During a summer AP English course with Mr. Stamford (my favorite high school teacher), I encountered my love of Shakespeare. Though I had read Romeo and Juliet earlier in my schooling, it wasn’t until encountering Mr. Stamford and his amazing method of teaching that I fell in love with Shakespeare and his plays. Since then,…
Category: United Kingdom
10 things about British houses that seem quirky to Americans
Expat life comes with a lot of big changes, but none are as noticeable on a day-to-day basis as those oddly different aspects in your new house. As we approach out first year here I thought it would be fun to compile a list of things that we as Americans think are quirky home features…
Treasure Hunting at the Peterborough Festival of Antiques
“Something can be old, but it can be timeless.” Cee Lo Green Since I was a young girl, I’ve loved history and antiques. In fact, when I was just 18 I wrote “fill my house with antiques” on my bucket list. Early on in our marriage, I learned that Tim loved antiques and the thrill…
5 ways to spend a long weekend in Bath, England
Last weekend we did our first road trip of the year and drove down to Bath. About 2.5-3 hours away, the drive was long enough that we felt like it was a true getaway, close enough that we could do it in a three day weekend. I’ve been wanting to see Bath since I started…
10 things that make driving in the UK surprisingly pleasant
Almost without fail, when I talk to friends and family back home, I get asked about how it is to drive over here, on the other side of the car and on the opposite side of the road. My answer probably comes as a surprise to most, but I actually really like it. It didn’t…
Cahoots! takes me back in time
Did you know you can time travel in London? Last Saturday my friend Kaitlin and I found ourselves back in 1946, celebrating the end of WWII in an air raid shelter below the streets of London. Okay, so we didn’t really find a hottub time machine, or even (spoiler alert) fist-shaped time-hopping ship made of…
West End Reviews part 1
For those of you who don’t know, the West End is London’s equivalent to Broadway. Boasting just one less theater than Broadway and starting nearly three hundred years earlier, the West End draws millions of people from all over the world to their historic playhouses each year. In fact, according to today tix, the West…
My Meerkat Meeting
Sam circa 1993 was a Girl Scout and in my troop we each had animal names. I don’t remember why or what the purpose was, but these names followed us for a few years. My best friend was otter and I was meerkat. My mom tried to convince me to be muskrat for the 1976…
Lyveden House…a dream interrupted
Deep in the English countryside stands the shell of an Elizabethan garden lodge a symbol of a dream that was cut short when it’s creator, Sir Thomas Tresham suddenly died in 1605. Tresham’s dream wasn’t just to have a fancy garden lodge, but to stand steadfast in his Catholic faith in a time where Catholics…
Getting Happy with a SAD lamp
SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder – a disorder with symptoms similar to depression that occurs regularly at certain times of the year, usually in winter when days are shorter. On my second day in England, a relatively sunny Mid-May day, I was informed that soon enough, the skies would darken and it would be a good…
Fernweh Findings 