Category Archives: England

Left in Summer…

…returned in Autumn!

We arrived home from England yesterday evening at 6:00 pm after a flight delay in London. I was tucked into my own bed by 8:30 and wide awake at 3:00 am.  My body and mind will adjust soon. We left with windows open and returned with windows shut. We left with the heater pilot lights off and they are back on this morning along with a wee bit of heat to warm up our chilly home. Fall has definitely arrived!

The rest of this week will be busy with our preparations for my mom’s memorial service and our travel to Southern California. Time will tell when I will start posting my full travelogue from England.

Here’s another snapshot of our days in England. After Wells we traveled on to Cornwall where we spent 3 nights. What a wonderful area to explore! Cheers!

St. Ives sunny 051

Josh, Laura, Dear and I are so thankful to God for watching over us and for His favor on us during this trip. There were so many moments that we felt His touch on us and our experiences. Thank you Lord!

Just One…

Alton to Cotswolds 310

It’s hard to just show one photo from this amazing cathedral. I’ll be showing lots more in the coming weeks when we get back Stateside.

We leave England today (Monday) at 3:00 and arrive in Seattle at 4:30…so weird. Later this week we board a plane again to go to Southern California for my mom’s funeral. We’ve had a marvelous time in England and I’m so happy that this time around I have a digital camera and a blog so I can document the trip. I already am making plans in my head to improve our next trip here…whenever that may be.

Happy Autumn everyone! I so looking forward to catching up with you all.

A Wee Glimpse…

of the Cotswolds…

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Extra credit to anyone who can identify the B.B.C. series that the church in the bottom right hand corner was used in…

Tomorrow is our last full day in England. We spent a very long day in London today and we are bushed. No rain but cloudy all day. The last days of summer are winding down.

Since it’s hard to tell without all the sets adorned I’ll tell you that this is the church from Downton Abbey where Mary Grantham got married and Sybil got left at the altar…

We’ve Laid Our Heads Down…

…in some very nice places.

I will share more about these spots when we get home from England.

2013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds3Cotswolds

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St. Ives sunny 226The view from the house we stayed at in Cornwall.

We are now in a flat in London. My feet hurt but we’re happy and amazed at all we are experiencing.

I wanted to share a link my brother posted for my mom’s obituary and service times…

Nadia Bagdanov

The Potteries…

Since we were so close to the Potteries we decided to at least make 2 stops on our way from Alton to the Cotswolds on Sunday. Emma Bridgewater was our #1 choice and Aynsley was close by so we stopped there, too.

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Upon our arrival in Stratford Upon Avon Dear and Josh were called into service to the Crown…

2013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds

All is well now so Keep Calm and Carry On…

We are on the west coast of Cornwall these days enjoying the wind and spray off the sea…

Adieu…

I enjoyed reading the origins of adieu this morning.

This was taken at the Hailes Abbey (a 13th century Cistercian Abbey) nr. Winchcombe, Gloucester, England in 2004.

We board a British Airways flight today for London. My posting will be scarce if at all. I’m hoping to try to post a few postcards like Judy at My Front Porch. Time will tell. In the meantime you will know why I’m not visiting your blogs during this time. Blessings!

Photobucket replaced many of my photos with blurred out versions and photobucket stamped versions. They are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

What September Holds…

We are aware of some things that September holds for us and we aren’t naive enough to think we know all that it holds.

My mom’s life is still in the balance.

Here are some things we are looking forward to…

A milestone birthday for Dear on September 9th.

 

My parents 70th wedding anniversary.

(Technically they have already been married for 70 years since their wedding in Iran was in mid summer but the official date on their U.S. papers says September 13th)

 

A milestone trip to England with our son Josh and DIL Laura from September 12th thru the 23rd.

 

We know we’ll be seeing so many wonderful sites. I’m so excited to be going again with a digital camera this time. It will be Josh and Laura’s first time there. EXCITED!

Some of the planned events are:

Going to Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester for the Manchester United ~ Crystal Palace soccer game on Saturday the 14th.

A night in the Cotswolds.

 

A night in Wells so we can explore the cathedral and walk around the castle moat.

3 nights in Southwest Cornwall doing whatever we decide to do which will include hikes to the beach and St. Michael’s Mount.

 

Ending our trip with a weekend in London where we have rented an apartment home near Portabello Road. We will try to get in as many landmark London sites as possible and hope to be able to also see a play or musical.

Other things to look forward to in September after our trip are:

 

Day trip adventures with our daughter Katie while she is living with us for this new season which may or may not include tea. I’m also going to take advantage of Katie’s technical skills to help me hook up our new slide and photo scanner and for her to help me learn to use it!

Starting up our weekly Small group meetings again.

Our Fall Women’s Bible Study at church.

What are you looking forward to in this month of September?