Dreaming of France

FrenchKate is letting me down these days, mired as she is in everyday reality. I, however, am retired and I am not mired. So today I'm dreaming of France. The chateau where we had an Armagnac tasting. Hot summer day, the drone of cicadas, the deer lying in the shade of the park, lovely old stone walls with just a touch of soft gold to warm them, not to mention the Armagnac itself.

I am not remembering the group of annoying teens and their even more annoying (because less excuseable) chaperons. Hey, it's my memory. I can be selective if I want to be.

Biscotti

We did a lot of baking last week when Daughter of ... and Miss T were here. Miss T. was a big help. One of the recipes Daughter of shared with me was for biscotti. Today, I made biscotti again because Cranky likes to pack a snack for work.

The 'Real' Brideshead

I learned this morning that the 'real' Brideshead on which Evelyn Waugh based his book is not Castle Howard as in the tv series but Madresfield Court in Worcestershire. It has been the home of the Lygon family for 900 years. Waugh was a frequent visitor there in the 1930's and it is generally supposed that the Flyte's are based on the Lygons.

I Wiki'ed it and got the picture and the following:

Madresfield Court is a country house in England, in the village of Madresfield near Malvern in Worcestershire. The stately home, near the village centre has been the ancestral home for several centuries of the Lygon family, whose eldest sons took the title of Earl Beauchamp from 1815 until 1979, when the last Earl died. Distinguished collections of furniture, art, and porcelain are housed at Madresfield, which was rated by Simon Jenkins among the 50 best in his book on 1,000 historic houses.[1] The house is managed by the Elmley Foundation, a British registered charity, and can be visited by appointment only at certain times of the year.

The original Great Hall, built in the 12th century, stands at the core of this building. In 1593 Madresfield Court was rebuilt, replacing a 15th century medieval building. It was again remodelled in the 19th century to resemble a moated Elizabethan house, with the result that it contains more than 100 rooms. The chapel was designed by the architect Philip Charles Hardwick and sumptuously decorated in the Arts and Crafts style by Birmingham Group artists including Henry Payne, William Bidlake and Charles March Gere.[2]. It has been cited as the most beautiful expression of the arts and crafts movement in Britain.

Quiet and Empty House

Daughter of.. and Miss T. left this morning at 4am. Son of .. volunteered to drive them to the airport, so the COG and I went back to bed after seeing them off. We got up to a strangely quiet and empty house. Even the animals seemed bemused by the silence. We heard later that they arrived home safely and there was a sweet reunion with Daddy and Momolou.

Cranky and I took Dog of COG to a state park in the afternoon. It was a lovely warm sunny day for a walk.

Returned to the quiet house.

This morning I am washing sheets and putting toys back in boxes and packing up things to send. Just generally cleaning up.

I didn't take many pictures because I was having so much fun, but the COG took some lovely ones which you can see at the COG's smugmug site Click Here.

Highlights of the week were the trip to Bostonon the train, feeding birds by hand at the Audubon place, a trip to the beach and a playground. Also, baking biscotti and baby crackers with help from Miss T. Plus some walks and just generally hanging out.

The good news is that I am going to visit them at the end of the month, so I can't feel too deprived.

A Final Note about The High Winds Last Week

The Ipswich Chronicle this week reports that winds in Ipswich last Thursday night were clocked above hurricane levels (over 73 mph) with gusts up to 90 mph.. That was at about 11pm. The power actually went off throughout Ipswich at about 10, then it got worse. Phones went out about 4 to 5 hours later, when the phone company's batteries gave out.

The Crane Estate alone lost between 200 and 300 trees. The picture here is from the newspaper and it shows the allee at Crane Estate. Hundreds more trees were lost in the rest of Ipswich and in surrounding towns. It was the biggest, oldest, most lovely trees that seem to have been worst hit.

Teams from all over New England came within a few hours to help out in the restoration of power and phones here. Our road was one of the last to have power restored - although there were a few who had to wait even longer. Everything it back to normal now, except there is still a lot of tree clearing to do. Now. wherever you go, there are hand lettered signs have appeared along the road advertising tree clearance services of one sort or another.

Miss T. Makes a Friend

Miss T. was enchanted today by a big stuffed toy dog at Borders. She greeted it like an old friend and spent some quality time kissing and patting it. She misses her own dogs very much, is constantly talking about 'Momolou' (Momo and Louis) or 'Luly' (Louis).

Trip Down Memory Lane

For some reason this morning I told Daughter of ... about Bob and Ray's famous skit selling used balloons with only one or two holes in them. She hadn't heard of Bob and Ray, and really they were a little before my time, too. But I wiki'ed them and looked them up on You Tube and found this (there are 2 skits here, so wait through the bit with Johnny Carson in the middle: