Recap of last Eighteen months

I'm sitting here listening to the pouring down rain and wind that is shaking the house. I had no idea it was so windy here. There is nothing more beautiful than a sunny English day in the countryside.......but there are just not enough of them. Alan and I are both still very happy we took on this adventure but we are glad we are on the down hill side of it now. To recap we have been to Egypt, Brussels, Italy, Wales, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France (several times) and Spain. We have covered England in all directions including the most southern point. Our plans for next year so far are Holland, Poland (just me with the girls), Germany, Italy, Ireland and Prague.

If we can work out some long weekend we'd also like to go to Iceland but I'm not sure we'll make it. Then in the spring of 09 we'll go on our Photo shoot in Africa then I'll head back to GA to prepare a house for us to settle down in. As much traveling as we have done this year....I believe next year we'll beat it. Time will tell. Of course we are still looking forward to lots of visitors also. Well I'm going to close now and I'll see you next in Georgia. YIPPEE

Mt Rigi Switzerland

After a marathon ride due to traffic and bad weather we arrived in Switzerland. It will make you feel like a "world traveler" when you get ready for a trip and have to carry four different countries currencies. We needed US dollars for the base, British pounds of course, Euro for France and Luxembourg (yes it's a very small country...who knew?) then Switzerland Franc. We had a wonderful time even though the weather could have been a lot better. We spent the first day in Luceren and visited a beautiful church and the Lion Monument. It had a lot of good places to shop and eat. The next day we visited a couple of typical Alps villages. That is where some of the snow pictures were taken. Then Saturday we went up to the top of Mt Rigi. This is where the bad weather was really a problem as it was practically a white out. If you got 10 feet from anything or anyone you could not see them. Of course we missed being able to see the beautiful view also. But the ride up and down the mountain was great. A lot of fun and interesting to see how the people living on the alps get around. Mt Rigi is also where Pontinus Pilate's soul was said to have been exiled. We had a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner .....Swiss style. We also had a lot of good German food as we were in the German speaking part of Switzerland. See you all soon.......

Switzerland Thanksgiving

One Man's Journey to Heaven

First let me say there is NOTHING I can write that will express the beauty and emotion of the panels I viewed yesterday in the Bath Abbey. The artist is Sue Symons a retired artist who wanted to do something with textiles and calligraphy based on the life of Christ. It was to be a hobby project. The results is an overwhelming experience for anyone lucky enough to view the panels. Each panel is based on scripture. She does one panel in beautiful calligraphy then the one beside it in textiles. You have a book to take along with you to explain each panel to you. When you first look at it you think oh how nice and pretty then an you go along and read the scripture and see her interpretation the emotion just grows and grows. When you get to the last panel you don't want them to stop. Fortunately the last panel is in a little prayer chapel in the Abbey which has places to sit. Once you come to the last panel you have to set down and just absorb all you have just seen. I took a friend with me as she was just as moved as I was.

We were not alone in the little chapel with teary eyes. One of the girls that told me about the exhibition is a young missionary(American) working in Bosnia. She has described it as the most beautiful moving art she had ever experienced. I whole heartily agree with her.

New quilting technique

In case you can't tell.....it's a pine tree. The technique is called paper piecing. The girl in our group that is expecting a baby had her Mom come in and teach us. It's a little challenging as your sewing by numbers backwards. I'm not happy with the colors but we were all told to bring a green, tan and brown. What we should have brought were five greens, two tans and a brown. So we all had to swap material around to come up the contracting colors. They don't blend very well but at least I got the technique down.

Mystery Solved!!

Mister or Doctor?
Holders of FRCS (and the new, but not old, Membership - MRCS) qualifications often choose to relinquish their title of "Doctor", reverting to "Mr", "Mrs" or "Miss". This is a relic from times past when surgeons did not attend medical school and were simply skilled tradesmen, amputating limbs or removing bladder stones, and learning their skills through apprenticeship. Note that in 1540, the United Barber Surgeons Company, a tradesmen's guild, was formed by Henry VIII, as many people practised both. In 1745, surgeons were formally separated from barbers by George II.
An alternative explanation is the section of the Hippocratic Oath which runs: "I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgement and never do harm to anyone," - surgery by its implicit nature does harm to the patient, so the surgeon was not considered worthy of the title "Doctor". Again, this is an ancient practice, that has remained to this day even though it has no real grounding.
"Doing no harm" can be applied to prescribing (by physicians) as much as to operating. Also, many Greek practitioners who followed Hippocrates performed surgery as well as prescribing medicine. The separation was enforced much later by the Catholic Church, through a Council of Tours in 1169 which halted the practice of surgery by clerical physicians by proclaiming, "Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine." This would have relegated the art to the barber-surgeons associated with the monasteries.
Additionally, the change of title is confined to the United Kingdom, and is not practised in other countries where the Hippocratic Oath may be widely espoused.
It is also pertinent to recall that the use of Mr as a courtesy title for all men is a relatively recent invention, and implied a larger degree of status in past years than at present. Compare Esquire.
The practice of surgeons reverting to "Mr" (etc) is obsolete in the rest of the Commonwealth. In the British Isles, holders of an FRCS who move into non-surgical fields tend to go back to being "Dr". In Scotland, only certain surgeons change to "Mr": in Edinburgh ophthalmologists, ENT surgeons and obstetricians & gynaecologists would remain "Dr", but in other cities usage is more like England.

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Malvern Quilting Show

Friday I went to the Malvern Quilting Show with some of the ladies in my quilting group. I

also took a guest. I had met Beverly at a cookout a couple of months ago. Alan and her husband work together and when she heard about the quilting group she wanted to go along and I was happy to have her go. She is originally from Wales but has lived in England her entire adult life. We saw a lot of beautiful quilts as well as all the latest gadgets. It was not as big as the Birmingham show but still a nice day out.

Fall Color

We had a BAG trip this week (British American Group) to the Westonbirt Arboretum. It is a lovely park with different species of trees. Some are natural to the area and others had been planted
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This is a group of lime trees (below) that originated over two thousand years ago.

We had lunch at a local pub then on the way back we encountered this group of dogs on the road. They are hounds from one of the local kennels getting them ready for a fox hunt.

Where is the time going?

I can't believe it's November 1 already! We fell back this past weekend so the days are shorter already. Last Friday night Alan and I did ride back over to Lacock but you could not get anywhere close to where they were filming. Up the road from the filming area they had a blocked off area where you could stand just in case Harry (I don't know his real name) or any other celebrity walked past. That was just not my cup of tea so we left. Saturday was the big Halloween festival at RAF Fairford. I had volunteered to help and I think I had as much fun as the kids. There were a lot of games and a British type cake walk. Which is more like a raffle (but no money involved). We served hot dogs and coleslaw which was even a treat for the adults that live North of the Mason Dixon line as they have never heard of a slaw dog. I made the slaw (Mom's recipe) and it was a hit.

Where's Harry?

Thursday I went to Lacock Village. It's a lovely village that is part of the National Trust. It is like stepping back in time to visit there. But for the next three days they will be filming part of the next Harry Potter movie. They do not start filming till 5:30 and I was there about 2:30. I spoke asked one of the young people there working with the production if she could tell me any thing about it. She showed me this street saying this is where they are filming. The big half white half black balloon looking thing is the moon. Also they had Dumbledorf's tomb (un-assembled) but I did take a picture of both parts. Depending on how busy of a day we have Friday (today now) we may ride over tomorrow to see them do some filming. It was more crowed than usual for this time of year. But I expected it to be much worse since school is out right now.

Windsor Castle

This is Windsor Castle. We had a great time but no royals in sight. We were surprised how much of the castle is open to the public to view. There were thirteen state rooms such as the King's Drawing room, Kings' Bedchamber, Queen's Ballroom etc. Each one was beautiful and in very good shape. They say Buckingham Palace is in a terrible need of repair on the inside but they are fighting over who should pay for it. Queen vs. England? I guess with this being one of the Queen's residents she foots the bill. We also went in to St. George's Chapel where many of the royals are buried including the Queen Mum and King George VI. It is a beautiful chapel that was built in the 1400. The castle it's self was started in 1066 by William the Conqueror. This is Queen Mary's doll house. It was never a child's doll house but given as a gift. It was suppose to be a replica of aristocrat's London home of the time. Every thing works. The water runs, wine bottle have wine in them. Even the little miniature hoover vacuum works! It is built on 1/12 scale.

Walkabout Calne

Today the beautiful October weather continues! I had to go to the hair salon so I took my camera along and snapped a few pictures. I understand the building was originally built in the 1800 as a house. Years later it was a bicycle shop and tyre shop when fewer cars were around. I sure it's been other things also.

The picture below is of Saint Mary's.
It's history is well documented. It was built in the 1200. It was renovated in the Victorian period when pews were added. It is a beautiful small church. We can see the highest tower from our bedroom window. We also hear the bells very well here at the house. I can not hear the clock chime during the day but when I'm up at midnight I usually hear it striking twelve. I can't help but think when I hear them "Yes, God's always on duty"!
Love to all!!

Shower for Baby Durham

After getting in late Saturday it was up bright and early to get ready for Michelle's shower. The quilt was made by the quilting group. We each made two blocks and Shibon our instructor put it together for us. Since no one in the class has finisher their "day project" yet we thought it best if Shibon put it together. Otherwise it might turn out like my friend who just went to the states and was given blocks done for her dad (eighty years ago).....

Girls day out to see Wicked

Saturday was a long long day. I left the house about 9 a.m. and did not get home till midnight. I went to London with some ladies from the base to see Wicked. It was as great as I remembered. After the play we found a new Italian restaurant just across from Victoria Train station it was great. I think the name of it was Pezzia. It was a big place you can't miss it. I'll attach a picture of us as soon as I get it from Michelle.

Quilting story

A friend I quilt with recently went home to visit her 97 year old Grandmother. While she was there her Gram gave her the quilt blocks above. This is a pattern I understand was popular back in the early 1900's. When Gram was expecting Cohnnie's dad her friends and family all got together and quilted these blocks. His initials also were E.E. On the white square in the middle they embroidered their names. Not all the names are completed but they are signed. Of course like it is today baby arrived and the squares never got put together. She has passed this down to Cohnnie to complete. The girl that teaches our quilting class is helping her find special products for cleaning etc. and material to finish the quilt. Cohnnie's dad as well as most of the people who made the blocks have passed away. Making this even a more special gift.

More pics of banquet

Caldicot Castle Welsh Medieval Banquet

What a hoot!! We had a great time Friday night playing make believe. We were taken by bus (I'm so glad we did not have a flat tire or engine trouble) to a castle in Wales called Caldicot. I have not been able to get my information straight but I understand there is history of people leaving in this area since 8500BC. The present castle was built around 1100. Anyway when we arrived we were taken across the draw bridge into the gate room for pre-feast drinks. Then into the guard room where we listened to popular Welsh songs before being sent up the spiral staircase to the great dinning hall. Every thing was very authentic. No forks or spoons. They did not allow us to take our "glass" beverages into the hall. Everything was served on stone ware. The drinks were mead, red or white wine or water. The cups were the size of shot glasses. We were first served soup in bowls with bread. Follow by lamb (taste like venison) then chicken and baked potato. The dessert was sponge cake and custard that was 99% alcohol. The whole time we were entertained with lovely music and sometimes comical songs (a few on the naughty side).

Betty Crocker doesn't live here!!

It's not the prettiest I've baked in the past but it was still very tasty. After having a busy two weeks, Alan and I decided to hang around the house this past weekend. When we took Coco on her walk Sunday we took along two containers to collect blackberries. They have been coming in the last couple of weeks. We have an ample supply close so we managed to collected enough with out a single bee sting. Both of our hands looked like we'd been in a cat fight however and lost. I was having trouble finding the equivalent of Crisco for the batter in our local market. I asked an elderly couple if they knew where I could fine it in the store. The man got this big grin on his face and said "that's the ole fashion way to cook". I laughed and told him I know but it's only once a year during berry season. She had never heard of Crisco of course but took me straight over to the refrigerated area next to the cheese and pointed out this large hard block marked "lard". I brought it home and it had to set out all day before it got soft enough for me to use. I'm glad it not time for a cholesterol check.

Pics of Spain