Category Archives: England

Outdoor Wednesday ~ Castlerigg Stones in Britain

Castlerigg is one of the most beautiful stone circles in Britain, set in a splendid position, in an open field crowned by the Lake District’s mountains, 213m (700ft) above sea level. It is thought to be one of the earliest circles in Britain, and it dates from around 3000 BC.
Thirty-eight stones are placed in an slightly oval shape of 30m (100ft) in diameter; a further 10 small stones are arranged as a rectangular enclosure on the south-east side of the ring: this is a feature unique to Castlerigg, nothing similar being present in other stone circles. The largest stone of the circle, not far from the enclosure, is 2.5m (8ft 3in) high and it weighs about 16 tons: most of the others, much smaller, are 1 to 1.5m (3-5ft) high. At the north of the ring is an entrance marked by two slightly bigger stones, and about 90m (295ft) to the south-west, by a stile at the edge of the field, is a single outlying stone, 0.9m (3ft) high.

We were in this part of England and at this sight in May of 2006. The Lake District was a beautiful place to walk. I’m really itching to get back to Great Britain now that I’ve learned a few things through blogging about taking photographs :0)

To see more Outdoor Wednesday posts visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

ABC Wednesday ~ L is for …

L is for London

Dear and I love to travel to Great Britain and spend some time in London while we travel about the Isle. This is me in February of 2003 after we took a ride on the London Eye. You can see the “Eye” in the background.

This is a shot of one of the pods across from ours.

You really get a wonderful view of all of London.

For more ABC Wednesday Posts on the letter L head on over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-thon ~ Stitches

 April 6th – 12th ~ Share ideas and pictures that involve stitching for the tea table. Any kind of stitches count: sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet, tatting, quilting, etc. The work can be yours or of someone else, but should be homemade rather than done by factory machines. Ideas are
napkins, tea cozies, table linens, and other creations made with tea themes.

I have always called these dish towels tea towels so I’m including them in my stitch post. The Tea Cozy in the center was a gift that a friend in England knit for me after I was so excited seeing my very first tea cozy at her house in 1973. The doilie to the right of the tea cozy is great for setting a teapot on. I have a lot of tablecloths and napkins that I use for pretty tea tables that do not have a tea theme in particular. Most of these items are in my home in Washington and I don’t have access to them for this post. I’m looking forward to my visits to your sites to see what stichery you have…

I forgot about these fancy teaspoons we inherited from my MIL and decided to add them to this post

For more Hospital-i-Tea blogathon posts on stichery click here.

 

Fun Monday ~ First Celebrity Crush?

Oh boy is this one going to age me. Actually I’m aging just fine with no help 🙂

There probably was someone on the Mouseketeers that I had a crush on in the 50’s and early 60’s. Then there was Ricky Nelson (Ozzie and Harriett) that I might have had a crush on but the first out there in public crush that I had was for the Beatles. I think I liked them all but Ringo was my favorite. I sat there and watched them on the debut in the U.S. on the Ed Sullivan show. I was giddy with delight! I learned all their songs by heart and went to see all their movies.

For more Fun Monday go visit Jo

Jesu, Our Hope, Our Heart’s Desire ~

 

Jesu, our Hope, our heart’s Desire,
Thy work of grace we sing;
Redeemer of the world art Thou,
Its Maker and its King.

How vast the mercy and the love,
Which laid our sins on Thee,
And led Thee to a cruel death,
To set Thy people free!

But now the bonds of death are burst;
The ransom has been paid;
And Thou art on Thy Father’s throne,
In glorious robes arrayed.

O may Thy mighty love prevail
Our sinful souls to spare!
O may we stand around Thy throne,
And see Thy glory there!

Jesu, our only Joy be Thou,
As Thou our Prize wilt be;
In Thee be all our glory now
And through eternity.

All praise to Thee Who art gone up
Triumphantly to Heav’n;
All praise to God the Father’s Name
And Holy Ghost be given.

Words: Un­known au­thor, 7th or 8th Cen­tu­ry (Je­su nos­tra re­demp­tio, Amor et de­sid­er­i­um); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John Chand­ler (Hymns of the Prim­i­tive Church, 1837) and the com­pil­ers of Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1861.

ht: cyberhymnal

ABC Wednesday ~ J is for…

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J is for

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Our Son Josh who has brought lots of Joy to our lives!

Johnson Bros. Dishes that I love to collect here and there if I find them at a bargain price.

And for your dining pleasure a lovely Applesauce Raspberry Jello Salad that is perfect for Spring and Summer and you can click here for the recipe.

For more ABC Wednesday Posts travel over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Teacup-a-Story ~ Week One

March 16 – March 22
Teacup-a-Story ~Share a picture of your favorite teacup and saucer; describe it and tell it’s history (or make up a story about it’s past). Why is it meaningful to you? This would be a good place to share about the details of your teacup collection if you have one.

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These cups are each special to me for different reasons. The first one was made in Russia. My heritage is Russian and I was happy to find this cup and saucer at Goodwill on one of my shopping trips there. I really enjoy blues in dishes so that’s another reason I like it.
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The second photo is a tea-cup from the tea set that I bought as a souvenir when I was in England in 1973. I really enjoyed the shape of the Royal Albert china. After we were married we traveled to Canada and were able to add to my original tea set with a dinner service for 12. Besides blue and white I find pink and green very pleasing to my eyes.
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This next tea cup and saucer are from my MIL’s stash. Her brother gave her a set of dishes in this pattern as a wedding gift. I love the flowers and the history that goes with this sweet cup.
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The last cup is from a set of dishes that I saw in a model home that we walked through before we bought our home in Ventura, California in 1984. When we moved in to our home the housing development had a model home furniture and accessories sale and I bought the service for 4 for $25.00. I was a happy camper. The pattern is English Chippendale/Johnson Bros./ England.

I never collected tea-cups but I inherited and bought them here and there when one caught my eye. You can visit LaTeaDah and see more Tea-cups with a story.

 

Advent Tells Us, Christ is Near ~ Hymn

At first glance this hymn may not seem appropriate for our Easter Season but read it all the way through. Blessings on you today and through Easter Celebrations this year!

Advent tells us, Christ is Near

(words by A. Katherine Hankey 1834-1911)

Advent tells us, Christ is near:
Christmas tells us Christ is here!
In Epiphany we trace
All the glory of His grace.

Those three Sundays before Lent
Will prepare us to repent;
That in Lent we may begin
Earnestly to mourn for sin.

Holy Week and Easter, then,
Tell who died and rose again;
O that happy Easter day!
“Christ is risen indeed,” we say.

Yes, and Christ ascended, too,
To prepare a place for you;
So we give Him special praise,
After those great forty days.

Then, He sent the Holy Ghost,
On the day of Pentecost,
With us ever to abide:
Well may we keep Whitsuntide!

Last of all, we humbly sing
Glory to our God and King,
Glory to the One in three,
On the Feast of Trinity.

For information on Whitsuntide click here.

This was written for Sunday School of St. Peter’s Eaton Square, London and printed on a card with music by the author.

Ht: Cyberhymnal for Hymn and history.