Coming Home

Coast of Massachusetts

Beautiful Bridge

Landing at Swansea

Landing at Swansea

Landing at Swansea

Peat Bogs in County Mayo

This is Anna, the lady from whom we rented the Mayo cottage. She took me to her peat bog for a tour.

In many parts of Ireland, older homes are heated with peat rather than wood. A house with a fireplace comes with it's own little peat bog. This one is about a quarter of a mile from the cottage. Anna explained how the peat is cut (with a machine I can only envision as the "Ditch Witch" that the phone company uses to bury phone lines), then turned after about a week. At this point it's ready to be stacked in this little triangular stack with a flat piece on top in front of Anna. The wind and the sun finish drying it, and after a few weeks it can be put into bags and carted home. Sounds very labor intensive. The peat logs don't burn as long as wood and they don't smell like wood when they burn.

The bog looked muddy but when I stepped in the muddy-looking places they were wet and spongey. If someone jumps up and down a few feet away you can feel the vibrations through the ground. A fun, interesting place! Gave me some insight about the daily life my Gibbons family might have led.

Dried Peat

This stack of peat is ready to be bagged and used to heat a cottage.

O'Sion, Supreme Stick Fetcher

O'Sion (pronounced O-SHEEN) is a champion fetcher of sticks. He belongs to Anna, the woman who owns the cottage here in Castlebar. What's really funny is there are hardly any sticks around so he brings me these tiny little pieces of wood that are 4 - 6" long! Once he brought me a blade of grass about 12" long. Today he brought a small branch from the hedge with the leaves still attached. He always brings them back except when you say, "Last one!" then he just runs out to it and looks at you. He's very smart and sweet.

The Castlebar Cottage

This Is our cottage in Castlebar- isn't it too cute? It's dark, drizzly, windy and cold here right now, in the low 50s with wind. Fortunately the cottage has central heat and a faux wood-burning stove (actually electric). We just went into town for some groceries and are now back to spend the evening warmly inside with dinner and some TV.

On the Road to Sligo

We drove over the mountains on the way to Castlebar. This is a view from the summit along the road just northeast of Sligo. Every time I think I've seen the most beautiful place on earth (pretty much every thirty minutes or so here), we round a corner and are met with another breathtaking vista.

The mountain in the distance is Ben Bulben, which can be seen from the hill over Sligo. Ben Bulben is anglicization of the Irish name "Binn Ghulbain." Many alpine plants not found in other parts of Ireland grow here due to it's altitude. Ben Bulben is the setting of many Celtic legends. It is said to be the dwelling of the Fianna, a band of warriors who lived in the third century. Diarmund the Warrior tricked by the giant Finn McCool into fighting an enchanted boar, which later kills the him by piercing his heart with its tusk.

More of the Road to Sligo

The Ferry

We took the Stenaline Ferry from Stranraer to Belfast. John opted for "premium" service, which meant that we got to board the ferry first (we were the 2nd car on board), and had access to the upper deck passenger lounge, where we had lunch. I took these pics from that deck. After we were out of the harbor, it got cold, windy and damp, so we were glad to have a warm dry place to wait! The whole trip took 3 hours, then we drove cross-country from Belfast to Castlebar, County Mayo, where we will end our vacation and then head back to London and home.

Taking the Ferry to Ireland

Happy Flowers

I'm always taking pictures of flowers when we travel. These are from the walled garden at Abbotsford. They just look happy to me. I hope to identify them when we get home.

Abbotsford, Home of Sir Walter Scott

Abbotsford was the home of Sir Walter Scott, the first English superstar novelist. He wrote the Waverley novels, Ivanhoe and Rob Roy, among others. He called his beloved home his "Conundrum Castle" and his "flibbertigibbet of a house." He lived here until his death in 1832.

This setting, with the River Tweed running through the park, is breathtakingly beautiful. The house is like a fairy-tale castle.

Carlisle Cathedral Organ

We are obviously in Carlisle, Cumbria, & these are pics of the Carlisle Cathedral. It's not the most impressive cathedral in the U.K. But it does have the most impressive ceiling I've ever seen, as shown below.

Carlisle is a city of about 70,000 located just south of the border with Scotland. We toured the museum here and learned about the Border Reivers, who terrorized and plundered along the borders here for about 300 years. "Reiver" is another word for robber/theif/thug. I think my Dickson family line might have come from around here. I need more research!

Here's a link to info about the Border Reivers.

Carlisle Cathedral Ceiling

The Best Lemonade in the World

This is the best lemonade I've ever tasted! Hope we can get it at home.

Salisbury Cathedral

This is Salisbury Cathedral, with the tallest spire in England--it was
finished in 1250 or thereabouts. Look closely at the first picture, just
below the base of the spire there is a group of people. The second
picture is a close-up of the people. We took the tour that ends up
there.

Salisbury Cathedral 2

This is close to the start of the tour--looking down the nave of the
cathedral from above.

Salisbury Cathedral 3

This is some of the timber framing under the roof--some of it is original
and some is newer due to repairs needed down through the years.Imagine,
only 800 years old and already needed repairs!!

Salisbury Cathedral 4

This is inside, below the base of the spire. The white, smaller bracing is medieval iron. This bracing was installed when they started building the spire on top of the existing tower. The dark, heavier bracing below is more modern. This part of the tower isn't seen anymore from the
church below, but was before they built the spire--that's the reason the stone work is finished so well.

Salisbury Cathedral 5

This is looking up into the original wooden framing in the spire.

Salisbury Cathedral 6

This is outside behind the stone railing at the base of the spire--
remember the first 2 pictures? The older guy is Malcolm, the tour
guide--Taking the tours up all those steps must keep him in pretty
good shape!!

Salisbury Cathedral 7

This is taken looking over the rail outside at the churchyard below.

Salisbury Cathedral 8

Another picture outside over the church roof and towers in the front--
that's the city of Salisbury beyond, well, part of it anyway. Pretty
ain't it!!

Stonehenge

Stonehenge was amazing! In spite of the touristy atmosphere (hundreds of people encircling it at every moment of the day), it is awe-inspiring. People are no longer allowed to enter the circle without special permission so there's a walkway around it. We circled counterclockwise around the monument as tourists and pilgrims always seem to do at shrines, sharing part of our trek with a howling 2-year old. She eventually calmed down, much to everyone's relief.

I was half-way around the circle before it hit me that I was actually standing at STONEHENGE, a place I had only read about & seen on television. I wanted to call everyone I knew and invite them to join me. I never in my wildest dreams expected to be there.

Windsor Castle

Now this is a castle!

kew gardens

One of the green houses at Kew Gardens

Westminster Abbey cloister

This is taken from inside the cloister, looking out at the south tower of the Parliament building--opposite end from the tower with Big Bend.

Victoria & Albert museum

Jali Sandstone screen, carved and incised pink sandstone, 19th century. This screen is about 2 ft.by 2 ft. and is carved out of sandstone.

Albert Memorial

This and the following 2 are of the monument Queen Victoria had built when her husband Albert died. Boy, do these people know how to build a monument!!

Albert Memorial

The Albert Memorial was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, who died of typhoid at the tender age of 42 in 1861. The memorial stands 176 feet tall and took 10 years to complete. Victoria continued to mourn Albert, dressing only in black, until her death in 1901.

Albert Memorial

Buckhill Lodge

Buckhill Lodge at the Hyde Park entrance to Kensington Gardens. It was built in 1852.

Fountains in Kensington Park

View from Wellington Arch

OOPS! I should have sent this one first!

Wellington Arch

Wellington was the guy that stopped Napolean at Waterloo (I know you all know that but I had to say it anyway) and this is the monument built in his honor. (They actually moved it in 1882 because it didn't line up the way they wanted). There's an observation deck around the top of it, and the other picture is taken from it. This is at one end of Hyde Park, close to Buckingham Palace.

Rare moment: alone on a tube-train car

We Get Wicked

John, Gerri & I went to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to see the London production of Wicked, which tells the story most people never heard- what happened in The Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch's perspective. It's based upon the book by Gregory McGuire. You can read more about the play and the story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(musical)

The music and costumes were clever and there were some tear-provoking scenes. We had great seats (10 rows back from the stage in the middle of the theater). We even had ice cream during the intermission. It was a lovely evening.

John Revisits the V&A

These are pictures in the Victoria & Albert museum--HUGE!! building--you can find out probably more than you want to know about it on Wikipedia, but suffice it to say it has over 4.5 million objects, and it covers 12.5 acres!! The first picture is a glass chandelier--unfortunately it wasn't lit. The second one is a shot looking down into one of the rooms, taken more to show the size of the spaces here than for a specific item.

Home in London

These are shots near our apartment. The one of the house fronts shows our place--the door just to the left of the lamp post is ours. The other picture is looking out our front window. These row houses are everywhere in London and probably most cities here. Since the separating walls between houses are brick, you can't hear noise from house to house through the wall (at least we haven't), but since ours has been divided into upstairs/downstairs apts, we hear the folks below us pretty often.

Elephants on Parade in London

Two of the elephants in the Elephant Parade. These are right outside Apsley House.

Elephant Parade is a conservation campaign that shines a multi-coloured spotlight on the urgent crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. Presented by www.elephantfamily.org, the event sees over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants located over central London this summer.

Each decorated by a different artist or celebrity, the elephants brighten and beautify the city, enhancing every park, street corner and building they grace. Running from May to July 2010, this is London’s biggest outdoor art event on record. With an estimated audience of 25 million, they aim to raise £2 million for the Asian elephant and benefit 20 UK conservation charities.