Mudlarking In London

Beachcombing the River Thames in London

is known as 'mudlarking'

In the 18th and 19th centuries,

impoverished boys and girls aged 8 to 15

scavenged the river's mud at low tide 

in search of treasures to sell

It was a dirty and unsafe job,

as the river was a receptacle for raw sewage 

and dumping ground for the city's rubbish

Today it is a bit of a gold mine for seeing into the past

Led by Fiona, a local expert archaeologist,

a group of us collected a few things along the bank

we thought might be of interest

We showed her our loot,

and in a nonplussed way she told us much of it dated

to Victorian times or earlier

Once she showed us what to look for,

we saw Victorian roof tiles scattered on the bank

as well as old yellow bricks

Clay tiles with grey streaks were Victorian

Solid red tiles could be dated to Tudor times

And if tiles showed signs of being burned, 

they could be from the Great Fire of London in 1666

(as they threw everything into the river to clean up after the fire)

And yes, that's a bone

We found glass waste from a factory that

operated nearby from 1700s - 1800s

Pottery known as 'tin-glazed ware'

would have been discarded

from kilns located on the shore 

between 15th and 17th centuries

Clay pipes were like cigarette butts of the time,

popular by smokers between 1580 and 1930

We saw these everywhere

Clay pipes and a very old shard of tin-glazed ware (the piece with one blue stripe)

The plentiful metal nails and scrap were from the shipyard

that once stood where we searched 

(late 1600s - late 1800s)

Clearly they were handmade and did not look uniform in shape

The most important discovery of the day

was a piece of coral found by someone in our group

- Fiona asked if she could take it to the Zoo as they are piecing together

what types of coral lived in the river -

Although you could mudlark on your own,

you wouldn't know what you were seeing

so I would highly recommend giving it a go with Fiona

- great for all ages -

We were thrilled with our success

and thankful the bank was pebbly and mud-free

I'll never look at the Thames the same :)

- photos by me -

Mudlarking via London Walks

(a nonsponsored post)

Thanksgiving's Hedgerows

As America celebrates Thanksgiving tomorrow

- a day of loved ones, traditional food, and American football -

my family and I will celebrate our fourth year in a nation

that doesn't pause for the holiday

We have a new normal with new traditions,

such as traipsing down to a local pub with friends and family

for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner

The pub may serve Yorkshire Pudding as well as other English surprises

One never knows!

 (pubs are family friendly

and not at all like American bars)

Darkness is a cloak as early as 4pm

and autumn leaves continue to fall gently like giant snowflakes

I am delayed on the road lately

due to local hedges being trimmed

If you've visited the English countryside,

you cannot help but notice the hedgerows

that create perimeters around farmland and property

Hedges create super-highways for wildlife across the countryside

- so many are connected -

and provide a bounty of food with its berries and fruit

A place of shelter, I find such great comfort in these living barriers

Like a cutie-pie hedgehog traveling along the hedgerows,

I find thankfulness in the sweet tidbits and friends I meet along my path

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving, wherever you may be in the hedgerows :)

- photo by me -

Puppy Raised English

Hiya! 

(that's English for 'hello')

I'm Millie,

a 5 month old spaniel

I want to tell you a bit about my puppy class in England,

which may interest my American doggy friends

It is really different from the US!

My school

Rain or shine

we meet weekly in a grassy field at a nearby farm

with chickens, guinea fowl and sheep

Boris, Bertie, Tess, and Fleur are some of the pups in my 'small dog' class

My favorite part of class is off-leash playtime

to give my brain a little rest

Fleur is my best playmate

Don't you love those ears?!

Meet Fleur, the sweetest French Bulldog

I was surprised in my very first class

we worked on 'lie down' 

(which would have come later in a US class)

The goal is to have me off leash in public 

and under my owner's control at all times

For our 5th class

we met for a country hike

- off leash -

At first we were a tumbly mess of puppy pile

- we are such a playful group -

and then one of us said, Hey! Our people left without us!

So off we sprinted to find our owners

Although our humans were concerned we may run off,

we went for more tumbles and checked in with our owners periodically

At times Laura blew a whistle to indicate I needed to find her

I was rewarded with a treat and accolades and off I went again

It was super fun

The following week we were back at the farm

Laura went on the other side of a fence and 

I needed to work out how to get to her through a series of gates

This was in case I get stuck somewhere

and would have the confidence and knowledge to work it out by myself

We continue to work on sit/stay and heel

on and off lead in school

Wow, is it hard when there are so many friends and good smells to distract me!

My classroom

In a few weeks

I think the class will go for coffee for an hour

and I will practice my sit/stay/lie down next to Laura

I should be well behaved the whole time I am in the coffee house

Hmm, sounds like a challenge

I think puppy classes are a lot different here

than in the US

I will grow up with my classmates, as the class is ongoing

At one point I can join a specialized spaniel group,

try agility classes or gun dog training

For now,

I still have a lot to learn and practice

in my puppy class

I am a good girl

Woof :)

- photos by my person, laura -

Hint Hunt London

Browsing TripAdvisor's site for things to do,

I was surprised to see this activity currently ranked

as the #1 Attraction in London

So me

(being me),

HAD to check it out

Shrouded in mystery,

Hint Hunt describes itself as

A new simple and fun live escape game

We lock up a handful of people (3 to 5)

into a small space that looks like a normal room at first sight

However, it is a smartly designed environment where the captives

start discovering hidden objects, codes, keys, riddles and clues

to help them escape the room in 60 minutes

Created by a clever group of Hungarians, 

Hint Hunt has locations in London, Paris, and Cape Town

It was CRAZY fun

I promise it is nothing you have ever done before

Perfect for families or a group of friends,

Hint Hunt is conveniently located across from Euston Station

Put this on your 'must do' list for your next visit to London

- minimum age of 9 with an adult -

More info: Hint Hunt

(an unsponsored post)

C.S. Lewis

Last week I traveled to Oxford

to visit the home of C.S. Lewis,

who is famously known for writing

'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'

Today,

his home 'The Kilns'

is not a museum but a residence

that houses visiting scholars

So many fun things to tell you,

but I'll try to stick to just a few...

Having lost his bedroom key,
C.S. Lewis had to enter & exit his bedroom by the exterior stairs

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1898

and was also known as 'Jack' in memory of his dog

He was a professor at Oxford and Cambridge Universities

in Medieval and Renaissance Literature

Lewis knew many foreign languages
including Norse, Greek, and Latin

He would play Scrabble with his brother

and wife with two sets of tiles
- words in any foreign language were permissible -

Dining room where they played Scrabble

C.S. Lewis loved his house, The Kilns

As he married later in life, he had had quite the bachelor pad

that was 'held up by books and cobwebs'

Where C.S. Lewis chatted and smoked cigarettes with friends in his home

With the help of photos,
the C.S. Lewis Foundation decided
to restore the house as to how it looked during WWII,
including blackout curtains

You may remember
the four children in 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'
sent to the countryside home of an old professor
to find safety during WWII

Likewise, C.S. Lewis housed 4 children (all girls) during the war

This is where C.S. Lewis most likely wrote his fictional books

(his nonfiction books probably were written in his office on campus)

From this window, C.S. Lewis would have viewed the nearby pond and woods

which were likely inspirations for his Narnia setting

Interestingly, he did not use a typewriter,

but dipped his pen into an inkwell

He claimed that during that pause to dip his pen

came his greatest creativity

Although best known for 'The Chronicles of Narnia' written for children,
Lewis wrote 47 works of non-fiction, 11 fiction, and 4 poetry collections

One of his closest friends was J.R.R. Tolkien

who wrote 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings'

Both men were professors at Oxford University,
served during WWI
and wrote during WWII

They were passionate about words, languages, myths, and their religious faith
(Tolkien worked for the Oxford English Dictionary
defining words beginning with the letter 'W'
and later was a codebreaker during WWII)

With unusual common interests
and fairy-tale success,
they were two peas in a pod, really

In fact, it was Tolkien who influenced atheist Lewis to become a Christian

Pond and woods on C.S. Lewis's property

'The Chronicles of Narnia' series and 'The Lord of the Rings'
hold elements from fairy tales and mythology from other cultures
including Norse, Roman, Greek and Persian

Lewis, Tolkien, and a few other fellow writers

gathered at this pub weekly to discuss their current works

They called themselves the 'Inklings'

aka 'The Bird And The Baby' Pub

In this pub
the Inklings talked, drank, and shared their latest writing projects,
providing constructive criticism of each others work
from 1939 - 1962

Lewis's 'Screwtape Letters' and Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings'
were brought to the table here

C.S. Lewis died fifty years ago on November 22nd,
the same day President Kennedy was assassinated
and author Aldous Huxley of 'Brave New World' died

After Lewis died,
his furniture and possessions were auctioned off uneventfully
and the multiple acre estate was sold off

Today, 'The Kilns' is no longer a house in the country
but in the middle of a working class neighborhood in Oxford

His pond and woods are open to the public as a Wildlife Trust nature reserve

On November 22nd of this year,
a memorial stone will be placed in C.S. Lewis's honor at
Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey
in the good company of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen

Fine art print for sale via Jane Heinrichs

And to think this is how it all started...

''The Lion all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella
and parcels in a snowy wood.
This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen.
Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself,
'Let's try to make a story about it'.''
- C.S. Lewis

He is such a great story

- photos by me -

Read more about children evacuated during WWII here
Tours by appointment only, here
Source: C.S.Lewis Foundation, Wikipedia, Huffington Post
(an unsponsored post)