Night at the Pub Granta

After biking all day, we decided to walk down to the Granta pub for a drink. It's along the Granta River where one can take a punt boat or canoe out and slowly paddle down the river.




As the night proceeded, the light was laying on various colors on the brick building over the river.





Good times. Oh yeah, that's Seal. Why is SHE here?! Here's what happened. I left on Friday for England, calling Seal one last time on my way to the airport to say goodbye. She wished me a good trip and to have lots of fun. So, I get to the airport a bit late and it was REALLY busy. Got through security ok, then made my way to the gate. It was packed. I saw Seal walking towards me at the gate and I wondered why she had gone through security to say goodbye to me. Nothing made sense to me and I couldn't quite figure it out. I asked her what she was doing at the gate and she said "Did I want company?" To England? Yep, my dear husband thought it'd be a great surprise for her to come to Cambridge to celebrate my birthday. She got a ticket just a week ago and when I saw her, I was totally in shock, then just started crying and hugging her. What a scene I made! Soooooo, she's here for 10 days and we're having so much fun. Good times!!!!

Biking Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and we spent it biking from village to village through the beautiful English countryside. I took Megan (who is a friend from Maryland living here for a year) and Seal through fields, farms and foliage, over hill and dale, to have lunch at a centuries-old pub in Barrington.


Starting out was easy going on the trail leaving Cambridge.


But going through the thicket and hedgerows was a bit more challenging. We had to duck low while biking or get knocked off the bike by a low hanging branch. Critter holes were abundant and one time a groundhog skittered down its hole before my bike bounced over the opening.


Then it was uphill a long path between a rape field and a wheat field.


This poppy field was gorgeous, glowing red-orange in the afternoon light.


Stopping at the village of Comberton.


And finally made it to the Royal Oak in Barrington where we had the most delicious lunch.




I had prawn and crawfish ciabatti with Marie Rose sauce. And the biggest chips (fries) I've ever seen! Mmmmmmm! It's good we were biking!


More of the sights on the way. Every village has the cutest houses. They are all so well tended and the gardens so charming.


Our bikes taking a rest.


And this one is for Mo, our Barnesville postmaster. Her folks are British so I know she'd appreciate this one.

The Bumps

Arrived in England at 6:00 a.m. after a couple hours sleep on the plane. Took a 2-hour bus ride to Cambridge, changed clothes and biked through town along the River Cam to watch the "May Bumps". The bumps are a rowing competition that actually happen in June, which is the end of the college term. They draw about 1500 competitors from the Cambridge colleges. The river is very narrow and 2 boats will not fit side by side. Each boat holds 8 rowers and a coxswain (a yeller) and the goal is to "bump" or slightly overtake the boat ahead. That boat has to pull over and the boat that bumped wears foliage in their hair. Thousands of people line up along the river to watch. We brought along a picnic and set up right on the water.




This team had gotten bumped so had to pull over.


This old guy was asking directions to the nearest


store to buy a new wardrobe.


An official on the river in a beautiful old boat.


These ducks were right in front of us, staying out of the way of the action.


Keeping tally


The weather was fantastic, the people relaxed (Pimm's helps!) and it was a great first day out in Cambridge.

Harper's Ferry Day

While the kids were still here, we biked to Harper's Ferry on the C&O Canal. Easy ride on a gorgeous day.


Harper's Ferry is one of my favorite places to visit. The Shenendoah and Potomac Rivers converge here, making for some great kayaking. We've put in upriver and kayaked to HP, beached the boats and walked up to town to get fries and fudge. But it's just as much fun to bike there and yes, we got fries and fudge.


Walking across the old railroad bridge.


Harper's Ferry dates back to 1751 and many of the buildings are from the late 1700's.


The church was built in 1830.



The firehouse where John Brown was captured.




An enclosed garden right on the Shenendoah River behind the town.


Leaving Harper's Ferry.

Fence Project

My son, Forrest, is home for only 3 weeks this summer. He's spending the rest of the summer in Missoula working with the Dept. of Agriculture traveling around Montana cataloging insects. Part of the payment for tuition at University of Montana was clearing this stand of mangled wire fence, brush and trees into a cleared. Along with his girlfriend, Kim, (also going to UM), they worked side by side in rain, heat and humidity pulling poison ivy out and hauling 8 truckloads of brush away.


This is what it looked like after they had cleared the mess away. So much better. But the old fence and brush worked well while the boys were growing up as it kept their baseballs, softballs, lacrosse balls, volleyballs, and frisbees from going into the road.


Tools of the trade.


But we did cheat a bit though and rented this awesome auger to dig the holes. It grinded through root and shale and I believe we'll never dig a hole by hand again! Houston had to try it out and they had the holes done in just 2 hours.


Here are the two proud workers standing in front of their newly completed fence. Bravo!


After the last rail was pounded into place, we packed a lunch and headed up to Sugarloaf Mountain for a celebratory picnic and hike. As soon as we took off though, it began to drizzle, then rain.


We decided to just eat under the old wood pavilion up there, check out Devil's Kitchen, and come back later when it's not raining (August?)


The mountain laurels are in bloom now, although just past their peak. Sugarloaf is abundant with them and they are truly lovely.


This pic is a bit fuzzy but the undersides of the flowers are really unusual.


They look more like something that you'd find under the sea.


Forrest just chillin' on the rocks, happy not to be working on that fence any more!

Hay Fever

I have to pinch myself because I can't believe I live right across the road from this view! I've always loved fields and especially barns. Growing up in South Dakota, I know a thing or 100 about fields! When I was 15, I had to go to a podiatrist in Aberdeen, 120 miles away from Mobridge, every Saturday for 6 weeks. There was (still is) nothing but fields the entire way. Oh, and fences and lots of pheasants pecking at bugs and corn kernels along the roadway. And a few mid-western barns. I thought it incredibly boring at the time, but now I love the look of a farm field. The one across from us used to have either soybeans or corn for the longest time, but now it's just hay. But in every season, it is lovely.


With all the rain we've had so far, this year has been amazingly great for hay. I have never seen the rows this tall and thick with fresh mown field grass. With the windows open, we can smell that pleasing aroma of mown pasture.


In between the rains last week, the sun shone down on these green meadows against the backdrop of the ultra-blue skies. We don't get many days like this (no humidity) and I spent every minute outside putzing around on the farm.


Every day the bales of hay would be in a different spot, like a giant was playing a game, the field as the game board and the bales as game pieces. Checkers maybe.




I really liked the combination of the large round bales and the small square bales (they're called square bales, although they are really rectangles!).


This is just the first cutting too. They'll probably get two more cuttings this year. It will be a rich, rewarding summer!