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We spent last week on holiday in Exmoor, a national park located in the south west of England. Exmoor is on the smaller side (267 square miles) and its landscape is a mixture of open moors, woodland, river valleys, and rocky coastline. It's pretty sparsely populated; villages are small, few and far between. It's very green, very hilly, mostly populated by livestock, and generally skipped over by American tourists.  We rented a house for six nights with Richard's colleague, Simon, and his 10-year-old daughter Tia. We stayed in Oare, which is listed as a village, but is really a church surrounded by two or three houses. You can see a photo of our house below.  The Victorian novel (now slightly outmoded)  Lorna Doone  is set in Oare and the surrounding countryside. My bad photo does not do it justice; it really is gorgeous.  This part of England tends to be cool and wet; highs in the summer are only in the mid-60s (Fahrenheit, of course; I've never ...
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We did an interview with Emma on what it's like to learn at home during the Covid-19 pandemic. This was for a school project on the history of education in the U.K. The assignment was to to "imagine a museum in the future about the history of education. Make a collection of objects, pictures, photos, letters, videos etc. that would show people in the future what education was like in 2020." This was our contribution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39WkPX5-guA&feature=youtu.be
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Today the government announced that as of July 4th the UK will relax its lockdown rules. That means that in a mere 11 days pubs, restaurants, cinemas, hotels, hair salons, libraries, museums, and theme parks all will be open for business. Social distancing will also ease up, as the standard 2-meter rule will be dropped in favor of a "1-meter-plus" approach. It's tough to tell exactly what this means. The gist of it is that we should stay 2 meters apart if we can, but if that's not possible we can be 1 meter apart. Or something like that. It's clear as mud. Like everything that comes out of Boris Johnson's mouth. We will only have a few weeks to enjoy the opening up of the U.K., but even so I'm grateful that we will be able to go to a pub, see friends, and visit a museum or even an amusement park before we return home to the U.S. Things have already been changing here in Cambridge. As of last Monday bookstores are open, as are a few stores on the High S...
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It's been awhile since I posted. We are pretty exhausted, not only with lockdown (we are now in Week 13) but with the news from the United States. Like anyone with a beating heart and a working brain, I watched the recording of George Floyd's murder with a mixture of outrage and disbelief. Trump's response (or lack thereof) to the events that followed has made things worse, and has highlighted what a grossly incompetent, morally weak leader he is. The co-founder of Black Lives Matter called him "a destroyer" -- a very apt moniker, in my humble opinion. Let's hope all of this costs him the election in November. Closer to home the UK government has scrapped its plans for all primary school children to return to school before the summer holiday. This means, of course, that Emma won't be able to see her classroom again. She won't be able to say goodbye, in person, to her friends and her teacher. She won't be able to have her birthday in school, as...
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The roses have been unbelievably gorgeous this spring. They have really made my life a little bit happier. So today I am just going to post some photos I've taken over the past few weeks. Enjoy. 
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The summer half-term holiday is this week, which means no school for Emma. As with the last holiday, however, we are continuing to do some schoolwork, as it helps us to structure out days. Today was the exception to the rule, however, as we decided to take a walk in Chipping Campden, one of the beautiful market towns in the Cotswolds. This required a four-hour round trip drive (unlike Dominic Cummings, we were well within or rights to make it). We really wanted Emma to see -- and walk in -- this iconic, and very beautiful, part of England. Truth be told Cambridgeshire is not the prettiest county; it is very flat and, aside from Cambridge itself, it's a little bit dull. So it was nice to drive to a part of England that was hilly and to get a change of scenery! We have found that these day-long excursions have become very meaningful to all three of us. And Richard and I are heartened that Emma seems to enjoy them as much as we do. We ate lunch sitting on this bench (below)...
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The three of us played hooky yesterday and drove an hour-and-a-half to the village of Great Missenden, where Roald Dahl lived, worked, and is buried. I'd taken several walks there in the past and knew it to be a lovely area for walks. It's in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (yes, that's an official term) that is northwest of London.  It was unseasonably warm yesterday -- almost 80 F -- and very sunny. We packed a lunch and had a great day out. We find that getting out of Cambridge and into the countryside is very good for our collective mental health. Emma is getting better at walking. We did about 4 miles yesterday, having walked 4.5 miles this past weekend.  She was tired, but uncomplaining. In other news, the roses that cover the front of our house are blooming. The flowers completely cover Emma's window! There is also a bird nesting above our door. I think it's a wood pigeon. I don't hear any baby b...
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