Lurking Outside my Bedroom Window

Last night, I crawled into my warm, comfy bed and grabbed my book off the nightstand. Mick was getting ready for bed in the bathroom. The bedroom window right over the bed was open. I sat there with my book, hoping it would eventually get interesting. And then I heard a noise. At first I thought it was a cat. And then again. It sounded slightly more human. Like a growling shriek, something off of one of those Animal X-File type shows. And again. Okay, it definitely wasn't human. I kept listening, and finally jumped out of bed, banged on the bathroom door and drug Mick by the arm to the bedroom, still with a ring of toothpaste around his mouth. "You have to hear this!"
We sat and waited for a moment, but it didn't happen again. He pointed to his mouth and mumbled in that way you do when your mouth is full and said "I fill have foofpaste in my mouf." I dismissed him, and as soon as the bathroom door shut behind him, I heard the sound again, but that was the last time I heard it.
I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit creeped out. I wondered if it could have been a screech owl. I've heard of them, but have never actually heard the sounds they make. I found a video of a screech owl on YouTube, and that definitely wasn’t it. However, I now know what sounds they used for that creepy little dinosaur in Jurassic Park- the one with the frills around its neck that spits oil and kills the fat guy. Yep, screech owl sounds. Not for that nasty scream it does, but for the cooing sounds.
For some reason, I couldn’t get La Chupacabra out of my head. Growing up in the Southwest, La Chupacabra is something you hear about frequently. It’s a big bit of Mexican folklore. I made a post on facebook about how I thought I was hearing La Chupacabra out my bedroom window. My cousin back in America asked me if it couldn’t be some sort of English monster. Well, interesting. I don’t know of any British monsters. I know Scotland has Nessie, but there’s no water around us here. I know the Irish have Banshees, and, actually, it did feel a bit Banshee-ish, but again, we’re in the Southeast of England, not Ireland.
I turned to Google. And I came up with the two following possibilities. Click on the orangey-brown links to learn more.

(Yes, this info was taken from Wikipedia, but don't get on your high horse about my sources. I'm researching monsters, okay?)

Owlman of Mawnan

Or, this one. I'll admit it's pretty far fetched, even for a monster sighting.... but the sounds were right.

Pterodactyls in England (hey! We all know that the Pterodactyls escaped the island at the end of Jurassic Park 3; it could happen, people!)

Well, what do you think? I can honestly say I've never heard sounds like this before. What was it?

****Crazy disclaimer: No, I don't really think there was a monster outside my bedroom window (famous last words?). I'm sure it was an animal in distress (I've heard rabbits make weird noises) or even a car making a strange noise. This was just a fun and silly post inspired by my cousin's encouragement to investigate English monsters.****

Truckin' Along...

Hello, all!

Not much to report around here. Mick and I are still house-sitting for his dad. During the day I help with the phones for the business and pretty much take it easy. This is due to what I’m pretty sure is a pinched nerve. I was having really random and harsh stabbing pains in my shoulder due to certain movements. This would then send a tingly, pins and needles type feeling down my right arm and into my fingers. Yesterday the stabbing pain was gone and I was left with a constant muscular ache from always having my shoulder tensed. And a few pins and needles. Today I’m feeling pretty much back to normal- whew! I think sleeping with a hot water bottle two nights in a row helped a bit! And thank goodness, because sleeping on my back was getting old.


Something about being in this village makes my creativity go all aflutter. I’ve been writing, cooking, and taking pictures. I think it’s just because everything is so picturesque.

The weather has been rainy, and every day the trees seem more yellow/orange/red than the day before. I can tell it’s trying to get colder, but the sun isn’t quite ready to go away for the winter. One day it’s in the high 50s, the next, in the mid 60s. One day the sky is blue, the next, grey. I guess that’s what autumn is, though- the gradual change and earth’s time to be a bit fickle about just how it wants to be.

Funny moment of the week-
Mick and I had finished dinner last night and were watching some television. We heard this really weird rubbing/scratching sound coming from downstairs. We'd heard it a couple times throughout the day but it never lasted long enough to figure out what it was. We went downstairs after it had stopped. You should know right now that I married the biggest scaredy cat of all time, though I'm only slightly better. Anyway, we got to the front door and it started again. We looked at each other in half amusement, half terror. I thought I heard a cat meow but we weren't sure. I figured it was probably the cat scratching at the door but it didn't seem to be the right sound. We decided I should text my father-in-law.

Me: Does Sox ever scratch at the front door?
Him: Yes, sometimes when he wants in or out.
Me: Are you sure it's not an axe murderer?
Him: Could be, but he tends to smash through the door.

I've been giggling about that all day.
And yes, we opened the door and Sox came struttin' in.

 I guess I’ll leave you with some pictures, as always!

Wrotham Church. It's old. And Mick used to sing there when he was wee. In the choir. Haha.

Fall colors at the park.

My father-in-law has this tree in his garden that's completely bursting with apples. The branches are really heavy and the weight of the apples is bending them down towards the ground. I've been instructed to use as many of the apples as possible, so we've been feasting on homemade, homegrown cinnamon apples. Yum!

My favorite Halloween movie of all time ever ever ever. And popcorn made on the stove with nothing but kernels, olive oil and a pan. This is new to me, and I'm so excited that I made it all by myself. Silly, I know. But every time I do it I feel like Tom Hanks in Castaway when he finally makes fire and puffs his chest out proudly and cries, "Look what I have created! I have made fire! I!!!! (gesticulating madly) Have made fire!!!" It's the little things, you know?

This is Sox, my FIL's (way easier) cat. He's pure evil. But he's cute because he sleeps funny, with all his feet piled on top of each other. I'm not even really sure how it's physically possible, but he does.

Instagr.am

Some of my friends have been doing this instagr.am thing and I always thought it looked fun and cool. Since I just got the new iPhone (omg I love it!) I thought I'd download the app and try it out. Here are a few from last night and today.


Have a great Saturday, peeps!

Doing what I do, son!

Doesn't he just look like a rock star her? Love this.

Sasha's gorilla face!

Harley! He's getting so big and so flippin cute. He looks like a stuffed animal.

I promise to...

Spend more time doing the things that I love. This includes taking pictures.

I've been really homesick lately, the worst since I've been here. I guess that's to be expected though, but it doesn't mean it's easy. I don't want to dwell on that though, what I've come to say today is that I'm going to start doing things I love because that's what life is for, isn't it? I like the way I see things when I hold the camera, how I notice things that you'd never expect to make an interesting photo. But they do. Today I focused on the dog, Sasha. She sat still, not because she wanted to be my model but because she'd found a warm sunny spot to park it. Here you are.

Ahhh, off center and relatively shallow depth of field. I've missed this stuff.

Don't you just love the texture? The deserty, cracked nose and the fine hairs.

Such pretty paws.

And extreme angles.

I'm going to try to take pictures nearly every day and share them with you as often. I hope you'll enjoy seeing them.

Animals with Attitude

Yesterday was Mick's sister's birthday. She and her boyfriend came to the house ( the house in Kent is Mick's gradfather's house. His step-dad is working in Kent right now, so they stay there a lot) to open her gifts. She loved all the pink stuff for the kitchen she'll have in the flat she and her boyfriend are about to move into. Then we all (me, Mick, Laura, Russ, mum and step-dad) piled into two different cars and drove about 40 minutes to Port Lympne Zoo.
The weather was very indecisive. We sat on a safari truck in the sunshine. Mick was near the window and seemed a bit bewildered because he was getting wet and he couldn't figure out why. As it turns out, folks, it can rain even when it's sunny. As we stopped for lunch and looked at meerkats, it really started to feel stormy. There was a charge in the air as black clouds came rolling in and we could hear thunder and see lightning. After a few minutes of this the rain came, so we went and checked out the reptile and insect house. Then it cleared up for a bit and we got back on a safari bus to head up to look at the carnivores. The rain started coming down really hard so we all had to rush for cover, but thankfully, it only held up for a few minutes so we could move on. BUT THEN! The sun came out and it warmed up and was disgustingly humid. I can deal with heat- I hate it, but I lived in it for 14 years, I deal. But when it comes to humidity I am a giant baby. Giant.
Either way, it was a fun day and I enjoyed being out with everybody very much. There was a strange moment when I ordered lunch for Mick and myself. The girl noticed my accent and said "are you here on holiday?" Mick piped up and answered "she is, I'm from here." I turned and looked at him and said "no, actually. I moved here. Remember, Mick?" You know, to like, marry you? Men. It is weird though, because, as I've said, it just feels like I'm here on vacation.

The animals at this zoo were really funny. They seemed very British to me in that they didn't give a crap.

We saw giraffes that didn't care if we wanted out the gate, they did too, so they were going to wait. The safari truck driver said that they tend to do this in hopes of escaping.

There was a Black Rhino drinking happily from his trough. He, too, didn't care if the truck wanted to get by. He wanted his water and took his sweet time in moving to the field to the left. But that's okay, it provided a great photo opportunity.

Mick was very into the snakes and lizards in the Reptile House. I refused to stop and look at the spiders. 

But my favorite part of the day was the amazing view. The zoo is built on a hill and provides an amazing panorama of Kent and the sea in the distance (if it's not cloudy).

See the hills between the trees?

A bit dreary, but still beautiful, don't you think?

After the zoo we went back to the house and got ready to go out to dinner with Mick's dad and his girlfriend to finish up Laura's birthday celebration. We went to a really chic pub in Eynesford, Kent where they actually have a ford. A ford is where a river or stream is shallow enough to wade or drive across (remember Fording the River in Oregon Trail with your oxen in front of your conestoga wagon? Yes.) Anyways, it's a gorgeous little village. Here's a shot of the ford

(image from geograph.org.uk) This is the ford. You can either drive through it or use the bridge.

Mick and I both had lamb and tomato soup and Eton Mess in The Plough. Eton Mess! I haven't told you about Eton Mess! More history lessons! It's a really good dessert made up of cream, meringue bits and strawberries. The story goes that there was some big to-do at Eton, which is a very prestigious boy's college (ages 13-18) and the person who was carrying the dessert (which probably looked something like this):

image from bbcgoodfood.com

Well, they dropped it. And they had no choice but to scoop it up and serve it anyway, so it ended up looking like this:

image also from bbcgoodfood.com

So, now they just make the messy version anyway. Viola! Eton Mess. I had it last summer for the first time and loved it.

Right, so. Back to the story....
Mick's dad dropped us back at the house. We had been directed by Mick's mom to be very quiet when we entered because both she and Mick's step-dad would be sleeping. It was about 11:00. We got in, flipped on a light switch and blew a fuse. We had no flashlight, so we used the light from the screen of my phone to search for the fuse box. Mick seemed fairly sure that it was in the cupboard under the stairs (yes! It's so Harry Potter!) and sure enough there was a metal box. We both tried to pry it open but realized you needed a screwdriver to open it. I thought that was kind of stupid, and I should have listened to myself when I thought "that really makes no sense. If you blow a fuse, and you're in the dark, you shouldn't have to search for a screwdriver..." So I unscrewed the panel and as soon as I did an annoying ring came from the house alarm. Mick looked in the box and began to curse. We'd opened the alarm control box which was just filled with wires. When we went back into the hallway and saw the alarm display, it said "tamper" and continued to let out one, long, never-ending beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. We decided we'd have to go out into the garage and search for the fuse box there. So, armed only with determination and the illumination from my phone, we found it and Mick flipped the switch and all was well. And thankfully closing the bedroom door drowned out the sound of said beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep because we didn't know how to stop it and didn't want to wake his mum or step-dad to do it for us. When we woke up this morning it was taken care of by his step-dad. And we didn't wake anyone up. Phew.
This morning we came back to Bognor with Mick's mum before she went to work. Early. We left the house at 6am and got here at about 8am. I took a nap and watched some television, then we went down to Tesco to get some stuff for dinner and lunch. We came back and ate and I worked on unpacking one of my suitcases, but I can't really finish until Mick clears some space for my underwear and jeans and stuff for me in his room (GIANT HINT, BABE!). I've got wardrobe space in the guestroom to hang stuff but no drawer space.

Anyway, it's nice to be back in Bognor. It's a boring town, but the weather is much nicer since it's on the sea.
Just to let you know, I'm doing more research for the second volume of Out of the Mouths of Brits. Hope to have that up for you in a couple days. Take care, everyone :)