Tag Archives: London

Gird on the Royal Armor ~ Hymn

Gird on the Royal Armor

Gird on the royal armor,
Go forth in Jesus’ name;
To those who sit in darkness
The Light of Life proclaim.

Refrain

Gird on the royal armor,
That we the foe may face;
And trusting our commander,
Be victors through His grace.

Lift up the royal standard,
Go forth our cause to win,
With helmet, shield and buckler,
Against the hosts of sin.

Refrain

With righteousness our breastplate,
The Spirit’s sword in hand,
Still conquering and to conquer,
Press on at God’s command.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby, (1820-1915)

In the month of August I tried to read the book of Ephesians every day for my morning devotions. I’m moving on to Galatians for the month of September. Since I’ve concentrated on Ephesians I wanted to post hymns that reference any of the themes and truths of the book. The sixth chapter covers the need to put on the whole armor of God.

We Bid Adieu to Great Britain from London…

Wrapping up our 2004 Literary Tour of Great Britain with our daughter Katie with our old fashioned film camera. London was our final stop after a long train ride from Edinburgh and lugging our luggage across the train station to the tube that would take us to our tiny room with 2 beds that covered almost the entire floor minus a 6 inch space between them to walk to the very tiny bathroom. Oh boy! I forgot to mention the 3rd floor we had to haul our luggage up to. We managed to recover from  it all and enjoy some great spots in London.

Katie and Dear mastered the tube stations quickly and they always knew the correct trains to catch.

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The Tower of London was on the list of places to explore.

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We were in London for the Queen’s birthday on the 21st of April we saw and heard the 62 gun salute.

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While walking toward Buckingham Palace we were told that a better close up view option of the changing guard would be at the Horse Guards Stables. We enjoyed viewing the Queen’s Horse Guard.

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Up close and with a lot fewer crowds around us. I’m thinking by now the word has gotten around and the crowds are probably crazy here, too.

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Dear and Katie in Trafalgar Square.

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The pigeons decided they were a great perch.

Our favorites in London were the National Gallery and the British Library where so many great literary classics and authors are featured. Katie and Dear toured Westminster Abbey and viewed the small tablet to the memory of Jane Austen in the Poet’s corner of the abbey. We also enjoyed attending the live stage performance of Les Miserables.

Thank you for indulging me as I documented our trip from 12 years ago!

 

We’ve a Story to Tell ~ Hymn

We’ve a Story to Tell

We’ve a story to tell to the nations,
That shall turn their hearts to the right,
A story of truth and mercy,
A story of peace and light,
A story of peace and light.

Refrain

For the darkness shall turn to dawning,
And the dawning to noonday bright;
And Christ’s great kingdom shall come on earth,
The kingdom of love and light.

We’ve a song to be sung to the nations,
That shall lift their hearts to the Lord,
A song that shall conquer evil
And shatter the spear and sword,
And shatter the spear and sword.

Refrain

We’ve a message to give to the nations,
That the Lord who reigns up above
Has sent us His Son to save us,
And show us that God is love,
And show us that God is love.

Refrain

We’ve a Savior to show to the nations,
Who the path of sorrow has trod,
That all of the world’s great peoples
Might come to the truth of God,
Might come to the truth of God.

Refrain

Words and Music by H. Ernest Nichol ~ In The Sunday School Hymnary (London: 1896)

HT: Cyberhymnal

Lord We Thank Thee for the Pleasure ~ Hymn

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Lord We Thank Thee for the Pleasure

Lord, we thank Thee for the pleasure
That our happy lifetime gives,
For the boundless worth and treasure
Of a soul that ever lives;
Mind that looks before and after,
Lifting eyes to things above;
Human tears, and human laughter,
And the depths of human love.

For the thrill, the leap, the gladness
Of our pulses flowing free;
E’en for every touch of sadness
That may bring us nearer Thee;
But, above all other kindness,
Thine unutterable love,
Which, to heal our sin and blindness,
Sent Thy dear Son from above.

Teach us so our days to number
That we may be early wise;
Dreamy mist, or cloud, or slumber,
Never dull our heav’nward eyes.
Hearty be our work and willing,
As to Thee, and not to men;
For we know our soul’s fulfilling
Is in Heav’n, and not ’til then.

Words: Thomas W. Jez-Blake, 1855.

G is For…

We have reached the letter G for Alphabet Wednesday. Thank you to the Alphabet Wednesday Team for keeping us going.

How about some Royal Gates? These were taken at Buckingham Palace in September of 2013 which happen to be in Great Britain.

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Whenever I see mighty Gates like these I think of  Psalm 100 in the Bible. This is the portion I think of, verses 4 and 5.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.”

London Sunday 017Do you think that there’s real gold in these royal gates? Maybe someone from Great Britain can tell us.

How about a Guinness? Notice the golden harp.

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Hope your day is full of good things, good news, good food, and good thoughts!

Before They’re Lost…

One of my favorite experiences of 2013 was our trip to Jolly Old England. Here are some photos that our son and daughter in law took that I’ve just downloaded. I’m tying up some loose ends before I move full bore ahead into 2014!J & L's England 002Setting up the SatNav for our trip to the Manchester United Soccer game in Manchester, England. J & L's England 004At the Emma Bridgewater Factory store. Can you see Josh inside? J & L's England 009Interesting Road signs. J & L's England 020Stratford Upon Avon J & L's England 027Small grocers in Chipping Campden. J & L's England 040St. James Church in Chipping Campden

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J & L's England 053Wells Cathedral and reflection at the Bishop’s Palace Grounds

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photo (1)The Bishop’s Close in Wells

photo (2)The west coast of Cornwall

J & L's England 108Josh and Laura managed to get a photo of our great tour guide in London. He really made the tour a highlight of ours with all his knowledge.

I got to write 2014 on a check today. Katie and I had our hair done and her red hair is more vibrant and my grey hairs are covered up. She’s heading to California this weekend to spend some time with her cousins. She’ll get to visit Disneyland before all the Christmas decorations are taken down. She’ll also be able to visit my dear old pop. Dear mentioned that he gets 2 Mondays this week and 2 Fridays. Makes for a bit of disorientation on what day of the week it really is. How are you managing with Christmas and New Year’s landing on Wednesdays?

The Cherry on Top!

We only had a few hours on Monday morning of our last day in London before we would be picked up by our taxi and swooped to Heathrow Airport. We had noticed this restaurant upon exiting the Notting Hill tube station one night and I knew I wouldn’t be happy with myself if I didn’t make it back there when it was open to enjoy a meal.

London Saturday 275It was so worth the walk there and back again for our breakfast. Quite a delight. I’ve followed and enjoyed Jamie Oliver from his debut on U.S. food channels. When Dear and I were in London in 2003 we ventured out to Fifteen his restaurant in North/East London that trained young unemployed people to work in the restaurant industry. That restaurant started in 2002.

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P1040559The hostess sat us at a nice table in the back end of the 2nd floor of Recipease. We ordered off the great breakfast menu and as we waited for our food Josh said “So, do you think Jamie will be here soon?” Just as he said that I looked behind Josh and said “well there he is coming up the stairs right now!!!” We remained cool and collected as he passed our table and sat at a table right behind us for a breakfast meeting.

P1040561London-Jamie OliverWhen the waiter brought us our drinks we asked him if he thought it would be okay for us to ask Jamie to take a photo with us. The waiter assured us that it would be cool. He said to let him get further in to his breakfast meeting and then to ask him.

London-Jamie Oliver1The food was delicious and the presentation was top notch. I didn’t expect anything less. After we were done with our food, Jamie got up from his meeting and walked past our table. At this point Josh asked if he would be so kind as to take a photo with us. Jamie said of course and one of the waitresses offered to take the shot and Jamie even gave her suggestions as to the best angle to shoot the photo from. I only had my little camera with me.

P1040573Our waiter photo bombed the picture! We were cracking up when we saw that. We were wondering why he asked us “so, how did that photo turn out?”

Jamie Oliver is a very genuine person and it was fun to meet him and to talk to him. He stood at our table for a long time asking us questions and answering our questions about his restaurants. On the way back to our flat we kept pinching ourselves amazed at the fun “coincidence” of this meeting.

This little out of the blue experience was a wonderful wonderful ending to our England experience! It was the “Cherry on Top” for me.

P1040574Recipease is a food and kitchen shop where you can learn to cook right on the premises. There are take away options as well as a cafe on the upper level.

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So farewell London and Piccadilly Circus where all the “humanity” seems to gather. And farewell to beautiful England with all your history and beautiful countryside and hedgerows and churches and graveyards and cobblestones. I could go on and on but until next time...”Parting is such sweet sorrow”.

So I am now officially done with my posts about our trip to England this past September.

This Friday I’m recuperating from a wonderful Christmas party we had here last night with our small group. We had a build your own soft taco/burrito meal with so many wonderful toppings to add to the Carnitas (pulled pork) that I had cooking in the slow cooker all day long. I’ll share the recipe later in December on Mennonite Girls Can Cook. I’m sorry I didn’t take one photo of the toppings all in a row. Oye!

Besides being done with my England posts, I am done done done with my Christmas decorations. Now I’ll just sit back and enjoy the twinkle here and there. I love all the twinkle (to shine with a flickering gleam of light, as a star or distant light) that this time of year brings for us to enjoy. Are you twinkling?

Fortnum & Mason

I enjoy walking through this department store in London. It’s been on Piccadilly since 1707! The Queen and Duchesses made a special visit here.

2013-09-22 London Sunday4On 1 March 2012, with enormous joy and excitement, the refurbished St James’s restaurant was opened by HM the Queen accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge, and renamed The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon.

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There are 6 floors of merchandise in the store.

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I suffer a lot from sticker shock in London so needless to say I wasn’t filling any shopping baskets!

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London Sunday 064Before I got my hand slapped by a sales lady in the hat section of the store, I managed to get a photo of Laura in one of the hats! The sales lady said no photos but we could try on any hat we wished to…

2013-09-22 London Sunday7When we were done at Fortnum and Mason we walked over to Selfridge & Co. to meet Josh who had gone to an Arsenal Soccer game at Emirates Stadium. It was interesting to see the store after watching some of Mr. Selfridge but…this store was not my cup of tea. And to quote my dear daughter in law…”oh the humanity!”

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We walked through one other shop that the younger duchess is said to enjoy and then headed to the underground dragging our tired feet. We picked up a take away pizza for dinner and enjoyed eating with our feet up in our flat. The next day we would spend our last few hours in London and we had a special destination for breakfast that will be my last post about our trip to England. Here are some views on our way back to the underground…

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I’m happy to report that our Christmas tree is decorated to the point that it is going to be decorated. Translation: I didn’t put all the ornaments on the tree cuz I just wasn’t up to it and it is what it is…

Thursday night is our Small Group Christmas dinner and White Elephant Exchange here at this old house so I’ll be busy doing a little clean up before our company arrives.

How are things progressing at your house?

Buckingham Palace

London Sunday 038The walk from the underground to Buckingham Palace was lovely. I thought of Ents from the Lord of the Rings.

Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain’s sovereigns since 1837 and today is the administrative headquarters of the Monarch.

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London Sunday 023The Queen Victoria Memorial

Standing 25 meter (82 feet) high and made of 2,300 tons of gleaming white marble, the Victoria Memorial pays homage to Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901.

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Victoria, of course, was the reason for the monument, but there’s much more to see than just the queen, who faces eastward away from Buckingham Palace with the words “Victoria, Regina Imperatrix” (Victoria, Queen and Emperor) placed below her.
On the north side of the monument you’ll find the Angel of Justice and on the opposite side, the Angel of Truth. On the western side, looking towards Buckingham Palace, is a statue of Charity. All of that is topped off with a gilded statue of Victory, sitting atop the pinnacle with a seated figure on either side, said to represent Courage and Constancy.

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Four massive lions, each with a monumental figure, stand to the four sides of the monument, the gift of New Zealand. I missed getting a photo of one of the four of the bronzes. Agriculture and Manufacture are naturalistic, turn of the century figures.  Manufacture is a tough workman, muscular, bearded and heavily muscled, wearing an apron and holding a mallet and some rolled up scroll. Peace and Progress bring us back to the classical ideal, Greek rather than Roman again. Peace recalls the summit Victory, with her light garment outlining her form, and a heavier cloak with a bold sweep over the arm and across the legs as she strides forward. In her hand, a sprig of olive leaves. Progress, a young Greek athlete, strides forward holding a torch aloft. All four figures are excellent, appearing monumental even beyond their size, and the lions, carefully modeled after live ones at London Zoo, are suitably fierce.

HT: Bob Speel’s Website

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The gates around the palace were very spectacular.

When we were done at the palace we headed out to the British Library where there is a treasures room filled with manuscripts and books and music from Shakespeare, Chaucer, the Beatles, The Magna Carta, Gutenberg Bible and so many more amazing things to see all in one large room in this library. Of course photos were not allowed. If they caught you they might just chain you to this bench!

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Back to the Seattle area…

We are sitting in a freeze pattern here. Brrr…

We had to let our Christmas tree thaw out after we brought it home today. We continued the tradition of buying a “Mystery Tree”. We don’t take the string off the tree until we bring it home and then the tree is revealed with all it’s good sides and bad sides! Kind of like us! The lights and decorations will have to wait until tomorrow. Thankfully we have a Christmas party here for our Small Group on Thursday night so I won’t put this last task off for too long. How are things coming at your place?