All That's Green is not a Pistachio

John and I stayed in a hotel in London the night before we flew back to Georgia. We sat down in the hotel bar to order dinner and the waiter brought us a bowl of green nuts. After he left I popped one in my mouth thinking it was a pistachio.

It. Was. Not.

For future reference, if you are served green nuts in a hotel bar in London, they just might be wasabi peanuts.

Packed and Ready to Go!

John and I are spending the night in London tomorrow so that we can just wake up and walk to the airport on Tuesday. I don't know how much I'll post while we are at home, since most of the people who read the blog are there. But soon we will be back in Norwich having more adventures!

Pre-Holiday Cleaning

John finally cleaned his office today and we put sheets on the bed (no pillows for that one yet) so I thought I'd show you how nice it looks! Guess what John is doing there at his computer....

Jack Frost Nipping at Your Nose

Mom always said "If you keep making that face, it'll freeze that way."

Here, it just might.

Santa Pictures

Radio Broadland put up their pictures of the Santa Run. Unfortunately, there aren't any in which you can see me or John, but we were there! We have the Santa suits to prove it.

Look at the pictures.

A Tooth Story

Since niece Katy is losing teeth, I thought I would share the story of my most memorable loose tooth.

My birthday is in July so I have celebrated many birthdays in Long Island while visiting Grandma and Pop. On one of these visits as a young child, I was not only anticipating my birthday, but also losing a tooth. One of my front teeth was very lose and going to come out any day. But, it was also one of my first teeth to come out and I wasn't brave enough to pull it. Pop kept on teasing me about my loose tooth. He asked me what I wanted for my birthday dinner. I can't remember all the foods I asked for, but one of them was corn. "Okay, corn on the cob." He said.
Wait a second..."I can't eat corn on the cob! You'll have to take it off."
"Nope, you're getting corn on the cob."
So for the next few days I was wondering how I was going to eat corn on the cob with a loose front tooth!
On my birthday I woke up and could feel something weird in my mouth. The tooth had fallen out in my sleep without any pain, and it was just sitting there.
That night I ate corn on the cob with my dinner. And it was delicious.

A Shave and a Haircut

While I was doing yoga and writing a book review this morning, John went into town to find a place that would give him a haircut and shave his face for him. It's a good job* he did, too because his facial stubbery was beginning to qualify as an actual beard.

*The British tend to say "good job" where we would say "good thing." I tried to find an article making mention of this, but what I found instead was an article on Oxford's list of top ten irritating phrases. "Good job" isn't on the list, but someone brings it up in the comments....wait for it....as an annoying American phrase. In fact, a lot of the complaints in the comments are about how Americans butcher the English language. That's why we have our own dictionary now. It's like we're living in different countries with different cultures and different ways of expressing ourselves or something.

First Annual Norwich Santa Run

John and I participated in a 2k run through the park this morning. It was sponsored by a local radio station as a charity event. All the runners were given Santa suits. We went to the park early to pick up our suits, came home to change, and then walked back in time for the run. We got honked at 3 times on the way to the park! Everyone loves Santa.

Even though I have been running regularly since July and John hasn't run regularly in years, he still beat me. Not that it was a competition.

Well, we had fun running with all the Santas.

He'll Save Children

Because John and I were not successful in getting children to sing with us last night we failed to answer a very important question: do British children sing the version of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" with exclamations, and if so, do they exclaim "like George Washington" after the line "You'll go down in history"?

Because, you know, he'll save children, but not the British children. (Fair warning: some people might find this video offensive.)

What do you exclaim when you sing Rudolph? This is how I sing it, and John took issue with some of my exclamations.

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer (reindeer)
Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)
And if you ever saw it (saw it)
You would even say it glows (like a flash light)
All of the other reindeer (reindeer)
Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio)
They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)
Join in any reindeer games (like Monopoly)
Then one foggy Christmas eve
Santa came to say (ho ho ho)
Rudolph with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight
Then how the reindeer loved him (loved him)
As they shouted out with glee (yippee)
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer (reindeer)
You'll go down in history (like George Washington)

Christmas Under Fire

So this wasn't from the Ancient House event. John and I spotted the Rudolph bench in our own neighborhood. But since this is a Christmasy post, I thought I'd include the picture.

Now here's me in my 1940s Home Front Lady-Type Worker outfit.





















So, I think my playing and singing were okay. There were never any large groups that wandered into my area and I had a hard time convincing people to sing with me. Mostly John and I sang on our own, wandered around to see the other 1940s stuff, and talked with other volunteers.

One little girl agreed to sing with us, but actually just read along as we sang. I didn't mind since she was at least smiling the whole time. At the very end of the night a man came up to us while we were singing and joined in, then requested another song. He is from Hawaii and is currently living in Thetford. He was happy to meet some other Americans, and loves singing! I only wish he had shown up earlier.

Although I doubt I will ever truly see myself as a "singer," tonight was a sort of break-through for me. The last time I tried to sing in front of people; really sing, like in a singing voice, I choked. That has haunted me. It's hard to believe you can do something when you have proven to yourself that you can't. I had my moments tonight, but in the end I did it. And I'm very grateful to John, not only for being there for me tonight, but for loving my singing all the time.

I am exceptionally happy that the next time I go to Ancient House I will be storytelling, but I am glad I volunteered to do something a little different tonight.

New Spice

One of the adjustments John and I have had to make since moving over here is to our deodorants. There just aren't that many stick deodorants, but there are roll-ons and sprays. A month or so ago when I ran out of the stick I had brought with me, I purchased one of the Dove roll-on deodorants and didn't think much of it. It was a change for me, but not a big one.

John is more particular. He just ran out of his Old Spice stick. John doesn't like deodorants that are also antiperspirants because he has sensitive skin. Upon scouring the shelves he found that the only deodorant that met his standards was Lynx (you might know it in the US as Axe). Yeah, this is the deodorant body spray that has commercials showing a good smelling guy with girls mobbing him because his scent is so appealing.

Well, it really does smell good! I didn't realize John had gotten that deodorant (because of the name difference) until I told him he smelled nice and he said, "It's just like in the commercials!"

We went to a different chemist the other day and John said he was going to see if they carried Old Spice. I told him, "Don't, I like your new spice!"

Short Update

I was supposed to go to a meeting today about an "America Week" that is to take place in April. 2009 is Lincoln's Bicentenary and his birthday is not in April, but there is some reason that the America Week will take place then.

Well, the meeting was snowed out. There wasn't snow in Norwich, but there was snow in the city from which most of the other meeting attendees were coming.

So, I was a little disappointed that my excursion for the day was canceled, but then John scheduled us a new excursion. He RSVPd at the last second for a post-grad Christmas gathering that was taking place tonight at the Thai restaurant in the city. He had to pre-order the food and got me chili chicken that was too hot to eat. Good thing there was an appetizer and desert.

It may not be snowing here but it is cold. There is lots of ice.

Favorite Christmas Song Lyrics

I have been practicing Christmas songs on the guitar like a mad woman. I am playing for the 1940s Christmas this Friday and I am pretty nervous. I don't tend to feel very confident about singing in front of people (although working at the library went a long way towards curing me of that) and I have never played guitar for anyone but John.

When I was a kid I liked practicing songs on the piano that I could sing along to. It made them more fun. When I was in high school and got home before everyone else I usually used that time to play piano and sing (because of that whole not liking to sing in front of people thing). And I've found that playing songs on the guitar that I can sing along to is more fun, too. In fact, on guitar, I do something I never did on piano. When I sing, I'm usually playing chords, so I'm really playing one thing and singing another.

Practicing these Christmas songs, I have done a lot of singing, (well I had to practice that, too) and singing the same songs day after day, I've gotten to know what they are saying better than I did before.

I had never payed much attention to the song "The Friendly Beasts." Maybe I thought it was a little silly. I'm not sure. Anyway, I love it. It's so gentle and sweet. My favorite verse is the one about the doves:

"I" said the dove from the rafters high,
"I cooed Him to sleep that He would not cry.
We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I."
"I," said the dove from the rafters high.

I think I like it because the other animals give really practical gifts like a blanket or bed, but the doves give the gift of song and a different sort of comfort.

I don't think I was previously very familiar with the additional verses of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" either. I really like the line, "Pleased as Man with man to dwell."

I hope that this Christmas we all sings songs of comfort and are pleased to live among men.