Do You Know These Men??

Our "new" place, is a late Victorian home, built in 1882 according to the landlord.  Current landlord is the fourth owner of the house.  He and his partner (a lot of people just have partners, and don't get married, even if they have kids together--very common) lived here for awhile, then started to rent it out.  Reportedly, when they purchased it in 2002, it was pretty overgrown, and needed some attention.  They gave it some, then started to rent it out.  It had been sitting vacant nearly a year before we came on the scene to rent it.  They were going to completely re-do it, but we asked them not to.  If they re-did it all, they of course could ask for a higher rent, and we have three children, who would not fully appreciate the work that went into the home.  I still question if they appreciate the piece of history they are living in.  Probably not.  Probably just a place to hang their hat.

We were doing some investigation prior to moving in, as to who built the house, etc.  We did some, but then the urgency of packing, and taking our summer holiday, and our annual trip to the US took precedence, and we took a break from our investigations.  A house of this age accumulates a lot of things, and landlord was good about removing most of it.  However, there were some pictures that were all wrapped up left in the cellars.  We asked if we could use them to hang onto the walls.  The answer was yes, so we dragged them up, and this is what we found:

Plaster around frame is crumbling:(  Paint also seems to be disintegrating



That's a bit of mildew on the bottom of the frame.  Seems these portraits have just been in the dampness too long.

The first portrait is 44/45 inches x 38inches, the second is 49 x 42 inch.  They are proper portraits.   We'd love to hang them up--in the front hall, or in the drawing room, or anywhere really.  But.  When we opened them up, the frame on the first is beginning to crumble, and the second had some mildew on it that's not the most attractive.  They both have seen better days.  It makes you wonder who the portraits are of.  No identification on either portrait.  We'll probably hang them up in the cellar.  Its pretty dark down there, so the light won't harm them.  As far as dampness, I think those pictures have been in the cellars for awhile, and I don't think the coverings around the portraits were protecting them from the dampness any longer.  If anything, they were holding the dampness TO the portraits, and not letting them breathe.  Some year....(when?? not sure...) we'd like to have a haunted house in this house, so we can have people go into the cellars, where these old portraits will be hanging, and freak people out.

The books in front of portrait number one the landlord recently brought over.  There are three tubs of the books.  The oldest books are from 1866, but most of the books are from 1904-1907 (the first owner of the book wrote his name and year in them), and then several more from the 1940's, from someone I am assuming is his daughter.  I'll have to investigate when I've got a chance, but first, probably should unpack all the boxes from the move......

If anyone has any ideas about the portraits, please send them my way.
Thanks for reading!

Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

Although living in the UK seems, on the surface at least, pretty similar to living in the US, there are differences.  The language (a popular saying here is that the US and UK are divided by a common language) and some of the customs, but also some of the flora and fauna, as illustrated below.

Before we moved into our current house, we needed to "camp out" for a day there.  The internet/phone (yes, we still have a landline!) needed to be hooked up, and based on G's experience when he first moved here, as he moved over the pond first, it takes a few calls before things get done.  The kids and I came to the new place for our camp out, to wait for the internet man, who was to arrive between and 8 and 2. (Someone show up at 8am here?  That'll be the day.  Everything, and I mean everything, starts at 9 am.  From schools, to coffeeshops, to service hours at various shops, to earliest Mass times, etc.  Things just start at 9 here.  G and I joke that's its island time.)  And we needed to be prepared to sit all day, as if the man arrives at the end of our window, he may go over the allotted time.  I received a phone call at 10, saying our internet couldn't be hooked up, but our phone guy might still show. (I'm not real savvy on computers, but isn't it all the same lines??)  They just looked and figured out that there was no way our internet could be hooked up that day, due to something in the wiring.  Rather than looking at this ahead of time to avoid inconveniencing the customer, they look at it the day of the appt.  The woman who phoned me wasn't sure if our phone guy would still show up, so I was to stay put.  The phone guy did show up, and said he'd do my internet too.  (Really??)  After putzing around forever, he couldn't get internet on my ipad.  Sometimes, he told me, it goes on after he's gone-it may be 24 hours.  (Really?? Not likely, but ok, you're the professional.)  Needless to say, no internet after 24 hours.  I scheduled a second appt (the next available appt was 3 weeks later), with another 6 hour window, and at that appt, it was ready in 5 minutes.

It was during one of those camp out sessions, that the kids discovered a hedgehog hiding in the bushes.  I've never seen a hedgehog before.  That was August.  G reported seeing one last week or last month or so.  This morning, I happened to glance out the window, to see one scurrying about, so I tried to grab the camera quick, but man, those things move fast.  It was just wobbling around, and finally disappeared into the trees.  The pictures are kinda rough, but document it anyway.

Profile of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

Foraging

 The kids know I like Beatrix Potter, and always seem to name animals encountered after the characters in her books.  We had a lot of Peter Rabbits at our last place (TONS!!), but haven't seen so many here.  We had Jeremy Fisher (frog) in the cellar here for awhile (can you believe we have a cellar--most modern UK houses don't have basements), and we have MANY Squirrel Nutkins here (look out the window at any given time and there'll be at least 3-5 squirrels running around), and now we have Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, the hedgehog.

As you can see, autumn (not fall) is upon us here, with the days getting shorter.  Sunrise this morning was 737 am.

That's all for today.  Don't forget to comment, if you are still reading this blog!


Baseball Tournament

Baseball

Just a real quick post---J was in a bb tourney last weekend (which is a post in itself, as bb is an American pastime, not a UK one....but I digress....).  We've recently moved (yet another post), and the house has NO closets.  So, what's an American family to do, but go to IKEA and buy many wardrobes.  Those of you unfamiliar with IKEA, its a lot of cheaper, flatpack furnishing store.  It has literally everything, from kitchens and baths, to soft furnishings.... 

We purchased eight wardrobes to house our family's clothing.  (One wardrobe is smaller than half a closet, so it sounds much worse than it is.)  They were delivered, sans doors (apparently there was a big run on our style of doors, so they were all out).  I just wanted the things assembled so we could get rid of some of the boxes holding our clothing, and we could move a bit more. 

We are still a victim of scheduling, and J had a baseball tournament for two full days, so needless to say, not a lot of wardrobe assembly going on, and they needed two people to assemble. 

But--just wanted to post some of the pics from the weekend of baseball.  J pitched--look for the gold socks.

Day 1:  https://www.flickr.com/gp/125989603@N05/Cs9r7U/

Day 2:  https://www.flickr.com/gp/125989603@N05/8v88np/




Will have to post more---results of the monumental Scotland vote--75% voter turn out, first days of school, new schools for 2 of the 3 kids, etc.

Hoping everyone is doing well.  We had a good time when we were home.  Thanks to all for your warm hospitality.

Gorge Walking

LATE ENTRY
Here in the UK they're big on going on what they call residentials, which are school-sponsored trips away from home for various amounts of time.  Last year, N went on one for 2 or 3 nights about 45 minutes from home.  This year, W went ?2 hours away for 4 nights.  Even when we first moved here, J had a "team-building" excursion that was overnight.  A good introduction to his would-be classmates, for sure.

They are also big on school trips.  At the end of June, N went on a gorge walking trip from 9-5.  Here's a youtube clip of it. 

 And here's the link to it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8zCz1vqzIE

[Disclaimer:  I'm not sure if it'll work or not.  If it doesn't, just go to YouTube.  The video is entitled "Y3 Gorge Walk Day".]

Our N is in a red hat, with a royal blue poncho, and dark blue trousers.  There's a good pic of N and his mates about 0:21 seconds into the video, before they got soaked.  He's actually in quite a few bits of the video, little stinker!

OK, back to work, and packing!!!

Pancake Day!!!!

Today is the day before Ash Wednesday.  We are Catholic, and when I was growing up, it was just "the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday", AKA Tuesday, like any other Tuesday.  As I aged and encountered more people of other faiths (I went to a Catholic grade school), I learned other faiths called it Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday, reportedly).

Last year, at the younger two kids' school, I recall the Headmistress saying something about Pancake Day, and saying we all had to have pancakes for tea (what they call supper for kids, btw), etc.  Yesterday, W came home and said we had to have pancakes for tea, as tomorrow would be Shrove Tuesday.

Today, I'm listening to the radio, and they're having a pancake party with relays (where you flip a pancake), pancake tossing race, and more.

What's the deal??  According to Wikipedia, Fat Tuesday is known as Pancake Day in the UK and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.  I've heard of the Polish Paczki, and having them on Fat Tuesday, but this pancake thing is unique.  (Of course, it stems from a way to rid the household of milk, eggs, and sugar, to enable the family to eat more simple foods during the Lenten season.  OK, that makes sense, but I just think Europeans in general like their pastries.)

I read more about it on the Wikipedia page--Parliament gets into the act by having a contest between the House of Lords and the House of Commons on Pancake Day.  You can read more about Pancake Day on Wikipedia here.  Who knew it was such a big deal??  Will you have Pancakes for tea today??

Happy New Year

Earl's Court
Just wanted to get something out on the blog, as I haven't posted of late.  Just a brief entry before I need to do the afternoon school run.

Before Christmas, we went to London so see the stage adaptaion of The Snowman, by Raymond Briggs.  Probably would've went nearer Chester, but with London and the West End so close, why not see a show there?  And, as long as you're buying a train ticket to London, might as well stay there a couple of days.  So, we went to London for a few nights just prior to Christmas, and it was real nice to get away with the Christmas season always so crazy.  Nice to spend some time together as a family.

Entering the tube station

Somehow, whenever we go to London as a family, we always end up staying in the Earl's Court area.  When we visited in '99, we stayed near here, and in the times we've been here since, we've always stayed near Earl's Court.  The hotels are cheap, but relatively clean, neighborhood safe, and near the tube.  Certainly not glamour, and no frills for sure, but clean and safe.  We usually stay at the same hotel, but we tried a different one, and had luck.

Will have to post more later, but a lot going on in several areas right now, and just wanted to get a posting in.

Let me know if you've difficulty getting this by email, or otherwise.  Since we've used the computer in Spain, it's cranky.  It knows when you log in somewhere else, and gets confused, I think.

Hope everyone's doing well in the New Year!  Keep reading!