It's actually been a long time since I posted any news other than weight loss on this blog, so I thought I'd give you a pictorial summary of the summer!
We'll start with the picture of John and Margot Hewings (from Toronto), with us, at the Studio. They visited in late May and early June, then the four of us headed off to Stratford for a gathering of some of our old Swansea friends.
Following that visit, we headed off to the Lake District for a few days on our own. We stayed at the Pheasant Inn which is located by the side of Bassenthwaite Lake in a place called Peel Wyke!!!!! Wyke (or Wick) means somebody's homestead and Peel is derived from Piel. We think that there was a Piel tower (a sort of fortified tower) at this spot hundreds of years ago.Here's a picture of some Ivy-leaved Toadflax that we found growing on a wall. I really love the name of this plant, and it's pretty too!
After our trip to the Lakes, we welcomed Joy and Glenn Johnson from Sydney, Australia to our home. The weather was appalling and we don't have any photos. They were with us during the floods that took away the bridge at Ludlow. The bridge has been replaced temporarily, but it's a shocking sight that meets your eyes as you cross it. The house beside the bridge has lost one of its walls and is leaning into the river at a crazy angle. You can see right into the bedroom, where there's a beautifully made up bed and some of the furniture, still poised and waiting to slip into the river!
Early July brought the Church Stretton Food Fayre. We worked very hard for several days, moving chairs and tables, making tea, washing up, helping people in the craft tents, directing traffic, manning the entries, counting the money and doing whatever we were asked to do. We enjoyed it very much and the Food Fayre was a great success. More about that in future posts, I'm sure as I am about to become Vice Chairperson.
Late July brought the Arts Festival. Again, I was pretty heavily involved with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition part of the festival - doing the entry forms, data base and helping with setup and breakdown. Before it ended I made a quick trip to Heathrow to pick up my twin Aunties - Sue and Lou. They came over for a three week stay which included a 5 day trip to Scotland. We stayed in a lovely hotel in Lanark and took the train to visit Glasgow and Edinburgh. The weather was kind, the people were friendly and welcoming and I think we all enjoyed ourselves very much. Here they are on a boat trip on Loch Lomond. Highlights of the trip included visits to Edinburgh Castle and Rennie Mackintosh's masterpiece the Glasgow School of Art.
At the end of August, Bill Fenner and Lois Tilton were over from Arden Road. We "did" Wales, with a day trip to Caernarfon (Carnarvon) through Snowdonia and an overnight trip to South Wales where we visited the "Big Pit" (the Welsh National Coal Museum, which includes a coal mine) and St. Fagans (the Welsh National History Museum). Both of these were great, and FREE!!!!!This picture shows us getting back into the car during our trip through Snowdonia. You'll notice that we have a "new" car. It's actually a hired vehicle because we managed to kill our Rover by driving up to Liverpool and back with the radiator cap off!!!!
More later ..... I'm off to pick apples!
