To Be Or Not to Be Hodgepodge

Alton to Cotswolds 084This is Shakespeare’s birthplace right in the middle of town on Henley Street in Stratford Upon Avon. This photo was taken in September of 2013.

It’s time for another Hodgepodge hosted by Joyce From This Side of the Pond!

1. It’s March 15th and as the saying goes-“Beware the Ides of March”. Have you read or studied much Shakespeare? Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play? How do you feel about a Caesar salad? 

I’m aware of that term. Haven’t read much or studied much of Shakespeare and don’t really have a favorite play. We all know about Romeo and Juliet, don’t we? In the early 70’s before Dear and I were married we attended a Shakespeare play in Stratford Upon Avon with our singing group. King John was the name of the play. We really weren’t impressed with the performances.

The ominous warning, “Beware the Ides of March,” originated with the Roman ruler, Julius Caesar, who was assassinated on the Ides of March – March 15, 44 B.C. If you’ve heard the ominous warning, then it’s most likely due to William Shakespeare and his play, Julius Caesar.

The warning itself was made famous in Shakespeare’s play on Julius Caesar, when an unidentified soothsayer tells Caesar, who is on his way to the Senate (and his death), “Beware the ides of March.” Caesar replies, “He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.”

2. Have you ever been to Rome? If so what do you love about the city? If not, any desire to go?

Haven’t been to Rome. I have been to Italy once with Dear on a Business Trip to Milan. I’m sure there are places in Rome I would be impressed with and love but I do not have a desire to travel to Italy again.

3. What’s your favorite place to ‘roam’? 

My, our favorite place to roam is anywhere in Great Britain. I’m a comfort traveler so I appreciate being able to communicate with the locals and for the most part understand what they are saying.

4. Do you like pizza? Thick or thin crust? Red sauce-white sauce-other? Your favorite toppings? How do you feel about pineapple on a pizza? 

We do like pizza, thick or thin but mostly thick and usually read sauce. We enjoy sausage, bell pepper, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms. We do not do pineapple on pizza…ever.

5.  ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’…tell us how this expression applies to something in your home-life-job currently (or recently)? 

The latest ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ project at our country bungalow is a redo of our master shower stall. It’s taken weeks just to come up with a plan. It will take more weeks to first decide on the pan and then the tile. Right now the glass doors came off and we are living with a curtain. We do not plan to put glass doors on the finished product because of our well water deposits that are impossible to clean.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

This beautiful bouquet of flowers was on the porch on Monday from our oldest and his lovely bride. We returned home from celebrating an overnight in Spokane and Idaho for my 71st birthday. We enjoyed Indian food, 2 lamb dishes, jasmine rice and naan at India House in Post Falls on Sunday. We spent the night in Spokane Valley and on Monday, my birthday, we shopped at all the places we don’t have in Colville. On the way back home on Monday we stopped for Mexican at our favorite spot and Hector treated us well as usual with a very small bill left at our table.

Four more days until our oldest and only granddaughter turns 5. Celebration plans are afoot!

Addy and JJ are holding a bag of Brussels Sprouts. Our DIL told Addy she could pick any vegetable she wanted in the produce section of the store and her choice was Brussels Sprouts! Well done Mommy and Addy!

Singing Across England

The summers of 1973 and 1974 were highlighted by tours in England with the Contemporaries. The Contemporaries were a Christian Rock Group on a mission to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ with concerts and personal testimonies. This last weekend some of the members of this group from forty some years ago got together for a reunion in Southern California. Dear and I were not able to attend but we were texted photos of the event.

Five of these members that got together this past weekend are in the photo below from the seventies.

We are all a little bit older today.  Dear and I are in the upper row on the right.

My pop and me at the airport before we left for one of our tours to England in 1973.

Tea was delivered to our bedroom door each morning and I enjoyed it in bed…

I was always taken aback when we’d be surrounded by school children wanting our autographs.

Chalk Church in Gravesend

Canterbury

A drawing by one of our fans!

London

Stonehenge

Tintagel

The coast in Cornwall.

1974 departure from LAX to London.

Windsor

Stratford Upon Avon

An early wedding gift from our dear hosts in England.

Once in a while I’ll be posting flashbacks on Fridays as I catch up on scanning old photos. It’s another way to document some of the events in our lives. Wow! It’s Labor Day Weekend already. We will mostly stay at home except for a Sounders Soccer game on Saturday night and church on Sunday. What do you have planned? Do you get Monday off?

Repetition…

For my flashback this week I’m going back to England in 1973/1974. When we travel to England this coming July we hope to duplicate some of our visits from the 70’s.

img511Chalk Church Gravesend

img514This might be Canterbury.

img521Stonehenge

img522

img523

img524

img529

img530img534Windsor

img535Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

img532

england raspberries

img507Maybe I’ll get tea in bed, too.

If you could travel anywhere for 2 weeks where would you choose to go?

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

J & L's England 034-001

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

J & L's England 056

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?

Stratford Upon Avon…

On our way to the Old Manor House in Halford on the edge of the Cotswolds we stopped for a couple of hours in Shakespeare’s Stratford Upon Avon.

Alton to Cotswolds 024

Alton to Cotswolds 0212013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds2

We were intrigued with a property that had both the Union Flag and the U.S. flag and walked in to tour the property. Here’s a link that gives the history of this property.

2013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds7

Alton to Cotswolds 025An old fashioned confectioners on High Street.

Alton to Cotswolds 031

Alton to Cotswolds 047

Alton to Cotswolds 059Alton to Cotswolds 068

2013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds

2013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds8

Alton to Cotswolds 084This is Shakespeare’s birthplace right in the middle of town on Henley Street right across the street from Peter Rabbit!

2013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds9

2013-09-16 Alton to Cotswolds10

Alton to Cotswolds 071

This town is a full vibrant town with plenty of history, shops and eateries to enjoy. This was a Sunday so some shops were closed and many were closing at five. We had our fill of being on the road and shopping on this day and headed a little south in search of our Bed and Breakfast. I’ll devote a full post to the Old Manor House in Halford as it was our favorite B & B experience this time around in England.

One of the shops that I wish was open was this shop. I really wanted that tea bag holder…

Alton to Cotswolds 044

We’ve had several days of sunshine here in the Seattle area and took care of some outdoor work we needed to do. First load of leaves, mostly what we call helicopter seeds, have fallen from the huge maple in our neighbor’s yard on to our drive and lawns. Very soon we’ll have several more leaves fall that will need to be taken care of. For a day or two we are enjoying a nice neat and tidy yard. We pulled out 3 arbor vitae and took them back to Home Depot for a refund since they didn’t do well and had turned brown.

Hope you had a nice October weekend!