Foggy With a Chance of Sunshine

We have had quite a stretch of foggy days with several days of rain, too.

“Faith is like radar that sees through the fog—the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.” – Corrie Ten Boom.

And then a glorious couple hours of this…

The sun broke through the fog and we could see blue sky for just a few hours on Friday and now we are back to fog and rain. That couple of hours reminds us that the sky is still blue and the sun is still there and the fog will lift again.

How are the skies where you are?

First Weekend in January

The first weekend in 2024 proved to be a busy one. On Friday we enjoyed a last minute open house at the home of our friends and met some of their neighbors. On Saturday a big pot of borsch was cooked from scratch with broth from a seven bone roast. A few quarts of borsch will be shared this week. One small pot was delivered to our neighbor.

On Saturday evening we attended a Karaoke party for a friend from church who turned 50. We met another couple from our community and had a nice time getting to know each other. There have been lots of predictions of snow that didn’t materialize until Sunday in the wee hours. We woke up to a pretty blanketed landscape.

The following collage is photos of our ride into church on Sunday morning. Our series in Colossians continues to be excellent.

We didn’t have anymore snow on Sunday but they are threatening us with more starting Monday Evening into Tuesday. Time will tell if they are right.

Fountains Abbey Part Two and Onward

Continuing Day Nine of our travels, after the ruins of the Abbey we kept walking a circular path that would take us back to the main entrance going past the water garden.

We went through this dark tunnel upward to view the octagon tower.

We crossed the lake and continued to St. Mary’s church instead of going on to the deer park.

We were disappointed to see the church would not open until 1pm.

We made it back to the main gate and enjoyed lunch before heading back to York to drop off our car and take a train to Liverpool. At the Enterprise car rental station we had another good experience and we got a special ride back to the railway station. Once at the station we had time before our train would depart so we found a table at a pub at the station and played Phase 10 to pass the time. Soon it was time to head to platform 5 for our 2 hour train ride to Liverpool.

Thankfully our train ride had no delays and no cancellations. We enjoyed meeting a gal, sitting in front of us, who had just gotten back to England from our neck of the woods. We were surprised to hear her talking about being in Bellingham and she was shocked to hear that Laura went to university in Bellingham. We arrived at the Lime Street station in Liverpool with a short walk to our hotel.

We got our luggage into our rooms and then ventured out for a place to enjoy dinner. We headed to the Denbigh Castle and realized right away there was not even an inch of space with the crowd enjoying an Everton game. It was so great to be there on the outside looking in when Everton scored and the whole pub erupted with cheers.

We moved on from The Denbigh and found the Hawksmoor and there was a table in the bar for us even though we did not have reservations.

We placed our orders and it took quite a long long time before any food appeared at our table. They finally came to our table apologetically and told us that my hamburger was dropped on the way to our table and they had to go out and buy some buns because they had run out of buns. LOL!

The food was good and we were okay with the wait. Greg had a vegetable wellington that looked cool and tasted good. Josh called an Uber for us when we finished dinner instead of walking back to the hotel.

This was the end of day nine and time for a good sleep after a very long day of travel and walking. Two more full days of travel before it was time to fly home.

The Dales Way ~ Part 2

This continues the post of our walk over hill and dale from Grassington to Hebden and back to Grassington along the River Wharfe. The whole walk was closer to 6 miles than 4 miles but the steps that Laura’s device clocked were 20,077! This was on Thursday September 21, 2023.

We left our cozy Pub and headed through the village towards the River Wharfe.

The Old School Tea Room, Hebden. Family run, traditional but quirky tea room. Gifts, crafts and cards also available. School dates back to 1874 and the old bell still chimes every hour! (Laura, we missed going in here)

Hebden suspension bridge: The bridge, next to stepping stones, was built in 1884 to connect Hebden with Thorpe after a man drowned trying to cross the Wharfe. Nearby Burnsall Bridge, also on the river, had been swept away in a storm the previous year. The new bridge was built by the Hebden blacksmith using 262 yards of redundant steel rope from the old lead mines. It was restored in 2014/15.

If my hips were any bigger I wouldn’t have been able to squeeze through here! 🙂

The water at Linton Falls was in full force due to the storms the day before.

It was tempting to go down this lane and investigate Linton Church and village but our feet said no.

Back in town we treated ourselves to some famous Love brownies and got a recommendation for dinner and made reservations. As if we didn’t have enough steps in already to strolled in town and did some last minute shopping before we got ready for dinner.

Our dinner this evening at the Grassington House would be in honor of Greg’s 70th birthday, a treat from Josh and Laura.

Cheers to Pops on 70 years!

It was a lovely dinner and an American couple from Utah stopped by the table for conversation since they noticed we were from the States, too.

After dinner we took some evening shots for our memories.

We were thankful for being able to walk in sunshine with glorious blue skies and fluffy clouds and to see the wonderful landscape of a portion of the Dales. Capping the evening off with a delicious meal was a nice treat.

Although there was talk of taking part in Quiz Night at The Devonshire we all opted to tuck in and rest our feet and legs and get ready for Day 8 of our trip.

Dublin Day Two ~Tour Part Two

Our second stop on Saturday September 16th was Dunluce Castle on the Coast of Northern Ireland at the North Atlantic Ocean. We were able to see Scotland!

The sun came out for our stops here and at the Giant’s Causeway. We gave thanks to the LORD for this smile of sunshine on our day!

Wonderful time spent here and onward to lunch and then the Giant’s Causeway.

At our lunch spot we were last to order our lunch (back of the bus) but we had enough time to enjoy it. This Cafe was fine tuned to serve a crowd. We had a very short hop to get to The Giant’s Causeway which will be my next post.

The Fawn

Gimpy mama and the fawn appeared a couple weeks ago and since then they both have spent time in our back acres. The doe has a broken leg and limps so she gets more grace from us on what we let her nibble on our property. We put water out on these hot days. Healthier deer get run off when they come after our flowers.

Fawns are so much fun to watch when they are on the go.

Our quail population has increased with baby quail looking like teenagers and a whole new batch of baby quail, too.

We are looking forward to the week ahead. What is new in your neck of the woods?

Under the Pier

The beach in winter is a favorite of mine. These were some photos from our time at Huntington Beach during our family vacation in January that I haven’t shared yet.

I find the underside of a pier interesting and love watching the waves roll through.

Our niece Debbee and Lenny were married in 2013 in Huntington Beach and they took their engagement photos here so it was fun to try to recreate that moment.

This day was also Lenny’s birthday.

Today we are nowhere near the coast and we still have that white stuff on the ground and it’s not beach foam.

Our Colville kids are coming over for dinner tonight. Speaking of dinner, tonight will be the third dinner in a row that I’ve made. It’s a Notable February for that reason and others, too. Wednesday we had an Asian Stir Fry with actual vegetables. Here’s the dinner we had Thursday night. Leg of Lamb with vegetables in my Jamie Oliver Retro Roaster. We like lamb and I know many people don’t.

Tonight we’re having Oven Baked Tilapia with rice and vegetables or salad.

Speaking of food, 18 eggs were $4.24 at our local Wal-Mart on Wednesday. They were not the brown eggs, or free range eggs, or Beverly Hills Eggs, just the white caged bird eggs.

What have you been eating these days? Happy First Friday in February.

Feather Variety

Wednesday Hodgepodge is taking the month of January off. It will resume on February 1st.

I’m going to speed up the rest of my England posts and finish them off in the month of January.

We continue to enjoy our bird sightings.

This was our first viewing of the House Finches this winter. The others have been daily visitors.

It was fun to see the red feathers thrown into the mix.

January has started very quiet around our Country Bungalow. That suits me fine. I’ve started another puzzle, much harder than the one we put together on Katie’s birthday. We enjoyed watching the Rose Parade on RFD TV. I found their coverage so much better than the major stations. The college games droned on in the background as I worked on the 1,000 piece puzzle.

Hope 2023 has started kindly in your corner.

The Bodlein

On Tuesday September 13th we booked a tour for the Bodlein Library at 11:00. We waited for our tour guide in this section of the building which was the Divinity School. Divinity School is the oldest and largest room in the Old Bodleian Library, and a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture. The stone carved ceiling is magnificent.

I’m standing between the two pulpits.

This room was used as the Hogwarts infirmary in the Harry Potter film series. It was also used in the Morse Series and Shadowlands. The Hugh Humphreys library was also used in the films. No photos were allowed in the library.

This is the door that was added by Sir Christopher Wren.

Our tour guide arrived and he had so much history stored in his brain to share with us.

We went through this door to the Convocation House and Chancellors Court which was the Universities former courtroom.

Originally built in the 17th century, Convocation House was once designed as a meeting place for the University’s supreme legislative body while Chancellor’s Court was the University’s former courtroom.

Adjoining Convocation House is the anteroom, Chancellor’s Court, which was used as the court for the university.

After we left this room we walked up a series of stairways to the Duke Humphrey’s Library. Duke Humphrey’s Library is the oldest reading room in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. It is named after Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, who donated 281 books after his death in 1447.

As I mentioned before I was disappointed that photos were not allowed in the Duke Humphrey’s but I’m glad we could see it in person.

The Divinity School and the Convocation House can be rented for weddings or other meetings.

You can read some history about the Bodlein here.

Oxford Archives ~2004 and 2014

For our daughter Katie’s high school graduation, Dear and I took her to Great Britain in April of 2004. Katie is a reader, a learner, a writer, a poet and an artist. We asked her what she’d want to see and she came up with the brilliant idea of following some of her favorite authors and characters around the Isle! This is a photo log of our trip that we can highly recommend to all lovers of Hobbits, Inklings, Literary Giants, 19th Century England, Harry Potter, and wacky Holy Grail enthusiasts! For my flashbacks I’m going to cover less ground in each post. This first post will be our Oxford experience with C.S. Lewis and Tolkien on our radar. The photos on this trip were taken the old fashioned way with a camera that was still using film!

The Eagle and Child (The Bird and Baby) Oxford

We set out from our first B & B base in Cheltenham to tour Oxford. We were still getting over our jet lag just arriving the day before. We found a park and ride outside of Oxford and rode a bus into town. Our first stop was The Eagle and Child (The Bird and the Baby) where the Inklings would meet and discuss their current writings, thoughts, etc.

The pictures on the wall are of C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, and other Inklings, plus letters, etc. We had a bite to eat and a pint was raised to toast our respected authors! “It comes in pints?”

Addison’s Walk

Dear and Katie on Addison’s Walk. This walkway is on the grounds of Magdalen College (pronounced Maudlin) where Tolkien and Lewis would walk and have long conversations, after which C. S. Lewis converted to Christianity. We found it, walked it and reflected on the beauty and wonder of it all!

This next photo shows a spot on the walkway that we took a photo from different directions in 2004 and in 2014.

And here’s one of the beautiful courtyards that we took photos of both of these years.

We saw the iconic phone booth on the grounds of Magdalen, too.

Walking from Magdalen College back to the center of town we saw other familiar sites, too.

The Bridge of Sighs

Radcliffe Camera

In 2004 when we came across Logic Lane Katie insisted that we take a photo of her dad under the sign. In 2014 we came upon Logic Lane again so I had to take another photo.

We walked about to find this address where Tolkien lived at 21 Merton St. after his wife died in 1971.

Katie would not let us leave Oxford till we found Tolkien’s grave. This was no small feat! Here we are at Wolvercote Cemetery in North Oxford at the graveside where he and his wife are buried. His son is buried here, also. Katie left a note in Elvish, (yes, she learned to write and speak Tolkien’s Elvish).

EDITH MARY TOLKIEN
LUTHIEN
1889 – 1971
JOHN RONALD
REUEL TOLKIEN
BEREN
1892 – 1973

Wolvercote Cemetery in North Oxford

We headed back to our B & B in Cheltenham to rest up for our next days adventure around the Cotswolds in search of Hobbits.

The thing about film photography is that we didn’t know if the photos we took even turned out well till we were home and had the film developed. Aren’t you happy we have digital cameras now? You can see if you chopped someone’s head off or missed the top of a beautiful cathedral etc. These photos that I took with film in 2004 were scanned and uploaded onto my computer and in a lot of cases lightened up and sharpened and sometimes cropped.

Now we await our time in Oxford in 2022. We still do not cling too tightly to this trip as we know anything can change on the world landscape in a day. Trusting God if we go or if we can’t go.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Photography