Remembrance Day, Sunday Lunch, Spaghetti Dinner

Today was a lovely day, even though the weather was drizzly and cold. There was much to be thankful for and the sense of having to say goodbye is really starting to sink in. Mike said that being here for the last two weeks is sort of like being here for the first two weeks: appreciating and noticing everything.

We went to church in the morning where the pastor, George, announced that we were leaving and then, impromptu like, asked Mike to come up and say a few words. George sort of interviewed him, just asking questions about where we're from, and how Mike and I met, and what had brought us over here, and how we liked it in England (most of the church is made up of Scots so there was some friendly jeering there), and so on. Then George asked Mike to tell the story about his being in gay ministry, and that got a good laugh. We are going to miss the friendly folks at our church, but we were glad to hear that George's sermons are available online; please go listen to at least one, just for the accent alone!

Today was Remembrance Day. People in church were dressed up more than normal--suits and ties--and everyone was wearing red poppy pins. There was a slideshow of British soldiers from different eras and patriotic slides of the Union Jack flapping in the wind and so forth. And then everyone stood for two minutes of silence. Later in the day I went for a run on the seafront and found soldiers in uniform, just wrapping up a presentation at the war memorial by the sea in Whitley Bay.

I read online that the red poppy became the symbol of Remembrance Day because of the poem "In Flanders Fields." Poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, and their red color became an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war. I only had my iPhone and the sea fret was as thick as pea soup, so the photos aren't great, but I found the memorial wreaths and personal messages so moving.

After church, we walked to our favorite Sunday-afternoon spot, The Cottage Kitchen. To give you an idea of how close it is to our house and for us--for posterity, to remember our weekly walk there for lunch--we recorded this:


Yes, Merrit got his sausage and egg stottie (an oversized hamburger bun with grilled link sausage sliced in half and covered with eggs-over-medium). Mike and I ordered the roast lamb, which comes with Yorkshire pudding, gravy, and veg. (Ollie and I shared because it's a huge portion, and just £6.00...a great deal.)

Even after Ollie shared with me, he dug into Mike's meal. 

We came home and all took a big nap since it was such a foggy, drizzly day. Awesome.

Then I went for a run while the boys continued napping. Running along the seafront has been one of my favorite things about living here. It makes no difference what the weather is here: There are always people out at the coast, rain or shine. This is a big running/biking community so you never feel alone out there, any time of day or night. And there is so much variety when you get there: You can run on the sand, on the boardwalk, on the grass, up/down the steps, up/down the ramps. Mostly though, it's an energizing, spiritual place to run: the wind blowing in your hair, the seaweed-salty smell, the sound of the surf, the craggy cliffs and lighthouses and crashing waves and huge sky. This is a coastline unlike any I've ever seen. I'm going to miss it.
Tonight was also our spaghetti dinner for the neighborhood hoodlums. They have been little pranksters, playing Knocky Knocky Nine Doors and kicking open our back gate and climbing over our garden wall and, just last week, leaving markered graffiti on the wooden fence behind our garden. (The fact that they signed their names wasn't all that bright.) We asked them if they did it, they denied it, we confronted them about their names, they fessed up, Mike went and got sandpaper out of the shed, and they commenced with buffing the whole mess off.

Please note: the kid in the middle, Ben, is innocent. He just happened to be around
when the guilty parties were apprehended and coerced to undertake restorative actions.
...This whole story reminds me of a certain Tom Sawyer incident...

In all seriousness, these are sweet kids, some sweeter than others--but I have to say that the ones who're a little hard to love are the ones that have grown on Mike and I the most. I actually worry about and care a lot for two in particular and want to love on them as much as I can before we go. So, the spaghetti dinner was my idea; it was just an effort to how to show how much we have come to love these kids. Let's meet 'em:

The kids brought cards and gifts (Nerds, chocolate candies, brownies), which
was totally unexpected.

I made a plum and apple crumble for dessert.
Getting ready to go into the oven....

Dinner for seven.

Spaghetti, bolognese sauce, and garlic bread in the works.

Yeah, that is my son with no shirt on and green marker on his chest.
The boys said he did it himself but how, I ask you, did he get marks on his BACK?

These boys ate their weight in spaghetti. Everyone but Amber had seconds,
or even thirds.

Mike prayed before the meal, which kicked off a little bit of a discussion about
why we pray and what it means to be a Christian. 

A Proper British Day Out

Mike is in Seattle right now but did that stop me from getting out and about? Nope. :) Well, maybe I'm overstating my bravado. After all, yesterday I drove the furthest I've driven in the last nine months! But--yay me, I did it. 

Our proper British day included: Wellies and warm jackets, a drive through the countryside, a walk along the coast, sheep, a castle, 4:00 scones and tea, a day that started out rainy and ended up brilliantly sunny, a gorgeous big-sky sunset, and toad-in-the-hole with peas for dinner.

The boys and I drove up the A1 highway to get to Dunstanburgh Castle, just outside the seaside village of Craster.

The fall colors as we drive into the town of Craster were just lovely.

The harbor and the village, straight ahead. Turn a sharp left for the 2-mile
footpath to the castle.

We're about halfway there, and it's still a long way to go. The misty air and brisk
wind coming off the sea made the walk quite "bracing," as they say here.

Hoods up, heads down, and hands in pockets
against the cold and wind. They're good lads!

As we approached the castle, we had to cross over the
meres (shallow swampy freshwater lakes) which
surround the castle on three sides. When the castle
was in use, the meres were filled with water channeled from
a nearby spring. They were  connected to create a moat and
were used for stocking and breeding freshwater fish .

The boys couldn't believe that we were walking right through
the sheep fields. The sheep were tame, but skittish. They'd
let us get within five to 10 feet of them.

Walking through the gatehouse, originally built in 1313
and fortified in the 19th century. The boys are getting
ready to go into the small gatekeeper's room.

Inside the gatehouse, we climbed three stories of spiral staircase to get to
the top. Here, we look back along the track we walked through the cow and
sheep fields. You can see the village of Craster in the distance. 

Turn 180 degrees and here's the opposite view: The Lilburn Tower, at
the northern-most spot along the castle grounds. The tower was named
for Sir John de Lilburn, a notorious local bandit and, briefly, a constable
of Dunstanburgh.

Three stories down to the bottom of the gatehouse floor.

The sun is coming out! The sun is coming out!
Merrit takes a peep through the arrow slit in the wall.

Helping Ollie up. They are such good brothers. (Most of the time.)

Back on the ground now. We are exploring along the east wall of the castle,
which includes the Constable's Tower, the Egyncleugh ("Eagle's Ravine") Tower. These
bits of the castle were finished around 1351. There are half walls where interior rooms
would have been, and geological surveys show that there are more like this buried under
the turf. The Constable's Tower was originally three stories high and the Egyncleugh
Tower was two stories high and included a separate entrance with a drawbridge. 

It seems like the kids really never stop moving, but every now and then, they'll
 stop long enough to appreciate a view. A rare moment here, captured on film.

Yes, a posed picture. But the light was great and they looked so cute in their
royal blue jackets and Wellies.

Balancing.

Climbing.

Walking.

Directing.

The boys decide to bushwhack our way over to
the Lilbburn Tower.

Ollie struggled a bit with the tall grass.

...But Merrit helped him up when he needed a hand.

...And he kept a sense of humor throughout.

The view north from the Lilburn Tower, including part of a golf course (don't
know which one). What a great course to play, huh? 

Ollie being silly.

Walking back to the gatehouse now. The sun is
getting low in the sky. 

Time to go. We have a long walk back to the village
and our parked car. And more than an hour's drive
home again. At this point, I'm actually worried
about Ollie's stamina, hoping I don't end up having
to piggy-back him for some or all of the two
miles back to the village of Craster!

The best view of the castle gatehouse. Most towers when this castle were
built had square towers, so the fact that these are round is noteworthy.
The wall to the right is the east wall and extends all the way down to the
North Sea. Originally these two towers were three stories high with an
additional two stories of battlements.

Ollie with sheep, the Constable's Tower, and the east wall in the background.

The boys getting their goofies out.

These sheep are, like, posing for us! They even bleated on cue.
They must be on the payroll. :)

You knew they were going to chase them, of course, didn't you?

A few pictures back in the village of Craster: 

The Shoreline Cafe, where the boys had fruit scones
and I had a cup of tea. They had a log fire burning when
we walked in. Ahhh, perfect!

Goodbye, Craster and Dunstanburgh Castle.

Oh, and what's Toad-in-the-Hole, you ask? I'll tell you in Merrit's words: "It's basically Yorkshire pudding with a sausage baked inside it. Fork a hole into the Yorkshire pudding and just pull out the sausage. I really liked them, they were really good--even though Mommy burned them, just a little."