Episode 34 - The Tearoom moves to New England

[beanandspud]

At this time of year New England is famous for its glorious foliage as billions of leaves change from green to a kaleidoscope of colours. The air is crisp and cool ? perfect for hiking, biking or a drive along back roads, where farm stands are piled high with crunchy apples and orange pumpkins.

Everyone is welcome. There are tea, cakes and wine aplenty so pull up a comfortable chair and join us.

The usual rule applies - no fisticuffs please!

Sounds like you're having a lovely time :):):)

Sounds like a great treat, Scout.

Just booked train tickets for me and Wriggle to go up to London on 13th December to look at xmas lights and fun shops, maybe a museum. Any recommendations?

We're not long home from The Crayola Factory. I love home.

No recommendations, LaBelle, but it sounds like fun!

Foster dog is rather long, and can bend her back upwards. She's currently having a mad 20 mins throwing things around, chasing them and picking up things that she's not meant to play with - I'm having to get up to oversee every few mins - I'm going to be fitter with this dog! (Although she has spent a very lazy 2 hrs upside down on the sofa beside me)

She's a rough coated dog - so you brush her and within 30 secs she's looking as though she's come through a hedge backwards.

She's about 2 - been in the pound at least 3 times and the last time her owners couldn't be bothered to get her out.

She wasn't housetrained when we got her - we're getting there. Had been good for some time then had a puddle last night for some reason. However, when she first came she thought that the house was where you did that sort of thing, not outside, and certainly not if you were on a walk.

She is a bit like taking a coiled spring for a walk at times, but doesn't pull much on the lead - and can pace along silently beside you with apparently no effort at all - sort of wolf like....

London - try the London Museum. Its free and has a good "great fire of London" gallery. ON same theme a trip up the monument is good value for money ( for London).

Steam Train Day! You should have seen SmallBoy's face when we told him last night -- he danced around the kitchen "singing" "Steam train ride, steam train, American steam train!"

Aww, bless his American cotton socks.

Goodplan, UniS - her class is doing the Great Fire of London this half term!

Don't suppose anyone will be about at lunch time ish on that day? All working and with children at school, I presume.

LBD - sorry, working then

MC has been 'doing' the Romans - we went up to Northumberland and 'did' Hadrian's wall and Housesteads - it was definitely helpful in that it brought it to life / made it much more 'alive' and relevant to him.

Mistle; do you work in Yorkshire? Always thought so. Or is that very revealing?

You are quite correct...

LBD - unfortunately I am working and Small Bean still at school otherwise we would have loved to join you. I was down in London today and the lights on Regent's Street looked great.

Friday anyone? This has been another mad week and I am glad it's the weekend.

MistleDog sounds lovely

Scout - your trip sounds fantastic!

We're off in a few minutes to go watch my sister "race" in a 5K Turkey Trot run. SmallBoy has been practicing his cheering all morning with "Go AuntScout, win!" and screeching. Screeching is not what you want to hear at 6:30 in the morning.

I don't know who had more fun at the railway (and PARR Museum) yesterday SmallBoy, MrScout or DadScout. They were three kids yesterday having a blast. We ate lunch on the train, much to MomScout's excitement. It was the start of the last Thomas Weekend of the year so there were lots of little kids with their parents and/or grandparents there. We didn't go for the Thomas stuff because SmallBoy isn't bothered by Thomas because SmallBoy likes trains, not just Thomas, and so we rode the non-Thomas train which had a longer run and a dining car. The Thomas trains stopped running at 3 o'clock which meant we had the last hour or two practically to ourselves to talk to people, look at the rolling stock (of which there was loads) and wander around the shops (which we found some Railroad stuff with SmallBoy's name on it I can never find SmallBoy's name on anything!).

It was a very nice day.

We came home and ordered pizza from the pizzeria up the street. YUMMY! Decent pizza. I dreamt of that pizza a few months ago and woke up very disappointed to find myself still in England and unable to have any.

I'm so glad you're having a wonderful time Scout :) :) :)

Had specialist gynae app't yesterday. More surgery in my future although not likely to be soon. Referrals can take a while here. All fixable, however, so that's good news. Won't go into details - you know where to find them if you want them (Ragged Bits thread).
Heading down to priest hole for a while as feeling shattered and want to curl into a ball and wail, but have to be my usual "together" self for the rest of the world.

Poor JM. Your care package will be on it's way next week -- we didn't make the post office on Wednesday and we were home too late from the Turkey Trot for me to make it this morning.

Oh, JM. I'm glad it's fixable, but it's been/will be such a long haul, won't it? I'm sending Mellors your way with some aromatherapy oil and the massage table.

And you and Scout may be relieved to know that after the failure of my 'pay it forward' crafts last Christmas so knickers to you, Martha Stewart I am all systems go to do it this year instead. ::blush::

at "knickers to you". I may just use that at some point. :)

Thanks all

In RL, I am finishing the outline for tomorrow's 6 1/2 hours lecture on anatomy for yoga teachers-to-be that I am giving kicks self for agreeing to do this, teaching my 1.5 hour yoga class today at noon, and then taking JB to a Christmas crafts-making thing with some friends.
No relaxation in sight.

OTOH, next Weds (4 more sleeps) we are off to Toronto for the Grey Cup and to see my parents.

What's the Grey Cup? Sports, I guess.

Knickers to you is a very old-fashioned form of British rudeness. I can remember in the 1970s during a period of industrial unrest, tv coverage of a nurses' pay strike where they were carrying banners saying "knickers to your 3%". At the time, it seemed daringly outspoken!

I've been Googling. Cor, that looks exciting.

And there seems to be a tea room connection because (on a quick skim read) it's linked to Earl Grey.

hello dear all! knickers to you should perhaps be the tea room catch phrase it has a nice mix of the humerous, the slightly quirky old fashioned hows your father ness with a touch of inunendo?

Scout your trip sounds bliss

JM so sorry about your bits, poor love

Maud, thanks for making me smile as ever

Mistle, the dog sounds great - I think my hair is like his coat!

LaBelle I may well be your girl on the 13th I am presently at work and in town so may well be able to meet for lunch for a bit
I would heartily recommend the lovely free London Museum Oxboy and I were there this very Friday because of course he is doing the fire of london too there is also a really nice bit about the jubilee and london today and stuff related to the olympics so it was rather wonderful

the lights on regents street and oxford street are looking wonderful and you must go to covent garden the tree is mammouth- and the tree in Trafalgar if that is your thing? will be up and looking lovely

the national gallery/ national portrait gallery may well be doing nice chrimbo things by then, the fair will be on at the south bank and the winter wonderland in hyde park....erm you could skate at the natural history museum and the lights in mayfair/ chelse are also very beautiful I might be tempted to take an early evening no 24 bus tour - it goes all through the west end

the pre-raphelites are on at the Tate ...

oh hells bells just pm me if you want and also nearer the date to see if we can meet - I shall aim to do better than the mad texting that was the nearest we got to when you came to the London Zoo!!

Yes, the Grey Cup is the Canadian equivalent of the American SuperBowl.
Canada's football teams (American style football, although played by slightly different rules - bigger field, 12 players for each side on the field rather than 11 as in the US) are divided into the East division and the West. Our province's team, the BC Lions, are doing quite well and are playing tomorrow in the Western Final, which decides which team from the Western division is going to the Grey Cup next week. The Eastern Final is also played tomorrow but slightly earlier than the Western Final. So by tomorrow night we'll know which teams are going to play in the Grey Cup.

I did not know it was named after Earl Grey!