I love Britain

Those of you who have been reading “KittyHere or There, Anywhere” over the years may remember that There stands for the U.K., mostly England and Scotland. Since the inception of Facebook I have been fiercely anti-Facebook.  After all, if you want to share online you can use a blog!  But I yielded.  I really wanted to take advantage of some quality coaching for the low FODMAP diet (see my other blog about FODMAPs) that used private Facebook groups.  Now that I have joined Facebook I have set up a page called I love Britain – Present, Past, Future.  Would be happy if anyone cares to follow me there. (Yep, I’m unwilling to pay Facebook a cent to promote it.)  And Britain being Britain, I have decided the photo of an adorable little dog would be a more fitting profile picture than a cat, even though I do have photos of cats taken here, there, and anywhere around England.

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Six Word Fridays ~ Sweet

Sweet memories, sweet treats, handmade chocolates.

When I was a little girl my uncle would often come home with a pound box of chocolates from Richardson’s Candy Kitchen in Deerfield, MA.   As I got older he did not travel through Deerfield as often and I did not see the chocolates as much.  I do not remember them by the time I was in High School or after that.  Then sometime, probably a year or two ago, I saw the candy store mentioned on a Food Network program.   I marveled that they were still in business, but I never mentioned it to my husband.  Then when we were in Boston recently I decided to Goggle them.  They had a website.  I sent the link from my iPhone to my husband’s iPhone.  A little bit later he said we could stop at Richardson’s on the way home.  We each selected our own half pound box assortment.  I still have some left.  I also have some dark chocolate foil wrapped Easter eggs and little bunny rabbits from Richardson’s Candies set aside.  Wherever you are, you can visit their website and make an order.  For me stopping at their shop was a very sweet treat.

 

Six Word Fridays ~ Point

Packed suitcases point to time away.

Six Word Fridays ~ Count

 

My Boston visits now beyond count.

Travel Tuesday # 28 – Peterborough Market & Cathedral

August 8, 2005 was a beautiful today to be in Peterborough England. 

                        

We spent most our time inside the “Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew Peterborough” — that is a mouth full.   However, as I look back it is these outside photos that remind me of how nice the day was.

If you click the link above you will see a list of the 10 things of note at the cathedral.  For me, as a reader of historical novels since my late teens, Katherine of Aragon’s grave & Mary Queen of Scots’ former resting place were the spots I headed for first.

 

Travel Tuesday # 26 – Balloon Festival Bristol England

I have never gone up in a hot air balloon but when I was growing up a few landed in my uncle’s field.  While we used Bristol England as a  base for day trips by rail in August 2005 we were able to view many beautiful balloons floating through the sky.  It turns out that Bristol  hosts an International Balloon Fiesta each August.  2012 is their 34th year.

  

Travel Tuesday # 23 – Bishop’s Palace & Gardens, Wells England

If there is any place where the pictures in my scrapbook fail to do justice to my memory of its beauty  Wells Bishop’s Palace & Gardens is it.  I also believe there have been a lot of improvements made to this attraction since my August 2005 visit.  
The first time we went to Wells to visit the Cathedral we were unaware that the Bishop’s Palace & Gardens were there just around the corner.  Luckily we found out about them on made a return trip to visit both.  And my husband and I need to get back to Wells England again as we have yet to catch a service and hear their choir live.

Travel Tuesday # 22 – Vale of Evesham

Time to share another scrapbook page.  I pulled a red binder off my shelf and found memories of an August 2005 trip to England.  My husband was on a mission to see a number of cathedrals and while there are tons of pictures of them I enjoyed taking shots of the landscape while we traveled mile after mile on trains.  These photos include some crops being harvested.  I could not figure out what the crop was.  If you know, or have an educated guess I am interested in learning.

I’ll be posting more pages from this particular trip in the weeks to come.  Until then…

Travel Tuesday # 21 – Molly’s in Hanover NH

I remember this restaurant as  Molly’s Balloon went it first opened.  It replaced a clothing shop and at the time there were other places to eat along Hanover’s main street that I preferred.  That  was back in the mid 1980s. Now the other places I knew are long gone.  So while making a day trip to the “Upper Valley”  Molly’s is where we stop for lunch these days.  It is pretty typical of a New England college town hang out, take your parents establishment.  The decor is wise crack comments on wooden plagues, old back and white photos of Dartmouth doings, and other memorabilia.

So when we stopped there this past Sunday I enjoyed a house salad, a cranberry spritzer, and the 4 oz maple glazed salmon with snow peas while my husband had a house salad, a Sam Adams Pale Ale, and a cheeseburger with fries.  Because I had no starch I asked if my husband wanted to share a piece of carrot cake with me.  Well I am sorry to say I failed to take a photo of the carrot cake but it was a gigantic slice.  We both ate all we wanted and still had about half of it left to bring home.

Travel Tuesday # 20 – Bury St. Edmunds

Here are two scrapbook pages from an October 2009 day in Bury St. Edmunds:

After arriving by train we spent some time inside the St Edmundsbury Cathedral followed by a pleasant stroll around the Abbey Gardens.