We went to Bowood with Hector and Toby today,  the picture on the left was taken once we were home again; they are watching (and feeding) several trout in the brook below them

While we were at Bowood we split up.  Hector went down the Death slide several 100 times and Toby and I went off to look in the house.

The main hall is a gallery with dozens of C18 and C19 pictures.  I asked Toby to select one as his favourite, the one he might like to take home.  He chose a naval picture and I looked at it closely- and was astonished.

Go back 60 years.  I'm six or seven years old, making a formal visit to our  94 year old Grandfather who lived in Chingford. He was an old old man with a long white beard.  He spent his life in bed.  We would be ushered in for an audience and he would tell us stories about our family.  He was a collector, surrounded by boxes and manuscripts and books and files.    He has been the Secretary of the British Bulldog Association at some time in his life and he had used a  dog breeding form to make a genealogy of our family.  
"I remember", he said, "My grandmother telling me than when she was a girl she was taken out to the top of some cliffs to look at some ships.  'Napoleon is on that ship' her father told her."
Well it's a good story and I remembered it but I always thought it improbable, he was captured in France at Waterloo in 1815 and then sent out to St Elba, how would they know that one passing ship in the channel was Napoleon's in a day before good communications.  I thought it was an interesting story if only to express our relationship with historical events.

But today the picture Toby selected was described like this
         The Transfer of Bounaparte  from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland near Berry , Head of Torbay  (by T Lund)

My phone picture is blurred so I've googled it and found this reference.  It happened in August 1815, just 198 years ago.  Toby's great great great great great great grandfather must have been there with his great great great great great grandmother on the cliffs behind.  

Well picked Toby.  

Every time I go away I see something which changes the way we live at home    Here is a list of some influences

While in Maine, Lisa made us Granola.   Did you know that you can make muesli/granola by roasting 8 cups of oak flakes with 1/2 cup of oil for an hour, meanwhile adding seeds, nuts, maple syrup, whatever, to taste.   
I don't know what kind of oil, assumed not olive but found, when I'd used it, that my  vegetable oil made it taste stale. As a result of that I've revised my oil buying habits, instead of buying huge amounts cheaply and (for non olive oil) then spending 3 years using them up, I've thrown out all our oils and bought small amounts of almond oil, corn oil, walnut oil, groundnut oil and vegetable oil.  And I shall make my own granola.  - if I can achieve Lisa's deliciousness it will be wonderful.

When visiting Katy in Nantucket several years ago our bed was white on white on white.  Up to then I had though white boring and difficult to manage. The Nantucket bed was wonderful  All our linen at home were dark blues or greens.  Now only the old ones are coloured.  

But it is difficult to keep it ironed and bright. Thinking about it, (and about our bed in Maine)  maybe it's time to replace it all with new fresh and expensive linen from John Lewis or M&S. (instead of IKEA)

In Israel for Hannah and Erez' wedding we drank arak and mint and lemon juice. Unbelievably wonderful.  We bought 4 bottles of Arak on the way home and I planted a huge old tub with mint.  The arak is now all drunk but the mint grows back every year.  Cara gave us a lemon tree which gives us a lemon or two most  years.  But we do buy them too.


We also enjoyed salads made by Menia with finely chopped tomatoes and cucumber and mint- and a dressing made with vegetable oil now I come to think about it.  Our salads have changed too,

In 2010 (or thereabouts) we stayed in Nairn and, at breakfast, watched dozens of birds on the other side of the window feasting on various birdie delights.   I now hang birdie delights on a bush outside our study window so I can gaze at tits, finches and nuthatches and an occasional woodpecker whenever I should be working.


There is a tit on this tree is you can spot it, the six different bird delights are hidden in the leaves to protect them from passing predators.

Maine is ages ago now.  The house will be empty, the people who were there when we were there are all dispersed.
R&F&J have moved to London.  Ben has flown to S America, Columbia I think, not sure where that is.  H & family are back in the Bronx, starting new job and waiting for baby.  We are at home, PSHT are home by way of NY.  Ben's bike has arrived here in 2 boxes and 2 cases, via two aeroplanes. 

Things I meant to do but haven't.

1.   Thoroughly thanked Rachael for wonderful hospitality or 
2.   Sent a huge bunch of flowers to welcome her to her new house.
3.   Thanked Lisa for cooking for us and changing my culinary life hitherto forward.  (see separate post)
4.   Confirmed re-connection with Maine Lavans, all of them very good people.
5.   Several other things.

Ben arrived in Maine, by bicycle, from San Francisco, on July 29th.  We arrived in Maine, by aeroplane and car, from home, on August 3rd.  Ben stopped blogging.  I am starting again, to make up for the morning gap.

We are in Moose Point.  Moose Point is a huge house set by a huge lake with a huge amount of toys for the 9 adults and 7 children presently occupying it.  I think that count is right, I keep checking and double checking. I thought I would now list the toys, subdivided into adult and child, but that's not possible, the power boat is adult driven but everything else is shared, the ping pong table, 1000 coloured ping pong balls, wii games, jigsaws, floating trampolines, canoes, waterboards (surf boards that you stand on not sure of the proper name), smart tvs, I could go on. 

No, the setting is amazingly beautiful- I prefer a lake side to an ocean and think lake swimming is utterly the best swim possible- the company, of course, being all family, is utterly wonderful.  The challenge is how to best take up all the opportunities for optimum living.