Corny Holidays

Brits do their holidays one of two ways: the find a place inside their country that might get some sun, or they go to a place in Spain or Italy that definitely gets some sun. We opted for the former and went to Cornwall, the part of England that's on the far southwestern side.

Cornwall's interesting because it's half remote farming and artistic community, half major tourist destination so it's clean enough to be comfortable and authentic enough so that you don't feel like you're being ripped off for your overpriced food and drink. The weather was decent for a couple of days and great for a couple of days, so we got some good beach time in and did some hiking around the area. It was one of those 'let's not have a plan' vacations, intended to make us forget about our jobs and get us the heck out of London. Success on both counts.

Also, we went to a castle that is only accessible by foot at low tide. How cool is that?

If you're interested, there are pictures on my Flickr stream.

OK, now for the news update-there is no news in Conifer to report at the moment! The kids are all enjoying there time off from school. Ben and I have gone to a local lake(o.k., no laughing from the folks back East) a few times to crawdad fish and swim. Mike has been on the road a lot, and is ready for a break. Our big project for the summer is going to be fixing the septic tank-yuk!
Oh, yes, for those of you wondering where Who's your Baba? came from-I saw it on a t-shirt at Beirut Restaurant in Toledo. TTFN! Terri

Hi Everybody!
Happy 4th of July and hope you all have a great day.
Love, Terri

Happy Solstice

Elizabeth and I took a trip to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice last night. It's one of the four days a year (solstices and equinoxes) when you're allowed to walk around and touch the stones. Very fun. Pictures on my Flickr stream.

Ragweed I is aka Aunt Patt

Another generation heard from. Don't have a lot to share as I drown in a sea of paperwork. Am happy to report though that I will be going to Denver to see my sister, Hagbag I, in July. They promised me no snow...but also no beach. Love to all, Ragweed I

Greetings from Ohio!

Hey you did it. Thanks for setting up the blog for the family.

I really want to see what is going on in the family. When everyone came out here for the funeral there just wasn't enough time to see what each of your families were up to.

This is short. I am off to the office/den to finish my research exam. More to come...

Hope the trip back home was good for everyone.

Hugs,

Terri Camp
(Nick, Molly and Alexa say hello too.)

London Crew Reporting In

Summertime. That glorious season when the Earth passes too close to the sun and causes the day to start at 5AM. Like today for instance when the gorgeous sunlight broke through my morning window at 5:10 and my body, traitor that it is, embraced millions of years of evolutionary biology rather than my earnest and rational desire for two more hours of sleep and say "HEY LAZY, GET OUT OF BED!"

So what better way to spend my morning than listening to London wake up and make a new post on the family blog?

SHAMELESS PLUG
Since I'm not sure if everyone who reads this knows, I've been recounting my adventures living abroad on one of my other blogs, A Yankee In London. Clever name, huh? So click on through if you'd like the update.

London has been good to us. The proximity of interesting places to visit helps travel and there's always something to do here as well. Looking out of the windows of my flat, I can see double-decker busses, the back of a pub, a busy street, Paul McCartney and Austin Powers. So pretty much everything 'London' is all right here. Pretty exciting!

The other bad part of getting up so early is that I can't run the coffee grinder until Elizabeth is up. Unlike me, she can sleep well into the morning. I think I may go find some coffee. Too bad there aren't any Starbucks around (the nearest one is 1.43 miles away, a bit far to walk just for coffee). Was that American of me to say?

My First Blog Post -- Ever

Thanks, Hagbag II, for getting this started. This should be a good way to stay in touch.

Jim and I had a unique experience at 1 AM this morning. We needed to take "shelter" in our half bath because the tornado sirens were blasting away. Fortunately nothing happened and the bonding time we had with the cat and dog, who were in a state of confusion, was brief. Let's hope it's a long, l-o-n-g time before we need to share such togetherness again.

There, I did it! My first ever blog post. Thanks for the gentle nudge, Jason. ;)

Family blog

Hi everybody!
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine suggested a family blog as a way to stay in touch . After seeing everyone in Toledo this week, I realized that far too much time had passed and the kids had grown too much since we had all been together. I'm hoping this will be a way to keep in touch-just add a line or post a picture when you have time to let everyone know how you're doing. Let's keep it fun and totally based on whatever you have time to do(or not to do).
Love to you all!