Dunn Talking About It

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A month in an English village

Due to the Schengen Visa and travel limitations for US citizens, part of our 9 month travel must be outside of the EU area, so we are spending 90 days in the UK. This month we are spending it in the Ribble Valley of Lancashire in a village called Waddington. This is a quant picturesque village with no grocery stores, no high street, just three pubs, a cafe and a post office that sells ice cream, toilet paper, candy and bread (all of life's basic necessities) . The closet market town is Clitheroe, a 4 minute $2.00 bus ride or a 2mi walk. It's a sweet village with a market dating back to the 1800's where you can pick up local meats, produce, cheese and home goods. There are a couple of grocery stores, tea shops, boutique stores, pubs and of course the Starbucks of the UK, Costa Coffee.

The view of Clitheroe

The Clitheroe castle

Pendle Hill Witches - 51miles of walks to learn about the witches of the 1800

Clitheroe City Center

Life here in the Ribble Valley has been quite and slower than some of our other locations but everything works out as it is meant to be. Since we have no car (I am to chicken to drive here) one has to be mindful of ensuring you have everything you need or its a 4mi round trip walk into town. Normally a 4 plus mile walk would be easy, well try it with limited sidewalks, on winding stone walled streets and cars driving on the opposite side of the rode at speeds well above the posted limits oh and a two year old who refuses to hold your hand and you have a heart rate well above normal. When we are not walking into town, we take the Foot Paths and walk the fells of Pendle Hill. Foot Paths are basically identified areas where you can cut across someones property and possibly even safe your life from the road dangers.

Some of the sites on the walk

My friend Tequila

My other friend Claredale

Lovely old stone houses

Among some of the other highlights of the Ribble Valley are the pubs/bed and breakfasts. The focus here is on food and ale...I have tried to order a martini a few times and ended up with a beer, what bar doesn't have olives? I do have to say I have developed a fondness for the cask ales, ,sure they are not very cold but something about having to pull the ale has me hooked. As for food I would have to say most of it is pretty one demential, not a lot of spice, basically meat and potato but if you like comfort food then Shepard's Pie, a cheese, onion and potato tart or a Sunday roast are not to be missed. Now where the British have missed their opportunity is with their desserts...why have they hidden dishes like Spotted Dick and Sticky Toffee Pudding from us? Okay maybe the name evokes a juvenile giggle but Spotted Dick is this warm dense raisin cake topped with warm sweet cream and dont even get me started on Sticky Toffee Pudding, gooey yummy sticky cake made with dates, who knew.
The cheese in this area has been amazing but then again all cheese is amazing. The Lancashire area produces some tasty cheeses with one of my favorites being a salty crumbly cheese similar to a dry feta or Cotija that bakes up wonderfully in a tart and adds a nice kick to omelets and quiche. The cranberry cheddar cheese will always be welcomed in my home as well.

Creamy cauliflower soup

Sunday Roast - don't tell Tequila or Claredale

Lancashire crumbly cheese

Spotted Dick

Been spending my down time thinking about what it is I want to do when I return to the states. Selling the majority of our personal items, not replacing my car and having the opportunity to make the rest of my life what I want it to be is exciting and a little scary. Not many people take the opportunity to sort of reinvent themselves. I am working with a life coach trying to get clear on what it is I want from my life. Right now I am looking at careers in kidney dialysis and becoming a dialysis technician and I have toyed with the idea of working in the funeral business. I would love to help in the change around the attitude of death. Instead of a somber memorial I would love to offer a celebration of the persons life. Heck raise a glass and toast, have live music, it is all about celebrating the life of the person who has left us. So who knows where I will land next, I do know that it will be what I want it to be.

The village of Skipton

Walking behind the Skipton Castle

She loves flowers

Tin foil fun

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Feels a little like home

Oh London, how do I love thee. There is so much energy in this city and I am surrounded by theater which really makes my heart happy. I think a large part of my excitement is the ability to not only have conversations with people in a common language but to also make funny comments (or at least I think they are funny). I will say that London is not as British as I expected, maybe it's to much television or something but I really thought I would see more Fascinators and Bowlers, have high tea and watch a cricket match or two. I am still waiting to see spotted dick on a menu or in the store, there is such a thing and not just an item sold at World Market, right?

For the serious cider drinker

Where Big Ben lives

Scotch Egg

Changing of the guard

We were so happy to have some friends join us during our first week here, we did the Hop on Hop off bus which really gives you the chance to see the sites and decide on what tourist stops you want to revisit and did the Beatles/Rock and Roll walking tour. We stopped in a local pub where the Beatles used to meet with Brian Epstein and had a pint and some chips, we were the only women but it was very cool. We have rented a flat (English term for apartment) in the Herne Hill area of London, talk about diverse and eclectic, I love all the Caribbean markets, food, smells and people. We are only about 30 minutes outside of central London so we take the red double decker bus in to town which Tatum loves and it gives us an opportunity soak up the sites. I have made friends with the checkers at the local grocery store after sending them into a tail spin when I asked for coffee creamer (liquid). Multiple people were searching the store until we realized it was single cream (located in the yogurt section and in a yogurt looking container)...

Tower Bridge

Selfie on the Hop on Hop off bus

The London Eye

Our flat

Splash - neighborhood festival

We are 3 months into our travels and I wont lie it hasn't always been fun. Traveling is hard, we are all sick of our clothes and ready to burn them. I miss my family and my friends, I miss the summer events back home and yes I know I am living the dream and people would trade places with me in a second..it's still hard. I am also spending more and more time thinking about what is next, remember I left my job, health insurance and retirement plan, rented out our condo, sold our belongings and stored the rest...so in 6 months when we return I need a plan. I will be working with a life coach while on this adventure and looking forward to exploring the next part of my life.

One of many things I will take away from this is the need for human connections and how I have been doing it and how I want to do it going forward. Life is not how much you cram into it but how much of it you experience. When was the last time we sat face to face with someone we cared about without an electronic devise in our hands or a table seperating us and just enjoyed each other? The parks in Copenhagen were filled with people of all ages, kicking a ball around or sitting on the grass and enjoying a conversation. There was no concert, no festival or sporting event just time spent with each other. I can not wait to get home and get togther with my friends in the park!

I will be in a British commerical in September. I was asked to film a spot with the British Red Cross (ha ha almost typed American Red Cross) for National First Aid Day. They asked me questions about first aid to see how much I knew as they are promoting their new first aid app. So stay tuned as I may just post the link to the ad.

Buckingham Palace

The City

Fortnum and Mason

China town

Fun in London


Filming

Tatum's chum Tara

Tatum getting down in the park

The new hair cut

Cheers!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Copenhagen - 72 Steps

Tamed Heron

Well here it is July and we are in our third country; Denmark. The Netherlands was a great month, and a relaxing month, Friesland is a beautiful and quaint part of The Netherlands unlike Amsterdam. We spent 2.5 days in Amsterdam and although it had its charm and beauty I can honestly say it was not my favorite. Maybe it was because of the constant rain or the short amount of time we had there or the need to constantly be on the lookout for cars and bicyclist. Had I become a country girl? I am not sure but I was ready to go.

Rainy day in Amsterdam

Canal charm

We are house/cat sitting in a wonderful neighborhood in a nice apartment that sits on top of a 7-Eleven. We arrived here the night before we were scheduled to start our duties so we booked a room through Airbnb down the street so that I could meet the owner. By the time I started my journey to the apartment it was close to 9pm, I decided I didn't need a bus I could walk the mile and half in no time. Well after picking myself up off the sidewalk and leaving some elbow skin behind, over walking by a half mile I finally arrived around 10pm. The owner was waiting for me outside on her step, she led me inside to where I was pleasantly surprised with 72 stairs to the apartment. So here I am, sweaty, bloody and out of breath and here to watch your fur kids...uggg. As I walked home all I could think of was how were we going to do these steps with our backpacks and Tatum but quickly changed to look at it as an opportunity to burn some additional calories - trust me I remind myself over and over as I climb the stairs with bags of groceries swearing I will not buy this much again. Oh and taking the garbage out through the backdoor is like a Mt Everest expedition...steep, steep steep, I feel like I need to tether myself to something or I am going to tumble to my death.

The stairs out the back door - aka Mt Everest

Besides the physical challenges Copenhagen is beautiful, full of water, canals and pretty people. It is also very culturally diverse, much more than I could of ever expected. Had a wonderful conversation with a Danish couple in the park that made me proud to be from the US. As we spoke about where we were from and how much we enjoyed Europe, the couple stated they loved the US, the energy and President Obama, I could do nothing but smile (okay we had a political conversation but not blogging about it). No matter what your feelings are about our POTUS, how awesome is it that other countries have a fondness for him and what he stands for. We chatted about health care, education and taxes. How cool would it be to complete medical school and not owe a single penny? The flip side is the amount of taxes they pay but as they put it they don't have to worry about saving for their children's education or worry about health care..gave me something to think about.

My two favorite dragons

Hammock swinging in the park

So far the downside to Copenhagen is how expensive it is. The US dollar is strong here, $1 to 5Kr but a loaf of bread from the bakery is $7-$9, a Coca-Cola is $6, the average price for a grab and go lunch (without a drink) is $12...sure you can find things less expensive but so far we have not seen any "deals" and thankfully our housing is free. Check out the price for a bottle of Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, this was not in the import section, it is in every grocery store as a standard item.
Looking forward to seeing much more of this beautiful country, a train ride to Louisiana for some art, a day in Tivoli (where Walt Disney got his inspiration for Disneyland), a picture next to The Little Mermaid oh and we can't forget all the parks.