Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006
I do not consider myself a good traveler, I have difficulty getting comfortable – no matter the class/seat – although first or business is quite better. I just do not enjoy breakfast at quarter to midnight, especially when dinner was served three or so hours before. Flying does give me a chance to catch up on movies however, as I seldom watch them at home. I would recommend “Strange Bedfellows”, tonight’s choice, it was benign but amusing.
I cannot, however, complain about the full moon on the right side of the plane as we fly into the sunrise, it looks as if the moon is sitting on top of a rainbow. It is 25 after midnight, Chicago time (we departed from Chicago), which is 6:25 a.m. over Ireland, which is where we are presently. Easter breakfast consisted of a cheese omelet with turkey sausage. I don’t know who had the bright idea to make sausage out of a turkey but, in my opinion, it was not a good idea. Perhaps it was the same creator of last night’s cilantro mashed potatoes; cilantro should be served with tilapia, only. To you devotees of cilantro and tilapia, my apologies but really, who ever heard of either one four years ago? I think they are made up foods; no point in trying to convince me otherwise and don’t even try or I will tell you what they say about tilapia in Panama. But that’s another story.
As is often the case, there is a complete cloud cover which has the effect of making me feel like I am in a big baggie of cotton balls. I would like to see Ireland to know if it is bright green as it is in the photos. Actually I would like to go to Ireland, but that is a journey for another time as well.
This morning we will arrive at the boat, which has been moved to Bourne End Marina, and have to wait until the office opens to get the key to open the wheelhouse. That is IF the office is open on Easter, which it should be, but stay tuned, one never knows. Bourne End does not have the charm of Wootten’s Holler Aqua Center but it does have a train, and a small grocery store, and other boats, and people peering in the windows whenever they feel like it. For this reason alone, I simply do not comb my hair or change out of my pajamas until late in the morning. There has to be some compensation for the eccentricity of living on a boat. I bought a stuffed bunny and tucked half a dozen candy bars into my bag so I can create an “Easter (non)- egg hunt” for Dave. The river is full of swans and ducks so there is some atmosphere for the occasion. Easter dinner may well consist of ham sandwiches, but who cares? This will be Dave’s first holiday on his long awaited boat, and that, in and of itself, is cause for celebration.
I love looking out the window of an airplane and seeing how the land is configured. Here, as at home, one can see the cities, and the towns, and the fields and countryside. Earlier today, I was amazed at the amount of baseball fields I saw as we approached Chicago. Here I am mesmerized by the country estates – big houses seemingly isolated by agricultural fields. Here the fields are not as rectangular as they look in most of the US from the air, and I wonder how the shape of the fields is chosen when they are tilled and planted. They are often bordered by rows of hedges or trees. Sometimes there is the odd patch of a few trees right smack in the middle of a field. Dawn told me these may be burial grounds which cannot be disrupted.
We are circling, waiting for the opportunity to land at Heathrow. As we descend through the clouds, the shadow of the plane travels right beside us in the early morning light. There are layers of clouds and it feels like being in a cloud sandwich (this is what happens when you eat breakfast @ midnight but it is really morning).
Easter Dinner: 8 p.m. (GMT)
Easter dinner consisted of potato salad, deviled eggs and bacon. It was very good, along with the beautiful sunset over the Thames. The boat is facing west so we have a grand view of the multi-hued sky and reflections over the water. A swan came by for some bread, a full grown, white swan, not my emerging baby from down the river at the Holler. I am hoping, since he was kicked out of the “nest” while we were there, that he might appear up here. I was hopeful for a minute, that this one might be he, but the markings on the beak are different. This one is a young adult also, since there is no Queen’s tag on him yet.
Easter Monday:
Today is a holiday in the UK. There are no school children being ferried across the river by their mothers to go to school. There are only a few people walking along the river path, but there are two ducks of some odd sort, doing a courting dance on the water. They have little combs on the tops of their heads and they are stretching their necks and flapping their combs at each other as they flow backwards with the movement of the water. The swan is floating lazily by, looking for some more bread, his wings are fluffed up, which adds to his majesty. Every one here feeds the swans and ducks so they are quite used to being fed. I find that if you hand them food just out of their easy reach, so they have to stretch their necks to get it, that they will take it quite nicely because they can’t extend any further to snap at your fingers.
The sky is clear to the west but there is a cloud cover to the east and the sun is just peeking through and illuminating the water beyond. The river bank is dotted with boats and beds of tulips in bloom, and weeping willows whose graceful branches reach for the water but don’t quite touch. The colors of the reflections on the water are abundant, blue and green boat covers; red, green, white, or black boat hulls. Pink flowers, the bright spring green of the willows on the dark green waters surface, under the blue sky light cast by the sun.
This river reminds me of our Chesapeake Bay. It is integral to life here but I often wonder how many people who live nearby are aware of how full of life this river really is. There are all the boats, of course, and many people live on them full time. There is the Thames path, which the people here walk all the time and use to exercise not only themselves but also all manner of dogs. There are the rowers, who are constantly on the water in all weather, some with coaches, some in single boats, some in teams. Perhaps they are practicing for Henley, which is held nearby. On the weekends there are sailboats, racing, or just out for their own pleasure. The river here is only about 200 feet wide, you can easily shout across.