SCHOOL HOLIDAY BAKING MORNING

The proof of the pudding is in the eating!

The sleepover wasn't too bad. An afternoon's activity of reading, building Lego and watching football on the TV built up an appetite for dinner of beef casserole and chocolate icecream! From a family which doesn't practice the saying of 'Grace' before meals, this little guy surprised us by 'reminding' us of that 'thing' we say before our dinner. It was a good opportunity to explain why we do thank our Lord God for His provision! Bedtime was somewhat delayed by 'little kid away from home' tactics but by 9.30 L4 - soon to be 5 was asleep.

An hour later he stirred but didn't seem to wake so the grandparents got to sleep too. At 1.30 there was a certain stirring noise again and eventually he hopped into bed with "Grumps" and Grandma retired to 'his' bed. Sleep held him until 8.10am when the ringing of the telephone woke him.

Breakfast consisted of one 'square' of toast and vegemite - getting stuck into the baking was far more exciting. First we made shortbread cookies then some wonderful mini pizza's. While the pizza's were baking, the cookies were being iced and decorated. The excitement and longing to taste were just too much and as soon as the icing on the cookies was half set, he was into them. "Oh Granma... these are just so yummy!" (a hit here I think).

We were certainly helped by a lovely kids recipe book which I purchased recently "The Baking Book" by Jane Bull - ways to bake delicious things to eat. Every recipe was simple and used the least amount of ingredients. I'd recommend it for all future junior cooks!

By 11am when the baking was done and the tummy was full, it was time to go check out what big brother was doing at home. He'd 'done' the sleepover.

ANOTHER FOGGY WINTERS DAY

I've been trying to think of something brilliantly intelligent to write here but nothing comes to mind. Although I enjoy winter more than summer usually, I find it's less inspiring for taking photos and doing interesting things. Yesterday I did my 2 weekly stint at the information centre and boy, was it slow! The day was dull and cold so guess nobody much was interested in making a visit - afterwards I went to the library and chose more books including another couple by Sue Grafton. I've been enjoying her 'adventures' of Kinsey Milhone as a private investigator recently - she writes descriptively with intrigue and mystery wound into her stories. I'm also enjoying the fact that each of her books revolve around the same character and place that she lives, getting to know other characters like her neighbour and the local 'eat in' owner.

I've been working on a scrapbook over the past week and am now up to page 4. It's been a struggle to get it going as I seem to constantly find I don't have something I need to complete the page. Yesterday after IC, I popped down to the local hobby shop and picked up some chipboard alphabet packs - it's working out a fairly expensive exercise as sometimes I only use a few of what's in the large pack. Oh well - that's scrapbooking I guess. I am improvising a lot though by stamping (which I'm not all that fond of) and printing out text from the computer so it's not all bad.

Did a little more work on my family history over the weekend too. In the past few months I've had another couple of people make contact with me and it is so interesting finding out a little bit more about families and putting more pieces together in the jigsaw puzzle. I get really excited when another link is put in place.

Bible study is in recess for the school holidays but I'm planning to get ahead on some of the lessons this morning. There's a thick 'pea soup' fog which is due to lift later on so I might get outside if the sun comes out. Meantime I'm just planning to mooch around and see what happens. Have plenty to do - even some housework if I'm that bored - but I doubt that will happen!

IPSWICH

The beautiful countryside passed by quickly and after a couple of hours we arrived in Henley, a hamlet just outside Ipswich, West Suffolk, at the home of our second cousins. It was lovely to see them again after nearly 20 years. We were quickly given lunch and headed off to spend a litte time at the Abbey of St Edmund ruins at Bury.

Abbey Ruins

Abbey Gardens

About a half hours drive from Henley, the market town of St Edmundsbury had a village atmosphere with the cathedral just outside a large shopping centre. The cathedral was once among the richest Benedictine monasteries in England. The cathedral is surrounded by the Abbey Gardens where the gardens were a vivid mass of colour. While meandering through the park-like gardens, a squirrel caught our eye climbing down a tree trunk quite close to the ground. We stopped to photograph it and it hopped down to the path and sat quite close to Fiona (cousin’s daughter) who had come with us. It was quite tame and fascinating to us as we don’t have them living in the southern hemisphere. Inside the cathedral we were able to see the beautiful ceiling of the new spire. The addition commenced in 2000, and has only recently been completed. Our day finished with a lovely meal and an evening spent with the family catching up with family news.

Next morning after breakfast we headed off to the university town of Cambridge which was north west about 71 kilometres (44 miles)from Ipswich. With little parking available in the township, large ‘park and ride’ areas are available for all day parking on the outskirts. We rode into town on a double decker bus taking in all the sights en route.

Views of Cambridge

This ancient town of colleges, museums, market street stalls, provides contrasting historic buildings with modern shopping venues. The town was crowded, with an obvious predominance of students and bicycles as well as large tourist coaches, visitors spilling out all along Kings Parade. As with many of these historic places, tour company employees bustled amongst the crowds touting their own special tours as being ‘the best’ or ‘the cheapest’. We were happy to continue our way through the narrow streets - we had an excellent guide showing us the magnificent buildings. Trinity and Kings Colleges, the Fitzwilliam Museum, ancient houses all had their appeal, and a wander along the River Cam was also a highlight with the beautiful cherry trees blooming right alongside.

We stopped for lunch at a little ’church’ café tucked along from the museum, where organic food was served at very reasonable rates. A short meal stop was an ideal way in which to rest our weary feet. We were soon ready to move on again and browsed the market stalls before heading for the ’park and ride’ again to pick up the car and head back to Henley.

A quick change and we were ready to be taken out for a delicious meal at an Ipswich Italian restaurant. We were helping Margaret and Magnus with their family, celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. What a lovely occasion to be sharing with them. We did enjoy the evening. Our time with these lovely people was all too short - in the morning we had another fairly early start to the coach station. Only one more day in England before we left to fly to Texas to meet with our son, daughter in law and two grandchildren.

We were ready to meet the coach when it arrived and we boarded and commenced our journey from Ipswich to Heathrow Airport. It was a miserable day so we were pleased we weren’t on a sight-seeing mission. After one stop half way to change coaches, we arrived at Heathrow about 1.30pm. We had booked a hotel room as we had a very early flight check in. This would ensure an early night and a short distance to the airport tomorrow.

WORTHING

Arundel Castle

When we lived in Zambia a number of years ago, we got to know Carol and David and their family of three kids. They have remained very dear to us and we were so happy to be able to stay with them during our time in England. They met us at Luton airport and we were quickly on our way to the very south of England, not far from Brighton. A beautiful sunny day to drive through the lush countryside. After dropping our luggage at their home, they took us to a lovely café right on the beach where we ate a scrumptious lunch. Leaving the coast, a short drive took us to the restored medieval Arundel Castle, founded by Roger de Montgomery on Christmas Day 1067 during the reign of William the Conqueror. It was build as a fortification for the mouth of the River Arun and a defensive position for the surrounding land against invasion from the Continent. From the 11th century onward the castle has served as a hereditary stately home and has been in the family of the Duke of Norfolk for over 800 years. Standing high on a hill, it towers over the tiny village below. Antique shops seemed to be predominant in this little precinct and we took our time and wandered from one to the next, browsing for that special bargain we might find. Sadly we didn’t make any purchases but it was an enjoyable afternoon. The next day was a ‘catch up’ day for laundry after which we drove into Worthing township to post mail and generally have a look around. A beautiful birthday celebration meal for Louise, prepared by our host (her mum) was a special time for their family, and we were privileged to be included. DH says Carol is the best cook around and her pavlova is wonderful! (I’d have to agree).

Some time ago I had made contact by email, through a genealogy website, with a lady who was descended from the Double family - as DH is. We discovered through corresponding that we had quite a lot in common and have continued to keep in touch. It was most fortunate that she lives only a few miles from Worthing and before leaving Australia we had made arrangements to meet with her. She drove and met us and took us to her home for a cup of coffee and a ‘catch up’ before taking us to lunch to Highdown House, a little gem just three miles west of Worthing and tucked in amongst beautiful gardens. This lovely peaceful garden with views out to sea is a real horticulturalists delight. So many rare and unusual varieties flourish at Highdown that the entire garden has been declared a national collection. Being a beautifully sunny day and after a delicious ‘roast dinner’ from the carvery, we spent time wandering through this beautiful little oasis with its blossoming trees and beautiful ponds and spring flowers.

The road leading to Highdown House

The next morning a bleak wind had sprung up but we received a very warm welcome at the church service we attended which made up for the chill outside. Monday morning we were sad to leave these dear friends. Again we were driven to our next ‘port of call’ - Ipswich.

ABERDEEN

On the way to Balmoral

Wednesday dawned bright and sunny which was rather nice for our drive to Balmoral castle a couple of hours away. We were still ‘rugged up’ though despite the warmth in the lovely car. The scenery once we were away from the Aberdeen township was just as I imagined it to be. Small villages, mainly grey granite houses with people bustling about their everyday lives. Passing miles of fields we were rather fascinated by the number of mole holes with farmers apparently trying to get rid of the offending animals. We don’t have moles in our part of the world so this was something quite new for us. Tiny stone cottages dotted the countryside along the way with forest trees lining both sides of the roadway for much of the way. Close to Balmoral we caught glimpses of mountains still with the snowline quite low. Apparently the week before our arrival, Aberdeen and its surroundings had suffered quite a nasty blizzard.

DH and our Scottish host at the bridge

The entrance to the castle was across a bridge over the River Dee and down a short walk to the gates all hidden from the main road. A quick ride behind a tractor brought us up to the back part of the castle where we were let out to roam in the various display rooms. Examples of birds and animals were on show as well as carriages which had been used in bygone days by the royal family. Inside one area of the castle itself was a large room where many items were displayed including different dresses the Queen had worn on many important occasions, china, photographs, all manner of memorabilia which was most interesting.

DH and I outside the main Castle gates

Balmoral Castle

A small amount of snow lay on the ground and DH took great delight in rolling himself a small snowball and throwing it at me. It missed, but I caught it on camera - for posterity’s sake of course, you understand! We roamed around the gift shop and had a beautiful lunch in the little café. The drive back to Aberdeen seemed quicker - doesn’t it always on the return journey? We had time though to change and have a refreshing ‘cuppa’ before heading out to a lovely Chinese restaurant for an early dinner before we attended the stage show “Sound of Music”. Talk about being treated like royalty! We certainly were - we were so grateful to our new friends for their generosity!

Our time in Aberdeen seemed so short and the next morning we were away again towards the airport by 7.15am to fly back to London where we were being met by more friends. How fortunate are we?

CANTERBURY AND CHARTWELL

Bluebells at Winston Churchill's home "Chartwell"

At least Easter Monday was dry - but the wind was still very chilly. We set off to drive to Canterbury - a drive of a couple of hours. The English countryside is magnificent - green and lush with Spring daffodils, primrose, crocus, jonquils, anenomes and ranuculi brilliant splashes of colour as we drove through both tiny, narrow lanes and huge, wide motorways.

The Old Weavers House A.D.1500

Canterbury is no less historic than so much of the United Kingdom. Buildings in the main street dating back to 1500 and still at least from the outside, looked in quite good condition. Painted boards outside the different establishments were fascinating. The Cricketers and The Old Weavers House A.D.1500, only two which took my eye. We had visited Canterbury a number of years ago and had seen inside the cathedral so our first stop was for lunch - a modern little Italian restaurant - quite a contrast in architecture right outside the cathedral entrance. Leading to the cathedral gate, a small circular courtyard was surrounded by old looking shops with ‘busker’s’ performing beside a fenced off monument in the centre.

Busker outside Canterbury Cathedral

We wandered through the main street, battling against the bitterly cold wind and back to the car. On our way again to “Chartwell” the home of Winston Churchill, so famous during the second World War. Unfortunately it was too early in the season for much of the garden (which the home is quite famous for) to be out in bloom but the flowering bulbs were an absolute ‘show’. Loved the vibrant bluebells and particularly the Lenten Rose which I had never seen before but grows from a tuber and blooms during the period of Lent.

Lenten Rose

"Chartwell"

Churchill was a prolific painter and his studio has been preserved as a gallery for the public to view. Interesting pieces were on show which over the years had been given to him as gifts. A short drive and we were back ‘home’ to where we were staying. We were grateful for time to ‘get our suitcases in order’ as we had a very early start the next morning - taxi arriving at 4am to drive us to Luton airport - bound for Aberdeen in bonny Scotland. An early night indeed!

The chair from which Winston Churchill painted

LONDON! again

Easter Sunday dawned just as cold wet and blustery as the day before had been however we were'nt detered and not willing to let it stop us, we rugged up with almost as many clothes as we had taken with us and set off again for London town.

Walked (it seemed) for miles from the station to the Millenium Bridge where the wind was icy and cut through us despite the layers of 'woolies'! Stopped for a few seconds on the bridge to take a couple of photos while fellow travellers (mostly joggers in clothing not suited to the weather) passed us by. St Paul's cathedral in front of us we made our way as quickly as possible toward it. Again, being a tourist venue, and especially being Easter Sunday, hundreds of people were milling around. The most lovely cherry tree was blossoming right opposite this austere building and made a great photo.

We sat for quite some time inside the cathedral waiting for the service to begin. Just looking around and admiring the wonderful building was really enough. Wondered how such a landmark had escaped ruin during the second World War when large buildings just a few metres from it did not. What architecture and presence! It was lovely and warm inside - enough to start shedding the layers!

Mattins was very regal in procession. So much gold! My eyes goggled at the sight. Sounds from the choir as they snaked their way to their seats was glorious! I guess the actual service was rather surprising to me in its formality - not being used to such high church! (Ours - The Salvation Army - is very casual by comparison - and might I say, much happier). The Bishop of London spoke very well for about 10 minutes and the procession wound its way back again - I guess to get ready for the next service which was an hour away.

We walked to the tube station behind St Paul's, viewed the glorious daffodils planted in street gardens, and quickly boarded a train to Oxford Street. On finding The Salvation Army's Regent Hall corps (church) we stepped inside to catch the end of the message, then stayed for a welcome cup of coffee with other people attending. Found a small but very cosy restaurant where we ate excellent food and took respite from the bleak weather conditions outside.

Earlier in the day we had decided we would stay and check out a few more of the London sights but this plan was fairly quickly changed. Being Easter Sunday, the large shops were not open so after wandering down Regent Street for a short while, decided to head back to our accommodation to get out of the cold.

The train was warm, and a comfortable 40 minute train ride with a short brisk walk 'home' saw us back inside about mid afternoon. We were looking forward to driving to Canterbury tomorrow.

LONDON! Here we come

Our flight took us from Sydney through Hong Kong, Munich and on to London. On arrival at Heathrow the sun was brilliant although it was very cold outside. The roadsides out of the airport were covered in bright golden daffodils - Spring! They were beautiful!

Good Friday dawned cold, wet, windy and miserable! Some might say 'typical London' however we did venture out to our church service and we were so glad we did. Staying with friends was great - and we were blessed on both counts.

Easter Saturday we got 'rugged up' and got the train into London town, arriving at Charing Cross station. Walked (it seemed forever) to get to the London Eye. Passed 10 Dowling Street on the way and had our photo taken next to the horse guardsman on duty - stoic as ever. The wind was cutting as we walked across the Westminster Bridge after passing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. It felt exciting just being there. So many people - tourists - doing exactly as we were doing! Tour bus touts everywhere trying to persuade people to buy their tickets.

Queues for miles - for tickets to go on the 'Eye' - for getting on to the 'Eye' and for getting food in the precinct. Security was tight - random frisk searches of people before entering the 'pod' and on exiting after the ride was over, employees rushed in with brooms and mirrors on long poles and carried out thorough inspections of the pod before the next lot of people got in.

What a view! We got into 'our' pod after 11am and by then the rain had eased - the keen wind helped to make the view a little clearer. Now I don't like heights - planes are OK but high buildings? No sir! I was so surprised then to find that on the London Eye for me at least, there was absolutely no sensation of movement or indeed height. Even though, through the clear floor, one could see down to the ground to the people looking like tiny ants, I still didn't get that awful feeling of being up high. I knew I was, but didn't get the sensation of it. Was great! Fabulous landmarks like Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, all the memorable bridges across the River Thames, Whitehall Court, St Pauls Cathedral were all seen clearly from above. Even as far as Hyde Park and Wembley Stadium and some quite new and modern looking buildings such as the Tower 42 and the 'egg' shaped Swiss RE Headquarters were easily identifiable.

After lunching at the Golden Arches which was located almost right under the Eye, we walked again to the tube station and planning to have a wander around Covent Garden Markets, hopped on the underground tube train to take us there. On exiting the tube station at Covent Gardens, we noticed a tiny shop 'booth' selling half price theatre tickets. Now DH has always wanted to see the stage show of 'Les Miserable' and after enquiring whether there were seats available at the matinee show that day, we rushed around to the Queens theatre and purchased two of the last 5 available. We were in! It was kind of exciting to think we were going to a show in London's West End. While wandering around the streets there waiting until we could get into the theatre, I was thinking about the image one gets about some of these old places. I had always imagined the West End to be something very special (and to many I'm sure it is) however my impression was that of it being rather dowdy and untidy. I guess at night with the many lights twinkling it would become a different atmosphere altogether but for me, on that afternoon, I just didn't get the feeling of 'special-ness' I had always imagined it to be.

The show by comparison was wonderful and although the story was rather depressing in it's own way, we did enjoy it.

After it was over, we were able to wend our way back through the tubes to Charing Cross station again and eventually back to where were were staying. And even if we were chilled through, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable day. We were looking forward to the next day - Easter Sunday - going back again.

I'M BACK

A month since I posted - where has that time gone. Well at least I'm back now and my wonderful holiday is behind me. I'm planning to relive it all again when I scrapbook my photographs.

Will be back soon to tell all.

Blessings friend!

ONE MORE DAY

Tomorrow we're off! A long awaited o/s visit to friends and distant rellies in the UK then to stay with eldest son, DIL and two grandies in Austin Texas. How we are looking forward to seeing them all again. For DH it's been 5 years since he saw DIL and the grandies, only 3 for me but no matter the kids will have grown - now at 13 and 11 - quite the young 'adults' to get to know over again.

We plan to attend an Easter service in an English cathedral. Have been looking forward to that. I'd love to get some photos inside but don't know if that's permissable so will just have to wait and see. Up to Aberdeen to meet a distant rellie for the first time then back down to the south coast of England to stay with dear friends we worked with in Zambia. Last port of call in England will be with 2nd cousins right out on the east coast. We hope to see some beautiful English Spring country side.

So friends, I'll be missing for a while - but if I get the opportunity to call in here and there along the way and tell you how it's going, I'll do that. I know we'll have a marvellous and memorable time.

Have a blessed week!