The Eagle had landed

Grandma and Grandpa Dobberfuhl arrived Thursday at noon. All our options for a place for Amy to hang out fell through, so she had to endure the trip to London and back. Emily got to play at a friend's house. All went well in the travels and Lana logged one more Heathrow trip in her tally.

To keep them awake, the girls took them on a tour of Glinton- in the rain. Then we returned to the parish church that evening as Thursday is bell ringer night. The Ringers seemed quite pleased to have visitors and eagerly explained the mechanics of the bells. Lana got to have a go- which it seems she thoroughly enjoyed.

No matter how many questions she asked and how well she pantomimed the required action, Amy was told she is too small to ring. Emily yammered the whole way home about how she was going to come back when she was 9 to ring the bells at Glinton church. We'll see.

Friday was trip to Stamford market and to visit me at work. Concluding with Linford's fish 'n chips for dinner was a nice end to the first full day in England for Gma and Gpa. They still don't like riding in the car on the narrow roads.

We are berry-pickers!

A couple years ago, Amy was telling my sister about our gardening experience for the summer. She recounted everything from choosing seeds at the garden center to pulling weeds and harvesting the vegetables. When describing our experimentation with pickling cucumbers she declared (with much pride): "We are pickle-makers!"

It goes without saying that the transition from seed-in-the-ground to treat-on-the-table is a magical journey that can create a sense of identity and purpose as we learn to value our stewardship as caretakers of this beautiful earth. Since moving to England, we have missed having a large yard and garden, but have enjoyed a new organic experience that we can now add to our resume: We are berry-pickers!

There is quite a variety of wild fruit that grows right here in our village - everything from blackberries, currants (red & black), plums, pears, apples and... a mystery berry that looks similar to a blueberry, but isn't. (Still trying to seek out some expert advice on that one!)

Our family has had a lot of fun together as we've joined in this group effort. We wouldn't be nearly as successful without Matt's height and Emily's ability to squeeze through small spaces. We've also needed Amy's excellent tree-climbing skills. And Mom is always on-hand with a pocket-sized first aid kit for the scrapes and scratches that come from nasty entanglements with thorns and stinging nettles.

Last Saturday we discovered a wild apple tree on the south end of our village and once again took advantage of some free fruit.



Of course, the best part of a harvest is eating and we had big plans for our apples!

Amy helped Mom wash, peel, and core all the apples for a pie.




Emily mixed and rolled out the pie crust and used her own little cookie cutters to create the topping (hearts and stars).

Dad bought the vanilla ice cream to go with it. Thanks Dad!

And we all enjoyed eating it together for our Family Home Evening treat.

A Glimpse of Glinton

After delivering the children to school in the mornings, I typically take some time to walk (sometimes jog if I'm feeling ambitious) throughout our village and its surrounding countryside. The weather has been so delightful recently that I decided to take along the camera to try to capture the essence of this gorgeous area in which we live.

Throughout the entire Peterborough area there is a system of public footpaths and bike trails known as "The Green Wheel." The following slideshow is a small and very limited collection of some of the many picturesque views I enjoy on my morning Green Wheel walks. It includes a few of the landmark buildings, specifically the village pub (The Blue Bell), St. Benedict's Church (dating from the 1100s), my favourite mansion and thatched-roof cottage in our village, the post office shop and then a sundry shots of the surrounding countryside. The only thing I'm really missing is our own house and the school... that will have to be for another presentation...

I hope you enjoy this little tribute to our temporary home in Glinton. We realize our time is short here - perhaps shorter than we originally anticipated - and knowing that not all of our loved ones from the American continent will get to visit this lovely location in person, I hope this miniscule montage might at least provide a little glimpse into Glinton...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pancake Races

First, some history: Pancake races are thought to have begun as early as 1445 when it is recorded that a woman had lost track of the time on Shrove Tuesday (first day of Lent) and was busy cooking pancakes in her kitchen. Suddenly she heard the church bells ringing to call the faithful to church for confession. The woman raced out of her house and ran all the way to church; still holding her frying pan and wearing her apron.

So, not to overlook such an historical event, the English continue to celebrate Shrove Tuesday with pancake races...

Above: the Year 1 class excitedly anticipates their race.

The starting line-up for the 1st heat.


And they're off!

Emily was very pleased that she was able to participate as well - in the toddler round, of course. She did a good job too - only flipped her pancake out onto the ground once....

...and right at the finish line. Don't worry, she still took 1st place!

While no one was racing across the street to the village church for confessions, we thoroughly enjoyed participating in this English tradition. And if you're interested in trying "real" pancakes (i.e. English pancakes), the recipe is as follows: 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, and 1/2 pint of milk. Butter a HOT pan, drizzle on the batter and run to your nearest church whilst flipping the pancake vigrously. Upon returning home, serve it up with lemon juice and sugar (if you want to be authentically traditional) or smother in any of your favourite toppings. After all that running you deserve a sweet treat!

Chillin' Out

We ought to market ourselves as "anti-global warming solutions." We moved to Minnesota hearing complaints of how little snow they'd had the previous five years... then the 3 winters we lived there, the Twin Cities area had record-breaking snowfall. Same thing happened when we moved to Peoria: reports of "mild" winters and then record level cold and snowfall. Now we are living in Peterborough, England where, this week alone, the UK has seen it's most significant snowstorm in the last 20 years.

Schools were closed and Matt got to stay home from work (his boss said she had to stay home and build snowmen because she hadn't seen snow like this since she was 7 years old). Entire families (including ours) were out in the village playing together in the snow.

For all the local children, this was the most snow they've ever seen in their lives and there was a tangible excitement in the air. It's hard to know which part is more fun - the spontaneity of a day off from the regular schedule of events or the snow itself, but either way we enjoyed a day at home just chillin' out.

Winter Woes

All I have to say is that I spent a good portion of my afternoon scrubbing mud out of the carpet on my stairs, the library and the toy room.

We may not experience sub-zero temperatures during an English winter, but the persistant damp cold and the endless sea of MUD more than compensates!

Familiar Faces

If we had been feeling any glimmer of homesickness it was thwarted this week by a visit from our cousins from America. The Quinlans: Chris, Jen (Matt's sister), and boys Mikey (7), Mathieu (6), and Marc (2), and babysitter Kenalee, arrived on Tuesday. We made the most of the lovely weather and took everyone on an outing picking blackberries (right here in the village). As you can see from our photo collage, everyone got involved and creatively worked together to pick as many berries as possible while trying to avoid the dreadful stinging nettles. After a delicious meal out at a local pub, we came home to bake ourselves a delicious blackberry crumble complete with real whipped cream!

The Quinlans joined us on our morning walks to take Amy and Emily to school and spent a day in nearby Cambridge and a day in downtown Peterborough - visiting the cathedral, museum and finding various treasures at the shops at Queensgate. We had a lot of fun together and enjoyed watching the children play and get along so well.

So who's coming to visit next?

Same as in America... almost.

Same: mowing the lawn
Different: using an electric hovercraft mower (moves like a vaccuum and sounds like one too)



Same: our family loves old tractors and community get-togethers
Different: in our village - Glinton - you can climb up on old tractors to the tune of 13th century church bells and watch men dressed up like leprechauns (beat that Morton Pumpkin Festival!)


Same: weekly trips to the library
Different: Emily (age 2) gets her own library card (which she preciously guards in her very own purse)...and the library is conveniently located next to Tesco (grocery store) so Mum can stock up on food and good literature in one stop.


Same: date night!
Different: eating at a pub located next to a beautiful archaic stone church in a renowned village (execution site of Mary, Queen of Scots), exquisite pub food, and the best babysitter ever: Emily, age 15, lives down the street from us - she lead the girls in arts and crafts projects, had them play instruments and march around the house, and then she tidied up the house! The girls asked if we could go on another date the very next night just so they could have "Big" Emily back to babysit!

Moving In

Moving in: 10-11 September, 2008... we experienced all kinds of surprises and fun: we found the stereo packed inside a box labeled "kitchen tupperware" and the hardware for our computer desk was tucked inside a package marked "pots & pans." Interestingly, the pots and pans arrived with our air shipment two weeks earlier. The best though, was finding the photo copy machine in a box labeled "toys." I guess it's all a matter of perspective!We quickly realized that the movers in America must get paid by the amount of bubble wrap and packaging material they use.
Unpacking the garage was like a really bad Christmas: too many packages full of junk...and where the heck are we going to put this stuff???
Is that toilet paper packed in my gift wrap storage container???
Oh, there's the gift wrap: on the living room furniture, of course!
Somewhere under that pile is our bed...

So after all of this I can't help but wonder: will it be worth the hassle to move back to America someday?

The Inside Scoop

We are adjusting to life in England...

Driving is going well. It helps that the signs and myriad of roundabouts are so different from the U.S. It's actually quite fun driving here - the speed limits are much more generous than back home and the roads curve around a lot. Of course, the curves and circular motion of the roundabouts did cause a bout of car sickness for Amy one day. Lets just say we're glad she erupted in the rental car and not in our new vehicles!

Amy skipped kindergarten (they call it "Reception" here). Reception is for children age 4 turning 5. Amy turned 5 this past August so she is supposed to be in Year 1 here - the equivalent of 1st grade in the States. So far she is not too far behind the other students in her class, although they seem much more familiar with writing/spelling and reading. The head teacher at her school assured me that they will work with her to get her caught up in any area that she needs.

I walk Amy to and from school each day. Typically the primary schools are all in close proximity to their cachement area. There are no school buses here. Our walk takes about 10 minutes and I'm really glad we live close enough to walk to/from school so that I don't have to drive. There is a lovely paved footpath that starts at the end of our block and goes past a farmer's field and a park, then right to the school - so the walk is very nice and safe.

Amy took a packed lunch for school the first week but has asked to try hot lunch this next week. We'll see how she likes the local cuisine!

Emily is doing just fine these days and doesn't seem to miss Amy at all. I think she likes having "Mummy" to herself all the live-long day. Mum, on the other hand, is anxiously awaiting the arrival of our sea shipment so we can enjoy some new activities.

So far the only things I really miss are garbage disposals and Dairy Queen.

New things that I love:
-Parent & Child parking spaces at stores - like a handicapped spot with extra room on either side, but specifically designated for parents with small children.
-village life: the butcher, post office/store, surgery (medical clinic), old stone church from the 1300/1400's - all within a short walk from our house.
- trifle, "puddings" (desserts), Cadbury products, tea biscuits (in all their varieties and flavours), custard, double cream, frozen lollies.
- school uniforms
- all the interesting/fun things to see and do

Inside the New House

I have reluctantly agreed to post the videos of our new house in England... I say reluctant because it eliminates one more curiosity that might convince our friends and family to come visit us. Anyway, in case you were wanting a little tour of the new property, here you have it.

Outside of the new house

Views of our new house (exterior) in the village of Glinton, just north of Peterborough, England.

Pictures of our new home.