Our Days in the UK

Spring has been around for awhile now. Last week we had a stretch of beautiful sunny days. Everyone assures us that was the totality of British summer. So we enjoyed it while it lasted. All the wildflowers are blooming everywhere in the village. They are so pretty, purples, whites, and yellows. All our trees are in bloom, and the hedgerows are bushy and full. (This makes driving on the narrow "two-way" streets here somewhat hazardous as you can't see anything around turns because of the hedgerows in full bloom...) We've been outside as much as possible. We climbed trees, and read outside. We planted pansies, and read outside. We picked bouquets of wildflowers. Is anything prettier than a wildflower bouquet picked by a child? If so, I haven't seen it! We mowed the lawn and then mowed it again. (I guess we had to move to England for the full American suburban experience.) And we hung about fifty loads of laundry o

All through the months of April and May the countryside around us has been splashed with patches of yellow. Wide swathes, actually. It really looks stunning, as you look out over a valley to see a patchwork quilt of different shades of green accentuated by these bright solid squares of yellow. It has just started to fade, so the flowers are in their waning days of flowering, I think. I finally discovered that the yellow fields were oilseed rape that is raised to make rapeseed oil. Why do they call it oilseed rape instead of rapeseed? I don't know. But that's what everyone I've talked to calls it. They call the oil rapeseed oil and the plant oilseed rape. It makes an oil like canola oil in the United States. Anyway, according to my friends here, I think there's some worry among the eco- and health-conscious that this rise of monoculture has environmental and health concerns. There is an awful lot of it! Maybe it's another example of Britain adoptin

We went exploring today. We have a sixteen-acre field next to our cottage that is usually home to some of our landlord's horses. But for the past two weeks it's been horse-less and open for walking and exploring. The same stream that runs along our garden goes through the field, and it's got a big hill that provides beautiful views of the village and valley. In fact, when we were browsing through the Lonely Planet Great Britain guide (we're planning a trip to Scotland) we found in the Cotswolds section a photo of our own house taken from the horse field. That photo was taken on a rare sunny day in England. Today was more typically cloudy, but we still got some pretty photos.  The kids especially liked exploring across an old bridge that went to a field on the other side of the stream. They did get attacked by some Velcro-y plants (at one point Becca was so stuck Justin had to actually pull her out!) And

Recognize those rocks? We decided we couldn't live only an hour and a half from Stonehenge any longer without making a visit to the iconic site. So we up and went this weekend. Honestly, sometimes the fact we're living here sinks in, and getting up one morning and deciding to drive to Stonehenge on a whim was one of those times. Such a good experience for the kids. Also, Stonehenge was worth it! It surpassed my expectations. I mean, I knew they were old, and that they were mysterious, and that they were hard to move. But being there really is a different experience than just seeing or hearing about them. Those rocks are really, really huge! And so old! When you are standing in their shadow (and I mean that figuratively, because due to the clouds, there were no actual shadows to be seen...) it's hard not to feel awed by them and to feel a sense of their mystery. There are a lot of good guesses about temples, religious ceremonies, a