Stow on the Wold ~ Day #5

It’s Tuesday and our 5th day in Jolly Old England. Today we spent a more leisurely day taking a short drive to a nice market town, Stow on the Wold. I’m doing a full post about this little town today since we are relaxing the afternoon and evening away at the cottage.

We visited this town last September with Josh and Laura but we only spent about a half hour here. Today we spent close to 2 hours walking around.

“Ancient and historic Stow on-the Wold is the highest town in the Cotswolds standing 800 feet above sea level. Stow is located at the junction of six roads making it an important and natural meeting place of the Cotswolds. One of the renowned Cotswold routes meeting in Stow is the famous Roman road – The Fosse Way. “

“History and hospitality is never far away in Stow. Stow is the location of the oldest inn in England with a history reaching as far back as 987AD.”

“The Square is a reminder of Stow on the Wold’s heritage as the Cotswold’s major sheep market. In one of his Cotswold travels writer Daniel Defoe once recorded that 20,000 sheep were sold during a single day. Another reminder of Stow’s past is the little alleys leading from the market square. These were intentionally built narrow and winding as a way to control and count sheep.”

” The Kings Arms on the market square hosted King Charles I before the Battle of Naseby in 1645.”

I had to take a photo of this reader board outside to help me with the timeline that our visit includes with the last week of the World Cup taking place while we are here.

There were several different “thrift” stores in this little town that I enjoyed poking around in. I bought a couple of things easy to pack and bring home with me.

“A much later addition to Stow is St Edwards Hall in the market square. This was built in 1878. Money for the building came from funds left unclaimed in the town Savings Bank. The Hall houses the public library and exhibitions of Civil War artifacts.”

When I get back home I’ll do a full post on the church of St. Edward that Dear and I spent some time in today in Stow.

On our way back to the cottage we stopped at Warner Budgens supermarket in Moreton on Marsh to buy our takeaway dinner items. We chose a Cotswold locally fresh, not frozen, made Beef, Guinness and Ale Pie and some minted green vegetables.

Pricey but it was enough for both of us to split.

You should have seen the nice wedge of butter on top of these veggies, these were not frozen either, just ready to microwave.

The meal was delicious and it’s nice to enjoy a leisurely afternoon and evening at the cottage with the sun shining and a nice cool breeze blowing in the open windows. There’s Dear in the kitchen area of the cottage.

Tonight I plan to stay up late and watch Brazil play Germany in the World Cup Semi-finals. It’s so weird to think everyone in our home time zone are just beginning your day and we are winding down. Hope all is well wherever you find yourselves today.

Gatherning the Moments ~ June

Looking back at June and all that took place around this old house and beyond.

I’m joining Cheryl at Thinking About Home for Gathering the Moments.

Trees came down, firewood cut, patio covers went up, peonies bloomed and were enjoyed, hydrangeas just started to color.

Main floor bathroom renovations began with the gutting process, removing everything to the studs and car deck, adding a new window, adding recessed lights and a fan/heater, replacing the ceiling dry wall.

Visitors came from the South and visitors came from the North. Tours commenced. The Market, Kerry Park, the Troll, Ballard Locks, Ste Michelle Winery, Whidbey Island, Queen Mary Tea Room, and University Village just to name a few destinations visited.

Celebrations in June included a retirement, combined Mother’s Day/Father’s Day dinner, and a wedding in the Portland area.

World Cup fever began and continues!

It’s been a while since I shared a photo of my dear old Pop on my blog. Most every week my sister Lana and niece Melissa join him for dinner at his apartment. This last week my niece Debbee and sister Kathy joined in the fun, too. They are getting real good at taking these selfies. My pop still has his ups and downs with his loneliness but he can still move around well and gets out to his church services and a Bible Study weekly. I appreciate seeing the weekly photos on Facebook since I live so far away…

I have to say that June just flew by this year. July holds many new adventures for us. We are looking forward to a trip to England to celebrate our 40 years of marriage, and when we get back the Bathroom renovation will be completed. What are you looking forward to in July?

USA vs Ghana Viewing Party!

It was so exciting and stomach wrenching to watch the U.S.A. vs. Ghana game on Monday. We had a house full and we made enough noise for the neighborhood to hear us. We are really hoping for another positive result that will get the U.S.A. into the round of sixteen. Time will tell. I’m happy I get to enjoy my U.S.A. decor now since we won’t be in the country for the fourth of July.

I’m off today to take my niece and nephew by marriage on a sight seeing tour of Whidbey Island. What is up in your world?

World Cup 2014 ~ Brazil

With World Cup 2014 in progress right now in Brazil I decided to re-post our photos from the 1994 World Cup in the U.S.A. I published this post on June 17, 2010. The kids and I flew down to Southern California and stayed with my parents for the duration of World Cup. Josh was able to get a ticket package for the Rose Bowl venue and Dan was able to get 2 tickets for the Brazil vs. Cameroon game in San Jose at Stanford. Dan and I traveled to Stanford to see that very colorful game.

In 1994 our boys were 15 and 13. We found the U.S.A. training facility in Southern California and were able to see some of the team and practice and get an autograph.

Later during our time in Southern California we found out the hotel the team was staying at and we traveled there and hung out watching for players so Josh could get his Team poster autographed.

Our patience won out and we had a great time.

This is Alexi Lalas with Josh and Dan.

Josh and Dan got every players signature on the team poster. Lalas, Meola, Harkes, Dooley, Wagerle, Balboa, Ramos, Reyna, just to name a few. They also managed to get all the coaches signatures but one. The players were all friendly and willing to talk to the boys and sign autographs. What an exciting and fun experience for Josh and Dan and me!

Dan and I drove to Clovis and spent the night with my cousin and then we drove to a train station to take a commuter train to Stanford for the Brazil vs. Cameroon game. We found a shop that had a Brazilian flag and bought it for the game. Brazil brings a party atmosphere to soccer games that’s hard to beat and we had fun experiencing it.

We finished off our time at 1994 World Cup with a game at the Rose Bowl where the final game would be played.

Participating in this historical event was thrilling for our family.

Dear was finally able to fly down to Southern California and join us at the end of our trip. The whole family had a fun day at Disneyland with our extended family in Southern California, too.

1994 was the first time the U.S.A. hosted World Cup. We were hoping the U.S.A. would be chosen for the 2018 World Cup or the 2022 but alas Russia and Qatar got the nod for those cups. Now we hear that there were some shady dealings in Qatar decision. The U.S.A. plays their first game on Monday against Ghana at 3 pm Pacific time. Our family room will be full of U.S.A. soccer fans!

Go U.S.A.!

I’ll be adding my World Cup link to ABC Wednesday this week since we are at the letter W.

Laughing at Myself…

…and this random post.

I have this sweet little hanging sentiment in my ~~powder room~~ master bathroom that is the size of a powder room. I am all for laughing and laughing often. We are busy campers at this old house these days. Today I mowed the lawn and did some weed wacking and some weed pulling. I love the way the yard looks after it gets it’s weekly cut. So neat when the weeds are mowed down. I especially enjoyed all the rich greenery around the yard at this time of year. My lavender is blooming already and I’ll have to take a photo soon.

On Thursday we have our end of small group barbecue. Of course we are suppose to get some good rain on Thursday. The first real rain in many days. We’ll be eating inside instead of on the deck. After that event the rest of our main floor bathroom will be torn out. The tub and shower surround are gone already. I’ll post some updates soon…maybe.

On Thursday World Cup begins. I’ll be watching a lot of soccer. Since the opening game Brazil v. Croatia is on at 1:00 Pacific Time I’ll be able to watch and still get organized for our barbecue. On Saturday my niece and her new hubby arrive for 4 days and good thing my sister isn’t doing a bathroom renovation and has a room and bathroom all ready for them. My sister lives across the big road from us. Very close as the crow flies a little farther if you are walking the meandering roads. We’ll be busy showing my new nephew by marriage Seattle since he’s never visited here before. I could go on and on but I’m probably boring you already so I’ll just stop.

Do any of you use Cloud Feedly to organize your blog visits? I haven’t been able to log in to my feedly to see if anyone has posted something new. I checked on the internet and they have been attacked overnight. I hope they are back on line soon!

Here’s what I read online: Not only has Evernote been struck by a DoS attack overnight, but now RSS news aggregator Feedly reports that its cloud-based service is suffering from a distributed denial-of-service attack that could impact users’ ability to catch up with the latest updates from their favourite websites.

Very inconvenient when I’m in the midst of busyness already, Oye! If I haven’t visited you in the last few days blame this feedly attack!!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: World Cup 2014