Another Month Past

The past month I have failed to carve out time to write what's been happening in the Boisvert household. Excuse the untidy mess of events as I try to reconstruct them for posterity now...

Lately life has been a little hectic but we've managed to do small trips as of late. At the start of April we ventured out to Knebworth House for a day. Home of the Lytton Family since 1490 it's chalked full of British Wonders to amuse you. Think MJ's Wonderland, a lot more tame, but still totally random. The house is a castle with turrets and iron windows. On the property there is a miniature railroad, wooden play fort, huge carnival slides, bouncy castle, playground, gardens, tea shop, deer herd, & most importantly life sized dinosaur statues. It was a fun day.

Spectacled Owl

UK Mother's Day- I'm fortunate that I get to celebrate both! For a treat, Josh and Olive took me to the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary. Free photo with Owl for every Mum. Here's mine snapped by Josh.

April was unseasonably sunny and dry- so we took a day at the beach in Felixstowe. Unfortunately it was a little windy, which took some of the fun of beach play. Never the less, Olive enjoyed her ride on the Merry-Go-Round with Josh.Olive said "It goes really fast! We can not stop it!"

 This months major time suck was moving & setting up a new home. Yes, we no longer live in The Old Pump House on Broomstick Corner. Now we live at Lensfield Lodge on Coach Lane. In mid-March our landlords informed us that the house was to go on the market. Three days later there was a sign in our front drive and us contacting the Realtor in search of a new house in the village (of which there were 2 options). As the Realtor said, our landlords were "naughty" in the way it went about since there are renters rights that were not honored. Luckily they were able to help us break our old contract early, get a "holiday let" on the current house (since the rent would have overlapped by a month and a half), and introduce us to the Button's who not only are our landlords, but new neighbors. It's a brand new build - so taking plastic off, vacuuming new carpet never-ending-lint, and the like are new phenomenons to us.

This new house is about a mile from where we used to live on the other side of the village. We're now a stone's throw from the Pub and a 1 minute walk to the shop/post office. We are at the heart of the village yet we can see the horses from the stud from our windows, cows, pheasant, 2 female quail, mallards who live next door, one random black cat, and Shirley, the 85 year old neighbor who claims Winston Churchill used to play in the house that she now resides in. Character abound in this side of Cheveley.

Olive is adjusting well to the move, however, she does miss the Jacuzzi. We had to have a camp out, BBQ, and hot tube night before we left the other house. She is however pleased to announce what color blankets the white horses (who live next door at Brooks Stud) are wearing daily.

With the Easter Holiday came several things. One was the Easter Bonnet Parade at O's school. A tradition here in the UK, kids (or their parents) make elaborate Easter Bonnets for the kids to wear and then show off while singing songs and reciting nursery rhymes. Of course, not having the experience or cultural background, Olive and I set out to make a hat. She picket the fabric, I sewed. We made adornments out of clay and paper and bits and bobs of every sort. The result was a techno-color monstrosity that she loved. Add in an "egg" necklace, bunny fur vest, and some ears and you get a stunning result. To say kindly, she did not look like a local!

After that was end of term break - three weeks off with a visit from my Cousin Andrew and Jen. A quick highlight tour of the best of the 15mile radius before they were off to Europe. Oma and Opa surprisingly caught a hop to be here for Easter week.They were treated to days out looking at sheep. dyeing eggs, trekking in gardens and the like.  Olive did have to shout down a rabbit hole to let the Easter Bunny know we had moved homes. There's a bunny network... they all talk and share information. Crucial helpers since the EB can't do it all everywhere... he's not Santa you know. On Easter morning we made it to Mass in "traditional" Boisvert fashion and left the same way at the Catholic Church in Cambridge. Had a lovely brunch hosted by Josh's club, and of course O found all the eggs and chocolate left by the EB minutes after she awoke.

As a family we also went to BeWildWood which is a magical amusement park- home of the Boggles and Twiggles. All based of a "Green" model, it is human powered fun. A large Ewok like tree house village to climb and explore, fast slides, zip lines, swings, maze, fairy houses, and the like were the fair. FUN. Dirt, sun, and a very tired Olive as a result. It was great to see her imagination take hold.

And lastly, The Royal Wedding. I've been sheltering/guiding/persuading Olive through her princess stage. We've done really well, mostly. Without help from us she can name and identify all Disney Princesses by hair color and dress. She also likes the stories. Luckily we've kept her from going off the commercial deep end of the princess marketing. At school, she hopes shes there early enough to get a hold of the Snow White dress before she has to wait a turn wearing it. (hurray, it's the peasant dress she adores rather than the sparkly ball gowned...Oma is whipping up a version of her Easter Dress to fit the bill!)  But at school, she also learned the excitement of the Royal Wedding. She came home and stated. "I want to watch the Royal Wedding!" and that, was that. Two hours of parades, service, and royals waving, she wasn't as impressed as she was lead to believe. Her biggest questions/concerns were:
-Why don't they have to wear seat belts in the car?
-The hats look like funny birds
-The Queen Mum has the best hat
-Why do they take a bus (asking about the lower ranked Royals)
-Bishop has BIG eyebrows
-A sister's job is to carry the dress
-The red carpet is just like when we saw Harry Potter!

A new months awaits.

The Daily Grind

Stop. Close your browser if you're hoping for tales of great adventures to far off places. Not this month. This month has been plagued with the day to day dealings of everyday life. For those interested in Housing woes, Emergency room visits, and the like, please indulge yourself and read on...

Where to start? Since there is no time line of recent trip photos to reference about the past month, I'll sum up in a semi-coherent list of how time has been spent in the Boisvert household.

Forward) feel silly, if not exceedingly selfish to poopoo any of the life grinding events in the midst of horrible life tragedies occurring in Japan & elsewhere in the world.


1) ER or should I say A&E visit

Last week O had her first visit to the Emergency room after a few hours of internal deliberation and phone calls to the NHS helpline. Apparently she had a serious allergic reaction to something undetermined. Angry welts, swollen fingers, and puffy lips topped the charts. She was in good humor in the A&E. Helpful with the doctors, and very alert for 1:30am. Papa, not so much when snoozing in the chair. So, now we are awaiting a time for allergy testing with a specialist down in Cambridge... although, we have our suspicions that it was the kiddy Advil we gave her for her cold. NHS, so far, has been stream lined and efficient, although, HIPPA HAHHAH... everyone knows everything. No secrets here from people in the waiting area!

2) Selling our house/Having to move

Did you know our landlords have put their house on the market? Yep, We're moving. After a tenuous two weeks, it seemingly is all working out BUT no papers have been signed yet. (positive thoughts entered here) Since the announcement and the appearance of the "dang-it" for Sale sign, I've been trying to distance myself from all the energy I've put into this place making it a home. Still working on not being bitter about all the hours cultivating and pruning the mismanaged plants out back. We really have no need for ALL the space we have now, but oh how I'll miss the garden. But our new potential landlords (who will also be our neighbors) seem very kind and helpful in keeping us in the village - To the extent of a month and a half free rent and storage in there garage. Despite loosing 1/3 space, Josh will have easier access to the pub, which literally, will be right across the street.

3) Horse population BOOM

Since we live in the horse capital of England- there are Colts and Foals EVERYWHERE! Olive is very keen on pointing them out. She's growing more confident petting the horses (although, I'm not sure if we're really allowed to do so) And, when she asks their names, I have to list off 2 - since the yearlings aren't named... they are a product of horse A +B. So their bridle will say something like "Mighty Wind/ Sparticus Giganum" or some other naming folly.

4) Entworks

I joined an Etsy team. One that's all about Green Crunchy Granola Type love which, fundamentally I know I want to be, but I'm too much of a realist to know I never will be so Liberal to the extreme. BUT I did get an interview if you'd like to check it out.

http://natural-kids.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-entworks.html

5) Brittish Accent- really?

Olive has developed a deligtful little Brittish accent. I know Josh talks with inflections he normally has not in the past. The other day while sitting amungst locals, I was told that I too had an accent "very pleasing & soft" but in the next breath "but still very American"


That is what is happening in our world. Olive and I are hoping to get back to the states (IN) once housing has been situated, After that- Switzerland? Camping in the Lake District? A cheep flight where Easy Jet can take us (and not into a civil war).

Until then, or at least later- US

Spring Nearly Here, Maybe

With hopes of warmer weather on the way, Olive and I took to the "local" garden center to collect what we needed to house and grow this years crop. After creating MY own yard exactly how I wanted at Hoadly, it's still a little difficult to carve out niches in my land lord's mature landscaping. I still miss my WA yard more than the house. So, it's containers with a patch of flinty soil to create my gardening opus for the year out of unheard of varieties of UK hybrids. New learning curve here I come.
Things to look forward to: round carrots, striped aubergine, and three crops of potatoes (they LOVE their potatoes here) Now if only the weather would warm up a smidgen I could get cracking. 

Scotland

Last weekend Josh was feeling the need for a third country to visit in three months, so we took a quick trip up to Edinburgh, Scotland. Hopped aboard an Easy Jet flight (more leg room & kid first boarding Yeah, more expensive Boo) and arrived to our hotel by 10am Friday morning. It was a lovely old family run hotel/B&B which offered us accommodation on the 3rd floor... a mere 70+ steps to the top.  The day was spent in the pouring rain exploring what the city had to offer. We walked through Old and New town, grabbed a sandwich from the Deacon's House Cafe, & took cover in the National  Museum. My favorite natural history wing was under construction, but, seeing it has been for the past 3 years, I didn't feel as slighted. Olive did enjoy the cannons, train, and various other historical tidbits (we'll I think she did, she really likes the idea of cannons now).

Using the Map to Find Our Way

After leaving the museum we did more walking about, looking at shops, and took a tea in a department store cafe which Josh, mistakenly, was told to visit. All gray haired ladies chatting away with us in the corner wondering how could THIS be the place to be... granite the recommendation did come from a 60 year old woman. After tea, a much need drying out and nap before dinner.  By the time we set off again, the wind was really blowing. So, of course we head to the top of Calton Hill for a twilight view of the city. See video below. Afterward, we spent a great deal of time looking for a local pub with decent food and would have Olive in... we settled on a restaurant.

Saturday we were off early up the Royal Mile to visit the Castle and luckly the weather was improving. We were able to see Parlement on the way from the hotel , a cemetery, and a few other notable sites.   Olive got to play dress up in a Scottish tartan, visited many a wool shop, and did more sight seeing.

 

That night we finally found a Pub that met our basic criteria (and wasn't showing the Scotland vs. France Rugby game) for a lovely meal. Josh got to have his whiskey and Haggis. Olive got to have her fish and chips. And got I sticky Chicken a Real Ale.  

Sunday was our last day in town and we went off to buy a souvenir or two. Got a lovely wool blanket from the mill (where Olive learned traditional Scottish Dancing), a long sought after bottle of whiskey, and shortbread cookies for the babe. The weather pushed us inside for a bit, and we looked around the National Gallery to see works by Poussin, Vermeer, and Degas (Os favorite, why?, ballerinas). The rest of the day was just winding down. Had a pub lunch, visited the Museum of Childhood, had a tea at a Clarina's Tea House (much better), and started walking back to grab our bags and catch the bus to the airport. A bit disappointed that we didn't know you could hike up the big craggy hill outside town, Holyrood Park, until our last hour in town. But that will leave us something to do next time we make it back to Edinburgh.

The Last 30 Days

Somewhere in the last 30 days we have:

Celebrated Josh's 35th  Met Indy Drivers & signed names on a Indy Car

 

Discovered Olive is a Hamster

Bought our 1st Antique 

Visited the largest Beer outlet in England

Gone to a "Zoo"

Walked Devils Dike

Went to National Trust sites : The Abbey Gardens & Wimpole Hall/Farm