My Souvenir Tea Set

A year ago, I had just the blue mug with FLAMBOROUGH
HEAD written on it. I'd had it a good number of years
-- maybe even ten years.Then one day I was browsing
eBay for Flamborough memorabilia when I came across
the sugar bowl. I had no idea there was a sugar bowl to
this set in fact I didn't even know there was a set! Anyway
I purchased it and then continued to browse e Bay for the
creamer. I reasoned that wherever there is a sugar bowl
there has to be a creamer. It was a good number of months
before I found anything else, then suddenly I came
across the teapot! Another surprise. I purchased
the teapot and continued to watch for the creamer. Then
just before we left to go to England for a month, the creamer
appeared on eBay. I purchased this. The last two items
I picked up from the sellers in England while we were there.

So now, here is my set, only valuable to me because they
are from my village and because I didn't know they existed.
(I think they cost less than $20 for all four pieces!)

THIS ONE'S FOR WANDA

....Speaking of husbands, especially Pastors, (see
Wanda's Blog: brushstrokesfromtheheart.blogspot.com),
here's one I caught of Barry a few years ago with our
last cat, 'Pogue'.



Don't know who looks the most relaxed, the cat or Barry.
Probably the cat.

CHANGE OF PACE

Sleepy cat, sleepy cat, soaks up the sun.
Tummy full, tummy full, breakfast is done.
One last long stretch and a twitch of an ear,
Contented deep sigh; there's nothing to fear.

Sound asleep, sound asleep-- somewhere in space.
Drifting and dreaming; warm, comfy place.
Soft, gentle breathing, -- but make no mistake--
One chirp from a bird and he's up, wide awake!

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Milton I'm not, but this was just for fun. I brought
the sheep rug on which Bailey is dreaming, from
North Wales a few years ago. It's not real sheepskin
and washes quite well. Note the silver, crushed velvet
bed to the left. Do you think this cat is spoiled?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm getting some photo ATC's together. It's been a
long while since I posted any. To view them, click on
the side bar to the right at ChrisJ's Photo ATC's

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

One evening at the Conference last month, I felt the
need for a break from so many people and so much
noise (people in the dining room, at coffee breaks,
finding seats etc. I find I frequently need some peace
and quiet -- that's why I love my patio.) So I skipped
an evening session and sat outside in the gardens for
a while. In June, in England the sun doesn't really set
until after 10:00 pm.




So here was my view in the twilight. Just what I
needed.

But then, as I sat there I saw something strange
against the sky, climbing one of the tall trees in a
nearby grove. It was large and weird-shaped. It
wasn't really scary, just weird. Then as I watched, it
suddenly dawned on me that it was one of the
peacocks I had seen around the grounds of the
house earlier that day. I had no idea peacocks
roosted in trees !



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Speaking of weird, this tree was in the field behind
me. Not scary either, just on old oak that had seen
better days and was trying to start some new growth.


But isn't the dark sky a great foil for it?

And to go from the sublime to the ridiculous, this
sign in a Cotswold village just struck me as a wee
bit incongruous!






Even funnier was my sister's comment on
this photo. It is of Barry and I "with our
seeing eye dog"!

It's those automatically darkening glasses again!!
The dog belongs to the B&B we were staying at.
We'll have to start carrying two pair of glasses with
us when we go on vacation.

Quick Heads Up

Just posted three more Prisma ATC's on my other blog.
See side bar for link.

Back soon with more photos.

WEEK 3: FLAMBOROUGH HEAD

Oh dear! Fog, wind and rain for a whole week.
You can't even see the top of the radio mast at
the fog horn station in this photo -- and that's the
North Sea out there.



First the fog...



then the wind...



Those cliffs are about a hundred feet high (the
chalk part).



The skies over the lighthouse looked ominous.



Then came the rain! It bucketed down -- so much that
the footpath of steps down to the beach at North
Landing became a series of waterfalls.



But we sisters, (Kay and I,) took advantage of
the dry spells. (Sorry about the sunglasses, they
darken automatically). Look at all the school children
in the background who came in bus loads to see
Flamborough Head and the caves. This area is
noted for its geological significance, hence the school
children.

But why did Kay and I brave the weather? Because
we grew up there -- about a hundred yards away
from where this photo was taken.

In this aerial view you can see where our house used
to be located. The houses with the red roofs are on
the right side of the lighthouse road. On the left side of
the lighthouse road, where those houses bend
to the right, there is a patch of dark green and the
light green of the golf course right-angles into it.

Our house was right there.

Yes, our father was the manager of the golf course.


If you would like to know more about Flamborough,
go to my web site www.flamboroughhead.com
The first couple of pages are about my book, but
the rest of the pages are about Flamborough.

Back on the Coach Again

We spent Tuesday in Chester and North Wales.
Chester is a great city with many places to explore,
including Roman walls on which you can walk and
see grooves in the stone path from the Roman Chariots.

Here is a fine example of Tudor houses in Chester.


...and poor Helen got thrown into the stocks by the
town crier.



North Wales is so beautiful -- more lakes and
mountains. This is Capel Curig near Mount Snowdon,
which is the highest mountain in England and Wales
at 3560 feet.



I'm not sure if this photo below is Snowdon.
I took it mainly for the sturdy English oak tree on the
left. The English have always been proud of their oak
trees because"hearts of oak" were what was used to
build the fine British navy ships in the times of Elizabeth I
-- but you'd never know it was an oak tree from this photo.
Couldn't decide if I wanted the tree or the view. I
was in a small tea garden waiting for the rest of the
gang to arrive and even got sun burned -- in England??



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


From Wales we headed south to the Cotswolds, an
area of small, picturesque villages that used to be a
prime area for sheep and wool, but since there's
little call for wool these days they have turned to
tourism -- but tastefully, thankfully.


The problem here was when to stop taking photographs!



Again, the weather was gorgeous...



...and the photo opportunities spectacular.






How could we not take these photos?!



<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Finally, we moved on to Oxford where folks with
more energy than I have, took a walking tour.
I took a bus! Many old buildings and of course
the town was full of students. This is the city
where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien lived and wrote.


This old brick cross was in the center of the road in
the market place and is truly alone worth the visit
to Oxford, for this is the place where Hugh Ridley and
Nicholas Latimer, and not much later Thomas Cranmer,
were burned at the stake for their Protestant beliefs,
during the reign of Mary I.

It is said that as the flames arose around them, Latimer
declared:
"Be of good comfort Master Ridley, for we shall this day
light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust
shall never be put out." October 16, 1555.
Less than 50 years after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses
to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral-- (the beginning of the
Protestant Reformation), these men gave their lives so that
the man in the street could read the Bible for himself.

ENGLAND: WEEK TWO

For our second week we took 44 friends on a coach
tour of beautiful England and Wales. Fortunately
the weather cooperated and we had a wonderful
week. It didn't rain once, not even in the Lake
District.



Here we all are, some from Australia, Argentina, the
UK, Canada, Micronesia -- and a lot from Carlsbad,
California.


On our first day out, we took the North Yorkshire
Moors steam train from Pickering to Goathland,
near Whitby, on the north east coast of Yorkshire.







I took these photos from out of the train window while
we were stopped at a station along the way. The
poppies were gorgeous -- and enormous.


This is Whitby Harbor with St. Hilda's Abbey
in the back ground. St. Hilda was born in 614 AD
and the abbey you see here was built about 500
years later. By the time of St. Hilda, there were
a good number of converts to Christianity in the
area and north of here.



Robin Hood's Bay - no cars allowed.At one time
all the people who lived in this tiny village were
smugglers.This road may look narrow but the
side 'roads' are narrow alley-ways only wide
enough for donkeys.



The next day was Sunday, so we traveled down to
Cliff College in Derbyshire, a Methodist Training
College for evangelists, where Barry preached on
"I am the Good Shepherd".


This place has special significance for Barry and I
because this is where we met in 1957 and lived
there for a year, from 1964-65. In addition, it
was through the ministry of the Cliff students who
came to my home town of Bridlington to conduct
beach missions, that I became a Christian and
understood the full significance of what it means
to have my sins forgiven.

So of course we had to have our photographs taken
in the Samuel Chadwick Memorial Chapel!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Our next stop was Chatsworth House, said to be
the place on which Jane Austen based her description
of Pemberley in her novel "Pride and Prejudice".


It was a beautiful day and many many people were
picnicking in the extensive grounds and gardens among
waterfalls, fountains and lakes.

There was even a small orchestra playing, as you
can see from this photo.



On our way out to Cliff College and Chatsworth we
passed the twisted spire of the Chesterfield Cathedral;
twisted because it was made out of wood and warped!

Our next stop was the Lake District where we took a
boat across Lake Windemere to Bowness. Then
some of us visited Dove Cottage, where William
Wordsworth lived with his sister. This is the Wordsworth
of "Daffodils" fame. I think every school child in Britain
was exposed to this at one time or other:

"I wandered lonely as a cloud...."



Too late for daffodils, but plenty of rhododendrons
and other beautiful flowers as well as scenery.


This is taking a long time to resize and post the photos
-- not to mention choosing which ones to post.

Will have to continue tomorrow with Chester, North
Wales, the Cotswolds and Oxford.

BACK AGAIN

Really, I've been back almost three weeks.

So now, where to begin...? Our three weeks in
England were great!

What would you think if I told you this was our country
home?...No, I don't think so!!!



We spent the first week here at an international
conference: the World Evangelical Congregational
Conference It was held at Hothorpe Hall in Leicester-
shire. It is a beautiful old mansion, standing in its own
grounds. The accommodations and food were great,
not to mention the fellowship and many new friends
we made.

I highly recommend this venue for other interested
groups.



The dining room.



The beautiful grounds.



There was even a small stream running through,
and peacocks roaming around!




The conference was a huge success, with churches
from 16 different nations represented. Here we have
the group from Brazil warming
up for the evening service.



Hothorpe Hall from the air.

>>>and that was just the first week. More tomorrow...