Monday's Mid-Afternoon Distraction

SNOW!!!  Today we awakened to a beautiful blanket of white snow, which was all that was needed to turn an ordinary Monday into a memorable one!  Our plans for the day quickly changed as we discovered a winter wonderland just waiting to be enjoyed!  Here are a few of the highlights: 

Editor's note:  The rugby ball in the following 2 photos is being used by express permission of Caleb and Daniel Green.   The snowman was not harmed in any way during the taking of these shots.  No artificial snow was used.

So then, it was time to warm up, so inside we came, and Victoria and I nabbed some girl time to pamper each other a bit at "Di's Day Spa", where I chanced upon these two eager photographers:

Thankfully, their prices were reasonable, so I employed them to capture the moment as customers emerged from the day spa...

Hey, wait a minute...I thought the photographers were supposed to be BEHIND the camera!!

And then, upon leaving the Spa, homemade chocolate chip cookies were to be relished and remembered by all for years to come.  And they lived happily ever after.  The End.

...And More Museums

Only one museum to date has the distinction of a repeat visit from the Green family:  the Whipple Museum, named after Robert Whipple, who worked as an assistandt to Darwin's youngest son Horace.  In it is a fascinating array of scientific instruments dating from the Middle Ages to the present day.  The exhibit Caleb is exploring below explains and demonstrates Morse Code.  Victoria's favorite was in drawer #4, which was a microscope with a fly's leg on the slide.  If you'd like to see my seven year old daughter shudder, ask her to describe what a fly's leg looks like under a microscope! 

There was also this captivating device called a zoetrope, which Brad is

elucidating to the two Victorian-era clad children beside him.  The zoetrope was the first optical toy to produce an illusion of a lifelike moving image in the early 19th century.  Very clever indeed.

Our next museum of interest is known as the University Museum of Zoology.  With this huge skeleton of a finback whale (found washed ashore on the English coastline in 1865) visible from the street (!), this one is a real crowd-pleaser. 

Other sightings were this elephant, stoicly posing behind two children and two mamas, one of whom is within days of giving birth.  Considering the fact that one cannot tell WHICH of the mamas is 9 months pregnant, the mama on the left has decided that, uh, maybe she should cut back on Fitzbillies (bakery) runs. (ahem :) ) The pregnant one is actually Elizabeth Robar, and the little blonde cutie is her son Daniel, with whom we enjoy Friday afternoon classical concerts at a place called Kettles Yard, here in Cambridge.  Though ours are the only children there, these concerts are PERFECT for children--roughly 30-40 minutes each, with a different stringed instrument highlighted each week--a veritable gold mine in music ed and appreciation!

Doesn't Victoria look all grown up in this next shot?  She and the boys were GREAT with Daniel Robar, who is 3 years old and ADORES them.  She was explaining to him all the intricacies of the POLAR BEAR just beside them.

And, I've saved the best for last...let's see who can guess...this animal, which is extinct, has living relatives, which are:

1.  medium-sized mammals, who

2.  live in Central and South America, and are

3.  omnivores, with an

4. arboreal browsing lifestyle, and

5.  like to hang upside-down, and

6.  a common species has 3 toes

Did anyone guess ... toucans?  I hope not.  The real answer is a...SLOTH!!  Do you see the size of this thing?  I was dumbfounded.  Thankfully, they are/were slow-moving!  WHEW!!

Lastly, and this has absolutely nothing to do with museums, but Cambridge's newest landmark is quite the conversation piece around here.  Any guess what it is or how much it cost?  Well, for those of you who said, "Oh, it's a giant grasshopper sitting on top of a 1.7 million dollar clock nicknamed 'Chronophage', meaning 'time-eater', which Stephen Hawking unveiled in September 2008 ", you are EXACTLY right.  Well done.

And with that, I bring today's edition to a close...btw, did anyone notice that George Clooney is following the blog?  Wow...:)

Museums...

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Fitzwilliam Museum.  It is a grand museum here in Cambridge, one of eight associated with the University of Cambridge. It is one of the favored ones among children because it houses many full suits of armor from centuries past, complete with shields, swords, and all kinds of knight-like items.  This, and an extensive mummy collection from Ancient Egypt, easily won "Best of the Best" in our family.  Winning "Best Conversation Starter", however, was the exhibit entitled, "Treasure of the Month".  So, here we are in this renowned art museum which houses collections of works of art and antiquities spanning centuries and civilizations, and the treasure of the month was...are you ready?...I am not making this up..."Seven Glass SNUFF Bottles"---I was ROARING ....  I mean, we have the likes of King Tut's mummy over to my left, and gallant shining coats of armor to my right, and the treasure of the month... snuff bottles?!?!  I had not envisioned an explanation of snuff being part of our curriculum that day.   They wouldn't let me take a picture.  How I wanted to.  It was a moment. :)

This is just outside the Fitzwilliam Museum.  It gives a little better peek at what was once the watering trough for horses (the gutter-looking thing between the street and sidewalk) which ran thru the city.  In some parts of the city it has been partially covered with grates and things, but here it is as it was, I've been told, except now it has goo instead of running water in it.

Another one of our favorite museums has been the Cambridge Folk Museum, which is housed in a former 16th century inn and tells the story of local life and folklore in Cambridge and the surrounding area.  The two top finds in this museum were ingenious contraptions for trapping flies and beetles (ask us about these--I want one!),

 and a bonnet for horses that was actually worn to keep the sun off them!  (Notice holes for ears. :))

  Plus, the kids had fun bringing some rather "official" costumes up to date in the 21st century.

This just in:  we have had THREE different ENGLISH people stop us and ask for directions!!  This is the compliment of compliments.  Really?  We look like we know what we're doing?  Progress...yes...

Today's funniest sighting:  So, there was this car driving up and down our street looking for a place to park.  The driver couldn't find anything, as there were these giant interlocking pylons blocking off an area so they can bob/prune the trees, so, and I watched him do this, he got out of the car, MOVED THE PYLONS TO ANOTHER AREA, and parked his car right smack dab in the middle of  "no-no" zone.  Well, thought I, that's one way to do it.  I was laughing...and taking notes. :)

Stay tuned for more museum musings, plus the winning flavor from a contest held for a new flavor of potato chip.  You won't believe it.

Valentines Day Here We Come!

With Valentines Day just a few days away, my thoughts turn to sweets, and oh! how we've been enjoying all the goodies Cambridge has to offer...

Take for instance Newnham Bakery, a small, neighborhood, family-owned bakery just a 5-minute walk from Tyndale House, where Brad is studying.  My favorites are the chocolate croissants, but there are these flaky cinnamon butterfly-shaped creations that come in a close second.  We try to frequent their shop often!  Then there's Fitzbillies Bakery, which was listed as #9 in the most recent copy of the Cambridge City Guide of the Top 10 things you absolutely must do in Cambridge.  Their "Chelsea Buns" in particular are what made the list, and let me tell you, they are SOME KIND of scrumptious!!  They are a bit like dense and very sticky cinnamon rolls...Y-U-M-M-Y!!

The kiddos newest hot spot is called Mr. Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe, and they have almost 800 different kinds of candies and confections.  I have never in my life seen anything like it--they have two stories of cannisters with any kind of candy, chocolate, gum, you name it, on the planet.  It's a wonderful place to have discovered BEFORE Valentine's Day. :)

So, there you have it...a wrap-up of our favorite sweet spots and candy shops...I'm just thankful I have an excuse to NEED to go to at least one of these places before Feb 14th!

Duxford Imperial War Museum

One of our favorite outings to date has been to the Duxford Imperial War Museum.  Duxford is a small village just south of Cambridge, and this museum is "Europe's Premier Aviation Museum," with seven acres of indoor exhibition space, and almost 200 aircraft.  It is truly remarkable!  Here are a few snapshots from our most memorable day...

Our day began at the bus stop.  This was the children's first time to ride a city bus, and the anticipation was high!  We actually got to change buses a time or two, and we all felt very European. :)

Some of the kids' favorite parts were the ride simulators.  There were "hands on" simulators for so many different aspects of flying--I think they were geared towards children, but, well, we ALL enjoyed them!  We went to this one hangar that was a type of hospital for broken airplanes, and in it was a wealth of treasures.  In many ways this one was a favorite because many of the planes had not been cleaned up yet--they may have been crashed in WWII, and still were as they were found.  So, we each chose our favorite plane in the plane hospital, and below are the winners.  Points to anyone who recognizes any of them...

Can you read the name on the plane that Victoria chose?  It says, "Memphis Belle".  Interesting...a taste of home...  The next plane was the boys absolute favorite of the entire museum.  It was the Blackbird, the fastest plane ever flown (2193 mph), and the boys were completely mesmerized by it.  In fact, we have about 15 pictures of it, at various angles, compliments of son number one.  He and Daniel will happily give anyone who asks a full explanation. :)  And then, you may recognize the F15 in front of which are two people demonstrating right angles with the positioning of their feet.  :)

This next one has a great story with it.  Do you see what Victoria is standing in front of?   There USED to be a hangar, built in 1919, which housed all sorts of planes.  An interesting fact about this place is that part of the movie, "The Battle of Britain" was filmed right here at the War Museum.  For those who have seen it, do you remember when the hangar blew up?  Yes, you guessed it.  There was a hangar here that they blew up in the movie, and the reason the explosion looked so real was that it actually blew up in real life, too.  The guide told us that the folks here were not happy about it.  So, he told us that even though the airfield here was active during WWII, it received more damage from the making of the movie than during wartime.  Funny.  Anyway, Victoria is standing in front of where the hangar used to be.  It is now a parking lot.

WHEW!  What a day!! :)

Ramblings...

So, Victoria and I are having a Girls Night tonight, complete with snuggling up and reading Black Beauty and making chocolate chip cookies, while Brad has taken the boys to rugby game #2. ( I do hope they sit beside someone kind who understands the game well. :) )  Our cookies turned out yummy, but there were times during the process we just weren't sure...like when we discovered that all the recipe's measurements were in grams of this and that, and we had NOTHING in the flat that measured in grams...not even the bathroom scale, which we checked..:)...I mean, how does one know, when looking at a big unfamiliar-sized hunk of butter, how much 50 grams is...hmmm...we laughed our way thru and here they are...wish you were all here to enjoy them with us...Daniel doesn't think they're too bad...

Let's see...remember Dan the Shuttle Man?  Here he is, and an update.  Many have said they are praying for him.  Thank you so much.  Last Friday we mailed him a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and also a gospel of Luke. Last week, Eden Baptist, where we have been attending church, gave everyone 2 copies of Luke's gospel to share with friends to invite them to a special city-wide evangelistic event later this month.    Anyway, he should have received them on Monday, February 1st.  We have not heard from him yet, but are hopeful that he will begin to read either or both of the books we sent him...so, keep praying...we hope/plan to invite him to our chuch for this special event where Tim Keller, a present-day apologist from New York City, will be speaking.

In other news, many have offered their best guess as to why glasses shook and children cried when we plugged in our clippers from the States...yes, we have some winners...drum roll, please...Pat Guthrie and Seth Drown!!!! YEAH!!  So, suffice it to say that we have learned that there is a difference between ADAPTERS and CONVERTERS.  One actually CONVERTS the voltage from 110 (US) to 220 (England), and the other simply emits loud noises and eventually explodes.  Thanks to our friends, the Kynes (see picture of man with even haircut below), we now are growing hair over once continent-shaped bald spots. :)  The boys are showing off their new haircuts, but it really looks more like they're auditioning for the opening credits of a Brady Bunch remake.

So, I'm back after the Tesco man just delivered INTO OUR KITCHEN an entire weeks worth of groceries--glorious!  This week we are eager to try "prawn cocktail" crisps (shrimp-cocktail flavored potato chips), bramble conserve (blackberry preserves?), Wensleydale cheese with dried cranberries, black-eyed BEANS (as opposed to black-eyed PEAS), and crumpets.  I'm beginning to get the hang of this ordering your groceries online .  Some things, however, still puzzle me.  Last night I did a search for "macaroni and cheese", and was sent to (I'm not making this up)--men's toiletries.  Oh dear.   Then I noted a highlighted special -- a "vacuum-packed shoulder joint".  That was the entire description.  No picture.  No explanation.  Never did find out what it was a shoulder joint OF...decided I didn't need one...  My sweet friend Pat Guthrie, who lived here in Cambridge with her family a few years ago, has given me SO many helpful hints on living here, many in the area of food.  She said that her family kept a list of all the different flavors of potato chips, and that their favorite was shrimp cocktail.  So, to honor today's winners of the Mad Clippers Award, both Pat and Seth will receive their own bag of prawn cocktail flavored crisps, to be hand-delivered in May.  Congratulations.  :)

To wrap it up today, there's been more sightings of tree bobs in our area...plus I have tragic news about our lone persimmon on our persimmon tree.  IT MAY NOT BE A PERSIMMON AFTER ALL!!  OUTRAGEOUS!!  I've been dreaming about, blogging about, and drooling over this persimmon--I love the things...and now... well, it's all Tesco's fault.   Yes, I was looking online at the fresh fruits last night and lo! and behold! I came across my persimmon.  Only they called it a "Giant Sharon Fruit ".  That's an odd name for a persimmon, thought I.  Then it hit me.  What if my little tree isn't a persimmon tree after all!  I mean, I HAD noticed that my persimmon was growing from a different part of the limb than I had remembered from back home in Arkansas.  Well, and then I had noticed that the part that was supposed to be attached to the branch is actually, ahem, facing the opposite direction in our courtyard.  So, those of you with horticultural prowess (Beth Jenkins), please help me.  There may be some prawn cocktail flavored chips in it for you!

This just in:  some have asked (Lucas) about the basketball score between the boys...let's just say that Dr. Green has been putting the smack-down on the boys and the overall score for the league champioship, as of this writing, is Dr. Green : 10      Boys: 8  I'm telling you, there's been some serious struttin' going on around here with this basketball business...but the boys want to assure everyone that they have dad right where they want him--feeling cocky and confident, and they are about to bust their big move, so hang tight, and thanks for asking...

Plus, for the next snow day when you're home from school and wondering what to do...here's our phone number (thanks to my dear friend Tammie Lou Van Neste) 011-44-1223-331-615.  It's a free call if you charge it to Ray Van Neste's credit card, the number of which I'll include next time...:)

Saturday with the Kynes

Folks here have been/are being so kind to us...take for instance Will and Vanessa Kynes.  They are a delightful young couple from the States, expecting their first baby, and he's working on his PhD here at Cambridge.  One of our first Saturdays here they invited us over for brunch, and then spent the entire afternoon showing us an "insider's view" of Cambridge.  Oh, the fun we had!  This was our first stop:  King's College Chapel.  This is the most visited site in Cambridge, with over 230,000 visitors per year.  The chapel was the brainchild of King Henry VI, and was begun in 1446.  The chapel was finally completed in 1547--101 years--and many kings (hence the name "Kings College")-- later!  It took 30 years to install the stained glass windows--26 breathtaking sets-- alone!

Remember how I shared about all the symbols on all the buildings...I'll give you just a couple from this back entrance to King's College.  Do you see all the roses just in this small section of the building--see if you can find five clearly shown...they are Tudor Roses, which are the traditional emblem of England.  They represent when Henry Tudor took the crown of England from Richard III in battle, thus bringing about the end of the War of the Roses between the House of Lancaster (whose badge was a red rose) and the House of York (whose badge was a white rose).  On his marriage, Henry adopted the Tudor Rose badge conjoining the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster.  These Tutor Roses are ALL OVER the old city.

OK, this is the front of Trinity College.  Do you see King Henry VIII, in statue form, standing above the great gate?  Well, he originally had his sword up there with him, but the students kept stealing it as a prank, so finally a chair leg was placed there instead...hasn't been stolen since :)...  Also, note the two sets of  doors--one is much larger than the other--any guesses as to why?  I thought perhaps one was for royalty and one for commoners, but actually, originally, these were two separate colleges, King's Hall and Michaelhouse, but King Henry VIII merged them forming Trinity College (Cambridge's largest).  He wanted to be remembered for the greatest college, thus his statue over both doors.  Also do you notice the six crests below his statue?  These represent his 6 children, but one of the crests is missing...any idea why?  Because that child died very young.

On to St. John's College, where Will Kynes, our friend and tour guide for the day, is a student.  Only if you are a student at St. John's can you get the key to go in this very small, obscure door...and beyond this door is a dark, steep, narrow, winding staircase, complete with slit windows and 203 steps to the top of... a real tower from the Middle Ages!  It was SO much fun to climb with three children with very active imiginations!  The dark, dank, and somewhat scary climb to the top made medieval Europe come to life--it was FASCINATING!!

Here we are at the top--you may notice two things right away...King's College Chapel in the background, and the LARGE openings all around where we are standing, thru which any one of the children could have very easily fallen.  I was "quite fussy" up there, which is a British way of saying, "scared to death" for the children.  Even as I type this, my hands are sweating as I remember how I was terrified that one misstep and someone could go thru--AAHH!!  Needless, to say, we did NOT go ANYWHERE near the edge!!  And here's another view from up there...you can somewhat see the rolling countryside just outside Cambridge.

Finally, we ended our day the same way we began...by crossing the River Cam over one of the famous bridges...CAM river, famous BRIDGEs...thus the name Cam-bridge...Cambridge...what a grand day...we are so thankful to be here...