A White (Day After) Christmas

Yesterday evening it snowed here in England! This was one of our family's hopes when we came here, because we never get any in Florida. When we found out that it would probably snow, we waited outside for the first flakes to begin to fall, and were glad that it continued to snow until there was a good four inches of snow on the ground.  

The snowscape outside our window.

We immediately began to play in the snow. We soon realized that cotton gloves and socks were not ideal for snowball fights, building snowmen, or even just walking through the snow. Our fingers and toes would freeze within the first sixty seconds. Fortunately, Mom and Dad had brought extra socks and gloves more suitable for the weather, and so we mostly just borrowed theirs and went outside again.     
We also learned the reason for snow pants, rather than just wearing jeans in the snow. If your jeans just as much as touch the snow, your jeans will become soaked, and your legs cold. Unfortunately we had brought no replacement for those, so we just had to bear it.  

Appreciating the first flakes of snow (mixed with rain droplets--no wonder the kids were wet and cold!)

Today, we went to the park to go sledding. We had no sleds, but we decided a few cookie sheets would do, right? Wrong! We tried to slide down the hill, but no matter what we tried we would just sink into the snow. Not even Brad could go anywhere, even when distributing his weight upon two of them. I guess we will have to find a better replacement so we can sled another time. 

Allison riding a cookie sheet down the driveway.

When it came to shoveling away the snow, we realized that we had nothing to do it with as well. Or did we? It turns out, even though cookie sheets do not make the best sleds, they make decent snow-shovels. In no time, we were shoveling away our driveway with them, so that if we wanted to, we could go somewhere. 

Shoveling the walk with a cookie sheet.

I used two think that snow would be so fun that I could never get tired of it, but even after the first day, I saw the nuisance it could cause. It made it harder to go places, we had to shovel it away, and hardest of all, we had to keep it outside. It definitely gives me a greater appreciation for the all-year warmth in Florida.  

An English Christmas

Christmas dinner with everyone's Christmas cracker surprises (crowns, whistles, and jokes).

We have loved our Christmas in England from musical concerts, carol services, and Christmas jumpers (sweaters) to the Queen's speech, Christmas dinner, Christmas flu, and Christmas crackers.  OK, so we weren't quite so pleased about the Christmas flu, but that isn't exactly an English novelty anyway.

We (especially Rachel) have been thrilled by the many musical events at the Christmas season.  There are many community musical performances for the season.  We enjoyed hearing St. Martin's in the Fields rehearse for the Bach Oratorio and attending a brass/choir concert at the Sheffield cathedral.  We also had the chance to participate in the church Carol service on Sunday night.  In fact, six of the Cranes were in the choir while Jeremy also performed in the string quartet and Allison did a trombone/trumpet duet.  Brad did a fabulous job as 'Joseph' in the nativity  including a duet with Mary.  

Here's the cast from the Church nativity pageant.  Brad is the second from the right on the first row.  Janean is the smiling brunette on the back row.

Some of the other local traditions are more fun than heavenly. For example, everyone seems to have their special "Christmas Jumper" the English term for a sweater.  And these sweaters are not just for hiding presents under in the back of the closet.  They wear them to the store, to work, and to the cinema (theater).  There is nothing subtle about most of the sweaters (see picture below.)

Real life example of a Christmas Jumper.

Christmas day has its own special English traditions.  At 3 PM on Christmas day, the Queen gives a speech that everyone listens to.  The speech is positive and perfect length for Brad's attention span.   In a remarkable evidence of English self-control, one family we know waits to open their presents until after the speech.  A highlight for many families is the Christmas dinner--usually a turkey with the trimmings.  Mince pies are traditional dessert along with Christmas pudding--an English cousin to the fruitcake.  Before all these tasty goodies can be consumed, everyone opens their Christmas crackers which pop open to reveal Christmas surprises. 

Watching the Queen's speech on Christmas afternoon.

The Christmas cultural exchange went two directions as we also shared the Crane gingerbread house tradition with some of our dear friends here.  Along the way, we learned that there is a big difference between light and dark molasses (called treacle here).  The only thing that could improve our Christmas experience would be to transport more of our family and friends here with us (and maybe a pass on that Christmas flu).

Decorating gingerbread houses with the Swift family.

London through the eyes of a 7 year old

By Brad Crane age 7                                                                                                    

London is a good place because it is filled with all its beauty.  One of my favorite places is the London Eye. It was on a lake. (Actually on the Thames River, Mommy adds.) It is really tall.  I also saw Big Ben. Big Ben is a clock.  We went on a tour bus. The bus is really long. I love the tour bus. There was head phones. The headphones are too big. So I just looked out the window. I liked the window. But there was no window because I was on a double-decker bus and I was on top. I was cold! I liked it. I recommend London to you. Those of you that are reading this I would like to say I miss you. I hope you will enjoy the rest of the blog….

One of my only wishes is that you could come to England with me. London is one of my favorite places I’ve gone while I was here. We went across the really cool Tower Bridge. The London Bridge is boring!

Across the Thames from Parliament.

Here we are enjoying the warmth.

All smiles as we give our feet a rest to ride an open-top doublee decker bus around London.

As a lover of amusement parks and rides, this was Brad's favorite attraction.

Note from the editor:

Yes, it has been a while since we have updated our blog and this is actually almost two months old.  I guess life responsibilities caught up with us even across the pond.  Our wonderful time here is rapidly coming to an end.  It is hard to believe that 4+ months have passed so quickly.

Mountain Train and Other Adventures in Wales

By Brad Crane (age 7)

The post author riding the train to the top of Mount Snowdon in North Wales.

I went on a mountain train up to the top of Mount Snowdon. The mountain train was very slow but quite fun. There were really pretty views and the track was very windy. The train went up forwards and down backwards. It wasn’t that steep at all. The row In front of you has to put their feet by you because they would slip off their seat. We saw two waterfalls—big waterfalls. There was a hiking path right next to the rail. We saw a lot of people on that trail. Then there was a stream in between the mountains. 

Mountain Views on the train to the peak of Mount Snowdon. All this variety and beauty and no geologist handy to tell us all about it.  Where is a geologist when you need one?

After time to time we have to stop at a passpoint so the other train can go by. There was a big cliff on one side and another cliff on the other side at the start. When we were about to get to the top of the mountain, I was cold because the windows were open. It was a beautiful journey too. When we were pulling into the station, and getting out, it was a little cold, so I decided to put on my parka.

When I got to the top there was a spiral staircase and I was up there in the sky.  And there I was on top of the world. Then I went down into a crater thing. It was steep. I had to climb down it. We had Welsh cakes—that’s what they were called. It was really rocky up there. We took a couple pictures up there. It looked like the hikers thought it was a big accomplishment. I myself would think that Mount Everest was a big accomplishment.

Brad and Jeremy on top of the World (or at least Wales)!

The view from the top of Mount Snowdon

 It was really high and I was warm because I had my parka on now. It was time to get back on the train and start going backwards. I got into the train and started waiting for a few seconds before it started. They didn’t check tickets on the way down so the hikers could just get in if they were too tired. On the way down, I felt like I was falling backward. There was a guy next to us who wasn’t Welsh who we talked to. By the way, we’re in Wales right now. On our way down, me and Jeremy were arguing about sitting next to each other so I just sat on the other side of the bench .We enjoyed going down because we had the windows closed, finally .While we were going down, we saw the two waterfalls again. Then we just pulled into the station. Then we started to walk to the car. It was a really short walk. Then we got in the car and started driving to the Irish Sea. 

At the Irish Sea, we found lots of pretty rocks and I made a big block of sand. We picked up little rocks and threw them at the big field of rocks to see how much they bounced. It was really cool. Then we decided to hike up a big hill. At the top we could see Ireland. Me and Jeremy went to tell Sarah that we could see it, but we both slipped because it was steep and very wet. And then Dad decided for us to take the main trail. It was fun going down because we had a race. We had to dodge all the people who were hiking up too. 

The sky, earth, and sea meet on the Welsh shore.

Walking on water (almost) on the edge of the Irish Sea.  I think that something about the scarves on the beach suggests we aren't in Florida.

Exploring the rocks along the beach.

After the Irish Sea, we went to the longest town name in the world. It was called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogogoch. (My Dad helped me write the name.)  It has a very silly name. But it makes sense in Welsh language.  (Dad:  It means "The Church of Mary in the Hollow of the White Hazel Near the Fierce Whirlpool and the Church of Tysilio by the Red Cave.") Then we went to dinner. I had nuggets and ketchup and fries and peas. Then we drove home.  It was a very tiring day. Daddy and Jeremy were playing a game with the temperature. Daddy won because the temperature kept getting colder and Daddy was voting for cold. It got to be 42 degrees. While we were going home, the moon got very very bright. When we got home, everybody was supposed to carry everything in from the car but they didn’t--not quite everything. And then, Dad was trying to get everyone in bed. We all went to bed. It was a very great day.

Here is an old railway station in Llanfairpwllgw.....See below for a closeup of the full name.

Here is a closeup of the full name of the town.  Imagine that spelling test . . .

 Everybody was really tired and definitely not ready for Sunday. I was especially very late for Sunday. I wanted to sleep in and eat breakfast. I refused to take a shower I just really wanted to take a bath. At church me and Elliott played. It was very fun, except for going home because the moon isn't that cool. I like this day because it was very fun and great.

To Scotland and Back

By Jeremy Crane

My turn again! I get to write another post! What did we do recently... Well, we went to England, but I am pretty sure our blog has that covered. In that case, I guess I will write about our trip to the land of the Scots a few weeks ago. It was the moment we all were waiting for. We were finally leaving on the long-awaited trip (it was postponed 2 or 3 weeks) to the home of the bagpipes, kilts, tartan hats, and very small scoops of ice cream. We went to Edinburgh for just 2 days and a night.

Have minivan, will travel.  Given the smiles, either the trip is just starting or they think that there is some ice cream nearby.

 First we stormed Edinburgh Castle. It wasn’t easy, to get through the active military units still stationed there. After we made it in, we saw a lot of old musty stuff including where King James I of England was born, (maybe you’ve heard of him). Well he must not have been very important because the room he was born in is smaller than my bathroom. All he did was order the translation of a book called The Holy Bible. We saw the Scottish Crown Jewels, plus the stone that the first King of Scotland was crowned on top of. There was also a dog cemetery for the soldier’s dogs at the castle. Those soldiers sure must have loved their dogs.

Jeremy and Allison storming Edinburgh castle. 

Allison enjoying the view from the castle wall.

Afterwards, we went browsing through some shops. An hour or two later, we ended up with Scotland or Edinburgh sweaters for all of us but Brad, who got a pair of bagpipes for 15 pounds. Let’s just say that when we bought those bagpipes, we got what we paid for. They might not look too bad to the eyes, but those “bagpipes” are definitely not sweet to the hearing. Well, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that they weren’t quite as good as the 150 pound ones. By far, the best souvenir though was my tartan hat. Tartan hats are so cool. I would wear mine 24/7 if it didn’t make my head sweaty.  

We then thoroughly scoured the Scottish history section of the National Museum of Scotland. At least as thoroughly as you can search 6 floors in an hour. My favorite part was the witch torture devices, featuring the thumbscrews, which crushed the bones in your thumbs. Lovely! Well, unless those thumbs are mine.

Remnants of John Knox's house are still visible.  It is one of the oldest houses in Edinburgh.

The next day we saw the National Childhood Museum of Scotland. It was pretty much the home of a bunch of creepy dolls, old fashioned toys, and lots of manikins. We also went to another museum that will remain unnamed, because we forgot its name. It is not because I forgot, it’s because my parents forgot. They are very forgetful. So whatever the museum was called, it showed a lot of wax figures that depicted Scottish life throughout the ages. It was very interesting and detailed.

Then we went to get ice cream. The proportions were tiny. In fact, as Shakespeare would have put it, there was “not so much [ice cream]… as earwax” We definitely didn't get much, but what we did get was good. We also saw the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first few books of Harry Potter. Apparently, my dad had seen it earlier but had not made it known. If we had not come across it again by chance our family might just have led a revolt against him. Well, I guess he got lucky.

Exploring the cemetery where Adam Smith was buried.

As we left Edinburgh, we started noticing many signs saying "Yes!" or "No!" for the Scottish Independence Referendum. There were also cool slogans like "Proud to be Scots, Delighted to be United." Even though "No!" had a better slogan, I was leaning toward "Yes!" because Scotland becoming independent would be awesome. Unfortunately, (spoiler alert) "No!" won. :(    

On the way back, we took the back roads so we could see Hadrian’s Wall. Hadrian’s Wall was cool, because it was built by Roman Emperor Hadrian 2000 years ago, but the best part was the countryside scenery. We so lots of rabbits, and some sheep. Thousands of sheep, that is. Out of all of those sheep, only a handful of them stuck out. That was because they were crowd surfing. One of the sheep had literally climbed on top of cluster of them and was walking around. Well I have seen stranger things. For an example, like the time when... uh, when, um… Well maybe not. We ended the evening by going to an Inn for tea (dinner for you Americans), and I got a fish pie that was really hot but was still good. The trip was a success and was definitely worth the 10 hour round trip. After all, I DID get a tartan hat! 

The author's tartan cap on display.  A section of Hadrian's wall is visible in the background.

Walking a section of Hadiran's Wall

Castle Adventures

By Allison Crane

In our ‘various excursions’ around Great Britain, we have seen a total of 3 castles and one, ah, not-so-castle. I believe Janean elaborated on the, um, latter so I will focus on the other three.

The first real castle that we visited was Alnwick Castle. The castles that we visited were all either a fortress, a home, or of an amusement park style. This castle, however, was a sort of mix of all three. It had defense and protection enough to be called a fortress, inhabitants (some Duke and Duchess whose names I didn’t bother to memorize) that made it a home, and some activities that definitely made it ‘amusing.’



Mom demonstrating technique on broom mounting.

Alnwick castle, as it was the home to some of the Harry Potter filming, (including the  flying lessons in the first movie), had broomstick flying lessons as an activity on the lawns. The ‘lessons’ consisted of learning how to ‘warm up’ your magic, mount, make broomstick engine noises (such as yipeeee! vroooom! or choo choo!) and play red light green light on a broom. In describing it just like that, it sounds quite boring, although in truth it was more hilarious and, at times, extremely embarrassing instead. The director of this activity, named Professor Bottomly, was both funny and a retired military officer. So, he had quite an enjoyable time making people do ridiculous things over and over because they either came late or were losing at red light green light. Unfortunately, that was commonly unlucky members of our family, namely me and my mom.



Hey look! Jeremy finally got the hang of it!

While we were at Alnwick castle, we also visited the stunning Alnwick Gardens, went on an Harry Potter themed tour of the place, and toured the state rooms. Overall, we had a very enjoyable time there.



Here I am inside the outer walls of Edinburgh Castle.

The next castle that we visited was in Edinburgh, Scotland and, coincidentally, was named Edinburgh castle. It was in more of the fortress category, for after going there I have learned that it is not a castle that I would like to attack any time soon. Or be imprisoned in. Or do anything other than have a tour of it, for that matter. It was a remarkable castle; with massive cannons on the battlements, a weird dog cemetery, gloomy dungeons, great hall with armor and weapons on the walls, and Scottish crowned jewels in the towers.



The most recent castle, that we visited fell most under the amusement category.  The castle, that is, Warick Castle, had a wide variety of shows, including falconry, trebuchet firing demonstrations, archery firing/educating, intriguing displays, and interactives.

Family photo in front of Warick Castle



 My favorite of those was most likely the falconry, although there was not a single falcon involved in the entire show. What would make it my favorite if there weren’t any falcons? Well, they did have eagles, buzzards, sea eagles, and vultures; all with at least 6 feet wingspans...which kind of made up for it. All of the birds were enormous and they included the Bald Eagle, which was small in comparison to some of the other huge birds of prey. (If I remembered some of their names it would be really helpful right now). Their size definitely was noticeable, considering that they swooped right above our heads, flying between a perch on the castle wall to the trainer. It was spectacular, if not scary.



From J.K. Rowling to Shakespeare

By Sarah Crane

It seems as though everywhere we’ve been we have stumbled across places where some of the greatest books have been born. From the cafes and cemeteries of Edinburgh to under the trees in Avebury, authors have found inspiration for their books.




In search of Ebenezer Scrooge 

When we were in Edinburgh a kind gentleman at a museum told us a story about a cemetery across the street. He told us that Charles Dickens came to that cemetery, Canongate Kirk Graveyard, and saw a tombstone that he thought read, “Ebenezer Scrooge, A Mean Man”, (really it said Ebenezer Scroggie, Meal Man) and this really made him think and wonder how this man must have lived in order to have people write that he was a mean man on his tombstone.  And so the story of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” was born.

Later that same day in Edinburgh, we decided we wanted to find a good place to get some ice cream. While we were walking down the streets towards the ice cream place, I noticed my dad had been hanging behind the rest of us and he appeared to have stopped to look at something. Curious, I walked back to where he was and realized we had just passed the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first few Harry Potter books! Who knew that we would find “the birthplace of Harry Potter” on the way to getting ice cream! (Moral of the story is, ALWAYS get ice cream)



Janean walking on the walking trees

A few weeks later, we went to Avebury with my Crane grandparents who came to visit us from Texas. Avebury is the largest stone circle in all of Europe (even bigger than Stonehenge). So we were just walking along the paths seeing all these big rocks that had been there for thousands of years, and we saw this really cool looking tree. We stopped to take a closer look and saw the intricate root system as well as hundreds of ribbons that were tied onto the branches of the tree. We didn’t think much of it until my Grandma was looking at postcards and saw a postcard with that tree on it. Turns out, the tree we saw was where J. R. R. Tolken got the inspiration for the walking trees in The Lord of the Rings. Pretty cool huh?



Shakespeare's House

Continuing on this literary theme, we took a stop in Stratford-upon-Avon. Everyone’s heard of Shakespeare, right? Well he was born there, and turns out he’s shaped the English language even more than I ever knew! My favorite of his additions to the English language was a list of Shakespeare’s Insults. Why say someone is ugly when you could say that “scratching could not make it worse…such a face as yours”? Why say someone is stupid when you could say that “I was searching for a fool when I found you”? Why say someone is fat when you could say that “you are spherical, like a globe. I could find out countries in you”? I think I prefer Shakespeare’s insults. Now I’ve decided to devote all of my spare time to studying English literature. HA! Yeah right! My dad made me write that.

Just in case you're not feeling charitable ;)
 

 

Our First Castle

By Janean Crane

When you think of a castle you probably think of a large, beautiful building that is quite old and holds a lot of history. Let’s just say that that isn’t the case for all castles. There are two words that come to mind to describe the first castle we saw: Square and dull. When we first arrived at Boston castle we wondered where the castle was as we looked upon a brick-box of a building. 

Boston castle in all it's glory

When we walked in we quickly realized that the brick-box was the “castle.” We then got a very quick tour and learned that it wasn’t a medieval castle, (no surprise there).  It turns out that it was built as a hunting lodge and party house around the time of the Boston Tea Party. In that small square building, they manage to find room for a gift shop and a room with some children’s toys. After this great disappointment, we decided to wander the public footpath in the area of the Castle and I think that everyone would agree that it was a lot more enjoyable. On the path we found thousands of juicy black berries. We were able to pick two bottles full of ripe berries. Maybe we didn’t find a real castle but we definitely found a yummy snack. We all knew one thing when we left that castle, the castles could only get better . . . at least we hope. . .

The tasty treat we found outside the "castle"

Just Around the Corner

Exploring our first public footpath the day we arrived.

Wow! I get to write a paragraph all by myself about England! So many things to write about…   I could write an expository essay on driving on the left side of the road, but then again maybe such an interesting topic should be left to an engineer who could tell you the science of everything you didn’t know you needed to know about this totally new concept of driving. Also, I haven’t driven on the left side of the road (yet), so maybe I should talk about something I AM an expert on, like maybe walking!

Well, in England there many places to walk. When I say “many” I am really just referring to two. Namely, sidewalks and public footpaths. Sidewalks are very interesting. They are long, thin strips of concrete that are next to roads. The idea is that you walk on them so you won't get smashed by the oncoming traffic (as opposed to walking on roads).

The “public footpaths” that I mentioned are practically magical creations that seem to create a “middle of nowhere” feel, when you are really in the heart of the city. Basically, these narrow, dirt paths bring the English countryside into the center of the city. Some public footpaths though really are in the middle of nowhere. In fact, you can find public footpaths just about anywhere. I have been on public footpaths up to cliffs, through cow pastures (avoid the cow pies), through sheep pastures (likewise), through random fields, and in forests that I didn’t even know existed until I went on the path. In fact I am still not sure those forests do exist. There were buildings on every side when you looked from the outside! Plus they have an abundant supply of plants that aren’t even supposed to exist in the wild. There are endless fields of wildflowers that you would think only existed in Disney films. There are also so many blackberries that it makes you wonder why anyone who lives here would buy them for 3 pounds. I swear these public footpaths are sometimes` portals to another world!

Check out a few of the photos we've taken from our walks below.

The author of the post on the edge of a bluff in the Peak District.

Enjoying the wild blackberries.  It looks like Jeremy found a sour one.

       The beautiful English countryside.

This sure is higher than the top bunk.  Looking over the cliff on a walk in the Peak District above Sheffield.

Some wildflowers we found in an open field.

Contributed by Jeremy.

Across the Pond

When Jeremy (now 13) was a pre-schooler, he looked out his grandparent's window and saw the water beyond.  He turned to grandpa and asked, "Is that a pond?".  Grandpa said it was and suggested that we call it "Jeremy's pond."  And so, when we visited Grandma and Grandpa's house we would enjoy Jeremy's pond.  While he played a bit around the edges of Jeremy's pond, Jeremy never saw much of it until we traveled across it to Hawaii for a family vacation.  Yes, most of you probably know "Jeremy's pond" as the "Pacific Ocean."

While the family still hasn't made it all the way across Jeremy's Pond, we are excited to take a hop, skip, and a jump across "the pond" to spend 5 months in England.  I have a one semester sabbatical from my position at the University of South Florida.  With the help of a Fulbright award, we are off to the Univesity of Sheffield to work with the Neil Hopkinson and his great associates working on Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing).

So here I am now with my beautiful wife Rachel and our five great children, Sarah (16), Allison (14), Jeremy (13), Janean (11), and Brad (7) trying to remember to drive on the left side of the road.  We look forward to sharing some of our adventures with you through our blog.  Check back as we get lost, make friends, and explore the lands of many of our ancestors.  

Our Magic Number

See those smiles?  That is the relief of parting with 349.9 lb of checked luggage.  

Fifty was the magic number of our preparations, as in fifty pounds--the maximum weight for a checked bag before the baggage fees move into the realm of extortion.  With seven members of the family, we allotted each a backpack, a carry-on bag, and a single suitcase.  Every decision about what to bring came down to whether it could fit within these limits.

Fortunately, we found a little pocket-sized scale for weighing our luggage.  We must of weighed and re-weighed our bags dozens of times as we shifted things from one bag to another.  In the end, we decided that we probably would need more pairs of gloves than short pants (trousers).  Some things that made the cut:  a box of Kinex for Brad, cans of pumpkin and frozen cranberries for Thanksgiving, and a trombone mouthpiece.  In the end, I watched with satisfaction as each bag was weighed and we saw 50.0, 50.0, 49.8, 49.6, 50.0, 50.4--wait that rounds down to 50 right?