Quick quick update!

Well... here it comes again. Another quickie. Let's just say the run-up to Christmas was hectic but fun. Met many friends of Darren's (see future entry: The Merry Men of Nottingham) and spent the whole Christmas weekend with his family (other future entry: Blood is Nuttier Than Water). Tomorrow my friend Brooke will be visiting me for a week here in England where I shall attempt to show her all highlights of the English countryside starting with Stonehenge. She'll also be joining us on the New Year's trip to St. Ives (see UFOria site for further details) for a fabulous fancy dress party (British for costume party) in the streets! Therefore do not look for frequent updates for a wee while as the holidays continue to be a whirlwind. I promise to make up for the lapse with wonderful tales after New Year. Until then, everyone enjoy the festivities and have a great New Year's Eve!!!

BACKLOG Chapter 3 – Abingdon

At last it comes time (going in reverse of course) to show off my new little town, in the daylight! Well first let me give you a little history of the market town of Abingdon.

Abingdon was occupied in prehistoric times by settlers of the Bronze and Iron ages. It was a flourishing town in the Roman period, which in turn gave way to a Saxon settlement. The earliest documents tell of a hamlet called Sevekesham sited at a ford of the Thames. Hean, nephew of King Cissa was granted land for founding a Benedictine monastery called Abbandun (Hill of Ebba) at the same time as his sister Cilla founded the Nunnery of Helnestowe on or near St Helens Church, the principal church in 675AD. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1538, Abingdon Abbey was the 6th richest in Britain.
The Monday market has existed since 1556. The Michaelmas Fair (now known as the Ock Fair) was originally a 'hiring mart' for those seeking employment.*

Abingdon is supposedly the oldest town in Britain, though a few other places also claim that honor. Basically the town is OLD. There are some ruins in the middle of a park and one near the library (pictures of those to come later) that attest to the age of this quaint little overgrown village. But for now I shall present to you what images I have been able to catch, so let the viewing begin…

*Courtesy of Oxtowns.co.uk, also see Wikipedia.

View of Market Square and St. Nicholas church (this was where the festival rides were from the last entry)

Looking down the little strip mall, the heart of shopping in Abingdon. Unfortunately I think they tore down whatever beautiful architecture was here and redeveloped the lot in this not-so-classic 1970’s style… progress sucks sometimes.

County Hall, built in 1678/82, it was once the home of local government now turned museum. A rather interesting sight is watching local dignitaries throwing buns from the roof of the building for crowds in the market square during days of celebration – they even have examples of the types of buns thrown in the museum itself. Very strange…

4 East Saint Helen Street, home to me and Darren, the little window front was the Little Basement Museum but has since been closed due to safety reasons... don’t worry Darren and I are safe as we live 46 steps up through the heart of the building, residing in the spacious attic flat. (Translation – we live in a tower and with my hair growing longer by the minute, I’m beginning to feel like Rapunzel.)

View from our living room window – the only one that isn’t a skylight that is.

A beautiful set of lilies presented to me from Darren the day I returned to him!

One red rose was given as well, placed romantically so on the bed next to welcome home presents and a poem – She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron.

BACKLOG Chapter 2 – God bless us, everyone!

Being part of a small town (or medium town according to Darren) does have its good points. One of which are the fun little celebrations that brings everyone to the town square – yes, we do have a definitive town square. Because there isn’t much else a-happen’ throughout the year, Abingdonians must cling on to what they’ve got, that being an annual lighting ceremony to kick off the beginnings of Christmas madness. There were lights, cameras, fairground rides, candy floss and toffee apples (British for cotton candy and candy apples). And best of all there were people dressed in good olde English style! (Sorry no pictures of them abound here as I forgot to take some…)

But take a look at the festivities visited upon my sleepy little country town…

The Town Square, replete with carnival rides and carnival food!

An semi-aerial view of our flat (can’t really see our windows as they are just skylights atop the white building with bay windows, we are above the second set of blue trimmed windows.)

The main street, High Street, all done up for the holidays!

A look down the little shopping strip in the center of town.

And finally the church at the end of High Street, we pass by this lovely place to get to the grocery store.

Note: All these pictures were taken atop the County Hall, in the middle of town. We could see as far away as the distant lights of Oxford as well as peer into our little home just across the street. (County Hall and the rest of Abingdon will be explored in the next edition of – The Next Great Adventure: The Return to England.

BACKLOG Chapter 1 – Thanksgiving Goodness

Finally I’ve pulled my head out of the sand or perhaps out of another place too inappropriate to be named in a G-rated blog. Oh, what the hell?! Just say it… finally I’ve pulled my head out of my ass and am at last blogging again. At least for one more time in about a month or so. Since I have been so rude as to exclude you from the stories of the past few months, I hope to make amends by bombarding you with many tales all in a row, with lots and LOTS of pictures as requested. Running from more recent events back towards my brief days in Crimea, I will bring you all into my little world and attempt to gain your respect and love once again.

So to begin, I shall go back in time to a great American Holiday. A day of thanks and giving but mostly of food!

Due to the sad fact that Darren had never experienced a true Thanksgiving Day feast, I decided (rather gave him no option) to celebrate it this year and do it right, i.e. with all the trimmings!

The facts: we (I) made mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, corn (unfortunately not on the cob), cranberry sauce (ok, ok, it was store bought, give me a break!) and the pièce de résistance – slices of turkey breast stuffed with stuffing and topped with a brown gravy. And for dessert, a sweet potato pie! It was my very first sweet potato pie and it was made because we couldn’t find any pumpkin here (the Brits aren’t huge fans of such typical American fare).

Well as you can see it was indeed a feast for two and it only took me about 2-3 hours to make all together. Of course it took Darren about half an hour to devour it all – enough for two full helpings each and no leftovers hanging around for a month staring at us from the refrigerator!

To top off the night we enjoyed a wonderful bottle of Ravenswood Californian Zinfandel. After we wined and dined it was time to sit back and let everything settle… Overall it was a lovely evening, of course there were things missing from it – first and foremost a pumpkin pie (which by the way, a week later we found cans of damn pumpkin filling in another store!), no parade, no giant family get-togethers. On the other hand there were some things that were pleasantly absent, for instance no football blaring in the background, no mad dash to the malls for the after Thanksgiving Day sales (ok, well I actually do miss that one! I’ve been reduced to not only sewing my rapidly deteriorating socks but now my pajama bottoms and only pair of surviving pants as well.)

Anyways, I’ll leave you with a few things I’m thankful for and a few more pictures to prove that I, yes, Dacia Suzann Dyer, CAN indeed cook an edible and rather delicious I might add, Thanksgiving Day dinner!

I’m thankful for: family, friends, Darren, adventures in traveling, international calling cards, and a good home-cooked meal.


P.S. The lovely flowers in the background was a surprise no-occasion gift from my lovely boyfriend, awwwww... he's so sweet!