Mae...a good dog, a cup of tea and reminescing..

I was just reading thru my post of Oct 31st 08. It is titled "a cup of tea". I have been drinking tea everyday since 1980. That was the year we moved from North Carolina to the UK with the USAF. Before I go into that I must tell you that Mae did pass away in November 2008. Mae was a beautiful Dobie and the most well mannered dog of all. She lived a good life and was very loved by all. We miss her greatly. Pets are so important to us and always have been. We have collected them or rather they collected us as we have moved around.
Back to England...we first moved to USAFE Bentwaters/Woodbridge in 1980-1983. We lived in Ipswich to begin with in a house on Nacton Road. We purchased a springer spaniel puppy named Eyke in the village outside of the Base called Eyke. He was a handful! Very bonnie tho. We then moved to a beautiful town called Halesworth near Lowestoff on the North Sea. I loved Halesworth and the wonderful people I met and have treasured forever from there. Our neighbors..Gladys and Ernie were from London, in fact they had both survived the bombings there during the early days of the war. Sadly, Gladys lost her Mum and her little Daughter and her Husband all in one days time from the bombs. We had many talks about this and how sad it all was. Our daughter Annie was about 2 years old then and Gladys and Ernie took a shine to her. Almost everyday when they went to the market they would bring her Buttons chocolates and other goodies when they were in season. We had tons of cups of tea with them and went for many car rides together on the weekends. I kept in contact with them until they both passed away. We had many other good friends and a special friend named Mrs.Bennett. She also love little Annie and they all spoiled her so. We had a wonderful time one evening at Bungay at a medevial feast banquet. We also loved going on the Norfolk Broads and seeing the house boats. It was a wonderful time for us. We also spent many days at Framlingham Castle as well. We moved to the Base in Rendlesham Forrest and that was ok. I missed the villages so Annie and I spent many days in the villages surrounding and visiting our friends back in Halesworth. I also loved going to the Snape Maltings, especially in the summer time with the visiting artist in residence. We may have gone to Ipswich a few times in the three years but I did not like it there as I rather prefer the quiet village life. When our time was up we got transferred to upstate NY for 3 years (more on that later) and then back to the UK for another 3 years. This time we were sent to UpperHeyford from 1986-1989. We LOVED this area sooo much. We started out in Bicester and then moved to Brackley for almost 2 years. We had a second child with us on this tour and her name is Natalie and she was 2 1/2 when we moved to Brackley. I loved to walk down to the town each day and especially loved "market days". We spent alot of weekends in Stratford upon Avon and Oxford which is a wonderful town full of the different colleges and so, so much to do there. Natalie was in a play group and then little school as I liked to call it. We had many friends there and loved to go on Teddy Bear picnics and other trips with Natalie's school and Annie's school on the base at Croughton. We eventually moved on Base and lived at Croughton. We discovered Wales and spent many, many weekends at Betsy-Coed as we called it. This is not the proper spelling but I think it is something like Bet-ta-se-Se-Coid, or something close to that. We loved walking all the many paths and discovering a truely wonderful land there in Wales. We toured many Castlesand even had a weeks Holiday there on the coast in a caravan park. This was a magical time in our lives. I have been back to the OK once and that was from July 2001 until October 2001. I would have stayed longer but had to return stateside after 9-11 happened as my Hubby's contract at Mildenhall was cancelled due to the impending action. I would go back tomorrow given the chance. I love the British and Welsh people and the few Scots that we met. I treasure these memories, these bits and pieces of my life. The children, the friends, the travels all of it...none can compare. Dear God, Thank you for memories and for the wonderful people you have placed in my life for a season or two.