Tornado alert

Brit Gal Sarah is used to severe weather in her part of the US as she lives in 'tornado alley', but (even after 24 years here!) it still surprises me that here in New England we also have occasional tornado watches! They can even, though fortunately very rarely, turn into tornado warnings - meaning that rather than the weather conditions simply being propitious for a tornado, one has actually been sighted. The forecast for this afternoon included a thunderstorm watch but has just been upgraded to a tornado watch through until 9 p.m. tonight. Ah well, no trip to the park this afternoon!

Blackcurrants

One of my favourite summer fruits is blackcurrants. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find them here in the US. Blueberries, on the other hand, which I never had when I was growing up in England, are very popular over here. Blueberries look very similar to blackcurrants, but taste very different. For years blueberries have disappointed me. I would see a blueberry pie being served and it looked so much like blackcurrant I would have to have a slice. Then I would realize it was indeed blueish in colour and not purple. I'd take a bite and be disappointed by the lack of flavour. Blueberries always seem very bland compared to blackcurrants.

It wasn't until recently that I discovered the reason for blackcurrants' rarity in the US is that many states banned blackcurrant growing in the early 1900's in order to prevent the spread of white pine blister rust, Cronartium ribicola, a disease affecting white pine trees, a mainstay back then of the timber industry. Today the use of white pine as lumber is rare and disease-resistant plants are available, but the antiquated ban on producing blackcurrants remained in effect pretty much nationwide until recently. Some states are now allowing blackcurrant plants to be reintroduced. In New York State it was primarily the result of the efforts of one 'gentleman farmer' who now runs a company that sells blackcurrant 'nectar', blackcurrants. I can now buy blackcurrant 'nectar' at our local supermarket! (I can buy Ribena too - but it is insanely expensive as it is imported. Blackcurrant jam too, imported from Poland, and worth the price even though DS has decided it makes very good PB&J sandwiches now that he's finally understood that the lumps in the jam are the fruit!) I could order frozen blackcurrants online at $5/lb, for a minimum of 3 lbs (plus shipping & handling of course!)

They even sell currant bushes via mailorder. The law in my state still says however:

"No person shall deliver within the Commonwealth from outside the Commonwealth any blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) plant, root, scion, seed or cutting."

So no blackcurrant bushes in our backyard for the foreseeable future! Still, over the years I have gotten to like blueberries for what they are and appreciate that, unlike blackcurrants, you can eat them raw. In fact, I've decided that's mostly my favorite way of eating them, though I don't object if they're cooked into pancakes or muffins. Tonight's dessert was definitely one for blueberries though, not blackcurrants, as it did need raw fruit. However, I modified the original 'Real Simple' recipe slightly and the 0% fat Greek yogurt (instead of cream cheese and cream - thanks for the inspiration Mum!) along with the lemon zest (called for in the original) gave it some of the tartness I miss from blackcurrants.

Blue Sky

After far more rainy days than usual this summer, it was a delight to see a blue sky with no clouds at all in it!

Bucking fugs!

Normally I wouldn't be very happy to find a large hole dug right next to the house when I hadn't planned to have one there. I would probably start by blaming the kids, but I couldn't this time because I know they haven't been out playing in this particular spot recently. This hole was clearly dug by a very persistent animal, possibly a large one. DH says it was probably a bear. How would having a bear digging next to the foundation of your house make you feel? A little nervous? Me too, except that this time I'm actually also feeling grateful to the bear, if that's what it was!

This animal (for the sake of argument let's assume it was a bear) knew what was down there and actually did us a favour with its digging. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the hole is about 9 or 10 inches wide and a foot deep. At first glance it's just a hole, and rather a tidy one at that. In another location it would look like a hole dug for a new plant. But look more closely and you can see what the bear was digging for.

This was a nest of yellowjacket wasps. (Did you know that bears do like to eat wasps? They are a good source of protein!) We regularly have to get rid of paper wasp nests, but at least those are easy to spot as they're usually hanging from the eaves of the house or the roof of the kids' climbing structure. This was hidden between the side of the house and the hatchway to the basement and could have been there for ages without us spotting it. Incubating large quantities of vicious stinging insects! I know they're supposed to be beneficial because they eat other insects, but they are also extremely annoying. Had the bear not started digging to get at the grubs, it would have taken us much longer to discover the nest and spray it. Here's hoping the bear had a feast, and also that it decides not to return. I'd hate for it to be poisoned by eating the grubs and wasps that have now been sprayed. If it comes back through the yard anytime soon, I hope it will decide the compost bin (which is much further away from the house!) is a more promising place to snack!

Of course, the hole could have been dug by a skunk as they also like a tasty wasp and grub meal, and I know we have skunks living close by.

Meanwhile, at the front of the house we have some of these "Great Black Wasps" or "Katydid Killers" (about an inch and a half to two inches long!) flying around. Supposedly fairly harmless, but they sure don't look it!

(This photo from Bev Wigney's wonderful collection of nature-related photos.)

Then there are all the biting things that make my son look like he has hives when he's simply covered in bug bites, and the fruit flies that have invaded the house, and I saw a couple of Indian meal moths today . . . I think I will be happy when it's winter again! At least then the only animals we have to deal with are the mice in the attic!

Magic roundabouts

I asked DH this evening how he feels about driving around rotaries and his response was that he hates them. Not because he dislikes rotaries, but because he says drivers over here don't know how to navigate them properly, and they are too aggressive. He has experience of roundabouts in the UK (as a passenger, not a driver) and thinks they work well when people know how to use them.

American drivers in general have no idea how to drive around a roundabout (more usually called a rotary or traffic circle over here.) Apparently this has to do with the history of 'rotaries' because they did not originally give priority to the traffic on the rotary, nor were they necessarily seen as places where the traffic should slow down. Many American drivers have never encountered a rotary. Nowadays, because over the years rotaries have tended to become known as choke points or bad bottlenecks, there is enormous resistance nowadays when local authorities decide that a roundabout is needed. Interestingly, the word 'roundabout' tends to be used now instead of 'rotary' to highlight the fact that the design has changed.

Roundabout design in Britain changed in the 1960's to require that drivers on the roundabout have priority, and that drivers entering the rotary slow down, if not stop, before entering it. This design has worked much better than the American one, and in more recent years American highway departments have begun to use the British design. This diagram makes it look more complicated than it really is I think.

They're not really that complicated and used properly they do keep the traffic moving. Still, people who have no experience of them complain. Recent arguments against a rotary in my town include complaints that there will be extra noise for nearby residents from trucks braking and accelerating. Do they think that if there are traffic lights (sorry, a "signalized intersection"!) the trucks won't have to brake or accelerate? Puh-lease! This particular roundabout would go in at a very simple intersection - currently a "T-junction" - and the entrance to a local park would be altered so that it was also on the roundabout. Both roads are very busy only at certain times of day. A roundabout would be the perfect solution here as it keeps the traffic moving and no one would have to sit at a red light when there's no traffic or sit in frustration for 10 minutes waiting for some polite person to let them out. It does actually happen - there are some polite drivers around here, but almost inevitably they have someone impatient behind them who will try to pass on the inside and then cause an accident!

And after all, this is not a Magic Roundabout that's being proposed! That really would make most American drivers' heads spin!

License to drive

When I first came to the United States I had no need of a driver's license. Instead I got what was called a "liquor ID card" after I discovered that my UK passport was not considered adequate proof of my age when I wanted to get in to a local bar!

A couple of years later I finally did get a driver's license. I didn't have to take a test of any kind - not a road test or even a written test. I seem to remember showing them my UK license, perhaps along with my (by then expired) international driving permit and my liquor ID as well as my passport. (Multiple forms of photo ID seem to be required - a couple of years after I got my liquor ID I helped a Russian friend get hers and it was not an easy task.)

A whole bunch of years down the road, having renewed my license a couple of times in between, I was royally annoyed after waiting over an hour to renew my license to be told they would not renew it until I turned in my liquor ID, which I hadn't used or even seen in years. I finally found it, and had to turn it in along with the old license. I really wanted to keep the older license as it had rather a good picture of me on it. (i.e. it didn't look remotely like me, but in a very good way - I looked young, slim and pretty!)

At the next license renewal they had switched over to digital pictures. I was fairly happy with the photo they took, so at the subsequent renewal when I was asked if I wanted a new picture I decided to decline.

My license expired today so although I should clearly have set about renewing it some time ago, I headed off to the local Registry of Motor Vehicles after lunch. There is an option to renew online, but you can only do that so often and then you have to go in and have your photo retaken. My last experience there was a good one - no line, in and out in under 10 minutes. What were the chances of such luck this afternoon? Slim to none! Apparently this registry was off the beaten path in the past - relatively new and in an out of the way location. Since then, the busier registry office has closed due to a dispute with the landlord. My heart sank as I saw the number of people waiting - and me with a 6 year-old in tow and, foolishly, nothing to occupy him! There were big signs warning not to take a number until AFTER filling out the application form. I took a number anyway, while I was waiting to get close enough to the counter where the forms and pens were. Yes, of course it would have been helpful if I'd brought my own pen with me, but that would have required a degree of organization I don't appear to possess. I had a choice of a plastic spoon, a lipstick or a Sharpie marker so I chose to stand in line and wait for a pen!

So I took a number, got a form and filled it out/in. One question asked if I have a license to drive in any other US state or any other country. I don't remember seeing that question before, but now I can truthfully answer "No" seeing as I've lost the UK one and can't get it replaced! (See previous post.) I had palpitations though when I saw that it said that for certain transactions further forms of ID like a Social Security card might be required. I'm pretty sure my Social Security card is in the safety deposit box at the bank, and I knew I didn't have enough time to go get it, get back in line, and still make it to the pick-up point for DD's bus bringing her back from Girl Scout camp. And if it wasn't in the bank, I certainly didn't have time to figure out where it was and still get my license renewed today! That would be a Very Bad Thing given that (remember?) my license expired today and tomorrow involves a fair amount of ferrying children around to different activities! The ticket with my number on it said B236 and my anticipated wait time was 24 minutes. I'd only been waiting a couple of minutes when I thought I heard my number called. It was a good thing they also had an electronic board where the numbers were displayed because they had in fact called C236. How you make a C sound like a B is beyond me, but they did - repeatedly over the next half hour. Every number that started with a C sounded like it began with B! DS even argued with me about it, he was so sure he was hearing B.

In the end it was only about half an hour until my number was called and DS was extremely well behaved and patient. I did not have to produce anything other than my old license, the completed application form and $50 - whew - no crazy search for my Social Security card needed after all! The lady asked if I wanted my photo retaken (when I thought I'd have no choice given that my current photo was taken 8 years ago.) She then took my picture twice and let me choose which one I preferred! She even wished me Happy Birthday as I was leaving! Not a bad experience at all in the end! Oh, and this time I was allowed to keep the old license "as a souvenir"!

Licence to drive

I have misplaced my UK driver's licence. I'd kept the original slip of paper (because that's all it was - not even a photo on it) safe for almost 30 years, and then sometime in the last 2 years I lost it. Given that I don't live in the UK anymore and I don't even need my licence when I'm over there as my US one is good for 12 months, it doesn't really matter, except that it's a link to the United Kingdom I wasn't planning on giving up. It looks as though I'll have to though, as I can't get a replacement.

The DVLC (oops - apparently they changed the name to DVLA - wonder how many millions that identity change cost?) has some useful tools on their website that make it relatively easy in most cases to replace a lost licence, or change your name or address. If the name on my licence matched the name on my passport, the DVLA could pull my digital photo from my UK passport file and issue me with a new photo licence. (Actually, that's a little scary that their databases are linked like that - I'm not sure that I trust the UK government with my personal data!) Unfortunately, I never got my name changed on my licence when I got married. Plus there's the small matter of not actually being resident in the UK any more.

Whether I fill out the form for a lost licence plus change of name online or on paper, you have to swear that you are a UK resident. I'm not and I'm not willing to risk the (something like) £4,000 fine if I get caught lying! Given that technically it doesn't actually expire for at least 20 years, I've got plenty of time to replace my licence if I ever do actually move back to the UK. Heck, I could even take the test again - after all I passed first time (unlike almost all of my friends!)

Skywatch Friday - the view from Allis

The view from the lean-to we stayed in at Allis State Park in Vermont. The website for the park touts it as one of Vermont's best kept secrets. Sadly, it was a little too secret and it seems there were not enough visitors to justify keeping the campground open. When we visited there were at most three other families on the entire site. The kids are disappointed as they would have liked to go back there but my guess is that, given that the site had a small number of campers and no easy access to water for boating or swimming, it will remain closed in future summers too :-(

30% off - 4 days only

(For my US readers only.) This weekend (July 30 - August 2) you can get 30% off at Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic stores with this coupon. 5% of your purchase price will then be donated to Donors Choose, an organization that helps teachers in the United States fund classroom projects.

Sadly, the kind of requests teachers make are very often for basic items like paper and crayons! I had a project funded earlier this year so that I could do some multimedia projects with my students. I had already spent several hundred dollars on materials this year, so it was nice to have someone else spend a couple of hundred on my behalf. So, if you were planning on shopping at any of these stores this weekend, please take the coupon with you. It'll save you a few dollars, and help some teachers and their students out too!

Skywatch Friday

Oops - sorry - the link for Skywatch Friday for July 30 should have taken you here!





View from our back deck a week or so ago.

Here Kitty, Kitty!

Sitting eating dinner tonight, watching the wild rabbits running around, the Littlest American suddenly said "And there's a skunk on the lawn next door."

"No there isn't!" we said.

"Well, what's that black and white thing then?" So we looked -

and sure enough, it was a skunk! As the batteries had died in my camera yet again, DH headed out to take a photo, muttering "Here kitty, kitty!"

I wonder if this is the critter that came up on the deck the other night and dug up the herbs in the plant pot by the door?

Weirder than asparagus

This morning I read about the death of Mollie Sugden, the actress who played Mrs. Slocombe in the BBC sitcom Are you Being Served? Shortly afterwards, an online acquaintance coincidentally mentioned a relatively new ice cream shop in San Francisco called "Humphrey Slocombe." The name is a reference to that same TV show. They have the usual wide range of ice cream flavours, but some rather odd ones too: foie gras, salt and pepper, and peanut butter curry for example. I wasn't too sure what the flavour of Secret Breakfast was likely to be, but it turns out it's bourbon and cornflakes!

Wordless Wednesday - Magic Hat #9

Tonight's beer:
Tonight's beer cap:

The Lawn

The English lawn is so simple, and yet it takes a lot of maintenance to make it look so good. Supposedly, that was part of the point originally - the manicured lawn was more prestigious than the one nibbled by sheep or other livestock. When we moved to our current residence we inherited a gorgeous lawn that was the result of rather a lot of chemicals, and vast amounts of watering. The previous owner's liberal use of weedkillers created a monoculture that has been easy to maintain without resorting to chemicals. Despite the size of the lawn, we now dig dandelions out one by one rather than poisoning them.

We have very little topsoil - dig an inch or so down and there's nothing but sand, so it drains extremely fast and is very dry. Trying to get a nice green lawn is completely dependent on the sprinkler system, though we run it less often than the previous owner. Because of the weather, we haven't had to run the sprinklers more than a few days so far this year. (Yay! Smaller water bill!) The grass has been growing rampant, but has been too wet to mow as often as we would have liked. (Yay! Less spent on fuel for the mower!) Because of the damp, a new species has invaded the lawn that we haven't had to deal with before:


If I were braver, I would look this fungus up and try to determine if it's edible, because there's enough out there in the back yard for several meals, but I'm too scared I'll simply poison us all!

In the long run though, at least some of the lawn needs to go. We need a real vegetable garden. The kids are loving their garden on the front porch, but I think our choice of plants was ill-advised for container gardening! It's beginning to look like a jungle out there!

A little ruined . . .

You've Been a Little Ruined by American Culture

Whether you live in the US or not, deep down you're a little American. And there's nothing wrong with loving American culture, but it may have negative effects on your life. Slow down and enjoy what you have. Reconnect with life's simple pleasures. You don't need to be in a consumerist rat race. Life's too short to overwork yourself!

Has American Culture Ruined You?

Scratch Art

DD brought this piece of art work home from school last week. She likes doing scratch art projects like this and over the years she has become much better at them. This one has nice strong lines, with little evidence of any indecision as she scratched the black layer away to create her design.

But on looking more closely, I wondered if her teacher realized the significance of the item to the left of the flowers. I'm pretty sure that if she wore a T-shirt to school that advertised alcohol she would be asked to change, and I'm sure if the teacher had realized what UFO is she might have been asked to alter her design (or sent to the school counselor!) Well, maybe not, but I still thought it was an 'interesting' choice.


UFO - Unfiltered Offering. A Hefeweizen beer from Harpoon Brewery.

Visitor from the UK - guest post

Since starting to blog, and choosing to blog much of the time about being an expat, I have met many other expats online. Michael Harling is an American living in the UK. If you haven't visited his blog, Postcards From Across the Pond, I highly recommend it. Although I haven't bought his book yet, I'm thinking it would probably be a good purchase for my husband before we go to the UK again. Actually, given how much I enjoy his writing, I should just buy it for myself. Michael is currently travelling around the world, from one blog to another and I invited him to stop off here.

Quiet day today. I think I had one too many mint juleps at Wendy and Rob's last night. But when you’re embarking upon a World Tour (even if it is the virtual world) you can’t let a little thing like a hangover slow you down, so my pounding head, dry throat, sandpaper eyeballs and I all got up at 5AM to catch the 8:27 flight out of Little Rock. When Almost American picked me up in Chicopee this afternoon, I was still feeling a little fragile so as soon as we got to her place she made me tea and toast; she even cut it into soldiers for me.

It's nice to be back here in Massachusetts, only one of two states whose name I can't spell without having to look it up (the other is Connecticut).

I used to live here, you know; when my first marriage ended, I moved into a flat in Pittsfield with my buddy and his girlfriend and her two-year old child. I had no other place to go and they were kind enough to take me in. Overnight I went from living in a four bedroom house with one and a half baths, dining room, office, full basement and redwood porch to sleeping on a sofa in a second floor walk-up. It was not the high point of my life.

That unhappy incident did not sully my feelings for Massachusetts, however. It's a lovely state, and I have many happy memories of climbing its mountains, visiting its quaint and touristy towns and peeping at its leaves. A drive along the Mass Pike at the peak of autumn is about the prettiest sight in the world (barring, of course, a drive up the The Northway, through the Adirondack State Park). Almost American is lucky—having left England, she is now living in a place just as beautiful.

It is amazing how much Britain and New England resemble each other, terrain-wise, at least. Where I live in Sussex, the weald and downs look much like—and are every bit as fetching as—the Hudson Valley and Berkshire Mountains. And further north, the Scottish highlands have more than a passing resemblance to the Adirondacks and the mountains of Maine. But seeing as how they used to be part of the same land mass (or so they tell me, it was a few years before I was born) perhaps it isn't so amazing after all.

Back then, of course, when we all lived together, we all spoke the same and things were a little less confusing; an elevator was an elevator, not a lift, and a car had a trunk and a hood, not a boot and a bonnet, and aluminium had not yet developed that extraneous syllable. It wasn't until we drifted apart that the Brits started needlessly searching for new ways to pronounce “oregano,” “lieutenant” and “schedule” when they already had perfectly acceptable pronunciations. At least that's how it looks from this side of the Atlantic. Or perhaps my thinking is still a bit muddled by mint julep fallout.

I think I'd better have another cup of tea and some toast soldiers, then I'll get back to you on that language thing.

Would you like to participate in the
2009 KINDNESS of STRANGERS TOUR?
Visit the Tour Page to sign up or to view the latest Tour updates.

Michael Harling is an American author living in the UK undertaking a virtual world tour via the kindness of strangers.

The local ice cream

Well, one of my commenters got the ice cream flavour right, but I'm afraid I'll have to disqualify her and not give her the non-existent prize because she cheated. I'm sure she's actually been there (right Molly?), and has probably eaten some of this ice cream. It is indeed unusual - so it's not honey or maple flavoured, although those are both local products. It is not listed on the flavours board as locals simply know that it's available in season.

Unfortunately, I don't have any in-focus photos of the ice cream. This is not deliberate. I was trying, but perhaps I was focusing too much on eating the ice cream instead of taking photos of it. I'll blame it on the fact that I didn't have my glasses with me. I have sadly reached that age where my arms are not long enough and I need glasses to focus on anything closer to me than the length of my arms. I had thought that maybe the camera with its so-called AUTO-FOCUS (they lie!) might be smart enough to do just that and focus, but apparently I'm still supposed to do something to get it to focus. I need a camera that will read my intentions and focus on the thing I am thinking of. Then my photos would be much better. In the meantime, I'll just have to remember my glasses and learn how to work the camera!

Back to the ice-cream! Here are said blurry pictures. They look a little greener than the photo in the last post, but I think this is closer to the true color.




The flavour is, as Molly said, asparagus. Sounds disgusting doesn't it? Well, it's actually asparagus and almond and it's pretty heavy on the almond - although as you can tell from the photos the asparagus is definitely in there! If you think of asparagus in a cream sauce it becomes a little less strange I think. It is perfectly edible, although I think I would go for chocolate brownie or cookie dough another time. Remember a lot of American ice cream places will give you a taster spoonful of a flavour or two before you buy, so if you see an unusual flavour you don't have to commit yourself and find you hate it.

Zooming in on the photo from the previous post, you can actually see both the almonds and the asparagus in the ice cream. (See, sometimes I CAN make the camera work!)


I bet they have asparagus ice cream at the British Asparagus Festival. If you can't find anywhere locally that sells asparagus ice cream and you'd like to try it, you could always try making it yourself. There's another recipe here. I'm not sure I would serve it with smoked salmon though as this English restaurant suggests! Nor would I be up for asparagus beer!

Ice cream

Many years ago when my parents came to visit me for the first time in the United States we spent some time travelling around New England. I remember being in Rockport, Massachusetts, one afternoon and deciding we needed some ice cream. My father was delighted at the selection of flavors, and happy that they let him try a couple before he bought. I suggested that he buy a small ice cream. He indignantly insisted that he wanted a large. I suggested a small would be sufficient. He got the large and it very nearly defeated him. I think he only finished it out of sheer stubbornness!

Like many other things, ice cream servings do tend to be larger over here than in the UK. This afternoon a friend described the 'small' ice cream served at our most local ice cream stand as ' the size of a child's head.' We had run into her at a slightly further afield ice cream stand, where her kids were getting a treat after a long and sweaty hike. Ours were just getting a treat. Next time we should do a hike first!

This afternoon's destination is a local dairy farm. They sell a variety of ice cream flavours, all but one (the peanut butter one) made on the farm from the milk from their own Jersey and Holstein cows. You can tell how local the product is as soon as you step out of the car - one of the other products they sell (to enrich the soil in your garden) has a much stronger smell than any ice cream could! The kids like going here for ice cream because they like visiting the cows. You can't feed them or pet them, but there's just something irresistible about these very large animals.

Here's a pic of my (small - I asked for ONE scoop but I think the girl couldn't count that high!) ice cream:
I chose to have a particularly local icecream. Not only does the milk come from the cows on the farm, but one of the other main ingredients does too. It is a seasonal flavour, not offered all year round, so it is not listed on the flavours board.

Can you figure out what flavour my ice cream was? (I removed the name of the farm from the flavours board photo, so you can't just Google it!) It's one of those things that doesn't sound like a good idea necessarily, but is actually quite good. No prizes for the winning guess I'm afraid.

Later . . .