&...the joy of small walls for walking and jumping.

Every afternoon the road in front of my house becomes a parking lot as Mums and Dads go on the daily school run. (This also happens in the morning, but to be honest, I'm not generally ready to let the world in that early in the morning.)

There is a small wall in front of my house. The wall is placed just outside my window where I sit at my desk for ninety percent of my life. It is made of bricks perhaps a foot and a half tall and encloses pavers because, heaven forbid, it would be too high maintenance for my landlords to take care of something living. The wall is the perfect size for short legs to jump on and over and walk along. Even shorter legs need a boost and a hand to keep balance. The sheer joy that can come from walking along a brick balance beam whether assisted or not is kind of miraculous.

My curmudgeonly self might get annoyed at the kid who feels that the success does not come until one jumps the wall precisely four dozen times, but it can't last for too long in the presence of such joy.

&...you like it.

Saturday was a glorious day. The chill and fog in the morning quickly burned off, to a brilliant spring day just beginning to burst at the seams. Perfect time to head to Stratford-upon-Avon ("upon" not "on"-- google maps was not friendly to Stratford-on-Avon).

 Anne Hathaway's house. From here we had a lovely walk into town.

 Stratford Trinity Church--Shakespeare's grave inside.

Prayer pillows.

William and Anne.

 Elijah and the priests of Baal above the Bard--my favorite Hebrew Bible story and biblical validation for sarcasm.

All of the painted and stained glass in the church are scenes from Christ's life except for these eight windows. A church docent seemed to be just waiting for me to ask about the windows (they are slowly in the process of replacing the painted windows with stained glass). These windows display the seven stages of man in 6+2 windows--Jacques's famous monologue from As You Like It--leading from birth to death. The docent then proceeded to give me the monologue in his booming brogue, "All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players..."  (Ok, technically not a brogue, but I liked the alliteration.)

Camera freaking out and overexposing EVERYTHING. (Anyone have an extra SLR on their hands?) Very frustrating, but thanks to the marvel of photo editing software some of the photos were salvageable, despite this looking a little more like fall colors rather than spring.

Shakespeare's home.

Apparently the Bard's bank.

Thanks to Suzy for the adventure. Later Heni taught us to make fabulous Hungarian Cabbage rolls. MMM. 
Fantastic day.

&....cooking is not an exact science.

Cooking is a bit of an adventure here. Even when they have what I want I just stare at all the options. I can sit in front of a shelf in the grocery store silently discussing with myself whether this brand or that brand might be best for a very long time--really I'm only a little particular. My mother thinks this might cure me of my food snobbery. Not likely.

Most dairy products are quite cheap here. One of my newest finds is 40p (forty pence) for a lovely round of fresh mozzarella (that would be 60 cents). O the things I can do with cheap fresh mozzarella. (None of you would even consider following pinterest directions to make your own were it this cheap in the states. Ok maybe I'd consider it if you could guarantee that I'd have P712 fresh mozzarella skills.) 

&...the magic of 40p. 

I tried to make pizza for the first time in England. While I'm waiting to be impressed by my oven's cookie baking skills, its pizza skills are entirely acceptable. I can make a quick batch of dough and freeze what I don't need (in my ever so large freezer--shoebox size--for real). 

With a little bit of fresh mozzarella yesterday I wanted bbq chicken pizza. Alas bbq sauce is one of those things that I am a snob about and good bbq sauce is not to be had in this country--and I'm not yet ready to try brown sauce. I decided to try Ina Garten's bbq sauce, well kind of. I'm not sure I could even find everything in England and I had no desire to go to the store. 

So Ina's ingredient list looks like this [my substitutions in brackets]:

1 1/2c chopped yellow onions

1T minced garlic

1/2c vegetable oil [or much less rice bran oil--which i love for cooking--no trans fats, high smoke level]

1c cider vinegar [or regular vinegar]

1c honey [or some sugar]

1/2c worcestershire [or Cholula--obviously the same thing]

1c Dijon mustard [or this wonderful grainy hot mustard from ikea]

1/2c soy sauce

1c hoisin sauce

2T chili powder [not the same thing in England therefore no chili powder]

1T ground cumin [a minuscule amount of the super powerful Indian kind]

1/2T crushed red pepper flakes [more]

My substitutions and varying amounts = lazy bbq sauce. Almost the same, right? The magical thing about bbq sauce is that it came together. All in all it was just my kind of cooking experiment. It ended so well, I can't be sure I'll try the real one next time.

Oh and I accidentally thawed turkey, so it was bbq turkey pizza.

&...mmm.

&...so begin the projects.

My brain functions better when I have projects...the writing has begun &...so begin the projects. 

I am a tad bit obsessive when it comes to feeling like a house is mine. With lots of blank walls and not a lot of cash to spend on things I'll basically have to get rid of when I leave, I needed ideas. Pinterest has been quite helpful. Britain has no proper craft stores, so I have to be somewhat creative. 


I will really consider myself a blogger if at some point I actually take multiple photos of the process.

I have scoured my local Price Buster (just down the block near the shops on Queens Road) for anything that might be useful. Price Buster has the most random and illogical group of things EVER--jock straps to pots and swedish chocolate (Maribou and Daim...mmm) and naan. They happened to have cheap canvas (£5 each) that were the perfect size to perfectly line up dozens of 4x6 white border photos--most from my Kauai, Peru, and Yellowstone trips this year. Canvas + basic white glue painted on with a brush + photos. Bonus: add a ruler to smooth out any air bubbles.

The next is likewise a Price Buster special. Fabric covered bulletin board with thumb tacks. £2.50 for the cheapest bulletin board ever (I'm not entirely sure that I'll be able to stick a pin in the same place twice) and £1 for the brass thumb tacks.

Free Bates.

&...I'm not entirely sure that this qualifies as a project, but a couple cheap Poundland frames (£1 each), a sheet of royal wrapping paper (£1), and a dry erase marker and I have a couple new to do lists. Poundland is another winner, but not much different than any dollar store at home (though I did get some useful ramekins there 3/£1).

A few more cheap canvases (£1 each) and 8x10 photos. I brought all the photos from home, I have yet to be impressed by the photo developing here.

&...this is where I actually used a canvas for what it was made for. 

I am no Rothko. 

I added "be still and know" to the bottom of the canvas just to clarify for you all that this isn't a Rothko. The absence of craft stores makes chip letters difficult, but an overabundance of cardboard after all the moving in enabled me to make my own and use a much better font. 

"Be still and know" may yet become my mantra. 

Without enough room for a coffee table, I was hoping to make an ottoman. I went to HomeBase for supplies, no such luck. I then went to B&Q (which is supposed to be just like Home Depot) alas, no luck. So my friend Suzy took me to her favorite second hand warehouse and I found this lovely little footstool (£5). (I took off the fringe before I thought to take a photo.) After taking out a ridiculous number of staples times five, it was ready to begin. The footstool coupled with my dumpster salvaged high density foam and Suzy's staple gun and I created a cute little tuft of a footstool. 

And the last pseudo project: an Ikea Grundtal bar (£6) for hanging necklaces.

&...just a jaunt to switzerland.

 &...one of the lovely things about being in england right now is that jeremy and rochelle are just a hop and a skip away in switzerland. they live just outside of baden, which is just outside of zurich. so after an hour and a half flight i was in switzerland. fantastic. 

i like this europe thing.

heaven and hell at the münster of bern.

rochelle and i first went to bern. it was an glorious sunny day that seems all the more miraculous as spring begins to break through.

beehives on the floor in the front of the nave.

it is switzerland, so obviously a plethora of clocks.

 chess.

 who wouldn't be freaked out by any fairy story that involved a child eating ogre?

friday night j&r made raclette. my first experience. bubbling swiss cheesey goodness over potatoes. 

saturday j&r and i drove to lake lucerne. 

and the mountains. 

o the mountains.

we took a gondola up the mountain at egg berge....we were well prepared for all the snow. 

&....no. not at all.

we were all wearing trainers...not so good for all the snow. nevertheless it was lovely. (i suppose as long as we don't count the grouchy swiss woman who yelled at us because we just wanted to buy one order of 9 franc french fries to share. she also wouldn't let us retract out order.) 

I am a bit surprised that we didn't burst into the johnson family favorite mountain hymn--"mountain biking, mountain biking"--sung to the tune of all creatures of our god and king. i am currently singing just thinking about those mountains. 

 up the gondola over lake lucerne.

the one in which i look like the short one.

bacon skis anyone?

  

and then on to luzern--lovely lucerne.

the swiss towns all look quite similar, but all amazing. waterways, vibrant colors, ubiquitous charm.

thorvaldsen's sad swiss lion.

j&r. 

from the back you'd never guess she's just a few weeks away from having new baby tiny, right?

sunday i experienced church in german and i became very grateful that i moved to a country where i can speak the language. i also realized that switzerland is the first place i've been to in the last several years where i couldn't speak the language. english and spanish have served me well in a number of different countries, but spanish not so helpful in switzerland. and living in germany until i was four does not make german seem any the less alien. 
&....so who wants to teach me german?

sunday afternoon jeremy and i went to augusta raurica...roman ruins near basel.

&...on to basel.

basel münster.

tinguely fountain.

woman at the well.

i just missed fastnacht and the freaky masks, but saw the confetti remnants everywhere.

sunday night we had fondue for dinner. more fabulous cheesy goodness. jeremy and i discovered the magical almost dessert--good bread, cheese fondue, and just a bit of chocolate. 

monday rochelle and i took the train to zurich. 

fraumünster and the most amazing chagall windows. this is the outside.

no photographs inside was very distressing, but alas uncharacteristically i heeded the rules.

grossmünster....zwingli's home church during the reformation.

the crypt.

charlamagne founded the first church on this spot in the 8th century. 

 

zurich train station.

all in all a fantastic trip. thanks to j&r for being lovely hosts. 

&...we watched season 2 of SHERLOCK. it seems i'm required to share my addiction every chance i get.

&...p.s. one day i'll try to learn how to do more interesting (or even) things with the photograph layout. obviously that day is not today. i am accepting any and all hints. thank you.


&...p.p.s. switzerland is an hour later. you would think that might mean i'm going to bed earlier. you'd be wrong. evidently i come home and begin to go to bed two to three hours later. this cannot continue.