SUNDAY-3/22/26 TO SATURDAY-4/28/26

Weather forecast for this week, from Tuesday, 3-31/26 to Saturday, 4/4/26.

Sunday, March 22nd, 2026: I have written a blog post about Gregg's second birthday celebration with our son and daughter-in-law, so don't have much to add on that. I will share a couple of photos of those beautifully frosted window partitions and the old-fashioned wall lamps.  I loved those!

On each side of the photo below you can see the horse brasses which seem to be a standard fixture in the old pubs. I was curious so looked them up online. I remembered some of it but not all. Originally, they were used to decorate the harnesses of heavy working horses, such as Shire and Clydesdale horses, during the 19th and early 20th centuries. I believe they may still do that for special events. Earlier than that, when these were introduced in the 18th century, they were believed to be amulets that protected horses from "evil spirits" and the "evil eye". Designs like stars, suns and crescents were common "lucky" symbols". Going back to the Romans, they also used similar amulets on their horses, but I don't think the two stories are related. A great read of their history can be seen at this link if curious.

This week has been one of those weeks for me and I didn't write anything down so all this is off the cuff.  

Monday, March 23rd, 2026: it sprinkled. I woke up shivering. It went down to 32 ° F. - 0 °C that night. We didn't have the heat on because the house had felt relatively warm that day. We didn't go out.

Tuesday, March 24th, 2026: we went over to Wegmans for a shingles shot for me and a tetanus shot for Gregg. Nice pharmacist again, we've had him before. No problem with the shingles shot except for a sore arm for a few days. Gregg had no problem. I didn't feel any flu-like symptoms we were told about, and he didn't either when he had his. He is all sorted out now as his was done last month, the last one being a couple of months ago. I still need a shingles booster in two months, and also need a tetanus shot which I will get next week sometime. These were recommended by my doctor on the last visit. After we were finished in the pharmacy, we walked around the store and bought a few items. 

We did go to Walney for a quick visit to see if the daffodils were blooming. I didn't want to miss them. There are little pink flags blooming also. They must be getting ready to replant or dig up old ones.

Wednesday, March 25th, 2026: Gregg and son went over to Annapolis today. I elected to stay home. They sent me photos and this is one of them. It depicts Alex Haley, a life-size bronze statue and a prominent landmark in Annapolis. The memorial honors the arrival of Alex Haley's ancestor Kunte Kinte at the Annapolis City Dock in the 1760s. The sculpture, designed by Ed Dwight, shows author Alex Haley reading to three children, symbolizing the passing of history to future generations. You can see it at the head of Annapolis Harbor if ever you are in the area and would like to take a look. I remember watching the miniseries Roots back in 1977.

Thursday, March 26th, 2026: today was a get up and go day when we took son to Baltimore/Washington International Thursgood Marshal Airport (BWI). We had a couple of hours sleep and set the alarm for 1.00 a.m. We picked son up and thankfully they don't live too far away. I took 4 soft pillows and two throw-rugs and settled down in the back for the one hour plus road trip. It would have taken a lot longer if it weren't for the time, hardly any traffic and thankfully it was easy going.

 

Son drove there. They were both bright and perky chatting away in the front, me not so much. I slept for 20 minutes. It was an enjoyable drive, and we always welcome something that gets us out of our routine.  

By-bye to son and off back home we went. We were almost home when Gregg said, I think our local McDonalds is 24 hours, I'm hungry, let's go have a breakfast. I looked at him and said something like you've got to be kidding right? No, he wasn't. Fortunately, not that far from home by this time. He said, take a picture. I took a picture. What can I say? I absolutely could not focus!

We rolled into the drivethru. Their main building was closed. I was still trying to offer him pancakes that I could make when we got home. No, the only place he wanted to go to when he walked through the door, was straight to bed. Okay, so there we were at 4.30 to 4.45 a.m., in the parking lot having a car picnic a little earlier than we normally do. There was a van in the other lane (in the drivethru) giving us a mildly curious look and I gave him an equally mildly curious look back. Didn't even offer my usual cheery smile as he looked away. He was tired too no doubt. And yes, when we got home, we went straight to bed and slept in a lot later than usual. Son called five hours later letting us know he had arrived and that he had had a good flight. 

Towards the end of the day we drove over to Walney Pond. This is where we saw that vehicle with the lovely southwestern art. I didn't take too many photos, but we spotted these two very large fish swimming nearby. There was a young man fishing on the other side and he was after these. 

Canny fish knew where he was though and kept well away and hidden under the wooden walkway that goes over one end of the pond. We watched this mini drama unfold, and as soon as the young man moved to the other end of the pond, these two came out and started swimming in plain view.  Fishing is allowed here, though I had no idea there were fish this big. They were at least three feet long.

It was a very pretty sky and we enjoyed our visit, even though it was shorter than normal.

Very quiet, there was the young man and a couple sitting on a bench on the other side. They yelled across to the young man, pointing to location of the fish, but no sooner he moved their way, they went where he had been a few minutes earlier. It certainly was interesting to watch. 

The turtles were sunning themselves on a new man-made island. We looked at them for a few minutes but decided it was time to leave.

Friday, March 27th, 2026: it was a grey day, we didn't do much and stayed home.

Saturday, March 28th, 2026: cauliflower and cabbage stir-fry. The only reason I remembered this is I asked Gregg what he had written in his end-of-the-day log, to give me a memory jog. This was all he wrote and my memory apparently is still asleep on its way to Baltimore.  

I hope to do a better job next week.

Thanks for looking and

have a great day. 

I hope your sun is shining.

MORE TO SEE IN THE WAY OF CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

This…

and this...

I put the final ornament on the tree last night. This is my “wings” tree and I started this tradition last December. It includes birds, angels, butterflies, Santas and snowmen holding birds, a few honorary ones like the homemade-looking squirrel, and others that have that honor too. Several are gifted from loved ones, family and friends, some picked up on travels, and others that caught my eye just because. I have added an ornament here and there, some you have seen before because I have been sharing them at this time of year throughout the lifetime of this blog. I have been looking at your trees and their treasures too and loving them. 

In our other news, not only did hubby arrive home on Saturday after being away for a few days, but on Sunday morning we had a lovely visit from family who dropped in on their way home many miles south of us. Our son was here also, and we had such a lovely time catching up as it had been a while. I am grateful most of the tree was dressed for their little one to enjoy and even in daytime, her eyes twinkled along with the colorful lights. 

Today was not as exciting but we enjoyed ourselves, having our monthly Bahn Mi sandwich with a car picnic. Shopping for groceries came next and a coffee on the way home. A good start to a new week.

Thanks for looking and 

I hope your day and week are great.

OLD FAMILY PHOTOS FROM A TRIP TO NORWAY BACK IN THE SUMMER OF 1987

Rooting through my archives I found these old photos of our trip to Norway in 1987. My dear husband had put out to sea for six months and I used the opportunity to visit my family. The first part of our holiday was with my parents in England, and the second half of our time we visited my sister, brother-in-law and niece. They lived in Norway for a few years. Son was eight years' old.  

On one of our daytrips we were out and about with my family. You never knew what you were going to see around the next bend of the road.

We had a longish journey to see the sights and stopped to look at the views. I had turned my back to look in another direction for a few moments. You can see son climbing on all these logs left for pick up. I had my camera in hand when I turned around and this gave me a start, but even as I was walking quickly towards him, I snapped a picture. A moment in time captured. I was heading over to tell him to come down, but he was already getting ready to jump to the ground after his little climbing adventure. My son was a climber, just like his mum I might add. One memory is of me at three years' old climbing to the top of the window-cleaner's ladder to the upstairs window. Mum was paying him she said years later, and turned her back for a moment. I frightened both of them apparently, but still remember that adventure on my ladder. As for son and his climbing all those logs, I suppose I was a bit of a nervous mum myself.

One young kid making friends with another young kid. We were at an outdoor living museum but I can't remember the name of it. Great place for all ages.

He is with a much larger one this time and they were both looking in my direction which I found amusing.

He loved the goats, as did I. There were dozens of them. On the back of one of the photos I had written: When we got out of this enclosure, my brother-in-law read a sign that said, 'Don't run around the goats, don't approach the goats at break-neck speed, don't make loud noises.'  Son was so excited he had done all of these but fortunately was not head-butted once.

This little one was quite at home climbing on the side of the rock wall.

In the following we were at Norway's Folk Museum in Oslo. It is a marvelous place. You can click on the name to see great photos and info. If you are ever visiting Oslo, I can highly recommend it. Years later Gregg and I went there. Son was an adult by this time and long out of the house. But, here you can see him with a young lady who was very nice to him and patiently answered all his questions. She was bilingual and spoke perfect English.

A sign in Norwegian. We were visiting a silver mine, (though I have no recollection of this place). 

Another one of him walking by these lovely boats, a sign on the first one read, 'Drive the Viking Way'. This is a marina in Kristiansand, Norway. 'Kristiansand is a city in southern Norway that's known for its beaches, parks, museums and festivals. It is also a major industrial center and a popular summer destination.' I found all this online. 

Here are two maps the second showing Kristiansand's red location marker in Norway, and the surrounding countries.

Below he is taking care of his cousin with us not too far away, following behind them. We were at one of the many lakes we visited. At the time our son was eight and our niece was 20 months' old. 

Probably my favorite photos from our time there.

I may have put one of these photos on this blog somewhere. 

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by.

A TOUCH OF NOSTALGIA FROM 1984

 

Nature Boy

There was a boy...

A very strange, enchanted boy.

They say he wandered very far, very far

Over land and sea.

A little shy and sad of eye

But very wise was he,

And then one day,

One magic day he passed my way,

And while we spoke of many things,

Fools and Kings,

This he said to me,

The greatest thing you'll ever learn

Is just to love and be loved in return.

~ Eden Ahbez~

 This photo is of our son when we were visiting family in England in the summer of 1984. He was six years old, and we were in the Malvern Hills of Worcestershire. I orchestrated the photo a little. You can barely see the tiny Star Wars figure clutched in his left hand. I was trying to get him and the wildflowers in the same photo, but he was more interested in running around playing Star Wars. (Mentioning the movie in my missives the other day, I think it jogged my memory and I searched out this picture.) When I asked him to look at the flowers he stopped for a couple of seconds, I took my photo quickly, and off he went running. He was happy and so was I. I got this photo.

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - LUNCH AT THE HAWK AND GRIFFIN - 9/24/24

Okay, so I like to say in the beginning of my restaurant posts, far and few between they may be, that the Hawk and Griffin is closed on Tuesdays. This is just in case I get any visitors who live not so far away and who would like to go there after reading this. Their days and times can be found here.

I am starting off today with the lunch we had at our British-style pub/restaurant in Vienna, Virginia. As mentioned at the end of my post here, our son had had car issues and we loaned him ours for a couple of days. When he brought it back we drove over to the Hawk and Griffin where he treated us to a wonderful lunch. These are the photos we took.

We passed by the Snug. According to this link, a "snug was a small private room or area, typically with access to the bar and a frosted glass window above head height. Customers in the snug paid a higher price for beer and nobody could look in and see the drinkers. 

Not only did wealthy visitors use these rooms, but also patrons who preferred not to be seen in the public bar. Ladies often enjoyed a private drink in the snug in a time when many frowned on women visiting a pub. The local police officer might nip in for a quiet pint, the parish priest for his evening whisky, or sweethearts for a secret rendezvous. 

Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) have surveyed the 50,000 pubs in Britain and they believe that there are very few pubs that still have classic snugs. These are on a historic interiors list in order that they can be preserved." This is a small part of what I read, the rest goes on to tell you all about pubs.

 And look who is heading to the snug? You might have noticed him in the window above us in the second photo.

We were seated at a booth just across from the bar.

We didn't think about it but we arrived about a hour after the main lunch hour, and apart from someone sitting at the bar, and two ladies in the booth behind us, that was it for customers.

We ordered Scotch Eggs as an appetizer. Scotch Eggs were originally called Scotties and when I was a child we occasionally had them for tea. They made great picnic food for our Sunday drives in the countryside. I was very surprised to learn that they were originally covered in fish paste, not sausage meat. The write-up said they were invented in 1738 by a London department store called Fortnum and Mason of Picadilly. The first printed recipe that could be found was in Maria Rundell's "A New System of Domestic Cookery, published in 1809. There's a little more to the story here. Ours were very good and came with a mustard dipping sauce. I found a YouTube recipe for making Scotch Eggs at this link.

We all ordered the Fish and Chips, which were also excellent.Mine came with Mushy Peas. The boys didn't order this, not their cup of tea, but I grew up with them so there you go, and with Fish and Chips they go hand-in-hand. Another memory from childhood, my sister and I were always set the task of walking to our local 'chippy' - fish and chip shop - to buy the Friday meal of Fish and Chips, carefully wrapped up in parchment-like white paper pockets, and wrapped in sheets of newspaper. It's a sweet memory now.  We were allowed to snitch a couple of chips on the way home, but not more than one or two each my Mum would tell us. I am not sure if this is still the case, but we could also get bangers (sausages) that were battered, and also thick slices of potato, also battered, called Scallops. The last time we had fried Fish and Chips was when Gregg and I came here a year ago. We cook a more healthier version now at home, says I wistfully, smiling as I say this, not a batter crumb in sight! You can guess how much of a treat this was, yes even the mushy peas. The thought of pureed peas does not do anything for my two dears and fair enough, it would be a boring old world if we all liked the same thing. I seem to remember Mum telling me that many times and I seem to be saying it more and more these days.For dessert it was Sticky Toffee Pudding. Brad and I ordered one each and I took mine home for later that night. "Sticky toffee pudding is known as sticky date pudding in Australia and New Zealand (any of our Australian and New Zeland friends out there, is this right?) It is a British dessert consisting of a moist sponge cake made with finely chopped dates covered in a toffee sauce and often served with a vanilla custard or vanilla ice-cream. It is considered a British classic by various culinary experts. Traditionally we served all our sponge-like desserts and pies with what we called English Custard, or Creme Anglais as the French say, and there's a recipe here.The information on this iconic dessert was found here and is as follows: "The origins of a sticky toffee pudding are disputed. Owners of several pubs, including the Gait Inn, Millington, East Riding of Yorkshire laid claim in 1907, and the Udny Arms Hotel in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire claimed to have invented it in the1960s. The pudding was popularized in the 1970s by Francis Coulson and Robert Lee, who developed and served it at the Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel in Cumbria. The food critic Simon Hopkinson said Coulson told him he received the recipe from a Patricia Martin of Claughton in Lancashire, and that Martin had received it from Canadian Airforce Officers who lodged at her hotel during the Second World War. A take home version to heat, either in the oven or microwave, was developed in 1989 by the owners of the Village Shop in Cartmel, Cumbria. Their dish became popular and by the late 1990s was being sold in supermarkets across the UK. The dish is now widely available from multiple manufacturers to bake at home." And there you go, now we know. I have added links all through this post which will take you to more information on various topics, various places. I do this because I often go there myself. I enjoy going back and having my refresher remember-ers. 

Caught son mid-bite! Sorry son!

The next few photos are of the menu. You can enlarge to get better detail in all these photos.

Almost forgot our drinks. Gregg had his usual, a coca-cola. Brad had a beer and I a cider. The last time I had one of these was also the last time we were at the Hawk and Griffin. It was delicious, very refreshing.

The last few photos are of this and that.

I can highly recommend this place for a fun meal, the staff are friendly and the food is excellent. If you find yourself in the area their address is 435 Maple Avenue W., Vienna, VA 22180, and their phone number is 703 261 6707. Their website is at this link. I get nothing for this free advertising. I just like to sing the praises of places I have been to and have, as in this case, been before.  It was also a wonderful time with my family and I look forward to the next gathering when our sweet daughter-in-law can join us.

Thanks for looking and as always, I hope your day is a great one.