75 years

This year is the 75th anniversary of our local Quaker meeting. Tonight there was a sort of kick off celebration. I was, of course, late (with very good reason and totally worth it!) but I arrived in time to hear a song written about our meeting.

Now some background. For those of y'all that haven't moved around a lot, let me just explain things to you. In my experience at about the six month mark of being in a new place you begin to miss the old place very very much. It sort of, well, eats your soul this deep longing for the old place. Now add, I don't know 3 or 4 old places and one begins to feel a bit chewed up inside. To say the least it is unsettling. I miss Wales like you wouldn't believe. Seriously. After the Arizona shootings I spent the day crying in the bathroom wondering what kind of messed up country I had moved my family back to. (Ok, now hormones did play a small part in this day of bathroom weepiness. Not to mention the 2 hour podcast on the subject I kept listening to.) Before that we had traveled down south to see family and to Indiana to see chosen family. So I was in a bit of a post holiday meltdown of missing people and places. (I'm also, strangely enough, homesick for Ireland a place where I spent just a week. And that week we were mildly ill with mono!)

But I digress, tonight at the 75th Anniversary kickoff, this wonderful singer songwriter sang a song about our local meeting. When in the first verse he mentioned the name of our town a bit of warm hometown pride started spreading in my heart and by the last verse I was weeping happy tears. You see, now I do feel like I've found a new home. Does this make Memphis, California, Wales, or Indiana any less home? Nope. But it does add a new home to the list.

Soon as I got home, I did what I tend to do when a musician inspires me, I pulled out my guitar and sang. I sang and sang. I sang the songs that made my mind visit the lands I longed for, songs I had kind of shelved for a while. Below you'll find one of those songs. I am forever grateful to the members of my community for bearing with my homesick longing for Anywhere but Here. And with love I offer this song, from a land I've yet to visit (but is at the top of my list), to all of you.

Diolch yn fawr i bawb

Winter Solstice Celebrations

Yesterday we followed a horse's skull around some pubs. Today friends are coming over and we are going to stay up late eating and decorating cookies, watching movies, playing games, and hopefully welcoming the sun in the morning. It's the longest night of the year and after this, the nights are shorter and shorter. Thank goodness for that!

I will post some pictures and recipes of the gluten free adaptations of favorite goodies.

There is a thin layer of icy snow on the ground outside and the sun is shining. When our friends get here, I think we may take a nice walk down to the castle and the beach. Can't do that in Indiana.

The snow helps with my homesick-for-Indiana feelings.

Poor Benny has to go to work tomorrow!

Oh, and there are presents for the children, homemade. A bog baby for the Tiny Goddess, a purse for Miss Mousie, and pen cases for the boys and our guest child filled with glitter pens.

The adults won't open gifts, didn't have it together for that. Oh well.

Christmas is coming!
The goose is getting fat!
Please put a penny in an old man's hat.
If you no penny,
a ha'penny will do,
If you have no ha'penny then God bless you!

(and if I can talk the group into it maybe we can go caroling!)

Wordless Wednesday

Conwy Castle
Conwy, Wales

Back in Wales: Wordy Wednesday

And the jet lag is minimal. Thank goodness for that. No wordless Wednesday with this post, though I may post a photo or two (or more) later.

Today's plans:

Laugh a lot
Watch a lot of The Office season four (American not British)
Play Star Wars
Fold Laundry
Unpack
yoga
Wash Clothes and hang them outside (only because it is so beautiful today!)
Go outside (hopefully search for nettles that haven't flowered yet. I really should take a photo of the nettles drying on my kitchen table for y'all. I think I am due to post about nettles soon. I do love them and have missed them. There is nettle tea infusing in my kitchen as we speak.)
Recieve all the daisies the Tiny Goddess will inevitably pick for me (technically buttercups now)
Photograph the rose that is busting out in our garden
smell the lavender in the garden
Clean out part of the Fridge
Knit
Play guitar and sing
clean up after ourselves

Oh, and I have a short math page for the Artist and will work with the Explorer on reading. If I can convince the Tiny Goddess, we will go for a walk but she wants to "Stay Here with Mama."

Yesterday when we arrived, we had to wake her up to get her out of the taxi. She ran around the yard and picked flowers and was so happy to be home. I asked her if she wanted to get on the plane again tomorrow and she laughed and said, "NO!" and started squeezing my arm and kissing it.

It's nice to be back.

Wonder if the same applies to cows?

Question Number 74 (of 963) of the Theory test practice book from the UK Driving Standards Agency: A person herding sheep asks you to stop. You should:
A. ignore them as they have no authority
B. stop and switch off your engine
C. continue on but drive slowly
D. try and get past quickly

There are three sheep to every one person here and I've been here since December and still take pictures of them. (They are so peaceful and pleasant!)

Funny Thing Thursday

Let's see if I keep this one up.

For my facebook readers, forgive the crosspost.

"Kids get in the van so we can go there today...."

It's just so.... American.

I'm homesick now.

This just gave me a thought. Were I not an American, I would not get the humour (yeah, check out my awesome British spelling. I think I'm learning the language after all!) But, if I weren't in Wales, this region of Wales specifically, I don't think I'd find this so funnny (for a longer version, there is this, please note the Explorer wanted to point out that Wales is not a part of England).

Weirdly, I've seen line dancing here and clogging lessons, but no morris dance groups locally. Yet in Indiana, I was pretty involved in our local morris dance group. (Of course morris dancing isn't Welsh, but it's certainly not American either!)

(I still don't get Monty Python most of the time.)

More British wildlife

We'll begin with rooks. These are fascinating birds to me. It took me forever to figure out the difference between a rook, a jackdaw, a raven, and a crow. To be honest, I'm still not 100% at first glance (except for the jackdaw). But I do know that the birds that make a bunch of racket and big twiggy nests in my yard (In British: Garden) are indeed rooks. Despite their scowling beak and grumpy sounds, they seem to be a very sociable bird. At sunset especially they hang out in their nests and holler and gossip at each other. It sounds like this:


While I was outside, I decided to take a few more pictures to share.
On the left is a tiny little daisy (many thanks to my foot model, Miss Mousie), and on the right, our dear friend, Nettles.







These are English primroses.









And what would a Welsh blog be without a picture of Wales' national flower, the Daffodil.