Blenheim Palace

Took a tour of the beautiful childhood home of Sir Winston Churchill this week at Blenheim Palace. It is estate of the Duke of Marlborough (Spencer-Churchill family) and is located just outside of Oxford. We learned a lot about the women who have lived there (Consuelo Vanderbilt for one) who have made their mark on the palace. I thought it was more beautiful and more grand than Windsor Palace or Buckingham Palace. There is a very interesting area devoted to Sir Winston Churchill himself as well as a creative and somewhat "interesting" tour upstairs that tells the story of the women. That tour has effigy type figures who appear to breath and are shown talking through a reflection in the mirror. Very creative, but I bet it would scare my children. We didn't have time to walk around the grounds or out to the gardens (it's huge), but it would definitely be a place to return to and really explore. I highly recommend visiting there if you have any interest in Winston Churchill.

http://www.blenheimpalace.com/

fact for the day: yes, it is the same Spencer family as Princess Diana so W. Churchill and Diana were relatives. Also Churchill lived during the time where he became a member of Parliament under Queen Victoria and also was the first Prime Minister for the current Queen Elizabeth II.

Hampton Court

Took a quick walk around Hampton Court Palace this week while visiting with Stephanie O. The daffodils are in full bloom out by the maze and are so stunning. There must be a million bulbs in the garden. Just thought I would share a photo with you.

For those of you who have seen or are reading "The Other Boleyn Girl", some of their story takes place at Hampton Court Palace, but the movie was not filmed there.

Auction day

On Thursday a friend and I decided to brave the auction scene and figure out how to bid for some English antiques. We found an auction house nearby having a "fine art and antique" sale with about 1,000 items offered that day and we showed up ready to bid. Actually since we were so green, we got a bid number but really just wanted to watch and see how things were done. What did I learn? going to the preview day is an absolute necessity, I could have gotten some great deals if I would have made a decision to bid within the 5 seconds allowed, and there are some pros out there who really know what they are doing and what they are bidding on - spending the big bucks! There were some beautiful things that were left unsold and some really "interesting" things that sold for more than I ever thought they were worth. It goes so quickly! There were a set of chairs from a local school that had lots of attention. Internet bids, at least 4 different phone bids, in person bidders - those chairs were very popular. I think for 20 school chairs, they paid about 4,000 GBP. Most items there sold in the 200 GBP range, so definitely doable. In the end, we didnt end up actually bidding on anything, but felt confident that we understand the process and will be back with our bid numbers ready.

Whole Foods London

You remember the big brew-ha when Central Market opened in Dallas? Well picture that in London about the Whole Foods market. The store opened on Kensington High Street a few months ago and has been a really big deal. Today, one of our American women's activities was to go into the city and shop at Whole Foods!!! a site seeing trip to a grocery store! It was great, but it cracked me up that I used to live 1 mile away from a Whole Foods in Dallas and rarely shoppped there and here I am taking a train and tube trip to get to the same store in London. It was nice to find a few products from home that I havent seen in a while. Definitely picked up some salad dressing- still no Briannas Raspberry vinaigrette. They must not be able to import that flavor. The lunch upstairs was great. Tasted very good - maybe I thought that because it kinda tasted like home. Several of the other ladies were weighted down with bags, but I decided I didnt want to lug all those heavy bags all the way back home, so made due with 1 shopping bag. The big trend in England is for the stores to adopt "no more free disposable carrier bags" which means they are all going to a "bring your own bag" scheme. So in addition to your groceries, you have to buy a bag if you have forgotten yours - Another reason to only buy 1 bag worth, but at least I didnt need a coin to get a shopping cart (my local pet peeve). We didnt make it into many other stores in the area, but I would like to go back. Kensington high street is very "posh" and a fun place to shop. (for the history buffs, Princess Diana's home was Kensington palace - about 2 blocks from the Whole Foods store).
So for all of you moms out there who dreaded going to the grocery today, just think, I had to PAY to get there and it took over 1 hr travel each way!!!!! hope that helps soften the blow that I was actually shopping in London. hee, hee

new note:

Check out the bottom of the page for some highlight shots of our travels. I am so happy I figured out how to do this and actually got it running correctly on the page!!!

An American/Australian meal. yum

We recently heard that there is a Outback Steakhouse nearby and the food is "just like home". One night this week I was really wanting a taste of home so DA and I drove over there. We had a difficult time finding the restaurant because they don't say "it's located on the Riverwalk" so we walked up and down the street and finally stumbled across it. It would be lovely to eat there in the summer and sit out by the river. I was so looking forward to ICED TEA (dare I think they might have some tea actually served with ice), warm brown bread, salad actually served with any salad dressing and hopefully one I recognized, and a good ole salty baked potato. I was anticipating it to be just like home like our American friends told us. I should have realized there was an asterisk floating around. It is the same Outback as home and does have a bloomin' onion on the menu, but many things are different. No iced tea (only hot), brown bread is extra charge and not that good and definitely not warm, but the salad was great - even got fattening 1000 island dressing since it is the first time I've seen it in the last year+, and the potato was good and salty like I had anticipated. DA was a little weary that they were serving British beef (tastes funny and Scottish beef is much better), but he enjoyed his meal too. All in all, a 50% success rate and when you're talking comparing it to "just like home" that is pretty good. Just beware of the asterisk in the sky when someone makes a bold statement like that!

Kudos to DA

DA studied hard and took the written portion of his drivers test this week. It includes multiple choice questions and a "hazard perception" part where you are watching a driving scene and clicking when you see possible hazards that will make you alter your speed or direction. The hazard part is very vague and somewhat confusing. Anyway, when DA finished, the test administer told him he had one of the highest scores they've ever had at that test centre. whoopee! Now he's really rubbing it in that he did better than I did. Let's see if he can do the practical driving portion with only 1 minor fault! (Let you know soon, he has to take lessons first). I'm sure he''ll put it off as long as possible so he can say he scored better than I did!

Same blog - new look

After a year of blogging, I've been doing a little "blog surfing" (thanks to Amy S. for that new vocabulary word) and I realized I needed a new look. Just trying it out. I will be adding some new elements as I teach myself how to insert them onto the page. I have some free time today - DA went to the city for a museum tour, L is on a middle school church retreat and B is at a sleepover -so I am doing something creative without making any mess to clean up. No wonder I haven't sewn anything lately.

Enjoy the melting snow in Dallas!!!!

Mothering Day

Mother's Day in the UK was on Sunday. Most expats around here like to celebrate on the UK date, and if the hubby and kids dont get it quite right, they can always try again in May! I get a kick out of the "mum" and "mothering day" cards. Fortunately, my family got it right so we only have to celebrate once. It helped by me saying "I really want THIS" for mother's day. After DA called on Friday from the store to confirm he was buying the right thing, I was assured. B picked out a lovely necklace for me (from the grocery store) and L did some fine, "couldnt care less" wrapping by a teeny-bopper age boy!

On Saturday we rode our bikes on a long ride out to the Cricketers Pub.

There is a bakery along the way, so we picked up lunch and ate outside in the sunshine. Kids flew kites and rolled around in the mud on the playground. Of course B had on a brand new pair of pants that I bought the day before. Grass and mud stains on the knees, check, fully broken in within an hour of trying them on!!! ugh. The Cricketers is where we take lots of guests to eat, so if you've been here, you know where I'm talking about. Dont be too impressed about our ride, there is a short cut bridleway that we rode along! It was lovely through the English countryside, walkers, cyclists, horse riders, etc. were all out enjoying the spring time. I wished my photos showed more of the beautiful scenery, but you need to come visit and see it yourselves.