Stow on the Wold ~ Day #5

It’s Tuesday and our 5th day in Jolly Old England. Today we spent a more leisurely day taking a short drive to a nice market town, Stow on the Wold. I’m doing a full post about this little town today since we are relaxing the afternoon and evening away at the cottage.

We visited this town last September with Josh and Laura but we only spent about a half hour here. Today we spent close to 2 hours walking around.

“Ancient and historic Stow on-the Wold is the highest town in the Cotswolds standing 800 feet above sea level. Stow is located at the junction of six roads making it an important and natural meeting place of the Cotswolds. One of the renowned Cotswold routes meeting in Stow is the famous Roman road – The Fosse Way. “

“History and hospitality is never far away in Stow. Stow is the location of the oldest inn in England with a history reaching as far back as 987AD.”

“The Square is a reminder of Stow on the Wold’s heritage as the Cotswold’s major sheep market. In one of his Cotswold travels writer Daniel Defoe once recorded that 20,000 sheep were sold during a single day. Another reminder of Stow’s past is the little alleys leading from the market square. These were intentionally built narrow and winding as a way to control and count sheep.”

” The Kings Arms on the market square hosted King Charles I before the Battle of Naseby in 1645.”

I had to take a photo of this reader board outside to help me with the timeline that our visit includes with the last week of the World Cup taking place while we are here.

There were several different “thrift” stores in this little town that I enjoyed poking around in. I bought a couple of things easy to pack and bring home with me.

“A much later addition to Stow is St Edwards Hall in the market square. This was built in 1878. Money for the building came from funds left unclaimed in the town Savings Bank. The Hall houses the public library and exhibitions of Civil War artifacts.”

When I get back home I’ll do a full post on the church of St. Edward that Dear and I spent some time in today in Stow.

On our way back to the cottage we stopped at Warner Budgens supermarket in Moreton on Marsh to buy our takeaway dinner items. We chose a Cotswold locally fresh, not frozen, made Beef, Guinness and Ale Pie and some minted green vegetables.

Pricey but it was enough for both of us to split.

You should have seen the nice wedge of butter on top of these veggies, these were not frozen either, just ready to microwave.

The meal was delicious and it’s nice to enjoy a leisurely afternoon and evening at the cottage with the sun shining and a nice cool breeze blowing in the open windows. There’s Dear in the kitchen area of the cottage.

Tonight I plan to stay up late and watch Brazil play Germany in the World Cup Semi-finals. It’s so weird to think everyone in our home time zone are just beginning your day and we are winding down. Hope all is well wherever you find yourselves today.

Cheers From England ~ #4

On this Monday after our second English Breakfast that we made for ourselves at the cottage we would venture out to two gardens right next to each other. Before I move on to the gardens here’s a collage of our breakfast time with some visitors that came to our door begging when they caught wind of the sausages cooking.

We were warned by the owners of the property that their dogs would try to get us to feed them and they told us not to give in. The dogs looked so hopeful.

The first garden to visited was Hidcote Garden. It is a National Trust Property. We aren’t here in prime garden time having missed the roses being in their glory but we still enjoyed a lot of color at the gardens.

I will need to devote a few posts in the future to these lovely gardens we visited but for now I’ll only leave you with a couple snapshots.

The second Garden we visited was the Kiftsgate Court and Garden which was across the way from Hidcote.

We got a fair amount of walking and climbing up and down trails today.

This evening we have dinner reservations at the Ebrington Arms and while we have been relaxing in the cottage this afternoon a thunderstorm has passed over us with quite a downpour. We are hoping it moves on because we do not relish the idea of driving country lanes in a downpour!

Cheers From England ~ #3

Today is Sunday and we had a late start in our adventures out and about. I stayed up late to watch the Netherlands vs. Costa Rica World Cup Soccer game that went into overtime and a shoot out to determine the winner. Finally laying my head on the pillow at midnight made for a later than usual rising. On this Sunday morning we made ourselves breakfast at the cottage. We had eggs, handmade sausages from the butcher, sauteed mushrooms, fried tomatoes and toast.

Delicious. My toast was spread with a lovely Damson jam. We have been enjoying our French Pressed coffee each morning, too. We are glad we thought to grind some beans and pack them in our suitcase not knowing when we’d be able to make it to a grocery store.

I’m going to have an extensive post about our destination this Sunday and the reason I wanted to visit this town. This is a little clue of the name of the town and the statue I wanted to see. Think…nursery rhyme.

We are huge fans of country roads with a nice white stripe down the middle.

These roads with no white lines and inadequate space for two small cars to pass each other have caused us a bit of stress. My poor Dear is doing a fabulous job of driving but he is being stretched out of his driving comfort zone. I’m trying hard not to make terrified noises in the passenger seat that is really the driver seat and just plain weird to be seated in it without a steering wheel in front of me and to see the hedges up close and hear the branches brush upside my head. The scenery is gorgeous and I wish I was brave enough to drive so Dear could enjoy some of it.

We are so thankful and grateful to God for our time here and for the quiet country cottage where we can relax in the morning and the end of our day of adventures. It is so so quiet here and it gets so dark at night. There are no city lights, street lights, etc. that light up the sky here. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to see an owl while we are here.

O Father, Hear My Morning Prayer ~ Hymn

O Father, Hear My Morning Prayer

O Father, hear my morning prayer,
Thine aid impart to me,
That I may make my life today
Acceptable to Thee.

May this desire my spirit rule,
And, as the moments fly,
Something of good be born in me,
Something of evil die.

Some grace that seeks my heart to win,
With shining victory meet;
Some sin that strives for mastery
Find overthrow complete.

That so throughout the coming day
The hours shall carry me
A little farther from the world,
A little nearer Thee.

Words: Frances A. Percy

Cheers From England ~ #2

We had a much needed good rest on Friday night. We woke up to birds singing and a light drizzle. Our second day in England and the Cotswolds specifically brought us to the town of Chipping Camden. We really enjoyed this town last year with Josh and Laura and it was nice to go back and explore it further. We also had the fun task of buying a few groceries to have at the cottage. We plan to cook an “English Breakfast” at the cottage on Sunday morning. We bought fresh eggs and a variety of sausages at the Butcher. We bought some tomatoes and mushrooms from the grocer. We bought a fresh baked loaf of bread from the Boulangerie. We bought some Damson Preserves and butter from another small shop on High Street. We also bought some local Cotswolds Cheese from the Cheesemonger. After we had all our supplies we enjoyed a great meal at the Eight Bells and had some fun talking World Cup Soccer with the locals. We braved some very narrow lanes to get to Snowshill to see some lavender fields in bloom, too.

Now we are back at the cottage and I hope to catch the Netherlands v. Costa Rica game on the telly soon.

Hope your Saturday is going well.

Cheers From England ~ #1

We arrived safely in Jolly old England on Friday the 4th of July at noon. After going through customs and retrieving our luggage we headed to the car rental agency and took the time we needed to become familiar with the car and set the SAT/NAV (GPS) for our first stop on our trip. It’s not easy navigating roads, especially the narrow lanes with tired eyes and little sleep but Dear managed to get us to our destination just before four in the afternoon safely. This is the wonderful cottage we will be staying in for seven nights. It is (what the U.K. calls) a self-catering cottage which means we pay to stay in a fully equipped space but we do our own pampering. No one cooks us breakfast or makes our bed each night. I will journal our days as much as I can while it’s fresh to me so I can remember our days when we return home.

When we unpacked the car and met the owner of the cottage we set off to get a refreshment at a Pub in a village close by that he highly recommended. Nothing is really that close to our quiet cottage so we will be navigating the narrow lanes of the Cotswolds a lot. After we return home I will post photos of the inside of our hand hewn, oak beamed, open vaulted ceilings and other very cool architectural features of the cottage and the setting it is in.

For today (Saturday) we will regain our balance and do some grocery shopping so we can make our own breakfasts at the cottage.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Happy 4th of July!

Before I take you on a walk about the yard I wanted to wish everyone in the good ole U.S.A. a very Happy Independence Day.

We landed in the country we gained independence from on the 4th of July!

Because of my early Thursday morning walk about I found myself another job to do and another request to make of our house guests before we left the country.

Many of the blueberries are ready for picking. This will be a nice fresh treat for the guests!

I love the hydrangeas at this stage of coloring.

We also have white ones and a small potted pink one this year.

The lavender has made it’s debut, too.

I’ll leave a note for our guests to feel free to snip the fresh thyme for their meals.

The apples won’t be ready until we return home.

So how’s your garden/yard growing?

Canlis

There’s a restaurant in the Seattle area that is a kind of icon that reminds you of bygone days when people would dress up to go out to eat and service was top notch. We had never been to Canlis before. We might have been a little intimidated but no more…

Josh and Laura invited us to join them in the Canlis Lounge to break the intimidation and celebrate a late Mother’s Day/Father’s Day meal together.

One of the views from the restaurant. Remember the fact that I was a little intimidated to start so my photo taking suffered because of that. I did not get one photo of Laura and I on the other side of the table.

Father and Son with Father starting or re-visiting a style statement from years gone by.

The Bolo or String Tie. Do you remember these? Dear has 3 of them that were his fathers.

A shot of Josh with the piano player behind him. The soft live piano music was a very nice addition. I just noticed that nice shiny table top that picked up a reflection of Josh.

We ordered small bites along with the Canlis Salad. The Canlis Salad has been on the menu since opening night of the restaurant in 1950. The recipe was taught to Peter Canlis by his Lebanese mother. Oops, forgot to take a photo of the salad.

I did get a photo of myself in the ladies room so you can see I was wearing pearls and I did wear a dress instead of my usual jeans. Fabulous expression on my face. Looks like I was holding my breath hoping no one walked through the door and caught me!

We had to order this dish to top off the night. Canlis Souffle ~ Grand Marnier, Orange zest and creme anglaise. Please allow 30 minutes for this dessert. We were happy to allow the time and enjoyed it very much.

There is a story that we keep retelling about this night at Canlis. Josh drove us up to the door and the valet team let us out of the car and drove the car away with no tickets, no names exchanged. They just said, “Have a nice evening”. We stepped into the restaurant and walked to the host/hostess area and said “We don’t have reservations but we would like to eat in the lounge”. No names exchanged. We were guided to the lounge where we chose our seats and enjoyed our time together. Josh paid the bill at the end of our time and we walked up the stairs and out the front door of the restaurant and Josh’s car magically appeared at the door as soon as we exited the restaurant. We did not have a seconds wait for our car. I looked at the Valet and said “How did you do that?” He looked at me and smiled. They are not giving out their secrets but we had fun speculating on how that little bit of magic happened on the way home. The next time we go to Canlis I’ll take a photo of that famous salad!

Y is for Yum!

With all of our celebrations and visitors this time of year I decided I’d feature the yummy food that has been placed before us recently.

I’m linking to ABC Wednesday with thanks to Denise Nesbitt and the pithy team that keeps us going.

Yum, Yum, Yummy food glorious food!

Queen Mary Tea Room ~ Seattle, Washington

WESTMINSTER

Phyllo dough crust surrounds layers of ham, spinach, egg, onion, tomato, plus layers of assorted white cheeses. Served with a side of fresh fruit and a green salad

Breakfast with family from California at the Portage Bay Cafe ~ South Lake Union, Seattle

Dinner at the Canlis Lounge, Seattle, Washington, with our son and DIL for a late Mother’s Day/Father’s Day celebration.

Dinner at Red Star Tavern in Portland, Oregon, with my cousins during our time in town for a wedding.

Yes and Yippy, I even did some cooking. I’ll be posting my Huevos Rancheros with Gluten Free Ranchero Sauce later this month on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog.

Last to make you smile is the wedding cake doughnuts we enjoyed this last Saturday at the wedding we attended outside of Portland, Oregon. It was a morning wedding with Brunch served after the ceremony.

The doughnuts were ordered from Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, Oregon.

Hope you weren’t hungry while you visited my contribution for the letter Y! I might be absent for Z and A since a trip across the pond is in my near future.

Gatherning the Moments ~ June

Looking back at June and all that took place around this old house and beyond.

I’m joining Cheryl at Thinking About Home for Gathering the Moments.

Trees came down, firewood cut, patio covers went up, peonies bloomed and were enjoyed, hydrangeas just started to color.

Main floor bathroom renovations began with the gutting process, removing everything to the studs and car deck, adding a new window, adding recessed lights and a fan/heater, replacing the ceiling dry wall.

Visitors came from the South and visitors came from the North. Tours commenced. The Market, Kerry Park, the Troll, Ballard Locks, Ste Michelle Winery, Whidbey Island, Queen Mary Tea Room, and University Village just to name a few destinations visited.

Celebrations in June included a retirement, combined Mother’s Day/Father’s Day dinner, and a wedding in the Portland area.

World Cup fever began and continues!

It’s been a while since I shared a photo of my dear old Pop on my blog. Most every week my sister Lana and niece Melissa join him for dinner at his apartment. This last week my niece Debbee and sister Kathy joined in the fun, too. They are getting real good at taking these selfies. My pop still has his ups and downs with his loneliness but he can still move around well and gets out to his church services and a Bible Study weekly. I appreciate seeing the weekly photos on Facebook since I live so far away…

I have to say that June just flew by this year. July holds many new adventures for us. We are looking forward to a trip to England to celebrate our 40 years of marriage, and when we get back the Bathroom renovation will be completed. What are you looking forward to in July?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Author Archives: Ellen