Windsor Castle.

Mt St Helens (from the Johnston Ridge Observatory). As far as I know, only the second time I’ve been to the north side.

Chatsworth House Bonfire Night. It was not this cloudy, and the fireworks were amazing.

Jökulsárlón (glacier river lagoon), Iceland

Every other place in Iceland, suitably represented here by Goðafoss (waterfall of the gods)

Let’s be honest: if this were a Top 10 or 15 or 100 list, all of the remaining spots would be taken up by Iceland. You will find out more than you ever wanted to know about our trip very soon.

Bess of Hardwick by Mary S. Lovell
Biography of the matriarch of the Cavendish family (today the dukes of Devonshire). A fascinating, shrewd, and incredibly wealthy Elizabethan woman (second only to Elizabeth herself), Bess was involved in all the political intrigue of the day: she and her fourth husband “hosted” Mary, Queen of Scots, in their assorted country homes before her execution, and even attempted to position a willful granddaughter to ascend the throne. We happen to live right in the middle of her vast property, about halfway between her two primary residences, Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House. We’re practically related!

Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis
Fictional account of the repercussions of a mid-century Midwestern man accidentally discovering that he has an African-American ancestor.

Lady Into Fox by David Garnett
Fictional account of the repercussions of a new bride turning into a fox.

Independent People by Halldór Laxness
Fictional account of an early 20th-century rural Icelandic family struggling to survive against totally surmountable odds. All the dude ever wanted was his independence.

Great Tales From English History by Robert Lacey
Bite-size historical niblets of the events that shaped England’s history, now in one handy volume.

54: Number of books I read.
5: Number of books I’m currently reading.
1: Number of books I abandoned midway.

Bonus

The one best book Stephan read this year:

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick.
Non-fiction accounts of the ordinary lives of six North Korean defectors.

1: Number of books Stephan read.

The King’s Speech (2010)
A reluctant king (George VI) conquers his stutter with the help of a speech therapist. We accidentally saw this at the Odeon Leicester Square, the super fancy London theatre that usually hosts movie premieres. Neither of us could figure out how to operate the taps in the restroom(s), so I can only imagine all the unhygienic starlets wandering about the the place on a regular basis. So the movie was also really good, wholly deserving of its numerous accolades, and appropriate for parental viewing.

True Grit (2010)
A teenage girl in the West avenges her father’s death with the help of Jason Bourne and The Dude. In general, I disapprove highly of remakes, but this one was fantastic (and wholly deserving of its numerous accolades and mostly appropriate for parental viewing).

A Town Called Panic (2009, French)
Housemates Cowboy, Indian, and Horse enjoy multiple adventures with the help of assorted friends, underwater monsters, and mad scientists. A surreal (and hilarious) stop-motion film.

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
A gentle Viking teenager heals centuries of inter-species misunderstanding with the help of an adorable dragon. Un-hamfisted life lessons with amazing visuals.

Bjarnfreðurson (2009, Icelandic)
An eccentric Socialist with five university degrees comes to terms with his past with the help of two unlikely friends. The film caps an Icelandic TV series—great on its own, but brilliant as the final chapter of the series.

Honorably mentioned films that have less to do with dogs than one might think:
My Life As A Dog (1985, Swedish). Bittersweetly coming of age in Sweden.
Dogville (2003). Good and evil in a small town.
Dogtooth (2009, Greek). A Greek family’s alternate reality. Quirky and quite dark.

Oi \ˈȯi\ interjection. Used to attract attention or to express exasperation or dismay. Almost exactly like American hey.

Scarper \ˈskär-pər\ intransitive verb. Flee, run away.

Spice \ˈspīs\ noun. Derbyshire for sweets (British for candy).

Plashy \ˈpla-shē\ adjective. Like splashy, but different: “Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole…” (Evelyn Waugh, Scoop)

Faff \ˈfaf\ verb, noun. Ineffectual activity and/or its results: one who faffs around producing faff is known as a faffer. Similar to American futz.

Bonus Office Learnings:
Nottinghamshire’s three meals are breakfast, dinner, and tea.
The train was meant to arrive on time (rather than supposed to).
“Send it me sharpish” = “Send it to me quickly/soon”.

Kevin had a rough couple of weeks there, in which he mysteriously lost every single one of his tail feathers. But now they are growing back in at a remarkable rate.

We didn’t see Kevinita for an entire month before she returned with four chicks who wouldn’t listen to a thing she said. Teenagers!

Things Are Happening, People.

First, I started a brand new shiny job today! An actual one, where I have to go to an office five days a week. And also do things like get out of bed at six a.m. and regularly brush my hair.

I’m probably not going to tell you much about it because, well, that’s not a thing that I do. But I will tell you that it’s proposal graphic design at a UK-based consultancy focusing primarily on socioeconomic development in developing and transitioning countries. Oh, and that it’s on the outskirts of Nottingham and just up the street from a bit of what’s left of Sherwood Forest!

So after clearing out the backlog of two-month-old posts left unposted, I’m officially diverting my writing energies away from blogging and toward finishing the first draft of the book I’ve been working on for months now. This may or may not result in fewer blog posts, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you!

And in the meantime, I (perhaps counterintuitively) started a tumblr, which is more my (micro)blogging speed these days. It’s over here, but I should warn you that it’s for my own entertainment only—just bits and bobs I’ve been magpieing (you know—collecting shiny things like a magpie!). I can’t promise that you will like it at all (for instance: I would not rule out the possibility of swears), but I’ma be honest: I don’t really care. All for me!

The rock garden from afar. Huge piles of limestone, probably, brought in and artfully arranged.

The Emperor Fountain (named in honor of Czar Nicholas I and his promised but unfulfilled visit), at full power the highest gravity-fed fountain (296 feet) in the world. Usually run at half height.

Lupins at the entrance to the maze, on the former site of the the Great Conservatory.

Woven sculpture by Laura Ellen Bacon.

An “honesty patch,” left to show how things looked before they cleaned and restored the murals.

An urn of Derbyshire Blue John, a fluorite found only in the Peak District. It usually doesn’t come in pieces this big.

There, there, little dog.

Cast-iron stairs cantilevered from the wall.

Chandelier featuring stags, one of the symbols of the Duke of Devonshire.

Bourton-on-the-Water. This particular body of water is so shallow, the ducks are actually standing on the bottom. Lazy ducks.

Old and fancy pub in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Mosaic of some dude in Stratford.