USA Independence Day in Oxford, England

Kathleen & daughter Martha

Ahhhh.... Nothing quite like seeing a good friend after a long time. I love love love harassing my dear friend Kathleen Soriano (over here it's called "taking the piss" - I quite like that term - plus it serves to make my older sister Eileen angry since her job description seems to include "make Kat quit cussing"). However, it's not really nice to "take the piss" from?/of?/off? a friend who drives hours to pick you up at Heathrow, puts you up in a simply gorgeous room with your own bathroom, feeds you wonderfully, and sees to your every comfort. So I decided not to do it. And then failed spectacularly.

Marvelous Martha on her Mac,
Precious Pip in foreground(ps - Martha liked the shirts)

I was joined in tormenting her by her lovely 16-year-old daughter, Martha (Marvelous Martha for the entire name, if you must know), and her husband, Personable Peter (why yes, I do love alliteration in all forms, however did you guess).







The only family member that stayed loyal to her was Precious Pip, the family schnauzer. However, she bore it all in good humour (ah - British spelling that!) and remained as lovely as ever.  We went shopping at the local Sainsbury's (think Krogers or Winn Dixie) and got food. The Brits don't tend to grocery shop like we Americans. For one thing, they take their bags instead of using plastic bags. They are MARVELOUS recyclers! Another thing is that their fresh foods do not seem to have as many preservatives as ours. So they shop more often, many times just buying for the next few meals instead of the whole week.

Peter showing me the Thames after
we went to the Trout Pub (seen in background)
for drinks (as featured in Inspector Morse)

 This is just one of the places Kathleen, Peter, Martha, & Pip took me during the short stay I had with them in Oxford.

Like I said, Kathleen was so gracious and seemingly oblivious to the atrocious teasing I gave her (much to the delight of her daughter).





 Well, I thought she was over the provocations - at least until she invited several thousand BRITISH guests to a 4th of July Independence Day party at her residence. I was pretty sure there was going to be some sort of reprisal for the whole little 1776 incident ... and there WAS! The butchering of our beloved national anthem!

But all were great party guests and fascinating conversationalists. The Pimm's kept flowing (which may explain the fascinating conversationalists), we had Hot Dogs, Coca Cola, & Apple Pie, everyone seemed uber impressed with my red, white & blue candy theme, Bruce Springsteen could be heard playing in the background, and with the exception of fireworks, I felt rather patriotic. Well, maybe not patriotic but I did not "revolt" against them as I had threatened to do all night.

Lovely Brits chatting in lovely accents

Everyone was very gracious to me

It was a mixture of neighbors & artists - creative types all

Not sure if this is a disagreement about cooking or
rapture about the Hot Dogs, Coca Cola & Apple Pie

I really did have a marvelous time in Oxford. Gorgeous house, gracious hosts, amazing city, fast internet (good to have if you're doing homework that's due in the states!) If you would like to see more photos, click here to look at my Facebook pictures. Next post - onto London! TA!

Lovely Friends - Kathleen, Peter & Martha