These cookies are perfect for this pumpkin time of year. The recipe for these Pumpkin Spice Cookies is located on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog. Click and you’ll be taken straight to the recipe.
The first time I made them was for a wedding shower for our daughter Katie.
I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday that was originally started by Mrs. Nesbitt and now hosted by a few faithful followers!
Dating from 1242 The Bear is the oldest Pub in Oxford. It was fun to see it featured in the latest season of “The Amazing Race”. There is another pub in Oxford that also claims to be the oldest. I’ll let them duke it out.
The Bear is home to a rather impressive yet random collection of neckties. Visitors from around the globe have contributed to the collection. They are displayed in a room off the main entrance and you can see that the display continues onto the ceiling.
I was stumped to come up with an offering for the letter N until I remembered this pub that we stopped into after a long day of walking and sight seeing in Oxford in July. It has very low ceilings and a very narrow steep staircase to the toilets. I can’t imagine someone having a few too many going up and worse coming down those steep steps.
I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday with the fine originator, Denise Nesbitt and her trusty team that keep things going…
If I made this sign I would have left off the It’s All Good part. There are things that are not good and in fact quite evil that happen every day, but today I’m concentrating on Joy. You can have joy in the midst of hard times.
Joy is contagious!
So today as I experience another 100+ day in Southern California I will choose Joy in my journey, especially since I’m journeying home to the Seattle area and cooler temperatures today. While down here I have found a lot of joy spending time with my dear old pop (91), visiting with sisters, brothers, and nieces and nephews and old friends. I’ll leave you with a photo of the joy my little grand niece showed when we celebrated her 5th birthday.
I’m linking to ABC Wednesday with thanks to Denise Nesbitt and the ABC Team.
I hope you find Joy today!
We were so happy to be able to go inside Gloucester Cathedral this visit. We visited in 2004 with our daughter Katie for her “graduation gift trip” but we arrived to Gloucester when it was closed. This will also serve as my ABC Wednesday Post for the letter H since these beautiful halls were filmed as part of Hogwarts School. If you haven’t read or watched the Harry Potter books or movies you won’t know what I’m talking about but you can still enjoy these beautiful Cloisters and for ABC Wednesday you can call them hallways!
The cloisters were used in filming a couple of the Harry Potter films. You can read about it here. I know some of my friends have avoided reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. My family has enjoyed J.K. Rowling’s writing and the battle between good and evil.
We were amazed with this part of the cathedral and there was still so much more to see.
Thank you to the ABC Team and to Denise Nesbitt for ABC Wednesday!
Have a good first week of September!
On day 8 of our trip in England we traveled from the Paxford in the Cotswolds to Ross on Wye stopping in Bourton on the Water and Gloucester. There were two places we wanted to visit in Gloucester, the cathedral and the “Tailor of Gloucester”. More on the “Tailor” at a later time.
I’m linking these photos of the exterior of Gloucester Cathedral for ABC Wednesday. Thank you to Denise Nesbitt and the ABC team.
Here’s a great source for information about the cathedral that I found online. Click on Sacred Destinations to read about the cathedral.
Although all periods of medieval church architecture are represented at Gloucester Cathedral, its two main building phases – Romanesque and Perpendicular, are of outstanding interest and importance.
To read about the history of the cathedral and architecture click on this link. The cathedral has some interesting links with America that I enjoyed reading here.
The interior of the Cathedral will take a few posts. This cathedral has so much beauty and interesting history to share.
I posted a recipe of Spicy Dark Chocolate Cookies my sister shared with me over at the “Girls” blog (Mennonite Girls Can Cook) These cookies have a nice surprise with a touch of cayenne and chili in them. Click here to get the recipe.
ABC Wednesday is on the letter F this week.
Thank you to Denise Nesbitt and the ABC team for keeping the meme alive.
Our first self-catering experience in England was at Fox Cottage so…
…F is for Fox Cottage
First and foremost is a fair warning that this post is full of fotos of the Fox inside and out!
We had our own mostly private area between the cottage and stables across from the cottage.
I believe our side of this U shaped space were stables in the past, too, which have been converted and upgraded to a living space.
For those of you not familiar with the term self-catering it means you take care of yourself while you rent a property. Generally there is no daily maid service and no breakfast provided. We enjoyed making our own “Full English” and when the fragrance of those sausages hit the air we had several visitors arrive at our door begging!
When we arrived we were greeted with fresh flowers and a sweet loaf that I didn’t get a foto (spelling in honor of F) of.
Free wifi and lots of channels on the telly. Kinda funny that places advertise wifi as being free when you know you are paying for it anyway in the full price of the property. I did specifically choose properties while in England that advertised free wifi. Since we weren’t using our cell phones we wanted to feel connected to home and family whenever we could.
We fully appreciated the fabulous exposed rough beams throughout the Fox.
The old features that were worked into the space were enjoyed.
The mix of old and new was just right. There were interesting things to try to figure out and some quirky frustrating things to deal with but our overall experience was very nice.
Our views were very peaceful. During our time at the cottage there was only one day in a downpour that we shut all the windows.
We had to go out to the pump room to get our ice from the deep freeze.
The peace and quiet of this spot was so lovely. We could hear water flow through the farm. The birds were our alarm clock in the morning. It would be so dark at night we had to use a night light to make it safely to the bathroom which was a step down from our bedroom. No city lights, no street lights and no porch lights. I really was hoping to maybe see an owl but that didn’t happen except for this one.
The owners of the farm and cottage live in the house you see next to the owl and behind this view of the cottage.
The outside view to our space.
The view out to the land between us and the little lane at the entrance to the farm.
Getting to and from the Fox is a whole other story for another day.
Things around our “cottage” here in the states are a little hectic right now with our kids from the East Coast staying with us as they move into their new apartment and life on the West Coast. I hope to get around to as many of the ABC “F” posts as possible between loading and unloading boxes…
Hope your festivities this week are full of fun and frolic with friends and family.
Continuing on my retracing posts from our time in England, on Sunday July 6th we made a short drive through Shipston-on-Stour to Banbury.
The town of Banbury in Oxfordshire dates back much further than the nursery rhyme dedicated to it.
When our three children were babes we would recite this nursery rhyme to them while bouncing them on our knees. It brings back such good memories that when I found out this statue was erected in Banbury we decided it was worth the trip to see it.
Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross to See a Fine Lady Upon a White Horse
With Rings on Her Fingers
And Bells on Her Toes
She Shall Have Music Wherever She Goes
Nowadays the only cross gracing Banbury lies at the intersection of four major roads – those to Oxford, Warwick, Shipston-on-Stour and the High Street, which leads to the shopping area and the old heart of the town. It was erected in 1859 to commemorate the marriage of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa to Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia on 25th January 1858. It stands 52feet 6inches high to the top of its gilt cross and is of a neo-Gothic design. Originally six niches for statues were planned, but this was later reduced to three.
It was fun to learn all about the history surrounding this nursery rhyme and the town of Banbury.
We walked around town, had some lunch and picked up some sweet treats to take back to the cottage.
The sweet treats weren’t from this Olde Sweet Shoppe but from a bakery in town…
B is for Banbury, Banbury Cross, Bells and Baked goods!
This was a timely post featuring the letter B so I’m linking up with ABC Wednesday which was begun by Mrs. Nesbitt and continues on with the help of the ABC team.
Speaking of B, the bathroom renovators arrived this morning to begin the finish work on our bathroom remodel. In 10 to 12 days it should all be done and we will be done with the construction zone mode and back to our quiet home mode until the next project.
The annual Spring Tea at our church had so many lovely decorated tables and one of the tables had some unique decorations using fruits and vegetables.
Hope this post made you smile!
Thank you to Denise Nesbitt and the ABC Wednesday Team for keeping this meme going.
…not habitually or commonly occurring or done.
It’s time for ABC Wednesday and the letter U!
When our daughter Katie and I visited Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina we came upon this unusual structure in their sculpture garden.
This Bottle Chapel was created as a three-dimensional representation of Minnie’s paintings.
I’m adding a link that shows some of Minnie Evans’ actual art pieces.
Thank you to the ABC Wednesday Team for 7 years of ABC fun and to Roger who tackled the letter U this week!
Time for ABC Wednesday and the letter S.
Do some of you wonder why ABC Wednesday seems to start on Tuesday? There are so many countries represented that Wednesday comes earlier in those countries than the U.S.A. Does that make sense? Anyhoo Katie and I saw some beautiful swans and a little fluffy baby swan at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina that I thought would be perfect for the letter S. I’ll post our whole experience at the gardens in the future.
And this is my Swan Song for my time on the East Coast of the U.S.A. I’m headed back to the West Coast and my own bed after 25 days away!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 