Terra Renee Riley

Terra Renee Riley

1990 - 2009

Since my blog is about our life here in England, I like to post about anything that affects us here.  Last Sunday morning, we found out that my cousin, Terra Renee Riley was killed instantly in a car accident.   Her mom and I grew up together all the way through high school.  I can't imagine what her mother is going through, as one of my fears would be to lose a child or my husband.  We are not supposed to bury our children before us.    Terra was 18 years old and attended college.  She loved Elvis Presley and they had just done her whole room in Elvis.  Her mom played mostly Elvis at her funeral in Missouri.  I am sad that I could not be there, but am glad that my sister and brother made it down there.   We have never buried a "young" person in our family and I pray that she is the last.  We will miss your wonderful smile and zest for life Terra!

The East of England Shire Horse Society Show

On Saturday, we went to the Shire Horse Show.  It was like small Burghley Horse Trials in as much as the tents filled with horse stuff to buy, clothes, animals in wood, dishes, lots of food, and of course, rides for the kids.  Belle is on a Merry Go Round that had a steam engine rotating it and the big pipe organ on the other side playing music.  It was very beautiful and large!

This was a large Shire Horse that a young girl (about 12) was holding.  Shire Horses are known as the "Gentle Giants" and they weigh as much as 1 ton, are around 16 to 18 hands tall and have hooves the size of dinner plates.  It was amazing to watch this young lady tell this huge horse to stand still.  When he would shift, she would just tell him to get back into position.  It was hilarious.

These drivers and horses were waiting for their competition for the best wagon set-up.  I believe they are judged for the horse, his finery and the wagon.  Again, beautiful animals and wagons.  

Another horse and driver getting ready

In the competition ring

Bella playing Soccer

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jeremy Clarkson Anyone?

We were just getting home as we passed a Mercedes parked on our right by our driveway.  Both Dan and I started laughing and said at the same time " guess who's visiting his mama ?"    lol    For you Top Gear fans, Jeremy Clarkson's mom lives next door to us in England.  Shirley is famous in her own right as being the woman who made the very first Paddington Bear for her children.  She and her husband then went on to start their own company, Gabrielle Designs which produced Paddington Bear for everyone.  Jeremy is an English broadcaster and a writer who specializes in motoring.  His show, Top Gear is very famous and hilarious here in the UK.  We jumped out of the car and went over to take pictures in the dark, ( maybe hoping he would hear us......)  but no, our photos went unnoticed.  lol  Today, Belle is out in the garden and pokes her head over the fence and says, "Shirley is that you?"   She answers "yes".  Then Belle says, "was Jeremy over last night"?  Shirley, "yes, he was".  Belle says "does he drive a fancy Mercedes?"  Shirley responds " yes, and do you know, when he left last night, he used your driveway and bumped his bumper on the wall and lost part of his car bumper".  All I could do was laugh, as Belle said she wanted to run out there and get a piece of his car.  Of course, I started thinking about people and how they put anything on e-bay............... ?  lol  

Caleb on video, and Belles riding photos

Make a Smilebox photobook

Kirkstone House Music Competition

Tonight was Caleb's music competition.  He has only been playing the piano for 1 year, whereas the rest of the competitors have been playing for many years.  Only two kids are picked from each "house" to perform.  Caleb was one of them from Truesdale, and the other student from Truesdale was a boy 2 years older than Caleb who plays piano also.  We had already given him the thumbs up for making the cut, so the outcome of tonight did not matter.  They award a first, second and third place trophy, and each award is for a different musical instrument.  So you may have 3 piano players and only one will be able to place.  It doesn't matter if all 3 are better than any of the other competitors.  Caleb did a great job and he played "Turkish March".    He did pause in the middle of the song, with an "ah, I messed up" and then continued playing on.  He did not hope to win, so he was not nervous (he says) He does read music, but likes to memorize the piece so he can play it anywhere.  He did not place but a young man (age 15) who has been playing for 7 years took first place with the piano, and he played an Italian piece of music.  It was very moving.   I just looked at him and thought, that will be Caleb in a couple of years!   Second place was a couple of teenagers, one played electric guitar and the other played the drums.  They co-wrote the piece of music they played and it was rockin wonderful!  Third place went to a young man who played two pieces of music with the trumpet.  I tried to load the video of Caleb, but I cannot get it to upload.  Sorry!  You will have to hear him in person some day! 

Yes, that is Bella, my little 6 year old.  Today was book day at school, and the kids can choose any character from a book and they get to come to school dressed as that character.  Well, as you all know, Bella is a huge Hannah Montana fan.  But instead of wearing a blonde wig all day, she opted to be Miley Cyrus.  Since I didn't have to far to go to make that happen, we had a pleasant morning and she looked stunning for school.  Some of the kids showed up as cats, there was a Snow Queen from Narnia (my favorite) there was a Hairy Hagus (won first place for best dressed)  not a favorite of mine, we had witches from the book, Winny the Witch (very popular here in England), we had cheerleaders, ponies, and cowboys.  Many more, but I can't remember them all in my old age!  lol 

Tomorrow night we will attend a music competition for Caleb.  Two children from each House is chosen to compete.   The other student is 2 years older than Caleb and has been playing for years.  But that is ok, because Caleb has been playing for 10 months and was chosen to be in this competition.  As far as I am concerned, he is already a winner!  I can't wait to see him perform in front of a crowd.  He has only done this once, at Calvary church when we were home at Christmas, and he was very nervous.  Today, the teacher had him play his "Turkish March" in front of one of the year 8 classes and he said that he just kept getting faster and faster.  Did I mention that Caleb memorizes all these classical pieces and jazz pieces and then plays them?  That is why during nerves, he can end up going faster and faster!  lol    He will get better.  This is all experience, I tell him.  Please pray for him for tomorrow night as he goes through another "growing" experience here in England!