Bodiam Castle

There is the slightest hint of spring in England lately. It is no longer pitch dark at 4:30 pm; color has reappeared in the form of tiny yellow daffodils popping up; the sun came out a few times. To take advantage of the good(ish) weather, and to get out of the house after a long, especially tough week, we drove an hour and a half to Bodiam Castle in Kent.

Add caption

Feeding the ducks. Ducks intimidate me, so here I am showing the duck I mean no harm and hoping it won't peck at me.

The castle was so picturesque--the ideal medieval castle complete with moat and drawbridge. Isn't Penny so cute?

Esmé is also cute!

The ruins

At the top of the tower.

The well

Sweet Penny!

Eating lunch in the cafe.

A Celebration of Roo

Episode VII from Annie Phillips on Vimeo.

I made this slideshow for Roo's birthday. (Not directed by JJ Abrams.)

Nice Pants

In England, these are not pants:

These are pants:

So when an American says, "I like your pants." An English person hears, "I like your underwear."

(You can guess where this is going.)

A few days ago, I stopped by the dry cleaners. I was standing inside the shop, and it was tiny. So tiny there was only enough floor space for myself and the man behind the counter. The girls waited outside the door in a shopping cart (this place is outside the grocery store), and I propped the door open so they could see me. Yes, this place was tiny, indeed.

I told the man I was here to pick up my dry cleaning. He asked for my name and I gave it to him. That was the extent of our conversation; he was somewhat terse and avoided eye contact as if to say he was ashamed of working in such a tiny shop. I didn't judge him, though. So to fill the empty air, I conversed with Esmé outside the door. She asked what we were doing, and I loudly replied, "We're picking up daddy's pants."

I instantly remembered the many times I'd been laughed at by my English friends for calling "trousers" "pants," so I glanced quickly at the man behind the counter to gauge his reaction. Nothing. Or at least he made no sign of being either appalled or amused at my misspeak. But just to cover myself, I said awkwardly to no one in particular, "Er, trousers."

I suppose that man has heard of some people dry cleaning their underwear, he's probably just not used to them yelling about it to their kids in the street.

At least I corrected myself. Usually I don't even think about it, which would explain why the Young Woman at church yesterday didn't quite know how to respond when I asked her if she knew how to hem her pants.

Slim Pickins

Today I read this quote by Isabel Allende on someone else's blog: Give, give, give--what is the point of having experience, knowledge or talent if I don't give it away? Of having stories if I don't tell them to others? 

Roo keeps telling me to blog more; but, to be honest, the month of January has only offered meager scraps of stories to tell from the Phillips household. Regardless, let me give, give, give what I can conjure.


One time a couple weeks ago it snowed, which, if you live here, that's a big deal. They sent us home from church early. There were about three inches of snow accumulated on the grass. The end.

Once upon a time, we built a fire in our fireplace; not so much to keep us warm, but because I like to poke and prod and mess with the flames. (This isn't as much a story as a mundane fact.) The end.

One time last week, Esmé threw up in the bathtub. The details are gory, so I will spare you. (No picture will accompany this story.) The end.

There was once a game on our ipad where you get to build your own gingerbread man. And one day, Esmé built a gingerbread man who looked just like Prince. The end.

See what I mean? The pickins are pretty slim...

What a Mother Sees

Lunch for two - Esmé's is on the right, mine is on the left. A mother sees the potential in the heart-shaped crust.

The bed as a form of entertainment. Also, the best rubber band wrists ever.

My best hair dressing skills on display.

A good way to get some mommy relaxing time.

A baby who won't be a baby for much longer.

Two girls who don't realize how lucky they are to have each other.

Beauty

Other Holiday Adventures

We spent the week after Christmas going on a few more adventures.

First, to Leeds Castle:

I did not take this picture because it was not even remotely sunny on the day we were there. And I don't have a helicopter. However, I wanted to provide a shot of the castle in all its glory. It was too rainy, cold, and wet the day we were there to snap many good pictures. This castle is alright. I think a lot of its appeal is in its grounds, which were expansive, but very, very wet with lots of dead trees. In the summer, I'm sure it is fantastic.

I think we were all quite keen on seeing some good old fashioned torture chambers and dungeons; however, this castle mostly had old lady furniture and tapestries. Its was okay, but we would like to have seen some dank, dark prison cells, too.

This is how impressed Penny was.

 

 

On New Year's Eve, we drove out to Chawton, the village where Jane Austen lived for the last part of her life and wrote, or finished, most of her novels. Roo and I had been here before years ago, but visiting the second time was even more interesting for me.  I find the lady intriguing.

This isn't Jane's actual piano, but it is like one she would have played. I felt very accomplished whilst playing it.

Roo and Penny by Jane's bed.

The kitchen where I was hoping to be imbued with Jane Austen-type brilliance. Didn't happen.  But I did gain a new-found appreciation for her, and after reading her biography last week, I have an even newer new-found appreciation for her. (That is a sentence Jane would be proud of, right?)

After Jane's house, we stopped at the pub where supposedly the Austen brothers used to drink. They had really yummy food. My mom could have written a novel just about how much she loved her Winter Pie. We were refreshed for our long journey home.

That night we stayed up to ring in the New Year by watching Return of the Jedi, then Pride and Prejudice. While I am admittedly a Jane Austen fan, I don't recommend Pride and Prejudice (the 6 hour version) to help you stay up until midnight. Big Ben and the fireworks woke me up just in time to pretend I wasn't dozing through Mr. Collins' proposal.

New Year's Day was the one clear and sunny day of the whole two weeks. It was gorgeous, so we drove down to Arundel, our favorite castle. It is breathtaking. We couldn't go inside, but walked around the quaint town for a while and visited the cathedral.

Boxing Day on Salisbury Plain

Here are some photos of our outing to Stonehenge on Boxing Day. It was about an 1.5 hour drive and thankfully the weather held long enough for us to take a walk around the perimeter of the stones, though it was very, very cold and surprisingly crowded.

Esmé was really impressed with the "Big Rocks" as she calls them. But we were freezing and hungry so we hurried another 20 minutes into Salisbury. We ate a yummy Italian lunch then walked through town to the cathedral. Salisbury cathedral boasts the tallest spire in England. It was impressive. These massive churches always take my breath away. We also stopped by the house where some scenes from Sense and Sensibility we filmed. Of course we had to watch the movie when we got home.

We made it back to the car just in time for the rain to come pouring down. It didn't stop for the two hours it took to get home. It was a long, wet excursion, but we saw a lot of amazing countryside and we were all duly impressed.