In a Land Far Far Away

Random thoughts for the week. . .

- this was the first time in my entire life I didn't have a Thanksgiving. I was really missing the family dinner and watching the Macy's parade. Next year we'll hopefully be settled in our own house so I can start a new Thanksgiving tradition. Although the ovens look tiny.

- cars. . .I like cars. Personally, I've been a Jaguar fan since I was 16 (I've had 3), but I still notice and enjoy the cars that are out and about. The #1 car I've seen around this area (and remember this is one of the wealthiest counties in England as it's right next to London) is the Land Rover. Yep. They're like pickups in Texas - everyone has one. Have also seen three 3-wheel cars. Now THOSE are interesting to see!

- on Saturday we were driving through Farnham when I spotted this man in colonel clothes walking though town. Fancy dress ball? Nope. He's the town crier. Seems like a lot of the villages have these. They have a bell and handouts to announce any town activities. In this case, it was the Christmas lighting. That's a neat tradition. I wish I had had my camera.

- I was reading the article in Outdoor magazine about the upcoming US presidential candidates. It was giving their views and agendas for the environment. After reading the whole article there wasn't one person worth a flip. No matter how good they talked the talk, their outside relationships and voting showed a different story. That was depressing. Someone who actually did sound interesting was Richard Branson. He's doing an amazing amount of 'green' things. Of course, is he really doing it for the greater good? or just for his own benefit? hmmm.

-Haven't done any geocaching or letterboxing this past week. Got excited that a new lb was at Box Hill, but then found I had already gotten this one elsewhere. Boo. Still need to go there though to plant one of the hedgehog boxes. I REALLY want to hit 200 caches by the end of the year, but not feeling very motivated lately. Temps in the 30s and 40s, so a bit cold to me. I normally spent the last 10 years in shorts at this time of year, not hats, scarfs, boots, gloves, and scraping frost off the car window in the morning. I'm just hoping I can get all these hedgehog boxes planted soon. Still have about 6 to go.

- Something I used to do over the post-Thanksgiving weekend was to go down to this Hallmark store and pick out a new Dept 56 Dickens Village house. I only did one a year - at Christmas. Then I'd race home and get all my others out (about 6, LOL) and set them all out. I really enjoyed that. But now, I have a two-fold problem - the electric plugs are US not UK, and no one sells them around here. I found a similar line - Lemax. UK based. But it just isn't the same as my Dickens Village. :(

-To consol myself over the above, I got us all a Hornby Hogwarts Express train set. Oooohhh. Cool. I had some second cousins who used to put up a really awesome train and village scene around their tree every year. I always thought that was so neat. So, once I get the train laid out, I'm going to see if I can add Village houses to it. If not, I may just have to jump ship and make and buy the train houses and scenery. Next, I'll be up in the attic like Alec Baldwin in Beetlejuice. :)

- TV. . .haven't watched much TV at all really. Mr. TeamKing usually plants himself in for the football (soccer) games. So, I've been downloading some of my favorites from iTunes and watching them that way. Grey's Anatomy, Survivor, etc. I love that I can still see my US shows. Although they don't have The Amazing Race as a download option. Boo. Still, I'm happy with what I can get. Is the writers strike over yet?

- Went to the Windsor Theatre the week before and saw a really great show 'Absurd Personal Singular'. 3 couples and their interactions. One of the funniest plays I've seen in a long time. One of the stars was Jane Horrocks - she was Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous, and the lead role in the film Little Voice. I think I'll have to go to some more.

- That's all for now. I'll ponder some new things this week and let you know all about them. LOL.

Cheers.

Pathtag to Trade

Are you a geocacher and have a pathtag to trade? If you're interested in trading with us, look us up on the Pathtags website.

We're always willing to trade with a letterboxer or cacher who reads this blog!

New Sig Stamp

I've been wanting to update my sig stamp for a while now. I actually really like it, but a lot of people don't realize it is a Wellie boot, not a riding boot (although I am doing some riding!).

But the problem was in how to change it? I want the same size, my same favorite font - Goudy Old Style, same layout, same green color. I just wanted to change up the boot somehow. Finally, I think I have found a solution. If you recall a month or so back, I mentioned I was in the process of ordering some pathtags. I'll post a picture of them here once they arrive, but basically they more or less look like my sig stamp - only better. I had one of their design people do the layout for me and she made my boot look more like a Wellie boot - yea!

So, for 2008, my goal is to get this new sig stamp carved and completed. It will then look like my pathtag thus giving me a complete 'corporate' identity. So remember, green Wellie boot = TeamKing. LOL.

Speaking of pathtags. . .I haven't met any cachers around my area yet, so I don't even know if they 'do' pathtags around here. I may just end up with a bunch of these things collecting dust! Even so, I'm really interested in doing either a new special pathtag for Penny dachshund, or my own geocoin. This will be another 2008 project. So, if you collect pathtags or geocoins, let me know! Maybe I'll do something fun to give some away!

The Hunt

Saw my first hunt today - completely coincidental as I was only driving by and spotted them.

The hounds were gearing up.

Was surprised when I saw them going around with food for the spectators!





























A single rider went ahead while they waited and laid the scent. I couldn't see how he did this exactly - either a spray or dropping


something on the ground.

Then, off they went. Really neat to watch - the men in the red jackets, the ladies in black. And a few young kids on their ponies and dressed up lagged behind.

I don't know where they were supposed to end up. I imagine they probably have a real fox in a cage or something that is the target. Would have been interesting to see how they finish up.

Bonfire with a Bunch of Guys

Well, we had our first real experience with celebrating Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night. The real day is November 5th. However, since the 5th is a Monday, most of the celebrations I've seen advertised were for this weekend.

On Saturday night we went to the Bonfire at the kids school. We got there and ate hot dogs and mulled wine, then they lite the bonfire. (Interesting side note here, the school sent home some reminders with the younger kids to beware of hedgehogs before lighting your bonfires. Seems they crawl under the brush piles. Poor things.) While the bonfire was blazing away keeping us nice and toasty warm, they let off fireworks just off in the distance. I was surprised there wasn't the 'ooh' & 'aah' we do in the states. No one said a peep until it ended and everyone clapped. It was all very nice and social.

Then tonight we did basically the same thing at a village pub. However, they also did the burning effigy of Guys. When we walked up, we saw some people carrying their Guys. 'Look at the all the Guys!' I heard someone remark. Then, as we got up to the unlite bonfire, the man in charge yelled out, 'Bring all the Guys over here!'. So, people brought their Guys up to the bonfire pile and they were all laid out.

The best Guy was voted on, and the winner was placed at the top of the pile.















Then the bonfire was lite, and everything burned up. All the Guys were burned to death, celebrating the capture & execution of the real Guy on November 5th 1605.

Fireworks followed as the bonfire burned away followed by food and drinks at the pub where this was held.

And that was our first experiences with Bonfire Night.