Strawberries and sunshine

Wednesday 22 June- Ian rented a car and we buzzed over to Chew Magna after work to do our first berry picking of the season. We had a bit of a late start this year with our trip to the states but we certainly made up for it on this visit. We picked a huge bowl of strawberries, a large amount of red currants and some raspberries. We were a bit late leaving as it was so peaceful out picking in the sunshine with the fields around us, but the woman at the stand wasn't bothered. We had eaton mess for dessert and I've been giving away strawberries to the delight of friends and we'll be enjoying a lot more berries for the days to come.

Spanish music and Italian Cuisine

Sunday 19th June - Ian arrived safely home to the UK in the morning. We had a leisurely day and then made our way to St. George's, Bristol for a concert of Spanish music. Our downstairs neighbor, Stephen was conducting and had gotten free tickets for us. We had a very nice time at the concert and it was nice to finally visit St. George's. We met them in the cafe after for a drink and then joined them and a large party of there friends for dinner. We went to the Italian restaurant on Park Street, just of Great George street. Although we've passed it many times we've never eaten there. The food was good despite not having high hopes and the atmosphere was perfect for a large party. We had a very nice evening and rounded it off by a few more drinks in the Quintet pub with one of the party. We didn't get home till midnight so I suppose that is one way to deal with jetlag.

Stopping to smell the Flowers

After Mat and Jenny's lovely wedding we made our way along Seneca lake, stopping in Fox Run Vineyards for a wine tasting and in Ithaca for lunch, to New Jersey. We spent a few days with Ian's parents in Montclair. We spent one peaceful morning reading in the famed iris gardens. After our visit in NJ we drove back to NH for a few more days with my parents, including a lovely day at the beach, before I flew back to the UK and Ian went back to NJ.

Falls and Foreign Places

Saturday 4 June - After picking Ian up at Manchester airport and driving to Victor New York the previous day, Ian and I wanted to visit nearby Niagra falls before attending Mat and Jenny's wedding in the evening. We made the drive easily and started exploring the falls. I was amazed by how many seagulls were there, living on the edge of the falls. There were lots of baby seagulls on the cliff as well and we watched them for awhile. We got absolutely soaked looking at the American falls in the cave of the winds, despite the complimentary yellow ponchos. It started to rain as we left the cave of the winds and there was soon a thunderstorm upon us. We didn't let it dampen our spirits though and we saw some nice views of the falls before making our way to the maid of the mist. The boat got us very close to the falls and it was near impossible to see anything with all the falling water, we were unable to tell to distinguish between the rain and the spray from the falls. Wet and cold we trudged across the bridge and into Canada. It was my first visit to canada which was exciting, but no new stamps in the passport. We wandered around the canadian side briefly, getting a new view of the falls and appreciating the lovely gardens before crossing the bridge again and heading back to the car. We drove back to the hotel and dried off before the wedding.

Hunt the Slipper

We took a nice walk up Blue Job Mountain to see the laddy slippers in bloom. We counted well over 400 blossoms on our walk to the top. It wasn't until we started back down again that we came across some spectacular clusters of lady slippers with 18+ flowers in each.

Across the ocean and home again

Friday 27th May - I flew from Heathrow to Logan in a rather uneventful flight where mom picked me up and we drove back to NH. I enjoyed some very relaxing days at home, shopping, eating loads of good food and admiring the gardens (unfortunately mostly from inside because the bug were so bad).

A Windy Sesquicentennial

Saturday 21 May - It seems to be the year for 150th anniversaries, after our celebration of Vassar's 150 years we decided to visit the 150 year anniversary of the downs. There was a picnic setup complete with hogroast. Visitors were invited to dress in Victorian clothing like the original patrons of the park and many did. There were games including mini golf set up and tents with demonstrations. There was also a whole mini village historical tents complete with soldiers, wives and children. We had a good look around enjoyed a festive song played by the band then scurried back to the flat as the wind was so strong we thought we might otherwise blow away.