vegan meal one: sepia spaghetti noodles and sauce - major hit with this one

the derelict Old Mill in Elton

the "echo" bridge

clumsy dog + wagon

making her entire breakfast - scrambled eggs and nutella toast

It's just been the girls at home all this past week. Pedro took a trip to the US to renew his driver's license and we anxiously await his return so that we can begin a much put-off trip back to the Scottish highlands. With him away, it always feels like the "grown-up" is gone and we get to stay up a little later and skip school. Ha. I kept her out of playgroup one beautiful day of the Indian Summer we were having and we did a long walk with El Dogo and the wagon. We also had a couple of vegan meals, which was a challenge I wanted to see if I could pull off - being a huge milk, butter, and egg fan. But it's definitely do-able and certainly makes you more conscious of what you're eating, in terms of how many animal products we use. I think I am going to incorporate more tofu into our lives!

As for next week, we have been craving a good Scottish outing - full of remote places and beautiful scenery. Even though Scotland is directly above us, the drive there is so long and painful - as driving in England just is. All of the big cities are much closer together and roads are often choked with slow trucks, caravans and commuters. Plus, when there are problems on the road, the police typically just shut everything down, which leads to incredibly long and uncomfortable waits in a cramped car with no toilet. But! We're braving it now, in the off-season, hoping for decent weather - no gale force winds or upflowing rain, please. Castles, ruins, and vast countryside await - I hope to get a bit muddy, very tired, and fill up on piping hot pub meals before tucking into our simple cabin each night.

First Movie and Gratitude

Once upon a time I kept a running list of things I wanted to blog about, and was good at putting them down on a regular basis. That ability is now gone - so either I've gotten better at living in the moment, or have lost my ability to remember things well.

It's another weekend, and the end of another full week. Pedro is down with a cold and our plans for camping seem to have gone out the window along with the forecast for good weather. No matter though, we had a good week -  I took Isabella to see her first movie in a theater yesterday. We saw The Smurfs, and I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed it. I was bored for the whole first 30 minutes, but once the Smurfs made it to Manhattan and the double entendres started, I found something in it for me (any by the way, the set/interior designer for the New York apartment...very cool)! We bought popcorn, and true to form, Isabella dumped half of the bag while wiggling in her seat. Then she commented on how dark the theater was and how they needed to turn on the lights and kept talking about this until we were both startled to attention by the cinema's sub-woofers and lack of volume control. It was such a cool experience with her - it was another true first and I kept feeling like I was getting away with something by being at the movies in the middle of the day.

My reverie burst when we walked out of the theater, and I could see my car in the middle of the parking lot....with the driver's side door wide open. Wide open and even touching the car right next to it! Apparently, I left my door open when I ran to the other side of the car to prevent Isabella from wandering away from the car and didn't bother to close it. Nothing was missing - but nobody bothered to close the door either - it was so weird. Like the time I left my handbag on top of the car and no one stole it. Again, I felt very lucky - because as we saw during the early August riots in London - English people aren't always honest and polite. I've had a string of minor misfortune lately, dealing with an unfair parking ticket, a dog who peed on a neighbor's foot, dead appliances, and other small things that can wear away at morale.

But life is good, truly. When much of the world faces down war, natural disasters, economic collapse, corruption and injustice...I am so grateful for our spot of tranquillity. I didn't have any theater photos, but these pics I took earlier in the week of my girl feeding "Teddy Pedro" water from the dog bowl will have to do.

just a spoonful of sugar...

feeling better already

Sunday in the Park

We had some fun with this. Ferry Meadows is a nature park we just discovered this past weekend. It's so close and so cool that it's almost a shame we didn't know about it until now. Nevermind. Though the playground is mostly featured in this video, there are a couple of small lakes and a lot of green space. If I get my way, we'll eventually have a kayak of our own to paddle around!

Thomas!

My friend and I took our girls to see Thomas the Tank Engine, for his limited visit on the Nene Valley Railway today. Early on, we really encouraged her to like Thomas - kids get into what you yourself get excited about, for the most part. Anyway, I wanted her to subtly know she could like a "boy" thing.

So this early encouragement probably explains why she loves taking the train - be it the underground (subway), trolly, or tram. In fact, our trip to the London aquarium was interrupted multiple times by requests to go back the "the track." As in, "Mama, when are we going back to the track?" 

She has already learned that the journey itself is just as good (maybe better) than the destination.

As she retold the tale of Thomas to Pedro this evening, she reminded him that Thomas is a "really useful engine." Of course, I had to tell her to stop causing "confusion and delay" this morning as we were trying to jet out of the house. She didn't get my joke.

It was a fun morning for all.

The Zoo

Today, I took my girl to the local wildlife center: the Hamerton Zoo.

We saw belligerent tortoises, a kookaburra, meerkats, maned wolves, a Bengal tiger, and operatic gibbons. 

 And she learned all of their names.

 

We were the only two visitors there during the first hour!

 We had the park to ourselves.

And it was wonderful.

Hike to Harvest

Our neighbor's tree out front has just started turning yellow. Isabella is with her second cold  in two consecutive weeks. We are using our heater twice a day now. And dinner tonight is a hearty, hearth-y moussaka. Autumn is really upon us here in England. I feel we have to spend as much daylight hours outside as possible, before the sun goes down at 4pm by the end of December, and the days begin to wane dramatically by 2pm.

the donkeys and horses from down the road

So Isabella and I have begun to collect even more wild berries, apples and other edibles to use such efforts as an excuse to be outside. We have even started taking the dog down to the creek for regular baths, instead of a hosing.

footpath to Southwick and the giant crabapple tree

But today I'm definitely feeling the indoorsy vibe. My attention has turned from various scattered clothing and gifting projects to projects of the house: what do I really want to look at between these four walls for the next 6-7 months before spring beckons us out again? So I am putting together a few boxes of things we no longer use or need to sell in my first car boot sale - the equivalent of a garage sale, except various people in the village get together in a parking lot and sell their wares from the trunks of their cars.

last stop at The Swan from our recent hike

This weekend we are also planning a big family hike with some other friends and their kids. It will be a kid-friendly pub crawl from one village to another - with good food and drink at both ends - absolutely the best way to do it.

More Early Autumn Energy

"So you're not sleepy?" "No, it's just I hungry." And she's also eating like a teenager again. I got comments about it on her first day at playgroup. They marvelled at how much she ate at snack time. Parents get just as proud of how much their toddler eats as they do of their grades when they start school. I'm almost sure of it.

"Be careful, Isabella. There are a lot of pokies [thorns] around the blackberries." "The pokies tickle me." Then later after getting stuck, "Pokies, you don't have to hurt me." This was yesterday, when we took Spartacus for a swim down at the stream. This outing ended up being a hour and a half long hike, and by the time we made it home we were rosy cheeked and ready for hot chocolate! Isabella's first hot chocolate. It was a bit anti-climactic: I was expecting her to go bonkers over milk with loads of warm chocolate swirling around in it.

This week the days have been very full. It's not even 4p.m. but since we've been so active outside, it feels like it should be bedtime. Today we took a long bike ride to another village, then hiked up an old castle mound to see the panorama. I missed my camera every step of the way. Because she fell asleep on the bike on our way home, I missed out on a nap time break. But she has been letting her imagination run wild, and so has been entertaining herself very well.

behind her is the partially sanded table I hope to paint and stencil for her - yet another project

This week I also bought her a grab bag of toys at our Oxfam charity shop - only 99p. My investment in that cheap bag of Happy Meal cast offs and random bric-a-brac is turning out dividends in the amount of time she has spent playing with each new piece of junk. Sure, it makes for a huge mess but it buys me time to get other stuff done around here :).

Late Summer Happenings

that was my teddy as a kid!

Last month we finally decided to move Isabella into a toddler bed. It was just the right time. Now I can squeeze into her little bed for a book before bedtime or just lay by her side for a few minutes to cuddle when she needs it (or I need it - which is actually most of the time). Of course, she often plays in her room now when she should be sleeping, but the transition has made mornings much easier for me. Now she can show up at MY bedside to say "good morning to you!" instead of frantically screaming at me from her crib. It makes a big difference in my usually anti-social morning mood. 

With each passing day, Pedro and I swear that she is getting either clumsier or bolder - most likely the latter - but either way, she ends up with innumerable little bruises on her legs, bloody lips, and even a bruised nose. Last week was just terrible, and she fell badly twice in one day - once while playing around in her little plastic lawn chair (teeth to the coffee table), then she tripped on a new rug I bought and almost broke her nose on a dining chair.

                                         

We have put a strict stop to her cuddling with the dogs after Tracia clawed a deep gash in her cheek when Pedro's parents were here. But still, she tests the limits.

I plan to put her into playschool for one day a week this fall/winter. It will help me get errands done while she learns things from people other than me. When she turns three next February she will be entitled to school five days a week (half days), but I'm not sure how long I want her away. I do so like her company, and I have already learned how quickly these days pass. 

Impeccable Fashion Sense

As per usual.

She's Ready For Her Close-Up

Cooking with Kids - Elderflowers

elderflowers

Our neighborhood has a plethora of things to pick and eat - as you may have seen we often pick things like nettles, wild garlic, and berries (sloe and blackberry). This year I have made it my goal to follow the seasonal foraging opportunities presented in a book I bought at the Eden Project last year (Seaweed and Eat It). The book chronicles the foraging adventures of a small family with two little girls who pick and prepare anything from wild crabs from the English coast, to sloe gin (which I actually made last fall). This year, I am right on track, having made special dishes from nettles and wild garlic. We are now full into the season of blooming elderflowers.

Paloma La Fritolera

We went for a short stroll through our village to find and pick a bagful of elderflowers - enough to make fritters (as you see Paloma doing) and elderflower cordial (a syrup used to flavor carbonated water or even white wine - though the syrup itself is alcohol free). Paloma was all over helping me pick the flowers, and I think she was especially excited by the prospect of getting to eat what we were picking.

the fried flowers

We sprinkled them with sugar and served them up with applesauce and jam for dipping. Isabella wasn't so sure about them, but Paloma ate more than half of the flowered stems that we cooked. Supposedly she is a picky eater - not too much evidence of that here.

ahhh, lovely donut-flavored flowers

and for good measure, look at this beautiful face!

In Her Own World

She likes to organize my plants.

Discovering the wonderful smell of basil - on her own.

This morning she was totally in her own little make-believe world with this very special cast of characters.

Tracia was involved. Maybe more than what wanted to be, but she didn't complain.

Los abuelos and cousin Paloma are coming - two days to go!!!! There is talk of a trip to Vienna...

Exploring

I took Isabella to see a scarecrow competition in a local village but there was only one scarecrow left standing! She loved it though. We spent the morning walking around and exploring...

Then we came home for a lunch of miso soup with a bunch of veggies. It went over somewhat well, but she really enjoyed trying out some chopsticks! Not too bad!

Growing