All Boyds, all the time.
This post is the eighth in our “England 2015”:/news/category/travel/england-2015/ series.
As we readied our minds for the trip, I became excited about studying English history with the girls — until I was blindsided by the quantity of bloodshed and decapitation in the available narratives. Continue reading “It’s Just a Flesh Wound: Diving into England’s bloody history”
This post is the seventh in our “England 2015”:/news/category/travel/england-2015/ series.
As soon as we had secured our plane tickets, our first task was to contact our dear friend and host Teresa, a spunky, energetic 86-year-old Englishwoman. She and the Boyd family have been friends for decades, and she has been urging us to bring our family to visit for years. Continue reading “How to Talk English: Learning to embrace Britishisms”
This post is the sixth in our “England 2015”:/news/category/travel/england-2015/ series.
The hardest thing about traveling for our seven-year-old daughter Rosie wasn’t the unfamiliar food or the jet lag or the miles of walking we did every day. It was missing our cats. Continue reading “Homesick for Cats: Missing Franny and Pepper all over England”
This post is the fifth in our “England 2015”:/news/category/travel/england-2015/ series.
On our second day in London, we decided to take a trip on the “London Eye”:https://www.londoneye.com. This giant ferris wheel opened in 2000 and consists of 32 large glass-enclosed capsules that hold up to 25 people each. The view is incredible, and the girls had been drawing pictures of it practically since the moment we announced our plans for the trip. Continue reading “Perfecting Fun in Quiet Desperation: A lesson from the London Eye”
This post is the fourth in our “England 2015”:/news/category/travel/england-2015/ series.
Our arrival day was exhilarating, but exhausting. After sleeping minimally on the plane, we landed at 8:30 am England-time with the intent that we would power through until bedtime in order to beat jet lag. Continue reading “The Champion: Our favorite burger for the travel-weary”
This post is the third in our “England 2015”:/news/category/travel/england-2015/ series.
The week of departure was chaos. Pack the bags. Shop for airplane snacks. Clean the house. Finish up work projects. Pack up the cats and bring them to our friends’ house. Back up the computers. As I tied up loose ends at work and at home, staying up into the wee hours of the night, Jon voiced his concern that my stressful aura would spill over into our precious trip. Continue reading “Departure: The journey from crazy to calm”
This post is the second in our “England 2015”:/news/category/travel/england-2015/ series.
About four months before our trip — on January 5, to be precise — we bought our plane tickets. “Hooray!” we rejoiced. “It’s really happening!” And I immediately became preoccupied with the questions of what to pack. Continue reading “Obsessing over Shoes: Gaining self-knowledge through packing”
“A pleasure is full-grown only when it is remembered.” — C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet
In May 2015 — one year ago this month — our family of four took a two-week trip to England, during which I gathered up an assortment of notes, photos, and memories. Continue reading “Learning to Crave Tea: Cultivating our appetites for England”
I have a little bit of Irish in my background, but I’ve never done a very good job celebrating St. Patrick’s Day aside from wearing a bit o’ green. But after years of experimenting, I’ve finally landed on a winner: a truly delicious and mishmashed celebration of Irish food. Continue reading “St. Patrick’s Potpie”
When Jon and I went to the U2 concert in late June, I merely expected to have an excellent time rocking out. I didn’t expect that it would spark a full summer of serious reflection on the way my soul has been formed by listening to U2 over the past three decades. Continue reading “U2 kept my soul tender: Reflections on the profound influence of the world’s most famous band”