Current picture of the House

I thought I would include a current picture of our house.  One year later it looks much more lived in and taken care of .  And of course, the nice straight edge of my flower bed! 

Spring has Arrived

The backyard is set up with a badmitten net.  Caleb loves to play and Belle is hard on his heels also.  The large willow tree in the back is the tree that was trimmed yesterday to allow more light into the neighbors yard to our right.  You can see their house through the apple trees. 

The picture above on the left is the bed that I have been working on since last year when I pulled weeds, killed weeds, planted two different types of bushes, yucca plants and mulched it.   Today I completed the re-edging and added more annuals.  I would like to add a few more, and then the bed is done.  

We worked on the pond yesterday.  We pulled out the plants, recut them and threw the excess away.  We fixed the floating net (heroin won't step on it to eat our fish) and Dan cleaned the filter out.  We seem to have a few more fish this year, so they must be happy.  We have a leak in the pond also.  Left unchecked, the pond water will drop about 6 inches in less than a day.  Until we get it fixed, Dan set up the orange ball and hose system.  Works like a toilet, ball drops down, water fills it up until the ball is floating again and shuts off.  My hero the engineer.  Gotta love them!

The boxes on the left are my flower boxes that sit outside the front door that the owners left.  This year I filled them with pansies, some grass thingy, and the pretty lime green evergreen tree.  Yes, I bought it because it is so "pretty".    So on this beautiful spring weekend, I found myself in the yard getting some much needed yard work done.  Next week, we will do a castle!  Till later,  the England Crusader!

Venice in Springtime

Who is that handsome man on the left?  Yes, that is Ben.  Hard to believe

he will be turning 18 in June!  We went to Venice the first of April and 

I had to post a little about it.  It was beautiful weather and of course

it lived up to my expectations again!  I love the place.  We had a wonderful

apartment with 4 bedrooms and it was in a nice, quite residential area of Venice. 

If you ever get to Italy, it is not to be missed!

An aerial view of part of Venice.  Taken from St. Marks clock tower. 

 Lido is in the far background.

Ben, Caleb and Belle on a bridge by our apartment.

Just a pretty picture

Mom on Rialto Bridge with just a piece of the city of Venice behind her.

Mom in London

After almost two months in England, we figured it was time to get mom to London, despite the weather.  We bundled up and spent the day there.  We went on a bus tour, and saw the Tower of London.  Ate lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken and took the train back home.  We had a wonderful time and mom got to see the London sights.

Long Subway escalators.  Thankfully you don't realize how far down you are when there.

Double decker old time bus.  

Inside the Tower of London.

An American Visit

WAIT !  Do my eyes deceive me!  Yes, that is John Norlin standing with Dan  in ENGLAND!    John is from our home  town of Washington and attends our church and is a life-long friend.  He also works for CAT and was here for business.  John was able to spend Saturday with us at Lincoln Castle and Cathedral, attended the Peterborough Cathedral Palm Sunday with us and went to lunch at one of Caleb's favorites.  We had a great time showing him a little of our life here in England.  Whose next ???

Harry and his Horse

This is Harry and his little brother Markus.  They live in the village up the road from us and they both started at Kirkstone House with Caleb last fall.  Harry and Caleb have become fast friends and we enjoy having him over to play Wii and cricket.  When Caleb got out the baseball gloves, we all had a good laugh when we realized Harry had never seen a baseball glove, much less worn one.  He is a bowler in cricket, so Caleb has been showing him how to pitch like a pro and he is very good.  It is one sport that is easily "crossed' over to either way.  They have a home with an indoor pool (Caleb loves) and they have horses and sheep.  Caleb has been known to go out and help feed the horses and muck a stall.  What friends!

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick Castle was built in the mid 12th century, with a circular keep with five semi-circular  towers adorned with pinnacles and battlements surrounding the great Castle.  When you enter the second and third courts, through massive towers, you reach the inner court, that is the very center of the fortress.   It is the second largest inhabited castle in England, second to Windsor Castle.  It is the home of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland whose family, the Percys have lived here since 1309.  You may  walk its wonderful halls and see such rooms as the Library, the Guard Chambers, the Saloon, the Drawing Room, and the Chapel, to name a few.  It was a very large castle with lots to view inside and out.  Movies such as:  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Elizabeth, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and Ivanhoe are a few of the films filmed at Alnwick Castle.   This castle was about 15 minutes from Chillingham.  It was a cold day and snowed on and off.  Wonderful castle.

Hole in the dungeon floor where you where thrown to die.  Picture taken through the grates.

Caleb trying out his acting abilities in "Knights Quest"

The inner courtyard of the grounds. 

 

Mom with a local hero, Henry 'Hospur' Percy who fought in his first battle at the age of 8.

Caleb in the inner courtyard at Alnwick Castle.

Yes, this a real picture taken with a digital camera and not enhanced in any way.  Can you believe the beauty of the countryside!  This is 4 1/2 hours north of us in an area known as Northumberland.

Chillingham castle in March.  What can I say.  Ghosts, Orbs and Snow all in one weekend!  Mom and I saw this castle on a friend's blog and thought it looked like a neat castle to explore.  We found out that they have made one side of the castle into rental apartments and thought, "why not".  Much to my surprise, my family in America, who watches shows about ghosts, starts telling us about Chillingham being on TV and is England's most haunted castle.  People, groups, ghosthunters and such, come from all over the world to stay there and stay up at night to catch these ghosts on camera.  I knew that a DVD was available for purchase, but did not see it before we went.  We have since then watched it, and I would not have went knowing what I know now.  You know the saying "what you don't know, can't hurt you ?"  Well, that is me!  Suffice it to say, NO we did not see any scary apparitions or hear any wailing.  Chillingham has been around since 1015 and it is thought that about 30,000 to 40,000 people were killed there in the beginning.  They had a wall around the castle and if you were caught on the inside or outside near the wall, you were hanged from the hanging trees out there.  To this day, people have recorded the "wailings" from the trees and seen shadows hopping around in the trees.  The shadows are of children who used to climb the trees and take anything by pick pocketing the bodies hanging there to die.  Women were taken from the village and kept as play things and then tossed out to die when the men were through with them.  One such young lady, they believe her name is/was Elenoir.  She is a ghost who appears during night walks in the chapel.  This room was not a chapel when she was alive, but it is believed that she died in the corner of the room.  She is interested in peoples clothes, as people feel something "picking" at them as they walk through, and women's pony tails have been know to be pulled and flipped up in the air as she messes with their hair.  She has moved books off a shelf in anger and moved the curtains as if a breeze was blowing in the room.  Bob, the tour guide, believes she is the most active ghost at Chillingham.  The apartment we stayed in has children there, that on occasion will move your things around, sit on the bed at night to wake you up, and make your bed in the middle of the night while you are in the restroom.  Just little things like that, that make you go "Ohhhhhhhhh"   After freaking ourselves out the first night, things settled down and we were able to enjoy our weekend there.  My mom heard footsteps in their bedroom, (ground floor) and did I mention that it is a cement floor?  She asked them to leave them alone, and she did not hear them again.  Her and Caleb shared a room and they slept with both lights on all night!  I have to admit that I refused to get up to use the restroom as I didn't even want to have to deal with seeing an apparition.   That all being said, the castle is fantastic, and a great place to explore.  The castle and village are located in the borderlands.  Beautiful countryside, mountains with snow, and fields that roll forever.

Last Eskimo Sled used in Antartica

Notice the pink and white orbs to the upper right of the lamp.

Chillingham Castle 

Stretching Rack

A rusty bed of nails.  Used at Chillingham 

The family at Chillingham castle entrance into the main house.

P.S.  What I really found interesting about this trip is that I have been taking pictures for 5 years and I have never had "orbs" in my photos.  Some of the pictures taken at Chillingham were taken in seconds of each other and one will have orbs and the other doesn't.  Some pictures have the orbs moving in a definite direction with the picture disturbed above them.  I had never heard of orbs before this trip and I don't really know what they are and why they only appear in the photos at Chillingham.  We went to another castle that Saturday and not one picture has orbs in it.  I know about dust and such........ but I also know that dust is everywhere and I would expect to have them on other pictures besides Chillingham.  

I have never seen a ghost, I am glad that we didn't see a ghost and I don't ever want to see a ghost.  I believe that it is one of those "heart stopping" moments in time for the person who sees one, and I definitely did not want my children to have a moment that they will never forget in their lives to be about a ghost.  Are ghosts real? The Bible mentions ghosts in Matthew a couple of times, but does not elaborate on them, as the Bible is for the living and not the dead.  So, I cannot say there aren't ghosts, but they are a possibility and I am glad we did not experience any at the castle.