Hobbiton and The Shire?

After our picnic at the Rollright Stones, we stopped off at a nearby farm shop for ice cream and a chance to pat the baby water buffaloes.


Then we drove to the town of Burford, a very charming place indeed. I popped into quite a few shops on the main street and found a sweet sleeping hedgie statue for my collection. The flowers on the stone buildings were magnificent. Tabs found some very cute summer shoes in one of the shops. I heard requests for more ice cream, but Joanne seemed to remember that some had already been eaten; drat.


Then we drove on over to Oxford for a quick look around. The colleges were all closed for the day, but we strolled around the streets outside, past several colleges and the Bodleian Library. I was thrilled to see the pub where J.R.R. Tolkien and his colleagues used to hang out.

If I had been alone, I probably would have gone inside and ordered a pint, then sat there dreaming of being a hobbit or something equally "me."

After that, we had to get back to Watford so the kids could get into bed - school the next day. It had been a beautiful day out in the English countryside - just what I had wanted, so I went to bed tired and satisfied. And full of pudding, too.

like a pendulum do

From Dublin we flew back to Gatwick, where Lydia helped me get my ticket for the correct train to Watford. Her train was leaving just before mine from the same platform, so we had a few more minutes to chat. She got an ugly dirty train. I got a shiny green pretty one. Hah!

At Watford Junction I was met by a speeding Max and laughing Tabs, followed by their dad. When we got to their home, I was greeted by a wet tongue in my ear. Joanne should have been making dinner, but.... oh, right, the tongue was Amanita's, never mind. We had the first in a series of yummy dinners, then were off to bed so we could be ready
for a busy Saturday.

Around noon on Saturday we were ready to head into London to see the first stage of the Tour de France. I know next to nothing about bicycle racing, but it was fun to be in the crowd of spectators watching the cyclists in their brightly-colored spandex whizzing past. After we had had enough of that, we set off for the Victoria and Albert Museum, only to arrive right after they had closed for the day. Undaunted, we dashed across the road to the Natural History Museum instead. We only had about 15 minutes there before they closed.



We hadn't been able to take the train to London because of station closures, so we got back to the car and drove home.


On Sunday morning we set out in the direction of the Cotswalds. I had wanted to see a standing stone circle and Mike had suggested the Rollright Stones. Little did we know at the time that the reason he knew about these stones was that they're mentioned in a Half Man Half Biscuit lyric. *insert eye-rolling smilie here* Anyway, since I wasn't being picky, they were dandy standing stones for a visit. When we arrived there (near Chipping Norton) we got out our picnic and had lunch near the stones.


We noticed a silver-haired man standing in the center of the circle with his hands on a woman's head, rocking her back and forth. There was some other odd activity going on - a guy with some metal rods sort of wandering around with some concentration. After our picnic, the man saw the kids and asked if they'd like to learn to use his dowsing rods. Of course they were eager to give it a try. They picked it up immediately and we successfully commanding the rods in no time.











Next Joanne had a try, then me. I wasn't very good at it at all. The man said I was trying t0o hard or something. Oh well, I did get the rods to move some of the time. It was fun to mess around with them, anyway. Mike got them to move by saying "ghostbusters" instead of "thank you". There was a beautiful patch of red poppies growing in the field just past the stones. It made me wish Zannah were there to enjoy them with me.

had a fever

After the 4 July "not a show" we (me, Lydia, WH, WVO, and the Cresswells) met up with Astrid and wandered into a pub for a drink - shortly before closing time, but I was totally exhausted and Lydia wasn't feeling well, so we needed to get back to the hotel soon anyway. It was great to finally meet someone I've known only online for, gosh, about 4 years now, and who knew Jess before that. On the morning of the 5th, we overslept and missed breakfast at the hotel. Oh well. Our plan was to visit the National Museum, just across the road from the hotel, and we found a coffee shop (with chocolate croissants and diet Coke!) around the corner. We'd been in the museum only a little while when WVO caught up with us, so we toured together. He wanted to take the Jameson Whiskey Distillery tour, so we three walked across the river to the Smithfield area and embarked on the tour. As we were purchasing tickets, we saw that there was a nice discounted family rate, so we entertained the notion of claiming that we were Wim's lesbian mothers. Oh well, at least he got a student discount. The tour was pretty interesting and at the end we had samples of the whiskey. I got the one mixed with cranberry juice, and have to admit it was fairly tasty that way. After that, we strolled back to the Temple Bar area and had dinner (seafood pancakes) before making our way once more to the Olympia. It was another magical night of rocking music from an enthusiastic band for an equally enthusiastic audience.



Afterward, I was able to meet AH, a member of both Murmurs and the Moby board. She and her husband are a charming German couple. Since pubs were closing and I missed Astrid suggesting a club, we went to Eddie Rocket's for diner-style stuff, which was just as well. Lydia and WVO had a good opportunity to visit, and Astrid spoke German with AH & hubby. They're funny and cute and I was glad to meet in person.

So ended our second night in Dublin. Determined to get our hotel Irish breakfast on our last morning, we put in a wake-up call and arose at 8 a.m. on Friday. After enjoying our breakfast, we checked out and got Paddy to store our bags so we could do some shopping before our flight back to Gatwick. Despite repeated text-message efforts to find The Boys, we ended up shopping on our own and only seeing them for just long enough for goodbye hugs by the Molly Malone statue.

Don't even get me started on the Ryanair experience at Dublin airport. Feedlot without the feed. Mass confusion. Delayed flight, of course. Our "gate" was assigned to our Gatwick flight as well as a flight to Oslo, so the line was a huge mess.

Next entry - on to jolly old England.

streets broad and narrow

So. 4 July, 2007. As I was saying, we (me, Lydia, WH and WVO) went to dinner in the Temple Bar area; no, I don't remember the name of the place, but I had some lovely chicken and mushrooms. No pear cider, but the apple was nice. After the meal, we ambled down the narrow lanes back to the Olympia to take our seats: first circle, row D. WH was several rows behind us, and it turned out that J&M were almost directly in front of us. It was grand to have a chance to visit with them a bit before the show.

Opener was Via Rosa, otherwise known to the memory-impaired as Viagra (because, as Lydia said, they helped Robyn hitch his cock). Their music is okay, nothing special. After a couple songs from them, Robyn Hitchcock joined them. Then the Viagra guys left and Robyn was joined by two of the Venus Three - Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin. Robyn is so bizarre and so entertaining..
Then finally, R.E.M. (+2) took the stage for the "working rehearsal". Mills used the bullhorn to make certain that everyone knew "This is NOT a show". No, it wasn't a "show". It was something far better - an opportunity to see the guys relaxed and happy, in "making music for the fun of it" mode instead of "performing because we have to" mode.

There are reviews of the "shows" elsewhere. For me personally, much of the evening was spent thinking how much Jessica would have loved to have been there. Yes, it would have fed her obsession with JMS, but seeing him enjoying himself, smiling, relaxed, would have meant the world to her.

singing cockles and mussels

Dublin. July 4-6. Left DFW July 3. Of course the flight was delayed, as were almost all flights during this period of unusual (for Texas summer) daily thunderstorms. I knew I would probably be late arriving at Gatwick, so carried on both my bags for the trip. Got to Gatwick around 11 Wednesday morning instead of 8, as planned, so dashed through immigration and over to the other terminal, searched high and low for the Ryanair desk, got checked in, hustled through security, and made it to the departure lounge with minutes to spare. After a quick stop in the ladies room, I was wandering back out to look for Lydia when she serendipitously found me. Of course, our flight to Dublin was delayed (the story of my summer travels) but we made it there around 4 p.m.

As we were riding the bus to our hotel, Lydia got the first of many text messages from friends we were meeting: "Where are you NOW?". We both cracked up. Fortunately, the bus dropped us off just across the road from the hotel, and I immediately saw WH out front waiting for us. Hugs all around. Eventually he got hold of WVO and we all walked together over to the Olympia to pick up our tickets for the 4th of July "working rehearsal" of R.E.M. Tickets in hand, we chatted to a couple of people in the queue for standing spots, then continued on to dinner.


(more later....eyes are tired)

shuffle off

How sad is this? I need to finish writing about the New York trip so I can move on to the Dublin and Watford trips.

Okay, so after Book Expo I met up with friends Lydia and Nicky, from England. I was the first to arrive at our hotel, which Lydia had booked, accompanied by John. As the car pulled up to the hotel, we saw a giant inflatable rat tied to a pole outside the entrance. There was a labor protest going on. I thought the protesters were very rude, and I knew Lydia had pre-paid for the room, so I went on in and checked in. The room was gorgeous! After a while, Lydia and Nicky got there and called from the lobby, wondering if we should stay there or not because of the labor situation. We decided to stay.

Anyway, enough of that! The days in NYC were great! Sights: Empire State Building, Bronx Zoo, harbor cruise in the evening, MOMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim, Natural History Museum. Food: too much to name! We ate a couple of times at the restaurant where John works - complimentary mimosas on Saturday from our handsome waiter (another friend and her husband met up with us that day).



Chocolate cheesecake so big that I couldn't finish it.


Of course it wasn't all food food food. We strolled through Central Park. We tried to visit St Patrick's Cathedral but made the error of attempting that on the day of the Puerto Rico parade. Couldn't get across 5th, and were pressed in enormous crowds for a good while.

I fell completely in love with John's Yorkie, Parker.
Snatches: mariachi buskers on the subway; breakdancers in the station; Dominican food in John's neighborhood; yorkie fashion show; cheap jewelry; silk wrap skirt; morning run for diet pepsi.