Wales
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St. David’s Day at the Local Pub
St Davids Day We’re excited about heading to the local tonight. It’s my first St David’s Day since living in Wales and though I’ve never heard if it while living in America, I’ve been told it’s a big deal. St. Patrick’s Day, of course, is huge in America. Chicago dyes the river green, or greener than it usually is, and for a day or two everyone seems to forget about hating immigrants. One of the strangest things about America is the way some people can be enormously curious and proud of their family’s own immigrant heritage while seeking to pin blame on new groups of people only seeking exactly…
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Llanddwyn Island – Lovers and Biscuits
The ground under my boots turns to a firm gravel-based path as we hit the base of the island and my legs are happy to have a relief from the work it takes to walk across the deep sand of the beach. You can get to Llanddwyn Island by walking through the forest as well, but today the tide is out and the beach walk will be shorter. Anyone who walks long distances with a child knows there is a point where you are working on borrowed time and our goal is to get out to the island before we start to hear any complaining. At the start of the…
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At the end of the holidays…from Wales home again
No matter how nice it would be sometimes, every holiday has to end, and time does not stand still. My father-in-law will tell anyone who will listen about how long the drive to Anglesey used to be from their home near Chester, about how he used to wedge the barrel of homebrewed beer in the back seat between the two children and their book and drive down the old A5 toward Llangollen before turning north again and driving through the mountains. These days the improvements to the A55 coast road mean we can be on the island in just over an hour. While originally intended to improve lorry traffic from the…
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Pancake Day – Celebrated Welsh Style
One of the things my husband fully embraced when marrying me was the American idea that donuts are breakfast food. And waffles. Or pancakes. There are too many other sweet treats that are relegated to dessert in the UK. (Surely only in America is it socially acceptable to serve something topped with whipped cream for breakfast??) I think this is why we invariably forget pancake day. You might know Pancake Day better as Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Historically it’s been less about all out decadence and in the stoic British way, about using up ingredients such as eggs and butter so they wouldn’t go off during the long…