around oxford

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Another week in Oxford is past! And it was full of much goodness - concerts at the Sheldonian (Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor!), more exploring around Jericho and East Oxford, studying Elizabeth Jennings and hearing Michael Ward, dinner at the Turf with wonderful friends, a day trip to Cambridge, punting on the Thames with Emma, a visit to the Botanical Gardens, a birthday afternoon tea (with lovely people + the best jam) at the Perch, making friends with a lady at a little craft shop, wanderings around Port Meadow and Binsey, browsing around the eclectic book shop Albion Beatnik, dancing in Jericho at midnight, blackberry and raspberry picking, church book sales, blue skies and sunshine, poetry recitations in the garden, banana bread breaks with Lily at the Woodstock Cafe, taking long walks after dinner in University Park, spending an hour or two at Blackwells most afternoons, a lot of reading and thinking and paper-writing too . . .

I know I have said it before, but I feel so grateful + blessed to be here. More pictures and stories to come!

[pictures of magdalen college,the radcliffe camera, near a favorite cafe, architecture around the city, friends after dinner at the turf, a view in the botanical gardens]
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a room of one's own

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"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
(Virginia Woolf)

A small peak at my little space here in Oxford - it doesn't quite have the cherry-colored antique furniture or floral printed wallpaper that I have always envisioned a proper flat in Oxford to have, but with a bit of sprucing up - fresh flowers from the covered market, getting rid of the horrid green duvet, a bowl of fruit, stacks of books, art postcards and old maps tacked to the wall - I have become quite satisfied with it.

And Woolf is right, I think. After living in hostels and in shared rooms for quite a few weeks, I have come to realize that there is indeed something about a peaceful and quiet space that fosters the creative instincts.
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rainy days in oxford

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I am sitting with the ever-cheery Lily in the Vaults and Garden Cafe, just underneath the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. It was a rainy Saturday morning here and I spent the early hours reading in bed as the rain made paths along the windowpane. When the sun popped out after lunch, Lily and I decided to make our way into town. We stopped by my favorite art store - the one I've been to four times in less than a week - so I could pick up some clothespins. Then I went on a failed attempt to find Frankie Magazine at several different bookstores. Now we are here, underneath ancient vaults listening to hum-drum chatter of old British couples and young tourist families drinking tea. It is crowded and busy, but we have a cozy little wooden table in the corner.

A few days ago I was at the Bronte cottage in Haworth. Yesterday I was in the chapel at Magdalen College where C.S. Lewis preached The Weight of Glory. In a few days we'll be traveling to Stratford-upon-Avon to see a production of Macbeth and tour Shakespeare's birthplace. But honestly, it's the unconscious moments and uneventful days like this one that I like the most - the days when we do nothing particularly significant but watch the rain and read books and wander around shops and drink lattes and spontaneously decide to walk down a little alleyway we haven't been down before. There is no expectation to take everything in or to have some sort of experience - it just is what it is. I am grateful for days like this.

[my shoes at westminster cathedral]
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make a vineyard of the curse

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My prayer tonight:

In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start . . .
(W.H. Auden)

[flowers at the ruins of st. augustine's abbey in canterbury, england]

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coffee

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I have known for awhile now that if I gave in and tried it, I would like coffee. I have just been avoiding it because I don't particularly want to get to like it too much. But convinced by Emma, I finally tried it. And ta-da! I like it. I feel like there should be a celebration or something.
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patience on a monument

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"Nothing restores the sense of being alive less ambiguously than the birth of the unexpected, the finding of a person of whom one did not know one loved so much." (Ralph Harper)

One perfect week of
lavish picnics
wading in streams
jam and bread
big cities
little fireflies
picasso and prendergrast
understood silence
reading poetry aloud
(in woods with deer nearby)
the juice of a nectarine
sun on our shoulders
ice tea on the deck
swing sets in the dark
long museum halls
church basements full of books
laughing while cooking
singing while bicycling
toes in the dirt
deep conversations
(under the stars)
too many bug bites
too little time together.

Grateful for a beautiful week with a far-away friend. Love you, Miss Genevieve.
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maine | ogunquit

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We only spent just a little over a week in the quaint little New England beach town of Ogunquit, but I sort of fell in love with it. As promised, these are a few of my favorite spots there . . .

Food

The Wild Blueberry
The best place in Ogunquit, in my opinion. Seriously. This little restaurant was right down the road from our hotel and we ate breakfast there three times - it was that good. Try the Belgian waffles with blueberries. It's like summer in your mouth! Their organic granola and yogurt parfait was excellent too, as well as the fruit selection. And the best part is that as soon as you sit down, they bring everyone at the table a buttery blueberry muffin. They serve lunch and dinner as well, but we only ever went for breakfast.

Amore Cafe
This was another favorite breakfast spot. It's a bit less classy and a bit more kitschy than The Wild Blueberry, but the food was just as good. Their granola was excellent too (I have a bit of an obsession with granola, if you haven't noticed) and you can even buy a container of it to take with you. My dad also raved about their raisin bread and omelets. They had a really broad menu with every breakfast option you can imagine. They are just open for breakfast and only on certain days during the off-season.

Caffe Prego
We had our first meal in Ogunquit at this casual Italian restaurant and it was scrumptious. I had delicious vegetable lasagna and we sat outside in a covered porch area. They also have a wide variety of desserts and gelato and it seemed like a lot of people stopped by just for dessert. We kept meaning to go back to try the gelato, but never got around to it - if it was anything like the rest of the food, I'm sure it would be delightful, especially on a hot summer day.

The Front Porch
I was a bit skeptical of this place from the outside decor, to be honest, but the inside was lovely and the food even better. The prices weren't terribly high, yet the restaurant itself has a fairly classy and refined feel to it (square white plates, anyone?). I had a tomato and basil flatbread on whole wheat crust and it was one of the best meals I had all week - light and delicious.

Bread and Roses Bakery
We stopped by this bakery quite a few times throughout the week - it's right on Main Street, so you pass it a lot - and I admittedly never actually tried anything. But from staring at all the breads and treats in the cases and seeing how crowded it was every day, I have no doubt that it is a good place to go. My mom also claimed that the iced coffee there was excellent. And if I am back in Ogunquit, I definitely want to try one of their blueberry oat bars . . .

Places to Stay

Anchorage By the Sea
Central location right near the center of the main street. Small but comfortable rooms. Extraordinarily clean. Right along the Marginal Way and just a seven-minute walk to the sandy beach. Excellent views of the sea. And, as far as I can tell, fairly good prices, especially during the off-season. Ask to stay in the Starboard building - it has the nicest views of the ocean.

Things to Do

Go antique shopping. My mom and sister and I spent one afternoon stopping by the many antique shops along Route 1. There are tons of them and they all seemed to have quite good prices. I scored a beautiful piece of flower-printed vintage fabric that was supposed to be $25 for just $1! Some of it was junk, but that's just a part of antiquing.

Take a walk on the Marginal Way. The Marginal Way is a 1.25 mile paved path along the rocky coast in Ogunquit, starting off in the center of town and taking you all the way to Perkins Cove, a little wharf area with more restaurants and shops. It's not a long or strenuous path whatsoever, but the views are incredible. And if you get up early enough to beat all the elderly couples out for their morning walks, it also makes a great running path.

See a show at the Ogunquit Playhouse. We didn't go, but apparently their plays are top of the line. And it does seem like a very summery thing to do to see a show at the beach's playhouse, if you ask me . . .

There are also some great nature reserves and hiking areas around apparently, although we didn't take as much advantage of these as I would have wished. Check out the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge or the Mount Agamenticus Conservation Region - we heard excellent things about both places.

The town of Kennebunkport is also an easy 45-minutes away. There were a lot of opportunities for sea-kayaking and so forth there, as well as more shops and restaurants. If you go, definitely eat at the Kennebunkport Inn and visit the wonderful little store, the Daytrip Society.

And of course what do you go to the beach for but to sit on the beach and wade in the water and read books on the cliffs? That's pretty much what I spent most of my time doing while we were there, and it was perfect in every way.

More pictures from our trip here . . .

[picture of the beach in ogunquit]
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