Party of Five

It's cold, the days are short and we get precipitation on a regular basis, but that didn't stop us from making our first excursion to see some of the local history.  The girls didn't have school on Friday, so we hightailed it to Windsor for the day.


When I say hightailed it, that involved three train changes in order to avoid driving our own automobile.  We boarded the local commuter train here in Walton-on-Thames, got off one stop later at Weybridge, then changed trains once more to get us to Windsor.  The train spits you out right there adjacent to the castle.  You merely walk out the door and follow the wall up the sidewalk to the entrance.  


We had someone new join our little family outing today - Flat Stanley.  Jason's brother Shane has a son, Chance, that is Callie's age.  Most American parents are familiar with Stanley.  Both of our girls did the Stanley project in first grade.  We sent Stanley #1 off to friends in San Francisco.  Stanley #2 went to New York City with my husband.  So we set off with Stanley in the husband's backpack - that man does like a good traveling bag.  He would definitely be a handbag whore if he had been born a woman.


We trotted around town to see the sights - lots of great shops along cobbled streets that were pedestrian only.  The converted Victorian train station was fabulous.  Don't ask about lunch and why we ended up at McDonald's - long story. Good old Flat Stanley would be taken out and held up at various points along the way for photo opps.  Some folks giggled and seemed to think it quite funny what we were doing, so they obviously weren't Americans.  


Flat Stanley was mailed back to Texas on Monday.  We hope Stanley earns an A for his hop across the pond.

Somebody Turn on the Lights

Gosh, I never realized the UK was so frickin' close to the Arctic Circle!  The "Twilight" series should have been set here instead of the Pacific Northwest.  Vampires would feel right at home with these overcast and short days.   


With my poor night vision thanks to the fact that I have astigmatism and can't read the big E on the eye chart, it's a real challenge to drive in the dark.  And good grief, it's only what I think qualifies as daylight for about 7ish hours.  Last week I had to make my first run to the school in order to pick up the younger one from her first girl scout meeting.  It was scheduled to end at 4:45, but that's dark thirty around here.  Therefore, me and my impaired vision leave the house at 3:50 in order to get to campus while there is still some light with which to see those evil autos that like to park with two wheels up on the sidewalks of the narrow side streets.  Honest to God, it's legal over here... but that's a whole 'nother rant.


I guess the locals are conditioned to living under these conditions, but it's a big old stressor for someone who landed here from central/south Texas just a few weeks ago.  Daylight savings time better be just around the corner so I don't have to purchase a sun lamp or order vitamin D in bulk, because I'm one mean mama without my daily dose of sunlight.

It's a Jungle Over Here

Cue the Tarzan yell.  I always loved watching "The Carol Burnett Show" because she did such a great imitation when the audience requested it.  I really feel like that yell would be most appropriate here in our new surroundings in the 'burbs of London.  Who knew?

The local bird population is quite vocal, though well camouflaged in the greenery.  There is a beautiful, red-headed woodpecker that seems as big as an eagle.  It's been busy in the trees surrounding our house, making the familiar rat-tat-tat.  The magpies are quite distinctive, though I'm probably the only person who finds them so attractive.  The ravens are like grackles on steroids.  They peer at me with their jet black eyes as if they can read my mind.  Maybe they were the inspiration for Hitchcock's classic.

Deer!  Honestly, I thought we had happily put thousands of miles between our SUV and these four-legged nuisances when we moved.  In Texas, I always lived in fear of some whitetail or axis hopping out in front of me on the road.  Most folks in the hill country have their own personal stories of hitting one.  I've had some near misses and hated driving at night thinking I wouldn't be able to avoid one.  So what do I see on our second day here in the new house - a fallow deer.  I just hope the local Bambi population can run fast and is wary of autos.

The most interesting resident of our new neighborhood is a pair of red foxes we've seen in the backyard several times.  The first night we heard some barking and yipping, assuming it was a neighbor's dog out in their backyard.  The motion-activated lights turned on later that evening when we were upstairs and I looked out the master bedroom window to see a pair of foxes skittering around the backyard.  Since then, we've seen them several times.  We were sitting at the dining table, which has a clear view out the set of french doors leading from the family room to the back patio, when the motion lights came on a few nights ago.  The little fox nosing around the patio looked up to spy us right inside the house, and then went back to his business with no great concern regarding our presence.  I wonder if they help control the local cat population?  

My least favorite animal tale thus far - the night when the foxes obviously caught some small animal and you could hear its pitiful cries/shrieks.  It was a most unnerving sound, but I guess they have to eat, too.  I, for one, don't want to find them nosing through my garbage in search of a meal, so I guess I'll have to suffer through them dining on the occasional squirrel or other hapless rodent.

The Fraser's Have Landed

What a crazy and interesting week we have had! I have lots of things to write on this blog. Alas, I only have access to the Internet via our ipad and it's quite tedious to type on this thing. Hopefully the wifi will be up and running about the time our air shipment arrives next week. In the olden days you would bemoan the fact that the slugs over at the phone company hadn't run out fast enough to hook you up to the local party line. Now we're bouncing signals around the globe using satellites in space and it's still not sufficient to suit my spoiled American self.

So where am I headed today? It's down to the post office for me to purchase the means to send the most antiquated method of correspondence... some stamps!

The Grinch Was Here

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring unless it's some poor mouse looking amongst the dust bunnies on the floors for some tidbit left behind by the moving company.  Seriously, it looks like the Grinch came over to steal Christmas and everything else we owned.

The house is empty, devoid of not just holiday decorations, but also furniture and decor.  The packers/movers were busy for three full days getting everything headed to storage here in Texas and England via air ship or sea transport.  Who knew we had so much stuff?  It was like a massive spring cleaning in December.  I guess that will be my Christmas present - a clutter free home in England. 

I hope everyone in the blogosphere has a joyful Christmas and blessed new year.  I imagine my next entry will be from merry old England.  Life should be really interesting for us in 2011. 

Is it too late to change my mind?

This week it's all about text speak, full of OMG and WTH over here.  The old ball and chain has been in England since last week and we're hanging on here in Texas... by a thread.  Who the heck thought it was a good idea to move this family and all our worldly possessions across the Atlantic Ocean?  Because honestly, it's looking like a terrible plan right about now as we live amongst the chaos.  


The middle aged mind can only handle so much, some finite amount of information on the to-do list and then you're done.  Everything after that is just a waste of time.  It goes in one ear and out the other.  It falls on deaf ears.  It sees the mouth moving but the old noggin just aint getting the message.  


Case in point:  I was upstairs in the master bedroom, busy sorting through drawers and shelves.  I decided to move the sort-o-rama down to the guest bedroom.  Since I was listening to Christmas songs on one of our digital stations through the TV, I checked to see which channel it was.  I then proceeded to mumble 930, 930, 930 all the way down the stairs so I could put it on the same channel downstairs to enjoy more holiday music while I continued working.  


Once I arrived in the family room, I mumbled 930 one last time whereupon it became 9:30 in my head.  I immediately panicked because it was after 9:30 and that time was important because I was mumbling it aloud to myself.  So I rushed into the office where I keep my planner to see what was supposed to happen at 9:30.  According to the planner, there was nothing on tap for 9:30.  So I sat down and checked my email to see if I could find any clues as to the importance of 9:30 there.  I puzzled over it for a while until it finally dawned on me it was the TV station number that plays Christmas tunes.  


OMG and WTH - do I have early onset of the "oldtimers" disease?  For now, I intend to blame all memory lapses, flubs, brainfarts and general ignorance on the stress involved with this move.  Once we get settled, I'll just have to find some other scapegoats.

It's Beginning to Look at Lot Like Christmas - Just Not Here!

The calendar page has turned to December and that means Christmas preparations.  J lugged all of my plastic bins down from the attic filled with Christmas decor.  My Santa collection is pretty impressive.  I really enjoyed opening up everything... and then sent it to my in-laws for storage or repacked it in bubble wrap for the trip to England.  


Right now J is over in England, suffering through some snowy weather.  The kids were given snow days and folks are lounging about at home since the commuter trains aren't moving much.  Surely it will warm up soon from these uncharacteristically cold temps so the snow will melt.  J has quite a few errands to take care of on this trip, besides getting into the office, since he'll be back over here soon.  Momma needs a gently used car so we can sally forth on wheels instead of plodding through the cold, damp, and possibly snowy weather upon our arrival later this month.

Here in Texas, we had a cold snap but now we're back up into the mid-upper 70s by the afternoons.  Yesterday I was in my Yellow Box flip flops when I had lunch with Cal for her birthday at school.  I had to discard my fave black, well worn loafers due to an unfortunate incident with cat poop.  Believe me, you don't wanna know.  


Anyhoo, this week has really brought home to me the fact that we'll have weather to contend with that we're not accustomed to here in the sunny south.  I bought a boot tray and mat for the front door a few days ago at Target.  I've got a feeling that both will be getting some serious use.