The Willimers in America

My New Snowblower

Being a homeowner now, I feel my resistance to the acquisition of the trappings of the American Dream slowly slipping away. And if you're a regular reader here, you'll know that there was very little doubt that the first step was going to be the purchase of a seriously serious snowblower. It took one simple forecast of a four inch snowfall to galvanise me into action. I am now the proud owner of a Craftsman 6.5 HP Briggs & Stratton OHP powered snowblower with a 24 inch path and two-stage action. And very nice it is, too.

The trouble with Thanksgiving...

The Thanksgiving Holiday has a very...unique quality to it. I'm avoiding the word 'strange' because I'm certain it's just strange to us - both as outsiders, but also because Thanksgiving is about families, and ours are 4000 miles away.

There is no huge build-up to Thanksgiving, like there is to Christmas. It just rolls up, and everyone returns to their families, often travelling huge distances to do so. There is always a full program of American Football on TV, probably so that all those families who see each other rarely and don't know what to say have something to talk about.

I don't think Thanksgiving is strange or indeed that these family reunions are insincere. But for us they present a problem. We have had a number of invitations over the years, but we've often felt like cuckoos in the heart of someone else's holiday. One year we took ourselves off to New York to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. This year we are at Niagara Falls, crossing another US landmark off our list. Expect lots of pictures here in the next few days...

Thomas the Soccer Star

After two years of non-competitive soccer, this fall Thomas signed up for 'Rec Soccer' a proper regular season competition followed by play-offs. In the early days, the coach was conscientious about giving all the boys a turn in all the positions on the field, and the rate at which the kids took up the lessons of position and tactics was frustrating.

However as the season progressed, without exception they have all developed, learnt to play as a team, and most have grown comfortable in one position or other on the field. Tom is a striker. Out and out centre forward, and has been scoring goals regularly. After the regular season he has averaged better than one goal every other game, and has scored in 4 of the last 5. Last week he scored the winner in the first play-off game, and we're looking forward to this weekend, when his team take on the semi-final and, hopefully, the final (or 'championship game' as they call it here).

For a brief glimpse of his undoubted talent (says his proud Dad) check out this clip  - hopefully it won't take too long to download.

Autumn Leaves

Since we've been here, we've often commented on doing 'New England in the fall' - that is, touring round Messachusetts, or Rhode Island or even Vermont while the leaves on the trees turn multiple shades of red and gold. Actually, New Jersey (known as the Garden State) is very rural and doesn't do badly for spectacular autumn vistas. All around us there are hillsides covered with an infinite variety of autumn colours, and occasionally one or two stand-out vibrant red trees. Just down the road, on the site of a deserted ramshackle farm, there's an avenue of tall trees, and right in the centre is a ball of autumn fire. And our garden is quite impressive too !

Through the fall, Linda and I have been waking up to see this (see left) fantastic display of flaming red leaves outside our window. It's been both and inspiration and a measure of the passing of the seasons. Then this week, literally within 36 hours, almost every leaf dropped. Winter is upon us, and I really, really need to go and buy that snowblower...

Ode to the Hillbilly

Luckily we haven't yet run into these people in our travels around the U.S. There are places around New Jersey where it sometimes looks and feels like the deep south, but this is the genuine article (it's a large file, and it may take some time to download).