Fall In York

I thought it might be fun to show you of the fall images of York that I get to see right now. First are the fun geese who live alongside the river Ouse. These animals have become favorites of mine and they are fascinating. But, I like the pictures of them amidst the falling leaves.
Their beady little eyes are always watching you and it makes me wonder if the phrase 'sleep with one eye open' was coined by watching these birds.
And then of course, you have to see some of the pictures from the always lovely Museum Gardens close to my flat. These flowers caught my eye as I sitting out enjoying a bit of sunshine on a Saturday morning. Anyway, it's lovely in York and it makes me happy to see such sights!

Marmion Tower and Beningborough Hall

Welcome to Marmion Tower. It's this random tower, left over from a lost Manor House, out in the middle of Yorkshire. It was kind of an odd place to visit, but I liked it and it made me wonder what happened to the house that this gate was once the entrance to. This is all that is left of the place.
This picture is a close up of the 'Oriel' window. I thought it was very stately and it gives an elegant feel to the tower and makes one wonder even more what the house behind such a gate would have been like as well as the inhabitants who owned it. We were able to climb up into the tower fairly high. There is a picture of the steep winding staircase below. These staircases are so windy and so narrow that I always get a bit sick when climbing up and down them. The thought of going up and down them in some big poofy dress, as the women in those days wore, is very disconcerting!
On our way back from Marmion Tower, we stopped at a preserved Manor House by the name of Beningborough Hall. Below is a picture of the outside. We were not allowed to take photographs of the inside, so sorry about that. It is quite a place and we had a really fun time on the top floor where they have a display teaching about artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We were even able to have a 'virtual' portrait 'painted' of us by a computer! Mine didn't turn out very well because I could never get my head aligned right, but it was still fun anyway.
This picture was taken in the walled garden of the estate. I love the red leaves of the ivy and this is the time of year when they turn. The ivy seems to turn before most of the rest of the trees and the red shade is stunning!
I was very tired by the time I reached this point in the day and had lost a bit of my enthusiasm for estate gardens, so none of the rest of my pictures of this place were really worth posting. So, sorry about that.

Fountains Abbey

Hello Again! It's time for a blog update and amazingly enough this one is relatively quick since my last one was at the end of September. It's fall here in lovely Yorkshire and the above picture is in celebration of that. I've always loved fall and the turning of the leaves. This particular picture was taken while sauntering along at Fountains Abbey, which you will see more of below. Fountains Abbey was established by Cistercian Monks. This particular one is located about an hour north west of York.
Here is one view of Fountains Abbey. These pictures do not do the place justice because it is HUGE and awe inspiring to be in these monastic ruins. Every time I come to one of these places I always think to myself, 'What a waste that King Henry VIII just let these places go'. They are amazing as ruins and I just can't imagine how they would be if they were still up and running.
This is a view from inside, that's why it's darker, but it kind of gives you the idea of how huge it is. One thing Henry did provide by the dissolution was many fabulous places for England's pigeons to reside! The birds love these places and are everywhere above your head making their distinctive noises.
Here I am sitting upon a stone inside what is called the 'Warming Room'. It was a lovely day and not too chilly and thankfully, no rain! We've had plenty of that all throughout the 'summer'.
Attached to Fountains Abbey is a huge estate which contains a lovely 'Water Garden' with paths all along it. It's marvelous here and it's worth a membership just to be able to come here often and walk around. The swan in the above picture is only one of the many birds who live here and enjoy the tranquility.
Here is another segment of the Water Garden. The statue out in the middle is of that one Greek God of the water--can't remember his name at the moment. It truly is lovely here and we sat and ate our lunch on this spot.
This is my favorite picture of the day! It was taken from a promontory called 'Anne Boleyn's Seat' and it gives a magnificent view of the place. Loved it! Unfortunately, I cannot post all of the nice pictures I took along the way, but if I could, you'd all be crazy over this place too.

Wycoller

I know, I know, what is this a picture of? It is called a 'Panoptican' and it is something that was commissioned by some Arts Counsel to beautify the Lancashire landscape. Apparently there are five or six of these types of structures on prominent points throughout the county. These structures had to be a 'shelter, a view point, and a sculpture' or something like that. So, this is one of the entries that won the competition and was built here. I am in Lancashire, yes, I have left Yorkshire and entered into the dreaded realm of Lancashire (if you remember the Wars of the Roses between the houses of York and Lancaster then you'll know why Yorkists find Lancashire dreaded). Anyway, we are on our way to a little place called Wycoller and this Panoptican was on the peak overlooking it and at the head of the trail descending to it. Tasha and I thought it looked like a space ship we could take off in!
Wycoller is this little place with old barns and some ruins with these little paths between them for people to come and walk and enjoy the woods and the river. There are one or two houses down there and the above picture is a sample of them. I like them and the area.
A shot of the bridge leading into Wycoller. The below picture shows Tasha and I sitting in one of the ruined buildings.
This next picture is one of my favorites. I'm patting a willow-weave horse. Apparently you can take willow branches and weave them into cool things like horses. There was aslo an archway to walk under that was woven in the same manner.
And then of course there is 'Henry'. I don't think I've seen a St. Bernard since I was six years old and our neighbors had one who always slobbered in my hair. Isn't he adorable?! I just wanted to give him a big hug, but I couldn't reach that far down. He guards the gate of one of the residences in residential area. A man who was passing by at the time we were patting Henry informed us of his name, so I didn't just make that up.

Lastingham and Rosedale

Here we are again back out on the Yorksire Moors and Dales. I learned the difference between moors and dales while on this walk. A moor is covered with heather and other wild plants. A dale is covered with lawns and hedgerows. We started our 8 mile walk from the quaint little town of Lastingham. It has a church, which you can see below, and a pub and a few houses and that's about it. It is a nice little place if you wanted to live somewhere quiet and with few people.
Here are some of my fellow ward members that some of you may have heard me mention before. The female in the back left (your left) with sun glasses on is named Luz Cosens and the gentleman in the back with the sun glasses on is named Iain Wilson--he's the man who always organizes ward walks. The girl in the front left is Tasha Harvey--one of my travel buddies--next to her is Christy Shields (student of Art History), then Rose Richardson, and Lynnette Morris (student in Medieval Studies). The girl in the front in the red is Caroline Oliver. They are a fun group of people who like to get out and enjoy the nice weather.
This next picture is of the dales. As you can see they are covered with green lawn and have hedgerows criss-crossing them. These particular dales are the community of Rosedale. Very nice!
Here you can see me with Christy, Tasha, and Lynnette. Some of our group is also in the background as well. Both Christy and Lynnette will be returning to the US shortly since their MA's are finished.
Here is one final shot of the lovely Yorkshire Dales. It's so marvelous! This picture also shows you the Yorkshire Moors in the background--the brownish stuff is the heather. I missed the blooming of the heather this year since I was diligently working on my thesis and forgot to make sure I went out on the moors to see the purple flowers. As always, there are sheep on the dales and I never get tired of seeing them for some reason.

Scarborough

Welcome to the seaside town of Scarborough! It is on the East Coast of England and about 1.5 hours from York. It's a popular place for the English to go on a nice day and the road to and from is often clogged with traffic! The above picture is the headstone for Anne Bronte--author of 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'--and sister to Charolotte Bronte--author of Jane Eyre. Anne came with Charlotte to Scarborough in 1849 for her health. She had tuberculosis (commonly called consumption in those days) and she died here shortly after her arrival. Charlotte had already watched her sister Emily Bronte and her brother Branwell die of the same thing in 1848, so this was probably a rough time for her. The grave yard is lovely and overlooks the sea.

The above picture is of Scarborough itself with all of its red tiled roofs. There were tons of people wandering the streets on the Saturday we were here and since I don't like big crowds I was happy to get off of the streets and onto the beach--which you can see in the picture below. The water isn't very warm but it was nice to go stand in it anyway.
This next shot is of the coast north of where I stood in the water. We are up on the peak overlooking the town. Up here they have a lovely castle --300 feet above the sea--that has stood here for a very long time. It was originally built in 1136 during the reign of King Stephen. Piers Gaveston--the favorite friend of King Edward II--sought refuge here from the angry barons in 1314. The barons laid seige and Piers eventually surrendered because he had run out of supplies. Piers was later beheaded, though not at this castle. Lots of other things happened here after Piers surrendered, but I can't mention them all. In 1914 the castle and town were bombed by German warships just off the coast--19 people were killed. So! This place is quite historic and it really is in a remarkable spot with a lovely view!
Here I am standing near the southeast edge of the cliffs. You can see the castle tower in the backgroud. The small hill behind me has a chapel--of all things--dedicated to St. Mary underneath it. It's very wet and damp in there!
There was a Medieval festival going on while we were visiting the castle. They did all sorts of little displays of medieval life. But, I'll spare you those pictures and just share with you the display I really liked. We got to see Medieval Cavalry tactics in action! It was great fun. The man on horseback below is sticking a spear in a 'scarecrow' target to illustrate how one would spear someone in battle from the back of a galloping horse.
I've attached two video clips as well so that you can see the men in action. We had a ball watching them and they did all sorts of things from horseback. Though they thought they were being clever, one of the 'knights' doing the displays was actually a woman but they kept her hood on and so it was hard to tell unless you got an up close look at her. Good for her! All in all it was a great day at Scarborough. I'd recommend a visit here for anyone planning to come over.

Pickering and Plays

Hi Everyone! It's been a while since I updated my blog. Sorry about that. My thesis was due and that was where my focus has been the last six weeks. In spite of that, however, I did get out and see a few things whilst I was diligently finishing all of those 20,000 words. The above picture is of the Medieval Castle at Pickering. It's a large place and hard to capture on film. The Castle is an 11th century earthwork motte and bailey fortress and it was originally founded by William the Conqueror. Originally it was built out of wood but Henry II changed it all to the stone you can see here.

I am standing on the stairs of one of the three towers in the walls protecting the motte and keep. As you can see the sun was out and it was a very lovely, dry, warm day. Hallelujah! One of the few we had all summer! Seriously, there really wasn't a summer this year because it rained so much.
One of the Friday nights in August I attended the Shakespeare play 'Much Ado about Nothing' performed by The Lord Chamberlain's Men--a traveling theatre company. It is made up of all male actors and thus the female parts are played by men. I took this picture so you could see what it was like watching the performance. The 'woman' on the left (your left) is Hero and the one on the right is Beatrice. Both are men and they did a good job trying to be women. It was a bit odd, really, but that's authentic Shakespeare since in Shakespeare's day all of the actors were men. We sat out in the lovely Museum Gardens to see the show and it was fabulous! The acting was superb and the singing and dancing very well done. There's nothing like seeing Shakespeare acted by English actors with talent and training!

Durham

So here I am in the beautiful town of Durham. Durham is a forty-five minute train ride north-east of York and it was well worth the visit. Thankfully, I managed to go on a day that turned out lovely and warm! We had had nearly three strait weeks of rain, so it was something of a miracle to have an entire day of clear skies and warm sunshine! Anyway, the picture below is a shot of the cathedral up on its little promontory.
This next shot is of the Durham Castle that is also up on the same promontory as the Cathedral. It's just harder to see until you get closer. I'm standing down on a bridge crossing the river looking up at the Castle. It's quite a view!
Here is a picture of a segment of the Durham Cathedral. This cathedral is Norman in its architecture and it is a completely unique building and well worth visiting! I really enjoyed it. It's so big that you can't really get a decent picture of it because you can't get back far enough. So I gave up trying and just had to settle for a partial shot of it.
Here is the front door and the door knocker. This knocker is the sanctuary knocker and if you were accused of a crime you could come here and demand sanctuary for 37 days. After that, you either had to go to court and be tried, or leave the country. Of course, this is only a replica of the original door knocker which is on display inside the Cathedral. Unfortunately, pictures cannot be taken inside the cathedral, with or without flash, so I can't show you what it was like inside. You'll all have to come to Durham and check it out for yourselves. It's well worth it, I promise. This cathedral is unique and lavishly decorated inside with all sorts.
Here is a picture of the tower two pictures above. This angle is inside the courtyard of the monastery area. I climbed to the top of this tower! There were 325 stairs all in that narrow and winding style common for towers like this. It almost made me dizzy coming down and there were places where it was so narrow that there was no room to pass those going in the opposite direction. It was quite a climb, but well worth the effort for the view you get up top and the nice breeze!
Since I went to Durham by myself, I had to trouble a nice man to take at least one picture of me while on top the tower. So, here you are. I went to Durham to meet up with Matt and Paige Holland and their children, but they didn't arrive until the evening and thus I did all of the touristy things by myself that day.
A short walk across a green space and you come to the Durham Castle. It now houses the University of Durham and the segment you are looking at is part of the student accommodations. Imagine coming to Durham and living in a real castle while you went to school.
This next shot is of the front doors leading into the castle. We were not allowed to take pictures inside here either, so my apologies again. Since the building is a functioning college, the only way to see it is by taking a tour. Our tour guide was good and informed us that the college keeps all of its old traditions. Such as: the students still wear the black gowns over their clothing while attending classes, they all eat together in the main hall in formal attire and sit at specified tables according to class, and if a cell phone goes off during a meal the student is fined 25 pounds. Apparently the fines have gone up since the college was founded way back when and the things fined for have changed, but they've always had some sort of fines!
Here is a picture of the river that runs around the promontory that the castle and the cathedral sit upon. I can't remember the name of it, so never mind about that for the present. It's lovely, though! I took a lovely jaunt along river paths all the way around the promontory and it was a fun little trek in the shade of the trees. Durham is almost as nice as York is!
Here I am with Paige, Matt, and their youngest son Danny. We had a nice evening together enjoying Durham and catching up and so forth. It's always fun to meet up with good friends over here in England!

Beverley

Welcome to the East Riding of Yorkshire! This picture was taken on the banks of the River Hull, which is actually the river that the River Ouse near my flat empties into eventually, and we are looking at the Humber Suspension Bridge. For those of you interested in such things, here are some facts about the bridge: Construction began in 1973 and it took 8 years to complete the thing. The counties involved are still paying for it and it is a toll bridge! This bridge remained the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world for many years and it is apparently still the longest in Europe (3rd in the world). The distance between the towers is approximately 1,400 m and the bridge connects North Lincolnshire on the south bank with the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north (I'm on the north side). I was also informed that the distance between the towers was so great that the curvature of the earth was taken into consideration when designing and building it. So, there you are you bridge fans! As you can see from this next picture, I am standing underneath the bridge now. An interesting fact to point out are the clouds above. They came over in about three minutes from the time I took this picture and started chucking down rain (as they put it in the East Riding of Yorkshire) and we had to run for the car so we didn't get soaked. It was fun, actually, to try and keep ahead of the leading edge of the rain!
This next shot is taken inside St. Mary's church in the lovely little town of Beverley. Above my head is the carving of a rabbit.
Why should I care about a stone rabbit you ask? Well, this rabbit was the one that supposedly inspired the author of Alice in Wonderland to put a white rabbit into the story! So, this is an important rabbit and is worth a couple of pictures. Apparently Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll (pseudonym), traveled around a lot looking for inspiration and he found it in St. Mary's church in Beverley of all places! Fun stuff!