York, England, Part II

Here we are in York, England again, as last Friday. Disclaimer: This is from a trip taken in 2007, so it's not exactly 'live,' except in my mind. York is a little over 2 hours from London by train. We actually had rented a car through 1st UK Car Rentals, so we had a lot more flexibility with our itinerary, being able to stop at just about everything we found interesting along the way from Thirsk on one trip and from Manchester on another trip.  Still, if I were going to England and had only a week, I'd make sure to take the train trip from London to York. It is so worth it!

York's 'Snickelways,' narrow streets and alleyways

This is a great city to visit, even on a rainy/snowy day!

Of course the Minster drew me first, 

but the chocolate store wasn't far behind!

The narrow and famous medieval street known as 'The Shambles'

The Shambles

Cross Keys Hotel (and pub), Goodramgate

Near the Minster

Good fish'n'chips - our favorite, most reliable dinner 
Can't get used to those mushy peas, though. 
One has to work to make peas that bad!

 St. Crux Parish Hall where we ate lunch
We found that many churches have an adjacent building or room or basement where they served quick and inexpensive meals.

View of house backs while we were walking along the City Wall

Keep in mind that this was March. We travel in March because it's so much cheaper than in the later spring or summer. For the huge money difference, I can use my imagination to see the flourishing vines and flowers. I can't, however, seem to get my imagination to kick in for 'feeling warm when it's freezing cold.' But I'm working on it.

 Looking over the city

My favorite photo is the one above, which I took from atop York Minster on that snowy, blustery day. I'm going to have it enlarged to poster size and hang it, along with my other favorite Yorkshire photo/posters in our Yorkshire Room, formerly known as our daughter's bedroom. She got married and moved out. What's a mom to do? She's still welcome to stay there with her hubby and new baby when they come to visit. :-) 

Speaking of that new baby, did I show you a photo of him yet? Oh yeah, that's right. Okay.
:-) He and his cousin (born in the spring) are just the cutest ever! a totally unbiased opinion, of course!


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and I'm Lovin' It Fridays
and Friendly Friday

Stickseed Loves Bridger

What you see above is my dog Bridger with a lovely lei of Virginia creeper and stickseed wrapped snugly around his neck, firmly embedded in that long, fine hair of his.  When I went to the back door, I found my frantic 'puppy', prancing and begging to get into the house, because he was scared and the house is his safe place.  The two of them, Stickseed and Bridger, were inseparable for several miserable hours.

The main Stickseed necklace with a little dog hair attached. 

This part was on the surface, easier to remove.

This stuff is terrible. It is worse than  burdock because it's so much smaller and there are many more of them in any square inch of hair! And, just like burdock, they have to be lifted out one by one, after the hair that one little 1/8" seed is clinging to has been painstakingly pulled apart to release it.

Stickseed, each seed about 1/3 inch from the next 

I got out my wildflower book, hoping that I could find a picture of the Stickseed (Hackelia) flower that is found in Wisconsin. I'd like to make sure to kill it next spring when it flowers, before it goes to seed! It's either that or teach my dog not to chase bunnies. And that's not likely.

The bad news?   I've yet to discover what Wisconsin stickseed flowers look like, for there seem to be many varieties. 

The good news?  I've got all the long, cold winter ahead to try to find the answer...

...or maybe that was bad news.