Around Winchester

Here are a few images summing up our visit to Winchester and the surrounding countryside...

WELCOME TO WINCHESTER

Kingsmere Meadow- home for the first week.

We began our journey three miles outside of the cathedral city of Winchester, in the hamlet of Shawford.  Along an old towpath of the Itchen River sits a beautiful home belonging to my mum's friend Catherine and her husband David.  For the first week this is where we adjusted to the new time zone and cooler weather.  It turns there is a 10 degree difference in longitude between England and Oregon.

Each day Dave and I found ourselves out and about the countryside, whether it was around Shawford, Winchester or out a bit further, the wide open areas, the hills and fields and all the new critters we saw were all around us. AND with all this fresh air came fresh mud.  So one of the first things purchased was a pair of wellies (rubber boots) to trapse through the puddles and blend in with the locals.  The history in these parts is like nothing we have back in the States, Dave is continually touching stones and mortar, knocking on a post or pillar and finding flint in places never imagined. We are constantly going back in time to the Norman invasion, William the Conquorer, and King John.  While in Winchester we used our National Trust membership to visit one of the oldest grain mills in England, AND it is still producing and selling flour.  

At one time Winchester was the capital of England, before London took that position and it is here that Kings ruled and a castle was built and a moat dug. Not much remains of the castle, but what does we climbed under, spied from the top and walked through. The Great Hall is one building from the castle that is still intact and inside the stone walls hold the round table, with King Arthur's face and all the names of the Knights, on the wall over the place the King would hold his court. The table was actually designed during a much later period and it is believed that a young Henry VIII had the painting of Arthur done in his image. It is here that the mini series Wolf Hall was filmed, and at several other locations around Winchester, some of which we visited. Now I want to watch the series all over again and see where I have been.

As a trip up north to the Lake District was not going to work out a trip just east of us to Jane Austen country did, and on beautiful clear Saturday we took a drive to Chawton, where Jane lived with her mother and sister. It is in the Chawton cottage that she wrote most of her novels, including Emma (which the museum was celebrating 200 years in publication). In 1817 Jane died in Winchester, at a house which is now a private residence, it is here that her sister brought her to see a specialist. Sitting in the public space across the way eating an apple and watching the simple yellow house of brick and plaster I wonder what other stories might have been written if she had not gotten I'll and died while still in her 40s. Seeing the tiny table she sat at and wrote her novels is inspiring. It is said that where ever she was in the house, if she became inspired or thought of a line or a piece of dialogue she would run to her writing table and jot it down before she forgot. After we left the house and were on the way home Dave informed us that he had touched the table where the authoress had sat and composed. He said he touched history! Nobody could say otherwise.

I must take a moment and say that blogging in England was a wonderful idea, however I am finding that the Internet is quite hit and miss at friends and family. So the amount of online journaling I had imagined has not come about. However this will not become a deterrent and I will continue to send news, just not so often. Skyies are clear today and the weather will be at its warmest so it's time to get up and going and see What the day brings.

Good-Bye Vancouver Hello London!

Leaving Portland for Vancouver BC the reality that this trip was truly happening began to sink in.  The blades on the planes propellers whirled round and round, faster and faster sounding a lot like my stackable washing machine and dryer, shuttering against the wind. Mt. Hood flashed by, then Mt. Saint Helens, then others in the long chain of Cascadia. Our transportation north sat 50 passengers and would only take an hour from gate to gate.

Flying into Vancouver Dave's first reaction was the amount of skyscrapers the city has, mine was the mountains and how new they looked with their fine points and mantles of white. Walking across the tarmac with mom, it wasn't until we were half-way to our destination we realized there had been no wheelchair waiting for us at this end. We made our way to the other end of the airport without hurrying and still had plenty of time for our connecting flight, even with a pit stop and border check along the way. The women at the Air Canada counter was shocked when told of mom's hike, delivering a chair right away. Our trio was then whisked on board like royalty, while the long line of fellow travelers snaked through the cue area of Gate D58.

That evening, flying east, in a great bird of metal with an engine large enough to swallow a Great White shark whole, I thought how plane travel had changed just in my lifetime. The fact that Dave was watching a new release movie on a ten inch screen attached to the head rest instead of a floor to ceiling screen and the head phones were now ear buds and not something that looked like a doctor's stethoscope. Mom reminisced a time when dinner was served on plates and tea not served in paper cups, and the pillows were bigger. The food this trip was surprisingly good. Sleep came in bits and when I finally awoke for the last time the sun was up and were were nearing the northern islands off Scotland.

From 35,000 feet in the sky the clouds look like waves of frothy foam floating high above the sea, or strange fantastical cities created out of oxygen and hydrogen that are constantly changing shape and then mysteriously gone. As we draw closer to civilization farms and irrigated patches of earth are surrounded by streams and hedgerows, communities pop up along inlets and bays. The captain announces we will have a delay in landing due to the weather, buckle up. I go to put my clogs on and discover my feet have swollen a bit. Thank goodness the tea cart comes by, a nice hot cup of tea always solves everything! Soon we are on British soil, the brakes of the plane squealing to a stop at one of the largest airports in the world. Mom has tears in her eyes as the plane as we depart, you may take the girl out of England but you can't take England out of the girl.

Pre-Packing Count Down

With only a little over a week before leaving for England I thought it would be a good idea to blow the cobwebs off my blog and start fresh for the new adventure.  Over the next month my goal is to post several times each week with stories of our misadventures in the land where queens rule long, Hobbits were born, and paths follow hedgeways to pubs not serving microbrew.

However before leaving it is necessary to make sure the carry-on closes with nothing major missing. So today I spent the good portion of the morning packing and repacking.  The carry-on measurements, allowed by our airline, is smaller then the cooler we take camping.  How does one fit everything into a box 9"x15.5"x21.5".  That was my test, having already over the past month planned my outfits through that old fashioned format of "garanimals".

I must divert for a moment and explain this phenomenon of my childhood.  Garanimals were started in 1972 and was a system devised for kids to pick out their own clothes and have them match no matter the mix; pants, shirts, skirts etc.  The singles were all tagged with an image of an animal- lions, tigers, and bears Oh My, penguins and zebras too.  When clothes were paired from the same animal family of tags the separates created an outfit that was stylin and fun to wear.

Using the same formula my wardrobe, of limited palate, took shape and as you can see from the pictures I will be able to create a number of casual/dressy outfits for any occasion I may encounter.

A combination of short & long sleeves with button ups.

Light sweaters for those rainy, chilly days

Combination of skirt, tights and quick dry fabrics.

Add a few accessories and I have a month's wardrobe at my fingertips. Note that out of this will be my flight attire, and the blue fleece vest zips into my raincoat. Who said a girl needs a closet full of shoes! I'm only bringing two pair. All this in one little carry-on, amazing! I should mention the flight does allow two carry-ones, which will be the topic of my next post.

Well here is where I head into the wild blue yonder of London fog and heather greys, of cobble streets and pints in pubs, and fish rolled in paper. How wonderful to think you'll be following along. Now where did I place my passport?