July 6 London-Regent's Park/Primrose Hill/Abbey Road

As we dashed between the showers at Regent's Park here in London, the flowers bestowed many of my colleagues with the opportunity to capture pictures with dew dripping from the petals.  So many of the posting today were really some of Nature's finest, caught on the cameras of my FSU classmates. I still have no luck flying a kite, but watching everyone on Primrose Hill was really quite fun. Picnicking and then watching the romping around after so much time rushing, was a pleasure. I did not take great pictures of the kite flying, but I have enjoyed seeing the pictures of those who did. 

And then the thrill of traveling by foot through the really nice homes to get to Abbey Road. I wrote my name and the year I saw the Beatles on the wall and my room mate Kat took a picture for me.  Laurie took my picture up by the steps of the studio. When I was young, my girlfriend Susan and I were Beatles fans-her favorite was George and mine was Paul.  I ironed my clothes and my hair every morning, and now everyone uses a ceramic straightener.

Before heading off to the theatre, I went down to the Victoria Station early and roamed around the neighborhood, and the little local restaurants.  Most of the buildings in that area are large corporate offices etc it seemed, but there were many small hotels and B& B's. I found my daughters canvas bags with Twiggy's picture on them.

The play "Billy" was really great entertainment. The young character "Michael" was definitely a great example of comic relief. A feel good show....YouTube has quite a few great looks.

The London Eye Podcast

Sunday- I spent a beautiful summer day inside between the Lab, the Library, and the Conservatory that does not pick up Wireless. Ginger was monitoring the Library and she is very nice.

I did go out for a Traditional English Breakfast at a very pretty cafe near the British Museum this morning.

Saturday morning, July 4th in the USA I would have been preparing some kind of food or goodies for a family outing. I love to cook, especially varieties of Ethnic foods from other cultures. I once asked my students what they thought “American Food” was. And the Survey revealed they thought it was hot dogs and hamburgers.
Since I eat mostly fresh foods, that left those mostly out of my diet. But I do love fresh corn on the cob, watermelon, collard greens, and sliced Beefsteak tomatoes. Instead in the UK, I had a brunch of a Traditional Pasty. Nice and warm and fresh. 
The Audio tour enabled me to learn a wealth of information in a site that has a lot of wealth.
I think the guest room that the Queen has for visitors down stairs is approximately the square footage of my whole house, and lo and behold the visitor needs a “Dressing Room” so there will be enough room for the servant to help her dress. And people think my forty pairs of shoes is too much. I know that the “Trunk Room” was...

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London-July 3, Friday- The British Museum-and Chinatown

Well, in our Flat the earliest any of the Goldengirls Rose or Shined :)

was after 8:30 A.M. An exciting day in the Flat was had by all 5 anyway as we tried to catch up on things. Laurie flew the coop and headed off to Brighton. Tomorrow, Jeannie and Sheila(alias Quinton) are headed to the White Cliffs of Dover. Every time I was going to leave the British Museum, I would see the next room that I wanted to check out. It was still not enough time for me to read very much.  I continue to experiment with my camera and that is exciting to do something besides the RED camera for Autofocus.

I learned several new things for me while in the Museum:

- the British did not have silver jewellry, but only gold instead

-the Nubi in Africa buried their dead in a fetal position 

-the Irish had a bridle and bit for their horses that no one else in the UK used and the archeologists don't know why

-the Ankh does have its origins from hieroglyphics, but has been over time readily accepted by Christianity.

Then, I took a walk to Chinatown. "Take away" Shushi for dinner and Chinese Golden desserts.

July 2- Bodleian Library, C.S Lewis Home and Church

Two Subways, one train and some brisk walking brought us to the Oxford University Bodleian Library. As a reading teacher and future M.S.(actually I wish we pronounced it like they do-libreeery), I was in awe of the thought processes, planning and actual commitment to such a grand undertaking, as creating the very unique library.  I had no idea about anything that was there...chained books, a conveyor belt to move them and a "No Loan" Policy. No ink pens, No Borios(I asked and they are Ball Point Pens), no fire for lanterns, no food of course, and no bags. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Go straight to Jail, if you attempt to exempt yourself from these rules.

Cataloguing thousands of books every week seems impossible to me.

Kathy was so extremely nice to us and gracious in our travels all over the University and then to C.S. Lewis's home. In a country that deliberately preserves its past and culture, I found it strange that the home was sold, and then rented actually. The volunteers renovating it was almost like 

Habitat for Humanity. 

Everywhere there were beautiful gardens, book stores, the aura of academia, and hallowed halls of learning. The inscription donated in the Quadrangle has gold in the letters so as to show the value. The student's education and the University's devotion to manuscipt books and those printed since Guttenberg were definitely visible as very important to the mission of the University.

The board of numbers was used by Lewis to let the housekeepers know which room of the house he was in to serve afternoon tea. Although it is no longer operational, it is a decoration right over the door way. Along with the Argos Coal Burning, it is a kickback to a time gone by. 

National Gallery/St. Paul's/July 1, 2009

Today, the photo focus was deliberately blurring a moving form of transportation.

Oh, this one doesn't work, as I guess this guy isn't moving anywhere!

During our free time at the Galleries, I visited the Portrait Gallery first. Every place that we can not take photographs, I journal in my Moleskine. One floor has this year's BP 2009 winners- that I only wish I could take as nice a photograph as these winners created with different media for portraits. Gertrude Stein, my personal favorite Beatle (Michael's brother) and Dame Judy Dench to name a few.  I bought National Gallery pencil sharpeners for two high school students who draw with pencil... they are stars who deserve these two Star sharpeners.

The SuperTour around St. Paul's Cathedral was just that.  Janet was loaded with knowledge and personality. I went to the very top in the Stone Gallery, The Dome and the Golden Gallery which only opened in July. Lucky me today was July 1. At the first level, my pictures were still good and then after that at the third level, they became a little foggy. However, I loved the whole experience. 

After departing the Tube, I found a street with several "Vinyl Shops," so I could buy my son Christopher a Reggae album as he is a collector.

Stonehenge and Salisbury-June 30

Grey stones seem like grey font....the thought of digging a ditch with a poor dead deer's headdress, now wouldn't that make for a BAD day. And besides that a really deep and really wide ditch. When you dig a ditch like that do you push the dirt to the inside or the outside, because you would be using your hands to do that -right? Oh no, I forgot, as Hugh said I would grab for my handy Oxen shoulder blade, to do scooping. Actually I think I would like that job better than dragging big grey rocks for over 200 miles. Which one is better for the Core?

For whatever reason, the builders chose the isolated location of Stonehenge, it is nestled in beautiful landscape. I took many pictures of the surrounding countryside.

As for Salisbury, the Magna Carta is of course the most memorable event of the day. As I listened to the Docent, her wealth of information was marvelous. What was that written in -a font of 4? I'm quite sure it is not Times New Roman 12. And Those young men will definitely get an "A" in their English class in manuscript.

What a town of pleasant nice people! Cheese scones with coffee- um um.

When we arrived early, there was no traffic. Hats off to our planners who got us there early.

By the time we were leaving, you can see the people coming to Stonehenge- reminded me of the traffic in "Field of Dreams"- which Stonehenge is kind of huh?

LIttle Car that I would actually drive- 

but I agree with you Dr. E. I liked the hot little BMW better

and the "little roll" inside of the big roll fell to the Floor in Salisbury-so of course I could not pass up the Photo Op!

Part Two of Monday June 28

I really love nature, so throughout the day I tried to frame my buildings with trees or to use grass, flowers etc. in order for Nature to soften the size and monochromatic look of the exterior of the buildings. Monochromatic color to me is Regal and makes a dramatic statement. As a practicer of Feng Shui, I am drawn to the water in the fountains and even the oscillating sprinklers.

Sometimes, as in my first picture in this group, the angles of the building itself are perpendicular to the ground even though I angled my camera as I snapped the picture.  When viewed from a distance, it almost seems as if the buildings are on top of each other, but as Hugh told us, "London has a great proportion of Green Space" in spite of it being the third largest city in Europe.

The fourth picture in this grouping seems to plain for the neighborhood in which it was sitting!