May in France, A Slow Deconfinement

With all of the events going on in the world writing my monthly picture-a-day blog post completely slipped my mind.  I'm posting it a few days later because I love looking back at these daily pictures.  

May 1 - A cake to celebrate 50 days in quarantine 

I can already scarcely believe we did this.  The kids and I did not leave home, only K.J.

May 3 - The First Yellow Rose in the Garden

May 4 - Ella did some drawings for Star Wars day.

Can you tell the words are in the shape of the Death Star?

May 5 - Noreen loves her rhododendrons and laments the flowers only last three weeks.

May 6 - The rose bush outside our front window is a grace.  

I love the reflections of the roses across the courtyard in the window.

May 7 - This poem cracked us up, and I think we'll be singing it for a long time.

May 8 - I spent every morning of the lock down taking a picture of the front of our house, marking the growth of the ivy.

May 9 - Birthday Brunch for Noreen

May 10 - Noreen received a new birdbath for her birthday, and we were admiring it.

May 11 - Ripening Cherries in the Evening Light

May 12 - A Good Mail Day

I got confirmation of a subscription for my anniversary, and our checks from the American government arrived in France.

May 13 - I've been enjoying taking walks outside our garden walls now that we can go without filling out paperwork; everyone's roses are in bloom.

May 14 - The roses blooming in front of this house make the view pretty idyllic.

May 15 - Our town's Greek restaurant opened for takeaway, but I wasn't really sure how to order food by the kilogram.

May 16 - I learned on a walk with K.J. that you can also see the tip of the Eiffel Tower from our town.

May 17 - Another Walk, Another Rose

May 18 - I don't get tired of taking pictures of the buildings in our town and their colorful shutters and perfect symmetry.

May 19 - It's outdoor eating season in France.

As soon as the temperatures warm up here people are picnicking and eating outside.  We don't naturally have this habit, growing up in Alabama where not only is it hot and humid, mosquitoes are a big deterrent.  The first summer we lived here we did have a lot of mosquitoes, but last summer wasn't so bad.

May 20 - J and I found some well-built dens in the forest.

May 21 - I discovered Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry were Wooster and Jeeves.

May 22 - Anniversary Bike Ride

May 23 - Bedtime

May 24 - Sunday Takeaway

All the birds came from far and wide to gather cherries on this Sunday.  

May 25 - A Walk in the Woods with Friends with a Dog

May 26 - Socially Distanced Front Yard Visits 

May 27 - I went on a walk with E, and she pointed out the beautiful ivy on the park wall.  

Our park re-opens June 6, and I'm very excited!

May 28 - Layers of Color

I've spent a big portion of this season at home garden-watching.  

May 29 - LEGO mini-figures are a delight.

May 30 - Evening Walk

May 31 - I went to the store for the first time since March 13.  

Five Quotes, vol. v

Each Friday I'm sharing five quotes from my reading during the week that stood out enough  to make me stop reading and write them down, or at least take a picture with my phone.  I haven't included a verse from my Bible reading before now, because I wanted to use this weekly post as a place to share quotes making it in my Commonplace Word document, and I don't record scripture there.  But this week I'm including Paul's prayer from Romans 15, because I read it yesterday, and it seemed a fitting anchor of hope in a world of injustice and anger.

"Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice." 
- Romans 15:5-6


"The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo:  adventures, as I used to call them.  I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of sport, as you might say.  But that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind.  Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually--their paths were laid that way, as you put it."
- Samwise Gamgee, The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien


"Well, no need to brood on what tomorrow may bring.  For one thing, tomorrow will be certain to bring worse than today, for many days to come.  And there is nothing more that I can do to help it.  The board is set, and the pieces are moving."
- Gandalf, Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien


"The hasty stroke goes oft astray," said Aragorn.
- The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien


"Winston Churchill, now Prime Minister, has made another broadcast.  It gave us a clear understanding of the gravity of the hour and of his absolute belief in the British people--that we will never surrender.  His news was petrifying but I felt braver for his words."
- To War with Whitaker, Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly

Five Quotes, vol. iv

This week's quotes include four from The Two Towers and one from Sally Lloyd-Jones I loved.  Happy reading, and happy weekend!

"Maybe there is no right choice," said Gimli.
- The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien


"But do not despise the lore that has come down from distant years; for oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know."
- Celeborn, The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien


"But rest, if you must.  Yet do not cast all hope away.  Tomorrow is unknown."
- Legolas, The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien


"The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for himself or others," said Aragorn.  "There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."
- The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien


"...once you've chosen your story, remember:  you don't need to add to the story.  Whether that's by turning the story into a lesson or feeling you have to summarize and explain.  Trust the story.  Let the story be the story.  Let the story do its work.  A story is like a seed.  It grows beautifully if we give it time, if we give it room; if we leave it alone and don't explain it to death.  I learned a long time ago that rules and lessons can't change you, but a story can."
- Ten Tips for Reading Aloud, Sally Lloyd-Jones

16 Years of Marriage

Tomorrow is our 16th wedding anniversary, and I feel like K.J. and I have 15 years of low-key anniversary celebrations under our belt that have prepared us for an anniversary taking place during a pandemic when restaurants and cinemas are closed.  

Truly, we've always celebrated in whatever avenue felt natural at the time, no fancy dinners required.  Our celebrations are on a scale from last year's Starbucks date all the way to our two weeks in England on our 7th anniversary.

Each year on our anniversary and Valentine's Day I play a game that K.J. hates:  "Let's think about what we did on this day for the entire time we've been together!"  K.J. has a good memory, but it does not record that particular information.  I thought I'd be kind and do some digging through an old hard-drive.  Now we'll always know.

Year One

K.J. was cutting his own hair, I was young, and we were both a little pink from a day at the beach on Dauphin Island.  We went to visit my grandparents in Mobile and see friends after his sister's wedding.  It was our first year living in Louisville, Kentucky, and we are eating my Papa's famous shrimp and rice.  

Year Two

This is about a month before our second anniversary, and I only have this picture thanks to my dad!   I'm pregnant with Ella, and K.J., my dad, and I just loaded up a moving van with our belongings so we could move to a townhouse.  We also unloaded everything in the same day, and my body was so achy at the end of it.  No photographic evidence of our second anniversary exists.  Did we go to that Mexican restaurant down the street from our new place?  Did we go to Cheddar's?  Both seem possible, but no one knows now because the iPhone wouldn't be on the market until the next year.

Year Three

Again, I have no idea what we did to celebrate our actual anniversary.  My sister and brother-in-law were living in the Louisville area then; did they babysit for us?  Did K.J.'s brother baby-sit, because he was in college there at the time.  Again, no one knows.  I am sensing a theme here in how amazing the advent of the iPhone was in helping us remember things.  I know we went home to Alabama in May for my youngest brother's graduation, but I don't have those pictures here.  But here's our family of three at the Louisville Airport.  K.J. is picking up his girls who took the $69 Southwest flight from Louisville to Birmingham to celebrate his grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary.  K.J. had to stay behind and work, good man.

Year Four

May 2008 K.J. graduated from seminary, and we moved back to Alabama.  Photographic evidence says it was a low-key anniversary.  A new friend let us borrow the key to her neighborhood pool, so we took Ella.  I have another picture of Ella holding up a picture to the wall in our new house to see if it would look good there.  I feel sure we must have gone to eat or to a movie, though.  After all, we had just moved to the same city with K.J.'s parents.  Surely we took advantage of free and glad babysitters.  Prince Caspian was in theaters then.  I bet we went.

Year Five

Now I completely remember our 5th anniversary, though there is no photographic evidence of the day of course.  This might be the first year K.J. planned something that was tailor-made for my delight.  Maybe it takes five years to really get to know your spouse.  

I was pregnant with James and was just reaching the point of needing new clothes.  K.J. planned a night away at a hotel in Birmingham.  We left Ella behind, and the best part was he told me not to pack anything; I could go shopping for everything I needed when we got there.  We ate dinner at P.F. Chang's at the Summit.  We went to Old Navy and Barnes and Noble.  The following day the shopping continued at the Galleria.  It was the perfect gift to me.

Year Six

Year six K.J.'s brother ended up marrying on our anniversary, and I will for.ev.er remember this day, because that woman in the picture only slept about two hours the night before because a 7-month-old James had just learned to press up on his arms.  He slept on his stomach at the time, so each time I put him down asleep in the crib he would immediately wake up and press up on his arms and cry.  I finally grabbed a couple of hours with him sleeping on my chest in the bed.  I can vividly see myself in the shower at my grandmother's house that morning before a full day of wedding parties and pictures leaning my head on the wall and praying, "Oh, God, I feel like I'm going to die."  But God was gracious, and weddings are exciting and fun, so I made it.  And K.J.'s cousin Hillary baby sat for us when we got back home so we could go out, so double picture time.  Double picture time because guess who finally got a good camera and started taking pictures and never stopped?!

Namaste sign because the series finale of LOST was the night before, and we had a viewing party.

Year Seven

The day of our anniversary fell on a Sunday, and we went to Olive Garden after church with friends that night to eat.  I think the kids were with my parents because K.J. had just arrived back home from Cuba, and we'd had a wedding the night before.  But our big celebration was our Year of Jubilee trip to England in the fall of that year.  It was a life-changing, life-forming trip.

Year Eight

Apparently Ella graduated from Kindergarten on our 8th anniversary.  This picture is with K.J.'s grandparents the night before graduation.  I feel like we took her to the McDonald's at Wal-Mart beforehand?  I told you we weren't fancy restaurant people.  I'm sure we must have marked the occasion in some way, but all I remember is Kindergarten graduation and learning Ella had the highest GPA in Kindergarten.  I love the matching sneers Ella and James have in this picture.

Year Nine

After a mission trip to serve Emmanuel International Church in Paris we stayed an extra week to celebrate our ninth anniversary.  When the occasion presents itself, K.J. outdoes himself.  We drove around Normandy for three days, staying in different places, but the main anniversary surprise was staying at this chateau with a Marquis and Marquess.  It was a dream...but I left a new sweater there that I still miss.  This trip would also turn out to be life-changing and life-directing.  It really cemented in our hearts that we felt called towards Europe.

Year Ten

Ella made me the necklace I'm wearing for our anniversary, and I wore it to a retirement party for a dear friend of ours.  After the party we had dinner at Panera Bread and went to Barnes and Noble afterwards where I had a coffee frappe.  It wasn't fancy, but it was us.  

Year Eleven

Anniversary eleven we were six months into living in England.  Friends kept our kids for us, and we drove to York to keep up with American culture and had dinner at a French restaurant after I turned down the crazy first restaurant K.J. tried to take me to with a lot of animal heads on the wall.  I had Camembert for dinner, so I was happy.

Year Twelve

Ella made K.J. and I these matching badges to wear to church.  In England kids often wore badges to school on their birthday.  It was the day of the family bike ride to a neighboring village, and Ella and K.J. took off only to return a little later because Ella had a stomach virus.  But I had just discovered Marks & Spencer in a neighboring town, and I bought one of their weekend deals, so we parented and ate individual desserts out of small jars.

Year Thirteen

Look, another Marvel movie!  The kids were in school, so we were able to go to brunch in Harrogate and then to our first movie on a sofa where we ordered snacks and drinks from a waiter.  Fancy.

Year Fourteen

A lot happened in a year.  On our 14th anniversary we'd been living in Paris for four months, and Lua and Seth were visiting.  They oh, so kindly hung out with the kids for us, and we went to Five Guys and to a movie.  I don't remember what, but I feel like it had to be another Marvel movie, doesn't it?  It's just that time of year.  Yep, it was totally Black Panther.  We got caught in the rain walking back from the Metro and took this picture to document in the courtyard of our apartment.

Year Fifteen

Last year we started out dreaming big--fly to Venice for $50?, go see Hugh Jackman perform, dinner at the Greek restaurant in our town?--and ended up going to the mall, ordering iced coffee for me and chocolate chaud for him.  It felt right.

If you stuck with me for that marital history, you're a dear.  This is mainly for us to remember, and it was fun.  It's good being married to K.J. Pugh.  He loves me well, and I'm grateful.

How to Make a Proper Cup of Tea

Finishing the school year strongly feels like a mighty task this year, and Sarah Mackenzie at Read Aloud Revival put together a fantastic end-of-year offering to help:  six videos by authors teaching kids how to write in various formats.  Since I'm always wishing I still had teachers giving me writing assignments, I did the first project along with the kids:  writing creative nonfiction.  Children's author Miranda Paul instructed us to pick one cool fact that interested us, to ask some questions, and to present our cool fact and what we learned about it in a creative format.   

A couple of weeks ago I made a cup of tea for Noreen and she gave me the highest compliment by saying it was such a good cup, but of course, "you've lived in England," she said.  

When we first moved to North Yorkshire I was very intimidated to make tea for people, but I paid attention and learned a lot, and though how you make tea can be a matter of taste, and the English have strong opinions about it, I feel fairly confident in my basic tea-making abilities.

And now I will tell you how to make a proper cuppa in haiku form, per "my" writing assignment.

I've found British black tea to be much stronger than black tea I buy in America, so especially if you're adding milk, it comes out much better if you use British tea.  And thankfully British tea is pretty widely available in the U.S. now.  Yorkshire Tea is definitely worth searching out; it's strong, but I like my tea strong.

I'd heard that it was important to always begin with fresh water in the kettle, and I remember my mom saying even with making iced tea that the water shouldn't boil too long.  If it boils too long the water loses oxygen, and it will make your tea taste flat or bitter.  When Noreen makes tea for us, she turns off the kettle as soon as it begins rumbling good.

If you're making tea for one in a mug, black tea should steep for at least three minutes.  I prefer five, and if you're using American tea, it should definitely be five.

If you're having sugar, add that first so it can dissolve well, and then add milk to taste.  The above is a pretty good color to me.  But what if you're making a pot?  Well...

One thing I definitely didn't know before living in England was the practice--some might say the necessity--of warming the teapot before brewing the tea by adding warm or boiling water, swirling it around and then pouring it out.

The formula I learnt was to have one tea bag per person and "one for the pot." 

Now, go forth and make a good cup of tea!