suziebeezieland

daisy mint & gold class cinemas

First of all, if you are close to Pasadena, RUN (don't walk) to Daisy Mint.  (It's on Colorado close to Michael's.) Our friend Rich and my brother-in-law Stephen got us going on it.  It is our new favorite restaurant.  

OH MY GOODNESS, you have to get their green chicken curry.  It cannot be described with mere, mortal words.  Everyone I know who has eaten it just falls right over, it's so good.  Bob and I have both been craving it lately.  A lot. So we went last night.

I didn't get any photos because I was too busy eating enthusiastically.  But I'll take some next time. Maybe tomorrow. :D

We also got an order of Chicken Pad Thai, which used to always be my favorite Thai food until I tried the green chicken curry.  Or it might be "green curry with chicken," but it's one of those two things.  

Just remember the words green + curry + chicken.

You'll need to order extra rice, to sop up EVERY BIT OF the sauce.

And it's cheap!  Really cheap. They should raise their prices.

Then we went to the movies. Bob got a gift certificate to Gold Class Cinemas for his birthday in February, and we hadn't used it yet.  

Wowzers, that is one plush cinema

There are only four rows of seats.  We were in the front row, but it wasn't too close to the screen. It was perfect.  You don't even feel like anyone else is in there with you.  You sit in gigantic recliners that have a little table between them.

Here I am looking at the menu.

Can you see my feet? Up in the air? They're on the recliner's footstool part.  Hold on a second. Here.

They even give you a blanket if you want one.  I didn't ask, because I was afraid I'd fall asleep and miss the movie.

On the little table there is a button to page the butler waiter.  It's green before you hit it.

And then it's red after you hit it.

Of course, we had just filled up on Daisy Mint before the movie, so we just got some coffee and split an order of beignets.

We saw Salt.  I am not really an Angelina Jolie fan.  I guess you could call me a "well-wisher", in that I do not wish her any particular harm.  And I like it that she adopted all those kids.  But I don't really care what is going on with the Mr. and Mrs. Brad Pitts (that is to say, I don't follow the tabloids about them), and I don't rush to see her films.  

But I thoroughly enjoyed Salt. (Although it's very violent, I should mention, and therefore may not suit you.)  She did a good job.  And I just love spy stuff.

Boy, does Hollywood ever miss the Cold War.   So does the BBC.  We've been watching MI-5 (seasons 6 through 8) (also very violent) and those writers just ache for the cold, moody, whispery, intriguing world of Russia v. U.S.

So Salt is right smack in that genre, but I'm telling you, nobody does it better than John LeCarre.  And he doesn't resort to violence.  There is just lots of talking and thinking.  Lots of thinking.

But the thing is, these new spy screenwriters all want to be LeCarre so bad they can't stand it.  So if you haven't read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy yet like I have told you to a million times, quit ignoring me and read it and skip all the knock-offs.  

He practically invented Moscow Rules, and everyone has been chasing him ever since.

Here is Salt in action:

I couldn't take anymore photos during the movie because Bob was threatening to confiscate my phone if I did it again. :D

But here are the lights in the lounge area of the cinema where you wait before being seated.  It's kind of like an amusement park, where there are different stages of waiting.

So yay for date night!

christian faur

{all images from christian faur}

Have you seen Christian Faur's beautiful artwork made with crayons?

random worldwide introductions: canada + minnesota + michigan

It's time again for random worldwide introductions!

In the weeks ahead, we will be working our way around the globe in a somewhat random fashion :) and doing introductions in suziebeezieland.

Up today: Canada, Minnesota, and Michigan.  Whoo hoo!

If you visit suziebeezieland regularly and currently live in Canada, Minnesota, or Michigan, please take a moment to introduce yourself to us (whether you're a newbie or an oldie) by answering the following questions:

1.  What is your name? 

2.  What do you enjoy about where you live?

3.  How do you typically spend your days? (Do you work outside the home? Stay home? Go to school? What?)  How do you like to spend your free time?

4.  If you were coming over to my house for dinner and I was also inviting three other famous people to join us, living or dead, fictional or real, with whom would you want to dine?

5.  If you were coming over to my house to visit and could have anything to drink that you wanted, what would it be?

I'm excited to see your answers. :)

chickies

Hi, chickies.  I just wanted to tell you that I am responding to each individual comment on these "Random Worldwide Introduction" posts.  I am thoroughly enjoying them, and thank you so much for taking the time to answer.

It dawned on me that if I respond to them all at once, the sidebar under "recent comments" will just fill up with me, and you won't be able to see what other people are saying, which would be obnoxious of me.  So I'm trying to do a few each day, but will finish up responding on the California/Texas/Ohio comments before I post the next places.

All that to say, if you comment on these "Random Worldwide Introduction" posts, you can check back and there will be a response to your comment, eventually. :)

garden notes

This is the view out my kitchen window since the sunflowers at the side of the house bloomed.

I tie the tallest ones to the lattice with fishing line so that they don't fall over.

These terra cotta wine bottle plant nannies have been fabulous in the potted plants out the side in the sunny driveway this summer.  I also have one stuck into my biggest pot of impatiens out back. I got them at my local Armstrong Garden Center a couple months ago. They seem to be sold out everywhere now, but I've heard the supplier will have them back in stock at the end of August.  If you live somewhere hot and your plants need more than a daily water, or if you forget to water sometimes or are going on vacation, I really recommend them. (When they're instock they're available on Amazon.)  The clay keeps the roots moist.  I've seen other types that take two-liter soda bottles, but the green glass wine bottles don't look as ugly in the plants, I think.

These little tomatoes seem to ripen at a rate of two or three each day. I pick them and rinse them with the hose and eat them for a morning snack, because nobody else wants any. (Philistines.)  

They are so sweet and so good.

I bought this little house up at Cambria last year, and Claire and I planted Irish moss around it.  We have some more little accessories to add but haven't gotten around to it yet.  It's our fairy garden.

The morning glory seeds we planted in the spring have bloomed.  In the shade, they stay open well into the afternoon.  (I plant them in a pot, because they'll take over the garden if thrown around uncontained.)

And out front, the phlox have bloomed, too. They smell so good. They are my favorite part of the midsummer garden every single year.

windsor castle: a royal year

{This is a screen shot I took while I was watching the first DVD, so I could remember exactly what the East Terrace looks like. The brown rectangles are rose beds that bloom in the summer.  Prince Philip designed the current layout of this terrace, which is behind the Castle's private apartments.}

For months and months now, I have been charging ahead full force with my novel, and using every single bit of creative energy and free time I have trying to get it written.  I am a woman both determined and obsessed.  There are days when I feel like I am eating, sleeping, and breathing the British royal family . . . mostly my fictional one, but also the real one, because I want the details to ring true.

If you have any interest in such things, I'd recommend to you a documentary entitled Windsor Castle: A Royal Year.  It's the first-ever behind-the-scenes look at Windsor Castle, and is full of such very interesting details.  I rented both discs from Netflix.

Even if you are not enamored with the Windsors themselves, the details of castle life are quite fascinating. Did you know there are two complete dairy farms in the Home Park? (The Home Park is the Castle's "backyard."  It's a pretty big backyard.)

I also found out that St. George's Chapel at Windsor is what's known as a "royal peculiar" . . . a Church of England church not within a diocese.  Its only "boss" is the Queen. (And God, one would hope.)

The Royal Household comprises an entire community at Windsor, and there are all kinds of facilities for them especially, including the York Club, which is the hub of the staff's social life, and a bowling club, and a cricket field . . .  it was all so interesting to me.

I actually preferred the bonus disc to the official disc, because it is unscripted and more relaxed, and includes Camilla and Charles' wedding (it's fun to see Princes William and Harry throwing confetti on their dad's head and looking so happy), and some "cut" footage of Prince Philip's tour of Windsor Great Park.  

Philip has been the ranger of the Park for over fifty years, and knows it better than anyone ever has. And I found him to be quite likable. The older I get, the more determined I am not to accept the media's version of a person without doing some of my own investigation, if possible.  People are rarely the cartoons they are portrayed to be in the news.

the hollywood bowl

On Tuesday we went out to dinner and then to the Hollywood Bowl with some friends, and I was so excited to get out of the house after being cooped up for so long (I took my last dose of antibiotics today and I feel great) that I am worried I just talked the whole time in the car there and back.  

Bob assures me I did not, but it felt like I did.

Some kind friends graciously passed along some tickets to us and they were box seats, so that was super cool to be able to see things so clearly and have a chair with a back on it. The concert was played by the LA Philharmonic (the Bowl is their summer venue) and was called Magnificent Mozart.

The sisters who did a piano duet as part of the concert had really good, dramatic hair -- long and black and wavy -- and dramatic, flowing pantsuits -- one in red and one in purple -- and I thought, how fun to do piano duets with your sister for a living and have dramatic hair and dramatic pantsuits.

The music was also dramatic.  The duet the sisters played was Mozart's "Concerto for Two Pianos," which Mozart had played with his sister, Maria Anna.  He had written the music all down very carefully so that his sister knew exactly what to play, which is good for us today, because usually when Mozart played duets with people, he just sat down and started playing "whatever" (which you can do when you are a prodigy, apparently), and consequently we don't know what a lot of that "whatever" sounded like.  I bet it was really good whatever.

The conductor was wonderful! His name was Nicolas McGegan.  He seemed to absolutely love his job. He was joyful and you could tell he would be a great dancer.  

I am uneducated about music and don't know how to discuss it, but it was all pretty and I liked it a lot. Most of Mozart's music makes me think of somebody getting chased through a field, or running through a field chasing something.  Exciting.

I also love the Hollywood Bowl.  (If you are unfamiliar with the Hollywood Bowl, it is an amphitheater snuggled into the Hollywood Hills.)  The thing above the stage that makes it look like an alien ship is called "the shell."  The Hollywood Bowl originally opened in 1922, and has had a few different shells over the years.  

The shell that Frank Lloyd Wright built only lasted for 1928 because they didn't fold it up and put it away for the winter like they were supposed to.  I bet he was irritated.

The next shell lasted from 1929 until 2003, but apparently the acoustics weren't great.

The new shell was unveiled in 2004, and it's neat because now it has some video screens off to the sides so you can see close-ups of the performers during the show.  And people who know about such things say the acoustics are much better.  I take their word for it.

If I had been floating in the sky when I took the photo above, you would have seen the Hollywood Hills in the distance behind the stage, and the famous "Hollywood" sign.  

The "bowl" refers to the hillside that the theater is in, and it does feel like you are sitting in a bowl of music, surrounded by trees.  The air smelled good and the light was soft and the breeze was really calming and gentle (just cool enough for a sweater), and Mozart was chasing or being chased, and it was all perfect.

Are there any outdoor concert venues where you live? If you have been to the Hollywood Bowl, who have you heard perform there?

1930s bathroom

Baileys Home + Garden (alas, no relation), which is a British store I enjoy browsing online, sells a 1930s bathroom "kit" that contains the following items.

Not that I would order a new bathroom from England, but I thought it was fun.

I also liked the toilet brush stored in the terra cotta pot in the top photo. And you can just barely see a wicker basket (which I think must be full of pretend dirty towels) off to the side.  Cute, huh?  

It's kind of amusing to me that I am liking a 1930s bathroom online, because we have a 1930s bathroom in our house. 

Unfortunately, all the style of the 1930s has been removed from our bathroom over the years (thank you, early 1990s, for the gigantic beige plastic hot tub with jets), and only the inconvenience of having a bathroom counter at least five inches too low remains to remind us of a gentler, shorter era.

When I was growing up, my paternal grandparents had a pedestal sink with these same taps with the crisscross handles that had "hot" and "cold" on top, and so I think I may have some sentimental attachment to the style. (They also had an enameled clawfoot tub.)  

Bob always points out to me that washing your hands or face in a faucet with two taps is not terribly convenient because it will either be bracing or scalding, which is true, but I love how they look.  

And there you have our marriage in a nutshell: form v. function. Ha. :)

random worldwide introductions: california + texas + ohio

In the weeks ahead, we will be working our way around the globe in a somewhat random fashion :) and doing introductions in suziebeezieland.

Up today: California, Texas, and Ohio.  Whoo hoo!

If you visit suziebeezieland regularly and currently live in California or Texas or Ohio, please take a moment to introduce yourself to us (whether you're a newbie or an oldie) by answering the following questions:

1.  What is your name? 

2.  What do you enjoy about where you live?

3.  How do you typically spend your days? (Do you work outside the home? Stay home? Go to school? What?)  How do you like to spend your free time?

4.  If you were coming over to my house for dinner and I was also inviting three other famous people to join us, living or dead, fictional or real, with whom would you want to dine?

5.  If you were coming over to my house to visit and could have anything to drink that you wanted, what would it be?

I'm excited to see your answers. :)

your blogs

I like to keep the list of your blogs over there in the sidebar (over and down, under the recipes) kind of roughly indicative of who is currently visiting suziebeezieland and commenting. :)

Sometimes, if I'm on-the-ball and paying attention (maybe once a year) I will grab your blog URLs from your comments here and add you to the list, but for the most part I rely on you saying "hey, add me to the blog list."

If you consider yourself a suziebeezieland "regular" but don't see your blog over in the sidebar and would like it added, please just let me know in a comment on this post, and add your blog's URL.  

Also, if your blog is password-protected, I removed it from the blog list, but if you would like it added again and want to give us the password, just tell me and I'll put it back up. :)

hanging out in the front yard the week before last

the cotswolds: castle combe, bibury, & stow-on-the-wold

On Tuesday morning (April 6th) we boarded a Mad Max Tours tour bus in Bath and headed north for a day-long "Cotswold Discovery Tour."  The Cotswolds are a 25-by-90 mile chunk of Gloucestershire that has been designated an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" by the people in England who get to decide such things. (It seems like that would be a pretty fun job.)  

Although Bob and I are not currently interested in complete packaged vacations (although this may become attractive in our golden years when he can no longer drive and I can no longer read a map or provide helpful driving tips such as "Oops, we were supposed to exit back there"), we have had very good experiences taking half-day and daylong tours with reputable tour companies (we tend to follow Rick Steves' recommendations, and he has yet to lead us wrong), and so we try to work them into the itinerary when possible.  We end up seeing and learning things we'd never see or learn if left to our own devices.  

Each Mad Max driver is able to tailor the tours to his own liking, and we had a fantastic guide (Charles, who was knowledgeable, funny -- but always appropriate -- and thoroughly enjoyable) who had worked out a route that left Bath at 8:30 a.m. and took us through Castle Combe, Badminton, Malmesbury, Cirencester, Bibury, North Leach, Burton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Upper and Lower Slaughter, Tetbury, and got us back to Bath around 4:30 p.m. or thereabouts.

The first stop on our Cotswold Discovery Tour was a village named Castle Combe.  It is in Wiltshire and, depending on whom you talk to, is too far south to actually be in the Cotswolds. (I'll explain that in a bit.)  

It has been voted "The Prettiest Village in England" several times by whomever gets to decide that. (Maybe the same people choosing the "Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty".  Would that not be an awesomely fun job? Although I guess you'd make all the people in the left-out Areas of Outstanding Natural Ugliness and Non-Prettiest Villages in England angry at you.)

Whether or not Castle Combe is actually in the Cotswolds, it has all the characteristics of a typical Cotswold market town. Narrow streets (easy for herding sheep) lead into a central market square. Wool was a big industry in medieval England, and the best sheep came from the Cotswolds.  Money from the wealthy wool merchants helped build some of the most beautiful little churches (called "wool churches") and villages in England.

When cotton became popular and the Industrial Revolution happened (watch North and South), the coal to run the machines was up north in Lancashire and thereabouts, so industry moved north and the wool industry collapsed.  That was bad news for the Cotswolds at the time, but good news for tourists nowadays -- the area was preserved in a time warp, and the villages for the most part remain pristine.

That's Castle Combe's Market Cross, where trade happened. The cross on top was to remind tradesmen that God was watching them while they traded, and that they should follow ethical business practices, and not do things like use false weights and measures.

If you're going to have a proper village, you have to have an Inn.

You also have to have a church. 

While Bob and Claire investigated the inside of the church, I hung out in the churchyard.

I always get excited finding pretty architectural details.

So while we're sitting on the bus driving to the next town :) let me give you some general info about the Cotswolds. You should skip it if you don't like general information.

The northern and western edge of the Cotswolds is very clearly dilineated by a steep limestone escarpment (the "wolds" are a range of hills comprised of open country on this limestone base), but the eastern and southern boundaries are a bit more . . .  "fluid."  

The eastern boundary is typically considered to be the city of Oxford, but the southern boundary is hotly debated, because every little village north of Bath wants to be considered "a Cotswold village" -- it's great for tourism.  :)

People in Gloucestershire will assure you that if you're driving north from Bath, you don't really enter the Cotswolds until you enter Gloucestershire.  Other folks will say Malmesbury (a village in Wiltshire just south of Gloucestershire) is probably the Cotswolds' southernmost village.  The tourist industry in the south insists that the Cotswolds extend all the way south to Bath.

I could not help but notice that almost everything in England is hotly debated. (If you want to have some fun, ask anyone native to the Cotswolds "Hey, do you think fox hunting should have been banned?" and then find yourself a comfortable seat and a drink.) 

We drove through Badminton (home of the famous Badminton Horse Trials and the Duke of Beaufort, whom we saw out walking with his wife), Malmesbury (home of the Dyson vacuum cleaner), and Cirencester (home of Elizabeth Hurley and her organic farm) on our way to our next stop, the town of Bibury.

You will be pleased to hear that Bibury is solidly in Gloucestershire and solidly within "the Cotswolds". :)

Arlington Row, in Bibury, is probably the most famous (and photographed) row of cottages in England. Rumor has it that Henry Ford tried to buy the whole row of cottages to ship back to Michigan (but Bibury wouldn't let him, thank goodness), and William Morris called Bibury "the most beautiful village in England". (This term seems to be thrown about willy-nilly in the Cotswolds.  They're all really beautiful.)  

The cottages were built in 1380 as a monastic wool store, and were converted into homes for weavers in the seventeenth century.  We were told that they're now maintained by the National Trust and are low-income housing.

This paint color on the Arlington Row cottages is "National Trust Green," our tourguide Charles told us. :)    

Keeping in mind that the Cotswolds are sitting on top of a big old hunk of limestone, it's no surprise that thatched roofs in the Cotswolds are not the norm, although we did see a few.  The norm are these handmade stone slate roofs, made from . . . limestone. :)

The stone was mined from deep in the escarpment and then set out to freeze.  When it froze, it split along the natural "grain" of the stone, which helped the roofers in the process of making the shingles.  Freezing also helped make the slates watertight.  The huge eaves on the houses are because there weren't any rain gutters, so the eaves had to be long enough to throw the water clear of the homes.

I guess when you start expecting your blog readers to be interested in roofing tiles, it is time to change the subject. :)

Let's discuss walls, shall we?  You cannot go more than a mile or two anywhere in the Cotswolds without seeing a drystack stone wall. These are walls made without mortar, although you'll see some mortar here and there where a wall has tumbled down or a car has run into one or something and they've had to fix it. The vertical coping stones on top were to keep the sheep from jumping over the walls.

So that's sweet Bibury.  Then we got back on the bus and went through Northleach (the Wyvern Mystery was partly filmed here) and Bourton-on-the-Water ("the Venice of the Cotswolds", and reputedly lovely but terribly overrun with traffic and tourists, so Charles doesn't stop there because it's so crowded) on our way to Stow-on-the-Wold for lunch.

I'm telling you, EVERYTHING is hotly debated. :)

Several times on our trip when we visited these very old buildings, the restrooms were accessible by going back into a courtyard, and there were often the sweetest, sweetest hidden little gardens back there. So always check out the bathrooms. :)

I need to tell you that I could very easily and happily spend most of my life traipsing around outside old churches.  The insides I could usually skip, but the churchyards are always so interesting.

If I must ever remarry, I will put "Do you like to walk around old churchyards?" on my quality control questionnaire.

(I'm going to start saying wild stuff to reward anyone who is actually reading this entire post. Ha.)

Almost every little churchyard I visited had extra gravestones propped here and there. I wondered what the story was.  Did they fall over in a flood?  Gloucestershire had terrible floods in 2007 -- the worst on record -- and they continue to work hard to combat summer flooding.

Some of the still-standing stones are very tilty.

And this one looks pretty solid.

Well, I think I'll save the return trip home (Stow-on-the-Wold was our northernmost stop before we turned south to head back to Bath) for another post, because I have pushed my luck today by making you look at roofs, walls, and gravestones. :)  

Up next . . . Upper and Lower Slaughter and Tetbury. Whoo hoo! Stay tuned!

bath: pretty doors

I have managed to come down with pneumonia, and have therefore had quite a bit of time sitting around this week to finally sort through all these vacation photos and finally get them posted. 

I'm sorry if I have inundated you with England all at once. :)

I have some random, leftover photos of pretty doors (and a window and a gate and a sign) in Bath to show you.  I was charmed by all the light blue. 

"Market" is a cafe-bar-restaurant opposite the Theatre Royal.  I hope we can eat there next time we visit.  I just loved this simple, painted-on-the-wall sign, for some reason.

This door, which we just happened upon, had a surprise plaque that made me quite happy.

And this door, which I looked for purposefully, is at 25 Gay Street. Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra lived here the year after their father died, and their financial circumstances were reduced.  (They had no income of their own, but received about 460 pounds a year from their brothers.)  

Surprisingly, the plaque says nothing about its former inhabitants . . . it just lists the dental surgeons who work there now.

bath: the royal crescent and the circus

After our lovely time at the Jane Austen Centre, we walked up toward the Royal Crescent, which is a beautiful curve of thirty houses offering a really stunning example of Georgian architecture.  

It was designed by John Wood the Younger, an architect who also sometimes worked with his architect father, the renowned John Wood the Elder.  The Woods' incredible architecture around Bath has a whole lot to do with Bath's overall "look" and its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Some of the units are flats or office buildings, and unit Number One is a museum.  Some of the doorways are quite fancy and lovely, and some look a bit unkempt.

One of the prettier entryways belongs to the Royal Crescent Hotel.

I enjoyed seeing how different tenants had landscaped the small area out front.

bath: the river avon, the pulteney bridge, & the jane austen centre

On Monday (April 5), after our tour of the Roman Baths and Bath Abbey, we walked down toward the River Avon and had lunch.  

Here is a photo of Claire with her eyes closed, because it's the only picture I can find that shows the sweet ring of primroses and grassy area behind Bath Abbey (off camera to the right) on Orange Grove.  This was our view when we ate lunch at Garfunkels.  

It was while we were sitting in the sunroom at Garfunkels, eating lunch, that I looked out the window and saw Rob Pattinson and some people walking with him who I thought must be his handlers.  (If you look at the photo of Claire with her closed eyes, above, he was walking back where that black car was, going towards the Abbey.)

Even though he was pretty far away, I knew it was him because he had fluffy hair and black Circas and a plaid shirt and a jacket.

I told Bob, who for some reason doubted that it actually was Rob Pattinson, despite my certainty.  

A few minutes later, Rob appeared again, coming from the same direction he had come from previously. This time, he was wearing different clothes and was with different people.  

Then not ten minutes later, I saw him again, again coming from the river towards the Abbey in different clothes and with a different group.  He must have a large entourage.

Skeptical Bob had the audacity to ROLL HIS EYES and question not one, not two, but ALL THREE of my Rob Pattinson sightings, and was nervy enough to suggest that "perhaps a plaid shirt and fluffy hair is 'the look' right now."

I remain firm in my Rob sightings despite the fact that Rob was not in Bath at the time that I saw him. He's a vampire. I'm sure he can teleport.

After lunch, we followed the Grand Parade north along the river toward Pulteney Bridge.  

The next three photos are looking south towards the spire of St. John's as we leave Garfunkel's.  (We peeked south before we headed north.)  

You can see the Parade Gardens and the River Avon.   Our young, fun waiter at Wagamama, our favorite restaurant in Bath (and second-favorite restaurant on the entire trip to England, despite the fact that it's a chain -- here's the menu -- try the Chu Chee Chicken Curry) told us that it's fun to be in the park along the river in summertime, because there's live music in the evenings.

And now here we are heading north toward Pulteney Bridge and, more importantly, toward Cath Kidston. (Wait, did I say that out loud?)

bath: prior house, the roman baths, & bath abbey

On Monday, April 5, the day after Easter, we woke up ready to explore the city of Bath.

For our three nights in Bath, we stayed at Prior House, a bed-and-breakfast run by a lovely woman named Lynn Shearn.  We really liked Lynn, and would stay with her again in a heartbeat. It could have been awkward, staying in someone's home over a holiday weekend, but she and her visiting family made us feel welcome.

It was fun because Bob, Claire and I each had a single bed in a little room under the eaves on the top floor. :)

Here is my own bed one evening when I decided my disastrously messy suitcase needed some organizing.

Here is Claire snug in her bed at night.  It was so cozy. 

Monday morning, as I was saying, we headed out to explore.  Bath is very manageable on foot, and I was pleased at how easy it was to get everywhere as a pedestrian.  Anywhere we wanted to go, we could walk to.

The front gardens along Marlborough Lane and Upper Bristol Road are at eye level as you walk along the sidewalk, and all kinds of early spring flowers were blooming.

Here is a lawn full of grape hyacinth that I got excited about every single time we walked past it.

Here is a lawn full of violets and tiny daisies. So sweet.

Our first destination was the famous Roman Baths, which is a complex containing the the Roman baths (fed by a natural hot spring), the remains of the Temple of Aquae Sulis, and a museum of artifacts found at the site.

thelma & louise

I am still surprised at how I spent this afternoon.  

My friend Suzanne and I went to Speed Zone and raced cars.  

She is currently the only person in the universe who could have talked me into doing that.

We checked out all the options before we decided which events to drive in.  The drag racing was interesting to watch because the cars are so cool, but each race is very short, and there are no turns. Plus, the car is on a rail.  So we didn't do drag racing.

It cracked me up that the drag racing track is parallel to the actual freeway.

We decided to do the Grand Prix.  The track is curvy and the car is not sitting on a rail . . . you're actually driving the car.  Here is the official description of SpeedZone's Grand Prix:

Race against the clock. This racing venue is modeled after the Formula 1 and Indy Car racing circuits. The Grand Prix cars provide an exhilarating ride through tight turns. Making sure the car is ready for the next corner will help you run smoother and faster. The advanced driver can work on having correct weight transfer through the corners. Braking is done before the apex (middle) of the turn then accelerate as you exit the turn.

I was pretty nervous. That word "exhilarating" made me nervous, and so did the words "correct weight transfer" and "accelerate." 

I can't even drive a stick shift in real life. Did you know that? 

I was afraid I would run off the track, or would be the slowest person in the history of SpeedZone.  

I pulled my hair up in a rubberband, and noted all the other warnings.

I noted that Suzanne and I did not appear to be in SpeedZone's target demographic.

I noted the instructions.

I noted that Suzanne was in front of me, which made me happy because then I could see what she did, and do that.

Then I quit noting things, because zoom! we were off.

And do you know what? It was SO FUN! Oh, my goodness.

With the Grand Prix, you're not racing other cars . . . you just go one at a time , and try to beat your own time . . . and the cars are low and wide and you can turn really quickly without flipping over, and I could not believe how much fun it was.  I don't think I was going very fast because I slowed down at the turns because I'm chicken, but we went three laps, and it was seriously a blast.

I was pretty embarrassed when it was over and I had to try to get out of my seat gracefully, which was totally impossible.  Then I realized getting out of the seat at all may also have been totally impossible, but I sense that happens a lot (middle-aged women getting stuck inside their cars) because the employee guy came over and said, totally unfazed, "do you need a hand?"  Suzanne was also loyally there to help me out if needed.

I did manage to get out without having to grab anyone's hand, but it's not easy when you are (a) that low to the ground and (b) you are all squashed inside your seat.

I also did manage to flood the engine at the beginning of two out of my three Grand Prix races, because apparently you are not supposed to just floor it.  I always thought you were supposed to just floor it. But the guy straightened it out quickly with some little machine thing and a bored face expression, and then I was off again.

After our three exhilarating laps of Grand Prix, we decided to do Slick Tracks.  

Here is the official description of Slick Tracks:

Finely polished concrete surface allows up to 15 racers to maintain a stable four-wheel slide while the rear-powered slick tires spin wildly through each turn. For the fastest lap, don't make any unnecessary turns of the steering wheel. Smooth driving is the key, don't lose your momentum!

So with Slick Tracks, you're actually in there with other people racing. There were probably ten people in our race, and each race lasts for five minutes. It was a younger group, because Slick Tracks doesn't require a driver's license like Grand Prix did.

We watched the group in front of us race, and I was pretty sure I was going to be exactly like the teenaged girl in that group who spent most of the race spinning around and facing the wrong direction. At one point she was actually driving against the pack.  I saw her life flash before my eyes. 

When it was our turn to actually go, I was the first in line and this made me nervous because I couldn't watch Suzanne and see what she was doing and do that.  And I knew I would be slow and methodical rather than "slick," and people would want to pass me, and perhaps they would spin me around and I would be that girl.

But then I started driving and it was SO FUN! I was worried about braking causing me to spin out, so I just didn't brake at all.  

I totally get now why people get into this type of thing. 

I was a little embarrassed at the end of this race because this vehicle was even harder to get out of than the Grand Prix car, because it was lower.  I had this great idea to brace my foot against the end and push up that way, but I was actually bracing my foot on the gas pedal, which caused me to lurch forward quite violently and smack the car in front of me. Thankfully, nobody was in it.  

The in-charge guy gave me a dirty look, but I didn't care because I was successfully out of my seat.

It just feels so exciting, racing, and although I really do not believe I have a competitive bone in my body, I was strangely happy when Suzanne pointed out to me that she and I came in first and second in Slick Tracks!

That's us right there,#23 and #31.  

Take that, target demographic!

the forest of dean & the wye river valley:puzzlewood, chepstow castle, & tintern abbey

Claire (writing in her journal while we were in England):
Mom, how do you spell "etcetera"? Because we've seen a lot of stuff.

On perhaps our loveliest stuff-seeing day in England, which happened to be Easter Sunday, we woke up in our B&B in Bath well-rested and ready for a good day.

Although it was our first full day in Bath (we'd gotten in the evening before, met our charming hostess, settled, had dinner, and crashed), I had decided before we left the U.S. that I wanted to spend Easter out-of-doors, enjoying God's glorious creation.  We'd see Bath itself on Monday.

So on Easter morning we drove away from Bath, north and west -- across the Severn River, just cutting through Wales and then back into England, up to a lovely little place called Puzzlewood, just before Coleford, in the Forest of Dean.

I had drooled over Puzzlewood online before we left for England.  It is a privately owned ancient woodland full of a geological feature called "scowles," which are exposed limestone caves that were once underground but have become aboveground due to erosion over the course of many years.

It's not that I care about scowles, per se.  It's just that Puzzlewood looks super cool. :)

If there was one great and abiding disappointment in our entire trip (and truly, this was the only such thing the entire ten days we were there), it was that when I arrived at Puzzlewood, I discovered that although I'd brought my camera, I had managed to leave the battery pack recharging in an electrical outlet back in our room in Bath.  I was so sad.  It was such a glorious place, on such a beautiful day.  I wanted you to see it.

Also, we should have worn Wellies. Claire and I both ruined our shoes in the mud. But that was no biggy. The camera battery left behind, to me, that was the biggy.

Here is one photo from the Puzzlewood website that will give you a general idea of the place's beauty and interest.  (They have filmed episodes of Dr. Who and Merlin at Puzzlewood, if you've seen either of those shows.  And, most interesting of all to me, Puzzlewood is considered by many to be Tolkien's inspiration for the "look" of Middle Earth.  He grew up close by and visited the Forest of Dean frequently.)

{image from puzzlewood.net}

But I had my voice recorder with me, and talked a bit into it in hopes of remembering what we saw when we first got there. (There is a farmyard and a barn before you enter the forest.)  My voice is positively lilting on the recording, I'm so happy. :)

It's the most beautiful clear day.  It's all muddy from the rain yesterday, and there are fields of sweet little animals: two donkeys, shetland ponies, chickens, sheep, and all these excited children for Easter, and the Puzzlewood staff have twenty stuffed-animal bunnies hidden all over the place, and the kids can find the bunnies' names in a word search and get a prize afterwards.  It's just precious. We're getting ready to go into the woods.

The sheep were soay sheep, and there were also pygmy goats (I'm happy to read online that Alice the Pygmy Goat has since given birth to twins) and highland cattle.  Soay sheep, I learned from reading the information placards, shed their wool naturally.  It's very soft, and sought after for craft uses.  The sheep originated on the island of Soay in Scotland's Outer Hebrides.  Soay is an old Norse word meaning "Sheep Island."

Claire: It's very weathery here.

 

It was very weathery. But most of the weatheriness happened when we were sleeping at night, and so Easter Sunday, which was supposed to be miserable, was not miserable at all. It was clear and cool and gorgeous, with big fluffy white clouds (that looked nothing at all like Soay sheep) scooting across the sky. It was the best Easter morning I can remember in a long time.

We spent a couple muddy, really lovely hours at Puzzlewood traipsing around the forest (which is a manageable size and is very interesting and maze-y), and then had hot chocolate at the picnic benches in the farmyard.

Then, without any particular plan other than Seeing Something Pretty Outdoors, we hit the road.  We drove up to Coleford and had lunch, then headed south again.

On our way back through Chepstow (the bit in Wales), before we crossed the bridge back over the Severn, Bob had the presence of mind to do something spontaeous.  He saw a sign that said "Chepstow Castle" and underneath it, in Welsh, "Castell Cas-Gwent."

We could see the outline of the castle ruins.  It looked cool.

"Do you mind if we go see it?" he asked.

"Ooh, yes, let's," I said, because it was so nice to be outside, and in Wales, where every single sign is interesting, in both English and Welsh.

As it so happened, the Great Hall of Chepstow Castle is the oldest surviving stone fortification in Britain.

Go, Bob! :)

I bought the Chepstow Castle guidebook, and can tell you anything you want to know about the castle, and even more than you want to know. But mercifully, I will just give you a few highlights here.  :)

I am SO GLAD we stopped at Chepstow, because it set into sequence an entire afternoon of serendipitous fun.

As you can imagine, the castle was not packed with tourists on Easter morning, but there was an historical reenactment being put on by the Companions of the Forest Historical Reenactment Group.  And the gift shop sold disposable cameras! :) So I have some very mediocre photos (I do love the lurid vividness of Fuji film -- everyone is pink) from the rest of Easter Sunday, but still, they are photos.

I had my voice recorder with me, and took notes on some of what the reenactors told us:

Commoners started training at age seven to shoot a bow, and then practiced every holiday and every Sunday (they were too busy working the rest of the time to practice) to be competent by age twenty-one.  A competent bowman had to be able to shoot fifteen arrows in one minute.  The world record for shooting arrows in a minute is twenty-two.

Here are two Baileys standing in the lower bailey.

A bailey (in a castle) is an enclosed courtyard. Chepstow Castle has three baileys: lower, middle, and upper.

So do we. :)

Chepstow Castle sits on a big ridge of limestone overlooking the river Wye, and is probably the best place in Britain to see how the defensive capabilities of castles evolved in response to the growing sophistication of the attackers' weaponry.

 

suziebeezieland comments of the month

"My locker-mate in high school always came to school smelling like pancakes" (Cathy)

"Despite my aversion to Twilight and Edward Cullen, this evoked something akin to fondness for him." (Tricia)

"I would love one of these adorable little huts! Actually, I think I would like a run-down one to restore. Though I must confess, my first thought was 'where is the bathroom?'" (Tanya)

"I would like one of the chandeliers from Versailles in my hut." (Debbie H.)

"We are all kooky celts!" (Deb)

"After watching Wives and Daughters a really embarrassing number of times on our Netflix box, I read the novel over the winter. And was disappointed. There, I said it. Someone should be by to pick up my English diploma at any moment." (Missy K.)

"My husband comes in from work, takes one look at the kids and me watching [Pride and Prejudice] AGAIN, and just rolls his eyes. :) I am not sure if I should worry that my girls are getting a very unrealistic view of romance. :) Husbands are rarely "most ardently" in love with you on most days. I fear I am over-analyzing. :)" (Linda B.)

"i don't do 'light' cleaning very well because i usually find something along the way that requires some serious organization and suddenly the closet is empty and i can't get out of the room until the mess is cleaned up." (Nadine)

"Dean and I went to the gym the other day accidentally matching, wearing black bottoms and heather gray tops. I don't know if it is more sad that we were indeed matching, or that we were matching in gray." (Tanya)

breakfast

I don't really like cold cereal.  Bob and Claire cannot live without it, but my typical breakfast in the past twenty years or so has been a cup of coffee.  This isn't really a great breakfast.  

So I've been trying to reform.  Actually, I've been trying to revert.  My mom made great breakfasts for us when we were growing up, and I was a champion breakfast eater until left to my own (lazy) devices.  

I've been a lot happier about breakfast again since I have started eating what I actually want to eat, and quit trying to be an all-American cold cereal lover.  

I do not know why, but veggies sound good to me when I wake up. (With some eggs and some bread.)  I also get excited about a bagel with a slice of provolone or Muenster and a slice of tomato.

And in the winter, I really do like oatmeal or Cream of Wheat.  (I like Cream of Wheat with butter, sugar, and milk in it.  It's like eating cake batter for breakfast.)

I don't think it's a coincidence that about the time I quit being a good breakfast eater (c. 1995), I started gaining weight.

What do you like to eat for breakfast? (It's okay if you say "cold cereal."  You and Bob can be in a cold- cereal-loving club together. Weirdos.)