Goldney Hall

27 April
After spending the morning in Bath where we enjoyed a nice brunch at Sally Lunns, Ian and I returned to Bristol in time to visit the Open Day at Goldney Hall. This historic house was built in the early 1700s for the merchant Thomas Goldney. His grandson laid out its famous gardens which is well known for its many follies including a grotto, a tower, a rotunda, an ornamental canal and a bastion. The hall is now owned by the University of Bristol and only open to the public once a year. It was shame that it was raining most of the time that we were there but I did enjoy seeing the gardens. The grotto was the most impressive as its wall were plastered with exotic shells and coral.

Rare breeds, great fun

on saturday 12 april Ian and I were visiting our friends Sam and Jez who live in Swindon. They took us to the Cotswald animal farm where we saw a number of rare breed animals. We had a lot of fun, despite the cold, looking at, petting and feeding the animals. Since it is spring there were loads of lambs as well as piglets, baby rabbits, chick, foals and calfs. It was fun to see all the farm animals and interact with them and it was all in the lovely setting of the rolling cotswald hills.

Eugene Onegin

For my birthday Ian got tickets to the Opera so on Wednesday the 9th we went to the hippodrome to see Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. This was my first Russian opera and I quite enjoyed it. The story is a romantic tragedy of about a young girl, Tatyana, who falls in love with a neighbor's friend, Eugene Onegin. She writes him a letter declaring her love only to be rejected. The neighbor than challenges Onegin to a dual for flirting with his fiance (Tatyana's sister). Onegin kills the neighbor and leaves the country. When he returns years later he finds Tatyana married to Prince Gremin and falls in love with her. She in turn rejects his love. I really enjoyed the dancing and the large ensemble parts of this opera.

Welcome to the family

Since we've had such lovely weather lately I spent the afternoon at the zoo. I was quite surprised to find that there was an addition, or to be precise three additions to the meerkat family. The dominant male and female are the only two in the colony to breed but the subordinates help to take care and even nurse the newcomers. The babies are beyond cute; they are mini replicas of their parents only a bit fuzzier. I watched them fall over when they fell asleep standing up. I wish I could take one home.

Tintern Abbey revisited

Last weekend, Ian and I went back to Tintern Abbey to film noted archaeologist Mick Aston as he spoke about the Abbey and the lives of the monks who lived and worked there. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and blue skies. As before, I found the Abbey to be a lovely place, very relaxing and picturesque.

London

Just before mom and Randy left we spent two days in London. We stayed at nice Hotel near the earl's court tube entrance which was very comfortable and quite convenient for getting around. The first day we saw St. James' Park, Buckingham palace, Big Ben and Westminister before lunch. After lunch we went to the British museum and then met up with mom's friend Meaghan who showed us around Regent's park. The following day we took advantage of the sunshine and walked around Hyde park and then did some shopping at Herrod's. We had lunch at Wagamamas then gathered our stuff and mom and Randy took the tube to the airport. Ian and I went on to the National Portrait Gallery where we spent the afternoon before heading back to Bristol.