An English Spring

Except for a couple of cold snaps and frosts, I think this has been the most gorgeous spring.  I've heard more than one person around here say so.  Has spring been beautiful where you are?  Are your flowers and trees putting on a show this year?  It helps a lot, here in the south, when the weather doesn't turn hot too quickly.  The heat tends to shorten the bloom time for the spring flowers.

I told my husband earlier this week that it feels like we're having an English spring here this year.

April First and "Five on Friday"

Happy Friday and April 1st to you!  I'm still not sure where the month of March went; the days are just speeding by faster and faster.

The English Town of Tring

Hello folks.  I haven't disappeared, but it feels like I have.  I haven't been posting or commenting for over a week.  I mentioned previously that I had been feeling under the weather and thought it was probably allergies.  Whatever the problem, it's sure slowed me down, but I'm really thankful I haven't been as sick as a lot of people this winter.  

My Christmas decorations are still up in the living room (including the tree) and the dining room.  Every time I thought about writing a post, I just couldn't seem to find the energy or inspiration.  This post finally got done after a series of starts, stops, and changes.  So glad that I haven't had the flu, but I seem to have had a bad case of writer's/blogger's block.

Since I don't have anything really new to share, I'm taking another little trip down memory lane today.  I have just a few pictures to show you of a little town called Tring, in Hertfordshire, in the south of England.

Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England

This week I've decided it's time to post another installment of our trip to England in 1999.  Last year, I wrote about London, The Bellows Mill Hotel, and Stratford Upon Avon.  My husband was working on a computer software installation for his company, and I was able to travel to England and Ireland with him in the early spring of 1999.  It was a trip I'll never forget.

The company my husband works for has a  facility here in our town, as well as in Leighton Buzzard, England and Kilkeel, Northern Ireland.  Leighton Buzzard was a cute town; not in the least like the villages in the Cotswolds or the coastal regions.  Still, it had its own brand of charm and unique architecture.

May Note Card Party -- Images of England

Our good friend Vee, at A Haven For Vee, is hosting her monthly Note Card Party.  This party is one of my favorites because we get to look back through our archives and pick a few favorite photos to share with readers who may not have seen them before.  I love seeing other people's note cards because even though I may read their blogs regularly, chances are I haven't seen these particular posts.

This month, I'm sharing some images from our trip to England in 1999.  As I explained in my previous posts, these pictures were all taken using a point and shoot camera with film (no digital cameras for us back then).  As of this year, the pictures are 14 years old; they're not perfect, but I think they've held up pretty well for the most part.  I hope you enjoy!

"View From a Double-Decker Bus"
London

All Creatures Great and Small

Monday night is not normally a TV night at our house.  Mr. Forest Manor and I usually watch our regular shows on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and maybe some sort of sports on the weekend.  But this Monday evening, I decided I wanted to watch an episode of "All Creatures Great and Small."  We have six seasons on DVD, and we watched all of them several years ago, and haven't watched them since.  I got out the Season One DVD, and we watched the second and third episodes again.  We thoroughly enjoyed them, and that's when I decided it was time for me to write a post about this show.

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Stratford-upon-Avon -- England Trip, Part Three

The Season Three finale of Downton Abbey will air tomorrow night here in the U.S.  With that thought in mind, I thought I'd share some more of our trip to England; so today we'll visit Stratford-upon-Avon, in south Warwickshire, England. 

A Trip to England, 1999 -- Part Two

Hi Folks!  Did you all enjoy Downton Abbey Sunday night?  I know lots of you were planning on watching the Season Three opener; we certainly did at our house.

Which brings me to the topic for this post -- our trip to England in 1999.  Back in the summer, I wrote about the London part of our trip, and you can read about our visit to Stratford-upon-Avon, as well.  We also went to Ireland at that time, and I've done two posts on that part of the trip.  You can find those Here and Here.  Since I'm still undecorating and putting away Christmas things, now is a good time to do a travel post.

We basically had one full weekend in England, plus the following Monday through Friday afternoon.  My husband had to work the Monday through Thursday that we were there, but we still managed to do some sightseeing.  We took the train to London on the Saturday, and we drove to Stratford upon Avon on Sunday.  In addition, the owner of the country hotel where we stayed kindly offered to drive me to a nearby town one day to see some sights.  Warning:  This post is photo heavy, folks.

I enjoyed seeing London (a whirlwind visit, to be sure), but without a doubt my favorite part of England was the countryside and the small villages.  We spent seven days and nights at the Bellows Mill, in Bedfordshire, just outside the small town of Dunstable.

Let's Go To London!

In the spirit of the 2012 Olympic Games, I'm introducing a new Olympic event.  It's called the Touring/Sightseeing/Eating/Shopping-in-London event.  I'm not very athletic, but I think this is one "sporting event" that I could medal in!  I've been training for quite a while now, and I'm ready to compete.  :)

Okay, actually, I'm ready in spirit, but the economy and the value of the dollar just aren't cooperating.  So, in addition to watching the games on the telly, I've pulled out my pictures from our trip to England in 1999 and I'm re-living the experience (as best I can remember it, that is).  It's amazing how much you forget after 13 years.  This is Part One of my travel series on England.  You can click on the links to see Part Two and Part Three.

A lot of things have changed since 1999, to be sure.  A new princess, the Chunnel, and a new skyscraper in London (the tallest in Europe standing 1,016 feet high).  But it's still fun to look back at our time there.  We were in England for a week, but we only spent one day in London.  My husband was there on a project for work, so we stayed in a small village near his company facility.  I still feel so fortunate that I was able to tag along with him and see the sights.