hmmm - so sweet!



measuring cups I found at Anthropology (here).

a little Christmas baking

Around this time 3 years ago - I, with the help of my sisters was busy making sugar cookies for my wedding favors (have a look at them here). Thanks to their creative hands they came out beautifully!
I now like to try to make sugar cookies to remind Nathaniel and I of our special day.

Yesterday invited my friend Betsy and her daughter Sophia to make sugar cookies with me. I made my cookie dough but when I went to roll my cookies out I remembered I have no rolling pin. After a bit of mutteling around in my tiny cupboards, I found a couple of jars that would make a good substitute.

the other night we walked through Trafalger square and we visited the lions.


usually the four lions that guard the square are covered with children - I was thrilled to have a chance to climb up myself and have a picture with one of the lions.

something worth rushing & waiting for

Winter has come to London...
which means lots of rain and cold.

Nathaniel and I have been waiting with great expectation for the arrival of a new little one into the White family (Nathaniel's cousins...). She was well past her due date and we were praying hard for a natural birth.

You can imagine our joy when we received news that mother and baby were home after an exhausting 24 hours of labor. Soon after we received a special invitation to meet the baby - and though our schedule would be tight worked out a plan... I would leave work at 1.30pm so we could take the bus (35 min) then walk (20 min) to their house, we would spend an hour with cousin Daniel and family then make our way back home to make an appointment for 6pm.

But what a day it was! I was late leaving work and so we just missed our bus - and it was wet, windy and cold. Conscience of the our tight schedule we ran through the rain and were only 10 minutes late. But after knocking loudly on the front door several times we began to wonder if we had gotten our dates/times wrong. As it turned out there was only a slight miss-communication and after a couple phone calls and 20 min on the front door step we were finally able to meet the newest addition to the White household. Ophelia Rose.

and she was worth all the running and the wet and the waiting...she is a beautiful little miracle! Congratulations Daniel and Ellen!

Goodbye Mazda, Goodbye school loan

While back in the States this Summer Nathaniel and I sold our Mazda 3, and it was hard. I remembered back to when I got my first car, a 86 Honda Prelude - a gift from my sweet grandfather who was graciously giving up his right to drive. The Prelude was one of my grandfather's special earthly possessions and it was I am sure hard to give it up. I went to pick up the Honda and my grandma did something that I did not quite understand at the time - over dinner she asked all who were at the table to give a memory of Grandpa and the Honda Prelude as a way of helping Grandpa say goodbye and let go of the car.

On August 31st as I handed the keys over to an excited new owner of our Mazda 3 and watched it drive away, I understood in a small way and appreciated why Grandma asked us to share memories with Grandpa to help with the transition.

So I am going to share a memory of the Mazda with you guys as a goodbye as it were...

A month before my wedding I was getting ready to move from my home in Santa Clarita Ca. to San Antonio Tx. My job was to whittle down all my earthly possessions to only that which I could fit into the Mazda 3. I think I must have packed and repacked about 5 times - I am sure my dad could have done the packing in 2 tries ... and then he would have fit about 10 extra things in that I thought I was going to have to give away. But there was no Papi around to help, so it was left to me.

Finally it was done, you could not see out any of the windows and the person in the passenger seat would have to keep things on their lap. So I was ready to be off - I just needed my traveling companion...Jeremiah who sweetly offered to fly out to Los Angeles only to turn right back around and make the long drive back to Texas in my packed to the hilt Mazda 3.

Certainly this is a memory about the Mazda 3 but also it is a memory of a wonderful exhausting trip with my younger brother (who insisted in driving the entire way - and anyone who has driven through New Mexico, Arizona & West Texas knows what a sacrifice that is) as I left behind a stage of my life to prepare for a new life as Mrs Jackson.

In a closing though a wonderful thing has come out of saying goodbye to the Mazda:

Part of the reason we sold the Mazda 3 was to enable us to pay off the last of my school loans. So it was worth it to see the Mazda 3 drive away. Last month I made my very last payment to Sally Mae for my college education. And it is Good! Thank you Nathaniel for being firm in insisting we sell the car! Definitely worth it.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November
gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no good reason why gunpowder, treason
should ever be forgot

I am hearing fire works going off in the neighborhood tonight - I believe a pre-celebration to Guy Fawkes day here in England. On the 5th of November England remembers a man named Guy Fawkes, who on the 5th of November 1605 was caught in the the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several barrels of gunpowder - for his plan you see was to blow up the noble Houses of Parliament and all who were inside. Guy Fawkes was tired and convicted for treason. So that all would understand how serious treason is the governing authorities made the 5th of November a day to remember the fate of man who tired.

And so this Thursday everyone here will be reminding each other that treason is a terrible thing and it will never be forgot. They will remember by setting off fireworks and making bonfires where effigies of Guy Fawkes are burned.

I don't think Nathaniel and I will be burning any effigies though we might try to find a good fireworks display to watch!

Autumn

I always knew Fall was my favorite season... but I had to wait till I moved to Syracuse to confirm it.

Moving to Syracuse in 2007 introduced me to Maple leaves, crisp early morning runs, pumpkin patches (the real deal...) and apple picking. Yes - Syracuse does Autumn in glorious brilliance!

Last year I learned that London has it's own Autumnal curiosities...like conkers. Every time I pass one, I can hardly stop myself from stooping to pick it up and put it in my pocket. I thought it would be fun to share how I discovered them.

Early last September I was exploring the park across the street from our flat. As I walked beneath the trees I found lovely smooth brown spheres. I stopped and picked a few up thinking I would take them home and ask Nathaniel if he knew what they were. By the time Nathaniel arrived home from school that night, I had concluded that these must be chestnuts...and I was quite charmed by the idea! Nathaniel had a look and said he did not know what they where but he doubted that they were actually chestnuts.

I however, felt sure they must be chestnuts - I was not giving up on the idea! and the next time I went out to the park I made sure to bring along a bag. I happily filled it with these nuts - I confess to dreaming of new recipes I would get to try... and just how British was this to live across from a park filled with chestnut trees!?

Nathaniel remained quite skeptical to their usefulness in the kitchen, and so I agreed to talk to the local expert Aunt Gillian before trying to eat them. Upon inspection Aunt Gillian said, "Of course I know what those are - they're conkers." Conkers?! what in the world are conkers? Aunt Gillian explained.

Conkers actually come from Horse Chestnut trees and are inedible - as apposed to Sweet Chestnut trees which produce chestnuts that are edible. Conkers are completely useless, that is unless you are a child (especially a 7-11 year old boy) - in which case you would pick up several conkers, put holes through the middles, and thread long strings through the holes. The next time you see your mates, you gather up and play "conkers" (find out more detail with pictures here - conkers) where the point of the game is to hit the other persons conker - the one who breaks apart the other's conker wins.

hmmm - very interesting! I thanked Aunt Gillian and trooped back upstairs to inform Nathaniel that it was a good thing he insisted that I find out more about these nuts before I tried to feed them to him! But what to do with all these conkers? I was certainly not about to challenge Nathaniel to a game... not sure if swinging hard round spheres at each other would lead to much bliss in our little London flat.
What is a girl to do... You like?