A Tale of Two Scones
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tz fabric and polished wood, bearing aloft silver serving trays laden with delectable pastries, exquisite miniature sandwiches and pots of steaming hot tea. That, for us, is tea. And so it is slightly baffling when we first arrive in this country to see signs hanging outside tea shops in nearly every village and town advertising something mysteriously called a cream tea.
One of Those Days
“Some days are enchanted, as everybody knows. Every detail of the day, even the most trivial, falls into exquisite juxtaposition with the next. Commonplace things take on significance and beauty. Perhaps it’s a matter of timing. Perhaps for once one walks in sympathetic vibration with the earth, disturbing nothing as one treads. However that may be, this was one of those days.” ~ Louise Dickinson Rich, We Took to the Woods
This passage from a dearly loved book is followed by a description of a perfect day in the author’s life, a description so vivid and rich with vibrant word pictures that I am left wildly jealous and convinced it’s time for me to give up the dream of writing and leave it to those who practice the art with true craftsmanship. But beyond my feelings of inadequacy, this short passage from “We Took to the Woods” makes me think back over some of the delightful days my husband and I have shared since we began our life together. Continue reading
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Driving Miss Lizzie – Part I
Driving Miss Lizzie, Part I
***
“Why has the car stopped?”
“Ah!” I said with manly frankness that became me well. “There you have me.”
You see, I’m one of those birds who drive a lot but don’t know the first thing about the works. The policy I pursue is to get aboard, prod the self-starter, and leave the rest to Nature.” ~ P.G. Wodehouse, Very Good, Jeeves!
***
“I bought a car.”
I didn’t know it at the time, but with those four little words my world tipped on its axis. It was just over a month until our wedding, and Mr. H was calling from England to let me know that after weeks of searching he had finally found a car he liked. After a decade of relying primarily on public transport he had once again taken the plunge into the expensive realm of car ownership. Since there would soon be two of us it was finally more cost-effective to own a car, and oh, such fun places we would travel to together. I could hardly wait. Continue reading
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Eclipse
Last week we had a partial solar eclipse. Although it was overcast here, I was able to snap a few photos. Most of them didn’t turn out, but here is one which shows the eclipse more clearly than the others. 
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Anniversary Remembrances
Nearly two weeks ago my husband and I celebrated one of our special anniversary dates. It was not our wedding anniversary, or the anniversary of the day we got engaged. July 19th marked the one year anniversary of the day I arrived in the UK, with my little dog in tow, to be met at the airport by my beloved husband and taken to our new home for the first time. Continue reading
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On Songbird’s Wings
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbour and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
– Carl Sandberg
Those lines by Carl Sandberg captured my imagination from the first moment I read them. I was still just a child and was curled up in a corner of the couch with the big, blue Arbuthnot Anthology of Children’s Literature spread open on my lap, thumbing through the tissue-paper thin pages. The imagery of fog creeping into a city on cat’s paws delighted me, for I have always loved a well-turned phrase and the evocative beauty of language. Continue reading
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A Fairy Tale Beginning
A fairy tale. That is what some of my more romantically inclined friends called it when, at the ripe old age of forty-four, I unexpectedly announced my engagement. I was a confirmed old maid, happy to play the role of the fun auntie and content with my quiet little life. I had my family, my friends, my little dog, and life was peaceful and good. I’d long declared myself too set in my ways to ever consider marriage so very few people suspected that the relationship with “my friend in England” had grown and matured beyond that of mere friendship. We had kept it quiet, wanting to give ourselves time without the close scrutiny and speculation bound to come if one and all knew we were more than just friends, until the day came when we discovered we no longer wanted to live thousands of miles apart and travel singly through life. “My friend in England” had become my best friend in all the world and it seemed impossible to continue life without him. And so in the space of a year everything changed. I, who for twenty years worked diligently at changing as little as possible, changed everything. I quit my job, sold my car, sold nearly everything and left family and friends far behind to marry a man from the United Kingdom. Continue reading
An American Wife in Wiltshire 