Homesick

Well, there's no good way of sugar-coating this so I'll just put it out there.  After three weeks, I'm homesick.

The first two weeks in Chester were beautiful.  Weather in the 80s, sunny all day, and a slight subtle breeze in the air to keep you cool .  My husband's co-workers all commented on the fact that they hadn't had weather like that in ages.  Oh, oh, that doesn't bode well for the rest of the trip, does it?

And then...traditional English weather reared its ugly head.   All week it has been in the 50s, cloudy, not a drop of sun in the sky, and rainy. 



Needless to say, this weather doesn't make for good walking about town weather and I've been spending a good deal of time indoors.

I have been able to start writing again so I guess that's a good thing.

Here is a random smattering of things I miss:



1.  Seinfeld.  2.  Conan O'Brien.  3.  Chicken wings. 

4.  Annie's gluten-free mac & cheese

(yes, it's very random...)

I, of course, miss my mom (who god bless her is keeping watch over the house and children), my wonderful writing groups (shout out to Coffee & Critique and Saturday Writers), my awesome neighbors who are also helping to take care of the house (shout out to Kathy and Eddie!) and my four-legged children.

There are a few things that I'm enjoying whilst here:







1.  The mascot for EDF Energy.  I'm not quite sure what he is but he's super cute and on a bunch of commercials.  2.  Come Dine With Me (Shout out to my friend Norma for introducting me to this show.).  3.  Pork Belly (They love pork belly here and I love them for that.).  4.  Stella Artois (I know you can get this in the States but for some reason it just tastes better here.). 

On a Crohnie note, for some reason my appetite has really gone downhill since I've been here.  One very important thing for us is to eat little bits of food throughout the day so as to not shock our digestive system.  Well, it's hard to eat when you're not hungry.  But that, in turn, also messes with our digestive system so it's a no-win situation.  Has anyone else encountered losses in appetite whilst traveling?  All in all though, my health is well and I haven't had any horrible stomach aches or bathroom issues.

So here's hoping to a sunnier week and continued good health!



Apartment Bound

Today I accomplished one thing: I washed my hair.  I actually didn't leave the apartment until 6pm and spent the day inside.  I'm sure you are saying to yourselves, "What?  She did what?  But she's in England!  How dare she not go exploring!"  My excuse?  A combination of jet lag, stress, and moving anxiety.  My body has several responses to stress.  The main one usually involves stomach pain and many, many trips to the bathroom.  Sometimes I get highly annoyed and irritated at everyone and everything.  And the least severe of them, I sleep.  Turns out, I've been sleeping a lot since I've been here.  I haven't been able to put myself on anything that resembles a sleeping schedule but hopefully I can get it together in the next few days.  Then again, if sleep is the way it has to go, I'll take that over having to search for a bathroom when I'm out and about.

In the meantime, here are some pictures I took yesterday during my wanderings.

This is the River Dee which is a 70-mile long river in the United Kingdom.  The river is on the other side of our apartment building and has a lovely walkway alongside it with benches for resting.  I hope to spend time here being inspired.

This is The Water Tower of Chester which is conveniently located in a park close to the apartment.  The tower was constructed in the 1320s.  Its original use was to control shipping and taxes into the port of Chester and because the tower was in the actual river, ships could be moored around the base.

An old-fashioned British phone booth!!  Yes, although there are few and far between, they still exist.





And the most important picture of all: my new library card!!  Although I'll only be here for a few months, they were more than happy to issue me my own personal card.  Aaah...life is good!  And yes, this is a shameless plug for the Saturday Writers.

With this I wish you all a wonderful day and good health.  And in honor of being told that England invented drinking (with the Irish and Scottish perfecting it) I leave you with this quote from Phyllis Diller:

Good Heath - what my friends drink to, before they fall down.