castles, cathedrals, the north sea and more

its been a long time.. as a friend politely reminded me .. since i've blogged.

i returned from my trip to england.. and i have to say it was one of the best holidays i can ever remember. it was great to see markus and malcolm again.. its been one full year since we've been together.

this time two new people joined us for some of the outings.. paul and jon. it was great meeting them.

malcolm made sure i saw some castles :) some in ruins and some that were nicely restored. markus documented every single second of our week.. even the parts where we weren't feeling very photogenic

paul put up with us for 3 days.. then went back to work to recover.. and met with us again on thursday night for curry night at the pub.. and friday night for an evening of touring the local pub scene in consett, and on saturday he cooked us an amazing meal in his home.

jon was able to stay the first 3 days.. and had to leave to go back to work.

i stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast called the knitsley mill. it was exactly what you'd expect from a quaint english bed and breakfast. the farmhouse i stayed in was over 100 years old and malcolm insisted that it was haunted. it may have been.. but i was so exhausted at the end of each day that even the ghosts couldn't wake me up.

the pictures in this blog were taken by markus... cuz he ALWAYS had his camera :) thanks markus. the images i took haven't even been sorted thru yet... but i will post them as i get to them

this picture was taken while driving to the lake district.... yes.. its me.. yes i'm sleeping .. apparently i didn't miss much scenery tho.. because markus found it more fun to take pictures of me sleeping than of the countryside ;)

the last time my friends saw me i looked a bit different than i do now.... but the greatest thing about good friends is that they like you no matter what you look like... thanks guys :)

i noticed a difference in the way i felt this time.. after losing some weight. the last time i went to durham (2 years ago) climbing the cathedral stairs to the top nearly killed me... approx 365 steps i think.. this time.. i was the first one up :) and never had to stop to rest. i couldn't believe how quickly i got to the top...

i still have a way to go before i'm fit enough to climb the mountains in austria.. but at least i think i will have a good chance making the summit next time :)

anyway.. just wanted everyone to know i'm alive and well.. and dreaming of england.

bye bye summer

well..here we are.. the summer is officially over for all practical purposes. today was the first day of school. my kids, and i all had a restless night. you'd think after experiencing the first day of school as many times as someone my age has... i'd handle it better. remember just a few short months ago when i was impatient for school to end?????

i guess the reason the first day of school is so stressful is due to the unknowns.... for the kids and for me.

i wanted to post a few more pictures from my trip last week to the ocean.... one night i was there a storm blew in from the mainland.. it came up so quickly.. and it was fairly violent. the storm itself only lasted about an hour.. the view you see here is from the condo.. looking out over the atlantic ocean. (its actually looking directly towards england :D )

speaking of england.... only 4 nights left until i'm on a plane flying to see my friends!

this past weekend.. i took my boys fishing a couple of times. sam turned 12 last week, and although he ONLY wanted video games for his birthday.. i decided to get him a new fishing pole and a tackle box full of everything you could possibly need to catch anything that would bite. i even got him his very first real knife.... the count down on is now to when we head to the ER for stitches :|

anyway... so far we've only done catch and release.. mostly because 1) we haven't caught anything worth eating and 2) i really really don't want to clean any fish. if sam decides he wants to eat them.. i'm going to have to teach him how to clean his own fish with his nifty new knife.

we've had the best luck so far at a local lake. the biggest he's caught so far is a 2.2lb bass. mostly he keeps catching little perch and sunfish..... i'll have to do some research to figure out the best fishing holes near here.




alex is less than excited to go fishing. i suppose being a 15 year old boy is by definition a time when the only things that excites you are girls.. and computers. i actually caught him nearly smiling.. so i quickly took a shot.

hannah thought the entire idea of fishing.. or in her words "causing undo pain to innocent creatures) was barbaric.

she is still a vegetarian... but not quite as strict as before.. she used to be vegan (no animal products at all)

at some point i suspect she will outgrow this.. but i respect that she at least has something she believes in.


i have a ton of work to do so that i can be ready to enjoy an entire week in northern england. i just got word that markus arrived safely. i will leave here saturday, arrive sunday, and probably be walked to death by wednesday.