Flowers and Food, Oct.21, 2013 - UK

I awoke cured this morning.  Evidently I was suffering from severe allergies and not a cold.  I read that it takes 48 hours for allergens to clear the body.  Like clockwork, today my head was clear and the sneezing and itchy eye were gone.  I still have pink eye in the left eye which can be caused by allergies as well as by bacterial infection.  

Today we went to Louise's.  Emily had the day off from work.  We drove over to a nice garden center/store for a look around. They had flowers and bird feeders and farm fresh foods and baked goods as well as furniture and kitchen and gift items.

After our browsing expedition, we went to lunch at our favorite local pub, The Crown.  I ate Bangers and Mash and a dessert of Steamed Sticky Toffee Pudding with Calvados ice cream, whipped cream, warm custard and English Walnuts.

Tomorrow we are off to Winchester to meet friends for lunch and maybe a quick tour of the cathedral later.  We haven't been there in ten years or so.

I awoke cured this morning.  Evidently I was suffering from severe allergies and not a cold.  I read that it takes 48 hours for allergens to clear the body.  Like clockwork, today my head was clear and the sneezing and itchy eye were gone.  I still have pink eye in the left eye which can be caused by allergies as well as by bacterial infection.  
Today we went to Louise's.  Emily had the day off from work.  We drove over to a nice garden center/store for a look around. They had flowers and bird feeders and farm fresh foods and baked goods as well as furniture and kitchen and gift items.
After our browsing expedition, we went to lunch at our favorite local pub, The Crown.  I ate Bangers and Mash and a dessert of Steamed Sticky Toffee Pudding with Calvados ice cream, whipped cream, warm custard and English Walnuts.
Tomorrow we are off to Winchester to meet friends for lunch and maybe a quick tour of the cathedral later.  We haven't been there in ten years or so.

Reporting In From UK

Sunday October 20, 2013

This is day three in England.  I've pretty much been feeling really lousy since we left Florida.  We drove a rental car from Sarasota to Miami, a trip of about 3.5 hours.  It's an easy trip, but ever so boring straight down I-75 and the across Alligator Alley through the Everglades and the Micosukee Indian Reservation.  Once we checked in at British Airways at about 4PM, we had lots of time to kill until our 8:45 PM flight.  John relaxed with a pint of Guinness and I had a Starbucks.  Security check, even though jam packed with tons of people, went surprisingly quickly and smoothly.

The flight to London departed on time at 8:45 PM.  I had chosen our seats online.  I picked a window seat for John and an aisle seat for me, in a gamble that the middle seat in this row of three seats would remain empty.  On these international flights fron Florida, business travelers aren't usually in economy so it's mostly families and not a lot of single travelers so I was betting the seat in the middle would remain empty.  I won the bet and we had tons of room with that empty space between us the entire flight.  Except for the eight foot tall German lady sitting in front of me who kept her seat back all the way to UK even during meals which she slept through, the flight was great.  Even though I normally don't drink alcohol, because I was in throes of this awful cold and really wanted to just sleep through the flight, as soon as we lifted off and the attendant came around with the drinks cart, I asked for two bottles of red wine.  John looked shocked. I drank them both (they were each 1 glass) and promptly went to sleep.  John awoke me for dinner.  It must have been the wine speaking, because  I chose the chicken curry for dinner rather than the lamb.  It was horrible and I didn't feel up to eating anyway so I promptly went back to sleep.  Eighteen hours after leaving our home we landed at Heathrow, five AM our time, ten AM BST.

We made it through immigration, baggage pick-up and customs, wended our way with baggage through terminal 5, out the doors, up an elevator in a parking garage, picked up our rental car, a nifty little VW Polo, and headed to Louise's.  We arrived there at 12:30.  After a decent cup of coffee and a sandwich, we sat around visiting with Louise, David and grandson Harry who had an early release day from school.  We left around 4PM for Janet and David's where we are staying.

Janet had given us her lovely bedroom with a big comfy king sized bed.  We visited with Janet and David.  Neither of us were hungry so declined dinner.  We forced ourselves to stay awake until 10PM so we wouldn't experience jet lag.  Thirty hours after leaving home we went to bed.

I awoke at 1:30AM, watched old episodes of Breaking Bad on the IPad until 4PM and then went back to sleep until 8AM, Saturday.  I felt horrible so sent John of alone to spend the day with Stuart and the children.  The children loved their new clothes, Aeropostale for Ella and Quicksilver for Ben.  I spent the day in my pjs, didn't even feel well enough to shower, and didn't eat.  Last night I forced myself to stay awake until 11PM.  I slept straight through until 9AM this morning, showered, had a piece of toast and coffee and feel mostly human, rather than one of the walking dead.

After lunch, we're heading off to a local garden center that I like.  I'm trying to find some more ceramic mushrooms like I have previously purchased for the garden.  The temperature is high fifties, rainy off and on, in summary, dreary and not the least bit Florida-ish.  

Sunday October 20, 2013
This is day three in England.  I've pretty much been feeling really lousy since we left Florida.  We drove a rental car from Sarasota to Miami, a trip of about 3.5 hours.  It's an easy trip, but ever so boring straight down I-75 and the across Alligator Alley through the Everglades and the Micosukee Indian Reservation.  Once we checked in at British Airways at about 4PM, we had lots of time to kill until our 8:45 PM flight.  John relaxed with a pint of Guinness and I had a Starbucks.  Security check, even though jam packed with tons of people, went surprisingly quickly and smoothly.
The flight to London departed on time at 8:45 PM.  I had chosen our seats online.  I picked a window seat for John and an aisle seat for me, in a gamble that the middle seat in this row of three seats would remain empty.  On these international flights fron Florida, business travelers aren't usually in economy so it's mostly families and not a lot of single travelers so I was betting the seat in the middle would remain empty.  I won the bet and we had tons of room with that empty space between us the entire flight.  Except for the eight foot tall German lady sitting in front of me who kept her seat back all the way to UK even during meals which she slept through, the flight was great.  Even though I normally don't drink alcohol, because I was in throes of this awful cold and really wanted to just sleep through the flight, as soon as we lifted off and the attendant came around with the drinks cart, I asked for two bottles of red wine.  John looked shocked. I drank them both (they were each 1 glass) and promptly went to sleep.  John awoke me for dinner.  It must have been the wine speaking, because  I chose the chicken curry for dinner rather than the lamb.  It was horrible and I didn't feel up to eating anyway so I promptly went back to sleep.  Eighteen hours after leaving our home we landed at Heathrow, five AM our time, ten AM BST.
We made it through immigration, baggage pick-up and customs, wended our way with baggage through terminal 5, out the doors, up an elevator in a parking garage, picked up our rental car, a nifty little VW Polo, and headed to Louise's.  We arrived there at 12:30.  After a decent cup of coffee and a sandwich, we sat around visiting with Louise, David and grandson Harry who had an early release day from school.  We left around 4PM for Janet and David's where we are staying.
Janet had given us her lovely bedroom with a big comfy king sized bed.  We visited with Janet and David.  Neither of us were hungry so declined dinner.  We forced ourselves to stay awake until 10PM so we wouldn't experience jet lag.  Thirty hours after leaving home we went to bed.
I awoke at 1:30AM, watched old episodes of Breaking Bad on the IPad until 4PM and then went back to sleep until 8AM, Saturday.  I felt horrible so sent John of alone to spend the day with Stuart and the children.  The children loved their new clothes, Aeropostale for Ella and Quicksilver for Ben.  I spent the day in my pjs, didn't even feel well enough to shower, and didn't eat.  Last night I forced myself to stay awake until 11PM.  I slept straight through until 9AM this morning, showered, had a piece of toast and coffee and feel mostly human, rather than one of the walking dead.After lunch, we're heading off to a local garden center that I like.  I'm trying to find some more ceramic mushrooms like I have previously purchased for the garden.  The temperature is high fifties, rainy off and on, in summary, dreary and not the least bit Florida-ish.  

Croissant Bread Pudding

Croissant Bread Pudding

Ingredients

•  
  • 3 extra-large whole eggs
  • 8 extra-large egg yolks
  • 4 cups heavy cream 
  • 1  cup whole milk
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar ( you can use splenda in place of the sugar in this recipe with no additional changes)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 6 large stale plain croissants, sliced open
  • 1 cup raisins or 1 cup dried cranberries or 1 cup dried apricot

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk together egg, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla.
3. Set aside.
4. Place bottom half of croissants in single layer in baking dish, add dried fruit, then place tops on.
5. Pour custard mixture over and push down so the croissants absorb the custard.
6. Let sit 10 minutes, then press again.
7. Place in water bath, cover with foil but poke holes so steam can escape.
8. Bake 45 minutes covered, then uncover and bake an additional 45 minutes.

Be Brave

Sometimes the most difficult thing for any of us to do is to just be true to ourselves. It sounds like such a simple thing, but it isn't. Think about the courage it takes to not be influenced by what others define as beauty, as grace, as acceptable language, as success, as popularity, as love. It takes guts to just "be", to love and nurture ourselves, to look within rather than without for validation. Just for today, practice being brave and loving yourself. If you get through today doing that...then do it again tomorrow.

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Let's Talk About the Weather Or Not...

It's Sunday afternoon.  I've spent a good part of this day making plane, ferry and hotel reservations.  I am in my pajamas.  It's either wear them or my bathing suit.  I mean really, what is the point of getting dressed at all if you're going to be in and out of the pool all day?  Here is today's five day weather forecast.  I don't know why anyone ever bothers with it.  It seldom varies from May until November.  We'll come home from the UK on November eighth.  Maybe we'll be able to open windows then.  I feel hermetically sealed in this house.

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 I don't know if you are familiar with author Anne Lamott. I love her writing and that surprises me somewhat.  She's a Christian and weaves religion into her essays and books.  Usually, I don't like that because it often feels dogmatic to me. Lots of times I find it downright offensive. 

I'm a Secular Humanist.  At the basis of Secular Humanism is the belief that "human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or a god. It does not, however, assume that humans are either inherently evil or innately good, nor does it present humans as being superior to nature. Rather, the humanist life stance emphasizes the unique responsibility facing humanity and the ethical consequences of human decisions. Fundamental to the concept of secular humanism is the strongly held viewpoint that ideology—be it religious or political—must be thoroughly examined by each individual and not simply accepted or rejected on faith. Along with this, an essential part of secular humanism is a continually adapting search for truth, primarily through science and philosophy. Many Humanists derive their moral codes from a philosophy of utilitarianism, ethical naturalism or evolutionary ethics, and some advocate a science of morality. "  Source:Wikipedia

Lamott writes often of Grace.  She uses the word God, but really gives me the feeling that God can be any moral compass we decide upon.  Secular Humanists don't say "God" but morally I am sure we all live by what others call The Ten Commandments.  I mean, those ten things are the basis for making sure our world continues to spin.  They are common sense defined.  Does it matter if they came from a burning bush or not? 

“It is unearned love--the love that goes before, that greets us on the way. It's the help you receive when you have no bright ideas left, when you are empty and desperate and have discovered that your best thinking and most charming charm have failed you. Grace is the light or electricity or juice or breeze that takes you from that isolated place and puts you with others who are as startled and embarrassed and eventually grateful as you are to be there.”
― Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

She says this, too.

“I smiled back at her. I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.”
― Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

That's some classic Anne Lamott.  Her Facebook page today was wonderful; or, at least I thought so.  I am leaving it here for you.  Take from it what you will.

My pastor said once, "It's not what you look AT; it's what you look with." And the other day, I firmly but
gently busted myself: I so often look at the world through mental glasses of what I realized is victimized superiority.

Yuck. God help me. These are the glasses I was issued at an early age by certain large adults I am not going to name, who lived at the same house as my brothers and ...I.

They felt, and taught, that our family was better than other families, because we had gorgeous classical and jazz on the hi-fi, and worshipped at church of Julia Child, and the New Yorker Holiness Temple. I knew how to unpack a New Yorker cartoon by the age of six. We knew enough to hike, and support the Sierra Club. My Uncle Rex famously rolled down his car window and shouter "Litterer!" at people in the early sixties who tossed stuff out the windows as they drove. Being a Litterer was right up there with being KKK, or the pre-curser of the modern Tea Party, the John Birch Society.

And oh my God, don't even get me started on the religious wackadoos, which is what I in fact accidentally grew up to be.

We were better than all of them, because of our values, which were obviously the correct values to hold. Otherwise, we would have had other values.

Yet, at the same time, everything was harder for us, because my father was a writer, and there was never quite enough money, and we lived in California, so the East Coast literary elite--the NY Times and New Yorker--did not pay nearly the same attention to west coast writers. He was published in the NY'er. And then, not. And then again. Then not: voila, life on the rat exercise wheel. ) And my dad had fought on Okinawa, but this could not be mentioned, because most of the fathers had been in WWII; because of our excellent values, you did not bring up horrific psychological wounds, like that my mother's father had worked on the docks in Liverpool and died when she was ten, because people of good character just got ON with things, and enjoyed good red wine and Julia Child recipes. (She was our JC. She was referred to as The Other Woman is my uncle and Aunt's marriage.)

So there were tiny, tiny unacknowledged issues and invisibly festering wounds in the family, which caused the OCCASIONAL over-serving of beverages, which lead to whispered clipped David Mamet fights, etc....and terrified children. Who were taught at the same time that this family was superior to the Christians, the Republicans, the litterers, and people who did not read excellent and esoteric books. Or hike. Or eat Major Grey chutney.

But the other morning, enraged about the shutdown, horrified by the madness of the Tea Party, and John Boo-Hoo Boehner's opportunistic caving in, and stunned by the realization that the entire world thinks that America has become mad as a hatter, I saw these words on the chalkboard of my mind: victimized superiority. And I instantly knew it was not a better way to capture the extreme right's condition, the Personhood position, the climate deniers, etc (although, YEAH! Them, too.)

I knew that this was me; adorable aging-hippie peacenik me; that as my pastor said, unhappiness and damage sprang from what I was looking with.

As a dear Catholic priest said 75 years ago, "Sometimes I think that Heaven is just a new pair of glasses."

Wow: i felt like I was being spritzed with a plant mister. It woke me up, spritzed me awake. The brilliant, erudite people in my family did not have the sense to ask themselves whether they wanted to be right--which we were--or happy and loved, which we pretended and seemed to be. The House doesn't have this sense, either.

But maybe WE can, today. So today all of THEM get to go on the talk shows, and be victimized, right, and self-righteous. But we can look at them, smile (just for today) and think Tick-tock, because truth and beauty and the constitution almost always win out in the end. The rest of can put on a new pair of glasses, and have the plainest silliest old day, which is what will make it holy. If you need us, some of us will be at work, and some will be picking up litter, and take bags of great food to the fiod pNtry's at our church, nd soe of us will be out in the garden, eating the most ordinary foods, crunchy brightly colored UN-sauced foods, the kind of stuff kids like, listening to the Beatles, and--okay, I'll admit it--lying on the couch, reading the Sunday Times.

Anne Lamott