We Made It!

What a wonderful welcome we had at the airport from our wonderful friends! One of whom we're staying with. Julie has kindly offered her spare room for us while we get over jet-lag, buy all our electricals and wait for the condo signing to happen. Julie's condo is only the floor above Mum's condo, so hopefully our view from our balcony will be as spectacular as this!

Going to Cheltenham

For years, my family has been in the possession of a portrait of my great great great grandfather Charles Dalenger Chenery. The first I remember of it was when it was hanging at my grandparent's farm in their living room. The next was when I was a little kid, when I remember a large crate arriving at house in Montreal. The portrait then hung in our dining room, and we got a new sand box in the garden! "The portrait" would watch over us eating dinner, especially when we would stir our ice cream. Nonetheless, he looked handsome on our wall between the sconces, so naturally he looked right at home in the Vicarage in our dining room there. The sconces came along as well, so they fit in too. When Mum and I moved out of the Vicarage to Bloxham we took the Portrait with us, and he got a new home at the top of the stairwell; where he greeted us every time we went upstairs. The reality was that when we move back over to Canada we couldn't take him with us and it would be better to bring him back to his 'stomping ground' in Cheltenham. Before Daddy died, he wanted to donate the portrait to Cheltenham College where Grandpa Chenery taught as a founding master in 1841. So this is what we did. Mum, Dorothy and I packed him up in the Volvo and with Dorothy's directions we drove out to Cheltenham on a beautiful, sunny day. The archivist at the college had arranged to meet us there and after presenting her with the portrait she gave me a tour of the campus and up to the archives themselves. She explained how they are always happy to receive any information on the early days of Cheltenham as they were missing quite a lot. We were all made to feel welcome and they were all so appreciative of the donation it really was quite touching to know the portrait would be well looked after in his new home.

Charles Dalenger Chenery, M.A.
A Family photo of sorts.
"Farewell!"
The College reception.
Inside the Chapel
The room Grandpa Chenery would have taught in over a hundred years ago.

Emeralds!!

You may remember my 2 year anniversary ring that my handsome man bought me, but that was two years ago and it was time for a new one another 2 years on (pine sap killed the last one). Ed and I trolled through hundreds of pages of rings on eBay, and looked in various shop windows looking for the best. Eventually we both spotted one on eBay, and with Mum in the background drooling over the prospect of new emeralds, we bought it! I waited for several days as the post man would come to our house with no package for me, and yesterday he did have one. I love looking down, seeing my 'bling', and instantly thinking of my fabulous handsome man. I will miss him terribly while I'm in Canada and he's in South Korea, but I'll have a wonderful reminder of him whenever I see my shiny green emeralds!

Hook Norton Brewery

For the past four years I've been telling Ed that we had to go to the Brewery. I didn't specify when, though. With 3 weeks until we flew, Ed and I booked a tour of the brewery and a tasting session of the beer. I had gone on the tour once before with Dad but I still enjoyed seeing the history of the brewery in action. They used gravity throughout most of the brewing process, which isn't widely used in the country so is something special to see. And they are one of the last to use a steam engine to pump the 'brewer's liquor' (spring water) up and into the system. The tour takes you right up the whole 5 floors of the brewery and out side where they keep their horses. They used to have 20 horses at their peak, but now use a combination of 3 horses and lorries to distribute their beer. 'Hooky' beer has a very good reputation, and is well loved by many including myself. I'll just have to find a way of getting some when I'm in Montreal!!

Ed and I outside the Brewery
"Not another picture"!
Me by the steam engine
This is the "mashing" process, unlocking all that loveliness!
One of the carts they still use to get the beer to the many pubs they own.

Haying

Mum and I are currently living right across from a field that seemed to be left fallow, or so we thought. We can see the field from the window on the landing, and one day when I was walking down stairs I saw the tractors working out in the field. The previous week I had noticed that the grass that had grown very tall had been raked into long rows. This week, they had three tractors total: one to run over the rows of grass collecting it underneath to compact it into rectangles, one to run around collecting the blocks once they'd come out from the first tractor, and a third to carry the hay away. Mum and I stood and watched as the entire field was organized in a matter of minutes!

The first tractor
The second tractor, carrying the hay.
All three tractors working together.

Lunch in London with Kayleigh

Since leaving University a year ago, I haven't seen my friend Kayleigh once! We spent many an hour in the cafes on campus mulling over the great and wonderful issues of life, complaining about work, and so on and so forth. It was a moment to put our work on hold and be silly or whatever we needed at the time. Naturally, I felt I needed to get together with her once more before moving back, so we met half way in London. Grabbing a Subway sandwich, and finding a nice space on the grass in St James Park, we chewed our sandwiches and "the cud" for a good few hours. In between, we had a visit from a pelican, people looking for the London Eye, and several tourists with cameras. The weather was perfect, with wispy clouds in the sky shading us occasionally from the sun shine. This weather seemed a perfect back drop for an ice cream, so after grabbing one from an ice cream vendor by the stream, we went and listened to a band of bag pipes who were playing in aid of charity for the homeless being collected by Morris dancers dressed like those from Mary Poppins! I will miss our little chats, but Kayleigh and I will simply have to catch up in a Tim Horton's in Montreal on a snowy day.

The Pelican!
He was very friendly
The bagpipers and morris dancers
The London Eye behind the Foreign and Common Wealth Office building
Buckingham Palace, the flag means she was in!
Me, in front of the Canada Gate!!
And, to continue on with this Canadian theme: Canada Geese!!
And finally, Kayleigh and me with the Palace behind.

Ringing at Windsor Castle

Listen to the bells ringing!! (click here)

When I was asked to ring at Windsor Castle, I was amazed! The chance to ring in a castle? How could I resist? Plus it was on the anniversary of my Dad's death, so what better way to remember him, and honour him by doing something he loved doing - bell ringing. We drove down to Windsor on a rainy evening, so we couldn't see it at it's best, but the building is still impressive nonetheless and I still felt in awe when we pulled up outside. We waited to be let in by the guard after we were issued with ID badges, and I took the opportunity to be a tourist for a tiny bit. We were led through several quads and corridors and finally came to the ringing chamber. Because the ringing chamber was an after though, the bells weren't hung in a traditional square tower. These ones were hung in a round corner tower of the surround of the castle. The bells wouldn't be described as 'wonderful'. I believe I heard them described as 'lumpy', 'odd struck', 'tough to ring', 'anti clockwise', and 'out of tune'. I guess the romance of the fact that they were in the castle didn't make up the tone of the bells. Tonight however, they were rung for the Duke of Gloucestershire's birthday, as they do for every royal birthday, Christmas, Easter, Ascension day, and the Saints Day. After we rang the bells, we were taken all the way up to the bells. To get there we had to clime up at least 5 stair cases, and hoist ourselves up ropes to get right to the top but it was well worth it! We were right up in the roof at this point and the wind was whistling through the shingles. We also saw the clock chime, as it played St. David's song. I was really, really pleased to be able to get the chance to ring at Windsor Castle before moving back. Though the bells weren't quite as nice sounding as I'm used to, I still felt it was a privilege.

The Castle from the outside.
This is the type of tower we were ringing in.
St. George's Chapel
Inside the ringing chamber.
In the ringing chamber again.
These are the weights of the bells. The tennor (#8) is 26 hundred weight which is approximately 2,912 lbs.
One of the bells in the frame.
One of the bells from the top.
This is one of the sets of windows where in the 'olden days', you would simply have had a rope tied around your neck and would have been thrown out of the window!
The clock mechanism, we were told dates back to the 17 hundreds.
This is the 'junk' from the chapel. This is how it was described to me, I thought it was wonderful!
More of this so-called 'junk'
The cannon.
This is a peal board from 1748. I had to read it twice to notice that it took two men to ring the tenor (8th bell). And that was for the whole peal.
Notice anything strange.....?
The group making noise!

The Buddleia

I was out in the garden one day, putting the laundry on the line. The weather was beautiful; sunny but not too hot, and a light soft breeze. I was sorting out the socks from the knickers, and pairing the socks before putting them on the line (you'd understand if you've ever seen my laundry out) and my thoughts were drifting. As I got to hanging up the shirts, half way up the line I looked up and was face to face with a gorgeous butterfly resting on the buddleia. Otherwise known as a butterfly bush or tree, the bunches of flowers are like tightly packed lilac flowers. You can always tell when you're around a buddleia because there is a distinct smell of honey in the air; Hence why butterflies and the like are highly attracted to them. On this occasion, there were about six different varieties of butterfly on the tree, among them the white cabbage butterfly, and the peacock butterfly. I couldn't resist trying to get a picture of the latter because the purple-blue on its wings matched the buddleia.

The Reunion

Though it was a short visit, I had a blast with my friends! A lot of sight seeing, and driving plus a few chuckles and wheezes over drink at the pub. Hopefully the frivolities will continue on the other side of the pond when I join them at the beginning of October!!

Fun Times in Oxford!

Of course, another place we had to visit was Oxford. Though Cheryl had already been before it was Krystle's first time so I tried to get the most in without breaking the bank or our feet. We managed to go into the covered market, the Alice Shope, looked at Christ Church, walked along Corn Market street, shopped in some of the Varsity shops, shopped at Primark, and ate our lunch in the Botanic gardens while watching the funny punters. The weather decided to be on our side and we actually got some sun shine! Though it was all packed into a short space of time I feel we at least managed to get a flavour of Oxford, and did see most of the things we'd planned.

Corn Market street with a billion people on it.
Cheryl and me in front of the Bridge of Sighs.
View of Magdalen College and one of the green houses in the Botanic garden.
Magdalen through the gardens.
Cheryl eating lunch.
Krystle says cheese!
Our camera shy duck :)
Oxford sunshine.
Krystle and Cheryl riding in the front of the double decker.