Unfaithful

22:40

I am a Starbucks fan, hook line and sinker. Hear me correctly, I am not crazy about coffee, but about Starbucks. I love the atmosphere, the feeling of familiarity you get when you walk inside and most of all I like how Starbucks are pretty much exactly the same anywhere in the world. My well travelled feet and taste buds appreciate a bit of routine sometimes.And yes, I do fall for there advertising that says I can have my drink my way. Perfect for a me-driven society!

It’s not just the drinks I like, but the merchandise. Every time we go to Starbucks, I spend a good 3-10 minutes looking at all of the pretty mugs they sell. [Yes, I do see all of the materialism going on in this post!!] I collect the mugs. More specifically I collect the mugs that say the names of different cities and countries that you can only get in those specific cities and countries. I may have more than twenty…… actually, I am pretty sure you can take out the may.

BUT here is my little confession, I was unfaithful today. Joe, being the wonderful husband that he is will take me for a Starbucks every time we go to Exeter because he knows I love it, and he loves me, so we go! Today though, he said ‘Oh, do you want to go to Boston Tea Party instead?’ and I said…. *gasp* ‘Yes’ ! But the more shocking and more shameful thing is that…. I actually liked it! Oh my… shock of all shocks… wonder of all wonders…. I was unfaithful to my faithful Starbucks. After all, what has St. Arbucks ever done to me, except take a lot of my time and money!?  Well… they did give me money for that brief while I was working for them… oh how can I ever look myself in the mirror again!?

Ok ok, a bit over the top.

I still like Starbucks, but perhaps there are other fish in the sea….

Pot Lucks: The Truth

16:29

Pot Lucks, commonly known in England as Bring and Share Lunches, are a bit like that cousin you haven’t seen since you were ten. The idea of seeing them is very exciting but as the time comes closer you remember that your cousin actually put sand in your hair or something annoying like that. (Not that I am talking about any of my actual cousins, just hypothesising you see)

I was once told that the ‘Pot’ stood for the pot you bring and the ‘Luck’ stands for luck that you will stay alive and not get ill.

My thoughts leading up to them are always something like ‘Oh… I hope everyone likes my dish…. what will this crowd like…. oh… oh…. dear” Not that I really get anxious about it, but just that I do think about it because the worst thing that could happen would be that when it is all done and I go to collect my dish I find that it is still full! Maybe some brave soul scraped a tiny bit off the top but then it is left untouched.  Or another horrible thing that could happen would be being on dish duty and finding your item left behind on everyone’s plate. Oh my. In that case you wouldn’t want to own up to making  that dish, but at the end, you must go collect it. You have no choice.  You need your Tupperware after all.

On the other hand, you could be the star of the show! Everyone could be ranting and raving saying to one another ‘Have you tried the shrimp puffs!? They are fab-u-lous!’  and ‘Who made these shrimp puffs!?’ and so on.  That is a proud moment for any aspiring Martha. It’s like being crowned the Queen (or King!) of the Pot Luck.. only shame is the crown is invisible.

Another scenario – you sit down with your plate full of nibbles of everyone elses food, next to, lets say Susan. You and Susan get to chatting and you eat some oh lets say  tuna salad. ‘Oh’ you say ‘This tuna salad isn’t the greatest, I wonder who brought this’ but as soon as the words come tumbling out of your mouth you wish you hadn’t said them because you realize it is in fact Susan’s tuna salad  Umm… quick! Change the subject! OR switch the roles and you are Susan and Susan is you, and YOU are the one being told that your tuna salad is not good!

Susan! How could you say such a thing! Wait… am I Susan or is Susan Susan?

Thankfully though at today’s Bring and Share, none of these things happened. We don’t have a Susan in CBC, and I am pretty sure Shrimp Puffs are a North American thing.  Just good for a chuckle. But like I said to a guy called Mark today ‘Jesus laughs at my jokes and sometimes other people do to.’

and, I like my cousins.

Big Day in History

9:35

February 3  1815 – The world’s first commercial cheese factory was established in Switzerland.

Yes, I think we should all celebrate by eating lots of cheese today! And going to Switzerland…….! Ok… the 2nd one is a little less possible I suppose.

side note- One time, a good swiss friend of mine was playing a game with my family. There were five of us so one needed to be nutral, an he said “I am Swiss…. I will be nutral” (that was on Dec 24th though, not Feb 3)- end side note

Also, 101 years later , on February 3  1916 – In Ottawa, Canada’s original parliament buildings burned down. Check it out.

Chicken Pot Pie

20:56

I have surprised myself lately.

I find, after years of believing the opposite I am actually not a terrible cook. I might even go as far as to say I am a good cook. Maybe I shouldn’t get to far ahead of myself though

Today I made Chicken Pot Pie. From scratch*. I even made the pastry. And, it was good! Only problem was that I didn’t pre boil the carrots so they were a bit crunchy. But, it was still good!! Mmmmm. When we have a house, we will invite lots of people over for dinner. YOU may be one of them!

*Chicken was leftover from Sunday Roast.

Nintey Eight and Counting

18:01

Today while on our regular Sunday afternoon walk Joe and I ran into the very woman who could be Chudleigh’s oldest resident.  This dear old woman told us she just celebrated her 98th birthday. Amazing. What’s more, she told us she goes out for a walk every day and enjoyed discovering new ways to go around the town.  Her shoes were very muddy, a sign that she does not just stick to the pavement!

“Keep going and get out” she said “When my body doesn’t co-operate I tell it to smarten up, and it does!”

Wow.

I can only imagine the things she has seen in her life time.

She is also very close to receiving a telegram from the Queen.   According to this website you also receive a telegram when you have been married  60 years! Only 57 to go….

Tu B’Shevat

21:20

Today is Tu B’shevat. What in the world is that!!?! Well to find out look at… this..at. (by clicking on that blue bit)

Buckingham Bound

23:26

Well… not quite Buckingham, but nearly.

We are heading to London tomorrow. First to Gatwick to pick up our good, nay GREAT, friend from Canada, lunch at Uncle Marty’s pub and then dropping our friend off at Luton, and then a little meeting with another friend and THEN to Gatwick again to pick up Joe’s Nan (not to be confused with his nanCY)  spend the night, see some grandparents and THEN to Heathrow to fetch some more friends to return them to Cornwall! Just missing Stanstead.

It’s all working swirling around us and working together… somehow.

Heehee, on a side note at Uncle Peter’s funeral, for some reason or another Joe was introduced to Uncle Peters hairdresser and the convo went like this…

Joe “So what do you think of my hair?”

Hairdresser “Oh, I have been admiring it all day…. it’s competition hair!”

most recently, it looks like this, Well, actually that was almost three months ago. I digress.

Back 2 Blogdom…

21:33

I didn’t mean to stop blogging, it just kind of well…. happened. Like you know when you realize it has been three weeks since you last did something you used to do everyday like showering or changing your socks.

Just pretend I went on some really exciting magical journey to the land of bloglessness and got carried away there. But here I am again back in Blogdom but sadly I didn’t take any photos or buy any post cards in bloglessness. Sorry about that….. if any of you out there are still reading this, wow, you are dedicatied! One gold star for you!

We have recently taken a trip to Southport which is ironically five hours North of here. Joe’s great Uncle Peter died. The funeral made me wish I had known him well.  Thats the sign of a good funeral. I also met some more of Joe’s family that I had not yet met.  That sentence may have been repetitive, but I am not a grammar queen so I can’t tell.

Maybe this post made you chuckle.

Expect more or less of my blogs in the near future.

Are you Smarter than a baby boomer?

15:08

The other day my father-in-law said ‘This is the first time in history where the older generation knows more than the current one’ he then very cheekily said ‘That makes me the pinnacle of humanity’. 

But, I have thought about that from time to time since he said it. We know less off hand, and without our computers we may be a little lost. If I don’t know how to spell things, well, I look them up on line. And many times instead of doing old fashioned things, like say reading a book or something like that, I just ask Mr. Google.*

BUT I do know things about computers… not how they work , but how to work them. My father-in-law is not a good example on that because he knows how to work a Mac…. but other people of the ‘previous generation’ do not.

So, who’s smarter? No one. It’s like comparing apples and oranges.

My kids might know how to fly.

*please note large paintbrush in my hand.

Spectacled

21:13

Two years ago I got glasses for them first time. I was an amature at picking them then, and quickly realized the repercussions of choosing frames I was not 100% happy with but had to live with because seeing clearly is nice. So, after just over two years of wearing them as Joe put it, my grace for them ran out.

So as a lovely Christmas gift, I got new ones!! This time I chose them much more carefully and opened the wallet a little wider knowing that I will wear them every day for about 2 years.

They even have little pink flowers on the arms!