(Chapel of St. Margaret and Our Lady – Oxburgh)
Inside Oxburgh
While the scavenger hunt held the attention of the children this weekend I was every bit as excited to see Oxburgh since the hall is now open for the season. It has a bit of a split personality, decor wise, being part medieval castle and part Victorian manor house. This is because the manor has been used as a residence continuously – and by the same family – since it was built in 1482. That's ten years before Columbus discovered American, for reference. A really long time.
The hall is built in a U-shape around a large open courtyard. There is one entrance, across a drawbridge over the moat. A moat is a very cool thing. Until you find out what was in there. Turns out medieval toilets were placed in the four corners of the hall complex. They were essentially shoots and "shot" down open piping into yes, the moat. Ew.
(above – one set of shelves in the library was actually a false door into the dining room)
The family was Catholic which put them in a dangerous position when their faith was banned in England by Elizabeth I. In 1589 the family, like many across the country, created a 'priest hole' in the event that their home would be raided when a missionary priest was saying mass. This one was well concealed…..in the aforementioned medieval toilet shoot.
(btw, that bright blue streak atop the clock is a spoon. The children had to spot colored spoons in each room as they toured)
Many of the interior toilets were constructed in garderobes, precursor to the closet or dressing room. Inside this room there was a narrow set of steps to what appeared to be an indoor latrine. A square of the heavy stone floor was hinged which allowed it to be lifted up so a person could access the shoot and slip down into a small holding area constructed in the tower below the floor. No windows, no water, no light. Once the 18in thick floor was put back into place there was no way to escape and the priest would be at the mercy of the family to retrieve him eventually. It seems that the soldiers that raided would sometimes wait at the property for days.
Another nod to this era was a collection of embroideries by Mary, Queen of the Scots while in exile.
Very sobering, all that. You touch the prayer books and rosaries and know in your heart, that had you made your entry a few years earlier, this could be you. It could be you.
The happy ending is that this family carried on through good years and bad, as we all must. The world changes. The world stays the same. We put one foot in front of the other in faith day by day.
hoppin’ down the bunny trail
Snatches of a very good day at home and abroad.
Or at home abroad as the case may be. : )
Easter weekend was chillier than usual this year but we determined to spend it outdoors nonetheless. We took the children to Oxburgh Hall for a scavenger hunt around the grounds and throughout the hall itself. The especially delightful part was that the event was sponsored by Cadbury which meant there was a hefty chocolate egg at the end of the hunt. That kept them all going though Abbie Rose had a few moments which tested her resolve.
The story of the estate needs its own post and it will have that God willing. For now….
These were responsible for my humming, "One ha'penny, two ha'penny…" all. day. long.
The boys did the easter egg roll while the little girls got their faces painted as what else? Bunnies. There were the ears after all.
We spent a few hours at the estate and then headed home where we had our own egg hunt, because you don't mess with traditions around here.
Dinner, most of which was in the crockpot/roaster deal all day or easily made fresh. Carrots didn't actually happen at the last minute. We didn't make a plethora of food since there was all that chocolate and the pie.
Simple and silly. They had a very good time.
I missed my boys. A lot. : )
carefully trace the tale
"Now close by the church, past which Piccola often romped in her play, there stood a mass of old gray stone, carved with quaint figures that told of the life of Jesus. Stiff and queerly fashioned were the figures, but they had been carved by those who loved the story, and Piccola loved it too. As she carefully traced out all the tale, she said to herself with a heart full of reverence:
'It was Jesus who taught men to know the good God as their Father, to let His Goodness shine in their hearts, and to love one another.'"
So…Piccola had no thought but that all the earth must rejoice."
-American Cardinal Readers book 3
redeemed
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee,
Because by Thy Holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world.
– Stations of the Cross
(top: Charles Bridge, Prague
bottom: outdoor stations, Germany)
O’er all the pleasant land
all this filled my days
To have the children near me, to occupy myself with them, to try to raise them in the noblest sense of that term and to impress on those little souls things that will never be effaced; to interest myself a bit in everyone and to make our home into a living center, to give it soul – all this filled my days.
– The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur
Yes, all this.
Espresso Bundt Cake
We had dinner with friends today and had planned to make a tiramisu cake until we realized there had been a marscapone mishap. Some quick thinking resulted in this moist espresso flavored chocolate bundt cake which was just as well. I have been feeling nostalgic for vintage desserts and my bundt pan has been left forlorn in the recesses of the storage cabinet for too long.
This cake is a part of a bigger circle of friendship. A few days earlier I came home to find a dozen eggs left by an older local woman I have come to know. She has what they call a "small holding" nearby, the equivalent of an American hobby farm. We talked of chickens and dairy goats when we visited over the gate a couple weeks ago. It really warmed my heart to see my name penned on the carton. I have smiled with every egg I have cracked from it and a couple of them went into this dessert.
the white snow lay in many a place
Daffy-down-dilly came up in the cold,
Through the brown mould
Although the March breeze blew keen on her face,
Although the white snow lay in many a place.
Anna Warner—Daffy-Down-Dilly.
We thought maybe it was just us, but it seems this is the coldest March that the British have seen in some 50 years and they aren't enjoying it any more than we. It would make no difference to me really, except the daffodils were just beginning to bloom. I have been looking forward to seeing the explosion of color along the road where there are mounds of daff's all budded out and just beginning to open. Very sad to see those yellow blossoms in the garden drooping under the falling snow this afternoon.
Norwich Market
A foggy stroll through the open air market in Norwich. If you haven't been to England you are probably saying that wrong. We Americans like to say WHICH or WITCH when in fact all those w's in many British place names are actually silent. So the East Anglia town of Harwich for instance, I learned is pronounced "Harridge."
Your cultural language tidbit o' the day. : )
Norwich boasts the country's largest open air market and a very nice pedestrian shopping area.
you can read the sign yourself. Like to try it at home? Directions here.
Lots of pictures of patisserie shop windows to take home to Alannah, since she prefers this sort of baking to Cake Boss fondant.
Indian textiles.
There were a couple men pushing copies of The Big Issue like carnival barkers. They were really rather charming. "BIIIIIIG ISSUUUUUUE, get yer BIG ISSUE! Now, ladies don't crowd me all at once. There's plenty of 'em to go 'round." And so it went. <g>
Turns out the Big Issue employs formerly homeless individuals as vendors, whom I can tell you work very hard and most sincerely. Awesome.
Mushy peas, just what they sound like – smashed green peas. A very popular side dish. My clan is nearly evenly split between mushy pea fans and not. Ok, fan might be generous.
Sign – quote from Noel Coward's Private Lives
