Some Tana fun

Just a quick update on the puppy- she is doing very well and getting huge!  I just wanted to post a couple of pics of our training together. One of the first things the pups learn is that they have to be calm and restrained at mealtimes. It wouldn’t do for a dog to be bowling a blind person over to get their food. So they learn to wait until they are told they can eat. Here is Tana, waiting for the command, and getting the command to have her dinner.

I increase the time she has to wait each mealtime and serve her dinner in as many different places as possible. This seems cruel, but she knows she will get her dinner if she exhibits the right behaviour, so it’s just a case of her learning to do just that. A few weeks ago Auntie Paula and Auntie Eva bought her a Cornell sweatshirt, and when my heat went out the other weekend, she really needed it to keep warm! It took her a few minutes to get used to wearing it, but I think now she loves it. Again, this is part of the training- not just to make her look cute, but to get her used to having things on her body, as one day she will hopefully have to wear a harness.

Note to self: Paint shouldn’t freeze

I was all gung ho the other night, ready to paint my bathroom. This is a task I have been putting off for months, as it involved removing all the wooden doors, hinges, handles, and other bathroom accoutrements, in order to paint. So when I finally felt like doing it I was excited. I removed all the doors, and got all my painting equipment in situ, ready to begin. I retrieved my paint from the garage, 3 tins of brand spanking new primer, gloss coat and magnolia kitchen and bathroom paint. I opened up the primer, eager to begin, and found it frozen solid. Now, I’m no chemical expert (clearly) but I just never considered the fact that paint would freeze. I consulted some friends in the know and the general consensus was a) let it thaw, give it a good stir, it’ll be fine b) let it thaw, microwave it a bit and stir, it’ll be fine or c) it’s buggered. Well I tried option a) and this is how it looked…

I couldn’t stir it so much as cut it. There was no way it was working. Option b0 followed. You will notice that the philadelphia-like paint is in a metal bowl. Yes, I did microwave it in that bowl and lived to tell the tale. Don’t worry, I stood well back from the microwave as I was doing it. The results? Philadelphia cheese had turned to cottage cheese.

Not what I want to be spreading on my walls or cupboards. So, I’m off to Lowe’s tonight to invest in some new paint. Paint that I will be storing at 55 degrees or above.

Top five things I love (and miss) most about England

Ok, obviously I miss my family and friends. That goes without saying and is too cliche to mention here. This is for those things that are quintessentially English, that I have sacrificed during my stay in the USA. Upon rereading my selection, I notice they are mostly food based. I guess it’s a reflection on the things that are important to me!

Fish and chips and mushy peas

Must be bought from a reputable “chippy”, must be slathered in salt and MALT vinegar and the mushy peas are crucial. I won’t have any of this talk of eating Fish and Chips without them. It’s like a hot dog without a wiener.  The batter that the fish is friend in has to be light and crispy, the fish still tender and firm, the chips have to be slightly soggy and all of it has to be wrapped up and served in paper. Makes for perfection. For any of you Yanks traveling to the homeland in the near future, I highly recommend it. For those restaurants trying to copy it on this side of the pond, it’s fish and CHIPS. Not fish and POTATO CHIPS, as I once had served to me at the Ithaca Ale House. I was distraught.

Breakfast, good English style

Breakfast is probably my favourite meal of the day, when I have time to cook/eat it. That’s probably why I savour the English breakfast so much. A proper English breakfast, for me, has to consist of a few things- and here I might differ from some, but it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Sausage- not your crappy cheap stuff either, but a good lincolnshire or similar, filled with herbs and plenty of flavour, and cooked until brown. Bacon- English bacon tends to be more meaty than American. Fried eggs. You can’t specify how you want them in the UK, you just get them how they come. Fried or grilled tomato. Baked beans (not in picture above, but essential). Toast with English butter. Fried mushrooms. This picture is actually of my sister’s breakfast, and thus contains black pudding. I’m not a fan, but many English folk are (Black pudding or blood pudding is a type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled- sounds delicious huh?!).

Tea time

In the UK, tea is drunk at all times of the day. I usually average around 8-10 cups when I’m at home, per day. The British appetite for tea never really struck me as unusual until I moved here and no longer partake in a cup every hour on the hour. It’s a serious business. And “tea time” can literally mean any time after about 2 pm, up until around 8 pm. And a cup of tea never tastes as good as the ones made by my mum!

The history

I do miss being able to walk down the street and see buildings that are hundreds of years old. To visit stately homes/palaces/castles with my parents. To bathe in the historical magnificence of Britain. People don’t go there for the weather, or the food (however if you complain about the food, I’ll most likely kill you). It’s for the past. And I miss that living here- the oldest thing I tend to see is my boss

Cadbury’s

Now, this isn’t just chocolate. This is no Hershey’s or Nestle. This is the God among chocolates. The creme de la creme. Best of the Best. I always brign some back with me from home, although Wegman’s do sell a small selection now in their Foreign food aisle, as does Ithaca coffee company. If you have never tried it, let me suggest you get up right now, leave your place of work and go buy some. You will not be disappointed! Sadly, news in recent weeks that Kraft foods (booo hiss) is to take over Cadbury’s, has truly saddened me. Not only because they will probably mess with the recipe, but because it represents huge corporations taking over family run businesses. Now, I’m not naive enough to think that Cadbury’s is still a small family run affair, but it certainly started out that way. John Cadbury started the company in 1824, making hot chocolate drinks. The business grew and at the turn of the century, Cadbury’s was a huge chcolate making business. Also at this time, the company made massive strides in improving the lives of the workers in their factories, which for any factory worker of the Victorian era, were pretty miserable lives. Cadbury’s bought hundreds of acres of land and built a village, Bournevile, for it’s workers to live in, close to the factory. This revolutionised the way factory workers were treated and set the tone for future companies. Cadbury’s truly is a piece of the British history I love so much. A history that is ever so slightly diminished with the buyout by Kraft.

Last night a humidifier saved my life.

After four winters in Ithaca I thought I was immune to the hot dry air, reminiscent of the Sahara, inside every building from October to April (literally, the humidity in the air here can drop to 10%, which is apparently, lower than the Sahara). I had got used to waking up every morning for the past four winters with crispy fried nostrils, dry throat and usually a nosebleed to boot. However, this winter things have been getting progressively worse and my skin has be super dry, flaking and actually downright painful…

So, to try and combat this, I treated myself to a hot air humidifier. It could well be the best $32 I ever spent.

It arrived on Friday and I skipped upstairs to get it going in my bedroom. I have had it running non-stop ever since, pumping approximately 6 gallons of water into the air in my bedroom. It basically works like having a kettle boiling constantly beside your bed. I have even tried using it for a facial! I don’t have a way to measure the humidity, except that my skin is no longer like something from a horror movie, and is slowly regaining its moisture. And Tana has been less dry skinned too. I have to say Humidifier (maybe I should christen him with a name?), you really did save my life.

18 inches of fun!

So, as promised, I have officially measured the snow on the deck at my house (please bear in mind at least another two inches have fallen since I took this picture at the weekend) and the results are…dah dah dah…18 inches of snow at my house! Which is absolutely insane and crazy.

If that much snow fell in the UK, the whole country would shut down entirely. 6 inches and they’re struggling, schools close, shops run out of food and everyone takes the week off work! Luckily for me, there are three major reasons I am still able to function, even with 18 inches of snow: 1) Ithaca city clears the snow REALLY well. Especially on my road, as it’s on a school route. 2) I invested in having a plough (plow) man. This seemed a little bit of overkill back in November, when there was no snow and the last couple of years hadn’t been so bad. Couldn’t be happier I decided to be a Princess and employ his services anyway. 3) Trusty Roger. Even if there’s 2 inches or more of snow on my road (hill), he gets me up it fine. Touch wood. Moral of the story? 4 wheel drive and a good ploughing.

The newest member of the Holloway Family

Her name is Tana and she is an 8 week old black labrador. I am raising her for about a year as part of the Guiding Eyes program for raising guide dogs for the blind here in New York. The general idea is that raisers take the puppy on at 8 weeks and “socialise” them to living in a home. The raiser takes them pretty much everywhere they can, in order for them to get as much life experience as possible. They also teach them house manners and a variety of commands (eg. sit, stay etc.). I know that this experience will be extremely challenging for me, but I also hope it will be rewarding as well. So far it’s definitely more of the latter. I promise this won’t turn into a dlog (dog blog- see what I did there???!!), but there will be regular updates on our progress as we take our guide dog journey together. Here she is with her “just woke up” face on.

And one more for good measure.

Winter with a vengence

The snow appears to be following me around the globe. Following my return to Ithaca, I don’t think we’ve had one day when it hasn’t snowed. Weather.com might set me straight on that, but it feels like it. And I think there also hasn’t been one day I got back when I haven’t thanked my car (Roger- for those of you that know him) for getting me up my steep road. On Saturday I ventured out into my back garden to dig a path to the compost heap, and while I was at it, took a few pictures of the house in the snow as it looks so pretty.

Here are those icicles hanging off the roof in more detail…

And here are a couple after I had knocked them off the roof and dived for cover so I didn’t get stabbed in the heart a la Dr. Yang in Grey’s Anatomy…

Sis, you’ll notice I’m wearing the gloves you bought me- they have been lifesavers in this weather, as have the hat and scarf. Thanks again! One more pretty one…

Tonight I’m taking home my ruler from work to accurately measure the depth of the snow on my deck. I am estimating about 15-20 inches, so watch this space. Stay warm

Yuletide Felicitations to you all!!!

So instead of me bleating on and on about my Christmas, I thought instead I would tell you all about it through the medium of song (well in the written case, verse, but you can IMAGINE me singing it for you).

Here goes. On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…12 windmills whirring

11 cookies baking…

10 Qualities shining….

9 corks a popping…
8 bulbs not lighting…

7 seals a swimming…

6 clems need peeling…

5 HOLL-O-WAYS!!!! (ok one’s Paul)

4 hands of cards…

3 fish pies…

2 Christmas dinners…

and a turkey in my bellyeeee!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Sealed with a slip

Boxing Day in the Holloway household usually consists of a trip to the races to bet on some fine fillies. However, due to the bad weather, the Boxing Day meet was canceled this year. So instead, the family took off to Donna Nook on the East Coast of Lincolnshire, to the wildlife sanctuary (and RAF base), where it’s coming towards the end of the seal breeding season, but where you can still see some super cute seal pups.

The path down to the seals was a little treacherous, completely frozen over with a couple of inches of shiny slippery ice. Paul came a cropper on the way over the sand dunes to see the seals. However, once we made it over there and stuck to the non-death side of the icy path, we saw some incredibly cute little fellas. Here’s a selection of the best shots. My particular favourite is the little guy that was trying to get through the fence to say Hello!

Walking in a winter wonder(Eng)land

Usually, Ithaca is the Winter wonderland in my life and I come home to England for my annual dose of rain and dreariness. This year, we’ve been lucky (??) enough to get some lovely snow, about three inches or so, with the promise of more to come. Perhaps this year we may even get a white christmas. I’m certainly dreaming of one. As long as it disappears by the time I want to fly back home!