Today's Travel

It's been crazy windy for days and suddenly yesterday evening around dinner time, it stopped. So weird. Today was forecasted to be a nice day and sure enough it was beautiful and sunny. A friend needed to get out of the house, so we planned a trip to a very small village in the middle of Herefordshire called Kilpeck.

I had first heard of Kilpeck from one of the ladies with whom I stitch. She had recommended it whilst we were discussing old carvings I had seen at Worcester Cathedral. So I jotted the name down in a small notebook I keep for exactly that reason and filed it away. Well, time is running out and it popped up from the page, saying, "Pick me!" I looked at the map and figured out the route last night. It was a nice hour and a halfish drive and I found it, first shot! Man, I AM good - no GPS required! If England has taught me anything, it's map skills because I had none before the move.

So anyway, the Church of St Mary and St David
was pretty darn cool mainly because of the sandstone carvings around the outside of the church.



They are all from the Norman age and have never been restored or altered and they are still in great shape after 900 years. There was one special one called a 'Sheela na gig':
If you are over 16 or have your parent's permission to read it, here is a link to the Wikipedia article.
Since we were planning to go to lunch at a pub and no pubs open for lunch until noon, we had time to kill. I looked at the map and there was a National Trust property not too far away called
It is a beautiful garden situated next to the River Wye. It also has an estate house attached but now it is being used as a nursing home. There were tons of snowdrops blooming however, Colesbourne Park is still better.
The 'Millenium Dome', a sitting area made from willow trees
We ended the day at an old school pub in Weston under Penyard called
We went in and I asked if they had cider. The barman and a customer there sort of chuckled at the question and I wasn't sure why. I found out why after our meal. When I pulled out onto the road, we passed a truck that was hauling Westons Cider which is made just up the road from where we ate. Go figure. That may have been a factor as to why they had cider.

An Outside Sort of Weekend

Even though the weather has been ridiculously blustery for the last four or so days, we spent a lot of time outdoors this weekend because the temperatures were very cooperative. I definitely see where A.A. Milne got his inspiration for Winnie the Pooh!

On Friday, we had curry with the neighboUrs and our landlords. I am really going to miss that and all of them.

On Saturday, we headed to the Colesbourne Inn
for a delicious lunch with our friends, the Andrews, and a subsequent trip to Colesbourne Park. Since this is a return visit, I will direct you to a previous blog post. That way I do not have to reinvent the wheel. There were many flowers which had emerged, but I think prime snowdrop viewing might be this coming weekend or the following however, we are already booked so this weekend it was.
Winter Aconite
Cyclamen
Snowdrop

Today, Craig, Owen and I traveled to Uffington to see a variety of sites but we started our day with a pub lunch at The Trout Inn near Buscot on the bank of the River Thames just at the border of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.
It was as authentic as they come and I think it was the first time that I had real, homemade Yorkshire pudding (which is not pudding at all) and they were scrummy! Other pubs use pre-made ones.

After satisfying our hunger, we first went to
I am not going to go into great detail regarding the site but this link will tell you everything you need to know and it is worth the read. I first saw this horse on the cover of a cassette I owned in the 1980's, English Settlement by XTC. I was a bit disappointed that the horse wasn't as white as it is shown in photos. Craig says they have a "whiting party" every so often. I think it's time the National Trust sent out some invitations to prospective whiteners! It's also at a weird angle that doesn't lend itself to be seen clearly, but it really is just a cool, weird thing made by humans. We stood by the eye and ear area and Owen petted its mane. There is a similar horse at Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. I might have to see that one day...
A real white horse on White Horse Hill

Next we walked down the hill to Dragon Hill
which was actually pretty neat. It was windy as all get out and if we had had a toddler with us, he might have been swept away; it was that windy!
Dragon Hill looks like a man-made hill fort and has a connection with Saint George who supposedly slayed a dragon (see link). We hung out there for a bit, resting and escaping the wind...
because we knew we had to climb back UP the big hill.

We finally started back up to walk to the crest of the hill to see
. This Iron Age hill fort was worth the visit, but nothing spectacular. It is super big though which was unusual.
Someone left their shoes behind

After this, Owen had had his fill of rolling around in sheep and bunny poo so we headed home taking the hedge road way through some picturesque little villages.
A thatched roof with whimsical squirrel made of straw

We had a quick detour into the graveyard of
but the church was CLOSED!!! :-(
Amazing lichen

We arrived home on time for a rest and then a dinner of vegetable soup, bread and cheese.

Reading Between the Lines

This post has nothing to do with religious beliefs, more so the culture of religion.
It frustrates me in ways words cannot describe.

The book I am presently reading, Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood, had a few paragraphs smack dab in the middle of the book in it that explain me perfectly:

"For a long time, I would go into churches. I told myself I wanted to see the art; I didn't know I was looking for something. I wouldn't seek these churches out, even if they were in a guidebook and of historical significance, and I would never go into them during services, in fact I disliked the idea: it was what was in them, not what went on in them, that interested me. Mostly I would just see them by accident and go into them on impulse.

Once in, I paid little attention to the architecture, although I knew the terms: clerestories and naves were things I'd written papers about. I would look at the stained-glass windows, if any. I preferred Catholic churches to Protestant ones, the more ornate the better, because there was more to look at. I liked the shameless extravaganza: gold leaf and baroque excesses did not put me off.

I would read the inscriptions on the walls, and carved into floors, a special foible of rich Anglicans who thought they'd get more points with God by being engraved. Anglicans too went in for tattered military flags, and war memorials of other kinds.

But especially, I sought out statues. Statues of saints and crusaders on their biers, or those pretending to be crusaders; effigies of all kinds. Statues of the Virgin Mary I would save for last. I would approach them with hope, but I was always disappointed. The statues were of no one I recognized. They were dolls dressed up, insipid in blue and white, pious and lifeless. Then I would not know why I had been expecting to see something else."

So this got me to thinking about why churches exist. I know it's the whole being part of society thing, but why does a person/a people need a building, the art, reminders of who to pray to or what to pray? And why do the artists feel it necessary to make that art? I go into churches as a sort of voyeur and for exactly the reasons that Margaret Atwood wrote. I love churches for their decorative pleasure they bring me, but I feel like sometimes if I were a hermit on a desert island, I would be just as happy and have little use or need for the feeling of being part of a group. I think one reason a religious culture exists is because most human beings would not be happy on a desert island.

I think my point is that I see churches as the culmination of a lot of time and energy and especially MONEY being spent in the outward expression of religion. It's mind-boggling. I think I need to become a Quaker or Amish, but the I would really miss my electronics if I was Amish.

By the way, another one of Margaret Atwood's book, The Handmaid's Tale, is fantastic.

The King's Speech

Our mobile phone provider, Orange, has a great deal on Wednesdays. For like 50 cents, you text the netherworld and get a code for a two-for-one cinema ticket. This Wednesday, my friend, Jane, and I went to see The King's Speech. It was totally great and I now believe all of the hype it has gotten. Never having been a fan of Colin Firth, I was wary. He was excellent however, I truly enjoyed Geoffrey Rush's performance and think he stole the show but I am biased, being a speech-language pathologist meself...

Today I am going to another king's speech. The King of ClanMcCarter, Craig, will be talking at St Edward Senior School's Lower Sixth Form Lecture Series. This is a bimonthly lecture that the 11th graders have to attend as part of their coursework. It's pretty interesting in that all sorts of professionals come in to discuss a wide range of topics, whatever they specialize in. Craig will be reliving the glory days of his (our?) youth in speaking about "The Gulf War of 1991 in Letters". We saved all of our war letters to one another and Craig has subsequently typed most of them out on the computer. For this speech, he has taken excerpts - hopefully no mushy stuff although Valentine's Day IS around the corner - and prepared a talk. I hope the kids enjoy it. I know I am looking forward to hearing it. I can't really believe it has been 20 years since all of that shenanigans went down...

I wonder if the Sr School gives out awards for best performance in a documentary? Craig has some stiff competition because I noticed that another American parent is coming in later in the year to talk about Rocket Science. Game on!

What's It Gonna Be, Phil?

I am waiting the results of the emergence of Punsutawney Phil if he is able. I think every East Coast American I know is doing the same no matter where they live at the moment. This winter needs to go away.

Here is Phil's official website. I hope he has good news for us! I just hope that if it bad weather that we are not not forced to relive the day repeatedly like Bill Murray in the most excellent film, Groundhog Day. He had a thing for rodents didn't he? Mr. Gopher in Caddyshack and then Phil...

And, oh, Happy Groundhog Day!

Back to Normal

I knew the weather couldn't keep itself nice. Rainy and cold weather, I missed you so... NOT!

Our landlords have been visiting and have been to the house three times in the past week. They are interviewing property managers for after we leave. It is almost a losing battle trying to keep the house orderly but my head is still above water.

I am planning out our next 5.25 months with a vengeance and definitely plan on getting my money's worth out of my National Trust yearly pass and Friends & Family Rail Card! My kids are going to hate me but they can be weekend slugs all they want when we return.

This weekend includes a re-visit to Colebourne Park on Saturday and perhaps a walk to White Horse Hill on Sunday (nr. Swindon) including pub lunches on both days, of course, for anyone interested. If any Cheltonian readers would like to come, email me. I plan to write what we are doing on the weekends in advance because we would love some company.