Just Because I miss it so....

Dejavu

I was walking to my car from the library yesterday.  Outside it was a bit grey and the weather was mild and it was raining, but in that way that is more of a mist of tiny dots of rain making everything wet but far from a sprinkle, even.  I closed my eyes in the middle of the parking lot and could imagine my walk in Milton Keynes from our house to Jocelyn's school.  The weather was the same, and it all flooded back to me.  I miss England.

Woburn Village Festival

This last weekend Jon took us to the Woburn Village Oyster Festival.  Mostly, so that I could have oysters.  He's so sweet that way.  It was pretty busy and in a little market town that I loved.  They had an amazing flea market set up, lots of games and rides for the kids, oysters, mussels, sausages, and music.  Joci had a great time dancing to the big band music.  She told me that she'd like to play the trumpet.  Joe actually tried mussels, Joci did too, but Joe truly liked them.  Nobody tried an oyster with me.  I found a gorgeous antique platter for the kitchen.  We all had fun.  It was a good time.

I promise, Jon was having fun, that's just his picture smile.

Joci and I tried on pretty, fancy hats.

I took this picture with my phone's camera that adds action shots together to make one shot.  Pretty cool,, huh?

September 7, 2013

This Is How We BBQ!

Seems like we have started a bit of a tradition here at the Hooge house.  For the last 3 years we have hosted a great BBQ for all our friends here in the UK. 

This year Jon made his famous pulled pork, 14 lbs of it!  10 lbs of traditional British sausages, grilled chicken legs, baked beans, coleslaw, and cornbread.  If you can believe it, it is ALL gone!  We had a bit of beans and coleslaw left over but everything else was devoured, which is a lovely testament to how good the food was.

Jon prepared a super scavenger hunt for the kids to keep them nice and busy and help the boredom stay at bay and then they later had a Xbox tournament. 

The best part, though, I think were the fireworks we set off after dusk.  Jon, Rik, and Phil had a blast (pun intended) lighting the fireworks, tripping over each other and, yes, perhaps one did land in a tree...just once.

It was a great time to be had by all.

One of 'my Ladies', Carol.  Always the joker and my fellow gardening guru.

One of 'my Ladies', Jo.  She has 4 kids and is always uber organized.

One of 'my Ladies', Helen.  She is the hostess with the mostess.  She helped and hosted my surprise birthday party with Jon.

My Ladies.  They make life here so much fun and without them I'd be lost!

Jo being a MAJOR goof.

Jo with her littlest cutie, Eva.

July 13, 2013

Jocelyn's Leaver's Prom

I admit it.  I have had a really hard time with Jocelyn moving up to junior school from infant school.  It seems like lately I have noticed more and more how much growing she has done.  She's no longer my baby, she's my little lady.  Joci is growing and maturing into a lovely young girl and my 'baby' is fading into the past.  When I see her with younger children she seems so grown up, yet, when I see her with the older kids, she's much more like them, than one of the 'littles'. 

As she's leaving her infant school, Joci's had lots of events to attend.  One of them was her 'Leaver's Prom'.  This year the PTA had decided to have nibbles and fizzy juice in plastic wine glasses, along with photos taken before the dancing.  We took her shopping for a special prom dress the week before and she and Daddy chose a pretty pink lace dress and asked me to put her hair up, special.

It's such a special time for her, she's growing up, and no matter how much I will miss that sweet baby girl, this new sprouting beauty is just as amazing and full of life and eagerness for the future.

Her hair turned out so pretty!

On our way to her prom...she was so excited!

Jocelyn with her awesome teacher.  She has been a Godsend for Jocelyn this year.  I will be so sad to move on from her.

I love this picture of Joci with her friends.

On cloud 9 after the prom, another milestone reached.

  July 4, 2013

A Spring Walk

A couple of weeks ago we went on a nice long walk down to the allotment.  It was one of the last days of our half term break and the only day that was sunny and not raining.  I love the pictures I was able to get of the kids, they were stoked to be out in the sunshine and fresh air.

My gorgeous girl loves to blow wishes all over our town.  We have probably added significantly to the weed population, but we don't care, you can't ever make too many wishes!

Love this picture of Joe.  So totally random and so him.

I love the way they are when they are chatting and getting along without my intervention.  

June 2013

The British Museum...

The British Museum is in London and is dedicated to human history and culture.  It was established in 1753.  Some of the items that it houses are of intense controversy, such as the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon.

I could easily spend two days in this almost religious temple of a place.  By the time we left to catch our train we were all exhausted and overwhelmed with all that we'd seen.  I  had taken hundreds of photos and my mind was swimming with just how many artifacts and collections they have there.  It's inspiring to know that this was all created so long ago by what must have been supreme artists working year upon year. 

If you ever get the chance, go.  It is worth it.  It is life changing.  You will be amazed.

Exterior of the British Museum

Love the interior of the Museum which was obviously outside at one point but now has this curved triad ceiling of glass that lends a beautiful glow to all beneath it.

 

A copy of the Rosetta Stone that you can touch.

Totem poles from British Columbia made of red cedar wood from about 1850.

 

Exquisite detail on this enormous pedestal that looked like an enormous bird bath.

Easter Island statue
Cult image, made between 11th and 17th centuries. Eighteenth century visitors including Captain Cook recorded the giant statues still standing, many destroyed. Surviving examples now re-erected on the island, a World Heritage site. This statue was collected by British survey ship HMS Topaze in 1868, presented to Queen Victoria by the lords of the admiralty, and by her to the museum.

quartzite statue of Amenhotep III, dating from c.1350 BC, was found in the massive mortuary temple of the pharaoh Amenhotep III on the West Bank of the River Nile at Thebes (the present-day settlement of Kom el-Hitan) in Egypt.

Part of the Egyptian exhibit.  It was enormous!

Head of Rameses
Egyptian, 1270BC. Presented by JL Burckhardt but taken from its site at Thebes by Giovanni Belzoni, a circus strongman turned professional antiquities hunter.

The actual Rosetta Stone.

The Crouching Venus is a Hellenistic model of Venus surprised at her bath. Venus crouches with her right knee close to the ground, turns her head to the right and, in most versions, reaches her right arm over to her left shoulder to cover her breasts.^[1] To judge by the number of copies that have been excavated on Roman sites in Italy and France, this variant on Venus seems to have been popular.

Parthenon marbles
Greek, 5th century BC. Bought from the Ottoman rulers of Greece, dismantled by Lord Elgin in 1799, and then recovered from a shipwreck in a hugely expensive operation which left him deeply in debt. Bought by the government for £35,000 and deposited 'in perpetuity' in the museum in 1816

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The Portland Vase

Perhaps from Rome, Italy, about AD 5-25

The most famous cameo-glass vessel from antiquity

September 2012