since as I just know they're not up to my usual standard thanks to the thermometer doing acrobatics in the pan. Sorry girls, I hope it was edible.

a jaunt to Wales

After much umming and aghing on my part we finally made it to Wonderwool Wales which was part of the Smallholder and Garden Festival on Saturday. I'd had this bookmarked for months but as the weather turned miserable recently I started having second thoughts about going. The original plan had been to go for the weekend and camp as the show was in a lovely part of Wales that we'd never been too.

The weather forecast was for cold and rain so that put the kybosh on plans and then we decided on Friday evening that Tom and I would go for the day and the children would stay at home with their young babysitter friend. That was at 7pm. Then Amber appears at 10pm and tells me that her period has started and that she doesn't want to stay at home and go swimming and that she'll come with us. So in the morning Rohan decides that he might as well come too but Raj wants to stay at home but not on his own! Do you do this - best laid plans going completely awry?

In the end - we all went and we had a great day despite the torrential downpour that ocurred every hour or so. It really was a great event. There was a huge hall full of horticultural things where there was this lovely display of vegetables by some seed company or other:

There was a farmer's market; an auction for agricultural equipment; workshops and talks; sheep shearing, poultry for sale, pigs, goats and alpacas on show:

Sheep waiting to go in for prizes - some of them a bit too tired after all that tweaking and haircutting:

and then we finally got into the Wonderwool Wales tent and I was away. There were people showing their sheep breeds and some selling fibre. We just loved this Leicester Longwool:

and there was a French lady promoting sheep from different parts of Europe which was very interesting. Most I'd never heard of except for the merino which originated in Spain apparantly:

There were knitting and felting workshops and many others. Lots of stalls selling lots of stuff and I was incredibly restrained. I only bought two lots of plant dye - rhubarb root and madder.

On the way back we drove through Crickhowell which is a very pretty place:

I think next year we will definately go for the weekend. There was plenty to do and we could easily have stayed longer than the four hours that we were there - infact we missed quite a few things. I thoroughly recommend it and maybe next year we could have a 'bloggers meet up' there. What do you think, you UK bloggers? Go and check out the link at the top of the post to see if you fancy it. I guess we could have a blogger's meet, a group for their frazzled husbands and maybe one for offspring of bloggers too!  Husband 1 to Husband 2 - "so what's your wife's blog called then?" Child 1 to Child 2 "have you noticed that your Mum has less time to play now that she has a blog?"  Could be fun.........

So apart from driving across country for hours I spent the weekend washing more sodding fleece to dye. I say this with a tone of voice because the two fleece that I got recently have been SO dirty. I've had to soak them for a week, wash them over ten times in the bath and I even resorted to a cold wash in the washing machine. Finally, on Sunday afternoon I had a pretty clean fleece. Gosh, if I had to charge money for all the time I spent washing, dyeing, carding, packaging and posting - my fibre would probably sell for £20 a bag. Still, my bathroom was sparkling by the end of all that washing as I kept on my marigolds in between running out dirty bathwater and scrubbed the loo, wash basin, skirting, tiles and carpet. That's that job done for six months or so.

Yesterday morning I made an owl:

He's gone a bit round and fat and looks more like Benny the Ball in Topcat:

Here he is next to one of the smaller ones so you can see how big he is:

* if you click on the link it should take you straight to a clip of Topcat on YouTube.

Poor old Gloucester

We've lived in Gloucestershire for five years now and I have never visited its' county town Gloucester. I've driven through it and admired the cathedral from afar but the town has the reputation of being a bit of a dump and I've always stayed clear of it. Articles like the one that appeared in the property section of The Telegraph yesterday don't help either "..........Gloucester was once an influential metropolis with a host of fine buildings. It has a norman cathedral that was once described as northern Europe's 'sixth most beautiful building' by John Betjeman". The article continues "..........Gloucester has become a beggarly dowager in an ill-fitting tracksuit. There are not even any tourists to speak of..........poor planning decisions made in the 1960s and 1970s".

It's a good job I didn't read this before we set off yesterday because we might not have gone. We woke up on Saturday morning and decided that we wanted to go somewhere by train and Gloucester it was. I did a quick search on google and printed off a map and clocked in my head the cathedral, the docks and a folk museum to visit. I packed some rolls and cakes and a bottle of water and off we went. Amber had a friend with her and they decided to go shopping and we were to meet three hours later (Amber - I've been to the cathedral three times on school trips and that's enough!). 

We started off with the cathedral and it is indeed a most beautiful building. Here are some pics for you to see for yourself:

The ceiling:

The view from the altar:

The next couple of photos are of misericords which are on the back of some of the seats in the above picture:

One of the cloisters:

I won't go on about the history of the place as you can read that for youself by clicking the link in my first paragraph.  A little walk around the outside of the building threw up these treasures:

Aren't those hinges beautiful?  Look at this lovely house nearby too:

Here's a picture of one of those poor planning decisions. Did someone really 'design' that monstrosity on the left to go next to the timber framed house?

Feeling like good and proper tourists now we went in search of the Folk Museum anticipating that we'd only be there for a short while. Well folks this has got be the City's best kept secret I tell you. First of all it's housed in the most beautiful building dating from 1500:

and the inside is jam packed with artifacts from bygone years to the 1970's. There are kitchen wares, weights and measures, farming tools. There is a small shoemakers shop, a classroom, a room with old toys, a room full of pin making equipment which is what went on in this building once, equipment from a dairy. Downstairs there are things from more recent times. Here are a few pics:

This is an old wooden water pipe that ran under the street in the seventeenth century. It's a hollowed out tree trunk:

I loved these old milk bottles in the dairy:

and just read this old sign:

I also found the cooker that my parents owned when I was little. Just touching that oven dial brought back so many memories. Sorry the picture isn't very clear.

I can't post up any more pics but I think you get the gist of it. The Gloucester Folk Museum is definately a place to visit. Infact we stayed there far too long and had to call Amber's friend to say we needed another hour just to visit the docks quickly and ofcourse we just had to go and find the shop of the Tailor of Gloucester (Beatrix Potter).

and here it is in the book:

It's the same place. Ofcourse, we had to pop in buy a little souvenir.

So far experience of Gloucester pretty good I'd say but then we returned to the train station via some of the shopping streets and one can see why Gloucester has a bad reputation.  Still, according to above mentioned newspaper article they are going to invest £1 billion in the city and are beginning a 10 year regeneration plan that will include restoring the centre and it's histric buildings. Well, thank goodness for that because the city really deserves it. I'm so glad we visited yesterday - we had a great day out, saw and learned lots and we've even planned another visit to to go to the National Waterways Museum sometime. I'm only sorry we left it this late to discover. So if you're driving down the M5 sometime stop off in Gloucester and see a bit of culture - you won't regret it.