Some things in July

Lately:

Attended Louise and Martin's wedding celebration in Northern Ireland

Made my way through my first hedge maze

Celebrated the 4th of July in style

Wandered about the Cathedral with MEMSA's conference

Went strawberry picking

+ The weather here has been glorious and sunny. I've even gotten sunburnt!
+ Strawberries here actually rest on straw
+ Trying to do things like my mom, like putting up strawberries or wrapping gifts
+ Finding that bad haircuts are not as traumatic as they were when I was in the sixth grade
+ Thinking about the differences between Ireland and Northern Ireland  
+ Loving the conference MEMSA put together this year
+ Having successive nightmares thanks to The Killing
+ Learning to drive in Britain, asking smart questions: "Wait, so when do I put the clutch down?"
+ Loving early morning starts and the lengthy days of sunshine.

A trip to Hexham

Through Chads we organized a day-trip out to Hexham. 

Market and Abbey

market

the abbey was from the 7th century

Blurry, but a rare example of steps monk used  between their dorms and vespers

That Saturday had an emphasis on art

They even had the 'Dance Macabre' or Dance of Death

Frith stool

1st century tomb

the 7th century crypt

a view of the abbey from the crypt

the best baptismal font I have ever seen

Organ

After we had exhausted the market and the cathedral, amid the downpour of rain, we went to eat lunch at a place called the Green Room.  It was fabulous. I can't believe I don't have any photos. Very good food!

From there we headed to the Gaol

And then home! Sanna looks like she's in an open carriage.

A trip to London

On the longest day of the year, I caught the 5.38 am train down to London to see my Aunt Jayne and my cousin Emily.  It was so surreal and wonderful to see them.  They were on a girl scout tour trip around Europe and their schedule looked fabulous.  They had one morning in London and I met them up before they were to take the Euro Star to Paris. You have one morning in London so what do you do?

Go to the science museum of course!

We went on the 3-D Red Arrows simulator ride.

We then went to King's Cross for some AMAZING mexican.

We wandered around St. Pancras' shops

St Pancras International

We then had just under an hour a mad thought, I dragged them to the British Library, gave them a quick tour of the rare book collection, showing them Beowulf (now on display!), some Jane Austen Manuscripts, some medieval music, and of course, my illuminated manuscripts.  We met up with the rest of the girl scouts. I was promptly told that I had an 'accent' now that I had lived here and looked exactly like my Aunt Jayne. 

Seeing them off at St Pancras!

 I went with them as far as I could, and said goodbye as they entered security.  It was so wonderful to see my family in the UK! I'm starved or not seeing family enough and I loved just looking over my shoulder and thinking, I'm named after her! We look alike! My hair will probably not turn brown, but look just like hers.  We of course talked weddings and boys and what they'd seen.  Hearing all about what they'd done and see made me want to go gallivanting across Europe again. The old desire to go had been awoken.

After I said goodbye, I wandered over to King's Cross and took my train home.

Sanna: A trip to Morpeth

On Thursday, I worked in the morning and then in the afternoon, had an appointment in Morpeth to look at wedding dresses. Was so thankful for Sanna's willingness to come!

Dramatic as always

this is me terrified of deformed pigeons

a little stop a tea shop

a cream tea

the lovely studio where I tried on wedding dresses

 We came back to Newcastle where both JT and Steve had come down to see us! We met up with them in the evening, and hit the pub, where guess who we should see but some of the cast from the TV series George Gently!

Sanna and Lee Ingelby (left)

Sanna had been blabbering about all the famous people she had hoped to see in England and had been telling me how much she liked Lee Ingelby and rattled off a list of all the movies and tv shows he'd been in.  It was such a great surprise for her then to run into him.

I keep regretting not inviting them to Chads for a few drinks.  We headed there and had a great night.

Sanna: a trip to Newcastle

 We did a host of things while Sanna was here. One evening, we went to the movies, where Sanna proved to be rather excellent at the arcade

Sanna at the arcade

On Wednesday we went shopping in Newcastle

The ever elegant Sanna, in high-waisted skirts

waiting for the train

train spotting

lunch at my favorite pizzeria

From here we went shopping

And then we waited for Fran at the station

Sanna and walks

One of the lovely things about Sanna's presence is her determination to go on walks.  We watched Pride and Prejudice one evening, and in the midst of freshly sliced bread and cheese we had purchased at Hexham Market, she announced she'd like to go on a walk. So we paused Colin Firth, and bustled out the door. This led to several more wanderings.

our walk on our first day, just around the river and castle

Fran taught me a short-cut to a wood by my house

And then proceeded to pretend to be a jungle explorer

I just love this photo

I couldn't be happier.

I had several rather terrible experience when I first came to Durham so I've been rather hesitant to embrace it for all its worth. But we struck out on several walks and I'm pleased to say I've found one that will suit even me! It's so long I could walk until I was exhausted and still not have completed it. I adore country walks and can't wait for a dog so I can have someone who enjoys them as thoroughly as I do.