Ashley and I have known each other since the first week of college. Most of you know when that was. If you missed the memo, tough luck. I'm 35. Figure it out. Early on, Ash fell in love with a Brit. Drama. The US government. The Hostage Crisis happened and green cards were cancelled. Suddenly Ash was in England, getting married. Costumer JoEllen had been scheduled to design & deliver the dress to Virginia. I cried. Gregg said, "So get on a plane and take it...

Waterloo Station at 14:00 for the fast ride to Portsmouth Harbour and the haven offered by another precious friend. Ashley met me at the train on her scooter (Ash has MND to you Brits; ALS for the Americans amongst us). Ten years of the nasty thing, and she meets my train--traveling faster than me with my cases, by a long shot. From the train round to the left to the Gosport ferry (lovely ride across the Harbour) to the bus to Ashley's perfect home in Gosport. ...

This is Liberty & Co., the consummate English store. I am an old sewer, working with my grandmother's scissors and a real thimble. I savor fabric and construction. I am an old costumer. To walk to the upper floors of Liberty's is, for me, a walk into time past and future. It's Tudor, inside and out. And filled with all things wonderful from the British Empire. I have a stack of Liberty silk scarves, collected over years of visits. This time I replaced the sho...

The first thing you need to understand about visiting London is that you're never done with seeing it all. This must be my sixth visit, and I'm still checking off things I haven't time to do. I highly recommend going to church in a 1,000 year-old cathedral. If nothing else puts things in perspective, that will. From Westminster Abbey yesterday I sauntered through St. James Park, past the pelicans and ice cream vendors, to Buckingham Palace. I took a picture of ...

I am the luckiest girl in the world. Remember this as we move on. I am an only child and I grew up in the country in a white house on a hill. My best friends were a dog, a horse, and a tree I named "Charlie." So you might imagine as I went out into the world I discovered that this friendship business was very cool. I have been blessed with crazy, fabulous, beautiful, smart friends of all types, sizes, persuasions, etc. etc., and so forth. Imagine my delight whe...