Finally, A Post!

Dear Friends and Followers,

I am so sorry to have put my blogging on hold, but with all the indecision about my future going on I really had nothing useful to say except how frustrated I was and all that. Not fun stuff to read. But I finally have news to share, and so here goes:

We are, after careful consideration and lots of prayer, moving back to the United States. We will fly into Phoenix, visit with my husband's family in Arizona for a few weeks, and then drive east to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where we will be putting down roots. 

For at least a year, maybe longer.

Let me backpedal a bit and say that my husband got accepted at his school, and my daughter got accepted at her school. But, with the economic situation being what it is, it seemed like a bad idea to move us to Germany with no job and little prospect of finding a job as nobody speaks German. We tried to find funding in the form of a scholarship, but things just didn't work out. Most of the scholarships for the coming year had already been awarded. So, we will return to the states and try to figure things out from there.

There are so many things to do, but God seems to be working a step ahead of us. I only have to think about the next problem I need to solve when the solution appears. But, because we are dismantling our lives, I am certain that I will really have to put my blogging on hold. This morning I put my etsy shop in vacation mode until August 1, and I think that is a wise time frame to put my blogging on hold for, too. We are leaving Singapore probably on July 2, so I think by the beginning of August, we should be settled in our new home - or at least I will have internet access at my sister's house - so I should have lots to tell you by then.

Thank you for being more faithful than me! Have a wonderful summer and I will talk to you all soon!

Blessings,

Brooke

Some Welcome News

This morning my DH received two emails from the University of Potsdam.

They were both in German and had to be translated. Funnily enough, the first one informed us (in German, no less) that he would be permitted to submit his dissertation in English. However, he will have to submit a 10-page conclusion in German. Given the availability of translation software, this should not be a problem.

But this is not the acceptance letter we are waiting for, which he needs in order to request scholarships.

The second letter was from the International Scholar's office, to alert us that some forms are still missing for matriculation, but we knew that and we can do that after we arrive in Germany.

All of this is strangely anti-climactic seeing as we've been waiting for so long to find out where we're going from here. There are still hurdles to be jumped before we are certainly going to Berlin, but we are one step closer. I am having a hard time feeling anything about it, but I guess maybe I will later.

Limbo is not a nice place to visit, even for vacation.

Random Acts of Chicken Giving

It is so thrilling to give something of yourself away, even if it's something cutesy and not life-supporting like say, a kidney. I asked and was invited to participate with the lovely people at The Toy Society. So I made a Little Orange Hen and finally got the chance to leave her for someone when I was in the states last month. I kept trying to do it here in Singapore, but it was always raining, and I was worried that L.O.H. would get moldy.

Well, you just have to go see for yourselves.

Finishing Up the English Trip

Sorry about the delay. School started last week and where did the time go? Busy, busy, busy. But enough about that.
So, where were we?  Didn't I just astound all of you with pictures from Chatsworth House? That was truly the highlight of the whole trip for me, I'm sure you can tell.

That was Thursday.  We flew out Sunday morning.  So there's just a few more days to blog about.

Friday we woke up in Uttoxeter and climbed into our little car to make the trip back to London.  This would be the last drive I took in England, and naturally, we had a huge traffic jam.  We actually had to turn the car off for about 20 minutes.  My husband snapped a photo, but who wants to look at that?!

 Here are some other things we saw on our drive back:

We had seen this field of mustard (correction: probably not mustard. Probably rape - for making rapeseed oil.)on the drive out and wanted to make sure we stopped to take a picture of it on the way back.  It was just yellow for as far as the eye could see.

The English countryside, so different from Singapore.  Just breathtaking, really.

So, we finally arrived back at our host's home in London on Friday evening. We had to return the rental car, unfortunately. Saturday we headed back into downtown to do some final sightseeing. First on the list: The Tate Modern Museum. No pictures, naturally. I only recall seeing a Matisse that gave me some pleasure. I'm not a huge fan of modern art. Here's some other noteworthy things we saw:

This is The Globe Theatre.

This is a replica of the boat Sir Francis Drake sailed to the new world in.

This is just a funny picture.

Next we found our way to St. Paul's Cathedral.  And the weather cleared up.

It's hard to get the scope of this building in a teeny picture on a blog.  It's really startling to stand next to it.

Ah, the glorious sunshine.  I hadn't really missed it that much during the trip, but this day really felt like July should feel.

And of course, no trip to London would be complete without a visit to

Buckingham Palace.  

Bit of a let down after Chatsworth.  And they weren't allowing the public in when we were there.  Oh well.  How much of that stuff can you look at?

My husband is so creative with his pictures.

I know you were wondering when you might see these guys.  I felt so sorry for them, constantly bothered by the tourists.  Poor guys.  Funny hats, too.

Next we walked down to the Gardens attached to the Palace.  There were so many interesting and beautiful things to look at and enjoy, but I only had eyes for the birds.

Look at those feet!  And since they are so used to people, we could get quite close.

This Canada goose wanted his picture taken just like the coot in the former shot.

Just like shooting ducks in a barrel, or something along those lines.

Well, that's the end of the interesting pictures.  We ate dinner in a pub that night.   Terry's meal was most memorable: pumpkin and spinach lasagna with goat's cheese.  We left the next morning and arrived in Singapore a long, long time later.

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog.

The Last of Chatsworth, Maybe

I went through my pictures for the last part of our day at Chatsworth, and found over 20 that I want to share!
But then I should be done with my favorite day and I can move on to other things.

These are actually three different baby robins that we saw after leaving the house.  The first two were momentarily captured by myself and my daughter, respectively.  No baby birdies were injured, and they were immediately released after a short cuddle.

After a few more steps, we found ourselves near the Vine House. Oh my. Another wonderful place to spend the rest of my life. Don't these look delicious?

Just a few of the magnificent blooms we encountered.  

And here we are, blooming ourselves.   Idiots, that is.

The top of the Cascade.

Someone really happy at the top of the Cascade.

Breathtaking.

We caught this pheasant helping himself to some chicken feed.  We happened upon more pheasants in the woods a few minutes after this shot.  Just wandering around, eating whatever.

Did I mention I love chickens?  Aint he a beaut?

Not the maze, but it reminded us that we hadn't conquered the maze earlier.  My daughter really wanted to conquer the maze.  So, we decided to give it one last try.

We were heading down some stone stairs towards the maze when I noticed little bugs jumping out of our way.  Little bugs that weren't bugs at all.  As soon as they warmed up in our hands, they stopped trying to get away.  

I told you this was a magical place!

Here is a view of the maze from those stone stairs.  Taunting us.

And they have wonderful gardens planted around the maze to tempt unsuspecting tourists.  I think these are called lupins.

And here is proof that we conquered the maze!  The olive tree is at the center.  We just missed a hidden entry in one of the corners.  This attempt took us little time at all.  Almost anti-climactic, after all we'd seen and done.

But it was getting on past 5:30 when we came out of the maze.  We were one of the last to leave Chatsworth, and it was with a full heart that I climbed behind the wheel and drove us back to Uttoxeter.

Goodbye, sheep of Chatsworth.

Chatsworth, Part Three: The House

With the rain falling out of doors, we retreated to the interior of the house. Of course it is jam-packed with art of every conceivable form (except quilts - not one!). Every room is a knock-out.

Here is the entry hall.  Even blurry it's stunning.

Look up.

Doesn't it seem like the royal treatment?

The view from the top of the stairs.

Doncha love the detail?  And who dusts this stuff?

Here are some of my favorite rooms:

Doesn't this room seem so bright and cheerful?  Actually, it is lit up by the flash on my husband's camera.  It was very dark and dreary with the naked eye.  Of course, there's no windows.

The pink dining room.  This one got me.  I actually had my jaw drop, and my mouth hung open.  I'm sure I looked quite the idiot.

But how could I not be in awe?  A PINK dining room!

And don't overlook all the gold, too.  It was just beautiful.

Here's some of the stuff in the various rooms:

Just a little flower arrangement.

More stuff to dust.

This tureen was in the pink dining room.  I could just live in that room alone.

They did  have the huge sculpture room with all those sculptures you can see in the movie (Pride and Prejudice), and here is the one that was commissioned for the movie, of Matthew MacFayden, who plays Mr. Darcy.

And this is the Duchess of Devonshire, whose life features in the new movie coming out, The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley.  How 'bout that hair, huh?

I guess we all know who that is, riding on His red thingy with all His friends.  Look up at the ceiling, Adam.  There's some wonderful paintings up there, too!

Which leads us to the chapel.

Which leads me to a funny story.

We had been making a tour of the house, self-guided, when we came across a tour guide and his group.  We couldn't pass them easily, so we stayed and listened a little to his spiel.  It was interesting, but my daughter and I finally slipped past the group just as they were entering the chapel.  

There's a smallish library and some rooms with contemporary art beyond the chapel, and then one is back in the entry hall again, ready to start on the second part of the house.  

My husband, meanwhile, was still stuck with the tour group, which kept getting in his photos.  My daughter and I spied some out-of-the-way chairs in a hallway off the entry hall, and since we'd been on our feet for nearly 6 hours, we decided to sit and wait for the DH to show up. 

 

We were right next to a door with an alarm on it, probably leading to the private apartments, and people were to-ing and fro-ing through this door repeated.  One of the people to pass by us  was an elderly chap who decided to stop and chat us up a bit.  I was tired and found myself in the embarrassing situation of hearing an English accent spoken to me and trying not to respond with the same inflection.  But we had a nice chat, and he turned to go. 

 

At that moment a thought occurred to me: that nice man isn't dressed like the rest of the house docents.  They're wearing navy blazers, his was tweed.  I was just beginning to think, "Oh no..." when one of the docents came up to us and asked, "Do you know who that was?"

Now my stomach flipped over, but I said, "No."

"That was the Duke."

Peregrine Cavendish, the twelfth Duke of Devonshire. 

Duh.

It's a good thing we didn't know who he was, or I would've been really tongue tied and stupid.

Eventually my husband caught up with us and complained about all the tourists getting into his pictures. My daughter and I just sat there and nodded until he finished, and we could say, "Guess what we did."

We finished the house tour and the rain had stopped, so we went back outside!