Country Drive

 May 27, 2013

Well we decided on both. I fell asleep holding the baby, so we both had a little snooze. Then Angie got up and ran me to the Costa Coffee just down the street. Where I finally got WI-FI to update a few things and have a nice long skype chat with my mom. I realized in all of that, and the drama that was going on at home, that I was glad to have left it. Sorry everyone, but I needed a break, as does everyone.

Anyway, a couple hours later, and I had updated my blog and such, and then I decided to wander the center of Letchworth Garden City. They have a nice independent book store that I could not resist the urge to poke my head into. It also held a little record/CD section and café, which were nice additions to the shelves and shelves of books. You would think that since I work at OLD FIREHOUSE BOOKS in Fort Collins that I would be sick of books and book store….nope. I take on each new little store with great excitement, tempted by the beauty of bound pages, sucked in by the smell of glue and ink, it is really an addiction at this point.

At 6pm Angie had come to pick me up and save me from a walk in the rain and wind. To my wonderful surprise, Kristian had looked up gluten-free chippies for me and been successful in his search. The place was called Cox’s and was very close to the town center. Friday nights are traditional chippy nights for this part of the world, so it was perfect timing! Angie and Kristian and Mae are full vegetarians and don’t cheat like I do with fish and seafood, but they enjoy chippy dinners of bean burgers and spring rolls and chips (French Fries) and mushy peas. So, we ordered a feast of food from the little place, that held a line out the door (always a good sign). I got a massive slab of cod battered in gluten-free batter, a huge plate of chips, and a trial serving of mushy peas.

The fish was amazing! It was fresh, greasy, crunchy and salty. It was perfection in fried fish. I ate the whole slab in no time at all and scarfed down my chips too. In trying mushy peas, which look a little odd, I found a tasty side dish that was an awful lot like split pea soup. I loved this dinner, and may just have to go back before I leave to get another massive slab of deep-fried fish.

On a full belly I went to bed ecstatic that I actually got to have fish and chips in England, food allergies can really limit the amount of fun you have, so having an option like that really makes travelling a treat.

On Saturday I watched Mae and Bonnie for a little while as Angie and Kristian ran a couple of errands. They returned, Angie and I went to the grocery store, then we arrived back home just in time to welcome over some of Angie and Kristian’s friends for the afternoon. Peach and Mark are British, but they lived in Alexandria, Egypt for quite some time because of Mark being able to teach art there. They have three children, one is 18 who I did not meet, but I did meet Neve who is 3 and Eli who is 5. Both of them were very sweet and happy children who along with Mae had all but a full fashion show throughout the day. They all decided to strip and change clothes at least four times through the afternoon. They were a lot of fun to be around, very polite and very darling. There is something about little children with British accents that is amusing me, I cannot explain it. Angie thinks it is because we sort of view the accent as so proper and old-fashioned that hearing it out of the mouth of a 3-year-old is humorous. I think she is right. We had homemade veggie pizza that night, and no I am not being good about the “no dairy” policy of my diet, cheese here is just so damn delicious!

Sunday or yesterday was a very busy and eventful day. The morning started with Angie getting her new refrigerator delivered, which is bigger than the old one and seems to be much nicer. Of course the European standard and size of fridges is still much smaller than the American idea. Which in reality since it uses less electricity and prevents people from buying too much food and then wasting it, I think it is a great design. Also, I am fond of the freezer on the bottom, keeping veggies at eye level so you don’t leave them to rot in the crisper.

Following the fridge we got the crew rounded up and headed to the countryside. Kristian drove us through a gob of small towns and places to show me old houses, churches and about 50 thatched cottages. Of course, I was ecstatic and then we arrived at Kristian’s parent’s house for brunch. Where about 15 people (including children) all gathered to eat, talk and have a great time. I got to see Kristian’s mum and dad again (Maureen and Paul), his sister Abby and three of her four kids, and meet another one of Mae’s cousin’s Freddy. I can’t hardly keep tabs of everyone, and their names but it was fun to see how well Mae gets on with the other children.

We ate a traditional English breakfast with beans, tomatoes, fried eggs, mushrooms and everyone else had either veggie sausage or bacon or the real thing. It was kind of second breakfast, since I had eaten at Angie and Kristian’s, but when on vacation and with friends I suppose it is fair to eat a bit more and more often especially when it was all so delicious.

Breakfast done I had a really nice chat over tea with some “cousin’s through marriage” of Maureen’s who had come up from Bath. I also talked to Auntie Kay who came with them, a very sweet, smart and witty 88 year old woman that reminded me and lead me to miss my grandma back in Colorado. She really enjoyed feeding Bonnie her bottle and snuggling the little thing, maternal instincts never seem to leave a person.

We hit the road again about 2pm, leaving Mae behind with the kids so they could go to the park. Then it was into the countryside again for more old buildings, rolling hills, and fancy old houses. We went to the Bennington Lordship Gardens, which offered great views and beautiful flowers along with a unique Georgian mansion with fascinating additions such as the mock ruins of a Norman castle. The location was close to Stevanage, one of the larger towns in Hertfordshire, the county I have been running around.

Thatched Cottage

We drove by a massive train bridge, a viaduct. And also by the home where the Queen’s Mum grew up in, probably illegally, but it was interesting to see where some royalty once lived. And finally the most fascinating little side trip was a little lane we took into the woods where we were confronted with an entire forest bed just covered in blue bells. Unlike anything I had ever seen the forest floor was just covered in blue. It felt like something from a fairy tale, and was truly surreal in its subtle and gracious beauty. There is a lot to be said about the natural beauty of things. So far that is likely the most amazing thing I have seen here; blue bells, a flower that grows in Colorado, a flower that is rather simple, but one that just blew me away with its location and how many actually grew there, simple beauty. Little things have the ability to awe you while you travel; through new eyes, the little things are so much more than you ever saw them before.

Blue Bell Forest

Oh and did I mention we of course had a pit stop about 3pm for a pint? Angie and I had cyder while Kristian had an IPA. There is something magical about drinking at a proper English pub, maybe I am just being a hokey tourist, but I love it.

About 6pm we made it back to Maureen and Paul’s to pick up Mae, but it also meant we stayed for a little while to talk and have tea. I analyzed and took photos of the garden…oh and let’s talk about THIS property, which is the most unique I have ever been in.

Okay so the property is first of all pretty much hidden by a lot of trees and a fence. Second of all they have a lot of green space for gardens, then they also just happen to have the remnants of an old windmill which is what the property used to be, a flour mill. They also have put in an enclosed and heated pool, along with numerous additions to their very unique house. The original part of the house is about 200 years old, with solid wood beams, and very short 5’10” ceilings in some rooms!

It is a little confusing but I will try and explain this place, which is a real kind of cut and paste project but so beautiful at the same time. Their main entrance now, or main area for company is their new addition of a kitchen/dining/family room. Which is very large and very welcoming, all done up in a modern look but very stylish and welcoming. It is one large open rectangle which is perfect for family gatherings, everyone has a seat and a place to eat. Now right off of the kitchen is an area that leads upstairs to a new guest bedroom and study for Paul. It feels a little like a loft. Then right at the bottom of the tiny stairs is hallway/romantic dining area. Instead of keeping their cold, dark, and spooky cellar they instead ripped out the ceiling and put in a little four person table. It looks fantastic on the old brick cellar and with a few fabric touches that look regal and fancy it is really the perfect romantic dinner nook. From there we reach the older parts of the house where one room is a bright green sitting room with a book nook and next to that is a cozy living room with a fireplace and television. Both of these rooms are very quiet and secluded from the rest of the house. Back to the green sitting room we walk another direction to find the front entrance, or what used to be, which is a nice hallway leading to all directions of the house. If you are coming to that door, a right turn takes you to the massive kitchen, Maureen’s study, the kid’s room, and the old kitchen. A left turn takes us upstairs to where the other bedrooms are. Two guest-like bedrooms and then the massive bedroom of Maureen and Paul’s which is about as big as my studio apartment was in Denver. They even have one closet that is literally a closet with a bathtub in it.

, I am probably forgetting something but this house is AMAZING. They really should give tours or something, rent it out as a B&B, because it is just so different than anywhere else I have visited. The cooler part is they did many renovations themselves and Maureen does all the decorating.

Back home failed attempts at skyping Ryan and an AMAZING pasta dinner later, I was in bed passed out.

Today is Monday! A bank holiday here, and Memorial Day back in Colorado. Today we are going to go see a few more historical things and have a “roast” for dinner. Which will include a vegetarian protein thing which is really good, potatoes and some other goodies. I’m really looking forward to it.

As far as how myself is doing. It hasn’t even been a week and I miss Ryan like crazy! I have been loving doing photography here, and having so much fun getting to learn about my family here. For instance I learned that blindness is a big problem in the Robinson side of the family, and that I should NEVER go bungee jumping, or the like because I might suffer from retinal detachment…very important things to know!

I am suffering some frustrations with finances though at the moment. I had plenty of money to get here and pay for food for my first week or so, but I also thought I would be getting my loans for the summer on the 20^th. Well the person that told me that was WRONG so I won’t get anything until next week. Which I guess I’m really lucky to be staying with family! But I am also sad that I won’t get to travel about in the United Kingdom while I am here, which makes me feel like I am disappointing my friends. I guess everything happens for a reason, and I am extra grateful to Angie and Kristian for taking me to do things. My advice is this, always double check when you will be getting your money, because some advisers can’t be trusted to know what they are talking about. Andrea F., if you are reading this, you know who messed me up too.

Sending everyone my love. xx

**I forgot on our drive through the country that we went by George Orwell's old house and that this area inspired him to write Animal Farm.

George Orwell lived here!

Foggy Travel and Jet Lag

Left May 20^th, from Denver

May 21st, 2013

First Day Fog

The plane ride was a bit miserable, turbulence 75% of the way from Denver to London on a packed British Airways flight, stuck by a grumpy and technology challenged older French couple. I don’t remember much of the flight except I got the window seat, and my neighbors elbow in my side most of the flight. He did not share the duel armrest. I remember drifting in and out of sleep a lot, due to turbulence and then being yelled at by a flight attendant over them not being able to see my seat belt. I add this on top of a very painful goodbye to my boyfriend and his daughter. I still get weepy thinking of the fact I have one day down and 71 to go before I get to feel his touch. Not that out of 365 days in the year this is a HUGE

May 22^nd

6:22 am

I passed out cold last night before finishing my blurb, but I think that now I am on schedule, beating jet-lags ass! We will see if I need a nap later today.

Anyway, still missing Ryan, and debating now if I should give him a call, I do not want to wake him, but my guess is he is still awake. What I was saying last night is that I am only spending a smaller fraction of the year away from him, and out of the year and a half we have lived together (roughly) it’s even smaller. Not to mention all of the days I plan on spending with him in the future…but longing still stings my eyes and my heart feels a little lost. I imagine he feels the same, except he is not the one on a life changing adventure, seeing things he has dreamed of forever. I feel awful about this. He is happy for me, but being left behind while your girlfriend gets to see the world has to be a shitty feeling. However when he speaks to me he seems to just be happy to hear my voice, and happy that I am having a good adventure. I love him dearly.

As far as adventures, besides an awful plane ride, I got through border control without much of a hitch, and I think I had the same guy who almost did not let me through last time. This time I seemed less suspicious, apparently. Through customs, grabbed my small checked bag, and headed for the tube. I rode the Piccadilly line for 45 minutes before arriving at Kings Cross Station. I found bag check, blew £17 (like $25!) to leave my bags for a couple of hours and hoofed it (only getting a little lost) to the British Museum. I immediately went to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and wrapped up with Medieval Europe, snapping photos all along the way. I LOVE walking amongst the gods.

Really, I saw all the items Britain has snitched from the rest of the world. This was my second visit and unlike the first I a) did not have time to look at everything and b) did not feel a desire to look at case after case. I found my favorite pieces instead, like I do at any museum I frequent. I see what I love the most, the pieces that move me every time I lay eyes on them, the ones I remember.

This time I also went to see the Lewis Chessmen, who was on tour three years ago. That was exciting and extremely rewarding. Such beautiful little pieces of walrus tusk, so detailed, and such a reflection of the art and culture that DID exist in the middle ages. People always assume how simple or boring things “used to be” but when you really begin exploring you see how much was there. Imagine our human condition not surviving without any art. I mean no design on sheets, no coloring books, no jewelry, not even a pretty wine label. Take away car design, and restaurant logos, oh and fonts, let us take the design away from them. The thing is that you would tear away at everything that we are, we would end up living in some kind of white box land, but in reality that too would be some form of art. We cannot live without it, and that reflects on every other civilization before us too.

I was in another museum the day I flew out, (big surprise me in another museum, I know, a shocker that one!) The Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and my boyfriend, his daughter and I wanted to see this mammoth and mastodon exhibition, and part of it linked the beasts to early humans. What was amazing though, was the little things they had, that were functional, such as a spear thrower, but it was carved like an animal. Or the little bone and ivory beads, or art carving. They were all found in France, they are all thousands and thousands of years old, yet they were art. Art, you see, has been with us from the beginning. It has taken various forms, and images, it has evolved as our ideas and cultures has, but it has always been there.

Which is pretty awesome.

So back at the British Museum, I kept getting distracted by exhibits, like the one on the….okay massive Anglo-Saxon hoard, that big ship they found with all the gold and statues and…okay it was awesome and I will look up the name and get back to you. Then there was the enlightenment gallery that sucked me in, and the room with the Easter Island statue. And Eventually I had to MAKE myself leave in order to go back to King’s Cross, see platform 9 ¾ which you now wait in line forever, have someone take your photo, pay £8 for said photo. I said screw it and just took a photo of the trolley, went to the little shop they now have, and was amused at their wand wall and a few little things, but I did not purchase anything, it was overpriced and limited selection so I left, knowing I had been there and that was good enough.

A train ride later, and I made it to Letchworth Garden City, where my cousin stood waiting for me, even though I had made the slightly later train. Hugs, threw the luggage in the car, back to her house, hugs and greetings from her husband Kristian, inside to meet the kiddos. Mae is 3, and Bonnie is 2 months. A quiet evening of potato eating, news watching, checking e-mail, chitchat and the moment I got into my futon bed, I was out until now.

I did call Ryan in the middle of this, he was asleep, damn it! But happy to hear from me none the less.

May 24, 2013

Being a student

So I got the lovely news on the 22^nd that I won’t receive any funds until the 27^th or later, which is irritating, since I was told I would have money on the 20^th, and that I could pay my program on the 25^th. I’m mad because this means I really can’t go see the older couple I wanted to in Diss, and I don’t want to borrow money, I got $100 from Ryan…so that’s a start. I feel a little like a mooch here, not that anyone is making me feel that way, but I haven’t bought a lot of groceries or anything. I guess I’m earning my keep, or trying to, by watching the kids and helping with them when I can. They’re a lot of fun really, and teaching me a lot about patience and love, and how much instinct I actually have for child rearing. Which is laughable, me the woman that said only a few years ago that NO I did not want children. Now I see maybe I have a knack for them and a calling to them. Yet again, how can anyone hate a baby or toddler?

Off of children and onto activities. Yesterday we took Mae to her “Puddle ducks Nursery” in Balldock, which was in this beautiful old house with a big yard, and a conservatory where the younger kids do lessons. Nursery, or as we call it Pre-School, is a lot of fun for Mae, and a way for her to meet other kids, learn new things, and give mom, Angie, a break during the day.

Besides the nursery the town was very quaint. It is just bursting at the seams with old houses and buildings, flowers and character. That sleepy little British town, cozy, welcoming and very beautiful. Angie and I spent a lot of the four hours Mae was at nursery to get tea and coffee at a little café that her sister in law works at. It was a unique experience, but reminded me of home and the tea houses and coffee shops I personally enjoy. It really comes down to habits, and sitting in a café with someone wonderful to visit with is one of my favorite things.

Back home for the afternoon and Mae went with me to the post office for stamps and postcards.

And that is about it.

We napped.

Angie and I have been talking about our family, she is my dad’s cousin after all, and the habits and things that are connected. I am learning a lot about a part of the family (Paternal Grandfather’s) that I really have not before. One can only enjoy solving  mysteries of such a kind.

Kristian, dad has been great to talk to as well in the evenings when he gets home from work. Last night I was explaining marijuana legalization and its effect on Colorado. Which lead me to realizing just how interesting it is to live there now with everything changing as it is. I think when I get home I want to do more research on the subject and interview people…Hey Collegian, can I have a job?

Today is Friday, and our plans to go to Hitchin were foiled by a very wet and long bout with rain today. Lots of rain. So we will try again next week. I am thinking of walking to the local coffee shop for some WIFI and something other than sitting around the house.

I did learn to make risotto today! Which was really exciting, Angie taught me some tricks and tips and the results were fantastic! Also, it only took maybe 45 minutes which was a real plus. And in the thick of learning to make risotto I tried Marmite for the first time, properly, and damn was it good! I hope to bring a jar to Italy for breakfasts there, since with my food allergies I have a feeling that I may have limited breakfast choices.

Watching baby Bonnie right now, her eyes are so blue, and she is so young and tiny, but she is so calm and happy, and easy. I thought newborns were little demon spawn, and maybe some are, but she is rather a bit of an angel. Also, I think it is fun to make her smile and make faces and watch how she explores her new, big world.

That’s all for now…now to decide…coffee or a nap?

Photographing the Ones You Love

My sister's ask for my photography skills on a regular basis, and I love to help! They're my baby sister's after all!

The great thing about photographing them is that you KNOW them, and you KNOW how to capture their unique sense of self. You KNOW the good angles, and how to get them to smile naturally and you know how to tell them to dress, or what back drops to use. Oh and since you KNOW them you can boss them, and tell them all of these things without much reserve. Unlike your client, who you can't tell them just what to do, you can try, but you may lose the client, and that is just a bad time for everyone.

Anyway, my more recent family-shoot was of my youngest sister, 18, and her boyfriend. They were taken on a FREEZING day at Civic Center Park in Denver, and the clothes were not fancy (BF is wearing athletic pants. O.o) but I really love the natural, and sweet results.


~Rebecca

Oh yeah...so I photographed a wedding

Hey blog people, as many of you know, I do photography on the side. I get paid form time to time, and get to do some awesome things along with it. This time I got to do a wedding! and a bridal shoot and almost a year ago I did the engagement shoot for the same couple! WAHOO!

However, as first weddings go, it was a BIG learning experience. Good or bad, I learned a lot and the next wedding, I have planned for August, I hope to be better than the one I did. Oh and the one in September, I expect to be better than the two previous. It sounds weird, but photography works on a lot of the same principles that go with school, or writing, or learning anything! Practice makes perfect, each new thing you get better, the more you do the better you get. So along those lines I learned a lot about how to improve what I am doing, being more definitive on where I am taking photos, being bossy, being nice, and working my ass off.

The couple I did the photography for I knew a little in high school and through mutual friends and living in the same college town post-high school I was asked to be their photographer! What an honor! I mean I did not have to push, weasel, shove or anything to get the job, I was asked!

Thank you Jennifer and William!


So here are some shots from the fun, feedback is welcome!

~Rebecca