a couple more pictures

Hi guys,

One big selling point (or renting point, I suppose) for picking our house is the view we get when we step out our front door, or look out our bedroom window. The top picture is from standing on the sidewalk outside the door, and the bottom one is from our window on the top floor.

Obviously, our tiny camera (and incompetent operator) doesn't do the view justice, so maybe you will just have to come out and see it for yourselves. It's a 10-15 minute walk from our house down to the cathedral and surrounding shops and pubs, so if you ever come visit us, (maybe by winning the car naming contest...) there's a lot of stuff to do within walking distance. We also have long skateboards, so if you come on a rare day with dry pavement we could skate down and cut our travel time in half.

Later Skaters, and happy Thanksgiving!

Micah

Is it time for Christmas music yet?

Okay, I know that Thanksgiving is not quite here but I already feel like getting in the Christmas spirit. It snowed on Sunday which really put my Christmas spirit in overdrive. And since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving over here every one is already in the Christmas mindset. So as I blog to you this morning my Yankee Home Sweet Home is burning (smells spectacular!!) and I am listening to Mariah Carey's Christmas album. Micah is in love with this album:). I see that some of you have music playing on your blogs. I should get in touch with my blogging expert and see if she can hook me up with some Christmas carols. What do you think Tanya?? Even though no Christmas decorations will go up this year it still feels Christmasy around here. I am going to need to take a break from some of my Christmas spirit today and focus on my Thanksgiving meal. I love to cook...but cooking Thanksgiving dinner for two is kind of difficult. Any way you look at it we are going to have a LOAD of leftovers in the end. I was informed by my husband that he doesn't care what we have, as long as it includes mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and corn. For someone who doesn't care doesn't it sound like he has quite a few opinions??? Well as nice of a distraction as blogging is, my laundry won't fold itself and my bed won't magically be made....although wouldn't it be nice if they would??

Pictures anyone?

You asked for it...slowly but surely I have come through. Now bear with me because the house isn't quite together. I took a few pictures for you though. The first one is obviously the outside. Micah took this picture this morning in the bitter cold after his run. You know it snowed here yesterday. Anyways, here it is.

And here is our dining room and kitchen. They are both on the first floor. When you come into the dining room is to the right and the kitchen is just beyond. The laundry/utility room is down here too but much to messy and you don't really need to see that:).

And here are some pictures from the second floor. The first guest room is pretty much ready to go, so anyone looking to come for a visit we have a room all ready. Our family room is also on that floor. Take note of the light fixtures...Aren't they great? They are a big part of the reason I wanted the house. Only these two rooms have them. We have a third room on this floor, a much bigger guest room but it is not quite ready.

And of course, me hard at work unpacking.

Hi everyone! I know it has been way too long since the last post. Life has been beyond crazy for us. My house is finally starting to look like a house and that makes me feel so good. We still don't have anything on the walls but that will come. Since Micah and I aren't supposed to put anything on the walls we need to call Noel, our wonderful landlord, and he has to come and do it. I don't really want to put him out too much so my goal is to know where I want everything before he gets here. If you all don't know this about me, I have a problem with commitment. Even committing to where I hang pictures on walls. I like to hang it and look at it for a few days to see if I will like it or not. Unfortunately that doesn't work too well here. You want to know something else about our house? Well, I was so excited because I have a double oven and I have always wanted that. I went to put a cookie sheet in it today and I learned that a sheet will not fit in either oven. Things are so different here.
My favorite holiday is just around that corner and they don't even celebrate it here. All of November and December are devoted to Christmas, no Thanksgiving. We won't even have a church service to go to. Since it will be just the two of us I think we are going to bypass the turkey this year and do Cornish game hens. I have never done that before and I am looking forward to the change.
Well that is what is new in the life of the Vander Veens. Sorry it is kind of boring. Pictures will come soon. Maybe tomorrow...

Hi guys, Micah here. Read Jennie's post first, it is the more exciting one below here with pictures. If you want to read more about draining the Fens (shallow water surrounding Ely, etc.) read this little story. http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/cambridgeshire/fens.htm Notice some of the dates, as well as the fact that they needed to bring in the Dutch in order to get the job done properly. If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much!
Jennie and I also went to a fireworks display last night in Ely. It was either to celebrate Oliver Cromwell, Guy Fawkes, or Remembrance Day. Either, way, it far exceeded our expectations. Not only were the fireworks quite good, like on par with the Sumas 4th of July extravaganza, but we were also probably about 50 yards from the launch area so the blew up right over our heads. Luckily the prevailing wind blew the fallout away from the crowd. But the most impressive thing is that rather than having them on timers, the fireworks were lit by a pair of psychotic guys in orange coveralls with hard hats and, of course, safety goggles. The fuses were very short, and I was more entertained watching these guys almost blow their hands off than watching the fireworks go off overhead. In any event, it was a memorable night.

Micah and I spent part of our Saturday exploring our new town, Ely. Ely is known for one thing and that is it's cathedral. Years ago Ely was surrounded by water and this amazing cathedral was the center of it all. It must have been an amazing site. Eventually the Dutch I believe came in and drained all the land around Ely so now it has some pretty good farm land. But the first few pictures here are of the cathedral. We went into town yesterday and went to the open market which they have every Thursday and Saturday. I wanted some fresh asparagus but no one had any. The reason we go to the market is so we can get fresh produce. When we buy produce on base it is first shipped from the states to Germany and then to us, so it is not the freshest.

There is also a little cemetery in one of the lawns outside of it that I thought was kind of interesting. There seems to be little cemeteries just like this one all over East Anglia ( the region of England we live in). Now keep in mind that these two pictures of the cathedral are two very small parts of the whole thing. I just couldn't get back far enough to take a picture of the whole thing. As I drive home from base I can see the whole thing and I tried to take a picture the other day but it did not turn out. I am starting a photography class the first week of December and hopefully I will be able to take better pictures for you all.

The last two photos are of a cathedral in Cambridge. Micah and I went into Cambridge last night to get him a nice wool coat (which yes, he looks amazing in) and some new clothes so he will look a little more British. He is quite the British guy now, very dashing. So we had to park on top of the parking center and I thought we had a pretty good view of this cathedral.

Horray for me!

You should all be very proud of me. For the first time I changed the background of my blog all on my own. Usually my blog expert Tanya does all the work. For those of you who enjoy the world clock you will have to wait for Tanya on that one because I somehow messed it up and cannot fix it. Micah is out flying tonight so I am all alone for the first time since we got here. I really don't mind being on my own. I am so happy for Micah because I know that he is having a lot of fun right now. I am so thankful that he has a job that makes him happy. I think it is rare for a person to have a job that the really enjoy. Anyways...I made my way to base to pass the time. It is now pitch black outside and only 5:00. It has been dark for a while now. Even though most of my days are spent in the dark now I cannot complain. Fall is the most wonderful time of year. I could write a book on how much I love fall. For one thing, I get to wear a lot of layers. My motto is, "the more clothes I can wear, the better". In addition to layers I can wear vests and coats and sweaters...the list could really go on and on. The point is, you should all take some time to enjoy the season because soon it is winter and the beautiful fall is gone.