Around here

There’s a distinct chill in the air and the season has changed.  I wandered out into the garden this morning in the hope of finding some indicators of the season, but it’s still green and leafy for now.

A few more cold nights and I think we’re going to see some rapid changes on our outlook, however.

We’ve had such a fun weekend; filled with good company and thought provoking and entertaining events, we enjoyed the sunny, sparky Cheltenham Literature Festival atmosphere over a couple of days.  We heard politicians, pundits and the writers themselves and each one of us now finds ourselves with a longer list of books to read than ever.

The logistics are never easy.  We always begin with a wishlist, as soon as the programme is announced and juggle the numerous events to accommodate preferences and time slots.  I sit by my computer on the day the tickets go on sale and do what I can to secure our first choices, though undoubtedly, adjustments have to be made.  This year, we did pretty well and found ourselves with a pretty full schedule for two days.

As if that wasn’t enough, we took in an opera at the cinema for good measure!

Tristan and Isolde was an interesting start to the season, though, with mixed reviews all round.  I maintain that it’s worth hanging in there with Wagner, nevertheless, for that magical moment which only works after several hours’ investment!

(I’m not sure that everyone agreed with me)

This morning, my Hero and I find ourselves in a quiet house.  Everyone’s gone home, the dust has settled and we are slowly getting back into our routine. 

There’s a definite “after the ball is over” feeling around here!

Working the grey matter

A beautiful day in Cheltenham, for our first visit to the Literature Festival.  If any of Mary’s group are reading, this is the scene in Imperial Gardens right now – a small village of marquees filled with activity.

The event we were heading for was taking place in Montpellier Gardens, a little further up the Promenade and also filled with a variety of venues for a rich and assorted programme of speakers, discussions and thought provoking debate.

We were there to hear Daniel Kehlmann and Saša Stanišić, two young German storytellers about whom we knew ( a ) little.  I had first heard Daniel talking about the book which brought him into the spotlight a few years ago – Measuring the World.  His gentle humour, characterisations and originality endeared him to me immediately and as soon as I spotted his name in the programme, I knew I wanted to learn more about his work.  I’ll admit to never having heard about Saša, but if he was writing in a similar vein, then he would add to the pleasure.  I bought two tickets and decided that my hero needed to come too

We prepared by listening again to the World Book Club programme which had sparked my interest and I heaved a sigh of relief that my hero instantly tuned into the same threads which drew me in.  He remembered me looking for Daniel’s books in Waterstones some months ago and decided that he too would like to read Measuring the World.  Perhaps he could get it for his Kindle?  A quick search on Amazon did the trick – bringing up a small message that he’d actually bought the book a couple of years ago

It proved a little more difficult to find much about Saša and though the Goethe Institute gave us some background, it wasn’t easy to find out more.  Still, we knew he’d be talking about his new book “Before the Feast” and I managed to find a short excerpt which gave us a bit of an idea where we were heading.

Fortified by a good lunch with friends and a bottle of claret (!) I feared the warm, dark atmosphere in “the Salon” would get the better of me but I needn’t have worried.  The wunderkinder held our attention throughout with a relaxed conversation about their work.  At times, I felt I was learning a little too much about Rosie Goldsmith, who chaired the discussion and (IMHO) spent much too long telling us why she felt qualified to be there.  Well, ok, but my hero hit the nail on the head when he remarked that she seemed to consider herself one of a trio rather than the facilitator of a duet.

But hey, we both left having enjoyed a satisfying discussion, we were equally charmed by both modern Germans and are looking forward to reading their books.  What a great way to spend the afternoon!

Normal life!

Back home again, life continues in a bit of a blur.  Catching up is always a bit of a challenge; getting back into the swing of things rather pleasing, in a funny kind of way.  I always come home eager to refresh and revitalise a house which has stood closed up for a couple of weeks, wanting to throw open the windows, get some air in the place and get it all shipshape again.

This time, I really couldn’t wait to open the windows, because once again, our (spare) freezer let us down.  Thankfully, it wasn’t the freezer in the kitchen, which has our main stockpile, but the fridge freezer downstairs in our storeroom, which failed earlier in the year when we were on our cruise.  As a result, it wasn’t jam-packed, thankfully.  But it did have one or two larger pieces of meat in there, plus a few other bits we’d put in there as our confidence in the repair man’s work grew.

And of course, it takes only one large joint of pork to defrost and …well, I’ll let you imagine.

Yuk.

The repairman is coming this morning and we’ll give it another try, but I’m loathe to put anything in it which I care about until hopefully, our confidence is (again) restored or, more likely, we replace it!

As we drove home along the M4, I’d listened to Pete Wilson’s Sunday programme on BBC Radio  Gloucestershire on my phone and once at home, was pleased to be able to listen again on a proper radio.  A couple of weeks ago, Marion and I met Pete at the Folk Museum in Gloucester, to talk about the WI Centenary exhibition.  Though I know Pete well enough to trust him to put together something good, nevertheless, there was that small niggle in the back of my mind that I might have said something daft, incomprehensible or simply been too relaxed to put on my best performance.  You know how it is.

Thankfully, the end result was respectable!  I think Marion and I gave a good account of ourselves and hopefully, our enthusiasm came through enough to tempt people to go along and see for themselves.  I believe it’ll be possible to listen again for the next four weeks if you missed it so far (but I don’t know if that link works outside the UK, sorry).

 

Not all surprises on our return were nasty ones, thank goodness.  One nice one was a box of goodies from Citrus Twist following an email conversation I’d had with their owner whilst we were away.  For several years now, I’ve subscribed to a monthly kit for my Project Life from Studio Calico, who have recently changed their policies in a way I didn’t care for.  As a result, I cancelled my sub and moved my allegiance.  I’m now going to have fun with some new and fresh designs and think that perhaps SC did me a favour

One thing we miss whilst we are away is the occasional chatter from Edward, updating us with what’s going on in the world of our government affairs professional.  A recent source of much delight has been the publication of one of his books in Kindle format, the more so since it has been so well received.  Edward has always been a writer and enjoyed creating alternative history scenarios since he was at school, but so far, has restricted his publishing to an online forum and a few self published books for family and friends.  However, a group of like minded writers have got together and created a collection of their work and have started to market it under the Sealion Press imprint, with great results.

OK.  I know, proud Mummy speaking here, but those rankings are pretty amazing, don’t you think?  (And not only did I not write the stonking 5* review, I didn’t pay anyone to write it either!)   Bravo Edward!

Today, I’m at home, hoping to catch up (and maybe finish?) my American Road Trip journal.  I really wanted to finish it before we overlaid those experience with Irish ones, but you know what happens to good intentions?  My only commitment this week was a meeting at Denman College yesterday, where as I sat chatting over lunch I caught sight of a(nother) familiar, friendly face.  Claire Muir was teaching her Beautiful Butterflies and of course, having caught up with the gossip, I had to go over and see what her class was up to.  Such things always make me want to come straight home and get my machine purring away…but must get those journals done first!

I’d already bumped into Janice, a GFWI colleague, who was honing her Jacobean embroidery skills in a class with Julie Walsby.  Sight of such things always reminds me of my C&G tutor’s comment regarding my own sub-optimal efforts at the technique: “not really your strong point, is it?”   Of course, Julie’s work is breathtaking and actually, that of her class pretty stunning too.

So, no time for mischief around here, then?  hmmm…

Back in the groove, I was mulling over the clothes I tried on in the Eileen Fisher store in Chicago and one item in particular stuck in my mind.  I kind of regretted not buying a long, sleeveless shirt kind of thing, thinking that it’d be ideal as another layer in this funny, chilly weather we’ve been having.  I went to look on the .uk website to see if it was available here but as I did, my eyes fell upon something else…

Now, the internet is a wonderful thing and yes, I could have bought this lovely boiled wool sleeveless coat immediately and had it delivered to me here at home – at a price.  But friends and honorary sisters are even better, especially when their plans for the day not only include passing an Eileen Fisher store but their travel plans include coming here in the next couple of weeks.  Time zones and suchlike meant that my late afternoon web surfing worked well with Mary’s early morning online reading and within hours, the deed was done.  My pocket money spent.

Yes, indeed, life is good.

With a working freezer, it will be even better

Water water everywhere

Last night, as we arrived back at the hotel, my hero received a flood alert on his phone.  Rather strange, because this was neither an SMS message nor an email, but appeared to be as a result of  some kind of warning system.  Mary got it too – but those of us on “the dark side” with an Android phone remained blissfully unaware.

The warning appeared again this morning, after another night of heavy rain and remains a mystery as to its origin or means of transmission.  We need to investigate!

We’d decided that, rather than spend the day mooching in Branson, we’d venture out and tick off one of the highlights of the Ozarks today, rather than leave it until tomorrow, as planned.  So after breakfast, we hit the road and headed northeast under leaden skies and extraordinarily low clouds.

As the morning wore on, things looked a little brighter.  It was certainly warm out there and a little patch of blue sky became larger.

The Ozarks are a beautiful area of the country, with green wooded hills stretching out as far as the eye can see.  Here and there is a patch of water, labelled Beaver Creek on the roadside but appearing rather more threatening than the name suggests.  We criss crossed it several times and watched the muddy brown water flowing fast beneath the bridges.

But then…a detour was required.

A little further along, we could see why.  It appears that the whole area has been experiencing flash floods in the last few days (hence the warning I guess) and here, those floods seem to have been a little longer lasting.

Fortunately, one closed road was the extent to which we were affected, but for others around here, life has been more challenging, it appears.

Crossing the road when you are only a few inches off the ground and able to move very slowly must be extraordinarily hazardous – we saw (and successfully avoided) three such turtles this morning.

Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic along this road today.

Things got a little busier a bit further along.

We were heading for Rocky Ridge, the home in the Ozarks where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived most of her married life and where she wrote the Little House on the Prairie series of books.

Since she lived here most of her adult life, there’s far more to see here than in Pepin, for instance.

As we parked the car to buy our tickets, we took the opportunity to refresh our knowledge of what’s here and how it all fits into the story.

Our first call was Rock Cottage, the home their daughter Rose Wilder Lane built for her parents, just a little further up the road.

We were meeting a guide up there to show us around the house, where sadly no photographs were allowed inside.

It’s set in the most beautiful surroundings, with a summer meadow full of wild flowers outside the front door, but Laura and Almanzo never settled here and after a few years, moved back to their original home, Rocky Ridge.

Rose built the house from local stone sourced from the fields outside and the craftsman who built it left his tradesman’s mark in the pointing.

Rhonda, our guide, told us that it was traditional for a builder to leave his mark in this way – something new to us and perhaps something we’ll look out for again.

The small cottage had been built with all modern facilities and to the latest standards – it even had electricity.

But returning to Rocky Ridge to continue our tour, I think I can see why Laura preferred this house, which for all its shortcomings, seemed more homely.

A short distance along the road there’s the structure of the new museum, currently under construction and due to open next year.  We chatted a while to Rhonda about the renewed interest in the stories and wondered if the new biography Mary and I have been studying has added to the resurgence.  It would appear so and the new museum will present a much improved visitor experience than the slightly dusty collection which is in the visitor centre here today.

After a bite to eat, we continued along the road towards Springfield, MO, because a coupon was burning a hole in my pocket and it was valid for just 48 hours.  60% off anything on the notions wall at JoAnns meant I could restock my stabiliser supplies at super low prices!

Then, spotting an Ulta store in the same block, I fished out another coupon from my bag and replenished my favourite Redken supplies at the same time!

(Thank goodness for patient heroes and travelling companions)

The Road to Minneapolis

We set out immediately after breakfast for what was going to be a fairly long drive to Minneapolis.  We’d identified a couple of highlights along our route however and we hoped that these would prove interesting enough to avoid any use of Roadside America!

The Wisconsin countryside continued in the lush, green style and a callout alerted me to this particularly pretty quilt barn.  Isn’t that a fine apple tree block?

Shortly afterwards, as I was craning my neck to catch a first glimpse of the great Mississippi River, we followed a signpost to “Lock and Dam #5A”, to what Mary described as “some kind of water operation, I expect”.

There didn’t appear to be much to see, apart from boys’ stuff – statistics about the dam and the lock and…

a huge train with two engines all fired up and ready but for the moment, just puttering there with a couple of miles of wagons behind them.  Every so often, there’d be a whoosh of air as the brakes were released but for now, these engines were going nowhere.

But just in case, we didn’t walk over the crossing but used the underpass, as recommended.

Our reward was an unimpeded view of the dam.

And a huge, but dead, dragonfly on the steps – the wingspan was easily four inches and those lace wings were so pretty.

Time to move on, driving alongside the railroad and passing several stationary trains, each one a mile or more long.  Why none were moving, we had no idea, but someone was glad to see them and have a small diversion from the straight road ahead.

Not quite a quilt on this barn but interesting nevertheless.

Another dam.

More straight road, through the big woods.  Can you guess where we are heading?

I must say, the signs didn’t bode well, but here we were in Pepin, birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the nearest town to the “Little House in the Big Woods”, the first book in the series Mary and I have been enjoying recently.

Actually, there’s not a great deal here, since the books were written many years after Laura and her family moved away from Pepin, taking their belongings with them.  But the town features in the first book and clearly, the place of her birth warrants some commemoration.

I’m just not sure this does her justice, however.

Perhaps it’s a “work in progress”?  This information panel suggests that someone is working on some changes.

But I think that post it notes are possibly not the most visitor friendly way of imparting information – and of course, none of these things are original or particularly historically accurate.

Oh my.  Here’s hoping that changes are afoot and that someone can do something better here, sooner rather than later. 

Having said that, I’m not sure the exhibits at the train museum are that great either!

Anyway, here we are by the historic marker, a little further along the road.

Where a clearer, more attractive information board summarised the life of Pepin’s famous daughter and gave directions to the Little House Wayside, about seven miles from here.

It’s along the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway, needless to say.

The historic marker and the cabin are situated on the land owned by Charles Ingalls, but it’s not the original cabin and it’s not necessarily in the exact place either.

But hey, it’s a Little House in the Big Woods!

Yes, of course we went inside to take a look – and to try to remember how it was described in the book.  We both recalled how the family had gone into Pepin just before Christmas to choose presents from the General Store – that would have been quite a journey.

And as we drove back towards the river – which opens out to become Lake Pepin here – we drove through the Big Woods again and recalled the words of one of the guides at Old World Wisconsin the other day: She explained how settlers would be dropped off in a patch of native woodland like this with an axe and a spade and just have to manage.  First, a well to be dug.  Then the trees to be cleared and the stumps taken out before seeds could be sown for the first crops.  All of that needed to be done if they were to survive the first year.  And those big woods were not neatly planted rows of tall conifers, but these smallish, scrubby deciduous trees and bushes which were so dense it’s impossible to walk amongst or between them.

They must have been tough souls.

We are nothing of the kind and we were getting hungry.  The information board in Pepin had suggested that Stockholm, the next town along the road could be a good bet for something to eat, so we parked up and went in search of a bakery or similar.

We spotted another Statue of Liberty too!

My hero’s eyes were elsewhere though…the magic word, PIE!

Looks promising…

The Stockholm Pie and General Store was perfect!  Great sandwiches for two of us and a chicken pot pie for the driver.  Delicious.

What a lucky find!

Stockholm was a cute kind of place, with blue bicycles to borrow, free of charge (we didn’t) and a real community feel.  We stepped inside one of the other stores to browse and received a recommendation for a shop/gallery in the next town.

Cultural Cloth was right up my alley and there were some really interesting pieces in there.  My favourite was a crochet/beadwork necklace from Turkey – but at $169 it wasn’t an impulse purchase, sadly.

What joys there are to be found along America’s Byways!  We love it!

A short time later, we were crossing the river and I was getting out my camera to try to snap the next sign – I nearly got it!

Welcome to Minnesota.  No “ker-ching” until our feet touch the ground though

The skyline of St Paul passed by – or rather, we passed by the skyline.

And eventually, finally!  We arrived in Minneapolis.

Ker-ching!!!   US State #40 for my hero and I!

On our way to find some dinner this evening we found no roller skating waitresses, but we did find Mary Tyler Moore throwing her beret in the air outside Macys.  We missed the fun of the drive-in diner, but actually, the margaritas in the Mexican restaurant we chose made up for it in some way