The whole of July was pretty much about our holiday in America. The few days before we left were spent frantically researching where we were going, and the few days after were spent unpacking, washing, and trying to get over jet-lag. We had three weeks away and began in New York, getting the AmTrack train down to Washington DC, picking up a hire car and driving to New Orleans via Nashville and Memphis, and then following the coast East to Orlando to spend the last couple of days in Disney’s Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios. Wow! I’m exhausted just remembering it! We covered ten states of America (New York, New Jersey, District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.) Phew! ….
I’ll be writing about everything in more detail in future posts, so this is going to be a pretty short Monthly Memoir. Finding Dory is finally out in the UK! After failing to get into the preview screening at the Pilton Palais at Glastonbury Festival, we went to the cinema in a huge shopping mall in Nashville to watch it. Oh my goodness – bring tissues! Rain was crying pretty much the whole way through! It didn’t start well with the Pixar short film that was shown beforehand about a baby sea-bird. It was just about as much
Piper
cuteness as anyone could handle, and then we saw flashbacks to a baby Dory, which would bring tears to anyone’s eyes! The film is just as good as Finding Nemo and the story had just the right amount of originality whilst referencing and following on nicely from the first one. I definitely recommend going to see it – perfect for a rainy summer holiday day. Then if you can, take young ones to an aquarium to see the real thing. We went to an aquarium in New Orleans and the kids there were thrilled to see actual clown fish.
So now it’s back to work. I’ve come straight home to two custom-made costume orders ready for Halloween. Yes it’s early, but I’d rather start now than be working day and night at the beginning of October! I’ve also got less than two weeks until the New Forest Fairy Festival, so I have a fair bit of preparation for that as well. It looks like this is going to be Oshun’s only festival this year, so I’d like to make it the best possible. If you’re in the New Forest, Hampshire area on the 13th or 14th August, then I really recommend a visit. It’s £7 an adult and £3 for children, which is not bad for music all day on the main stage; more in the acoustic tent; circus skills, craft workshops, story telling and much more. It’s also fantastic fun! Come and say Hi if you’re going to be there. My stall is second on the right, facing the stage. All the stalls are selling their own hand-crafted items, and I’ve been interviewing some of the artists and crafters that are going to be there. It’s been very interesting hearing all about their businesses, so you might like to have a read of them.
I haven’t done any new You Tube videos this month, so here’s one from the New Forest Fairy Festival last year.
Highlights of the month:
* The scary car journey from JFK airport to the hotel, but seeing New York lit up at night and feeling like I was actually in a poster or posh wallpaper.
* Feeling magical at Foamhenge when the mist was rolling over the wildflower meadows and fireflies were dancing all around us.
*Listening to the beautiful country accents of Virginia and Tennessee that were so strong it sounded like they were making fun of themselves. I’ll never say ‘apple pie’ the way I used to ever again.
* Watching Chris wade into the ocean to join me and the kids even though he didn’t really want to. Then we just floated about in the warm water being relaxed and happy.
* Watching Rain and Jude jumping shadows on the moving walkway in a rare moment of sibling accord.
* The tingle when I heard the Harry Potter theme tune and looking around to find I’m actually standing in Diagon Alley.
Diagon Alley, Harry Potter World, Universal Studios
Things I’m grateful for this month:
* Money. It’s horrible and crass I know, but there’s no getting away from the fact that without it we wouldn’t be able to have such an interesting and exciting adventure. So thank you to Chris for working so hard entirely for us, and thank you to my customers who are willing to pay a bit more for hand-crafted clothing.
* Being lucky enough to live in a country that doesn’t have slums like the ones we saw in Memphis, and where shootings are a rarity, not a common occurrence, like in Washington DC.
* Liz and her family for looking after Loki, and Ashleigh for looking after the cats, so we could have a lovely holiday without having to worry about our beloved pets.
* Being able to spend real quality time with Chris, Rain and Jude, and despite living on top of each other in the car or tiny motel rooms, we made it through twenty-one days without arguing!
* Coming home to a lovely package of leather my friend Lorraine had kindly left for me to get crafty with!
* Being lucky enough to live in beautiful countryside so as I write this at 4:30am as my body doesn’t realise it should be asleep; I can look outside and see a pair of red deer chilling in the field.
Have you got any adventures planned for the summer?
