12 October 2012

Sheesh!  Once you fall behind, it's tough to catch up...

We set out Friday, after about an hour of Medieval clothing Q&A, for Tenby.  The weather had started out lovely but was rapidly clouding up.  We got to Tenby, with its medieval walls and set out for the harbor.  Of course, by this time it started to rain so I stopped and bought a rain jacket and it quit raining.  If that's all it takes to get the rain to stop, it was money well spent!
 
We entered the city thru a passage with a blue sign (below).  Emma, Lady Hamilton, was Nelson's great love and mistress.  By all accounts, Lord Hamilton wasn't real bothered by this.  Whatever.

 

St Mary's Church, Tenby.

 

A bit of Welsh signage.

 

Tenby Harbour.

 

Tenby city walls.

 

 The Tudor Merchant's House.

 

The Plantagenet Pub, where I had lunch; a lovely crab bisque and crusty bread.

 



 One of the many Welsh dragons I've taken pictures of.

Inside the Plantagenet Pub.

 

The Flemish Chimney, one of several fireplaces in the Plantagenet Pub.

 

Wall plaque, Tenby.

 

Inside St Mary's Church, Tenby.

 

Inside St Mary's Church, Tenby



 

A cadaver in a wall tomb, meant to remind men of their mortality.

 



 More Tenby harbour/beach.

 

 



 More Tenby harbour/beach.

 

 

Manorbier Castle, birthplace of the Medieval Welsh chronicler, Gerald of Wales.  Also one of the locations for the movie The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

 



 

Interesting triangular windows/air holes.

 



 Inside Manorbier Castle.

 



 Inside Manorbier Castle.  The fireplace is part of the medieval kitchen.

 



 Manorbier Castle.

 

Manorbier Castle crypt entrance.

 

The crypt.  No coffins or bodies--very boring!

The crypt.

 Manorbier Castle.

 Chimney.

 

Manorbier Castle.

 

Inside the walls.

Interesting arches.

 

Well and Smuggler's Passage.

 



 More walls.

 

More walls and gatehouse.

Late blooming rose.

 

Manorbier Castle from the road below the castle.

 

We finished off with dinner at the Mermaid on the Strand.  Very nice!  The weather stayed pretty decent for pictures until after dark, so I got quite a few shots.

 



11 October 2012

More catching up...

I forgot to mention on the post for 10 October, but the children's author, Beatrix Potter, lived around Lake Windemere.  There's the Beatrix Potter House in Lake Windemere and all kinds of reproductions of her illustrations.  The Beatrix Potter House has a garden and they save and store heritage seeds of the plants she would have grown and been familiar with, including a radish that looks a bit like a ruddy carrot.  She raised a type of heritage breed sheep called a "Herdwick" which starts out black and goes mostly grey as it grows up.  We did see a few of these.

Anyway, on to Whittington Castle and Powys Castle.  By the time we got to Whittington, itas pouring!  As a result, the pictures are a bit sparse.

Whittington Castle Gatehouse.  Whittington Castle is close enough for a daytrip on a nicer day :-)  According to our guide, it's the only community-run (community-owned?) castle in England.  Elizabeth Chadwick has written 2 books about the family who built Whittington, which (of course) I bought in the little shop there.

An exhibit of (plastic bones) in the dungeon.  Suitably spooky :-)

 

Some Civil War armour they found in the moat.

 

Powys Castle in the rain.

Cool statue in the courtyard of Powys Castle.

 



 Close up of the Welsh Dragon weathervane.  They don't allow inside pictures, but there was some pretty neat stuff in there!

 

One of a pair of small cannons at the front door.  I think they had some significance to Clive of India, but that needs a bit more research.

 

More Powys in the rain.

 Funny little phone box at the gate.

 Powys again.

 



 Autumn color.

 

There were also a lot of deer just wandering around.  The castle is worth another look on a sunny day just for the indoor collections.  There wasn't much light and because it was so dull, things were difficult to see.

 

10 October 2012

I've been somewhat remiss with the blog entries, but I'll try to catch up :-) 

On Wednesday, we got up and headed off to Cartmel Priory and the Lake District.  The weather was not great.  I found out that the wealth of Manchester was founded on cotton.  Also, the Midland Hotel, where we were staying for 2 nights (and a very nice hotel it is!) was built by the railroad and the old Manchester Central Station was just out the back door.  Very convenient.  Almost 100 year ago, a fairly historic meeting took place between Mr Rolls and Mr Royce, which was to have ramifications for the automobile :-)  The automotive side is now owned by the Germans but Rolls-Royce still makes airplane engines.

Anyway, a few pictures from Cartmel Priory.  I gave Lake Windemere a miss because it was raining--and my camera doesn't like to get wet.  Cartmel was founded in the late 12th century by William Marshal on lands given to him by Henry II.  For reasons known only to him, when he wrote the charter, he stipulated that the Priory Church would also be the village church--which is the reason it's still here today.  When Henry VIII was dissolving the monasteries and taking the roofs off the churches (for the lead) the villagers were able to stop him because it was their church.

This is kind of a neat bicycle/ice cream delivery van, parked outside a shop by Cartmel Priory.

 

Cartmel Priory with its interesting double tower.  The higher tower was a later addition to brace the lower tower and the nave, which had developed several very large cracks.

The bapitsmal font with its very heavy cover.  Supposedly, there were a number of (suspected)witches in the Cartmel area and holy water is an ingredient in witch's potions.  The heavy cover (it takes 4 men to left it) keeps them from stealing the holy water.

One of the misericords--or mercy seats--in the choir.  This one shows a mermaid with a comb and a mirror and is a warning against vanity.

Banner celebrating Cartmel's founder, William Marshal.

 



 Exterior shot of the Priory Church.

 

One of the Town Gates, near the Cavendish Arms Pub where they sell Crusader Ale.  I had lunch (Brie and Broccoli Soup and a small cheese plate) and a half of Crusader Ale.  Pretty good stuff!

Another shot of the Cartmel Priory Church Tower.

 

It was an interesting place and close enough for a day trip on a nice day for better pictures.

09 October 2012

I'm on holiday!  Yippee!!  I was at 85 lbs this morning, although I don't really expect that to last :-)  I'm on holiday; I'll start back on the diet when I get home (18 October) and any weight I gain will be gone in a week or so.

I got up this morning and finished packing before heading off to breakfast at Betty's Harlow Carr.  I had orange juice (fresh squeezed, of course!) and a scrambled egg and bacon muffin (basically scrambled eggs on a toasted English muffin).  I went in to the bank (since yesterday was a US holiday and the bank on base was closed) and then to the commissary for some cold/allergy meds and tissues before heading off.  I'm sneezing and blowing my nose so much with my allergies that I'm in danger of rubbing my nose off my face :-)

I got one of my co-workers (Thanks, Ron!) to take me to the train station and caught the train to Manchester (via Leeds).  The hotel is very nice--swish as one of the other women on the tour says.  My room is very nice with a king-sized bed.  I've met a few of the folks on the tour too.  The tour was organized by a US company called Academic Travel Abroad, who very kindly provided us with name tags--not just those 'Hello--My Name Is' stickers.  I had a bit of a flashback to my Navy days over the name tag, although this one is much nicer than any I ever with them :-)

We're going to have pre-dinner drinks at 7:30 and then dinner in the hotel restaurant, The Wyvern--which I think is a cool name.  We're getting an early start in the morning for Cartmel Priory and Lake Windemere for the beginnings of the tour.  No lolling around in bed 'til 11 or so followed by afternoon starts for this group!  Thank goodness!!!  I'll probably start posting pictures tomorrow.

06 October 2012

Still at 84 lbs.  I can't get too excited about this latest plateau since I'm heading off on holiday on Tuesday :-)

We drove over to Towton to see the battlefield today.  The Battle of Towton was the longest and bloodiest battle fought on British soil.  It was fought on Palm Sunday--in a blizzard--in 1461.  Here are some of  pictures:

Local ales at the Rockingham Arms pub, Towton, North Yorkshire.

 



Battlefield map.

All Saints Church, Saxton, North Yorkshire

 

 

Cool door, All Saints

Interior shot.

All Saints Church tower.

Another cool door.

Signpost n the village of Saxton, North Yorkshire.

Sheep outside St Mary's Church, Lead, North Yorkshire.

St Mary's Chuurch, Lead, North Yorkshire.  The church is about 1 mile west of the Towton battlefield and was there in 1461; it's not mentioned in the battle accounts but it seems unlikely that it wasn't used.

 

Interesting triple pulpit from St Mary's Church.

The pews date from the Medieval period!

Cool sign.

View of the battlefield.

 

It was a beautiful day to have a look at this battlefield, only about 45 minutes from home.



03 October 2012

Still 84 lbs--but a good day nonetheless.  I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and she took me off the Amlodipine, the blood pressure med she cut in half last month.  So now, I'm off that and the Omeprezole, plus I don't need either asthma inhaler any more.  I have 1 more blood pressure med, a diuretic, a statin and quinine; I'll have to decide what my next target is.

And, of course, it's raining AGAIN. 

01 October 2012

Still 84 lbs :-(  I've pretty much decided I'm at a point where if I don't start going to the gym, it's going to be a real struggle.  So when I get back from my holiday (9-17 October), I'm going to start going to the gym on post after work on F1 (7-3) weeks and before work on F2 (3-11) weeks.  It will probably be good for my mood, too but it seems kind of pointless to start before the holiday.

I'm scheduled for 8 day shifts; I just finished the 4th shift and I can't recall a worse set in quite a while!  We have been extremely busy--which is usually good--but this has just been frustrating.  Plus my webpages keep dying, so this is a short entry.  Enough is enough!!