Outside of London

This is the old Ely Dispensary in the town of Ely.  It is very significant to Rachel because ancestry on Rob's side of the family are connected with town of Ely.  The inscription on the door says:
        Ely Dispensary
             1865
        Heal the Sick

The Ely Cathedral is old and large (built in about 1000 AD ).  I was so glad we could see it, particularly because Rachel and Rob named their son after the Ely's.

















        The Cathedral is well maintained and still in use.

We also visited the town of Harston.  Dennis is not sure that he has any family connection with ancestors there but it was fun to look around and feel like there could be a connection.


The Harston village Hall.






                                                                                        A Harston Coat of Arms we saw in the town

This was a fun old tower restaurant with an interesting entry.  

                                        

We stayed at a bed and breakfast that had an creative back yard.

The woman was kind and gave us an English Tea (herbal tea for us) of cookies and tea.  The next morning when we ate breakfast with some English guests their dislike for President Trump was quickly made manifest.  

This was in the side yard.  It is a castle for their grandchildren to play in.  

The bed and breakfast was in the town of Kineton.  

We drove on, with Dennis at the wheel, driving on the wrong side of the road, 

at least from the American perspective.  

The Ann Hathaway Cottage is the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

Stratford-Upon-Avon town square

The Great Garden of New Place.  An English garden now, the place where Shakespeare is buried.  

The Avon River by the city of Stratford-upon-Avon.  Rachel and I had stopped 

at a dress shop there in town and each of us bought new dress.  

The city of Bath and the North East of Somerset was next.

There is so much old history in England whereas American is a relatively young country.  

This was a particularly beautiful bridge and river of Bath. 

Jane Austen lived in Bath.  We visited the house she resided in.  

Ahh, the Roman baths for which Bath is named for.  

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One of our places of lodging was just inside and up the stairs.  It was a small apartment 

that we didn't spend much time in because there was so much to see and do. 

Stonehenge, so old. 

I really enjoyed walking around Windsor Castle and the grounds.  

I loved these back stairs and all the greenery around them.  

We all had our own headsets to listen to and learn about Windsor.

The English guards and all their regalia.

How I loved visiting England.  

England with Rachel

 In August 2017 Dennis and I went to London with Rachel.  We drove to Seattle and stayed there one night and then flew out from there for our trip together.  I was delighted that Rachel would be willing to go with us.



We flew overnight and arrived on Saturday August 5 and immediately began touring and seeing the iconic red English telephone booths.  Since Sunday was the next day we needed to know where to go to church. In pursuit of the church we stopped at the Victoria and Albert Museum, saw double decker red buses, black taxis and Harrods department store.




The church was walking distance from where we were staying.

Hyde Park




















             



                       Westminster Abby

                                       Westminster with the tower of Big Ben off to the side. 

 I love the charm of the black wrought iron fences, the geranium boxes and the red brick buildings.  

The London Bridge was  not what I envisioned it would be after singing "London Bridges Falling Down" so many times as a child.

London's Tower Bridge was the old bridge I had pictured as London Bridge.

Another iconic sight is the mounted guard.

A close up of the Buckingham Palace gates.

Kensington Park

 Kensington Park

Royal Albert Concert Hall nearing dusk.

 

Kensignton  Palace where Prince William and Kate live.

 Princess Diana memorial garden remembering the 20th anniversary of her death.

            British museum lobby

The Elgin Marbles (statues and  sculptures carved from marble) taken from the Parthenon and Acropolis by the Earl of Elgin.  Unfortunately when Rachel and I read in the British Museum guide book it told us to make sure we saw the Elgin Marbles.  We both though that meant something different, as in marbles a child would play with. We were a little taken aback when a museum guide told us otherwise. 

More of the marble statues from the Parthenon.

The London Eye. One of the world's largest ferris wheels.  

Yard work, house redo, and cabin work

After living in a small dormitory room during our mission in Mexico we came home to a large house with a lot of "stuff", yard work, house cleaning and gardening.  We also had a cabin that needed to be taken care of. It was all just a little too much for me.  My though was that I could not keep spending my entire life doing all that work. The house and yard served us well for many years with wedding receptions and family gatherings.  Then it started to become more work than it was worth. Dennis and I began taking out trees. We had taken many of the oak trees out just before we left on a mission since they were dropping acorns that were difficult to clean up.  We hired a man to help but we did most of the work.  In the end the yard was very much simplified.  My hope was that if I could simplify all the work  I was doing I could enjoy living there but if not I would have to move.  

The island in front after we took out the trees and laid down the new sod.  

We took out the old fence that I had built myself when we first moved in the house at 7842 Tynedale Court.  There was no fence when we moved in and I like privacy so I went to the library and got a book about fence building and did it. Dennis did  help when he could see I was serious. When we came home from the mission to Mexico in 2016 I could see it was falling apart and we needed to replace the 20+ year old fence.  We put a wrought iron fence on one side and a Trex on the other side

After coming home from the mission Candace said Michael and Jordan wanted to go to Africa on a humanitarian trip.  I told her I would love to hire the boys if they wanted to help work for me so they could earn money.  They worked in the yard, the house and at the cabin. The deck on the house needed to be painted every year which required taking everything off to paint it.  Even Johnathan helped as well as Tess  and Leisel on occasion.    

I repainted a lot of walls and trim in the house including the terracotta (orange/yellow) bricks on the fireplace.  I like it much better this way. June 2017 projects

                                                   New carpet in Dennis's study.  We pulled out the old carpet in the family room on the middle floor, the carpet on the stairs and the bedroom carpet upstairs and hauled it off to the dump.  We moved out all the furniture and then had it replaced.  The Clark's helped with all this including moving furniture.  

The boys were a great help at the cabin.  Dennis had put in a new rope swing and we needed a waiting bench for children to sit on until it was their turn .  Oh boy, I think Jordan is in his stocking feet.  It was dirty work at the cabin.  

Isaac, Miles, Tyler and Jordan. I think Michael was there also but didn't get in the picture.  

June 17, 2017 The grandson's helped me plant a tree forest along side the parking loop. Upon putting in the  new rope swing and clearing the trails for it we had to take out some small pine trees.  We put them in a wheelbarrow and transplanted them next to the driveway.  I wonder how big they will be when those boys go on a mission? 

Chad and Dennis repairing the spring water that terminates in the playground.  There is always a project do to at the cabin.  

The 4th of July parade in Oakley.  

Candace, Johnathan and Dennis at the Oakley 4th of July parade 2017

Ben helped put up the new rope swing at the cabin and Ruth is trying it out for the first time.