This and That
Topic: This and That
The last couple of days, the weather has been what I worry is the norm here: gray and misty and windy and generally blah. On days like that, I just want to crawl back into bed and stay there. It's probably a good thing that with Ryan, that's just not possible. It will help force me to get out of the house. I'm told that most of the time if you wait for a nice day to get out, you'll never do it!
Interestingly, I've noticed that a lot of locals don't turn their headlights on when it's a little bit foggy. They do turn them on when it starts to rain though. Not sure what the rationale there is for having them on for one but not the other.
I did really used to like overcast, rainy days. That was because I lived in the desert and it hardly ever got like that. So when the weather was that way, it was something special. Having lived in Germany for five years and now living in England, knowing I have many, many rainy days before me, it just loses it's charm. *grin*
The Enormous Spider is going to be a recurring guest, I think. He or she was back again last night. I don't know why. It doesn't have a web and there can't be anything for it to eat in the house. It just hangs out on the floor. As long as it only comes out after Ryan goes to bed and it leaves me and Ryan alone, then fine, whatever. Live and let live. The Not So Enormous Spider that hangs out near the front door has been MIA the last couple nights. Hope I didn't accidentally vacuum it up. Don't get me wrong. I really, seriously dislike spiders. However, these two seem to go with the house, and as long as they keep to themselves, I can live with it. They seem to think they belong here, so maybe they do. Of course, if they start inviting friends over and start having parties, I am going to be forced to break out the Raid.
Wednesday I went over to a new friend's house for lunch. It was nice to meet a fellow army spouse. The following morning we took our kids (she has an eight month old and a two year old, both boys) to a playgroup at a church in Darley. Darley is a gorgeous town not far from MHS. I love the countryside here. It's rolling and looks like a patchwork quilt of green fields, shrubs and those low stone walls, with sheep and dairy cows dotting the green fields. The weather was nice and sunny that morning, so the kids could play outside. Everyone at the playgroup seemed nice. There were both Americans and British people there. It was a bit hectic though. There were a lot of kids there. I was told that next week they go back to school, so it ought to be a bit quieter next time. I'm planning on going back next week. They only ask for a pound donation, and that's to cover the juice and snacks they have for the kids (along with coffee and tea for the moms).
Yesterday I met my friend and her boys at a place in Harrogate called, "The Hydro." It's a swimming complex and a gym too, I think. It's very nice. They have a separate pool for kids. It was only four pounds for me and Ryan to get in. They have free floaty arms for the babies and kids. They keep it nice and warm inside, and the water is heated nicely as well. We had a very good time. Ryan likes the water. When we got home I tried to feed him some lunch, but he fell asleep in his highchair. I don't know why he was so tired - I'm the one who carried him around the pool for almost an hour!
Today I missed out on two things: one, getting my car washed by the local firemen for charity, and two, a kite festival. With the car wash, I basically just forgot. With the kite festival, I didn't know about it until I was coming home from my friend's house. From the road, I saw all these neat kites in the sky. I started driving in that general direction. I found out that it was a kite festival, complete with kite fighting (can someone please tell me what that is???), face painting, and various other activities. Unfortunately, parking was back up the road a stretch, and with visitors needing to take a tram in. Since Ryan was out cold in the backseat and in dire need of a nap, and it was cold and rainy out, AND I had absolutely zero pounds on me, I decided to just go home. However, it looked like it was probably a neat thing to go check out.
On the topic of things I am going to miss out on, there is a huge flower show next weekend here in Harrogate. It's apparently quite a big deal. Next weekend is Ryan's birthday though, and we're going to be back in Germany for it. Hopefully we'll be able to see the flower show next year.

Return of the Enormous Spider
Topic: The House
No sooner do I post my last entry, then I go out into the hallway and what do I see? The Enormous Spider! This time I was able to catch it in a glass and escort it outside. I was so skeeved out that I didn't even pick it up off the floor. I just sort of scooted it along then picked it up at the last minute and threw it out. For a second it looked like it was going to come back in, then I guess it thought better of it and went out. Ugh! There was a Not As Enormous Spider near the door as well, but it scurried away (probably still inside the house) when I threw the other one out. The cats are not doing their jobs. Larry informed me he'd seen Misty hunting spiders a time or to, but I have yet to see it. Besides, this one was so big, I think it would fight back!

Misc.
Topic: This and That
I'm afraid nothing too exciting has been going on the last couple of days. I didn't want to go too long without a post though. There are some random things I've been meaning to include somewhere in here. There's a restaurant called, "Damn Yankee" near our house. I think that's pretty funny! They serve, "American" style food. In a magazine I read some advice from various famous chefs about choosing restaurants. One of the chefs said to avoid places abroad that serve, "American" food. I agree! Larry and I ate at a place like that when we were in Scotland a few years back, and it wasn't very good at all.
Today Ryan had a sort of well baby appointment. Our healthcare situation here is weird. We get part of our care on the base, and part on the economy (the National Healthcare System, or NHS). The NHS has a slightly different schedule of checkup and shots for infants. The base doesn't do well baby checkups, but they DO do the shots. So today Ryan's appointment was at an NHS doctor. They didn't really do much besides look at him and weigh him. He's doing really well and I don't have any concerns, so there wasn't much to the appointment. The people were really nice though, and unlike in the States, they encourage you to give them a call if you have any questions or need anything.
I've met my next door neighbors. They are really nice. They are a British couple with four kids, and they all love Ryan! Tomorrow I am getting together with a girl whose phone number I got from the WIC lady on base. Hopefully we will hit it off. It would be nice to have some friends here.
Knock on wood, there have been no more Enormous Spider sightings.
The weather was great today, warm and sunny.
I got a running stroller a week or so ago and I am really frustrated because one of the forks is bent so it won't go straight. I am going to try to find a place that can fix it asap. There are a limited number of nice days left here, so I want to be able to run in them as much as possible. Speaking of running, there's a local running club here that I want to join as soon as I'm in good enough shape to keep up with their slowest group. *grin*
I can't believe tomorrow Ryan and I will have been here four weeks. The time is flying by. I still need to sort out my stuff. I only have so much free time though. Ryan didn't even take his afternoon nap today!
I hope everyone is doing well. I am working on a website for Ryan's and my summer vacation. I can't believe summer is almost over. That flew by, too. I hope you all had a great one.
One more thing I can't believe: Ryan's first birthday is coming up in less than two weeks! We are flying back to Germany for his party. I am really looking forward to it. It will be great to see my friends there!
Enough babbling. I hope to get out and around some more soon and have some more daytrips to tell you about.

Spiders
Topic: The House
Yesterday morning I started down the stairs and on one of the steps saw an Enormous Spider. It was either an exoskeleton or dead, thankfully, but it was still gross.
Just a few minutes ago, I saw another Enormous Spider trucking across the carpet. EEEWWWWW!!! I am now officially skeeved out. (Not sure "skeeved" is a word, or if that's even the correct usage, but it describes how I feel!) I was going to try to catch it in a glass and throw it outside (way too big to smoosh, and I hate doing that anyway), but I wasn't sure it would fit! It ran under the couch before I could try. So now I've got the heebie jeebies and jump if I feel the tiniest thing. Larry told me when I first got here that there are a lot of spiders, but there are supposedly none that are poisonous. I really hope so, especially for Ryan's sake. Luckily they seem to stay away during the day. I'm glad because Ryan and I spend a lot of time on the livingroom floor. I haven't seen very many until now, and I've been here over three weeks, so hopefully that's a good sign. Man, the cats need to step it up! I'm hoping that there aren't many other Enormous Spiders in the house. I usually have to get up at night at least once to either go to the bathroom or check on Ryan. I'm going to have to take a flashlight with me now to make sure I don't step on anything with too many legs!
While I'm on the topic of "The House," I might as well mention that for all the sinks in the house, there are two faucets: one for hot and one for cold. Is it me or is that not the norm in the States? I don't seem to remember there being two. It makes getting Ryan's bathwater the right temperature interesting. The kitchen is slightly different. There's only one faucet, but mixing the hot and cold water is weird. When you turn them both on, you can feel cold and super hot spots in the stream of water. It doesn't just blend to one temperature. Also, the knobs don't keep the water pressure up, so sometimes the pressure will lower and sort of peter out on its own.
Don't get me wrong, I like living here. It's just interesting getting used to the house's idiosyncrasies.

Knaresborough
Topic: Day Trips
I had spoken with two different people who asked me if I'd been to "Newsbury" yet. I was told it was very nice, and that Wednesday was market day. I was trying to figure out where the heck "Newsbury" was, when it dawned on me I was actually hearing "Knaresborough" filtered through a regional accent.
Knaresborough is only a few miles away from Harrogate, so it didn't take long to get there. We were blessed with another really nice day out, so it seemed a great day to check out a local market. The market was part farmer's market, part swap meet. There was local fresh produce and baked goods, but there was also clothing and various odds and ends, including drug store type items on sale for just one pound. There were even tools and DIY supplies for sale. It was an odd mishmash.
It didn't take long to walk through the market. I decided to keep walking around the town. It was warm out and I got thirsy, so I went into a shop and bought a bottle of water. I asked if it was far to walk down to the water (there's a river but I don't know the name of it) and the lady behind the counter suggested I walk just around the corner through the car park and check out that area. So I did just that. That's where I found Knaresborough Castle.
The photograph here is of the view from next to the castle. I thought it was beautiful. Knaresborough Here are a few more pictures. (I hate to have to put them in a separate album, but the way this blog builder is, if I put more than one or two in here, it takes up the whole screen.)
I didn't go inside the castle since I had Ryan in his stroller, but for a small fee you can tour the inside. I was content to push Ryan and stroll around the castle grounds. There's a park around the front of the castle, and even miniature golf. That's something I hadn't seen around a castle before!
Since it was a lovely day out, I thought it would be fun to share an ice cream cone with Ryan. I've heard Brymor (I think that's how it's spelled) Farms was good, so I tried some from a hole in the wall ice cream parlour. It was indeed very tasty! Ryan and I went back to the park near the castle and enjoyed our ice cream there.
I am looking forward to going for a walk down by the river while the weather is still warm and sunny.

Ripley
Topic: Day Trips
I can't believe it's the end of August already. I also can't believe that as of today, Ryan and I have been here for three weeks. Time is flying by. There were fireworks just now. They were part of the Harrogate Stray Fair. I could only see a little of them. Unfortunately a building across the street was blocking most of the view. What I saw though was neat. Earlier there was a thunder storm with a pretty good downpour. I'm glad it cleared up for the fireworks.
Ripley. Monday was the Summer Bank Holiday. I think it's like the British version of our Labor Day, in as far as it's the last four day weekend of the summer. In the morning the weather was miserable. It was windy and rainy. However, the afternoon turned out to be glorious. I decided to get out and celebrate my first bank holiday.
Ripley is just a few miles northwest of Harrogate. It was not my original destination. I meant to go to Knaresborough, which is a few miles northeast of Harrogate. Oops. I'm so glad we went to Ripley though. Ryan and I had an adventure there before we were even out of the car park (parking lot). The parking area was on grass. It was also free, which from what I understand is pretty rare. There was a fenced off area with some outbuildings, and behind the fence was a horse. (Please see my photo album in yesterday's post for the photos from this trip.) I wheeled Ryan in his stroller right up to the fence. Before I knew it, the horse had bent down over the fence and was nose to nose with Ryan. I figured it was nice of the horse to say hi. Bystanders suggested I move Ryan away from the horse. Ryan just smiled and laughed and apparently enjoyed his close encounter. I picked him up and let him pet the horse, which seemed incredibly friendly, and quite used to people.
On our way out of the car park, I saw a sign for a "Spot the Boar Competition" (over here they use the word "competition" where we would use "contest"). As I walked down the street into the village, I saw my first boar - hanging in a tree! Apparently the point was to walk around the town and find the 26 odd papier mache boars, then turn in an entry form for a prize drawing. I was told by a local that these contests are growing in popularity as a way to engage the kids while the adults enjoy the site. The people who made and hid the boars in Ripley seemed to have a good sense of humor regarding boar placement.
The village itself was quaint and small. In keeping with what I've seen around Harrogate and vicinity so far, there were flowers everywhere. It really makes things beautiful.
I saw signs for Ripley Old Farm. After walking around a bit, Ryan and I found it. There was a small gift shop in front, with an area behind it with lots of stalls around a small, open square. There were different types of sheep, goats, chickens and chicks and at least one rooster, piglets, goats, and horses. It was weird because the majority of the animals were out loose, and you could just walk up to them and pet them. There were also things to do for older kids. You could make your own rope, churn butter, and milk a faux cow.There was also a horse drawn carriage ride, which Ryan and I went on. Ryan especially loved it when the horse got up to a trot. He stood up on my lap and bounced up and down excitedly.
After that I walked around a bit more. There's a castle and gardens in Ripley. I explored the gift shop and asked about the tours of the castle. They highly discouraged children under five. After looking around the giftshop - which had some really nice things - I took Ryan and found a path outside the castle gardens called Hollybank Lane. It was really pretty and from there I could see a little bit into the castle gardens (which are stroller friendly, but I would have had to pay to get into).
I decided to have tea at the castle tearoom. There were benches outside and it was sunny and warm, so we sat outside. I had tea and a scone with clotted cream. It was delicious and really hit the spot. (I shared my scone with Ryan.) We sat with a friendly lady who was kind enough to share the bench with us. It was nice chatting with her.
Before walking back to the car, I stopped inside a shop called, "Hopkins-Porter Ltd." It was a really neat market with all sorts of interesting food and drink. It had a delicatessen, and anything you could want for a picnic. It also had beer and wines, some of which were local. I picked up some fudge.
There's also a church in Ripley that I would like to go back and visit another time.
There are a lot of castles and the like here. Having a stroller makes it difficult to visit those places. However, I do have a backpack that's on its way in the mail, so I imagine carrying Ryan around in that will open up places we can go.
I really enjoyed Ripley. It has a nice atmosphere and is very scenic.
Today Ryan and I went to Knaresborough. I will write about that soon. However, right now it's getting late and I need to get to bed.

Not again!
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Day Trips
I've tried THREE TIMES to post an entry about the nice afternoon outing Ryan and I had yesterday. Each time the computer has eaten it! So what I am going to do is put up the photo album that goes with it, and fill in the rest tomorrow. Afternoon in Riplely (Of course now it's letting me put this here. *sigh* Mejor que nada.)

Ancient Church
Topic: Day Trips
Today I decided to drive to York. It's about twenty miles or so east of Harrogate. However, it takes a little longer than you would think to get there because there aren't many "motorways" (what we would call a freeway) over here. Mostly there are two lane backroads where you can't get much over 40 or 50 mph at any given time. There was a castle I thought it would be neat to see, but Ryan was fussy and we got a late start, so I basically drove to York, turned around, and came back. On the way, I saw one of those brown historical site signs. It simply said, "Ancient Church." Usually the signs are a bit more specific! I thought it was funny, so I said to Ryan, "I'll bite. Let's go!" It was less than a mile off the main road, in a place called Kirk Hammerton. And as advertised, it was indeed an acient church. I didn't go up to it. I just left the car running and jumped out long enough to get a picture. I don't even know if you can go in or not. However, it was an interesting quick side trip, and Kirk Hammerton was a neat place to drive through.

Harrogate Stray Fair
Topic: Harrogate
Today I took Ryan for a walk in his stroller and saw that the carnival that had been setting up the day before was now up and running. It's called the Harrogate Stray Fair, and goes from today until Sept. 3. It had just opened not too long before we got there, and not everything was in full swing yet. However, it was shaping up to be fun. It was closer to midways I've seen in the States than to ones I've seen in Germany, style wise. There were the usual carnival type rides. What was nice is that the Fair is very family oriented. There's no alcohol, and there are tons of rides for little kids. Ryan's a bit too little for pretty much all of them. However, there was one that I could go on and hold him. The photo on the left was taken while we were on the ride. The one on the right was taken in front of the ride. Both were taken with my camera phone. Fun with phones! The ride was a very tame version of the buccaneer type ride.
There were lots of games to play. Before we went on the ride, I won Ryan a stuffed cougar from a dart game. The way the games are set up, you are basically just paying for the prize, but that's nice because no one gets skunked.
There were also plenty of food concessions, of which I amazingly did not partake. There was one that had fresh donuts, which I did stop at. However, they wouldn't be ready until later on in the evening, so I didn't get to have one. I guess that was God saying, "Don't do it!" There were food stands advertising "American style" hamburgers and food. I thought that was funny. Of course instead of fries, they are called "chips." I hadn't heard of "chip butties," though. I ought to have asked. Another difference in food nomenclature is "candy floss" for cotton candy. I hadn't heard that one before.
All in all it only took me and Ryan about fifteen or twenty minutes to walk though the Fair, but for kids a little older there was a lot to do. (The photo on the left shows only one side of the Fair. The left row of attractions is actually the middle, and there's another whole row to the left of that. I took the photo from pretty far down the stretch, but behind me there are still a few more attractions.) There are going to be fireworks on Wednesday night, but that's probably way after Ryan's bedtime. We'll see what happens. Maybe we'll get lucky and be able to see them from our house.

The Valyermo Fall Festival
Topic: Featured Link
I've decided to add a "Featured Link" section to this blog. (See the bottom of the side panel for the link.) In a month, St. Andrew's Abbey will have it's 48th annual fall festival, located in Valyermo, California. This festival is truly near and dear to my heart. I've been going to the festival as long as I can remember. I went with my parents and grandparents as a small child. As an adolescent I performed there with my dance school. I went with friends as a teenager, and with my husband as an adult. As much as I enjoy living overseas, something always tugs at my heart in late September, because I know I'm missing the Fall Festival. It started out small - at the time the Abbey was a Priory. Now it's become quite a large festival. I feel like we've grown up together. What's truly amazing about the Festival is that even though it's grown, it still retains its humility and serenity. St. Andrew's Abbey is one of the most tranquil places I've ever been. I always feel relaxed and recharged after a visit there. I highly, highly encourage anyone anywhere near Valyermo to go to this festival. It's one of my most favorite things and I know that anyone who goes will have a wonderful time. I'm looking forward to the day I can take Ryan there, and share the tradition with him.