Fun with Rocks

So, you may find yourself driving down a highway in England, as one often does. These roads are small, narrow, speedy things that snake through the English countryside. Imagine that, once in a while, you round a corner and here is what you see:

I have to say, driving, it took my breath away. This tremendous structure just sitting in the middle of a field, with sheep nearby (this is pretty much a constant in England, sheep are always nearby -- at night we even hear annoyed cows). Well, we had to get out and walk around this paleolithic monstrosity which is also one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

Closer to home we discovered an equally ancient yet not so impressive bunch of rocks, the rollright stones.


Kim, however, was distracted by a shiny object...




and I had stone envy...

HaLf TeRm!!!

So Kingham Hill is divided into three trimesters. As would be expected, end-of-term breaks are scheduled three times/year, but the unexpected perk is that each trimester has a lovely little thing called "half term", consisting of one or two week breaks depending on the particular semester we're in.

Desperate for a break after a grueling first half-term (longer for Kim, who arrived at the start of July), we figured what better way to begin a break than with a 10 am tour of our local brewery right off on day one!

Clearly, beer at 10 am wouldn't be an issue here:

So we set off to see the sun rise upon the imposing rural building that is Hook Norton Brewery:

Clearly, an old-school brewing operation. They still deliver the beer brewed here to some of the local pubs by horse-drawn carts!

Yeastie-Beasties! Gotta love Fermentation!

This guy didn't look like he appreciated the early morning paparazzi!

We finished up the morning with a sampling of the brews, and discovered a new favorite, Hook Norton Dark (sadly, only available at the Brewery, so we'll have to go back there when you come to visit!. Cheers!

Hello Out There...

Just curious, anyone reading this blog? Please feel free to post replies, say hi, whatever!!! We miss you all and would love to hear from you!

Learning a New Sport...

So in the pantheon of new experiences we've got another one to add... sports! Cricket, "football" and most recently, rugby! It seems that we landed in England just in time to catch the rugby season in full swing - culminating in the Rugby World Cup (yes, the USA was in that competition, for about 15 minutes. I think we lost to Tonga...). Though no one expected it, England advanced herself to the finals against South Africa - played last Saturday in France.

Everyone got in on the excitement, including our local pub, The Chequers (Notably a little different from the sports bars back home... There was one TV in the whole place):


Sadly, England failed to be the first team ever to win the Rugby world cup two years in a row, but that didn't stop us Americans from jumping fully aboard the rugby bandwagon!

Of Scholars and Priates

You can't wander more than 5 feet in England without smacking into something historical, something cultural, or simply something weird. Imagine how excited Kim was to stumble across the following little plaque whilst strolling through Oxford University (this one goes out to all former and present science geeks from HHCDS - I miss you all!!!):

We wrapped our evening in Oxford up with a fantastic concert of the Philharmonia, but not before grabbing a quick bite to eat at:

So what's so famous about this particular pub? Only that it was the local haunt of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (they have GREAT fish and chips, too!). It seems that they met here on a regular basis to discuss literature (including their most renowned works, Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia), politics, and of course, beer!

Here we are (below) in the "Rabbit Room" at the Eagle and Child - the room frequented by Tolkien and Lewis. Note the photos in the background. Yes... we are literature geeks...


And you never know what you'll stumble into when living in England... On a weekend shopping quest for shoes and groceries we were lucky enough to find the Banbury "Pirate Festival" . Although we didn't get any great shots of the pirates (sorry Matney and the rest of the BBSR '07 crew!) we did see lots of festive British longboats:


An ideal way to tour the British country side, we're already planning to rent a long boat next fall and try our hand at "canal life" for a while!

We also have plenty of adventures on the home front too! Jesse is doing his best to fit in with British Cuisine by preparing such traditional dishes as "Bangers and Mash":

Jesse also has his new favorite breakfast - crumpets and tea!