Putting out Fires

After another day all on my own (which to be honest I’m really starting to get into), I’ve had a lot of opportunity to think about the people in my life who have made this not as miserable as it could have been.  So, to the following people, I would like to thank you for helping me keep the little bit of sanity I have. 

1)  My parents.  There are some days where the 30 min drive back to my hotel after work are filled with dread.  Another night in my empty hotel room.  Then I open the door to whatever room I happen to be in at the time, and many days there’s mail from me!  Not a card, not a little note, but a STACK.  A stack of mail for ME from my parents.  I have an idea that this comes from Mr. Moderation.  :-)  Parents, you have not idea what your cards have meant.  And you have not idea how nice it is to know that the pups are having an awesome time at your house.

2)  To the other dogsitters: My in-laws.  I’ve been married 3 years now and I couldn’t be any luckier with the family I married into.  Bob, thank you for the emails.  I look forward to every one of them.  And thank you both for spoiling my dogs rotten.  Darlene, I can just picture those dogs begging for you to scratch ‘em.  You SURE you two don’t need a dog of your own?? 

3)  My girlfriends.  I know we’re all going a million different directions, but you never fail to keep me entertained with email.  I miss you girls and I’m so sad to be missing out on all the big things going on this summer.  KC, I will miss you girl.  You’ve been in my life since elementary school and I can’t imagine you being so far away.  Jen, thank you for the birthday present.  Not expecting any this year it was so great to come to my room and find a box from you.  Kel, thank you for carting all the goodies from home for me.  I wish we’d had at least 8 more hrs together in London!  Shay, I’ve watched the movies you sent at least 2 times each now.  You’re awesome.  :-)  Min, seeing pictures of your babies makes me realize how fast 2 months is when it comes to youngin’s.  Bec, tequila night has soon as I get back!  Jen P, you better be keeping up on that treadmill!  I’m gonna want my gym partner back soon. 

4)  Kevbo.  Thanks for entertaining my hubby.  Wish I was there!  We’re going for a movie as soon as I get back.  Oh, and I got you some great stuff here. 

5)  Ryan.  Just having your voice to look forward to every night makes my day worthwhile.  Can’t wait to run into your arms at the airport.

Well, I’ve been here 7 weeks now.  Can you believe it.  As I am quickly approaching 2 full months here, I think it is safe to say that from now on I can say, “When I lived in England for a short time….”.  2 whole months.  Can you believe it?  I’ve been here long enough now that the parking lot attendants near my gym know me well enough to have said to me yesterday, “You’re a little early today, aren’t you?”  and one of the personal trainers at the gym asked me if I was moving in because I was there so often (not that it shows with 7 weeks of eating out to combat).  So, since I’ve been here so long I figured it was about time I introduced you to where I’ve been living and who I’m here with.

The hotel I’m at has large rooms by English standards.  Like most of England, I’m in a little town out in the countryside.  Here is a view from my window:

This is my favorite gargoyle guy.  I pass him every day when I get ‘home’ and make sure to give him a little pat on the head.

Have I mentioned that we all have jags for rental cars?  Actually, its a little embarassing to see them all lined up in the parking lot. 

On Thur night my coworkers and I decided to have a little Mexican food party.  Almost all of us were there, and one extra:  a FEMALE.  That’s right, one of the guys flew his wife over so I finally have a GIRL to talk to.  Never thought I’d miss female interaction so much.  Anyway, we had an AWESOME meal with homemade refried beans, homemade guac (a la MINI, who I borrowed the recipe from and I ended up having to make TWO batches it went so fast), homemade bonuelos (sp?), and lots of other stuff.  So yummy.  Finished off dinner by listening to Blue Collar Comedy, which after a few cervesas was hilarious. 

I’m having a great time with a select group from this bunch, and last night we all drove down to Chesil beach (where Ryan and I went) for fishing.  And I collected more rocks.  And a few fell into my pocket.  Oops.

Today I took myself to another beach which is known for its fossils.  I’ll post pics of those tomorrow.  Tomorrow I am driving myself 1.5hrs to find the perfect shirt to bring home for my little brother.  :-)  Love to all!

I have a lot of time to sit by myself and think here.  Since I saw the 12 Monkeys sign last week I’d been thinking about Q, the guy who got me into that movie.  Then I remembered that he’d written me about a month ago, so I finally wrote back.  We’ve been chatting back and forth, and today I figured out how to get to his website.  (Beautiful poetry as always Q, by the way)  Anyway, he has a little photo album on there and I decided to look through it to see how life in the Navy was treating him.  What I found were pictures of his 25ish year-old self hanging out with older versions of people I used to know.  Wasn’t that a trip…  Joey, of course looks the same.  :-)  But the other people in the pictures… I knew them well, but found that I had to think for a second to remember some of there names.  I’ve always been bad at names, but these are people I practically grew up with!

I often think about the path I ended up on.  I’m not on it alone, of course.  Sometimes I can almost see the point at which we girls went one way, and the boys went the other.  Those of you who read here probably get that some of the people I link to on the right are my friends in real life who I spend a lot of time with.  There are 7 of us and we’ve been friends in varying degrees for a long time, in fact one of them I’ve been friends with since 4th grade.  But the fact is, we’re still together.  We have lots of common memories:  church, camp, youth retreats, trips to Disneyland, swim team, college, and now marriages, kids, careers, higher degrees…  When I saw the old ladies in the coffee house on Sunday I saw us girls in 50 years. 

But it wasn’t always just us girls.  We ran in a pack with our guy counterparts.  We dated them.  We laughed at their boy jokes.  We hid the evidence of burned ukalalies for them.  We counted them as our brothers and they took care of us like we were their sisters.  They threatened to beat up boys who hurt us.  We hated and loved them all through high school and college, and then one day they were gone.  We girls went one way, the boys went another.  I know from listening to bits of gossip that a lot of them still hang out like we girls do, but I would be surprised if I ever crossed paths with most of them again.  We’ve moved too far apart. 

But still, a look into Q’s life was pretty cool.  Its good to know that while we’ve gone separate paths, they have each other like we girls do.  I wish them all kinds of luck, and Q, keep the letters coming!

So, Ryan went home yesterday and rather than bore you with how lonely that feels, I’m choosing to remember our week o’ fun!  Where to begin?  Saturday when Ryan got here we drove to Stonehenge.  Well, you have to as it is right next to the main highway.  I mean really, that ancient wonder of the world is RIGHT NEXT TO THE ROAD.  (and between you and me, I hope the only other time I see that pile of rocks in my life is when I’m on my way to the airport for my own trip home)  Then on Sunday we went to Glastonbury Abbey.  These ruins are the oldest remains of a Christian church above ground in the world.  King Arthur and Guinevere are said to be buried here.

After that we headed to bath.  Looks the same as when I was there about a month ago so I’ll spare you (most of) the pictures.  This time was WAY more fun though and we actually did the tour of the Roman Baths which I would highly recommend if you’re in England.  It was really interesting.  Here we are on the bus tour:

Sunday night a young couple who are on long-term assignment here in England w/ my company treated us to homecooked MEXICAN FOOD!  mmm.  Monday we drove up to Oxford which is GORGEOUS.  I mean seriously, gorgeous.  The architecture is amazing and the whole city feels smart.  My favorite part was Christ Church, which is the college where 13 PMs attended, Lewis Carroll taught and gained most of his ideas for Alice in Wonderland, some of the Harry Potter movies were filmed, and where many other famous people attended, including John Wesley (any Methodists out there??).  Already showed you a picture of the Great Hall, which if you look around has in it a stained glass window with hidden Alice in Wonderland characters in it and there’s a painting of a former Dean who, when you walk across the room, actually turns his whole head to follow you!  Creepy.  This was spray-painted on the wall behind the college which totally cracked me up:

Tues I had to work, but as it was my b-day I made sure to take some time in the afternoon.  That’s when we went to the Haynes Car Museum which was amazing.  Here’s Ryan with his most favorite car in the whole world.

Wednesday we went to a Somerset cider mill after I got off work (look for Somerset mentioned in the new HP book!).  Thur I was able to take some time again and we went to the amazing Montacute House.  Seriously, it was beautiful and it sits on a HUGE piece of land with gorgeous gardens everywhere.  You can even find little hidden gardens if you look carefully for openings in the hedges.  We both really enjoyed the tour of the house then we ran around in the gardens like all the other kids.  Here’s some pictures of the house (you really couldn’t take a bad picture) and a picture of Ryan feeding his new friend.

I should point out that if you plan on feeding cows or running through gardens in England, you should be on the lookout for Stinging Nettles.  That clump of stuff in Ryan’s hand was sitting right next to some and I managed to run through some while we were hiding from each other in the gardens.  Nice welt I got from those suckers. 

Then we drove down to Chesil beach.  The beach was full of VERY red Brits sunbathing and loads of fishermen casting from shore.  This beach doesn’t have sand, it has millions of tiny, smooth, gorgeous little stones which were actually really comfy to lay on.  They were so pretty that we decided as a surprise for the parents that we’d pick out the prettiest we could find, then we’d put them in glass, water-filled bowls so they could float candles in them.  We spent an HOUR laying on a blanket picking out the perfect stones, comparing stones, picking out our favorites of the other person’s pile.  It was so fun, and a great idea for a souvenir!  Until we saw the threatening sign about stealing stones from the beach.  We put them back.  We both have super guilty consciences. 

Friday afternoon was for sitting at a coffee house people watching, then that night we, well, that’s none of your business!  Saturday was so, so sad.  I still have no idea when I’ll be leaving (and the testing has taken another turn for the worst), so watching him disappear through security was heartbreaking.  What I do know is that I’ve taken for granted how easy it usually is to be with Ryan, to call him at work, to steal a kiss when we’re passing each other in the hall of our house.  But I know that somewhere in the world is a man who loves me so much that I’m dying to go home. 

Who knew I had the same b-day as Dooce and Fish??  Happy birthday to me!!!…..in England.  My best present?  Waking up next to my hubby. 

I have many, many new things to post about, but alas, no time to do so as I’m having TOO MUCH FUN!  So, in the meantime I will give you a taste of what I’m up to.

Can you guess where this is??  (hint:  stones in the background)

Also, ten points to anyone who can guess what was filmed here (and go ahead and be VERY jealous!)

And lastly, here’s a picture of my rental car (just kidding! although this is a jag and I’m driving a jag too!)

Love to all, off to my b-day dinner!

I’ve kind of been lazy about posting about my travels.  I’m just tired of traveling in general and feeling a little down because I’ve been here 5 weeks now with no end in sight.  Anyway, have seen some interesting things, so I thought I’d post. 

Two weeks ago went to Windsor Castle.  I know I posted that pic of me with the guard, but the castle itself was gorgeous and HUGE.  And they had lovely (English term) gardens with waterfalls.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be in the company of two great guys.  These are two of my coworkers and they were a whole lot of fun and even put up with my music while we were  driving the 3 hrs to Lands End, the very end of England.  Here we’re climbing around on an old coast guard boats in the kids’ “Wreckreation Area”.

Here’s a great view of Land’s End.  Its mostly touristy, but really beautiful and it was a gorgeous day. 

And this is how far I am away from home:

The next day the same 2 guys and I spent hours chatting at a coffee shop, then had a nice lunch, then one of the guys and I went to a flower festival at a church in a little village called East Coker.  Interestingly, a lot of this town is owned by the widow of T.S. Elliot, who wrote the poems that inspired ‘Cats’.  This is typical of the houses in East Coker:

Gorgeous, huh?  Yeah, but the firefighter’s wife in me cringes when I see a thatched roof like that.  All the houses had perfect gardens with flowers to die for in their front and backyards.

In light of the terrorist attacks last week, the whole of Great Britain and most of Europe had 2 minutes of silence today.  The time was signaled by a real World War II air raid siren left over from the actual war at my work today.  I thought this quote on one of the flower displays in East Coker was appropriate for the day.

Next time I post pictures, expect a gorgeous blonde firefighter to be in some of them!  :-)  Can’t tell you how excited I am to see him after 5 weeks.  5 of the longest weeks ever…  Take care.

Damn.  Too bad I already ordered the book of evil and am planning on attending a local Harry Potter release party here in England at midnight Friday.  Evidently the pope doesn’t think I should be reading it. 

I’ve caught myself in the last few weeks doing things that remind me that I’ve been here for over a month now.  For instance, the typical greeting here is “yeh ll’right?”, to which you reply, “yeah, yeh?”, but you know with a really thick SW England accent.  Well, I’m fully doing that now.  (keeps people from looking at me funny when I answer with “I’m fine, and how are you today?”).  Also, this driving on the left-hand side of the road is starting to feel like I’ve done it my whole life.  And, my hubby has accused me of using British slang when I talk with him on the phone.  “They’re on holiday”  “I’ll give you a ring”, that sort of thing.  I guess its just easier to attempt to fit in, you know?

But, two things happened yesterday that shook me into remembering that I really don’t belong here.  First is I went to pick up my dry cleaning and I said that I had a pair of ‘pants’ to pick up.  The ladies there got a good laugh out of that, then informed me very properly that they were ‘trousers’.  I take it that I’d asked her for my undies or something.  Then I walked to the parking lot where my car was and I walked to the left-hand side of the car and got in.  Then sat there trying to figure out how to get out of the car and walk around to the driver’s side without looking like an idiot. 

Happy Wednesday to you, and I’m back in the land of Internet, bad food and no Harriers!

So yesterday I moved to my new hotel.  As I was driving I saw some fighter jets in the sky, which is totally cool.  (yeah, OK, sometimes the nerdiness comes out).  As I got closer to the little town I was staying in, I saw one go zipping by really low for a touch-down run.  It was a Harrier!  Again, so cool.  I was bummed that it had already gone by and it was too fast to get a good look.  But THEN I got to the parking lot (car park they call it) of the little ‘hotel’ and as I stepped out of my car I immediately had to plug my ears because of the defening roar.  I look up and a Harrier is screaming by RIGHT OVER MY HOTEL.  My hotel is sitting at one end of the local air force base’s runway!  Seriously, it was so low I could make out specifics of the pilot.  That was cool until about the 5th fly-over.  Luckily they cut it out around dinner time.

Speaking of, this little hotel I’m in isn’t much to write home about but they have a KILLER restaurant, which is really saying something in this country.  There were 3 of people traveling alone sitting in the courtyard enjoying the beautiful weather with a beer and a book last night. 

One shining spot in my day:  Ryan is coming out this weekend!  My first return date was supposed to be this past Saturday.  As we haven’t accomplished much on the testing its safe to say that I’ll be here until at least August 12th.  Ryan’s visit will help me get through this last stretch.  It is going to be heartbreaking saying goodbye to him at the airport when he leaves.

I still don’t have Internet tonight, but I promise I’ll get up some great pics of last weekend ASAP.

Love to you all!

Well, I’m on move number 2 of 4 for the week.  I’ll be moving to another little town for the next 2 nights to a place where I’m all alone w/out my coworkers, and there’s NO INTERNET.  That’s an FYI for anyone expecting any email from me this week. 

I’m hoping that it will work out that Ryan can come out on Friday and stay until the following Saturday.  Cross your fingers!  Will try to post pics of my weekend to Lands End and to a flower festival in a little village near where I’m staying.

Love to all!

A