Winter.....it comes

As winter hits, my writing muse seems to have reclaimed me and I will be back, working on my blog a day notes.

November, gah, I can't believe it.
It is November. Crazy how the time flies.
Winter is truly upon us.
Fires are burning in the hearth, furries curl their tails around their noses and I am excited once more, at the prospect of the first snowfall.


Meanwhile...it is exactly a year since I made my way home from my two months abroad.
I find little details I had forgotten brimming to the surface often, sweet little visceral experiences that take me to another time and place and are so welcome as the time rolls on.

One recent memory was been a day where not a lot happened outwardly.
I was living in Limpenhoe, in Reading Room Cottage and spent the day making curry pumpkin soup for guests who were coming over. Really, how cool is that and how many of us get to travel and settle into a home where you can cook for your friend and guests?

It was such a lovely thing, that, just living in a different time and place and sharing that with Stephy.
She was working like a maniac so I took a little time out of the trains, planes and donkeys and settled in, looking after her dog, catching up on my laundry, and creating meals as a thank you for all her hospitality.

What I hadn't realized at the time however, was how warm and lovely it would be to simply keep house and hearth in a 17th century cottage and look forward to Stephy coming home to warmth and yummy smells and satiated furries.

New and dear friends shared this particular evening with us- big chunky bread, a cold October day, fire in hearth, ( well let's face it, the fire was for me, I was just back from a month in Greece and Spain..bbrrrrr) , and warm thick fragrant soup. Oh and wine..mustn't forget the wine :)



it was a perfect day...a walk with Angus through the farmer fields, an oven cooking all day shooting out steamed yumminess, and company that felt like old friends.

Vegan A Go-Go! review...check it out!

Once more this terrific book by my super fabulous friend Sarah Kramer, has been reviewed extremely favourably...check it out..
Whether you are a student on a budget, a sometime chef or you are proficient in the kitchen, there is a recipe for you and they are delicious.

Vegan A Go-Go...review...

Asturian Sculpture

I am going to continue to write about the beautiful art and architecture.
( click on the images for larger view )

Next on my list is Spain.

I spent some amazing time wandering the beautifully ornate streets of Northern Spain, in the cities of Oviedo and Gijon.
It is immensely inspiring to see the amount of sculpture and dedicated space on every street, given to sharing that art. We need more art amongst us here in Canada.

In Oviedo, much of the art is highlighting the beginings of life and the people who built up the city.
Gijon has the incredible " Monument to the Horizon, built high atop an old battlement at the entrance to Gijon's harbour.


I will let the art speak for itself through my photos.

I think my fave is the girl reading by the street lamp.

Greek food

What can I say about the food tasted in Greece.......well.........yumm!
Greek food is just good.
That is really all there is to it.
It is fresh, uses simple flavour blends, lots of lemon and let's talk about that goat cheese.



Why can't we get goat cheese like that here in North America? Why? And you are served big slabs of it, dripping in olive oil and herbs, darn my mouth is watering....


Let me just name a few of my faves, sampled from various parts of Greece, the islands and the mainland...


-Dolmades, both grape leaf and squash blossom



-Greek yoghurt and fruit for breaksfast lunch and dinner, prepared in our self catering kitchen by moi on Santorini


-delicious savoury and sweet loafy deliciousness...my fave the sausage loaf from the local bakery on Santorini
-Calamari, fresh from the water that day
-Gyros with french fries in them...now THAT is something we need to catch onto , best sit on the beach food ever....

and the rice pilaf I had on Crete in an old Turkish bathhouse, now a restaurant known as Tammam



Oh dear i could go on and on but instead, I am going to serve myself up a little Greek yoghurt, fruit and nuts....thank heavens for the mediterranean grocer.

and let's talk about the things you can find...

in those fabulous European Market places........or in Spain...Supermarketo!


here are a few pics as I strolled the streets of Europe..I will let the pics tell the story...

and can you believe....

I am siting on a train from Paris to London, all reserved seats, and a woman sits right beside me.

We get chatting, she asks me where I have been, I tell her Greece....she looks excited and says she has been to Greece....we remnisce together.

I say Spain,,,,
she says Spain...
I say the UK....she says the UK
i say Prague..(well you get the idea....parallel paths for sure).....we giggle

then she asks me where I am from, I say Canada

...she says she is from western Canada

I say I am from western Canada

....asks what city...

I tell her Victoria

she says she is from Victoria...

asks me whereabouts, I say Quadra and M.....she gets soooooo excited now, she also comes from my hood......we can't believe it.
I have not met very many western Canadians in my travels and this was right from my backyard.

We spent a lovely train ride comparing notes, sharing chocolate and giggling....the time went very fast and then we said goodbye.

These are the moments that make it all so special...the perosnal connections that come and then fleetingly go, but make permanent footprints on our journey

More to come...

and now the little things that made it all so special...

I spent a fair bit of time creating a broad picture to reflect upon here in this blog.
Now I am home, and the individual moments are what are sharp in my mind's eye.

The next series of posts will be to honour some of those people who are a part of the fabric of this European Tapestry.

( I do not have any pics from train stations as I did not feel safe to reach into my bag and pull out my camera.
You will have to use your imaginations as to the magical grey, cold, misty veil that hangs over a European train station at night., making the pavement glimmer like molten silver)

1st...Kosovo.
Standing in a train station in Cologne, waiting for a train to Prague, late...ugh very late in the evening, I am surprised by the amount of other people waiting for trains. I find out from a kind young man who speaks English, that all the trains are at least an hour late due to an accident on the tracks. He also confirms I have found the correct platform as nowhere does it say......Prague.
We start chatting and I notice an elderly couple are watching our conversation with smiles on their faces.

My new young friend also speaks a language they understand, and while he translates two languages, neither one his first language, we discover they are from Kosovo and very interested in Canada.
We all chat like old friends for about 45 minutes, talk of our homelands, of politics and survival. You can see thye have survived much.
This all results in this wonderful couple inviting me to their home in Kosovo and hoping I make it their after Prague, insisting we share their delicious home cooked picnic of sausages, baguette, cheese and flask of wine, I shared my patisserie, and they gave me their address and phone number.

I was unable to get there this time, but what an amazing gift to have known such a warm welcome and to have made such dear friends to break bread with.

Home again...away from home

I am back at the comfort and hugs of Reading Room Cottage and a bonfire and fireworks would have been the plan but for the rain and windstorm. Instead we stayed in and ate much fabulous food and drank mulled wine and caught up.

It is so incredible to think I will be home in Canada and not able to pop back back to Norwich anymore. it has been an oasis of tranquility in my travels that would have seen my trip be very different without my time here.

My family in southern London were spectacular also. They welcomed me as a long lost friend and made sure I had all the family history ( gossip..tee hee) and brought as many other family members round as possible while I was there.

England has really opened a whole new world of connections and family and a knowing that there is history ad roots out there beyond Canada, and who exist as friends as well as family who I coul go back to anytime and who I hope will come to us in Canada.

Sigh........Canada has so much I am thankful for, but it does not offer access to the kind of art, family members and architecture that Europe does and I will dearly miss that.

Ahhhhh family!

I have spent the last 3 days with my Grandfather's on my Mom's side, family in Liverpool. Having not met the gaggle of them before, I was very excited to connect further with my history and to learn about our shared family history.

I couldn't have landed in a happier, warmer and fuzzy group of people....ofcourse we are all related ( smiles) but what a gift to be here.

I met my great Uncle Cliff, my grandfather's brother, who is a lithe and sparkly man and who remembers much of the past and stories of my grandmother and grandfather when they were all young in Liverpool together.

I have made lifelong friends with cousins and 2nd cousins and travelled through the streets that my grandma grew up in. It is incredible to look at the person sitting across from you and recgonize pieces of your self in them.

We have been a small family collective in canada and now feel part of a much larger family structure.

I have slept much and talked even more.....tomorrow brings me travelling north through London again to meet my grandmaother's brothers children and such and I am excited once again for the connections and warmth and family that await.

One week til I am home.......mixed feelings about that....happy for home but oh so sad to see this journy end.