Douglas Dalrymple remembers his great-grandmother... Mary Irene and I used to hunt snakes in the fields behind her house. By July the mustard flowers and tumbleweeds had dried up and blown away to uncover the little holes where I imagined that snakes plotted and hid. Playing the chivalrous protector, I would ... Read More...
America
Ever wondered why Americans have an enormous family turkey dinner just before having to do it all over again a few weeks later? Author and historian Peter Firstbrook explains Thanksgiving for a British audience, including why it's so close to Christmas... Today, millions of families throughout the United States will sit down ... Read More...
Christmas in America is a-comin' already - and Rita isn't too happy about it... “Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells” sang the little boys in the back seat, loud and enthusiastic rather than tuneful. “Really boys,” I interrupted, “it’s not even Thanksgiving yet!” I tried to interest them in a made-up turkey song, ... Read More...
Mark Pack explains why the work of a now almost forgotten political novelist is worth seeking out... A best-selling author shifting millions of books in the post-war decades, a renowned public intellectual, a friend of celebrities such as Marlon Brando, a highly respected political scientist and famous enough to feature in ... Read More...
Rita is tired of the worldwide image of the Ugly American, and explains why in her usual mild, non-confrontational way... The first Americans I ever met were disguised as Canadians. They had sewn maple leaf patches onto their backpacks because they were so tired of being confronted about the Vietnam ... Read More...
'Fear no weevil' is the motto of this Alabama town, a place that likes weevils so much they've even built a monument to them. Another strange Wikipedia article discovered by the Wikiworm... The Boll Weevil Monument in downtown Enterprise, Alabama, United States is a prominent landmark and tribute erected by the citizens of Enterprise in 1919 ... Read More...
Our ex-pat American correspondent Rita is lucky enough to live in Maryland, home of one of the most beautiful Falls in the world. But can you ever escape modern life, even when Leaf Peeping?... September is over, and as the days dwindle down to a precious few, an annual American ritual ... Read More...
A tasty, trashy treat for you today as American expat Misti Traya goes back to her country roots to show us how to make a lemon ice box pie. Misti's post recently won the 2014 Young British Foodies award for food writing... It’s no secret some of my family can be ... Read More...
In which the determinedly lapsed Rita fails to shake off her Catholic roots... When we crossed the Mason-Dixon line and I saw the Maryland countryside for the first time, I was reminded of England. After five years in California the green, gently rolling Maryland hills dotted with sheep and cattle were ... Read More...
Fear is always with us, says Rita in her latest dispatch from the States, and sometimes it's justified... “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words are among the most well known American sound bites of the 20th century. They are often interpreted as ... Read More...
