North to Alaska and Across "the Pond"

August 7-10 : Staying next door to our old home in Rihn Strasse, and the Umble/Hartzel Wedding Weekend

2008-09-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

A men only golf outing had been arranged for Thursday 7th, which of course included the groom-to-be, Justin Hartzel with some of his relatives/friends, as well as our dear friend Chris Umble and a couple of his friends, such as Bob. While the men golfed, and our hosts Ed & Sandy were at work, I took myself off to the mall to find some suitable shoes for the wedding. Bob had suggested some high heeled sandles to make me look even taller than him, and we joked about his “thing” for tall women! Well, to surprise him (and myself!) I not only did just that (3 inch heeled fuchsia colored sandals to match the dress I’d be wearing), but bought 2 ½ inch heeled shoes as well, so we could decide on the day which ones I’d wear. When Sandy was home from work and saw my sandals, the first thing she exclaimed was “Oh, Carlos Santana!” I hadn’t a clue what she was talking about, but soon became enlightened that Carlos Santana is a top shoe designer. I’d only bought them because the color was right, the heel height was higher than I’ve worn in close to 45 years, and most important, I liked them! Bob was back for a restful hour after the golf outing, and then we were off 2-3 miles to the Karrington Woods neighborhood, where Chris & Linda live, as well as our other mutual friends, Tom & Amy Molenda. We left our car at the Molendas’ home, and drove with them to Slippery Rock, a little college town about 35 miles further north up the I-79 from the northern area of Greater Pittsburgh where most of our friends live. There we found our way to the “North Country Brewing Co.”, which is a favorite pub of students in Slippery Rock, as well as Grove City College, which is the college a bit further north that the bride-and-groom-to-be attended, and where they met, and where the Saturday wedding was scheduled to take place in its chapel. Many of Justin’s relatives were there for us to meet in a lovely casual and relaxing atmosphere prior to the wedding, and we had a truly fun evening eating the pub’s wonderful plain food, sampling its great beers, and enjoying the company of Tom & Amy as well as Chris & Linda, and a few other old Pittsburgh friends, plus Courtney & Justin of course, Chris’s other daughter Lauren (maid of honor to be) and the other two bridesmaids.

Friday 8th was a non-wedding-related day for us, and Bob took the opportunity of driving into Pittsburgh to visit his old PPG office and go for lunch with some of his former IT Dept. colleagues. Then he went to the KORYAK offices and met up with his friend/"post-retirement employer", Suresh Ramanathan, and a few other employees of the consulting company. I spent a quiet day at the Bayer home, playing with their lovely springer spaniel, Duke, and catching up a bit on preparation of photos for this blog, and writing some more text.
In the evening Ed had a commitment to spend time with his elderly father, but Sandy, Bob and I got together with our other Rihn Strasse next door neighbors, Tony & Leslie Ferri, and the 5 of us went to a local restaurant, Atria’s, for dinner. It was great catching up with Tony & Leslie, who, like Ed & Sandy, lived next door to us the whole 12 years we were in Rihn Strasse. It’s hard to believe that 7 years have passed since we were all neighbors. Outsiders might say many derogatory things about the Pittsburgh area (and they are not wrong about the weather), but we made and have kept very many good friends during our time there. How many of you reading this have not heard of, or met/know, Bill & Judi Horn, who lived across the street from us in Rihn Strasse? They “retired” to the Orlando area of Florida a few years ago, and we’ll be seeing a lot of them in November this year when we go to Orlando to spend a “timeshare exchange” week. We’re so behind in getting this blog up-to-date that it’s now football season. “GO STEELERS!” Enough Pittsburgh sentiment! I must now write about the wedding day itself:

Saturday, August 19
A nice “lie in” in the morning, save for Duke jumping on and sharing our bed with us (encouraged by us of course). Anyway, today was the day of THE WEDDING, so by late morning we were getting ready, and the Carlos Santana sandals were chosen for me to wear. Once again we drove to the Molendas’ home, and then Tom drove us and Amy to the chapel at Grove City College. This is indeed a beautiful structure, and it was quite obvious why Justin & Courtney had chosen this place (where they had both sung in the choir) as the perfect venue in which to make their marriage vows. The chapel was full of family and friends, including many old college friends of the happy couple, and the marriage ceremony was straightforward, but full of meaning. Following the ceremony and the customary hugs, etc. outside the chapel afterwards, the 4 of us found our way to The Olde Stonewall Golf Club, and its “Grand Hall” for the wedding reception. The guest tables were set up for 10, and with us at our table were Renee Burke, Jim & Candy Latch and their son Tyler, Mason & Louise Cass, and Tom & Amy Molenda. Other friends, Mark & Mary Bulger, were seated at the next table. Renee, Jim, Tom, Amy, Mark & Mary were PPG/Lynx personnel during our Pittsburgh days; Mason & Louise became friends after a small motor accident Bob had in the snow and ice near their home back in early 1999 and knowing it was too icy to continue driving home, Bob parked beside their driveway, walked up to their house, knocked on the door to ask if he could use their phone (this was before he had a cell phone!) and was greeted at the door by Louise and her easily distinguishable “not far from London” English accent. An extremely friendly British couple living so near to us—that was the start of another good friendship, and M & L soon became friends of Chris & Linda, and other PPG/Lynx friends of ours.
The short slide show now following shows all the friends mentioned above, as well as the lovely bride and groom, so I’ll write no more about the wedding and reception. It truly was a wonderful time for us—thanks Courtney & Justin for creating the reason for this day!

The next morning we attended a brunch at Chris & Linda’s home, to which we had been invited along with other friends and relatives who had come from “out of town” for the wedding. Linda had set up a table of delicious food in their lovely big kitchen, and a few good platefuls were enjoyed along with coffee and/or champagne and orange juice. All our photos taken at the wedding had already been downloaded to our laptop, which we took with us, and some of those present enjoyed seeing photos so soon after the event. It gave Alison particular pleasure to show the pictures to Linda’s 92 year old mother, who looked them over 2 or 3 times. Chris’s parents also took great interest in the pictures and the marvels of modern technology that allowed them to be viewed large and clear on the computer screen.

We were back at Ed & Sandy’s by early afternoon, and went out with them to a local winery (La Casa Narcissi) for a look around, and a little tasting and buying. This winery had not been there when we lived in the area, so E&S thought it would be nice for us to see what had been done there. Very impressive. On our return to Rihn Strasse we walked down the street to visit Ray & Roseann Anderson. Ray was the developer of Rihn Strasse, and still lives in the original home that was on the land before development. We spent an hour or so catching up with them, and their youngest son, Bobby, who was also there. We talked about this blog, and Bobby gave us a good tip concerning returning to the blog after clicking on a photo to see it larger, which has proved to be very useful. Just use the “backspace” key on the keyboard instead of rolling the mouse up to the “back” arrow/icon on the screen. Never too late to learn something new, although it seems a lot of people already knew about this action.
In the evening Ed & Sandy’s daughter Lauren arrived home from her extra week of vacation in South Carolina, and all five of us went out for a “goodbye” meal at the North Park Clubhouse restaurant. We were up early next morning (Monday) and bade our farewells to Ed & Sandy as they each left for work, and then we were soon packed up and off on our way to Melanie, David & Indigo’s home. Our sincere thanks to Ed & Sandy for their very kind hospitality during this short visit to the Pittsburgh area.

July 31st – August 6th - Back home and off again!

2008-09-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

On Thursday morning David had to leave for the office and he was expecting Indigo’s baby sitter to turn up to look after her, but she didn’t show. It was fortunate that we were able to substitute, otherwise it would have been very difficult for David. We had a nice day with Indigo, taking her for walks and to the “beach” around the lake and had dinner prepared for when David returned from the office.
On Friday morning we were up early and left Falls Church as David left for work (the baby sitter arrived on time!) and started the 430 mile journey back to Myrtle Beach. However, we were not returning to an empty home. By previous arrangement, our old next door neighbors from Rihn Strasse in Pittsburgh, Ed & Sandy Bayer with daughter Lauren (and her friend Kirsten) were taking a weeks vacation in our home while we were away, knowing that we would be joining them on Friday evening for their last couple of days stay. Of course we had a lot of unpacking to do as it was over six weeks since we had left the house on June 17th and many of our clothes were in plastic bags in the car! Fortunately, Ed & Sandy took us to dinner at “Broadway at the Beach”, so we didn’t have to do any cooking.
Saturday morning, Ed & I had an early golf date and we were playing our own course. Consequently, when we were on the par 5 eighth hole, I called Alison and ordered a couple of beers to be at the 150 yard mark (our house). Note the photographic evidence that this request was successfully performed. On Saturday evening we had a braai, a word that Ed & Sandy are quite familiar with, having attended many “braais” at our home in Rihn Strasse over the 12 years that we lived there. Sunday morning, Ed, Sandy, Lauren and Kirsten made an early start on their drive back to Pittsburgh (although Lauren and Kirsten were to be dropped off at a rendezvous with Kirsten’s parents, beginning their vacation at the North Carolina coast). We would be seeing Ed & Sandy again very shortly, as we had been invited to stay with them and use their home as a base when we went to Pittsburgh for the Courtney Umble wedding the following week.
Sunday and Monday were “recovery days” washing and sorting out all the clothes we would need for the wedding and subsequent travels. Fortunately, we were once again travelling by car, so we knew we could throw anything we thought we might need into extra suitcases and load up the trunk and the back seat if necessary (not forgetting Bob’s golf clubs).
On Tuesday, we packed up the car again and after lunch we left to start on our journey to Pittsburgh and the wedding. However, as previously planned, we were staying over in Greensboro (200 miles from MB) at the home of our great friends, Amy & Jerry Shumate. Amy & Jerry used to work at PPG and lived in Pittsburgh. Bob met Amy in 1989 at a PPG management course and we introduced each other to our respective “other halves” and have been friends ever since. They were present at many of our Rihn Strasse parties and it was a sad day for us when Amy found greater opportunities with a PPG competitor and they left Pittsburgh for greener pastures in Greensboro. We were privileged that they were able to attend our 40th wedding anniversary celebration here in Myrtle Beach (they were also at our 30th in Pittsburgh and hopefully will be at our 50th!). We went out to dinner at a favorite restaurant, “Southern Lights” and the food was excellent. We had a wonderful evening and had to make the most of our all too brief visit. It was great to see them again. We stayed up far too late!
Despite being up late, we were all up early the next morning (Wednesday, 8/6) and by 6:45 Jerry had coffee made and Amy had already returned from a stint at her local gym! We sat around the breakfast counter and chatted until after 9:30 when Amy needed to get to the office and we needed to continue our journey to Pittsburgh, still over 400 miles away. As always, we alternated the driving every couple of hours and the time and miles flew by. Of course we knew when we had crossed the state line into Pennsylvania as they were still repairing Interstate 79, just like they were when we left in 2001! We arrived at the Bayers' home early evening, just as they were arriving home from the office – good timing. We had a quiet evening at home and Sandy cooked a lovely dinner. We relaxed and prepared ourselves for the Courtney Umble wedding event over the next four days.

July 28th-30th Last days in England

2008-09-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

Monday July 28th – Bletchley Park and “The Coach & Horses”.

Rosemarie & Ian had another action packed day planned for Monday. After breakfast we were up and off back to Buckinghamshire to visit Bletchley Park, the wartime home of the “Codebreakers” who successfully created a “computer” that would allow the Allies to decode German encrypted messages, the odds of which were 150 million, million, million to 1. The fact that the German “Enigma” encoding system was “broken” at Bletchley Park is considered to have shortened the war by at least a year and saved thousands of lives. There is so much to know about Bletchley Park that I cannot possibly go into it all here, but it is very interesting. Here is a link to the official website: http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/hist/early.rhtm
The mathematical genius behind the code breaking machine (named The Turing Bombe) was Alan Turing, a King’s College, Cambridge graduate and professor, studying pure mathematics and probability theory. His name is quoted liberally in the fictional novel “Simple Genius” by David Baldacci, which, by coincidence, I read on the Alaska trip. I mention this because he contributed so much to the breaking of the code, but sadly, in 1954, 10 years after the war, was about to be prosecuted for “living with another man” (he was gay), and he committed suicide by taking a bite from a cyanide laced apple. Turing appears now as the “founder of computer science” and it was suggested during our tour that the Apple computer logo, with the bite taken out of the apple, is a tribute to Turing’s contribution to this subject. You can find out more about Turing at: http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/index.html
Of course I was very interested in the Turing Bombe machine itself and how it worked and how they went about trying to “break the codes”. I can’t say that I fully understood, but certainly got a good idea. For those of you who are interested, here is a link to some information that will get you started!
http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/enigma/index.htm
There is also a movie called “ENIGMA” starring Kate Blanchet, fictional, but takes place at Bletchley during the war. We have not seen it yet, but have confirmed that it is available at our local Blockbuster.
You will notice from the photograph, that the front of the main “manor house” looks very strange, with an assortment of different architectures appearing haphazardly (Victorian Gothic, Tudor and Dutch Baroque). The house was originally a very large farm house, but when it was bought by Sir Herbert Samuel Leon in 1883, he added a new façade to the front of the house, but each time he went overseas on holiday, he came back and wanted to incorporate the style of building he had just seen on his latest travels!
All in all it was a fascinating visit and we were still looking around when the Park closed at 5:00 PM and we were the last to leave. We were very weary after another very hot day, and walking about from building to building (or hut) and standing looking at the exhibits. It gave us some idea of the awful working conditions the employees had to suffer at Bletchley Park during the war years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bletchley_Park
From Bletchley, we made our way across country back into Oxfordshire and to the “Coach & Horses” in Chislehampton, where R&I had made reservations for dinner. This is the pub where the “Chiltern” Chapter of the UK TR Club holds its monthly meeting and as we have said earlier in the blog, Ian is the proud owner of “Primrose”, a Triumph TR6 classic car. Here is a link to photographs taken at one of their monthly meetings at the “Coach & Horses”.
http://www.chiltern-trs.co.uk/Coach%20and%20Horses/index.htm
This a typical village pub in this area – dating back to 15??, with very low ceilings and large fireplaces and homely atmosphere (plus a fine selection of beer of course!)--all the qualities that make a good old english pub! We had a delicious meal and it was a great finish to a lovely day.

Tuesday July 29th- Our Last Day with Rosemarie & Ian

After our very long day and evening yesterday, we slept-in a while and got off to a lazy start to the day. We’d had three continuous days of hot and sunny weather, but today was gloomy and rain was on its way. We hadn’t yet gone into the town of Bicester (just 2 miles from R&I’s village of Launton) to see the very well-known “Bicester Village” outlet shops. These shops have put Bicester, which is an old market town not far from Oxford, “on the map” for people all over England. They were mentioned by people we met in Dover at the start of the month, and by people we met when in the Midlands for our timeshare week. So the four of us drove to the multi-storey parking garage next to Bicester Village, and walked towards the shops. The rain started coming down soon after our arrival, and we left R&I enjoying coffee in a coffee shop, and arranged to meet them in a book shop close by in about half an hour. The outlet shops are those of many “exclusive” fashion brands, and we were truly horrified by the prices of the clothing and shoes we saw in the shop windows. Even if the British Pound and the American Dollar were the exact same value, the prices were about double what we’d pay in dollars, and all we could do was laugh and wonder why on earth people travel to Bicester to shop at the Village! Meanwhile the rain pounded down, but there were still lots of shoppers walking about carrying big bags of purchases under their umbrellas. We found an ATM and withdrew the last Pounds we’d need to see us through Heathrow and purchase a few gifts there, and soon found R&I, who were amazed we were back with them so soon. When we exclaimed about the prices, they told us that compared to London and other big cities, the prices in these outlet shops were roughly one-third less, which is why people make the trip there, even from France and other European countries. We were soon back home at R&I’s and after a light lunch of final leftovers from the weekend, we started packing for our return home.

Today we had to remember to print our United Airlines boarding passes for our flight the next day at 4:20 PM. We wanted to be sure that we would be one of the first logged on 24 hours prior to the flight so that we would be offered the chance to purchase an upgrade to Economy Plus, which gives you an extra five inches of leg room (which Alison needs!) and priority boarding after Business Class. We had taken this option on the way out, but is not “pre-bookable” and only available at web check in and only as long as seats are available. Alison got on at the prescribed time and after being offered an upgrade to business class at around 400 Pounds each, settled on Economy Plus at 35 Pounds each (watch this space!). For our final evening meal with R&I, we went back into Bicester and enjoyed great Indian food at a restaurant named Shakil’s. After a nightcap farewell drink with R&I back at their house, we retired to bed content with all we had accomplished, but ready to return to our family and home.

Wednesday, July 30th - Homeward Bound.

On Wednesday morning, Rosemarie & Ian were up early – not because they were making sure we were getting ready to leave, but because they were leaving on a village organized day trip to the “seaside” – Weymouth. The bus was leaving at 9:00 AM and they had to be on it, so we were left to close up and leave for Heathrow at our own pace. As always, Bob was keen to be at Heathrow sooner than later, so by 10:30 we were on our way. After an easy drive down the the M40 and a cut across to the M4 we were at Heathrow in no time and returning the Avis rental car and checking in for our flight. When checking in we were told we could use the “lounge” because of Bob’s “Gold” status as a frequent flier with US Airways, which was great as we had more than a couple of hours before our flight would be boarding, and having a quiet, comfortable spot (with free food & drinks!) was very welcome. Next came an even bigger surprise. When boarding had started and we were expecting to be called for our Economy Plus seats, they called for any “Gold” card holders with any of United’s “partner” airlines and within a couple of minutes we were given a FREE upgrade from Economy Plus to Business Class. What a deal! It is amazing how fast the next 7 hours of flight time flew by – between eating, reading and sleeping, we didn’t even get time to watch a movie! We were met at Dulles by David & Indigo (Melanie was away on business in Milwaukee) and were soon back in Falls Church, relaxing before collapsing into bed after a very long day. It had been a wonderful trip.

Saturday July 26 - Sunday July 27

2008-08-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 26th – All Day Family Gathering in Launton
Today was the long-planned gathering at Rosemarie & Ian’s home. Initially Rosemarie had wanted this to be a surprise party for us, but just before we left for England, she decided that in practicality, a surprise would not work, and so we knew all about what was planned, and who to expect to be there. She and Ian had spent most of Friday buying all kinds of food for the party, and sorting out plates, dishes, etc., and on Saturday morning we all were busy with final preparations. First to arrive was Rosemarie’s daughter, Vera, and her 17 and 14 yr. old daughters, Hollie & Leah, and they also helped with the final set-up. Earlier in the morning it had looked like it might rain, but the sun came out and stayed out all day—in fact it was hot! This was great because R&I’s little home would not easily have accommodated everybody inside (including ourselves and R&I, we ended up with 22 at the gathering), and we had two tables and lots of chairs on the back patio.
Everyone who came had driven from the “Black Country” area of the English Midlands, where Bob and Rosemarie had lived as children, and where Rosemarie lived until she married Ian in 2002. Two couples who came, Doreen & Gwyn, and Carol & Malcolm, are old friends of Rosemarie’s, and over the years they have become pretty much part of “the family”. Additionally, another "local" friend, Julia, came. More about Julia tomorrow, but she and her husband Roger are members of the TR Club (Chiltern TRs) that R&I belong to. (This is a club for owners of vintage Triumph sports cars, and Ian owns a pale yellow TR6, that is appropriately named "Primrose". ) All the other people who came for the gathering are cousins (and their spouses) of Bob & Rosemarie, all sharing the same (long deceased) grandparents, Granny & Granddad Harrington, who had eight daughters (Anna, Rose, Kate, Margaret, Mary Ellen, Winnie, May, Lily) and one son, Billy. Mary Ellen was Bob and Rosemarie’s mother. Winnie was the mother of Cousin Colin Gould, who came with wife Pauline. C&P were married soon after us, and back in the mid-60’s we often went out in the evenings as a foursome. Colin & Pauline brought with them Cousin Margaret Burns, the oldest living cousin, now 87, and her mother was Kate. May was the mother of Cousin Michael Dutton, who came with his wife Maureen. M&M have been married longer than us, and if my memory serves me correctly, it was Maureen’s “tiara” that I wore on top of my veil at our wedding, as the “something borrowed”! Billy was the father of the two cousins who came who still bear the Harrington surname: Derek, and Martin with his wife Tessa. M&T live the farthest away from R&I, in Lancashire, and they also brought their little grandson Adam with them. Bob could write a whole blog about his life as a child in Wednesbury and about all his “cousins and his aunts” (on the Brookes side of the family, his father was one of at least 7 brothers and sisters who survived childhood, so that added plenty to the number of his cousins!). For those of you still reading all this family stuff here in our blog, especially friends in USA, just for interest’s sake, one other of the Harrington sisters, Margaret (Ramsdale) was the mother of Cousin Bernard, who lives in Myrtle Beach on the same street as us, and who instigated our going on the Alaska cruise in June with him and wife Arline.
Back to the party—much chatting, eating (heaps of good old English party cold food, and a pot of chili for good measure) and drinking (hot English tea, as well as beer, wine and soft drinks) went on from noontime through the afternoon. Then Rosemarie’s son-in-law, the revving Reverend Garry Ward, husband of Vera and father of Hollie & Leah, arrived on his Harley. He’d been officiating at a wedding so could only come later to the party. On his arrival the BBQ was lit, and that was a near disaster, but fortunately ended only with very charred hamburgers, and a scorched hand for Malcolm. I’ll say no more about the BBQ fire, only that Bob had nothing to do with it, and that by the time the party was ending, the coals were then perfect for cooking over! It was a lovely day and summer evening, and all too soon the folks were bidding their farewells and leaving for home. Martin, Tessa and little Adam went off to stay overnight at a nearby B&B, and Derek, who was going to stay with them there too, was the only one left with R&I and us to watch Garry roar away on his Harley with Leah as his pillion passenger, and Vera & Hollie drive off sedately in the family van. We were soon doing a quick clear up and putting away left-overs, and then off to bed for a good sleep before another long day ahead on Sunday.

Sunday July 27th, Waddesdon Manor and another “Get Together”

On Sunday, after a hearty breakfast, we drove to Waddesdon (pronounced “Wodsdon”) Manor in Buckinghamshire, which was built by Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1874, after he had purchased the land from the Duke of Marlborough. http://www.waddesdon.org.uk/
The house is built in the French Renaissance Chateau style and has a similar look to Biltmore in Ashville North Carolina, although Waddesdon is smaller in size (Biltmore was the largest private residence in America when it was opened in 1895). http://www.biltmore.com/
The history of the Rothschilds is quite fascinating, but too detailed to go into here. Ferdinand de Rothschild married his cousin Evelina who died in childbirth (as well as the child) in 1866 and he never re-married. He also never worked! By the way, Ferdinand was one of six cousin to cousin marriages in the Rothschild family tree as depicted in the Guide. I’m not sure if that is legal anymore? Ferdinand died in 1898 and the Manor was left to his unmarried sister Alice, who looked after the house until she died in 1922, when she left the house to James Rothschild who was married, but childless. During World War II, the Manor became home to a hundred children under five who had been evacuated from London and James and his wife moved into the Bachelors Wing and never returned to the main house. When James died in 1957, the house was left to the National Trust. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waddesdon_Manor

We toured the main house with the personal audio tapes and thoroughly enjoyed it. We are so lucky that these beautiful stately homes are still available for the current and future generations to enjoy. The grounds of the Manor are also beautiful and we spent a fair amount of time at the aviary, where they maintain endangered species such as the Rothschild Mynah (named after Ferdinand’s nephew Walter (Lord Rothschild II)), an ornithologist, a species that became extinct in the wild in 2004. We then had a picnic lunch (left-overs from Saturday’s party) under the trees near the aviary, and enjoyed the shade from the hot sun. (Yes, two days in a row of sunshine and high temperatures!) It was a lovely visit.

Now we had to rush back to Launton to prepare for our evening visitors. Rosemarie had “bumped into” a couple of South Africans during the months leading up to our visit and had asked them to come and visit us on this Sunday evening. They had met a young couple at the local village church - Jakob (pronounced Yakob), an Afrikaans speaking South African and his wife Melanie who is German. Then there was Wicus (pronounced Vickus – also an Afrikaans speaking South African) and his wife Velda whom Rosemarie had met on a bus trip and she thought they would be delighted to meet someone who had also lived in SA. Rosemarie had also spoken with her TR club friend, Julia, who thought an army colonel she had worked for might have gone to the Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover (see Thursday 07/03- Friday 07/04 post), so Rosemarie wrote to him and invited him to come. He called and said that he hadn’t gone to the school but had lived in Dover and had knowledge of the school, so she told him to come anyway. When Rosemarie was telling us about this and told us his name was Brian Mobley, Alison said she had a feeling the name rang a bell and a little later said: “I think there was a Brian Mobley in my class at primary school.” (That was when she was 8-10 years old). In addition, Rosemarie & Ian had also invited Julia & Roger and some other personal friends from the village to meet us: David & Diane Carpen, and Rob & Gaye Cornford. Gaye is SA born but has lived in UK for many years. Rob works for Oxfam and has been to Botswana many times and also to SA. That evening, we were once more out on the back patio as the people began to arrive. A tall, slim gentleman came through the glass door from the conservatory onto the patio and Alison turned to me and said “That’s him!”, meaning it was the Brian Mobley she was at school with. As he was introduced, Alison said “Broadlees Primary School, Dover, 1957” and he said “How do you know that” and she said “Because I was there”. How about that for recall and coincidence from more than 50 years ago! Alison later explained that she had lain in bed the previous night and “developed” in her mind an image of the Brian Mobley she had known as a 9-10 year old, so when she saw the 61 year old guy, she immediately knew he was the same person. Obviously there quickly was a “Do you remember when (or who)” conversation going on between Alison and Brian. Meanwhile I was talking to Jakob and Wicus and their respective wives. Jakob had been a game ranger in SA, working at one of the game parks outside of Port Elizabeth, very close to Shamwari, which we know well. http://www.shamwari.com/properties/default.asp Jakob met his wife Melanie in South Africa while she was there as part of her studies in the hospitality business. We had a nice conversation about Port Elizabeth and its environs. Wicus was from Cape Town and he met Velda while she was on vacation in SA visiting family (she was living in England at the time), so I assume it was a “whirlwind romance”. He is divorced from his wife in SA, and has three adult children who still live there, so I expect it was difficult for him to leave SA to marry his new love. We talked about Knysna and the Garden Route and all things South African. At one point I went to fetch more drinks and by the time I got back, Jakob had exchanged seats with his wife Melanie and was now seated next to Wicus and they were both chatting away to each other in Afrikaans. Altogether it was a great evening and we must thank Rosemarie for putting the event together. We know that some of the South Africans exchanged addresses and phone numbers and left with promises of staying in touch with each other. We look forward to any updates that Rosemarie & Ian can give us in the future. It was late when we got to bed.

July 24th-25th – The Thames Path Walk

2008-08-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

As planned, we were up early the next morning and left the house at 7:00 to make our rendezvous with Jerry Hodgins at Wolvercote, just northwest of Oxford. Jerry (see blog July 6th) had left West Wickham at 5:30 in order to get around the M25 London Orbital motorway before the serious traffic of the morning started. We contacted Jerry by 7:15 and he confirmed that he was having coffee on the M40 on his way and would be on time at the meeting spot, a parking lot in Wolvercote. We left the parking lot at 8:00 and walked 200 or so yards down the road, past the famous Trout Inn and on to the Thames River (Quote: “The Trout Inn and the picturesque riverbanks on which it sits upon has provided inspiration to Lewis Carroll for the magical Alice in Wonderland, and was according to some, the meeting place for Rosamund The Fair and King Henry II. The Trout Inn is also featured in Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse which is written and filmed within Oxford”.
It was a beautiful day and the section we were walking is one of the remotest sections of the river and does not pass through any towns until our final destination of Lechlade which was our final stop planned for Friday. Rosemarie, Ian & Alison of course were our support team and we had planned for them to meet us after about five miles, the first time a road gave access to the river. When we phoned them to let them know we were 20 minutes from the bridge, they were a number of miles away, near the old town of Burford, which they had visited, and were then in a very up-market garden center “exploring”. We told them we were doing well, and they should enjoy themselves and just make the next scheduled meeting at Newbridge. Quote: “Beautiful Newbridge, rather wrongly named since it is in fact one of the oldest bridges over the Thames as it dates from 1250! Here, despite being a remote spot, you'll find a choice of two pubs where you can stop for a well-deserved drink, The Rose Revived and The Maybush”. We found our support group at a table on the river bank at “The Rose Revived” but resisted all temptations to “imbibe” ourselves. Both Jerry and I were in great shape at this point, showing no ill effects at all, having already walked about 10 miles and were aware that once we left Newbridge we were committed to another 5-6 miles to the next road crossing of Tadpole Bridge. A couple of miles after Newbridge I started to feel soreness in my left knee which gradually worsened. I knew it was not muscular or tiredness, but rather a piece of debris in the knee (I have lots) that had obviously found its way into a critical joint. It was a similar situation to the problem I had with my right knee some years ago and ended up having to have arthroscopic surgery on it. There was no choice but to keep walking and by the time we reached Tadpole Bridge (and another “Trout Inn”), I was limping badly. Rosemarie, Ian and Alison had arrived at Tadpole Bridge well in advance of when they needed to be there, and while R&I had an afternoon snooze in the car, Alison started walking alone on the Thames Path in the direction we were coming from. She expected to meet us after about half a mile, but because of my slowness, she had walked well over a mile before she came upon us, and it was great to have her encourage me along to Tadpole Bridge. On arrival there, Rosemarie and Ian were watching out for us from the garden of another Trout Inn, and this time there was no question about “having a pint”! I should mention that on our walk we saw many, many “pill boxes” along the banks/fields of the Thames and have found the following information. “As late as 1940 further defensive measures were taken by the building of a chain of some 5,000 Pill-boxes along the River, from the Kent coast at Chatham to the west coast at Bristol, as a defense against a possible German invasion.”.
Jerry estimated that we had walked 16 miles. After our “pints” and Alison meeting a couple of lovely Spanish Water Dogs in the garden of The Trout, we drove back to Wolvercote, picked up Jerry’s car, drove back to Launton in the two cars, showered and walked to “The Bull” (the “top Bull”—closest to R&I’s home) for dinner. They walked, I limped! By this time, there was a lot of fluid around my knee and I knew my chances of walking the next morning were limited.
Here are two websites that include the section we walked, but where we started at Wolvercote was about four miles further upstream from the start in Oxford, just north of the remains of Godstow Abbey, built in 1133.

http://thames.joncombe.org/thames_oxford_northmoor.html
http://thames.joncombe.org/thames_northmoor_tadpole.html

Friday July 25th – Thames Path Walk: Day 2.

As I expected, the next morning my knee was “ballooned” and I had to inform Jerry that I would not be able to walk that day. His comment was “So you’ve finally matured!” After checking the map, we could see that the next road crossing after the restart at Tadpole Bridge would be about a four mile walk and Alison said she would walk with Jerry for that section. As Rosemarie & Ian had a lot of preparation (shopping) for the Saturday function to come, I said I would drive and there was no need for them to come. Once again we left by 7:00 AM, but of course had to drive a lot further to Tadpole Bridge to our start. Jerry also drove as he was leaving for West Wickham on completion of the day’s walk (10.5 miles): http://www.thames-path.org.uk/thames_tadpole_lechlade.html
We parked at Tadpole and took photographs and then they were on their way and I drove to Radcot Bridge via the ancient town of Bampton where I picked up a newspaper http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfordshirechurches/2685180020)/ so that I could while away an hour or so waiting for the hikers. At Radcot Bridge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Radcot_Bridge there is The Swan Hotel, which only opened at 10:00 AM. I spoke nicely to a lady who I found in the kitchen and asked if I could sit on their riverside patio until they opened. “Absolutely, and would you like a cup of coffee?” was the reply. Shortly I was sitting in the sun, sipping coffee and reading my newspaper! Alison & Jerry arrived all too soon (before I finished the newspaper) and Jerry continued on his way alone. After a brief meeting at Kelmscot (I stayed with the car, and Alison walked back along the river path to give Jerry a surprise), we moved on to the final meeting place at Lechlade, where we surprisingly found another pub (Riverside Inn) on the river at “Ha’penny Bridge”, where the toll house still stands! Jerry duly arrived and we had lunch in the pub before we drove back to Tadpole Bridge and Jerry said farewell and returned to West Wickham. We drove back to Launton where Rosemarie had prepared a lovely evening meal and we relaxed before retiring early. It was a lovely two days.

Coventry and on to Launton : July 21-23

2008-08-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

We were welcomed with some sunshine in Coventry, and a little warm wind, so Alison quickly used the opportunity to do a load of laundry and hang clothes out on the line to dry. Angela was doing a shift at one of the local libraries where she works “substitute”, and we enjoyed a nice cold lunch at home with Ivor. We then took a walk to the local shops and got some cash from the ATM to keep us going for a few more days, and after that we spent some time preparing another “posting” for this blog. Soon after Angela was home we all drove to another part of Coventry, Earlsdon, where Angela’s daughter, our niece Ridanne, lives. She was waiting and we picked her up and drove to a village outside of Coventry, to the White Lion pub, which is a favorite of Ridanne’s, and the five of us enjoyed a very nice dinner and drinks there. (Bob was the designated driver, so he only had one beer, but Angela and Ridanne especially enjoyed being able to relax and have more than one drink!) Back at A&I’s home, Bob and Ivor spent time working on some Sudokus, and the three “girls” sat chatting until tiredness overcame the older two, and Ridanne took a taxi home. It was lovely to have been able to spend time with Ridanne again, because she was out of town when we stayed with A&I before we had the timeshare week with Dianne and Peter.
The next day Bob took the opportunity of using the gym facility at Angela’s fitness club one last time, and then in the afternoon we drove to visit another cousin of Bob’s (his dad’s sister’s son), Peter Houghton, and his wife Janet. They live near Hinckley in Leicestershire, about 40 minutes drive from Coventry. We’d never before been to their home, and hadn’t seen Peter & Janet for very many years (we think not since the wedding of Bob’s sister Rosemarie’s daughter some 18-19 years ago). However, we’ve kept in touch every Christmas, and more recently via email as well. P&J love their garden and it was a lovely sight to see with so many flowers in bloom, and loads of fish in their fish pond. They also love travelling the world, and we enjoyed sharing lots of our travel experiences with each other. We ate an early dinner with them in their home (many thanks, Janet, for preparing such a delicious meal) and then were off and back to A&I’s before dark, and spent a quiet last evening relaxing with them. Wednesday, 23rd was our final “move” before our return to the USA. While were packing, Angela took Ivor to a doctor appointment, and Ridanne stopped by to give us a gift to take back to the USA with us for Indigo. That was another enjoyable short visit. On A&I's return, we loaded up the car, bade them our fond farewells and then we were on the road south to Rosemarie and Ian’s home for our final week. (See our post for July 7th-8th regarding our first stopover with R&I.) The drive was less than an hour, and we arrived at R&I’s in good time to walk with them to the village church, through the churchyard to fields behind, and through the fields for lunch at one of the two pubs in the village.This pub is named The Black Bull, the other pub is merely TheBull, and folks can get confused sometimes as to which pub is being referred to, so locally they talk about the “bottom” Bull and the “top” Bull, referring to the pubs’ location in the village! They are both very old and very popular pubs. We walked through a couple more fields and some woods after lunch, and were (apart from Bob) quite weary when we got back to R&I’s home. We relaxed for the remainder of the day, had a simple evening meal, and were quite early to bed, as we had to be up bright and early the next day for our rendezvous with Jerry Hodgins and the start of his and Bob’s walk on the Thames Path.

Tixall area and Crewe area - July 19-21

2008-08-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

Again: sorry to all readers for another long delay in posting. We've been back in the USA since July 30th and are now away again (in Pittsburgh), but will perservere at getting this blog travel journal up to date!

Saturday morning we checked out of the timeshare after breakfast and all headed to “Hilranton”, the lovely canal-side home of Bob’s cousin Michael Brookes, his wife Penny and stepson Albert, on the edge of the little village of Tixall, near Stafford, less than 25 miles from where we were staying at the Wychnor timeshare. Dianne & Peter accompanied us as they have visited Michael before and wanted to say Hello again. A few miles from Tixall we drove through the village of Little Haywood where we lived from Sept. 1966 when we were first married, until we emigrated to South Africa in May 1968. We sat outside on the patio with Mike and Penny to drink coffee and chat, and watch a few narrow boats pass by on the canal, before all going to The Moat House in the village of Acton Trussell, for lunch. Acton Trussell is another place where Bob used to go fishing with his dad when he was a boy. The Moat House has had lots of additions over the years, and is a well known up-market wedding and conference venue, but the original “pub” part remains with olde worlde charm and atmosphere. We said our Goodbyes to Dianne and Peter after lunch, and they headed home to Cheshire, while we returned to Tixall. Although it was sunny, it was still quite cold, but encouraged by Penny, Alison joined her for a swim in the heated pool in the garden—this was the first time Alison’s swimsuit had been out of the suitcase since we left home over a month previously! In the evening the five of us drove into Stafford to a very nice Indian restaurant, Panache, and met up with friends of Mike & Penny, Ervin & Dorothy. We all had a great dinner and fun evening together, returning to M&P’s home for coffee and after dinner drinks.

On Sunday we woke quite early to the sounds of birdsong from the trees all around M&P’s lovely big garden, and then after a quick breakfast we bade our farewells until “next time”, whether it will be at Hilranton again, or at our home in Myrtle Beach. We then hit the road again, and picked up the M6 motorway just north of Stafford and continued north towards the Crewe exit, and then on to the home of old friends Trevor & Philippa Gomersall, between Crewe and Nantwich. Like Bob, Trevor was recruited in 1968 by Ford Motor Co. in England to go to work at their plant in Port Elizabeth South Africa as a computer systems analyst/programmer. He and Philippa arrived there soon after us, we had our first babies within a few months of each other, and we’ve remained friends ever since, even though they moved to Durban from PE after only a few years, and then on to Johannesburg. They returned to England 4-5 years ago and Trevor is now retired, but Philippa is still working as a medical doctor, under more favorable conditions than in Johannesburg, and she is also able to keep an eye on her elderly mother who lives not very far from Crewe. Soon after our arrival at T&P’s we were off with them driving through country lanes to yet another canalside pub for lunch! This one was “The Olde Barbridge Inn” (see http ://www.the-olde-barbridge-inn.co.uk/index.html and click on their photos menu to see some great pictures of this lovely old pub). After lunch we went from the pub on a canal towpath walk along the Shropshire Union Canal to its junction with the Llangollen Canal, over the canal bridge and along the Llangollen and past the series of locks known as Hurleston Locks (where T&P and their visiting son and family from South Africa had a slight mishap due to lack of experience when navigating a rented narrow boat a year or so ago!), and then back to the car at Barbridge. We were so much enjoying our walk, we neglected to take a picture of the Locks, but here’s a link to someone else’s picture: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4117 . Back at T&P’s home, Philippa got busy with some planting she wanted to finish in the garden, and we and Trevor settled down to watch the end of the final round of the British Open Golf on TV. Although we’d have loved “old” Greg Norman to have won after his splendid first 3 days of the tournament, we were happy to see Padraig Harrington win it a second time in a row. (We often refer to Padraig as Bob’s distant “cousin” because Bob’s late mother’s maiden name was Harrington; and Granddad Harrington’s parents moved to England from Ireland at the time of the potato famine!). We had a lovely typical home-cooked British “Sunday roast” dinner in the evening, sat chatting around the table afterwards, and it was just like old times back in South Africa. Next morning we just got out of bed in time to bid farewell to Philippa as she was leaving for work, and then after breakfast with Trevor, we were on the road again, heading to Coventry and a couple more nights with Alison’s sister Angela and husband Ivor.

Wychnor Park Timeshare: July 12th-18th

2008-07-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning we left Coventry to drive to Wychnor Park, an old stately home and estate that has been converted into a timeshare property. We were meeting Dianne & Peter for lunch at "The Boat Inn" pub in Alrewas, just a couple of miles from Wychnor because we could not move into our accommodation until 4:00 PM. Unfortunately, "The Boat Inn" was "out", because when we got there, P&D were there, but the pub had closed down! Fortunately, we had made good time on our journey from Coventry and had taken a quick detour to "Fradley Junction" which is where two canals meet (the Coventry Canal and the Trent & Mersey Canal). From looking at the map Bob thought he recognized this as a place where his dad had taken him fishing as a child. It was a very pretty spot, with lots of canal "narrow boats" (used as houseboats) moored and others meandering along the canals and negotiating the locks. Also, as luck would have it (a coincidence indeed), there was a lovely old pub called "The Swan" at the junction of the canals which was well and truly open. Consequently, we informed P&D of our find and quickly relocated ourselves to the canalside pub and had a lovely lunch, after which we enjoyed a lengthy stroll along the canal before returning and making our way to Wychnor Park where we booked into our log cabin named "Kestrel" (not part of the original 1,000 year old estate!) and unpacked and settled in before having dinner. Afterwards, we walked up to the main house and enjoyed a drink in the "members lounge" and met Michael, the "Activities Director". This was the only time during the whole week that we spent in this lounge or partook in any "group" activities. We retired to bed early.

The next morning we had breakfast in the cabin (which we would do for the next seven days), before jumping into the car to take us to the start of our first walk of our week's stay at Wychnor. We drove to Barton-Under-Needwood, only a few miles from Wychnor, parked in the village hall parking lot and commenced our walk to Dunstall via a public footpath. We walked across fields of sheep, who were utterly unconcerned about our presence and hardly looked up from chewing the grass. We also came upon another stately home that is still in use as a private residence, "Dunstall Hall" described as follows: "Dunstall Hall is an outstanding stone Grade II Listed country house near Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. The property is of considerable stature and is set in a secluded yet prominent position with extensive views across mature parkland. Still essentially a private residence. Records show that in 1145 the Dunstall Estate was owned by the Earl of Derby". We returned to Barton at lunchtime and after having a pint at "The Middle Bell", decided it was too much like a restaurant and not enough like a pub, so we moved to "The Shoulder of Mutton", which was highly satisfactory to everyone in all categories! We all slept well on Sunday night.

On P&D's "must do" list was a visit to Lichfield Cathedral, and Monday was the day chosen to do it. An unfortunate things about Wychnor Park was that the internet connectivity was archaic with just one computer available for guests to connect to the Web, and no USB ports for memory sticks, so it wasn’t possible to post photographs or have access to Word documents that you might have written on a laptop. This meant there was no way to connect a personal laptop to the Web. Going to Litchfield was on Bob's list so that he could find somewhere that had Wi-Fi available! Lichfield is another town in the UK that is pedestrian friendly in that no cars are allowed into the very center of town where historically, the streets are so narrow. Everyone parks on the edge of the center and walks into the center of the city (only a few blocks). It is very effective and provides a very pleasant atmosphere. The center of Lichfield, where a weekly market has been held since permission to hold a market was granted to Bishop Walter Durdent, Lord of the Manor of Lichfield by King Stephen in 1153, is very historic. There is a very old church there, St Mary’s, which still has a Sunday service at its East end, but also now houses a day centre for the elderly, a tourist shop, a café; and upstairs there is the Heritage Centre. On the wall of the church are plaques commemorating martyrs burnt at the stake or "disembowled alive" in Lichfield Market Square. After Alison's lengthy description of Holy Trinity Church in Coventry, we won't bore you with more historical facts about Lichfield Cathedral, only to say that it is the only medieval cathedral in Britain with three spires and the building of this Gothic Cathedral commenced in 1195 when it replaced a Norman Cathedral built in 1085 which had replaced a Saxon church built in 700! We had a lovely walk in Lichfield before returning to "The Acorn", a pub we had spotted on our walk that had a sign that said "Free Wi-Fi" in the window! We were able to pick up and send email! You can get more information about Lichfield Cathedral at: http://lichfield-cathedral.org/history.html

On Tuesday, as long planned, our friends Peter & Wendy Crozet visited us at Wychnor. Peter and Bob worked together at Bowmaker Plant (UK Caterpillar tractor franchisee) around 1967/68 so they are also friends of more than forty years. Peter was born and lived in South Africa until he met Wendy who was on an extended working holiday in SA. When Peter learnt Bob was leaving Bowmaker to join Ford in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, he told us to look up an old university friend of his, "Saint" Sudano. This we did, and we became friends with Saint & Marian and Marian is Clare's godmother. Saint & Marian now live in Perth, Australia and they are on our "bucket list" to visit in the near future (see a future blog "Australia & New Zealand"!). P&W have already vistited S&M, so they have given us some good tips on "must sees". After a cup of coffee we started our planned walk across public footpaths across the fields to the canal at Alrewas and then along the canal to Fradley Junction and "The Swan" -- quickly written but probably a three mile walk. After lunch we walked back via a different route and got back to our log cabin five hours after we had left. We estimate that altogether we walked 7-8 miles. After more conversation we all drove to "The Shoulder of Mutton" at Barton-under-Needwood again, where we had a lovely meal and a very convivial evening before saying our farewells to Peter & Wendy, who drove home directly from the pub.

Another thing on the "must do" list was done on Wednesday, when we went to the National Arboretum. [Quote]: "The Arboretum is the home of the Armed Forces Memorial which was opened in October 2007. It is a striking and emotive memorial and is quickly assuming national significance. It gives recognition and thanks for those who have died whilst on duty or as a result of terrorist action since the Second World War and acknowledges the enduring sacrifice of those who mourn their loss". It has a similarity with the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC in that the names of the armed forces personnel who have died are listed by name in the year in which they died, with each branch of the services (Army, Navy, Air Force) being listed separately within each year. 50,000 trees have been planted to create a future woodland as a continuing memorial. There were many buses/coaches visiting the memorial and many old timers in their regimental blazers adorned with service medals visiting to show their respects to their fallen comrades. It was very moving and is moving to me as I write of it. From there we drove to Burton-Upon-Trent where we hoped to visit "The Museum of Brewing" and hoped to also vist a "brew pub" that Peter had identified from a website. We followed the "attraction" signs to the Museum, although our efforts where somewhat handicapped as it seemed as if half the roads in Burton were under repair and progress was exceedingly slow. When we did get to the visitors center, we were informed that the Museum had been closed down for two weeks. This may be somewhat related to the fact that Coors has purchased the Brewery that housed the museum - those damn Yanks! The visitors center gave us directions to the brew pub, but we were to be disappointed again as they closed at 2:30PM and we were too late. After quickly referring to the Burton tourist information map in our possession, Alison spotted "The Unicorn" at Newton Solney, a village just outside Burton, that served lunch until 3:00 PM and had free Wi-Fi. Great excitement all round! We were there by 2:45, only to be told that they only served lunch until 2:30 and the chef had already gone home. We pointed out to the bartender that besides being on the tourist map, the lunch sign outside the front of the pub said they served lunch until 3:00 - all to no avail. We ate crisps/chips for lunch, depending on whether you’re in UK/USA. We meandered through country lanes and villages on our way back to Wychnor, as we had no desire to tackle the roadworks of Burton-on-Trent again. We ate a very hearty dinner at the cabin.

Another "must do" at the beginning of the week was a trip to Alton Towers, a UK theme park with rides named "Nemesis", "Oblivion" and the like! Unfortunately, Thursday was designated to be yet another inclement weather day and in addition, when Peter had phoned to purchase tickets in advance, we were warned of large crowds of school outings to the park and the last thing we needed was for us "senior citizens" to be queueing up with a bunch of screaming children. Consequently, we decided to give the park a miss. By this time, I was already having nervous breakdown symptoms relating to not having posted to the blog for so long and desperately was looking to catch up. However, we didn't want to have Peter & Dianne sitting in a cafe or pub for three hours while we posted the blog (yes, it can take that long) so we decided to split up for the day. D&P went off to Tutbury Castle (11th Century), where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned by Elizabeth I (her cousin) at least twice. Of course, while she was in prison, she continued to plot to overthrow Elizabeth, who finally had had enough and signed the warrant for Mary to be beheaded, which she subsequently was at Fotheringham Castle in 1587 - Isn't England's history nice and gruesome! (Watch "The Tudors" on Showtime). Meanwhile, we headed back to "The Acorn" at Lichfield with free Wi-Fi where we spent three-and-a-half hours working on the blog so that we could bore you all to tears. In that time, we had one beer, lunch and a cup of coffee and no one bothered us at all. At about 3:30, we got a call on our cell phone from my cousin Colin who said he was going to drive out to Wychnor to see us. He had a little bit further to drive than we did, so we beat him back to the timeshare by 5 minutes. Colin is a little bit younger than I, and reminded everyone that it was all my fault when he got into trouble as a youngster, because I was the one that decided all the naughty things we were going to do and he just followed my lead -- the memories of youth. Colin drove home (we'll see him again later) and the four of us decided that tonight was going to be our last night out, so we set off to the "George & Dragon" pub in Alrewas where we had a nice meal and a few pints. Dianne drove us back to Wychnor. I should also mention that today was the start of the British Open Golf Tournament and it started on television at 9:00 AM, so the television was on pretty much all day when we were in the cabin. If any of you watched the first few hours of play, you will understand the farcical description of the present season here as "summer!".

Friday we had the golf on during breakfast and then left to take a walk at Branston Water Park, which is not a water rides amusement park as those from the USA would expect, but a wildlife reserve, created mostly naturally from old gravel pits filling with water and then being taken over by the local government. From there we made our way once more to Barton-under-Needwood and the "Shoulder of Mutton" where we had a lunch appointment with Jonathan Slim and his wife Ann. This is where I have to relate another "power of Google" story. Most of you readers are aware of our three month trip to South Africa last year. A few weeks after we returned, we received an email from son-in-law David with another email attached. David's email said "If you actually know this person, it is really amazing". The attached email was from a Jonathan Slim who had written to David via M&D's blog "Journey to our Daughter" and said (paraphrasing) "Hi, my name is JS, I was browsing the web looking to see if there is a reunion of Marist high school in Port Elizabeth next year and I came across this blog on South Africa. I think the person who wrote the blog is Bobby Brookes who I used to work for in P.E. in the early 80s. His blog didn't have an email address but there is a link to your blog on his site and you have an email address so I am writing to you. If he is who I think he is, could you forward this email, as I would like to get in touch with him". Well of course I was who he thought I was and he did work for me at Shatterprufe in the early 80s. I had assumed that no one would be able to get to my blog unless they knew the link: bobbyandalison.blogspot.com but now realize that Google is indexing key words (such as place names - Port Elizabeth) in every blog that is posted and that, if you type the right words into a Google search, you will find "private" blogs – mind boggling even to those of us who are "computer professionals". I wrote to Jonathan and we corresponded and then when we told him we were coming to UK, discovered that he lived a few miles from the timeshare at Wychnor and regularly drove through Barton-under-Needwood on his way to the office. Jonathan now runs his own software company, specializing in baggage handling systems (had nothing to do with Heathrow Terminal 5!) and is obviously quite successful. Another nice reunion. We returned to the timeshare and the golf and were routing for Greg Norman to continue on his winning way - which he did on Friday. In the evening, I explained the object of Sudoku to Peter and we did a number of puzzles in the newspaper. According to a subsequent conversation that Dianne had with Angela, Peter has been going through all the old papers he can find around the house, and has spent his days working on Sudoku since they returned home - it is definitely a sickness! We had our final dinner at the cabin with all the leftovers of the week, after which we took our last walk from the Wychnor Church down to the canal (Trent & Mersey) and along the canal to where it merges with the Trent River for 300-400 yards before they split again. On this walk we saw Mr & Mrs Swan with six of the biggest cygnets we have ever seen. It was a fitting end to a lovely week.

Thursday July 10 to Saturday morning July 12 – Coventry

2008-07-22T03:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a "catching up" day, and for Bob it also included a good workout in the gym at the fitness club Angela belongs to. She walked with us to the club in the afternoon and while Bob did his thing in the gym, Angela read, and I wrote some postcards, downloaded photos to our laptop, and then prepared some for posting on the blog. We had a quiet evening at home with Angela and Ivor, chatting and watching some television.
On Friday we went with Angela on the bus into the city centre of Coventry. The buses run very frequently and it’s a much easier way to go into the city than driving and having to find a parking place. We walked to the old part of the city and had a stop by the famous statue of Lady Godiva riding naked on her horse. We’ve seen this monument many times in the past, but took another photo to put here on this blog. From there we went into the really old Holy Trinity Church, where Angela particularly wanted us to see "The Doom Painting". This has been described as "one of the most important discoveries ever made in the field of medieval art". It is believed the painting was created between the years 1430 and 1440. The Doom was so named because of the saying "Prepare to meet thy doom", and in the center, Christ is depicted raising his hands in judgment. To the left the stairs to Heaven can be seen, and other things pertaining to Heaven, while to the right the mouth of Hell is depicted, along with gruesome images associated with descent into Hell. The Doom became blackened over the years and was first restored during the 1830s, but it blackened and deteriorated again and in the 1980s it was feared the majority of it was lost. However, experts agreed on a plan of action in 1995, and renovation began, which was ongoing until 2004 when the finally finished work was publicly unveiled. Any history lovers reading this (Larry Slater, I’m thinking of you in particular!) can learn more about Holy Trinity at: http://www.holytrinitycoventry.org.uk
During the blitz of Coventry in World War II, Holy Trinity was saved from destruction, but the 13th century cathedral was lost, save for its spire and outer walls. The ruins remain beside the "new" cathedral, and have been preserved as a place where one can only reflect on the horrors of war, but where the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation prevails in the plaque at the altar in the ruined sanctuary, and the reconciliation statue built near the center of the ruins.
After lunch in the city we rode the bus back to Angela & Ivor’s home, by which time it was raining (again!). Angela then drove Bob over to her club so he could once more use the gym, and I did a bit more blog preparation work. Ivor cooked us a nice evening meal, and we had a fairly early night as we all had to be up early on Saturday: Bob and I to pack up and continue our travels, and A&I to go to a wedding near Leicester.

Saturday July 5 to Wednesday July 9

2008-07-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

OUR APOLGIES TO THOSE OF YOU WHO'VE BEEN WAITING FOR ANOTHER POSTING FROM US. WE'VE HAD PROBLEMS WITH CONNECTIVITY AT THE OLD STATELY HOME TIMESHARE RESORT WE'RE CURRENTLY AT, AND HAVE HAD TO WAIT TO POST AT A PUB IN LICHFIELD WHERE THEY HAVE WI-FI!

Saturday July 5th: Dover to Maidstone.

On Saturday we left Dover and traveled a short distance to Maidstone. Here we visited Roger & Penny Pocock whom we met in South Africa and have known for over 40 years. About three weeks after we had arrived in SA in June of 1968, having travelled out by cruise ship (funded by the SA government), Alison was at the Automobile Association for some reason long forgotten and Penny came up to her and said “Excuse me, but weren’t you on the SA Vaal?”. Of course we were, and from there they discovered that they were living in the same part of town as us (the inexpensive end!). The two ladies planned that we should all meet and thus began an association that has lasted for 40 years. Roger is an electrician by trade but also a house builder and entrepreneur. He basically wired my whole house that I “owner built” in South Africa from 1973-5 (see South African blog). Roger & Penny returned from SA to the UK in the mid/late 70s and Roger took over his father’s electrical company. They have lived in the same lovely big old house on a large lot/plot for 25+ years, with Roger adding on, knocking down walls, putting them back, knocking them down again (all at Penny’s instruction!). However, a developer wants to buy the house, knock it down and build nine detached houses on the lot and has already drawn up plans and made Roger an offer. Negotiations continue. Roger is himself now retired but, not surprisingly, he has a couple of projects that are keeping him occupied. We walked to one of these projects, which is a major renovation of a terraced house in central Maidstone (walking distance from the town center). I was shocked to hear the price that Roger paid for this house in the original condition that he bought it – I would say “derelict”, and have to say that the price of property in the UK for what you get seems ridiculous when compared with the USA. Roger’s modernization of the terraced house is impressive as always and will make someone happy when it is eventually finished (especially Penny!).
On our walk back, we stopped for a pint at one of their local pubs and then returned home and a nice braai and caught up on our respective lives since they had last visited us in Myrtle Beach. There is never enough time.

Sunday 07/06 - Maidstone to West Wickham

We left Maidstone and R&P after a hearty breakfast and fond farewells and headed for West Wickham, south of London, the home of Jerry (Jay) and Lyn Hodgins. Jerry was in South Africa in the early 1970s and I met him through squash and we played every weekend. Jerry was in SA looking for oil on the land (or underground!). Oil was never found in SA except off the coast, and Jerry subsequently returned to UK and went on to many exotic places looking for oil. However, while in SA, he had met Lyn, a Port Elizabeth lady, and Jerry returned often for visits. They were ultimately married and our friendship has continued through the years. Jerry joined me on my Appalachian Trail hike in 2006 (we have also planned to walk for two days on the River Thames later in the holiday). We had already “primed” J&L that we would be expecting to join them for the Wimbledon final and other major sporting events of the day (Formula 1 UK Grand Prix at Silverstone). Unfortunately, when we arrived, Lyn, who is ladies captain of the local golf club, had duties as a caddie for a club ladies team that was playing that afternoon, but Jerry, Alison and I settled down in front of the TV and began what became a terrific afternoon/evening of sport. The Formula 1 started at 1:00 PM in the rain, which made it extremely exciting and the race was ultimately won by Hamilton who drove impeccably. The major event of the day started at 2:00 PM – Federer v Nadal in the Wimbledon final, but of course, at that time, we didn’t know how exciting it was going be. During change of ends and later during rain stoppages, Jerry was flicking either to golf or to cricket (West Indies v Australia) which was also an exciting match. Jerry had booked a local restaurant for 8:00 PM, but at 7:30, with Federer v Natal at 2 sets all and about to start the final set, he called and delayed it until 8:30. Lynn arrived home and then, sometime after 8:00, there was yet another rain delay of the tennis, which looked pretty major and that seemed like end of play for the day. We decided to head for the restaurant but not before Jerry had got out his instruction book and set the DVR to record for the next couple of hours “just in case”. We had a very nice meal and returned home and started skipping through the recording, fully expecting to see an announcement about play being resumed on Monday, when all of sudden, we could see play had resumed. We then watched the conclusion of that fantastic match and were so pleased that we had recorded it and also that we hadn’t found out the result before we watched it! It had been a great day.

We must add a few words about the birds coming throughout the day to the feeders in Jerry & Lyn’s back garden. Besides the usual variety, there were parakeets—an amazing sight, we thought, in England’s climate; but it appears there are many, many of them in the area south of London, and in fact they’ve become somewhat of a nuisance. Some caged ones must have escaped a few years back, and they’ve managed to survive and reproduce. So the English weather can’t be as bad as we think!

Monday 07/07 - West Wickham to Launton

We were “on the road again” following a lovely breakfast provided by Lyn and Jerry and bidding our farewells to them and West Wickham. Today we drove to the M25 orbital road around London and traveled west and north on that motorway past Heathrow airport to the M40 towards Oxford. Before Oxford we left the M40 and drove to our next “stopover” at the home of Bob’s sister Rosemarie and husband Ian in the village of Launton, near the old market town of Bicester. Nobody was home when we arrived—R&I were still driving home from a weekend with Rosemarie’s daughter and family (our niece Vera, her husband Garry, and our great-nieces Hollie and Leah)—so we drove into Bicester and shopped for some maps we wanted, and when we got back to R&I’s they were just arriving home. We spent a lovely late afternoon and evening “catching up” with them and telling them all we’d been up to since we left Myrtle Beach back on June 13th, but we were all tired, and didn’t stay up late, knowing we’d be back to spend a whole week with R&I later in the month.

Tuesday 07/08 - Launton to Minchinhampton

We repacked a bit and left some things with R&I that we won’t need again until we return home. Then we were off again after breakfast. We were heading westwards to the home of our niece Catherine (daughter of Alison’s sister Dianne and husband Peter) and her family (husband Ben, and our great niece Lois and great nephew Harry), but instead of taking the most direct route, we used country lanes and stopped at various points along the River Thames Path, looking for suitable meeting points, etc. when Bob and Jerry Hodgins walk the Thames Path for a day (and maybe two) later this month when we are staying with Rosemarie and Ian. We found some places, that looked possible on the map, to be very remote, or just on overgrown bridle paths; then another place we’d originally thought not so good, had a great riverside pub there, with a car park; so it was good we did this exercise! We then drove on through some ancient towns/villages until we reached Minchinhampton, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, where Catherine and family live. This little place is perhaps older than all the others we saw, dating back to the time of William the Conquerer! We couldn’t believe that two-way streets were narrower than most one-way streets in other English towns, and the houses open right onto the street in the central part. It was quite an accomplishment for Bob to negotiate these streets in our mid-size rented car! Fortunately Catherine & Ben live on the edge of town, facing Minchinhampton Common, and have a driveway up to their house. However, this too poses problems because cows roam on the Common, and the homes have cattle grids at the driveway entrances, or electrified gates, to stop the cows coming into their gardens! We joked that this is the only place in England where it’s just like rural South Africa! Ben has made huge alterations/renovations/additions to their home over the 6 years they’ve lived there, and we were amazed at what’s been made of an original box shaped bungalow. Well done, Ben (and well done, Cath, for tolerating all the noise, mess, etc. that comes with home alterations!) It was lovely getting to know little Lois and Harry now that they are older (8 and almost 6), and Great Aunt Alison really enjoyed having Lois show her at bedtime her precious photo albums of when she was a baby and toddler. We’re very happy we made this visit in this lovely part of old England, and many thanks Cath and Ben for your kind hospitality.

Wednesday July 9 : Minchinhampton to Coventry

It started raining during the night and was very wet when we loaded our bags into the trunk of the car to continue our travels. Ben had already left for work, but we had to get a photo of Cath and the children before she took them to school, so they had to stand in the front doorway for the picture so as not to get soaked. We said our “Goodbyes” and were on the road right after Cath left with Lois and Harry. Through the rain we took a photo of Minchinhampton Common from the car window, and then we drove on towards Coventry, our next destination, to spend 3 nights with Alison’s sister Angela and husband Ivor. Had the weather been good, we’d have made a couple of stops to visit well-known little towns en route, but the rain continued, and we arrived in Coventry well before our estimated time. Fortunately Angela had guessed we might be early, and already had lunch prepared for us, which was very welcome after the miserable drive. We then went with Angela to the fireplace showroom that her son, our nephew, Bernard manages. He showed us around and answered our questions about the various types of fireplace on display. They still have a weekday “early closing day” in many cities and towns in England, and today was early closing for Bernard. The plan had been to go out into the countryside with him for a walk and then dinner at a nice country pub, but instead, due to the rain, we just went back to A&I’s home for the afternoon and went to their local pub “The Open Arms” for dinner. Despite the rain (3 inches today—as much as the average for the whole of July!), we had a good time, and it was a very convivial evening.

Thursday 07/03 Friday 07/04

2008-07-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

Thursday 07/03 – Friday 07/04
Today was the day of the special dinner for "Old Boys" of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School (DYRMS) who attended the school between 1950 and 1960. The DYRMS was founded in 1801 as a school for the orphans of servicemen who were killed in wars. At that time it was for both boys and girls. Later the school was designated as exclusively for the sons of soldiers.

http://www.achart.ca/york/index.html

http://www.dyrms.net/sonsofthebrave.php

The school is boarding only and has accommodation for more than 480 pupils. It is a government funded school and, at the time I attended, there were no fees paid by parents. I was able to attend the school because my father served in the British Army for 22 years+ (and because I passed the entrance exam and interview!). There is no doubt in my mind that by attending the school I received an education and opportunity that my parents could never have afforded, and a foundation that has helped throughout my subsequent years in life and business. I know that the majority of those of us who attended the school have great pride in the fact that we did so, and have an affiliation for the school that lasts a lifetime. The dinner coincided with the school’s annual "Grand Day" and the "Trooping the Colour" parade, which takes place at the end of the school year. It was during an Old Boys reunion at the time of the 1964 Grand Day that I met Alison for the first time since I had left in 1960 (remember, she was a housemaster’s daughter). We all know the consequences of that event! In the mid 1990s, the school opened its doors again to the female species (rightly so), although no doubt it created its own challenges in having both sexes in a boarding school! Anyway, the dinner was a great event and we were fortunate that my house (Wolfe) was well represented and that I remembered the majority of the attendees. Alison was greeted by many boys who recognized her (particularly from "Clive" house where her dad was the housemaster) and she knew as many of the Old Boys as I did. The accompanying photographs to these paragraphs will not mean much to the viewers, but they certainly mean a lot to Alison & me. We had a great reunion dinner in a marquee at the Ramada and after dinner, and a rousing rendition by all of the school song "Play Up Dukies", we all headed to the bar for more stories of "old times" and it was 1:30 AM before we retired to bed. Thanks to Peter Godwin for all his hard work in making this great reunion come together.

On Friday after breakfast we drove to St. Margaret’s Bay, which is close to the School and was a favorite haunt of Alison and her parents when she was a child. It is a small bay which huge white cliffs at each end and a pebble beach. Noel Coward, the playwright and actor from the 1930s had a house here (that still stands below the cliffs) and it is also quite often the landing place of cross channel swimmers from France. There used to be gun emplacements in the cliffs that we were able to walk to, but the entrances to these have long been walled up. On our way back to the Ramada, we stopped by "The Chance Inn", in Guston, which was Pauline Ford’s (nee Ridden?) childhood home (as well as the shop next door) – see Victoria post of the Alaskan cruise. This reminds me that when I told various Clive Old Boys we had seen Mark Ford just a few days before, they all said "you mean Drof", with great amusement (I had forgotten that was his nickname). (Don’t forget to comment on this Mark (Drof!).
The "Old Boys" were asked to be at the school and in position for the Trooping the Colour by 2:00 PM and of course, being products of a military school, we were all there, spick and span and on time! The reviewing officer arrived in his helicopter – Commander-in-Chief Air Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Clive Loader, KCB OBE ADC FRAeS RAF (impressive you’ll agree), and the ceremony began. I took video of a good portion of the parade and it was as impressive as always. We learnt that the pupils do not drill as often as "in our day", when half of the staff members were serving officers and the school was headed by a "Commandant" who had a rank of Colonel or higher. Now there are no serving military people in the school at all, they are all civilians, although the RSM, Bandmaster and a few others are retired military. The school is now run by a civilian Headmaster. In the early days more than 80% of the school leavers went into the military, but now it is a much, much lower percentage. What this may mean for the future is anyone’s guess, but was certainly a topic of discussion amongst the Old Boys, both military and non-military. We want the tradition to continue. After the parade was over, we walked over to Clive and Wolfe houses – they are next to each other (each of the eight houses are named after famous British military people) and we happened to arrive when this year’s recipient of the "Sword of Honour" was having her picture taken outside of her house (Wolfe of course) and we also learnt that next year she will be "Chief School Prefect" – an honour indeed. At this time, the boys and girls were packing up and leaving for their summer holidays and there were many cars and parents outside all the houses cramming suitcases and assorted bags into cars which already seemed too full to actually transport any people. Of course "in our day" we were bussed down to Dover station on Monday morning and sent on various trains with strict instructions as to where to get off and meet our parents. Trains to London had teachers aboard to help the boys get on the correct subsequent train for the ongoing journey. To be fair, if parents had a car in the 1950s, it was unlikely that it would be reliable enough for a long journey and of course there were no motorways. After the parade, we drove to "The Swingate", the nearest pub to the school and very popular with the staff (and far too risky for any school boys to go to, but popular with old boys). We met up with Monty Siddons and his wife Helen, had afternoon tea (scones, strawberries & clotted cream, and hot tea) and after saying our farewells, we made our way back to the Ramada, where, by good fortune, they had a curry buffet as their evening specialty. We did make a quick diversion to Lydden on our way back to the Ramada, so that Alison could take a photograph of her parents' home that they moved to in 1959 when Freddy Page ended his housemastership of Clive (a ten year time limit on serving as housemaster, though Freddy was granted a one year extension). He continued to teach at the school until his death in 1972. After the curry dinner, we met Bill Spreadbury and his wife Monica in the bar and reminisced a little more before retiring at a reasonable hour. It had been a wonderful couple of days and we both agreed it had completely met our expectations.

Tuesday 07/01 - Wednesday 07/02

2008-07-10T02:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 07/01 Falls Church: "Gotcha Day" anniversary and UK here we come.

Indigo’s nanny was not available on Tuesday, so Granny & Granddad volunteered for duty. This meant that one of us had to watch her all the time except for when she had her nap in the afternoon. Today was also the one year anniversary of "Gotcha Day", the day when Indigo was first handed over to M&D in China, consequently, M&D wanted us to join them in a celebration dinner at the Peking Gourmet Inn Chinese restaurant in Falls Church (George Bush’s favorite Chinese restaurant – they even installed a bullet proof window for him) (Web URL). Of course this is the same evening that we were flying to England so we were a bit nervous about fitting it in. Granddad took Indigo to the beach at the lake in the morning and we made sandcastles and Indigo paddled in the lake – great fun. Alison started to pack. Indigo had her lunch and went down for a nap and we carried on packing. When Indigo woke from her nap, Alison dressed her in her smart outfit for the restaurant and I packed the car and we left to meet M&D at the Peking. It was quite early evening (5:30) so they were not too busy and the waiters were all taken with Indigo, especially when they saw her eating with chopsticks! We had a very nice meal including "Peking Duck", for which the restaurant is renowned. In the morning, M&D had taken our car to work and left us their car with the car seat in it for Indigo so when we left the restaurant we took M&D’s car already loaded with our luggage in the back and drove straight to Dulles airport. Even M&D were surprised at how easy it was for us to get on the DC beltway and out to Dulles in no time at all. They dropped us off and we were in plenty of time. When M&D got home (after stopping off at other friends on the way), they had parked at their house when they remembered that our car was still parked at the "Peking" and had to go and fetch it! Meanwhile, a little bit late at 10:30 PM, we took off from Dulles to Heathrow.

Wednesday 07/02 – UK arrival and on to Dover
We arrived at Heathrow six hours later at 9:30 AM with a 5 hour time change and a short sleep. After purchasing a mobile phone at Heathrow, we picked up our rental car and started our journey to Dover. It was raining! We stopped off in Canterbury to find a bank and get some pounds and have lunch and then on to the Ramada Inn at Whitfield just outside Dover where we "crashed" for a couple of hours in the afternoon! In the evening we had a sandwich in the hotel bar and met up with some Dukie old boys who had arrived early for the Thursday dinner. More on "Dukies" in tomorrow’s blog.

Friday 06/27 - Monday 06/30: Ketchikan, Victoria and back to Falls Church

2008-07-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Friday 06/27 Ketchikan

We had not booked any excursions at Ketchikan because of our anticipated adventure in Skagway so we just ended up walking around the town. It was a cold, miserable looking day and later it absolutely poured and we got soaked. We were glad to get back on the boat! That evening, at sea again, we ate at “The Bistro” with Bernard & Arline and the food was exquisite, easily worth the additional $15 per head cover charge. After dinner the 4 of us went to the ship’s theater and saw the dancing girls put on a show. Following the dancing girls Alison and I went up to the Spinnaker Lounge, this time to watch/participate in a “liar” quiz show put on by the cruise director, the comedian, and a couple of jugglers from the entertainment crew.

Saturday 06/28 – Victoria, BC

Finally, we woke up to a blue sky and sunny day! We were at sea all day on Saturday (having left Ketchikan at 1:30 PM the previous day) and we sailed into Victoria harbor at 6:00 PM where we were met by Mark Ford and his wife Pauline who live in Victoria. Mark and I started at the same school in 1952 when he was 11 and I was almost 11 (he was a year ahead of me). Alison knew Mark even better than I did as he was in Clive House, where her father was the housemaster. They took us on a drive around Victoria, visiting the viewing points of which there are many. We also went to the village where they live, Oak Bay, and went to one of their local pubs, The Penny Farthing. We then went to the Empress Hotel, a grand structure built in the colonial style of the early 1900s with ornate ceilings, etc., where we visited the Bombay Room and had a wonderful curry buffet dinner. After a quick dash to the entrance gate of China Town, M&P got us back to the boat before 11.30 PM and we said our farewells and re-boarded the ship. It was a lovely reunion with old friends.

Sunday 06/29 – Seattle to Washington, DC.

Six of our party of eight were sharing a shuttle to the airport so we all had breakfast together (for the first time!), and made sure we left the ship together so that we would pass through immigration & customs and be together to catch the shuttle. All went according to plan and by 11:00 AM we had our bags checked in and waiting for our 1:40 flight to Philadelphia. At about 1:10 they announced a flight delay due to bad weather in the mid section of the country and we eventually left Seattle an hour late. As we originally had an hour in Philly between arriving and flying on to National Airport, Washington, DC, this did not bode well for us catching our flight. Fortunately, the pilot made up some time, and our flight from Philly to DC was delayed by 20 minutes, so we made our flight and arrived back in Falls Church by taxi around 1:00 AM on Monday. This is not the whole story of what happened between the two flights, but it's too long a story to publish on the web!

Monday 06/30 – Falls Church

Monday was supposed to be a quiet relaxing day, but due to circumstances, it turned out to be quite hectic. M&D’s sink disposal had stopped working and Bob volunteered to replace it, which meant a trip to Sears. One of the wheels on Alison’s suitcase had been broken and her suitcase needed to be replaced. After numerous phone calls to Philadelphia airport lost & found, the Philadelphia airport TSA and the South Carolina DMV, we also had to go to the Post Office and send forms by express mail to the SC DMV to get Bob’s lost driving license replaced! (See last paragraph for Sunday!). There was also plenty of laundry to get done before our flight to UK on Tuesday. It turned out to be a very busy day. The good news was that Bob finally got the sink waste disposal replaced after another trip to a store to purchase a small tub of plumber’s putty!

Wednesday 06/25 - Thursday 06/26

2008-06-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 06/25/06 – Skagway

Today we had anticipated a “once in a lifetime” experience: we had booked the “Dog Sledding & Glacier Flight Seeing via Helicopter” excursion, which had the following description: ”Meet professional mushers and their dogs on a unique Alaska excursion. After a thrilling flight over spectacular glaciers, land at a dog camp on the Denver Glacier. Experienced guides introduce you to “mushing”, the art of dog sledding. Drive the sled or sit back and relax while enjoying the breathtaking scenery”. Alison was so looking forward to seeing the huskies and see how they are trained and to “drive” the sled. We had to bring appropriate clothing for the dog camp, which meant very warm layers of clothing (that had taken up precious space in the suitcases) and we got into our gear and departed the ship for our 9:35 AM dockside meeting. When we got there, we were informed that the cloud cover was too low to get to the camp, but we could be rescheduled for 3:00 PM when the cloud cover would probably be higher, so we agreed to this, rather than try to do any other of the many available excursions offered in Skagway, the best of which we were already too late for anyway. We returned to the ship, took off all the warm gear and I can’t particularly remember how we passed the time, but of course we had lunch. Around 2:40 PM, we got back into “snow gear” and sweated our way to the exit and departed the ship once again. Unfortunately our tour operator informed us that the cloud cover was still too low and that our excursion had to be cancelled. Obviously, this was a safety issue and only the weather was to be blamed, but we were both extremely disappointed and Alison was emotionally upset, but there was nothing we could do. We decided to walk into the town of Skagway – right there at the end of the docks, where the main street is basically unchanged from the late 1890s. We saw the train that takes people to “White Pass” up in the Yukon “Gold Rush” territory (a train we could have taken had we chosen that particular excursion). We went into the “Red Onion Saloon”, which used to house the fanciest brothel on the upper floors in 1898, and where the waitresses wear the costume dress of that period. As I said, the main street is within 100 yards of the docks, and when you look back down the street, it looks as though our ship is trying to sail down the street – Alison got a great photograph of that.
We returned to the ship to shower and get ready for a “birthday dinner” with Bernard and Arline (whose birthday it was), and we had a booking for 6:00 PM in the “Summer Palace” main dining room. After dinner we watched one of the lounge bands and at 9:00, we had left the dock at Skagway and started on our route to Glacier Bay. Then we went with Arline to the ship’s Stardust Theater and saw “The Nylons”, a Cappella quartet from Canada, and we all enjoyed their performance.

Thursday 06/26/06 – Glacier Bay

We were told that we would see our first glacier at about 9:30 AM and Bob was at the gym at 7.30 so that he could get his workout in before the glacier viewing began. However, while he was on a treadmill which faced the side of the ship with huge windows, all of a sudden he saw a glacier straight in front of him, which we would later work out from the map, was the Reid Glacier. This obviously was not considered worthy of a stop, but it looked pretty impressive when we sailed by it. Bob rushed back to the cabin (900 ft away at the back of the boat), to tell Alison, but she had already seen it from the balcony, but not in time to get a good shot of it. Basically, the geography of Glacier Bay is, as the name suggests, a very large bay, but is has many inlets off the main bay, and if you sail up an inlet, you will ultimately meet “face to face” and towering above the water, the glacier that made the inlet,. By 9:30 PM, we had arrived at the Tarr Inlet at the far end of the bay and at the end of that inlet is the Margerie Glacier which is one of the biggest and the best in the Bay. We went to Deck 15 at the front of the ship and found a good spot to photograph and video. There was a National Parks Ranger on board who had been commentating already for an hour about the Glacier Bay National Park and the formation of the glaciers and other interesting facts and figures, but now he said he was going outside to view the glacier himself. The ship stopped and we began to take our pictures. There are actually two glaciers at this point, the Margerie to the left and the Grand Pacific Glacier in front of you that is the end of the inlet. However, the Margerie is still right there at the waters edge, while the Grand Pacific has receded and just left behind rocks and silt that ends the inlet (which also marks the border of Alaska and Canada, so the active front of that glacier is a mile or two back in Canada.
The Margerie Glacier moves forward about 8ft a day, but of course, that 8ft drops off and just adds fresh glacier water to the inlet. This “collapsing” of the ice into the water, which I’m sure you have all seen on film, is called “calving”, and as the ranger said, no one has any idea as to when a glacier will “calve:, but it usually happens when you have gone to the toilet, or to get a cup of coffee, or while you are changing your film or batteries in your camera! Anyway, the Margerie glacier was pretty impressive; it is a mile wide and 250ft high and goes back mile and miles to the ice fields. Unfortunately, when you are there on the ship, because the glacier face is so high, you cannot see how far it goes back and it was only later when we saw postcards taken from the air that we were able to see the glacier squeezing its way down the valley.
Bob was taking video and Alison stills and of course we were waiting for a “calving” and we had a number of small ones. Because we were at the end of the inlet, the ship had to turn around and the captain began a very slow 180 “on the spot” clockwise turn which of course swung the bow of the ship away from the glacier and the stern of the ship towards the glacier. Bob put the video away and as the stern of the ship completely faced the front of the glacier, there was a mighty crack and a huge chunk of ice fell from the glacier into the water. It was so huge, it created a wave that rocked the boat. Alison still had her camera at the ready, and successfully photographed the occurrence from an angle that also showed the ship’s deck because we were watching from the front as the ship was turning. We later learned that Bernard was out on his balcony at the aft end of the ship, as was Jennifer, and they saw the whole thing much closer up, and had we been in our cabin and on the balcony, so would we. But we still saw it, and the ranger announced afterwards that the ice that fell was the equivalent size of a 16 storey building, and that neither he, nor the other ranger on board, who’d been doing the Margerie Glacier watching from cruise ships for over 4 years, had ever before seen such a huge calving, or a wave big enough to make the ship rock. So this was some compensation for our disappointment of the day before. After Margerie we sailed a short way back down the bay and into Johns Hopkins Inlet (named by a glaciologist, Dr. Reid, who had attended Johns Hopkins University). As the ship goes around a headland in the inlet known as “Jaw Drop Point”, the vista of the Johns Hopkins Glacier comes into full view and is quite magnificent. Because seals are having “pups” at this time, and use the ice from the calving of the glacier to wean the pups on, the ship is restricted in how close it can get to the glacier and we were five miles away, but it is so enormous that it looked closer than a mile. Because we were at such a distance from the glacier, we were able to see it curving back up the valley until it disappeared around a bend. It was quite breathtaking and was easy to see why the headland got the name of “Jaw Drop Point”. On the way out of the inlet we also stopped at Lamplugh Gacier. The viewing of the glaciers from the ship today was definitely the highlight of the trip. By late afternoon we were heading out of Glacier Bay and into “Icy Straight” on our way to arrive in Ketchikan at 6:00 AM Friday 27th—our last port of call in Alaska. This evening we went with Jennifer & Ed, and Colleen & Mike to the "Spinnaker Lounge" see the ship’s comedian put on his show for "adults only".

Monday 06/23- Tuesday 06/24

2008-06-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

Monday 06/23/08 – A Day at Sea

Monday was a day at sea, which we used to prepare the blog post for Saturday & Sunday. Bob was at the gym at 7:15 AM, because someone persistently knocked on our door at 7:00, despite strict instructions that he wanted to sleep as long as possible and not to wake him. The responsible person will remain nameless (but she did used to work at LYNX!). Actually, Bob has been to the gym three days out of four, but still has to admit that he is consuming more calories than he is burning. After the gym, it was breakfast, then lunch, then a snooze and then dinner (with a little bit of drinking thrown in). There are two main dining rooms on the ship – one is called “The Summer Palace” and the second one, amazingly, is called “INDIGO”, where we ate on Monday evening. We still have to have one of our party take a picture of us at the entrance to the restaurant.

Tuesday 06/24/08 – Juneau

On Tuesday morning we found out a bit more about the use of the ship’s internet and found that we could borrow a cable to connect in the cabin (connection cable is rented free!). However, when I tried to upload pictures to the blog, Google would not accept them. Another trip back to the internet café, where the manager (a very nice helpful gentleman from Canada) informed me that Google had stopped accepting photos from the ship’s satellite connection two or three days ago and he assumed it was because it was too slow and tied up the Google servers for too long – so there will be no pictures for a few days while we are on the ship.
We were due to dock in Juneau at 2:00 PM and we were in plenty of time but the Norwegian Star was in our spot and we had to wait for it to leave. By the time we tied up and got off the ship, it was already 2:45. Our shuttle driver was there and we were off for our whale watching excursion (six of our party of eight). It was quite cold and windy but the boat had a nice cabin so our journey out into the “Inner Passage” was okay. The captain(Capt. Jack!) was in touch via radio with other local skippers so he knew where to find the whales and in a short while we were seeing “blows” and tails tipping up and the whales diving under and not coming up for 6-7 minutes when they needed to breathe again. Unfortunately, that was all we were seeing and Alison & I were thinking that our whale watching at De Hoop in South Africa last year was a lot more eventful. However, just as we were ready to give up, a mother and calf started to show some activity and all of a sudden the calf started breaching and was clearing the water in a straight up leap. He kept doing it again and again, sometimes only getting halfway out of the water and sometimes completely clearing the water and falling sideways with a mighty splash. It was quite spectacular. Of course, during this time we were now on the top deck of a very rocky boat and the task of getting a photograph at the exact moment that the whale was clear of the water was very difficult. Nevertheless, Alison has some good shots which will ultimately appear on the blog. On our way back from the whale watch to the dock, we stopped at a view site for the Mendenhall Glacier and took photographs. It is very impressive to see and makes you realize the geological marvel of all the glaciers. Of course, the glacier is receding and different people have different ideas about that!
Back at the Juneau dock, we did not re-board the cruise ship as we (and cousin Bernard & Arline) were booked to go to the ”Gold Creek Salmon Bake” and a few minutes later we were picked up and taken to the event, which is quite unique. We had wild Alaskan salmon cooked on the grill to perfection – many thanks to Vic & Carol Wolff who recommended it after their trip to Alaska in Sept. of 2006. After returning to the ship we listened to a music group playing pop music, and just after 10:00 PM, while it was still light, we left the dock at Juneau and started to make our way further north to arrive at Skagway early next morning.

Saturday 6/21- Sunday 6/22

2008-06-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday 06/21/08 – Fox Island back to Seattle and Pike Place Market

This morning we packed up to leave the Armentrouts’ home and took a few photos before Carolyn and Mark drove us to “The Harvester”, a favorite breakfast haunt of Mark’s, where we enjoyed a huge “full-on” mid-morning breakfast, and then on back to Seattle and the Mediterranean Inn (our hotel for the night), where we met up with our friends Jennifer and Ed Widener, who had flown into Seattle via Houston, after a very early start from their home in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Jennifer worked with Bob at Lynx Services in Ft. Myers, Florida, when we lived there, and she also knows Carolyn Armentrout well, due to Carolyn also working for the sales arm of Lynx Services. We have cruised about 3 times previously with the Wideners, and it’s just great that they have been able to join us on this cruise. The six of us all went to Seattle’s renowned Pike Place Market, Bob and Mark walking there, and Carolyn driving the Wideners and me. We met up at the entrance and wandered around until we found a restaurant where Jennifer could eat some Dungeness crab that she was craving, and Bob and I could sample yet another local “brew”, outside on the deck overlooking the harbor. After sitting chatting at our table for a while, it was time for the Armentrouts to return home to Fox Island. Jennifer and I bade our farewells to Carolyn & Mark, and walked round the Market some more, taking in all the sights and sounds, before walking back to our hotel; and C&M drove Bob and Ed back to the hotel, so they could officially check in and get our bags to our rooms. We rested in our rooms awhile, then Jennifer walked with Bob and me to a nearby Irish pub/restaurant “T.S. McHugh’s”, where we had a light dinner and then returned to the hotel and met up with Ed again. We had planned to have a nightcap drink on the hotel rooftop sitting area, but it was too windy and cold when we got there, so we just had a quick look at the view of the city by night, and all its bright lights, and then descended to the lobby for our nightcap! Off to bed and another night with no trouble sleeping. At this point we must say a big Thank You to the Armentrouts for their wonderful hospitality since they met us at the airport on Thursday. We hope we can reciprocate in Myrtle Beach before too long.

Sunday 06/22/08 – Norwegian Pearl Sailing Day

Bags packed again, and breakfast in the Starbucks adjoining the hotel. (Seattle being the “home” of Starbucks coffee houses, there seems to be one about every second block all over the city.) We then all piled into a taxi, and somehow the luggage of all 4 of us got into the trunk, and we were off to the Pier 66 Cruise Terminal to begin the embarkation process onto Norwegian Pearl. This went off very smoothly, despite the huge numbers of passengers in line, and we were aboard soon after midday. Cousin Bernard and Arline (who had booked us on this cruise with them back in April ’07, when they were on the Pearl’s maiden voyage from Miami down to and through the Panama Canal, and up the Pacific coast to Los Angeles), had arrived from Myrtle Beach yesterday and stayed overnight at a hotel booked for them by the cruise line. They had boarded the ship not long before us, and we met up with them in a pre-arranged poolside area, where we waited for the 2:00 PM time when we could take occupation of our cabins. Now we were a party of 6, and as we were going to our cabins, we met the remaining couple in our party, who had just boarded, Colleen and Mike. Colleen is still a Lynx employee in Fort Myers, and she too has been on a couple of previous cruises with us. So all 8 of us had got together and found our respective cabins (all very close to each other) in good time for a little rest before the mandatory life boat drill for all 2300 (approx.) passengers at 3:30 PM. We departed the dock on time at 4:00, and stood on our balcony at the aft end of the ship, watching the wake and Seattle disappearing into the distance. For those of you who are interested in facts and figures, the Norwegian Pearl was built in 2006, weighs 93,000 tons, is 965 feet long and is 105 feet in the beam. It can accommodate 2380 passengers and has a crew of 1154. There are 12 restaurants and 11 bars and lounges, plus a casino and all the usual other cruise ship amenities people have come to expect, like a rock-climbing wall, bowling alley, spa, fitness room, library, internet café and more (Internet connection is $.75 per minute or 100 minutes for $55 or 250 minutes for $100 – we will need to post quickly!).
We walked around and familiarized ourselves with the various amenities and then all eight of us had dinner at “Cagney’s”, which is one of the “specialty” restaurants where there is an additional cover charge for the menu (in this case $20 per person). It was worth it for our first meal of our cruise! After dinner we spent an hour or two in the “Spinnaker Lounge”, listening to 1970’s music before retiring for the night. A great start to the cruise.

The journey begins

2008-06-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 06/17/08 - Goodbye Myrtle Beach.

This morning we finished packing everything we thought we needed for the next 6 ½ weeks, and by 10:15 we were on the road to Falls Church, VA. When we drive the 430 miles to M&D’s we keep going, only stopping at the rest stops to use the restrooms, change drivers and have a quick bite from our picnic lunch that we take with us. It is 80 miles from Myrtle Beach to Interstate 95 and once we are on the Interstate, we don’t leave it again for 345 miles, only a couple of miles from M&D’s home. We made it this time in about 7 ½ hours.
Melanie was still at work and David was in New York on a business trip, but Indigo Wen was there to greet us, being looked after by her nanny. When Melanie got home, she was going to cancel her knitting class, but we told her to go and enjoy it, and Indigo was quite happy to have Granny and Granddad look after her and Granny bathed her, read her a story and put her to bed and she was already sound asleep when Melanie got home. We chatted about the upcoming adventures and then retired for an early night.

Wednesday 06/18/08 – The Barn, the Park, the lost camera!
Today, as has become the norm, Melanie’s friend and fellow adoptive mother, Ellen, came over with her little girl Sarah. Sarah came to America at the same time as Indigo and is her best friend. They are such good friends that they have to dress the same as you will see from the photographs! We all piled into Ellen’s Expedition and drove to the Merry-Go-Round stables (http://www.merry-go-roundfarm.com/) where Melanie keeps her beloved horse Dan. No one rides Dan anymore but the alternatives to continue paying the fees for his board and lodging every month are not acceptable and we understand why. Melanie brushed him, and both little girls were waiting to sit on his back. Eventually he was ready and Sarah was the first to be lifted up onto Dan’s back (he is a tall horse). Sarah held the reins and was quite happy to be led around at a walking pace and was reluctant to get off. Despite seeing Sarah ride so enthusiastically, when it came to Indigo’s turn, she just didn’t want to get on the horse. Melanie suggested (jokingly of course) that David must have been saying something to Indigo to discourage her from horse riding so she wont get into such an expensive (and forever) hobby – we shall see. While we were at the stables we had a very nice picnic lunch that Ellen had brought with her.
From the stables we went to a children’s park called Clemyjontri: (http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/clemyjontri/) which is the most amazing municipal park we have ever seen. The central attraction is an old fashioned carousel which the children can ride free from Monday to Friday. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of other apparatus for kids to climb, slide, swing on, etc.., all with a theme such as a fire truck, airplane, etc., all beautifully designed and made. There are also educational aspects to the park with boards and signs that explain where different animals live (continents) and also, the whole park’s ground surface is a hard wearing “spongy” rubber so that the children won’t hurt themselves if they fall. There is a bike track that winds in around the park for kids on their bikes to ride. A very nice place and, as it is school holidays, there were many, many, moms there with children having a good time. Indigo and Sarah rode the Carousel (with Granddad and Ellen standing next to Indigo and Sarah to ensure their safety) and then they climbed and slid down tubes, etc. Melanie took lots of photos (at the barn as well) and everyone enjoyed themselves.
We left the park about 2:00 because Ellen has to be on the way home before the DC rush hour traffic! As we were sitting around at home later in the afternoon, Melanie said “I can’t find my camera”. After calling Ellen and have her search the car and searching around the house, it became apparent that Melanie must have put her camera down at some point, possibly to pick up Indigo, and left it somewhere, although she had no recollection of doing so. Melanie called the municipal phone number for the park and, although the office was closed, she left a message to say she had lost a camera at the park. Meanwhile, Granddad went shopping and bought some lamb chops and “go withs” (beer!) and we had a lovely braai. David was on his way back from New York (by train) and had hoped to be home by 7 PM. We waited until 7:30 before starting without him (lest the chops be overcooked!) and he arrived as we were still at the table talking. Alison and I made sure all our cases were fully packed and ready to go downstairs, and that the clothes we were going to wear next morning were in the bedroom, laid out ready for us to jump into. We had a taxi arriving at 5:30 AM! We said our farewells to Indigo and later, Melanie & David and, after setting both cell phone alarms for 5:00, “hit the sack”.

Thursday 06/19/08 – DC to Seattle.
At 5:00 AM, a fire alarm went off in the house – at least that was how it sounded like to me! Both alarms went off at once (surprise!) and as my phone was charging on a shelf across the room, and Alison, having never used her cell phone alarm, had no clue as to how to turn it off, the noise seemed to go on and on and we were sure we had woken the whole house. Sheepishly, I listened for Indigo, but fortunately, all was quiet. We dressed and carried our toiletries downstairs and put them in the lids of the suitcase and were outside and waiting at 5:30 when the taxi arrived on time. Melanie informed us later that day that they hadn’t heard the alarms, nor had they heard us leave – for all they knew, we were still in bed! We got to National Airport earlier than we needed, but that’s better than being late. We were on a regional jet to Philadelphia and we took off on time and arrived on time. By 9:00 we were boarding our flight to Seattle – a very nice Airbus and we were in an exit row that only had two seats in it – very private and lots of leg room. It is a six hour flight but it seemed to go by rather quickly. Our friends Carolyn & Mark Armentrout were there to meet us outside baggage claim and off we went to a restaurant called “Sports” in walking distance of the Space Needle. After a nice lunch (Seattle on the Pacific Coast is 3 hrs behind the Atlantic Coast in time) and my first taste of a local draught IPA, we made our way to the Space Needle and waited in line to buy tickets to go up.

After we had bought the tickets, we waited in line to get in the elevator and 60 minutes later, we were on our way up.
The most daunting sight awaits you when you alight from the elevator 520 ft up – the line for the elevator to go down again! Nevertheless, the 360 view from the top is magnificent, and as it is a once in a lifetime experience (for me anyway), it is worth the wait.
After the Space Needle, we went to an area of Seattle called Pioneer Square, where you can go on an “Underground” tour. (http://www.undergroundtour.com/). This historic area is where the town was originally built, but because it was always flooded (at the bottom of the hills that slope down to Puget Sound, they “raised” the roads and pavements to a new level. It was very interesting. After that, it was time for us to make our way south to Tacoma and then across the Tacoma “Narrows” on the bridge that replaced “Galloping Gertie”, the suspension bridge that collapsed into the Narrows in 1940 (http://www.ketchum.org/bridgecollapse.html ). This bridge takes you onto a peninsular in Puget Sound and the old fishing port town named Gig Harbor, and this is where we had dinner at a restaurant called “Tides”. We sat out on the deck overlooking the Sound and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. After dinner, we had one more “bridge to cross” and this time it was the bridge that takes you south from Gig Harbor and onto Fox Island, which is where Carolyn and Mark have their lovely home. By the time we got to bed, it was 11 PM Pacific time, which meant we had been up for 21 hours!

Friday 06/20/08 – Round and About Fox Island and Gig Harbor

We had a great sleep and awoke to a bright morning. On opening our bedroom blinds we witnessed a sight we’d never seen before: out on the water was a boat chugging slowly along towing a bundle of very long logs. A great photo from the bedroom window was taken! After breakfast we went for a walk on Fox Island, that Mark & Carolyn do regularly, after which we sat in their lovely garden and chatted endlessly. Mark and I then went to the local gym and we had a good workout. We had a nice lunch, once again sitting out in the garden, after which we went to the newer part of Gig Harbor to do a bit of shopping, ending up at a brand new Costco! On the way we stopped at the bridge that joins Fox Island to Gig Harbor, from where, depending on the weather, there is a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier on the skyline with the water of Puget Sound in the foreground. I think Alison got a pretty good shot of it. At this point in the afternoon, we got a call from Melanie. We had spoken to Melanie on Thursday evening to tell her we had arrived safely, but she hadn’t mentioned the camera so we knew there was no good news. She now told us that the County Parks office had called her on Thursday and told her that no one had handed in a camera. However, on Friday, while at work, she got an automatic email telling her that someone had called her home phone and left a message giving her the number of the caller (Melanie has Vonage). Melanie recognized the number as the County Parks number and gave them a call. The lady told Melanie that she had seen that someone had posted on “Craig’s List” that they had found a camera at Clemyjontri, and gave Melanie the number. Melanie called and the lady asked her to identify what pictures were in the camera which of course Melanie was able to do. The end result was that Melanie recovered her camera and all of the pictures. We are waiting for Melanie to send us the pictures she took at Clemyjontri and then we will add them to the blog. Pretty amazing isn’t it!
After shopping we returned to the old harbor part of Gig Harbor and walked to the “monuments” that describe the discovery of the harbor and the first settlers. We then visited the local Mexican restaurant and enjoyed a nice meal before returning to C&M’s home for apple crisp and whipped cream for dessert! We had no trouble sleeping!

Getting Ready for More Travels

2008-06-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hello again everybody! We leave home on June 17th, so are re-learning how to "Post" after our silence since the end of November 2007! Before we leave, we're now writing an update of what we've been up to from Christmas until now. We're also learning a different and faster way to add photos (thanks to Melanie).

Melanie, David and Indigo, and the two dogs and cat all came to Myrtle Beach by road to spend Christmas and a few days after with us. Indigo had already experienced her first 8 days of Hannukah at home with her mommy and daddy, but like mommy and daddy, she was excited to find some little gifts in a stocking when she woke on Christmas morning, and we all opened our “stocking gifts” on granny and granddad’s bed—ours wrapped in Christmas paper and theirs in Hannukah paper. This differentiation of wrapping paper has become customary since Melanie converted to Judaism when she married David, but still wanted to share our Christmas traditions with us.

Although it was quite cold and gray, the weather over Christmas was good enough for us to take the dogs for walks on the beach, and one day we met up at the beach close to where Clare and Josh live, and all of us walked together: Bob and I, Melanie, David, Indigo, and the dogs Caleb and Egan, Clare, her dog Meathead, Josh, his son Jacob, and Josh’s nephew, Chris, who kindly took the family photo which appears at top right of this blog. Another picture of Granny with daughters and granddaughter was also taken that day and is shown here. It was a lovely Christmas time for us all.
After Christmas, Bob continued his consulting contract, that had been renewed in November after our return home from South Africa. This time, fortunately, because Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield had allowed him to have a computer at home dedicated solely for his work with them, he didn’t have to travel to work in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, every week as had been the case in the past. He generally worked two weeks at home, and every third Sunday evening he flew to Harrisburg to work in Camp Hill Monday through Thursday lunchtime, and fly home Thursday afternoon. Those weeks he’d then work at home on Friday. Now that contract has just finished—hence our being able to spend the upcoming nearly 7 weeks “on vacation”.

At the end of February, Melanie had shoulder surgery, and this obviously caused her to be unable to drive for a couple of weeks, or do many household chores, or even change Indigo’s diapers; so Granny happily took herself to M&D’s home to help out for 3 weeks, so that David could continue going to work, and even go away on a business trip, and Granny could spend lots of time and have fun with Indigo. A Granny feeling her age flew home after those 3 weeks! A few days later both Bob and I drove back to M&D’s for a pre-planned weekend get together at M&D’s home with our Pittsburgh friends, Chris & Linda Umble, who had been with us for 2 weeks of our travels in South Africa last year. We hadn’t seen C&L since, and we planned the weekend so that C&L could view a DVD we’d had made of our SA trip, as well as see Indigo for the first time, and do some Washington DC sightseeing. We went by metro into Washington on the Sunday, and as it was the end of March, this coincided with the renowned cherry blossom time and we had a great walk around the Tidal Basin amongst all the cherry trees. It was also a special kite flying day on The Mall around the Washington Monument, which M&D had previously told us about, and so Bob had his big kite with him that he’d bought years ago in California, and got it up amidst all the others to the full length of his line, about 1000 feet. Great fun, and altogether a wonderful weekend.
We went to M&D’s again last month: Indigo turned two on May 15th, and on the 18th M&D had a big daytime party for all their friends and their children to be able to celebrate Indigo’s birthday with them (and Indigo, although she didn’t have any idea what it was about, even though she could tell us that she was 2!) 60 people, including 32 children aged from around 9 down to a couple of months, were supposed to meet at one of M&D’s neighborhood lake beaches for the party, but the weather did not cooperate, and rather than have rain spoil the event, it was decided early morning to change the venue to M&D’s home. We all got to work to prepare the house and back yard for everyone, and despite some rain, and cool weather, the party was a great success.

Now here we are, all set for our next adventure, and Clare and Josh will be keeping an eye on our house, and Josh will be doing the yard work for us. It was good to have them and Jacob (and Meathead) with us for Father’s Day yesterday. Mentioning Meathead, we have sad news that M&D’s beloved black lab, Caleb, had to be put to sleep on June 1st. He was 13 yrs. old, and late last year had been diagnosed with rectal cancer. He remained quite well, enjoyed his food and walks, and was apparently pain-free until the end of May, but then the tumor had grown so much he was in obvious distress, and so the time came to say Goodbye. We’re all going to miss him, but we’re so glad he was able to enjoy our beach one last time during the Christmas visit. He always loved running along the sand.

We’ll sign on again soon, but don’t expect us to be as diligent as Bob was at writing nearly every day when we were traveling in South Africa! Don’t be shy to post “Comments”. Receiving them lets us know people are reading our blog.