Are we there yet?

Macbeth's photo sort of says it all...we are very tired. And this isn't the royal we either - the cats are sleeping almost all day, Macbeth will not give up his corner of the couch for anything or anybody, and if it wasn't for an obnoxious alarm clock I am fully capable of being the next Rip Van Winkle. Yup, we are very tired.

I would like to blame it all on the pack-out, the move, the MS, and/or the meds but in reality much of it is from just plain stubbornness. You see there are still boxes unchecked on my list of things to see and do while here in England. I am just too stubborn to accept that it is time to fold up the list and let it go (but, but, but....what about...just one more....)This week I joined and British American group on a trip to Lacock. It is a National Trust village that is used for many costume dramas like Jane Austin, historical movies like The Other Bolyen Girl, and Harry Potter! It is like hitting the trifecta!

For those HP fans you may recognize this hallway.....The cloisters also had some very interesting medieval tiles. Overall the lighting was great.

Yellow Egg Plums

First the good news...my copy of The Deathly Hallows finally arrived, though a bit worse for wear, on Friday night. I read it over the weekend! It was really good. It is my second favorite of the series (First is still the Order of the Phenoix.)

The photo is of the craft project I did with the kids at the library during the summer reading program. They each made their own broom-pencil. Quick, easy and inexpensive...oh ya, and the kids seemed to like them. Hits all the major points! (I found the directions on the net and apologize that I cannot remember where?!)

One of the things I love about living out in our village is all the fruit trees around us. We have several plum and apple trees. Growing up in New England I have no problem finding uses for the apples. the plums are a different story. I've never seen nor cooked with this type of yellow plum. My gardener called them "egg plums," which I googled and got very little. I used some to make a plum crunch this weekend. They smell wonderful when they are blanching. The crunch came out OK but how much of that can you eat! Does anyone know of any other recipies for this type of plum?

Life is pretty much back to normal here after the floods. We still have to boil water to wash the dishes and drink bottled water but after all we have been through that isn't such a big deal!

Today I am determined to get back to sewing. I'm putting together some backings to try and finish up a few projects. Boring but necessary. If I can finish those I may let mayself play with the red, white and blue cowgirl blocks!

London City Break

First, today has been so strange. To start with, I made M&M cookies. The recipe says it makes 2 dozen so naturally I doubled it (going to a picnic this afternoon.) As I packed the cooled cookies into the tin I counted them out....48 cookies. That has never happend to me before. I was fired from a job one summer off from university because I put too many chocolate chips into the chocolate chip cookies!

Anyway...more on all that later. First I want to catch up on our latest visit up to London. Just once I would like to see the city when the police aren't out patroling in bullet proof vests and carrying machine guns! We seem to have the worst timing on our trips. It was still a great trip though. the photo on the top is me in front of the underground near Big Ben. It rained nearly the entire time we were there so the photos are all dark and we both got colds!

Our first day we went on a Harry Potter walk. I had fun but my DH was sort of miserable. There were too many people on the walk so it was difficult at times to hear the wizard leading it. He did as good a job as you could under the circumstances. The photo was taken outside the "ministry of magic." Part of the problem may be the Harry Potter movie primier was that weekend. Hundreds of screaming HP fans in Leis. Square. I like the movies but am more of a fan of the books. If it were not for the crowds, rain and a grouchy DH I may have hung around. I'd rather hear J.K. talk about how she planned the books then see some teenage actors!

We went to see Caberet that night. A bit more racey and political on stage then the movie. It is a great production though. Because of the rain I ended up spending most of the next day in the V&A. I love that museum. Hours just disappear as you sit in the textile study room. It is very quiet and a bit dark - feels like you have gone back a centry or so. I spent most of my time on the samplers but did look through some medieval pieces as well.

What a great place for inspiration. Even walking though the corridors with the examples of metal gates I could see possibilities for quilting designs! I could feel my blood pressure drop as I sat looking at the new exhibit being unpacked (maybe because I wasn't doing the unpacking!)

Got to run. (ps. thanks to all the folks who sent me tips on the hand crank sewing machine...I'm going to try it this weekend!)