Up The Wooden Hill by Jill Schaefer is a 180-page historical memoir divided over 32 chapters with 32 small black and white photos. The book is about growing up in England and Germany before, during and after WWII, featuring two tales seen through different viewpoints. Stories of love, war, tears, laughter, families, friends and foes. From school days fraught with sibling rivalry and controversies with parents, to lives rebuilt, the Deutsche mark revalued and a father de-nazified. Both the young people mentioned in the book learn apprenticeships, experience love and the beginning of a post-war world. The book’s cover is a collage of 12 photos significant to the book (dancing couple, Sir Winston Churchill, London, British flag, Nazi flag and troops, Hitler, big black poodle dog and the Late Night Confessions Nun!)

Author Jill has lived on California’s West Coast for the past thirty-five years, fifteen years in Santa Barbara and Goleta and twenty in Lompoc. She, her late husband and three sons emigrated from England and Germany in 1974.

The story starts off with the author “venturing into the attic of her parent’s home in London, Jill stumbles upon belongings from the past, including a family history compiled from a photo album.” The non-titled chapters continue the conversation of the couple as they sit and review the photo album and exchange perspectives of their memories.

Comments by the author – Jill’s daughter-in-law Michelle: “Often in school we get only a glimpse of the history of the WWII era, as told from US military and political perspectives, but what intrigued me so much about this book is getting the firsthand, slice of life feeling of what it was actually like to be a young person coming of age in this time period. You get to learn not only about the challenges but also the optimism of these two growing up and looking for fun and adventure wherever they could find it.

“The writer takes you back then forward as you grow up with these two people – from once opposing countries – and share in their culture and eventually in their meeting and marrying. For me one of the amazing aspects of this book was that these were two people’s actual lives and the tale told from two perspectives, two cultures and from two countries.”

Jill is also the author of Coming of Age in California – English Style – which is a lighthearted account of the author’s true story of herself, a naive English teen, fresh from home and convent school, venturing forth with a girlfriend to the California of the nineteen-fifties.

Up The Wooden Hill is available at CreateSpace.com/3580244 (discount ZT5D2K4E) or Amazon.com/dp/1461003903. Also it is available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

CHRISTMAS served up it’s typical Walford tradition (tragedy), while New Year’s brought the end of an earring, that’s for sure…

Turns out it was Ben who’s been stalking Phil. Yep, the rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the psychotic tree. And his last act may just put Phil in jail: He sent Denise a thumb drive containing Phil’s confession about the cut and shut cars he was selling, leading to the death of Kevin Wicks. But Shirley realizes it’s Ben who’s the stalker and is threatening to throw him out – but she hasn’t told Phil. Yet…

Over at Chez Masood, the jig is up for Dr Evil. Zainab finally realizes what he is and is desperately trying to get away from him, but he isn’t allowing her a moment unsupervised, as he plans to force her onto a plane for Pakistan. And to keep her quiet and behaving, he has abducted baby Kamil, sending him to stay with some old acquaintance and refusing to say where he is. But Zainab manages to get a note asking for help to Masood who (after he finds it two days later) enlists Denise in getting Zainab over to the Minute Mart under the ruse of helping with a stock take. Away from Dr Evil, Zainab spills the beans and they all hatch a plan. But it goes awry on Christmas Day when, after Zainab has gotten Kamil back and left Evil, he attacks Masood and sets the B&B on fire (with a big party going on dowstairs in the front room & lots of illegal booze being stored in a hall closet). Eventually, everyone gets out except Dr Evil who ran back in after Zainab intentionally told him Afia was in there, and is killed. Unfortunately Tamwar overheard and he ran in too, and was seriously burned, and after he finds out that Afia knew that Evil had tried to kill Zainab, he is refusing to speak to her. The end result of all this is the B&B is totally destroyed, making Patrick, Denise & Kim homeless… But Denise had the thumb drive in her pocket so she takes it to the old Bill, signaling the return to Walford of Phil’s old nemesis, DI Marsden…

Across the Square, Tanya has gone back to having her cancer treatments, but while all this mishegas is going on, no one is noticing that Lauren is drinking way too much. So much so that she is blacking out drunk almost every day… Jack is still trying to keep Amy away from Roxy… and Christian has returned and Amira is still using every ruse and manipulation to keep Syed away from him…

And now Pat Harris Beale Wicks Butcher Evans: Cockney good time girl turned earth mother; the matriarch of Albert Square. She’s been feeling poorly lately, but attributes it to age and the stress of living with Carol, Ricky and Bianca and their kids (that would do it to anyone!) – AND the heavy weight of the dodgy loan she took out against her house to help Wicksy, resulting in her now being threatened with foreclosure – stopped (only temporarily by Janine stepping in to pay off the dodgy loan, so she can be the one to foreclose herself.) On top of that are the continual senseless threats from Derek Branning. After one such incident, Pat collapses to the floor, unable to breathe, and is found by Patrick, who was coming over to schedule their big date. Taken to hospital, she doesn’t like what she’s hearing and leaves before all the test results are back, choosing instead to go to the Vic for a G&T. But she’s forced to go back where she hears the bad news: She has Pancreatic Cancer which has spread to her lungs, liver and bones and is inoperable. When told the only recourse is palliative car, which will give her only a couple more months, she again goes home to wait for the end. And that end comes very quickly. But first there is a reconciliation with Janine who shows up to evict Pat from her house, then when told she’s dying, frantically runs up to her room to see for herself. After a heart to heart in which both admit to their mistakes, Pat says ‘You’re the only little girl I ever had’ as Janine curls up on her bed. Then bad penny David Wicks finally turns up and after, at first, having one last big argument over the past, he relents and apologizes and forgives her as she dies quietly in his arms with the rest of her family around her…

On Sunday, January 15, about 50-odd EastEnders fans (all wearing their best and biggest earrings) got together at Swing 46 in New York City to raise a glass and pay tribute to Pat. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place as we all watched Pat’s final episodes on the big screen. Pat departure is truly bigger a story than the exit of the wonderful actress Pam St Clement: It marks the end of the matriarch in Albert Square. And that is a very sad passing indeed.

If you are enjoying Downton Abbey on PBS, I hope you’ll check out my blog on PBS Station WNET/Channel 13 New York. It’s called The Downton Dish and each week there is a tongue-in-cheek recap and a comments section so you can join in the discussion yourself. Go to: http://www.thirteen.org and click on the link to The Downton Dish. 

And as always, if you’d like to keep up with all things EastEnders, just sign up for my FREE, weekly EastEnders e-newsletter. To get thyself on the mailing list, just email me here at the Launderette: E20Launderette@gmail.com

Signed, Your Faithful Reporter,
Deborah Gilbert AKA E20Launderette

NICK TILSLEY shows worrying signs of maturity this month when Eva decides he’s too old to be still living with his mum – and he doesn’t disagree. Egged on by Eva, he goes to view a flat, with Gail tagging along for the ride. And her verdict after the viewing? “I could sense death in that toilet.” Nick also turned from hero to zero when he rescued Becky McDonald from her burning flat. She sets the place on fire after she falls asleep drunk as she’s burning her photos of Steve when he goes and asks Tracy Barlow to marry him. Steve’s shock proposal means that Becky’s determined to prove Tracy’s telling lies about Becky causing her to miscarry her babies.

Peter and Carla’s affair could be on the way to be being revealed. Peter buys Carla a very expensive necklace which Stella finds in Peter’s bag after he returns from the shops. She assumes it’s a gift for Leanne so is somewhat surprised to see Carla wearing it when she comes into the pub for a drink.

At Roy’s Rolls, Roy’s mum Sylvia returns from her cruise. She’s full of tales of a sprightly 70-year-old called Milton, an American, who gave her the glad-eye while she was onboard. Sylvia then starts strumming on her uke-banjo, prompting Norris to declare that he can do better. Sylvia demands that he prove it and lays a £50 bet that she’ll win the musical stand-off. Norris’ bluff has been called, but can he rise to the challenge?

This month also saw Corrie’s first ever teenage lesbian wedding. Done up in matching frothy white frocks, Sian and Sophie prepare to exchange vows – before it all goes horribly wrong. Kevin tries to have words with Sophie before church, words about not being committed to Sian but Sophie doesn’t want to hear. She marches up the aisle and just as the girls are about to swap “I do’s”, Kevin blurts outt hat his daughter’s got second thoughts. Sophie falters at the altar as tears stream down Sian’s face.

Over at freaky Frank’s factory, the wonderful Beth returns, getting herself a job as a knicker stitcher. As the UK goes into recession, the bottom clearly hasn’t dropped out of women’s pants. Frank’s mum Anne doesn’t want Beth working for them, it’s clearly too common for someone like Anne but Frank knows Beth’s a grafter and gives her a job. Beth says: “I’m so glad I glued me false tooth in now.”

Meanwhile Frank’s mum Anne tries to blackmail Carla into dropping the charges against her son that he raped her and in return she’ll give her the knicker factory back. Frank finds an ally in Sally and alone at his house with a glass of red wine, he tells her the wine reminds him of her. “It’s strong yet delicate, with subtle undertones,” he coos as Sally leans in for a snog. But he clearly doesn’t know Sally very well. She’s more of a cheap and fruity, cheeky little vintage.

Over at The Rovers, Tyrone’s having a hard time with new girlfriend Kirsty. She’s somewhat needy and alienates him from his mates in the pub. She’s also jealous of Tyrone’s housemate Tina and uses all her contacts at the local cop shop where she works as a policewoman to make Tina’s life as unpleasant as possible. She arranges for Tina to be nabbed by a store detective while she’s shopping in town and then Kirsty thinks Tina’s driving Rita’s car in town, she arranges for her to get fined for speeding. But it’s poor Rita in the car who’s hauled over the coals for driving three miles over the limit.

And finally this month, Rosie gets a new agent and a new modeling job but when she finds out that she’s modelling cycling wear, she’s not best pleased. She’s even less happy when the agent eyes up Jason for some male modeling too.

Coronation Street Blog
http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com

HAVE flame, will travel.

London organizers revealed the first details Wednesday of the Olympic flame’s journey from Greece to Britain for the 2012 London Olympics.

The flame will be lit in a traditional hourlong ceremony May 10 and carried on an eight-day relay around Greece. British Airways will fly it to Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall on a gold-liveried Airbus.

The flame gets its own seat – though British Airways suggests it will be in a class all its own. Regulators gave organizers special permission to have a live flame on the plane. It will be placed in a miner’s lantern for safety for the duration of the flight.

The torch will travel for 70 days on a 8,000-mile relay across the UK.

The games begin July 27 and end August 12.

BRITISH Energy Minister Chris Huhne resigned Friday, BBC reported.

Police said they would prosecute him for allegedly perverting the course of justice in relation to driving a car above the speed limit in 2003.

Director of public prosecution Keir Starmer told journalists the charges alleged that Huhne had falsely told police between March and May 2003 that he was not the driver of a car involved in a speeding offense, and that his wife at the time was the driver.

Huhne’s then wife, leading economist Vicki Pryce, admitted the driving offense, which is a minor one, and received a small fine and penalty points on her driving license.

Pryce also faces the same charge as Huhne, 57, and both have been summonsed to appear before Westminster magistrates court, where the legal process will begin.

The charge is serious and can only be dealt with by a jury trial in a Crown Court, and if found guilty carries a prison sentence.

The resignation will not affect the stability of Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government.

Cameron’s government is a coalition of his Conservative party and the smaller Liberal Democrat party which came together after the inconclusive general election of May, 2010.

Huhne played a leading role in talks establishing the coalition and became one of only four members of Liberal Democrat party in the Cabinet.

He has been replaced by another Liberal Democrat, Ed Davey, who has been promoted from under-secretary at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

Davey, aged 46, was his party’s defence spokesman before the 2010 general election.

BURNLEY CREMATORIUM in England is to broadcast funerals live on the internet for mourners who are unable to attend, reports the Burnley Express.

The crematorium bosses also intend to install a big screen and state-of-the-art music system for grieving friends and family to watch and listen to the service from outside the chapel when it is full.

The new plans will allow mourners living thousands of miles away to still pay their respects and watch the service on the internet.

Councillor Jeff Sumner said: “If someone dies here but their family lives in America and they can’t get back they could watch the funeral over the internet.”

The £25,000 improvements at Burnley Crematorium, Lancashire, will begin later this year.

Return Of Stewart Quentin Holmes

AS I WAS saying before I was so rudely interrupted…there was I having dinner with my good friends Dr Watson and Inspector Lestrade of the Yard; when we had finished I stood up to leave – and fell down again.

I woke up in an ambulance. en route to a hospital, where a doctor told me that I needed a new heart valve, otherwise I had only six months to live. I chose to have the new valve, which involved open-heart surgery and a six week recovery period.

Meanwhile, things have been happening in the outside world…

POOR FERGIE IN TROUBLE AGAIN

Criminal charges have been lodged against the Duchess of York after she filmed a secret documentary in a Turkish orphanage.

She is accused of invasion of privacy while trying to expose the appalling conditions in state-run children’s homes. A Turkish court accused her in her absence of going against the law in acquiring footage and violating the privacy of children.

A source insisted that the duchess intended to fight the claims all the way. “Anywhere else it would be the authorities running these homes who would be in the dock,” the source said. “It was a humanitarian mission, not a political one,” the source added.

It is unlikely that the duchess will be extradited to face the harsh conditions in a Turkish jail, but she could be arrested if she ever set foot in the country again.

So when Christmas comes again in the York household – just don’t mention turkey sandwiches to the duchess.

INDEPENDENCE? WHO WANTS IT

Hardly anybody, it seems. A recent survey showed that the English are more interested in separating from the Scots rather than the other way round. Alex Salmond, the Scottish leader, has vowed to sabotage an early poll, while British Prime Minister David Cameron has told the Scots: You can’t quit the UK without my approval.

How are we doing with the Welsh!? Let’s not start another independence war…

FAST TRAIN TO BIRMINGHAM

It travels at 225mph, and will cost just over £32bn. This is London’s high-speed train which will provide 20,000 new jobs and a huge revamp of Euston station.

It will be the fastest mode of rail travel, and will eventually continue to Manchester and Leeds.

I am just wondering who would want to be in such a rush to get to Birmingham?

It is a highly controversial train – many people are protesting against it, saying that it will ruin the English countryside (which no doubt it will) and although it looks elegant and must be one of the longest trains in existence, work won’t start on it until 2015.

I hope that they will build a comfortable waiting room at Euston – three years is rather a long time to wait for a train.

QUEEN WILL BARGE IN

The Spirit of Chartwell is the name of the royal barge that will carry the Queen down the Thames to mark her diamond jubilee.

Philip Morrell, 67, who made his fortune in the travel industry, has loaned his Thames barge to organisers of the river pageant that will form the highlight of June’s national celebrations.

A thousand boats will sail from Putney to Tower Bridge, but Morrell, who lives at St Johns Wood, will not be on board but will watch the Queen’s progress from afar.

HISTORY REPEATING

A new biography of the Queen reveals for the first time her despair over the divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and the monarch’s fears that her eldest son was “about to throw everything away”.

In Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith. the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, recalls the moment that the Queen finally confronted the problems in her son’s marriage.

The archbishop reveals that she was terrified that history was about to repeat itself: that Prince Charles would give up his place in the line of succession for Camilla – just as King Edward VIII gave up his throne in 1936 to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson.

Lord Carey advised the Queen that the relationship between Charles and his wife was beyond repair. The personalities were so different. The Queen understood this; she could offer support and could put them in her prayers.

WATERSTONES SURRENDERS ITS APOSTROPHE

And even its capital W. Why? A spokesman said that it was no longer “practical” in the age of the internet and e-mail addresses.

The move has angered punctuation experts and customers of the UK’s last national bookshop chain.

John Richards, chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society (whoever imagined that a punctuation mark might need protection?) said: “It’s just plain wrong; it’s grammatically incorrect.”

He added: “If Sainsbury’s and McDonald’s can get it right, then why can’t Waterstone’s? You would really hope that a bookshop would be the last place to be so slapdash with English.”

James Daunt, who became managing director last year when the chain was sold to a Russian billionaire, said: “Waterstone’s without its apostrophe is in a digital world of URLs and e-mail addresses, a more versatile and practical spelling.”

But the change appeared to be a slight to Mr Waterstone, who founded the chain in 1982 with one store in Kensington.

Mr Daunt said that the change “reflected an altogether truer picture of our business today which, while created by one, is now built on the continued contribution of thousands of individual booksellers”

The bookshop chain spokesman also said that it was reverting to a capital W in its name, less than two years after making it lower case in a previous rebranding.

Can you imagine a war between punctuation marks where the Apostrophe Protection Society defends itself against the aggressive Semi-colon Society; and where several commas interfere and are brought to a full stop?

WINTER DRAWS ON

And in more senses than one. Even though the days are getting longer, the nights seem to be getting longer too and it is really cold – even under a collection of blankets which I have on my bed. I long for the days when I was back in San Diego, enjoying the summer sunshine.

MYSTERY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Well, it’s a mystery to me. We have had two new films by Guy Ritchie entitled Sherlock Holmes, but as far-fetched from its title that it could possibly be.

The characters have no resemblance to either Holmes or Dr Watson. The stories are unintelligible and bear no relation to the books of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The last film which I saw – The Hound of the Baskervilles – where was Sir Henry Baskerville? Where was the convict on the moor? What was the point of the vast laboratory in which Watson was trapped for a while?

By all means let’s have a spoof on Sherlock Holmes – but let’s make it an intelligent one.

FINALLY

As I entered the conference hall, a man waved at me. Then he came over and said: I’m sorry, I thought that you were someone else. I said: I am.

sholmes168@gmail.com

________________________________

Thank you from Union Jack and our dear friend Stewart Quentin Holmes for all the letters and emails enquiring over his absence. – WELCOME BACK STEWART!

THE US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a proposal that would make the green card application process for some applicants a bit less stressful and more certain. The general rule is that if a foreign national is in the US and is the spouse of a US citizen, she can apply to have her status “adjusted” to that of a lawful permanent resident (green card) while physically in the US. This is the case even if the foreign national applicant is illegal in the US, having overstayed a visa admission. The exception to the ability to process IN the US is if the applicant entered the US “without inspection” or illegally. While this is less common for Brits we do see it from time to time. It is quite common for a Brit to enter on holiday with a visa waiver and subsequent to the expiry date of the entry becoming the spouse of a US citizen. In the great majority of those cases, a relatively straight forward “adjustment of status” application can be filed and processed IN the US.

The process for the spouse of a US citizen who cannot prove lawful entry, is that she must depart the US and apply for an immigrant visa at the US Consulate in her home country (usually the country of last residence). Where these applicants get tripped up is that it is not universally known that the very departure from the US that is required under the law to process for green card status, triggers a “bar” on the ability to reenter the US for a period of three or 10 years (depending on the circumstances). So, the applicant is a legitimate spouse of a US citizen and because by law, she must process her application out of the US, she becomes subject to a yearlong bar on reentry. Many applicants never come back and families remain separated.

There is a “waiver” of the bar on re-admission available if the applicant can prove “extreme hardship” to qualifying US citizen or permanent resident family. The standard is quite high and many waiver applications are denied leaving the applicant to wait out their “sentence” out of the US in order to return to their family in the US. Even if the waiver application is approved, it can easily take 6-9 months of processing during which the applicant must remain out of the US, separated from her family.

The new proposal, if promulgated, would allow the waiver application to be submitted IN the US. If approved, the applicant still departs the US and attends her immigrant visa interview but once the bar issue is raised at the interview, she simply presents the approved waiver certificate and if otherwise approvable, the immigrant visa application is approved and the visa is issued. This will serve to cut down on families being separated for long periods of time and insert more certainty into an already stressful process. The standard to get the waiver approved remains the same so there will still be many applicants whose domestically filed waiver applications will be denied. At least these folks can be thoughtful and organize their affairs in advance such that they can remain together out of the US for the bar period.

So, this procedural change, if enacted, really does not change the substance of the law but is arguably a more humane way of administering the laws that are currently on the books.

The above information is given for informational purposes only and should not be taken as legal advice. Please consult with an attorney to discuss the particulars of your own case. Mitch Wexler is a Partner with the international immigration law firm, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy. He is resident in its Irvine, CA office. He has been practicing immigration law for over 25 years and welcomes all queries to mwexler@fragomen.com or (949) 660-3531.

This article was first published in February 2012

“In cooking, as in all the arts, simplicity is the sign of perfection”
– Curmonsky

VEGETABLES WERE brought to England by the Romans, and vegetable-soup pottages were an important part of the diet of poor and rich alike, although the poor would have had more vegetables as they were easily grown and meat was often a luxury. Then in the 1600s with more exploring and travels being done, many new varieties of vegetables were introduced to Britain.

Nowadays with all the importing being done, any vegetable is available all year round, but I still feel the seasonal ones are better, especially easy to find at all the Farmers markets that have sprung up all over the States. Funny, how we never realised that organic was anything but normal when we were growing up, as most everyone I knew in England had a garden in the back, or an allotment, and grew our own vegetables. Also growing up in post World War II in England and Europe, we would always have 3-4 vegetables at meals to stretch it out as meats etc were not as accessible. (I remember rationing going on into the mid-fifties) Because of the surfeit of what we had I’m afraid I got put-off some veggies, particularly the ones that grew so easily such as Zucchini, Rutabaga, squash etc and to this day don’t eat them.

However except for roast potatoes with the meal, I only fairly recently “discovered” roasting vegetables of all kinds, but the root vegetables are great alone, or mixed. I have been roasting parsnips for a while, so easy with just a dash of honey and seasoning. The parsnip was the traditional accompaniment for roast beef before the potato was introduced. Delia Smith has a version of roasted root vegetables with herbs which is good, but this Christmas I found a recipe in a British magazine that I adapted and it was divine! It also made the best bubble and squeak the next day. The difference I think was the addition of apples, but it was so easy and so delicious so decided to feature it, I hope you like my version.

Roasted Root Vegetables

1 lb carrots
1 lb parsnips
2 red onions
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp peppercorns
a few pieces of fresh thyme
4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 Granny Smith and 1 Macintosh apple

Peel the carrots and cut into 3-4” pieces. Peel the parsnips, (if large ones cut out the core), and cut into equal size of the carrots. Peel and cut the onions into wedges. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put all the vegetables in a large roasting pan and drizzle the oil over. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary, cover with foil and roast about 30 minutes. Peel and core the apples and cut into quarters. Remove vegetables from oven and uncover, add the apples and roast another 30 minutes, uncovered, turning occasionally. Yield six servings.

(I welcome comments, recipes and requests and can be reached at Yourcuppatea1@yahoo.com.)

THE FINAL cost of the 2012 Olympics is expected to be five times the estimated figure when London won the bid in 2005, a Sky Sports investigation has found.

Their investigation has revealed that the final cost for hosting the Games will be over £12bn and associated costs could inflate the bill to as high as £24bn, which is over 10 times the original estimate.

In 2005 the estimated cost of hosting the Olympics and the Paralympics were £2.37bn, but the UK public sector funding package was increased to about £9.3bn in 2007, Sky.com reports.

According to the Sky investigation, an extra £2.4bn expenditure over £9.3bn would be incurred on extra expenses like deploying anti-doping control officers, spending on local councils for their Olympic torch relay programmes, cash spent on legacy schemes, governmental operational costs, the cost of the Olympic Park Legacy Company and legal bills over the stadium tenancy decision, extra pounds to UK Sport and the cost of buying the land for the venues at £766m.

But it excludes the extra counter-terrorism funding of £1.131bn, £4.4bn budgets of the security and intelligence services, the opportunity cost of having the majority of the UK police force policing the Games instead of being deployed elsewhere and £6.5bn on transport upgrades.

Had all the above factors been included the total bill would have shot up to £24bn, the report said.

Though the investigation has tried to include as many extra Games expenses as possible but there is certainly more spending that has not been accounted for, it added.

http://news.sky.com/home/london-olympics/article/16156780