Tam’s Think Tank

Very exciting… some of my pics have been used, with my permission of course, in the “Lancaster. Morecambe. Etc.” guide.  I got credit, no pay.  That works for me right now.  Building that resume and all.  Check out the website.  Not much on there really, but if you click the blog link there’s a bit more.  You won’t see my photos displayed anywhere with my name connected to them on the website, so don’t worry yourself with looking.  Just kinda cool it’s there and I’m in it.  Simon, the guy who was the brain behind it all, sent me a copy of the guide, which was cool of him.  I’m excited.

Looking Over Lancaster, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

I’m going to sign off now from the United Kingdom. This, the final view I’m leaving you with from our time here, was taken from up by the Ashton Memorial looking out over Lancaster. You can see the River Lune, the Lancaster Castle, and Morecambe Bay in this photo. It’s been a great trip. We look forward to returning.

City Hall, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Lancaster, Lancashire, England.

Ashton, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Ashton Memorial, Lancaster, England.

Ashton Memorial, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

We walked from the Castle and Priory on one hill through downtown to the Ashton Memorial and butterfly house on another. There’s a fantastic view of the city, Morecambe Bay, and the surrounding countryside from up there. We went into the butterfly house, the small beast house, the small mammal house, and wandered the grounds a bit. It was a gorgeous day. We passed a nice cricket game, all gents dressed in white.

Walking in Lancaster, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

We took a walk around Lancaster a couple of days ago. This was taken in the downtown part of the city as we left the castle priory behind us on the hill and walked through town.

Lancaster Priory, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Here we are on the eve of our return to the states. I’ve just finished uploading all of our photos from our two week sojourn in the United Kingdom. We took nearly 2000 photos. Insane, I know. These last few I’m posting today were taken in and around Lancaster. It’s been good to us. We took our daily morning walk to Cafe Nero for our usual extra hot skinny chai and latte this morning and the girl behind the counter knew our drinks. We were impressed and told her, sadly, this was our last morning here. We did say we’d return, and she said she would try to remember. She’ll probably have to have a long memory, but cheers to her for even suggesting that effort.

More Downtown Lancaster

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Lancaster, U.K. – Downtown

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

One of the last photos I took in Lancaster when we went out to get pasty and chai.

Pasty

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Our Last Day In Lancaster was spent hanging out at Mary and Martin’s place, taking a jaunt to the Cornish Bakery for a couple of pasties and Cafe Nero for some chai, packing, grocery shopping with Mary, going to the University to pick up a couple of t-shirts, and going to dinner at The Meeting House to celebrate a great vacation and a wonderful visit with the kids.

We had a great time in England and Spain and are already thinking about where we want to venture to on our next trip over. Luckily we won’t have to wait too long to see the kids again as we’re going to meet them in New Orleans in January which we’ll follow with a week long visit here in Portland.

As for Lancaster and our trip. We loved Mary and Martin’s house and the town. It’s nice to feel good about where they are, having now had the chance to see it for ourselves. I know that Karen, especially, feels that. It’s good to know they’re OK. And in fact, they are better than OK, which is so very nice.

I guess, since I’m writing this two days after returning while sitting at my desk at work, I should say a big thanks to Darla and Kevin for house-sitting. Weston was in good hands and we very much appreciate your time and attention with the little man.

And now… well now it’s time to get my head back in the work game. It’s tough, always, when one comes back from vacation and is still not totally acclimated to the work environment. They key word here is… concentration. Yeah, that’s right… I must concentrate. Say it like a mantra… concentrate… concentrate…

Cheers…

It’s Monday, September 17, and we are back in Lancaster. I’ve just done a massive update to my page here with pictures from our sojourn to Barcelona. I’ve not done a very good job in that they appear in reverse. If you want to view things in order, you have to scroll down to where they start and the scroll up.

Today we slept in, recovering from our nights out on the Spanish town, and have just sort of hung out here at Mary and Martin’s house. It’s been quiet and nice. A good way to spend one’s birthday.

Since I didn’t log onto this thing yesterday when we got back from Spain and it was Syd’s birthday, I’d like to say a very happy, though belated, birthday to you Syd. Hope you had a fantastic day! Much love to you.

Cooking Dinner

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Mary and Martin made dinner for us last night… as I type this it’s now just after noon, Tuesday. Dinner was… delicious. They have the entertaining thing down completely. Great food, great house to dine in, great company. It was splendid.

After dinner we played a game called Who’s In The Bag. It’s a British game, so we didn’t always know who was in the bag, but it was fun none the less. The kids kicked our butts, but what can we say, we are older, not as fast, and… we tried. After that we enjoyed a game of four handed cribbage with some tea and biscuits (they are like cookies and very tasty). It was a really nice evening.

Today… we go to Manchester to see a bit of the city and watch a Shakespeare play. Yes, Shakespeare in England. How could it get any better than that?

The Gardens

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

When you live in Lancaster you usually don’t have room to grow a garden in your own yard so residents rent little parcels of land in this huge area.

Lancaster Countryside

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Still on the famous, at least to us, sheep walk. At this point the path has left the canal and enters sheep pastures.

Further Out Along The Canal

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

As you walk along the canal out of town, on what the kids like to call the sheep walk, the scenery is beautiful.

Path Along The Canal

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

This is Mary and Martin’s favorite bridge along the canal. The effect of the reflection with the bridge and the path is excellent.

Portland Street

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

This is the street Mary and Martin live on.

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Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Lancaster. We arrived by train.

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Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

This is the spot we went for a beer this evening. Great beer. It was a fairly dark ale (I asked for their darkest) called Hard Willie. It was possibly the best ale I’ve had.

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Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Lancaster. You can see the flag flying in the back, atop the castle.

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Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Priory, Lancaster

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Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Lancaster

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Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

Lancaster

The English Adventure continued today with a walking trip to downtown Lancaster for chai tea and a look into Mary and Martin’s favorite bookstore. Afterward we jumped into their very smallish car for a ride East to the lovely hamlet of Kirkby/Lonsdale in York. OK, here’s where I’m not sure if the actual name of the town is Kirky, or Lonsdale, or they’re just two towns right next to each other. It looked like one town to me. Whatever it was, it was beautiful. The town itself has been pretty much preserved from the original so the buildings are the same as they were when they were built ages ago. There are shops and restaurants there and in fact we had lunch in one such place. I had a lovely chicken bacon baguette and a juice of the day. It was very tasty. But, I digress… though the shops and restaurants are newish, the buildings they’re in are not. The combination of the whole thing is terrific. It was an amazing little town. Lovely.

After getting back to Lancaster today we took a quick trip to the University where Mary will study and work and Martin is already working. The sneak peak of that place was followed by a walk from their house to a pub close by called the Water Witch. It’s a great place on a nearby canal. We each enjoyed a beer and some conversation.

This evening, after the Water Witch visit, Mary and Martin made us a lovely Scottish pie for dinner. It’s been a great day. We are still slightly recovering from our long day of travel yesterday. Even after sleeping for 12 hours (yes, 12 hours) I’m feeling a bit tired. Almost normal, yet not. That will come, I’m sure, after another great nights sleep in the guest room.

Stay tuned… pictures are coming. I’m actually uploading them to flickr as I type and will ferry some over here after that job is complete.

Tomorrow… the Lake District. We’re going to drive up, park the car, take a ferry ride, then walk back toward the car along the shore. The lake district is supposed to be the most beautiful area of the country. If that’s true, since everything has been beautiful up to now, we should enjoy it very much.