Scenes of Canterbury, UK - Anglophile Friday

Train Station

I'm finally getting started on blogging about the12 day vacation we took to England with my brother and his wife in late September and early October. After arriving at Heathrow, traveling by Heathrow Express into London and taking a train to Canterbury, we walked the short distance to our hotel and settled in. The following is a series of photos of street scenes (or hotel scenes) of Canterbury. At this rate, this story might take years to finish.

Westgate Towers, Canterbury
Falstaff Hotel, 1403
(and that's not the street address)

Mr. C's Full English Breakfast at the Falstaff

My Full English Breakfast

Falstaff Hotel,originally a coaching inn, established 1403.
Meandering and interesting hallways.
Click HERE for a little history of the hotel.
It was the perfect place for us in accommodation and price!

 And I loved their addition of pigeons on the tile roof!

The heated towel rack is one of the best British inventions ever!
I can almost forgive them for not always having a central spigot in the sink.
Almost.

 Street market.

I heard that the Black Plague is making a resurgence.

 The canal that runs alongside the Old Weavers' House

I came across some Emma Bridgewater, but I'm not a fan of polka dots.

The best fish and chips.

The cutest scene I saw in Canterbury!

Just across from our hotel.

Okay, that's all for now.

Eventually I'll get around to another installment.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

***

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Hodgepodging the End of Autumn

My lone fall decoration


Join Joyce and the Gang
for

She writes the questions;

we write the answers.

Plug them into your own blog post

and Join In!

Thank you to Joyce who always
provides this fun Hodgepodge for us!

1. What does/did Halloween look like at your house this year? Did you decorate? Pick pumpkins? Carve pumpkins? Expect trick or treaters? Wear a costume to a party or event? Make a costume? Feel glad you didn't have to come up with a costume? Cook a Halloween themed treat? Eat all the leftover candy?

Halloween is pretty uneventful at our house. I have one fall decoration (see photo above), not Halloween, didn't carve pumpkins, but I did pick the squash that was in the garden and brought it in so that it wouldn't freeze. Does that count? No costume, no Halloween-themed treat. We did get some bags of candy, which undoubtedly will be eaten this weekend rather than tonight (It's Halloween night as I write this, and usually no one shows up. I wonder why. Out in the middle of nowhere, long driveway, bats and lightning...), when the family is all here for our Early Thanksgiving.

An ancient photo of our third son (now 29 years old)

as we celebrated Reformation Day 

He was way cuter than Martin Luther.

The most ghostly photo I have in my files

Shaughan Seymour on a London ghost walk

2. What are you waiting for? Elaborate

Right now I'm waiting for ambition :-) The family is coming here for an Early Thanksgiving this weekend, and I have a lot to get done. And I know, waiting for ambition is not the most profitable way to go about it. I think I'll have a coffee and cookie and most likely things will improve.

3. Do you wish you were friendlier, braver, more creative, more athletic, or something else? Explain.

I wish I were more generous. I'm working on it. With lots of daily prayer. And practice. I used to pray for patience, but it didn't happen fast enough. ;-) I do think our prayers are answered, probably never as fast as we want or necessarily in the way we want. Praying for God's will to be done is a lot different than praying that our will be done and God set his stamp of approval on it.

Our wonderful Dragon Wing Begonias

hung on until the bitter end,

which came just a few nights ago.

They gave us almost five months of lush beauty.

I reminded Mr. C. of this fact because they're

also the most expensive plant we buy in late May.

But they're worth every penny.

(I'd rather you didn't ask his opinion on this)

4. When it comes time to paint are you a do-it-yourselfer or do you hire someone? What was the last paint job completed at your house? What room most needs painting now? How do you feel about wallpaper?

I'm a do-it-myselfer, which means that the last paint job completed at our house is in my distant memory. Almost every room in our house could use fresh paint. How I feel about wallpaper?? Don't believe it when you read that you can size your walls and later the wallpaper will peel off when you go to replace it. That is a LIE!!  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about the wallpaper in our bedroom/bathroom, and if I could be certain that trends of the mid 1980s would return sometime soon, I'd probably do nothing (although it's hideous). I know that wallpaper will come off a speck at a time with great effort, so I'm tempted to paint over it. Or maybe wallpaper (shudder!!!) over it with something less obnoxious. Does anyone paint over wallpaper?

 Me in my painting duds

I don't dare disclose to you how long ago this photo was taken!

You might hate peppered red, but I love it in our library.

That board on the wall, by the way, is where we hang our huge set of roll-down world history maps.

 Most of that red wall is covered by white bookshelves now.

5. What is one specific thing you felt gratitude for in the month of October?

I've been grateful for many things in the month of October. Family, for sure. And then the opportunity to worship the Lord of the Universe in various cathedrals in England. They always put me in mind of how small I am and how great God is, and inspire awe for our risen King.

 Southwark Cathedral, London

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

 Our nearest village (2 mi)

Photo from October of 2013

 And now I'd better get busy and declutter, clean, tidy, and get the food preparation underway. I'm definitely looking forward to the family being here for Early Thanksgiving!

 ***

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You might enjoy the video of Tommy. :-)

Photo taken last March

I miss this stage.

Now they're both acting like teenagers.

Amish Photos and Hodgepodging the Generation Gap

I'm finishing up the Amish pics from our visit to southern Wisconsin a couple weeks ago. 

Join Joyce and the Gang

for

 She writes the questions;

we write the answers.

Plug them into your own blog

and join in.

1. What's something you might say runs in your family?

Humor. My dad and his siblings all had a wonderful sense of humor and although I think my mom had a more difficult life and saw things more seriously, her siblings were all fun and funny, and my cousins are all a little crazy and funny. It's quite wonderful. Mr. C.'s parents both had a good sense of humor and so do his siblings. Our kids do, and for an example, last weekend (see previous post) family was here and we were watching White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.  At one point in the afternoon, I looked at our daughter and said with all sincerity, 'You are a beautiful woman, Honey.' She turned to me and said, 'Muuutual, I'm suuuuuure,' like the annoying blonde from White Christmas. Of course it cracked me up. We can't have a conversation without laughing. Or occasionally crying.

2. I read here a list of ten things you should do before 2017 arrives (in less than six weeks!)...which tasks on the list might you do? What would you add to your own 'before the year ends' list?

visit your Dr. or dentist, deep clean your home, donate unwanted items to charity, look someone in the eye and tell them you love them, write an honest letter to yourself, clean up your inbox-desktop-photos, travel to a place you haven't been, compliment a stranger, watch the sunrise, think ahead to your goals/plans for the new year.

I think the only ones I've not done are travel to a place I've not been and deep clean my home. This is not the time of year to venture into unknown territory.

Brussels Sprouts on an Amish farm

Waiting at the Hardware Store

3. What's something other generations (not your own) misunderstand about your generation?

Yes, we may look ancient, but we still have a few synapses firing. Well, usually. And we could teach you a thing or two.

Amish farm

Same farm, zooming in on the popcorn hung to dry

4. Sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread dressing-which would you miss the most if it weren't on the holiday dinner menu?

I didn't know there was any stuffing other than sage and onion. I would miss nothing else.  Just give me the stuffing.

5. What are you overthinking right now?

The kittens.

6. Your favorite slang word lately?

Whaaaaat???? (said with my son-in-law's voice)

SE of Westby
Winding, narrow roads

7. Write an acrostic for the word grateful.

God

Rules

Always.

Truth

Eternal,

Faithful.

Unsurpassed

Love. 

And on those winding roads, a huge grain semi

 8.  Insert your own random thought here.

This relates to the over-thinking question. I put a listing on Craigslist for the three adorable kittens and their wonderful mama. I was so sad to have to do that, but Tuppence Meowed at me in no uncertain terms that I was 'RUINING HER LIFE.'  I don't want to ruin her life. She's been a wonderful cat and apparently old dogs aren't the only ones that are rigid and inflexible. She's in no mood to be nice to anyone but me, and especially to some upstart whippersnapper kittens and their mother. Did I say how sad this makes me?  I was really truly hoping...But, the day I placed the ad, I received a text message from a family who wants to come look at them and may be interested in the whole kit and kaboodle. To me, this is an absolute miracle. Of course they haven't visited yet, but once they see those kittens, I can tell you it will be a DONE DEAL. 

He made it.
The end.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Everyone!

 

 ***

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The Old Woodcutter and His Sons

Mr. C. and two of our sons cut firewood on Saturday. It was a brilliant day for that job. No snow and in the 40s, which is the kind of weather Mr. C. likes for that job. I see that there's a lot of birch in the pile this time, and I guess there's another truckload (at least) waiting at the edge of the woods to be added to what you see in the photo.

 And yes, Grandson did just wake from a nap
and he has a cold. Poor little guy.
Sitting here at the island with his woodcutter daddy

 Just guess what he's looking for
The lovely camouflage duct tape is to keep the you-know-whats out from under the hutch.

You didn't think you'd get away from here without seeing more cat photos, did you?
Clockwise, from lower left:
Smokey, Tom Kitten*, Fraidy,
Smokey (again), Audrey licking her favorite kid (kit)

In case you missed the story of our new rescue cat,
you can read it HERE.

The part where the kittens come into the story is HERE.

*because Tom Kitten and the Roly Poly Pudding
is my favorite Beatrix Potter story

Sleeping in the potted yucca

Sixteen year old Tuppence wearing a grim look
'You're not seriously going to keep any of them, are you???'

This photo was taken just after letting Audrey out of her confinement in the kitchen so that the two adult cats could meet face to face with no gate between them. Audrey was sweet; Tuppence was haughty, and quickly ran up to the landing to emphasize her seniority.

Yes, this is the same stairway that a grandson and I ripped the carpet from last spring. I still haven't decided what to do with it. I don't like to rush into things.

And now,
about
Snapseed, a free photo-editing app for your phone:

View from the porch, early November, looking south toward the harvested soybean field
No filters or photo editing of any kind

Same photo, edited with the Snapseed app on my phone

There's not a Snapseed app for the computer, so I had to email the photo to myself, but it's fun to play around with Snapseed and see the differences it can make. There are so many possibilities. It's a free app, and uncomplicated, but not intuitive (at least not to me). Like I do with almost everything else, I Googled to find a tutorial. It was definitely worth the few minutes it took to see how to use it.

Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!


Linking to Cooking & Crafting with JJ
and
Mosaic Monday
and
Monday Social

***

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Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

Natural Vegan Soaps


...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch
PayPal friendly
 
and at
Our ETSY Shop

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning