Loving Nature in the Spring

Since the sunshine, we've had a downpour of April showers. But before that, Robert and I had quite a few chances to go out and enjoy the nice days before the rain came upon us. Here are pictures from those walks/outtings. Alot of them are just pictures of the flowers, landscape, and animals we found along the way...


A hedge, growing greener every day, up near my mother-in-law's house.



Many different flowers are springing up including some pretty little blue bells.

They mysterious yellow crop that's been growing in many fields around Ross on Wye. Tons and TONS of this stuff make for a very pretty vellow and green scenary.



Loads of LAMBS have been born, so one day Robert and I took a walk through the feilds and saw some up close.


One walk we went on was a lace in the forest deemed "King Arthur's Cave"....which allegidly was a cave King arthur hid in for a night when he was on the run. Who knows if this is actually true, but we went there....we saw a cave(not too big, but I'd live in it if I was on the move), and we even made a friend...




This cute little black cat was wandering through the forest(it's owner's house Is on the edge of the forest, so no wonder it's wandering around in there), but it was SOOOOO cute and friendly. It was like a semi-truck's length away from us in the forest, and when we 'called' it to come over....it DID! and was a very purry little one. I love black kitties. And I loved this black forest kitty. :)


Another walk we went on, on a cloudy yet warm day, was a place called "the Sculpture Trail". It was a good walk, with all there statues and works of art you could see....all set inside the forest...on a proper hiking trail.


One of the coolest parts was this old railway track that had individual carvings on them:





Another 'statue' was this giant acorn:




The latest walk we went on was just on the outskirts of Ross, where we found loads more yellow and green feilds.

One of my favorite things about England Walks are 'Kissing gates". They're old fashion wooden gates that only allow one person to pass through them at a time. The design is usually a V shaped or half circle enclosure with a moving gate that swings from one side to the other in order to allow passage on either side. The idea is that it doesn't have to be latched, that it just 'kisses' the edge of the stationary V shaped enclosure.

I've been wanting to do a picture like this for a while...and with my new camera, I finally can make that picture pun. :)

I enjoy our walks...as long as the weather is permitting.

It's California Weather! Are you sure it's March?

For the past few weeks the weather has been outstanding, considering it has been March. We’ve had mostly full sunny days, and some that were even warm, which is NOT common in England for the end of March.

Last Sunday, The Kings Head Hotel had a BBQ to raise money. A few of the staff members are doing an event in June called The Three Peak’s Challenge, where they will climb 3 proper big mountains (one in Scotland, one in England, and one in Wales) within 24 hours…that includes driving time(to give you an idea, it’s probably 5-6 hours to get to Scotland from wales, so it’s quite a bit of driving time in between as well). To qualify, the team has to raise enough money(I think it’s like 2000 for the team) for the entrance fee…all of which goes to charity in the end.

I helped out, and was the ‘ticket taker/cash handler’ for the 3ish hours…which I enjoyed. I like handling money, even if it’s not mine. I just like counting it all up. Does this come from being an accountant’s daughter?

It was a good turn out (about 50-70 people in just the restaurant and back padio, which is quite small compared to what’s normal for a fundraiser function room in California) and The Kings Head raised quite a bit of money.


Loads of merchants donated food and drink to the Kings Head, so that was nice, and made the initial cost less. And The food was good…nothing like a BBQ at home, but it was nice. I will say that hot English mustard is the best thing ever on Hamburgers…it may seem insignificant, but it really gives a spicy taste the burger that’s really good.

Harry cooked the food.


Rob and I helped set up, and he helped bartend.


A load of other waitresses helped serve behind the bar and set up as well. There was even a live one-man band.


He was a good performer…seemed like the kind of act that would sing at weddings because he was asking for requests and knew a range of songs….even some country(did Sweet Home Alabama, and another country song I have no idea what it was…but I was in a country mood that day so it suited me).

I’ve been diving deeper into the country waters as well. Ever since I watched the latest season of America’s The Voice….and saw RayLynn perform “Hell on Heels” I can’t get it out of my head. I’ve listened to that, a few Blake Shelton songs, and some other random songs from country artists. I like SOME country songs, but they really have to have fire and attitude behind them(Like Hell on Heels, or “Kiss my Country #&$” by Blake Shelton), or just be really off beat in some way(like “Safe & Sound” from the hunger games soundtrack…it’s sad, but it’s really heartfelt and has a creepy melody).
I HATE the normal country songs that tell a story and talk about the pickup truck, the drinking, the dog, the southern way of life ….and I hate the sad sappy sort of stories about people dying(like Jesus Take the Wheel). SOME country I like, though. And we’ll keep it at that.


My diet has been going well. I’ve been watching what I eat, counting my calories & logging it daily on a website Kaiti gave me, and exercising every day, even if it’s just my 10min Pilates in the morning. I’ve been doing this for 10days and I’ve lost 4.5 pounds already. YAY ME! My goal is to lose AT LEAST 15 in total. No particular date, I just want to lose it as fast as I can so I can fit into my jeans again!

Since it’s been nice out, Robert and I have been going walking after we get off work, or on our days off. The seasons are definitely changing for us. The scenery is getting brighter and greener. SO of course, I get my camera out at every possible chance and take pictures.



And Spring is defiantly coming early for us because new life is being born already. One walk we went on was just through the fields in a nearby town and we saw a herd of cattle with baby coooows!


This is a Hereford Bull...biggest Bull you'll find in the UK. It's Massive. It's head alone is about the size of a large 'hand ball'(you know the big bouncy red ones you used to play with on the school playground? about 2-3x the size of a basketball...).


Some bulls playing in the mud at the end of the feild.

The walk that we went on yesterday was interesting. It was in the Forest of Dean, a place called Cannop Ponds(which the scenery around there reminded me alot of Arrowhead). It’s basically a group of manmade ponds that were once used to supply power to the coal miner’s equipment. Now they’re just a group of ponds in the forest with picnic tables and a place where people can come to walk, and just soak up the sun.






(Swans, building some sort of nest together)




Weirdest Duck I've ever scene. Looks like a Pidgeotto from Pokemon.

MARCH MADNESS!

It occurred to me that I haven’t posted a blog this month, so this is going to be a hodge-podge of everything that’s been happening lately (kind of like all my other blogs, really).

First of all….’Dear reader’s I’m afraid I’ve been baking. A dangerous pastime (I know).’ …… If you caught the song parody, I give you ten points. If not, well there’s still more blog:
My first experiment in Baking was to see if I could potentially, successfully have a baking business on the side…..bake cookies, cupcakes, etc and sell them in a market stall. So, I baked a batch of sugar cookies and a batch of chocolate chip cookies just so I could see what one batch of my ingredients could make me….and therefore, how much I could potentially sell off at X amount to make X amount of profit, less the cost of supplies. I’ve found out I COULD make a profit, but will I do it? …That’s an undecided venture at the moment.

In any case, the cookies I baked went to work, because the girls claim they love my baking treats:


The second baking venture came from making my now 8-year-old brother in law his birthday cake. He had a special request and I did my best to fulfill it…..a Patrick Star(from the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants) cake:




As an added bonus…..I made him SpongeBob rice krispie treats, but those didn’t turn out as great as I had hoped:






After all this baking(and tons of consuming it) combined with the fact that the hubby and I haven’t been to the gym as much as I would’ve liked this year(2 weeks because a friend was visiting, 1 week out of sheer laziness, 1 week out of being too busy to go, 1 week out of transportation issues, and this last weekend because the gym was closed)….I have decided that I need to majorly get back into shape.

Ever since I’ve moved here, I’ve been WAY unhappy with my weight….because most of my clothes won’t fit me. I’ve noticed either my movement becoming restricted because my clothes are too tight, or worse….my clothes not being able to fit at all.

I know I’m still a skinny girl, but the fact that I brought over 6 pairs of jeans and only 2 of them fit(and fit TIGHT, to the point where it’s hard to breath while wearing them) is a little discouraging.
Last night I was comparing old photos of myself to how I look now. I took a screen cap of a head shot and a body shot every year from 2009 to present to compare the chubbiness in my face and my overall figure. It became clear that, although I looked fit and healthy in 2009 AND 2010, (as opposed to 2011 and this year where I keep getting chubbier as months go on), I liked my appearance FAR better in 2010.

From then, it became a puzzle as to why 2010 was my best year. What was I doing differently in regards to my health in 2010 that I wasn’t doing these past 2 years. It became clear to me that in 2009 and 2010…I took Pilates classes at my college. Also, in 2010, I had started an experiment with my eating habits(I limited my eating and stuck to dishing out ‘portions’ for myself to make sure I got a healthy amount of all the food groups per day), which I didn’t keep up with for long, for whatever reason(probably sheer laziness).

In any case, this brings me to my action plan:

1. Go to the gym as much as possible(which doesn’t always happen because by the time hubby and I get home, cook dinner, eat dinner, and drive to fownhope(where the gym is), it’s far too late for us to do our full workout before the gym closes. Either that or we need to go to mum’s after work to do laundry….)


2. When we can’t Gym-it, walk-it. Today I took a walk all over town, from 11am until 2pm. Up hill, down hill, flat ground, by the river, …everywhere. And I feel better already.


3. Take up pilates again. It’s hard to take up something I haven’t done in a while…especially something that needs motivation like working out. I have the equipment(the mat, exercise ball, etc), I just never use it. TIME TO CHANGE THAT! To start me off, I’ve borrowed a book from the library called “Pilates on the Go”. I’m hoping it will force me to fit Pilates into my busy schedule.


4. Change the way I eat. Portion out my meals, Count calories, focus on the food groups…ANYTHING to help me get the energy I need without overstuffing my belly.
   GOALS SET!

Now….on to the last part of this blog….Today’s walk.

Ross on Wye is what’s known as a walking town. People are encouraged to go walking, especially through nature and there are several designated trails in and around town, so on a sunny day like today, you can find loads of people out and about town.

I got up and walked the hubby to work at 11am and didn’t get back to the flat until about 2:15pm. I walked EVERYWHERE and visited a lot of places in the town I hadn’t seen before, like the quaint little book sellers shop(Rossiter Books), and visited places that I love to go to: The River and The Cemetery.

Most people might find Graveyards too sad or scary to go into, but for some reason when I walk into a graveyard/cemetery…I feel clarity. There is nothing more calming or reverent for me that walking among the dearly departed. Weird…I know, but that’s the truth. Where people see death, dying, depression and old deteriorating headstones.....


....I see serenity, simplicity, and scintillating stories. As much as it is sad, I love looking at the headstones and imaging the type of people they were when they were living. I see it as paying my respects to humanity, and it puts things WAY into perspective.

While I was visiting today, I took a few shots of one reason why I find graveyards so beautiful....
...flowers. The bright colors bring life to the graves. It's a happy reminder that those graves with brightly colored flowers on them have not been forgotten, but it's all the more sad to know that graves without flowers have no one to pay tribute to their memory anymore.

After the cemetary, I took a walk down to the River, where I found some very funny ducks.
Here's one in mid 'scratch', trying to reveal an itch from it's neck.

A duck, taking a nap on a high wall, away from the other ducks.

A panoramic scene of the River bend where i like to go.

A little glimmer of sun through the trees....a reminder of home.

Disneyland Paris Review/Comparison to D-land Anaheim

Disneyland Paris

Basically, it’s Anaheim Disneyland, except slightly different and definitely more European. The lands and the layout were pretty much all the same (with the exception of Toon Town, which was non-existent): Main Street at the front, Castle leading into Fantasyland at the back, Adventure land and Frontier land to the left of Main Street, and The Land of Tomorrow or “Discoveryland” as they call it to the right of Main street.

The layout of each land was slightly different, because of the different space and quantity of rides, but all the rides belonging in each land pretty much remained the same…except for It’s a Small World which was in the corner between Fantasyland and Discoveryland instead of being at the back of fantasyland in Anaheim Disneyland.

PHANTOM MANOR
Californian Counterpart: Haunted Mansion

Massive Manor on top of a hill, with a proper garden queuing system. This ‘Haunted Mansion’-like ride is slightly different in story-line and design. The story was basically a bride who’s groom mysteriously disappears before the wedding due to a phantom menace. Other phantoms haunt the house, and have a party, while the dismal bride sulks around the house waiting for her groom to return, but he never does. The ride, like Haunted Mansion, goes through the house but starts with a grand staircase (where you get on to the ride) in the back ground, and ends in the underground with the ghosts in their graves and the underworld.


SPACE MOUNTAIN: MISSION II
Californian Counterpart: Space Mountain
Better than Space Mountain. It’s Faster. It’s got flips, cork screw turns, loops. And it starts off with shooting you up out of a canon. AMAZING!


PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN/BLUE LAGOON
Californian Counterpart: Pirates of the Caribbean/Blue Bayou

Basically exactly the same as the one in Anaheim, except no Captain Jack Sparrow ad-ons and the music wasn’t prominently played(it only played in the Burning City room). The ride even goes through the ‘Blue Bayou’ restaurant at the start…except they call theirs “Blue Lagoon”.



INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF PERIL
Californian Counterpart: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Completely different experience than the Anaheim one. For one thing, it’s completely outdoors—it’s made to look like a rail car on scaffolding. It’s also more of a roller coaster than a sort of movie magic experience. It’s got 1 loop, and tons of drops, twists and turns.


BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN
Californian Counterpart: Thunder Mountain

Also Completely different for its Californian counterpart, this ride starts off on mainland, drops you into a darkened underground(and underwater) tunnel and pops you up on your own private rollercoaster island. No joke, this rollercoaster is on its own island surrounded by an entire lake (think Tom Sawyer’s Island, except you can’t boat across to the island and ‘explore’ because it’s entirely made up on rollercoaster tracks). There is however a little river boat cruise that goes around this island and the surrounding mainland, so the underground railroad tunnel has to be deep enough so that the boat can pass over it. Pretty cool huh? The rollercoaster on the island itself is fast and has a great view of Phantom Manor while you’re on it.


BUZZ LIGHT YEAR LASER BLAST
Californian Counterpart: Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters
Basically exactly the same except Buzz and everyone else is shouting commands in French.



STAR TOURS
Californian Counterpart: Star Tours—The Classic version

Same cuing system and design, and the same storyline as the old star Tours (none of this beginning middle and end storyline mix and match silliness). I know that this old storyline is outdated to the Californian folk, but for me being so far away from home, it’s like a blast from the past of how Star Tours used to be in the good old days…before it got outdated. What especially tickled my fancy was understanding what Rex says on the journey(partially from rote memorization of the storyline and partially from using what French words I know to translate what he was saying).
For example….French Rex calls “R2DR”, “air-do-day-do” which is how R2D2 is pronounced in French. They pronounce the letter R as ‘air’, which makes it very fun to say R2D2 in French for some reason. Anyway….



We got a park hopper, so we got to go into both Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios, which is exactly like California Adventure. It’s themed more as a ‘back lot hollywood’ than anything else(it doesn’t have a frontier sort of area, so no Grizzly River Run).

The “Lands” Consisted of:

• Studio 1-The entrance to the park with all the shops, and themed Hollywood restaurants, etc.
  


• Production Courtyard—Has a few attractions, all having to do with Studio/filming things….Stitch Live!(which I can only assume is like Turtle Talk with Crush), the Playhouse Disney show, Studio Tram Tour (which is more like taking the tram tour at Universal Studios), and some Armageddon show. The main thing in this land was the Tower of Terror, which looked exactly the same is it’s counterpart from the outside, so we didn’t bother with it.



• Backlot—Had Rock n roller coaster, and a “Moteurs…Action! Stunt Show Spectacular” which was a movie magic car stunt show that featured some pretty cool car stunts, car stunt filming movie magic and an appearance by Lightening McQueen from “Cars”.



• Toon Studios—Had Crush’s Coaster(which seemed more like a rollercoaster spinning version of the little mermaid ride), and TOY STORY PLAYLAND which consisted of 3 rides inspired by Toy Story the movie—Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, RC Racer, and Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin.
  

In Walt Disney Studios(Cal Adv.), there was only really one ride to compare to:

ROCK N’ ROLLAR COASTER
Californian Counterpart: California Screaming

I think I like this one way better than California Screaming, even though it did scare me at the beginning(IMMIDIATE gigantic Loop RIGHT after taking off—scared me to death, I wasn’t prepared for it that soon). This ride is all indoors and is fast pace, with a laser light show to Aerosmith music….think Space Mountain Anaheim when they turned it into ROCKIN’ Space Mountain.
The cuing system and story were also a whole lot more fun than California Screaming (which just appears to be a Mickey mouse sea side roller coaster, nothing more). The premise in the cuing system is that you’re in a recording studio tour, viewing Aerosmith working on a new song for the Disney roller coaster. (There’s even a 2-3 min little holographic bit where Aerosmith—mostly Steven Tyler—talks to you about how awesome the ride is).

Those are the majority of rides. Disneyland Paris/Walt Disney Studios did have some usual rides/attractions like Tower of Terror, It’s a small world, a majority of the little kid fairytale rides, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Adventure Isle, The Robinson treehouse, The Captain EO show, Autotopia, and the Railway system going through each land..but we didn’t bother stopping to do most of those that looked pretty much the same as the ones in California.

The rides/attractions that Disneyland Paris didn’t have an equivalent of, which are major ones for me in California, are: Grizzly River Run, Soaring over California, Mickey’s Farris Wheel, Splash Mountain, Innoventions, Matterhorn, Jungle Cruise, and The New Orleans Square area. Everything else there was at least some attempt at an Anaheim recreation or replica.