Cambridge, England

I'm in Cambridge this week!  My son has a temporary job with Cambridge University until the end of February, then they will move back to Edinburgh.  Thinking it was time for a visit to see my grands, I came out on Feb. 11th.  Thank you Delta for a great flight here. I got here only one day after her third birthday. This cutie is definitely my girl....

I hadn't seen little brother since he was only three weeks old.

His momma describes him as the "dream baby."  He is so happy and eats and sleeps wonderfully.

We went on an outing the other day to see the sights.  First up the Mathematical Bridge.  Here's a little history on it...The bridge was designed by William Etheridge, and built by James Essex in 1749. It has been rebuilt on two occasions, in 1866 and in 1905, but has kept the same overall design. Although it appears to be an arch, it is composed entirely of straight timbers^[3] built to an unusually sophisticated engineering design, hence the name.

 Next up, through the opening in one of the buildings of Trinity College below, is the courtyard where it is said an apple tree grows from a seed of the apple tree with the famed apple which dropped in 1666 and prompted Sir Issac Newton to develop his theory of gravity.

 Below is the clock in downtown Cambridge.  I think the bug on top is some kind of grasshopper.

 And a statue of Henry the 8th,who founded King's College.

I've done a lot of playing here too.....Emma and I have spent a lot of time at the swing set in the garden behind their flat.

 And we raced scooters.....

 My girl and her beautiful eyes.....

Precious little Haddon.....

On Valentine's Day I kept the kids while my son and daughter in law did a day trip to London.  I enjoyed it, and they did too.  They never get a day/night out to themselves.

I even got a chance to get in a four mile run today.  It was perfect.  Found a great place to run, didn't get lost (which is always nice) and saw lots of new sights.

...but this is why I am here.....

I think we are going to do a day trip to London a couple of days before I head home.  I am looking forward to that......there might be another picture overload post!

How do you display your quilts?

From this...

To this ....(36 screws later)....

This quilt ladder is made by Briick, a family owned company in Illinois. It is wider than a regular ladder and the rungs are farther apart to allow for more display of each quilt. Mine has seven rungs. It has a couple of hooks on the sides for hanging (what? I'm not sure), and a shelf at the bottom. I probably won't use either. I like having my quilts where I can see them.

And for your viewing pleasure......from Paris....

My favorite thing I saw when I was there years ago... The Arc De Triomphe!

Notra Dame

...my handsome son and daughter-in-love...

..and their tired baby girl, after a day of playing at the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Emma and her "Bier-Bier"

 

July Adventure Trip

For our monthly adventure for July, we made a trip to Burnsville, NC. It was a beautiful drive. The front that came through at home came through here too....low humidity, clear skies, just beautiful. We are staying at the Buck House Inn B&B, a beautiful historic home a few miles from Burnsville.

A little relaxing in the yard. I did five miles this morning so I am tired! The fisherman did his thing last night and didn't get home until about 3 am. He is now napping in the comfy bed.

Does that not look so inviting? We decided to come here to see a play. Our choir director's son is working this summer at the Burnsville Playhouse and has a leading role in a play there.

In other news, my little quilt got rejected from Fons and Porter, but I sent pictures to another quilt magazine. Maybe they will like it :) but if not, that is ok. I like it.

 

Day Trip

After church the fisherman and I went to Crossville. We ate lunch at th Cumberland Mountain State park restaurant. It was the best buffet food I'd ever eaten! The wait was about thirty minutes but it was worth it. We ate our lunch with a view of the river. Then we drove around a bit.

Crossville is a beautiful community, establshed by homesteaders.

In quilting news, I sewed up a small quilt on Saturday and did the quilting when we got back from our little day trip. Here is the pieced back.

I'm not showing the front yet, because I plan to send the pictures to a magazine as a submittal. Some of them are very picky about not posting pictures on the Internet.

I used three traditional blocks with some more modern fabrics. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will like it!

 

Adventure Day

When we retired we had planned on having an adventure day each week. That was a little ambitious. Maybe every two weeks or maybe once a month would be doable. Anyway, today (after about four months of retirement) we took our first adventure day.

We went to the Crossville quilt and tractor show. Had a great time!

Jim was a good sport while I walked around looking at the beautiful quilts.

This was a favorite. Made of 1 1/2" squares. Isn't it neat how she used squares around the outside of the wreath to be like real greenery? And the darker red to give depth to the ribbon. Just beautiful.

We walked through the antique tractors and equipment. Took a ride in a Kabota four wheeler through a display of old trucks, and enjoyed a nice conversation with a local farmer and his son. Bought some homemade fried pies and kettle corn. Stopped at the outlet shops for a little shopping before we headed home. A fun day.

I told him we needed to make a bucket list of Tennessee "must see" places and events and do a bit better about planning our adventure days. Life goes by fast. We need to be making memories.

 

 

Craigmillar Castle

We braved the strong winds today and ventured out to see the Craigmillar castle ruins. It was built around the 15th century and owned by the Preston family.

When the bus let us off, we hiked to the ruins via this field.

Emma was such a little trooper riding on Daddy's or Momma's back all day.

 

 

Below is the P shaped original pond (Preston).

 

It is a great castle ruin to see. Electricity illuminates the various areas and there are signs that let you know which rooms were used for what activities.

 

The Meadows

We went to The Meadows for just a bit today, then mostly hung around the flat. Emma enjoyed the swing and getting to run around.