Don's office

Last weekend Don finally got around to hanging some pictures on the wall of his office. His mom likes to see pictures of where he works, so here they are....
Mike thinks he's lucky to have a TV in his office!
Don and Mike working hard!

Kevin

Okay, this has nothing to do with England, but my nephew just made the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper today and I have to share his picture. We are so proud. His team gathers at the goal after each game (win or lose) and evidently, when they win, Kevin does a victory dance. This time someone caught it on film and sent it to the paper. Way to go Kevin, I"ll expect a re-enactment when we come home at Christmas!

Don at Brandon Park

Sundays seems to be our walking day and this Sunday the weather was beautiful again, so we went back to Brandon Park for a walk. This tree is huge isn't it?

Computer Room, Laundry Room

These are the last two rooms downstairs.

Below is a small room off the foyer and there is a door to the left to go to the garage (can't see). Don wanted this for my sewing room, but it was way too small for that! So I decided it would be better served as a computer room! (Guess who won?!)

Below is the laundry room. European washer and dryers are so small and if you look at the two spaces where I have my laundry basket and cleaning supplies, this is made to fit them. I choose to get an "American size" washer and dryer. You can't see the washer, but it's behind the door to the left. My dryer is out in the garage. A small inconvenience, but since the European washer takes about 1 hour to wash one very small load, I welcome the inconvenience!

Loo

The British word for bathroom is "Loo". Well, at least that is the slang term. Here is our downstairs "loo". The silver rectangle above the toilet is the flush system. One large and one small.

Notice, I did an American theme to the "Loo"

Answer to Favorite Food question

Believe it or not, England's favorite food is Chinese! Fish and Chips and Bangors and Mash was the favorite response, but according to the English, they like Chinese! This is a Chinese restaurant near us. Don went there before I came and he said it cost about $60 for his meal. And I thought Chinese food was cheap!

Pub "Nutshell"

This is a bad picture, but it is the smallest pub in England, located in Bury St. Edmunds and is called the "Nutshell" (It's in the Guinness Book of Records). You can only fit about 7 people in it, but I hear they have tried for more.

In most pubs they have food. You order and pay for the food at the bar and then the wait staff will bring the food to you. You are not suppose to tip, since you had to go up and order your food. If you want to tip the bartender, it is not acceptable to tip with money, you can buy him a pint.

Driveway and Rainbow

This is the driveway, with the view of the fields across the street from our house.
One of the benefits of so much rain. You can barely see the second rainbow. This is our neighbors houses.

"Lounge" or Living room

The view of the fence in our backyard
View of our front yard

Dining Room

Foyer/Hall

Got a few pictures hung this weekend, so I can show you our front hallway This is the view you get when you come in the front door. The Dining Room is at the end and to the right of the hall is the Living Room or Lounge/Sitting room as the Brits call it. If you go left at the end of the hall you'll hit the kitchen
This hallway is immediately to the left when you walk in the front door. It goes to the computer room and garage.

This is the view from the living room to the kitchen showing the stairs.

WWII American Cemetery

Sunday afternoon, we decided to go to Cambridge and find the American cemetery. We have been to others in France, Belgium, Germany and Egypt and discovered that this is the only WWII cemetery in the British Isles. The chapel at the far end has the seals of the military and all the states on the windows. It was beautiful. It also had a mosaic on the ceiling with planes flying overhead.
This wall with the soldier statues, lists all the soldiers who were missing in action, lost or buried at sea or whose remains were never found or positively ID'd. There are 5,127 names. Each statue represents four branches of the military: Coast Guard, Navy, Army, Marines.
There are 3,810 headstones.

England's "Meijers"

This is a supermarket that's big in England. This one is like our "Meijers" or Super Wal-Mart. It has more than just food. Some in the smaller villages have only food.

You can't see them, but they have people with shopping carts in the parking lot to "wash" your car while you shop. Didn't see a hose, so I imagine it's all done with a bucket.

Question of the week: What to you think is the most favorite food of the British people? Fish and chips? Bangers (sausage) and Mash (Mashed potatos)?

Brandon Park revisited

Don and I went to Brandon Park again this weekend as it was a beautiful Sunday and we wanted to explore the southern end of the walking trails. This section was mostly pine trees and ferns. We did the longer walk and ended up finding this Mausoleum (below).

It's out in the middle of no where. It was built for one of the owners of the park during that time I mentioned before when they competed to have the best "park-like" setting and house. Guess they competed for a nice house in their "after-life" too. Unfortunately for them, the next owners had them removed! (They are in the cemetery now)

The main house is now a nursing home. They have a tea house at the entrance to the park and we had our tea and read the paper. Mike was at home after being out all day Saturday (Game, then hanging out with friends then a dance at the high school at night. Rough life)

Football Game 2

Mike is number 68 and his team won the game this past weekend. 13-0 They played an American school from Belgium at home in Lakenheath. It was a good game and Mike made the last tackle of the game. (A fumble!) His name was announced and everything.... we were so proud! They even pronounced his last name correctly!

Ruins of Abbey

Some of the ruins around the abbey (remnants of old abbey)

Abbey Gardens

Some of the beautiful gardens around the abbey

Bury St. Edmunds - inside

Inside Cathedral

Bury St. Edmund Cathedral - font

This is inside the cathedral - the baptismal font. It is so huge, I had to get it in two pictures. The top is suspended from the ceiling. (It is where baby Martha of Martha's vineyard was baptised (see next blog) )

Bury St. Edmund's Cathedral

I went on a bus tour yesterday of the city of Bury St. Edmunds. Here's your history lesson for the day.

St. Edmund was the King of East Anglia (England), killed in 869 by the Great Heathen Army (Vikings) who captured him and would allow him to live if he gave up Christianity. He refused and the rest, as they say, is history. He was buried elsewhere, but when miracles started to happen at his graveside, they moved his relics to the town of Beadoriceworth (Now Bury St. Edmunds) and created a shrine. It was a place of pilgrimage for many years after. He was given sainthood for being a martyr. "Bury" does not mean that he was buried there, but that it is a borough, city of St. Edmunds.
In Medieval Times an Abbey was constructed and, by looking at the models they had there, it was pretty impressive. Below is the picture of the present Cathedral. There was a much bigger one during the time before King Henry the eighth. But for some reason, King Henry dismantled it. The present Cathedral was built in the early 1500's. This is the back view of the cathedral. Surprisingly, the big tower and all of the back was built recently and finished in 2005. The church had received a 5 million pound grant and matched the grant with another 5 million pounds (Total $10 million dollars) and finished the cathedral.

This is the front of the cathedral and part of the original build.
There are a lot of ruins that I'll share in the next blog, but this building is made of the old abbey walls. They have renovated it into townhouses. For a mere 2 million dollars you can live in an old abbey.
The square footage is minimal at best! And think of all those visitors gaping and taking pictures of your house!

The tour guide in the Cathedral was very interesting. She explained a few "American" connections with the cathedral and the United States. In a nutshell: One of their residents, Bartholomew Gosnold, sailed to the new land in 1602 (Columbus sailed in 1592) and named Cape Cod (for the tons of fish he found there) and Martha's Vineyard (after his daughter who died at 2 years of age and because the island was covered in vines). He went back in 1604 and named the proposed settlement of Jamestown to honor King James (who allowed him to go!)
The Magna Carta was signed here too. (To refresh your memory, as I had to do) the Magna Carta had two important ideas that our constitution is based on: The right by everybody to be tried by their peers and the principle of no taxation without representation.
Also, the Treasury room containing the treasures of the church was paid by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and the people of Virginia. Thus ends your history lesson for the day. Wake up now!