Swindon pics and comment

I've finally taken a moment to sort out the Swindon pictures I took the other day and wanted to make comment on what a great job Kay had done driving in rotary hell. Swindon it seems has made rotaries within rotaries that would baffle any non-resident driver.

Swindon's "Magic Rotary" Yes, really! Try and figure it out.

Who knew that we would enter into such a place as we drove through and between showers. Our drive seemed to be mostly uphill as Swindon is a bit higher that Redding.

Entering Swindon from the South

One of the rotaries in Old Town Swindon










Further up Cricklaid Road

The area of Cricklaid Road that we lived near

We passed St. Paul's church on Cricklaid Road

Most of the houses on this road look similar to what I've seen in family photos.

We were looking for The Moonraker pub but were distracted by this complex rotary. Mooraker's is on the left upper corner... big building to miss but we were preoccupied needless to say.

We hope to return at some point in the next few days. We'll approach it from the North this time.

MT

Stonehenge

Sailsbury and Stonhenge (and Amesbury for that matter) are not so far away from us via train. We did some ticket buying learning and headed out. We adore the trains, as they allow us to move rather effortlessly to so many places.

The Stonhenge tourist bus waits outside the train station. By the guidebooks we understand it to be about the same price as using the city busses, so we were game.

I'll give you a view of the city of Sailsbury in another blog. I haven't edited the photos yet.

















My first view of stonehenge was from the upper deck of the tourist bus.














But soon we were on the ground with audio commentary devices around our necks taking tourist photos.

Sometimes I just have to have the photos of other tourists as well.

I actually have photos of every angle, but I won't include them here. Email me if you have a particularly favourite angle, and I'll send it along to you.

There is a ramp for getting particularly good shots without other tourists and for seeing the rise and fall of the land, but we actually found that the ring around the stones where we were required to walk was quite nice for seeing it all.

During our walk around it was windy, it rained, and the sun came out and shone brilliantly. All in about 30 minutes.

All around the area of Stonehenge are burial mounds. Here are a few with sheep.

The car and caravan park.

Opportunistic birds gathered as we enjoyed our pasty and 7-Up lunches.

More opportunistic birds and a father and son biker duo.

I'll not try to fill you in on Stonehenge, but National Geographic will-Google them.

KG

License Plates

Those who are familiar with the blog will remember the photo blog license plate series. It will probably be quite short this summer. There are a few vanity plates, Mark tells us, but we haven't seen them.

I was interested in the little flag on the left-the Scottish flag. Apparently people who take their car to the continent must have a license with the GB on it. Since Scotland is not actually a country unto itself, though it now has it's own Parliament, this flag tag might not be recognized for travel in the EU.

Here is another flag possibly in question for travel across the channel. I believe that this is the St Andrews flag and below it says Eng. Again, not sure if it passes muster for travel in other parts of the EU.

I have also seen the Union Jack with GB and the EU flag with GB. I'll try to get photos of those.

KG

Madcap Swindon Adventure

One step at a time we learn our way around. Todays step was in the direction of Swindon. I don't need to tell the Thompsons the significance of Swindon, but the rest of our friends and family need to be clued in. the Thompsons lived in Swindon in the early 1950's and sister Sue was born there. Marcia's earliest memories are from there.

So, for these reasons, we risked life and limb and ventured out on the M4 to Swindon. Actually, it was not as hard as I expected. It must be said that I stayed in the lorry lane with the lorries and caravans. Navigating the town was not as easy.

Thanks to Mark, our Mark as we now think of him, we have stickers with the letter "P" on both the front and back screens of the car. This tells other motorists that I am to be either pitied or passed. Either way, it seems to be working for us and the Wilson's car.

We were in search of the Moonraker Pub in Swindon, and perhaps a walk around the town. I also saw a lovely church surrounded by cemetery, and you know how attractive that is for me. However, the Pub eluded us and we managed our way back to the M4 via a madcap tour of town. Upon our return home, Marcia discovered that we had passed right by the Moonraker, but attention to traffic caused us to miss it. We may take another go at it later. We did stop at the "Welcome Stop" on the M4 and had ourselves a Whopper. It was either that or KFC or bangers and mash and peas or other things and mash and peas. We went for the familiar.

We wonder why we are perpetually hungry here. Could be the weather is cooler. Not to taunt our Florida friends and family, but it is in the high 60's and low 70's here. Hovers around 20C. The sun breaks through intermittently and the weather reminds me of Vermont summers. We dare not leave home without our Marmots and some light long sleeved shirt. We understand that last week it was quite hot.

I've come to regret packing capri pants and Keen sandals. I need long pants and trainers, or my Keen hiking shoes. Short sleeves work, especially in the car, but better have sleeves handy.

Tomorrow we hope to take the train to Salisbury and Stonhenge.

KG

Penningtons-family history

I have been pouring over the Penningtons and have made the following finds for those interested in our family history:

the lovely lady of Muncaster Castle is not our cousin at all. The castle passed from the Pennington family to the Ramsdens when the Pennington line died out. The castle passed to the mother of the 5th Baron of Muncaster. The 5th Baron of Muncaster was a Pennington descendant who, like his siblings, died prior to his mother and therefore the castle went to his mother's family by way of his uncle, John Charles Ramsden (who never recieved a title as he died within the lifetime of his father). His son, Sir John Ramsden was the grandgfather of Phillida, the current lady of the castle, but they assumed the name of Pennington by deed poll.

However, I thought there would be a common relative in the Pennington line, and have found him. It is John Pennington who married Isabel, daughter of John Broughton. So, we know that our ancestors were Normans who came over with William in 1066. They were likely known as de Penitone at the time. In 1208, lands were granted to Alan de Penitone, and 50 years later a castle was built on Roman foundations by Gamel de Mulcastre.

In 1464, Sir John Pennington gave shelter to Henry VI who was wandering after the Battle of Hexham. In gratitude, Henry VI gave his drinking bowl to Sir John saying that so long as it remained unbroken, the Penningtons would live and thrive in the place-perhaps it has a crack. There is a replica in the castle, but the original is in the safe.

Trust me, we don't want the castle. The upkeep and taxes are beyond fiscal belief, and the Ramsdens seem to be doing their upmost to keep it together.

I'll be interested in our ancestor, Henry who emmigrated to the colonies. His brother was a founding memeber of the Society of Friends, a Quaker, and his brother's daughter married Willianm Penn. I'm curious about what our Henry did.

KG

Reading Museum

Our goal today was the Reading Museum. Because my back went into spasm just before we left the house, I was quite glad to have a limited agenda.

We have the bus route mostly down, but had a little extra walk due to a misunderstanding about our stop. The museum is located next to the town hall, so we were back in familiar territory near St Marys. Mark's and Spencers is right here as well, so all of our needs were easily met.

This is a great little museum with lots of interesting things. The highlight is the Bayeux tapestry-well, actually a copy but remarkable nonetheless. When you consider that a copy of an embroidery on linen is embroidered as well.

It tells the story, in Latin, of 1066 when William the Conquerer defeated the English and changed the course of their history and ours. A translation in English is offered below the tapistry. Though this event is well known to most, I am glad I read up on British history.

I also found the portrait of a local chap who was Archbishop of Cantebury in the time of Charles I, and lost his head at the Tower. Since my 12th great grandfather would have been Lord Mayor of London and keeper of the Tower at this time, I can only assume he had a hand in this beheading. Makes history more interesting to me.

Today my back is better. We have a plan for staying at home and planning day trips. In spite of bad weather predictions, it is gloriously sunny outside. We do have a trip to the supermarket planned-to pick up a Sunday Times. We might be able to pick up the Times at antoher place, but we don't know yet where that would be.

http://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/galleries/index.htm

KG

Passes

I have been telling people that we are like children. We don't know how to do basic things like find the right coin without reading them. We could not make a pay phone call. We don't actually know our address and cannot tell anyone the area in which we live. We have to read and look at pictures of each item in the train store-where one buys sandwiches and crisps (not chips which are french fries).


However, yesterday we made another giant leap forwards in independance and now feel like we might be teenagers. We took the bus into town and when we got home we drove the car back to the supermarket for a few missed items like cling film. We still like to keep a paper in our pockets with our bus stops written on it.


Our trip to town was mostly business-the business of collecting passes. I purchased a network rail pass (25 pounds) that allows us to ride the train to London and around for 1/3 off both of our tickets. A few trips with it should pay it off. Rail travel is expensive. Mark tells us that one of his friends pays half of her salary for her daily commute to London to work. Driving a car would mean about the same expenditure and a considerable investment in time. We have seen the queues of cars in rush hour London.

We did buy Brit Rail passes months ago. You can only buy them from outside the country, and they provide significant savings on rail travel. For $1400 for both of us we get 15 days of travel between when we take our first trip and the end of September. We save these days for long distance travel.

We also bought the Econosaver 10 bus pass. This gives us 10 bus rides for 12 pounds-special introductory offer, as it will probably go to 15 pounds. It can also be topped off by the bus driver, so it is very convenient. Otherwise, we would have to have exact change for each ride. Our driver was quite kind yesterday and told us that we could ride for free to get to the store that sold the passes.



St Marys

The store that sells the passes is in the Butts Mall (pronounced like New Englanders do-sounds like the first syllable of mallett). Acutally, the sign outside says it is the Broad Street Mall, but it is located a the corner of Broad and St Mary's Butts, so it is the Butts Mall in common reference. We thoroughly explored St Mary's Butts getting our bus passes and looking for our bus. In the end (I just cannot help myself) we walked the length of the Broad St pedistrian mall to get to the Abbey Ruins.






A word about language here. I came upon this school van at Muncaster and thought about how American children might face a soapy mouth for saying the name of this school. Even more astonishing, I have it on good authority that British children would as well. I wonder why it continues? Surely these taboo words did not always have the same punch that they do these days, and maybe in some local areas they do not.

We did get to see the Reading Abbey-what's left of it. They recently fenced it off, as it is crumbling away and they don't want people to even touch it. It was built in the 13th century and razed by Henry VIII when he was giving the finger to the pope. We did get close enough to get some photos which I will soon post to the blog.

Marcia standing under the nose arch.

Rain is predicted for all weekend, so we think we might tour the museum in Reading today. Another bus trip.

FYI-I put quite a few photos on the photo blog last night.

KG

Reading in Reading

It is Thursady 9 July. Tony and Francoise left for France this morning. We have had a leisurly get up and go, and have been to the supermarket and back with no harm done to anyone.

Our house is two stories situated between and connected to similar houses on each side. Tony and Francoise live here, an older retired couple live to our right-we haven't met them yet-and a younger Indian family lives to our left. Jeshah and her husband, Stan (the anesthiologist) have two children. Their older son suffered brain damage at birth-he is now 9 and total care. They have a 4yo daughter named Abigail, and another baby on the way. We met Jeshah this morning. They are resourses for us, and Jeshah is home most of the time.

Our other significant resource is Mark. Mark is the 26yo son of Tony and Francoise. He is also a bona fide British Bobby. He has dropped by several times between work and meeting friends at the pub. He has a flat of his own, but will check in with us from time to time. He is very knowledgable of the goings on about town, as you might imagine. He also has wonderful ideas for us, like a magnetic sticker for the car that is perfectly legal for anyone to have, and it cautions other drivers that I have just gotten my license. I was thinking that we should have a big magnetic sign saying, "Mind the American driver", but Mark's solution seems even better. We are told that British drivers are much more polite and patient than those in France, and we haven't been honked at yet. Tony tells us that his GB plates get a better response for his driving in France.

The Wilsons have a daughter as well. She was married two years ago, and lives in London with her husband. They both have career jobs.

Tony is a civil servant working in the tax assessors office. Francoise is the head of the Modern Languages and Latin department in a posh Quaker school. It is a sister school to the one the Obama girls go to in DC.

We have found the Wilsons to be very helpful and considerate of our needs and, perhaps even more important, really interesting and comfortable people to be with. Francoise has introduced us to several very French meals and has piled the dining table full of books and maps of things that we should see and do (hence we are reading in Reading).

Tony gives us instruction on working all the home equipment (and some people will be interested to know that the Wilsons have 5 remotes on their living room table top-we get French satelite TV as well as Skye).

Currently I have a load of wash on the outside dryer-the swivel around kind with clothes pins. I am watching it like a hawk, as the sky goes from sunny to rain quite fast. I have a second load in the washer which I intend to hang in the garage, where the washer lives, provided it doesn,t start pouring.

The driving lesson went fairly easily yesterday, and I haven't yet stripped the gears. I have gone to the passenger side of the car to get in, and I have banged my right hand on the door searching for the shift. Switching to left handed shifting was not all that hard actually. I do have to really pay attention to where I am on the road, and we circled the roundabouts a couple of times before positioning the car in the correct lane for getting off. I just accept that I must look both ways for cars when driving or crossing the street and pay attention. As I get more comfortable, the risk goes up that I will go on automatic and that would be dangerous.

We are tired and need some down time. One indication that we are tired is that we did not savor every aisle of the supermarket. We managed to fill our trolly with some basics and food for several meals and get out. We are also hungry. I am unaccountably hungry. Even after a full meal, I am hungry shortly thereafter. I am thinking that it may not actually be hunger, but thirst, so I am downing water. A little headache would also suggest I might just be a bit dehydrated. Beyond that, Marcia is filling the house with spagetti sauce smells, and there are meatballs in the making as I type. I've rung up Mark on my mo-bile to see if he will join us for dinner.

Yesterday we were squired around Reading and the surrounding area. I cannot tell you exactly where we were, but Marcia was following our routes on the ordinance survey and making marks and taking notes. She is the official navigator so that I can pay attention to the driving. We did see the Thames from several places and spotted several pubs worth checking out. Mark has sent us web links to several restaurants as well.

At first I thought we would be taking the train often, but as I get more confidence driving, it seems more likely that we will drive to some things nearby. There are actually lots of things nearby including Oxford and Windsor Castle.

Oh yes, we drove through Headly yesterday. Headly was home to the late George Harrison and is now the home of his widow. Apparently there are several famous people living there.

A note for Helen and Ed: Francoise is Helen's double. Same body type and same movements. Loves to head for the gym first thing in the morning (no espresso machine, but a coffee press). The Wilson's daughter is Helene (pronounce it in French with the silent H and emphasis on the lene), and they live on the way to Newbury.

KG

Edible Edinburgh!

You all know how we enjoy food and when we are on the road it is one of the things we explore as well. Edinburgh has many cultures that offer a variety of foods as we could see as we passed them on the sidewalks. Two days did not give us much time to sample a lot of them but here is what we did enjoy.

Café Rouge
Directly across the street from out hotel we faced the best place for our dinner. We were hungry but didn’t want to chow down on a heavy meal and then go to bed so we chose lighter fare here. I had tasty salmon cakes and a bit of salad greens and Kay chose a Salmon nicoise. Both were tasty and just enough. I did notice that cups of cappuccino passed by and left their lovely aroma hanging in the air. It was wonderful but could be difficult with my tired body to be loaded with caffeine. When sleep was needed. Maybe one morning I might find my way in for a café au lait. Very French atmosphere and quasi- French styled menu.

Filling Station
Just when we needed some lunch before discovering Edinburgh we found ourselves having lunch at the Filling Station. With everything you might find at Chili’s plus a bit of BBQ to choose from, we both ended up with Cod and chips with malt vinegar. We washed it all down with Coke left with full stomachs and happy hearts. Apparently this is one of the most popular restaurants in Edinburgh… good grub made us agree.

Cafe Andaluz -www.cafeandaluz.com
Our around-the-corner surprise was so good we went twice for tapas treats. The first day’s star was seared scallops with basil creamed leeks and Serrano ham, sliced so thin cooked crisply. The sauce was the star in that it brought all the flavors together with it’s creamy goodness. I wanted a bowl of it as it would have been a wonderful soup to start with. Tortilla Espanola was; thinly sliced, earthy potatoes layered in a deep dish and saturated with it’s own creamy egg goodness and served with a roughly chopped salsa of tomatoes, onions, peppers that were bathed in a roasted pepper sauce. Bread and etc. were served to fill our and mop up the delicious sauces.

Day two gave us an opportunity to try things we didn’t get to the first time. A small tapas plate of mixed Spanish olives started our party. Next, baby squid, “Chipirones,” were fried crispy and dipped in a garlic mayo and a small plate of Paella de Marisco added some color and flavor to the table. The star of this meal was a fillet of sea bass with crispy seared skin that was captivated by a lemon butter sauce. The flaky and sweet fish was not offended by the sauce nor were we. More bread made this sauce disappear.

We had not been drinking much wine since our arrival and the wine list spoke to Kay “Fuenteseca” for a Spanish white wine treat. The wine was very lovely, crisp and citrusy accompaniment to dinner. Not sure we will every see it again at home but will search for it while we are here!


Rick’s breakfasts
I’m sure that all the hotels in this part of town make deals with the local restaurants to serve the occupants a proper Scotish/ English breakfast. It’s basically the same eggs, potato something, grilled tomato, mushrooms, bacon (actually thinly sliced cured ham) and bread/toast with options for cereal and juices. Coffee was the big thing for us. It was OK but our second day started late and we ended up not at Rick’s. Café Rouge was our refuge for a Croque Madame --grilled cheese and ham sandwich with a cheesy béchamel and an over-easy egg on top of the grilled cheesy goodness. I make my own version at home occasionally found this breakfast was familiar and really good. Now my opinion is that Rick’s was OK but Café Rouge… there was no comparison. Plus the café au lait was perfect! Kay smiled at her large steamy cappuccino as well!!

MT

A Day At Muncaster

A Day at Muncaster Castle
We were up and waiting for Creeping Kate's Kitchen to open at half past 8 this morning. We opted for a hearty breakfast, and just as well we did, as we were quite hungry for lunch by 13:00. Our breakfast and lunch maker was Michal. He was also the painter of a oil work hanging behind us-for sale. He grills a mean tuna steak.
I headed out for the cemetery after breakfast, but just happened to see an owl as I turned the corner of the building and called Marcia to see. We wandered in a door that lead us to the cages where the owls were getting their cages cleaned and some breakfast. They were still alert-most of them.
Then I was off to photograph the cemetery. I did. Quite a few headstones too. I'll share when I get them edited. It does seem to be hard to get time for photo editing and has to be done online, so there is another catch. Anyway, there were several Penningtons from the 17th century. What their relationship is is not clear.
My information about my ancestor, Sir Isaac Pennington, comes from Wikipedia. Apparently the Pennington descendants in residence were, even in his time, distant cousins. However, there was a genealogy in one of the rooms of the castle, and it went back to the Penningtons who came over with William the Conquerer, so these must have been my more direct ancestors. More research to be done.
We toured the castle, at least the downstairs part of it for about an hour when it opened at noon. I met the lady of the household, my very distant cousin, and she was quite charming. She stopped her work preparing the room for her dinner guests tonight-more of her cousins- to be sure I got a paper directing me to the people who put out the Pennington family genealogy publication every 4 or so years. I'll try to find them online, but have their snail mail addresses if not.
After studying the family portraits, Marcia thinks I have the Pennington nose. I always thought I got Griff's nose, but who knows?
Our lunch was very good and very filling and we were very tired, so we took a little rest. Not much of a rest for me, as there was an owl show on at 14:30.
I got there late, so there were not seats, but the show was good enough to stand for. I got lots of good shots of the three owls that were presented.

These are owls who have no hope of ever returning to the wild-they are human imprinted. They expect humans to have a little mouse in pocket when they are hungry. They know less about catching mice and voles than I. That's really bad. However, they will spend their lives at Muncaster with daily room service. There were plenty of dead baby chicks for them when I did a tour of the owl center, and one even had a lucious rat. I could imagine them talking amongst themselves when the humans are gone. "Baby chicks again tonight. Every day it's baby chicks and more baby chicks."
I did a short tour of some of the gardens, but there are acres and acres. The staff required to do the upkeep on these gardens would have to be quite large, so finding areas that had not been tended to was not hard to do. The Lord of Muncaster who established the gardens had a staff of 28 for the house and 33 for the gardens. Present garden staff is less than half of that. Still, there are wonderful roses and holyhocks, and foxglove and hostas. Some plants are tropical looking. There were plenty of gingers. Fuscias grew 6ft. This estate had the most varieties of rhododendrin in the world at one time. Those Victorians were very fond of collecting plant species from around the world. There was a rhododendrin in the cemetery that was at least 20 ft high and blooming it's head off.

For late afternoon entertainment we have washing and drying. Though both Marcia and I have chosen "Time saver" wash, it has taken an hour for the clothes to wash. I'm quite sure they are clean. Better check on it now.
KG

Arrival at Muncaster

We have arrived at the castle, and right away I met my cousin by marriage. He will let his wife, my cousin by blood, know that we are here so that we might meet her tomorrow. We also passed the cemetery on the way in, so I know at least one place that I will be headed tomorrow. I may earn my International Cemetery Stomper badge!
It was a lovely ride all the way here. The trains were fairly easy to manage. There was a little concern in Edingurgh as the lift was not working, but very young men were hired to run the wheelchair lift by the stairway, and they carried up our luggage. They pointed out that the lift is so slow they can carry our bags up faster. We were able to get upgraded to first class for 20 pounds, and it was well worth it. We had comfortable seats and a table and were served sandwiches and tea and biscuits. We particularly enjoyed the little graham crackers covered with chocolate and caramel.
We changed trains at Lancaster and had immediate assistance from a rail employee whose job it is to spot ageing Americans loaded with luggage and get them set up with a luggage lorrie and sent on their way via the lifts. As soon as we were settled in to wait for our next train, I made my way to the ticket office to set up a reservation for our trip from Muncaster to Reading. I was quite pleased with myself for thinking ahead.
Our prearranged taxi was waiting for us just outside the door of the station at Barrow in Furness. Our driver was a delight. He had given up life in the fast lane as a banker in London about 10 years ago, and has been enjoying life in the Lakes District since. We had pleasant conversation as we careened around the curves and farmland on our way to the castle.
It was just as well that we had bought sandwiches in Waverly station in Edinburgh and that we were given sandwiches on the train, as we arrived at the castle just before the cafe closed. We were able to have soup and salad delivered to the kitchen which is just outside our room, and that, with the sandwiches was our supper. Quite good too. We have use of the communal kitchen and a large lounge which is where I am now typing. We watched the final men's singles match at Wimbleton on the big TV. We have a small TV in our rooms. The reception we got was not so great, but there are mountains to the east of us and the North Sea to the west. Apparently we have Skye, but maybe the local skies are not so accomodating.
It did rain a bit along our journey, but never were we caught in it, and the taxi ride was clear and beautiful. Knock wood for tomorrow.
KG

Life Abroad

Life abroad
BTW, we did get a few fireworks last night from our window. Starting about 21:30 and lasting about 20 min. Marcia was in the shower and missed it all. I suppose we are not the only ex-pats in Edinburgh.

A few notes on the differences we notice in our activities of daily living. In our hotel, one is given one key to the door of the room and a 2.5 X 3 inch paper with some basic information like name and room number. When going out, the room key is to be returned to the front desk, and upon returning, the paper is to be displayed to the receptionist who then gives the key. When entering the room, there is a slot for the key fob just to the left of the door. Insert the fob and the electricity can be turned on.
Light switches operate opposite to which we are accostomed. Push the switch on the lower part to turn on. This reveals a little red top of the switch indicating at a glance that it is on. Electric recepticals also have on/off switches.
Thus far I have managed the intricacies of getting enough, but not too much power to my electronics. It was a bit touch and go on the train today when my computer battery was doing all the work and ran out of juice. I had gone through all the motions of using electricity, but never checked the little lights below the keyboard to be sure I had electricity. So, just now, at Muncaster Castle, I seem to have found the correct combinqation of plug ins cords and adapters to use. I'll be sure to feed Ms Mininie Driver (as my mini-dell is known).

Toilet flushing is the same as we encountered two summers ago in other parts of Europe. Push the big button on the wall behind the toilet for big jobs and the little one for little jobs.
Train stations have luggage lorries. They are very handy for those of us who travel heavy. Though we would not recommend that you change money before coming over (the best deal is the ATM), it is very helpful to have a couple of Euros or Pounds in your pocket in order to liberate your luggage lorries. Just insert the coin and it automatically releases the key that locks it to the lorrie in front of it. Conversley, you can return your lorrie, insert the key in the lorrie in front of it and get your coin back.
So, no internet on the train, and internet not yet found here at the castle.
KG

Hail Britania!

We met her for the 1st time today. Cannot wait to show you the photos. She lives in the harbor very close to the cruise ships in the Firth of Fourth. It was great fun for me to return-this was the place where Mame and I docked in the summer of 2002 on my first trip to Edinburgh. I must have a thousand photos of the beautiful bridge as the cruise ship went under it. I swear the cruise ship passes under with inches to spare.


Anyway, in spite of getting up at 10am, we had a nice French breakfast at Cafe Rouge-now one of Marcia's favourite restaurants in Edinburgh. Then we were off to the tourist busses to take us to our destinations for the day-the royal yacht Britania and Holyrood Palace.

When I get to editing the photos, I'll post them on seperate blogs for you. Suffice it to say that it was a full day with lots of walking. We had Chinese lunch at the Mall by the Britania, and it was good enough. I'm quite sure it was full of MSG, as we were hungry at 17:00 at the palace, and caught a taxi to our new favourite restaurant, Cafe Andaluz.

We heard on the telly that Britons spend about 100 pounds a month on beer. Maybe that is because they are drinking out in the Pub. $175 a month is quite a bit, if you ask me.

Time to pack and get to bed for an early rise and schlep. Today we learned that the Queen packed 5 tonnes of clothes and jewells aboard the yacht. It made us feel a bit better about our 50 lb suitcases.

I understand that our train is outfitted with free wi-fi, so I might just get to do some editing of photos enroute tomorrow.

KG

Day 2 Edinburgh

When I am going to sleep, I compose the most wonderful blogs. Wish you could read them, but I am way toooo tired to type them. I'll just jump in here and maybe some of them will come back.

Morning of day 2 in Edinburgh we breakfasted (included with our room) at Ricks across the street. Our room was a sweat box, but it was cool enough on the street to make me change into long pants and trainers after breakfast. My new Keen hiking shoes/sneakers are so comfortable I don't even notice my feet.

So, on the way back in the hotel when, following protocol, I picked up our room key from the front desk, I asked if we might have a fan in our room. It was sent up within minutes. Big difference.

Soon I was off for the high street of Edinburgh-Princes St. I actually went the wrong way, but, as usual, it often turns out the be the right way. I passed a little restaurant right around the corner from our hotel called Cafe Andaluz. There may be a seperate blog for this cafe, so I won't go into it here.

First thing I discovered on Princes was T-Mobile and before you knew it, I had two lovely Samsung phones and SIM cards worth 5 pounds each for under 30 pounds. One sure way to make Marcia smile is to bring home a techie gadget. In this instance, I also brought home hard won reservations on the train leaving Edinburgh on Sunday-for forward facing seats. So, I was smiling as well.

There was a bit of a challenge in getting to our destination on a Sunday. The little local line that goes from Barrow in Furness to Ravenglass does not run on Sunday. This brought back memories of Nova Scotia which pretty much closes down on Sunday, so we were/are not sure what to expect, but we used our new phones to call the castle where we are staying and get advise about getting a taxi. Apparently the thought of spending 36 pounds on a 25 mile taxi ride was a bit much for the person in reception at the castle, but she accepted that we were not quite ready to rent a car, so she gave us the number for taxi. I believe we are set. The taxi number is in the memory of my mo-bile so it will be easy to ring him.

We had a fine fish and chips lunch on Rose St followed by a nice walk down Princes St and a lovely ride on the tourist bus until it started to rain. Rain is always the sign that it is time to do a museum, so we did the Museum on the Mound. Very lovely. National museums are free.

We managed a walk in the rain and a rest before our first meal at Cafe Andaluz.
The night was cooler thanks to the rain and the fan, but neither the fan nor the rain could fix the hard bed.

KG

Arrival Edinburgh

We have arrived. I seem to have managed the electrical system.
The flight was great. We loved the little seat/sleep station. Actually, we are finding it more comfortable than the bed at our first hotel in Edinburgh. It had a little individual screen so one could pick from quite the menu of entertainment options. The food was good-we particularly enjoyed the cold salmon edamame salad. We got a little bit of sleep, or something like it. Fly British Air.

Getting to Edinburgh was quite another thing. Our British Rail pass was good for both the trip from Gatwick to London and London to Edinburgh- a pleasant surprise. We had to transfer at St Pancras, but it was just a walk across the street to Kings Cross. On the way to St Pancras I was able to snap a few photos from the train.
It was a hot and muggy day in London and we had a bit of a wait for the train. I downed my morning mocha and let the sweat roll. The method for catching a train at Kings Cross is to wait till the last minute in the station, and when the plat (form) is finally posted, everyone charges for the train. Most of the seats are reserved, so it was something of a challenge to get to the last cars and find something empty. It was truly a challenge for Marcia, as her telescoping handle on the great big suitcase broke. Two very nice young men offered help, and we gratefully accepted.
There were 0 seats facing forward. I do not do well riding backwards, and soon felt the familiar symptoms. I managed to sit backwards in my seat (thereby riding facing forward), and Marcia provided a backpack tower of support for my back. This worked fairly well till the AC gave out. Only in our coach.
Hence we came to experience the famous "stiff upper lip"-well, sweaty but resiliant. I heard acknowledgement of the heat, but no blame or grousing. There was a "shit happens and we deal with it" attitude. Eventually staff came through with small chilled water bottles for eveyone. No one complained or howled and the staff did not apologize. They just did what needed to be done.
My particular method of holding myself together was to ride between the cars where there was a breeze, and hold the coach door open so some breeze got in. It was a long standing ride to Edinburgh. We took a cab to the hotel.
The Fredrick House on Fredrick Street requires one to lug luggage up a small flight of stairs outside the door, followed by a short flight of stairs just inside the door. There was one person at the desk who checked us in and lugged one big bag up one small flight of stairs to the lift. After the lift, there was one more flight to the hallway with our room.
Marcia: And why exactly did you choose this hotel?
Kay It could be worse. It is one of the few with lift.
We have one of the Fredrick's sunnier rooms. There is no AC or fan. We have arrived on one of the few days when it would be needed. We have substituted cold showers and wet towell compresses and, thank you Cousin Jimmy, wet hair. It is 22:30 local time (GMT?) and the sun has set, but lingering rays remain. We hear that there is rain and lower temps for tomorrow. We welcome them.
KG

In the airport

Even given that our flight is not till 6:45pm, I am so glad we decided to come to the airport yesterday. Both days have been so stress free. I don't know if it is because the economy is down or if Marriott is just good, but we have gotten great and grateful service. Our server from last night's dinner at the revolving restaurant top o'Marriott sent us a lovely thank you note slipped under our door this morning. Our dinner was the special pri-fixe menu featuring 4 courses with small but entirely adequate portions for $25. The food was well prepared and interesting too. We are almost certain that the olive bread comes from the Ravioli company that we love.

The weather is clearly our preperation for the Isles, and we apologize for any inconvenience to the citizens of central Florida. Once in awhile the sun comes through. My sunglasses are packed in the check-in bag.

Many of you have heard us rave about the convenience of the TPA airport. Amplify that X10. Our hotel lobby opens into the airport terminal. In the Marriott the internet is ....$15. In the airport it is free. I am installed on a little cafe table outside of Starbucks and can connect all day if I wish. (ammend that to when bodily functions dictate).

So, we are happy travelers thus far.

KG

Packing-Packed

They are staged at the front door-the one by the closet in the living room. If the bathroom scales are any good indication, the big checkins are just a tad under 50lbs. We are allowed 3 checkins each, but one seems enough to lug. We each have carry ons as well. Those electronics-bigger than Dick Tracy watches-will be in our presence at all times.

I remember when we lugged luggage-no wheels. I assume that is the etimology of the word. Though we shipped stuff back from China in 1990, we (Walter, 3yo Stas and I) lived out of great big backpacks through the USSR and Eastern Europe and eventually the UK. And, every morning we were clean and fresh and ready to go, and full of souvineers as well. No electronics and no blogging though.

Marcia and I have also learned to pack for contingencies, so there is a change of clothes and a few essential toiletries in the carry on. We have both been at the mercy of the airlines before....

Yesterday it occurred to me that Edinburgh will have temps in the 50'sF in the evenings. I cannot tell you how hard it is to imagine 50F when it is 84F but feels like 92F because of the humidity. I did manage two turtlenecks in the big suitcase, and a cotton hoodie. Other than that, my Marmot rainjacket will have to hold my body heat in.

Tomorrow at 10 am, Paul comes with the big red pickup to pick us up. I have verified that it is a 4 passenger vehicle (we are all abundant people) and that the back is covered. Generally Florida summers feature rain at 2-3pm like clockwork, but this summer is rain when it happens. This morning about 9 it was raining from the living room downriver to the dining room, but the bedroom was sunny. Go figure, and perhaps factor in the El Nino (sorry about the absence of diacritical marks).

Are we lucky to have house sitters who feel lucky to be at the river in the summer, or what? There is this international musical chairs-like house exchange that allows us to do this. The Wilson's of Reading, UK give us their house whilst they spend the summer at their other house in France. The Crabtrees and Whildens leave their Williston, Floirda homes to take care of Stella and the riverhouse till we come home in the fall, and beginning at Christmas, the Swiss come to the riverhouse while we take off in the Cronemobile with Stella (since yesterday's blog, I've started to think of it as the Crone-moe-bile. Maybe moe-bile only applies to phones-I'll check that out. Of course, it is a Cronemobile Caravan. Empty Cage blogophiles will remember the Austrian cab driver who called RV's car houses. Maybe I will think of it as the Crone-car-house caravan). The Irish come in February and the Wilson's of Reading have not yet picked a date. The Irish will live in their house in Dublin while we live in their second home in County Wexford, Castletown, Ireland. Somehow it all works out-knock wood.

Anyway, we think that we are ready. There is free Wi-Fi at the Tampa airport and we have plenty of time to blog, we think.

KG

Dick Tracy Watch

Packing this year is different. I've downsized to a Dell Mini computer, a 64G flash drive, and a Panasonic Lumix FX500 digital camera. Important documents are copied onto both the flash drive and the SD card that fits in the Palm Treo. Really important documents are Adobe security locked. MP3 is loaded up, and can carry more than I could listen to on additional SD cards.

Being super safe, as we try to be, we have RFID wallets for our passports and credit cards. No surreptitious snatching of our vital information!

However...we are very attached to our Palm phones, and they just won't work for us outside the US. We can charge them up and read our books and access our contact list. We can play Sudoku (though I still prefer paper and pencil), and as I mentioned, store important documents and consult our calendar, but we cannot call each other. Well, this is not entirely true, but it would require jumping through hoops and exorbitant expense.

I remember buying a cheap cell phone from Walgreens and getting enough minutes with a cancel anytime plan costing $15 a month. I have made inquiry of our house hosts in the UK as to whether this will be possible there. Of course, it may be that our hosts have never had use for a cheap cellphone/mobile (pronounced moe-bile as opposed to moe-bull) in British English. I wonder if there will even be mobiles at the chemists?

Another issue is that Southern Ireland, where we will be in August, is another country altogether. It could be on a completely different mobile system and require another cheap chemist mobile with a completely different plan in Euros rather than dollars or pounds; though VISA seems to be rather universal. Our house host has an Irish co-worker that he will consult for us.

It just seems to me that if a VISA can be rather universally read, even by the nefariously surreptitious, why can't my phone be global? Truth is, I long for the Dick Tracy Watch.

Apparently, Vincent Yao has one version. http://www.uimobile.com/w08j-quadband-wrist-watch-phone-mobile-cell-phone-unlocked-product-1459.html?zenid=26e52f5937334135aa59e48f5967eaa6 This one even allows me to use it in the river. I wonder if it is still waterproof after the first battery change?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/28/earlyshow/saturday/main652199.shtml From babymonitor to crocodile wristband-take your choice. It boggles my mind to think that someone would want TV on their arm. Whatever do they watch (oops, beg pardon.)?

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/01/lg-watch-phone/ This looks more promising. However, I would like a Lecia lens with lots of zoom capability.

I suspect that in a year or so we will be in possession of global blackberries-maybe even with blue teeth (tooths?). We'll be blackberry blogging and posting in real time. If you stay up all night, you can see Westminster Cathedral with us.

In the meantime, it has occurred to me (with Carmen's help) that I will be left hand shifting the Wilson's Ford Fusion. I had managed to think about getting in the passenger side and hoped that the right foot is the accelerator and the left foot the brake and clutch, but it never occurred to me that I would need to be an ambidextrous shifter. I'm almost certain that there will be a car blog in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned and hope for auto-nomy as opposed to fusion with anything.

KG

Callahan Cousins

We have been just south east of Callahan, Florida at the Flamingo RV park on I-295 for the past week. There has been no blogging going on because I have been busy like I have a job with a very demanding boss. Here is how it has gone:

I have worked for several months on the cemetery listings for Nassau County Florida, comparing the data base from the Amelia Island and Nassau County Genealogical Society with my own family tree data base and seeing where the ancestors came to rest. Armed with a portable file cabinet of cemetery files, I tackled the task of surveying the 40+ cemeteries of Nassau County for photos of the graves of the people in my family tree. So far, I am at 26 cemeteries, but well over 90% of the ancestors represented in Nassau County. This makes me a happy camper.

Even better than the photographs of gravesites is the memories we share with the Callahan Cousins. They are quite lovely people and we have very much enjoyed visiting with them. They have also taken us to cemeteries on private property-owned by other cousin. These are very special cemeteries. Our patriarch and matiarch, Burris and Isabella Incy Higginbotham are buried with other Higginbothams in one of these cemeteries in an oak grove. The Braddock and Haddock ancestors are buried in the other. The source of my matrilineal DNA lies in the Braddock cemetery. It was quite the treat for me to see her headstone and photograph it. I can see that even the granite or marble headstones don't last forever. I wonder if digital images will. ?.

My great grandmother was Emma Elizabeth Braddock Higginbotham-Grandma Em. She was one of 10 children who lived to adulthood, and she had 10 children who survived infancy. 9 lived to adulthood, and 8 had children. Grandpa Higginbotham, John McCray Higginbotham, was one of 6 who survived to adulthood and produce heirs. From this generation back to who knows where, it was like this. Lots of kids and lots of cousins.

As I drive through Nassau County, I see the names of my ancestors on the road signs. My cousin tells me that the road named "Dutch" used to be the Braddock road-after my ggg grandfather John Alexander "Dutch" Braddock, but there were other Braddock roads, so they named this one "Dutch" after him. There is a Lessie Road after our ancestor. I haven't found her yet, but I'm sure I will. Here is a photo of Dutch and his wife, Sarah Haddock Braddock. She is the source of my matrileal DNA. She also takes me back to Grandpa Sir Issac Pennington, one of the first MP's in Parliament. "Dutch" takes me back to David Cutler Braddock whose maps of the Florida Keys are in the Library of Congress-he was a privateer working for Oglethorpe.

Daily I meet my cousins. Yesterday I pulled into Norton Cemetery to photograph the Hicks ancestors. Margaret Lang Hicks was the sister of my ggg grandmother Catherine Lang Higginbotham. There was an old man on a tractor, and I waved at him as I made my way inside the cemetery gate-just being polite. He waved me over and began to talk but I couldn't hear (perhaps a family legacy as well). When I got close, he asked me for a ride home-about a mile away. He said his tractor had stalled and he couldn't get it started. I told him I would give him a ride as soon as I photographed some graves in the cemetery. So, I was off to photograph Margaret and her children.

When I came back, he was still on the tractor. I organized my stuff and moved the car over to him-a bit concerned about the deep ruts in the sand in front of my car. It took him a bit of time and effort to dismount the tractor and make his way to my car. He told me he was 52 years old, and I knew that it was not only his tractor that was not firing on all cylinders.

In my life as a social worker, I have taken many people home. I have had the experience of traveling more out of the way than any NY cab driver would dare to take you. When my traveling companion pointed out his house on the right side of the road and directed me to go down the road on the left I though I might be in a flashback. We had quite a few converstaions along the way. He pointed out the land for sale-close enough to Jacksonville. He pointed out the goats and chickens and advised me that he had grits and eggs for almost free. Then he asked who I had photographed in the cemetery, and I told him that I had photographed the Hicks family-Margaret Lang and Noah Hicks. I said that Margaret was descended from the Fourakers. He said, "I'm a Hicks, and Margaret was my grandmother." This would make us 2nd cousins twice removed. His great grandmother would be my ggg grandmother-Zilpha Fouraker Lang. Here is the photo I will print out and snail mail to him. His grandmother (maybe great grandmother)-my ggg aunt, Margaret Lang Hicks. I'm kinda likin this.

Sometimes I see those hooded eyes in the mirror.

The day before I pulled into Old Still Cemetery and did my photo shoot. As I was about to leave, a big pickup approached and a woman, using her stern voice asked if she could help me find something. The stern voice continued for awhile till we started comparing family trees, and she was on a roll. In a few minutes we were discussing our grandmas who sang together in the choir at First Baptist in Callahan and all was well. Her husband is buried in the cemetery-a recent casualty of war. She has his camaflouge jacket draped over her seat in the truck.

In between these events, my contemporary cousins are arranging dinner gatherings. Last night I met my first cousin once removed for the first time we remember. Today I got a photo from my Callahan Cousin of this cousin and her son who looks just like her. In the meantime, another first cousin once removed has emailed my second cousin. He has just moved to St Augustine. I think it will be another interesting reunion this summer-June 20th. Can't wait.

So, tomorrow we head home with the external hard drive full of cemetery photos waiting to edit and paste. One of the joys of doing ancestry is that the photos will reveal more ancestors and their children and there will be even more need to come back and photograph more of these piney woods cemeteries.

KG

Hackel and Hurl

Our friends Roy and Judy are back in Florida for a thaw from the NY winter. Roy is a fly-fisher like me and brought a fly tying kit for me to learn techniques from him while they are here. I never really thought about it before since I always was on the watch when we went to sporting goods stores and targeted the fly-fishing gear for ready made flies for my little box. Tying flies seemed way out of my league but was I ever wrong!















All the skills I captured in surgery all those years are well suited for this wonderful hobby. Half-hitches and wrapped-knots are easy to find in my memorized repertoire. Roy is a great teacher and offers tips for organizing the "recipe" for the fly we will tie for each session. Now I can looks at my old flies and deconstruct them in my mind so I can reconstruct them or rob an element that I want to use on a new fly. What fun!




He also fills me in on how to fish them in different places and that will be useful as I try each one out in the river... add a little weight here or use a strike sensor for the ones that will be under the water but near the bottom. He is out there most every day chasing down the bass and brim in his boat. His casts look smooth and elegant and I'm sure that he can bring those streamers and flies to life in the clear waters of the Rainbow.

Anyway, I'm trying out some "recipes" of my own in between classes. I've posted them here for you to ogle while go back to my hackle and hurl feathers, floss and vise or has it become a vice already? Learning how to photograph them better will be next as well.



mdt