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

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!

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

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.