Adventures in England Part Two: The colors of spring!!

Hello again Hobbes, Madeline, Amara, and Asa! We are all in the season of spring now, but it looks VERY different for us doesn't it? Hobbes and Madeline can go barefoot now and they have some beautiful flowers blooming. But Amara and Asa are still getting some snow, and their flowers are just peaking out from under their dirt covers. Over here in England, Uncle Mark and Aunt Carolyn are enjoying lots and lots of beautiful flowers. It isn't as warm here as it is for Hobbes and Madeline, but it is very similar to Cannon Beach. Do you remember Cannon Beach Hobbes and Madeline? It has a very big rock in the ocean and you like to draw in the sand and chase the waves. But it also has lots of beautiful flowers even though it isn't very warm. But it is near the ocean just like England and so it has lots of water and the flowers like that. 

I thought I would show you all what our spring looks like over here. I get to see these flowers every day!

I would love to have this many daffodils in my garden!

This made me think of magnolia trees in the South! I think it is an English cousin

This would be very pretty in Madeline or Amara's hair don't you think?

These are some sort of apple blossom.

This is a very BRIGHT flower--what color is it? 

I needed to have some spring INSIDE the house too!

These are in flower boxes in the city

While these were growing in a flower box outside someone's house

And this is what a daffodil looks like if you are a bug on the ground looking up!

Musings on the Marvels of Modern Technology

I wanted to post this while I was in the U.S. but sadly, when I went to do it, my folks' computer went on the fritz--which I found ironic given that this was my title. :) So, I am back in the UK and writing from here.
I had a very short jaunt to Moscow to surprise my folks and go to the Logos 30th anniversary benefit concert. Mark and I found this really great ticket several months ago and decided that it would be great not only for me to visit, but to make it a surprise. Naturally, I needed to rope Naphtali and Kathryn into it to help me out and to make a long story short, I ended up in Moscow in time to walk into my parents' house for dinner.
Can you imagine making a trip like this 50 years ago? Or 100? 50 years ago would have taken a VERY long time and it wouldn't have been as comfortable. 100 years ago, I would have taken a boat and the time for travel would have been at least a week on each side of the visit. And don't get me started on how expensive it would have been!!
In this era, I flew over in what was essentially one day (heading west). And I must say it didn't feel as though I had crossed the Atlantic to be there. It felt more like I had driven down from Spokane as I used to for weekends. And I started pondering why I felt like that.
I think part of the answer is modern technology such as skype. Now I can see my family as  I chat, with the background of their homes and it feels as though I am there in a way. Of course it's not as great as being able to hug them or sit around a dinner table together, but it's lovely to see the kids and have them talk to me. I wondered if Asa (who skypes with me regularly) would make the connection that I'm the same person who lives in the computer. Well he did! And so did Amara. In fact, when I walked in the first thing she said was "Hi Carin! Mark?" She already knows that we are associated you see. :) Asa went one further and promptly walked into my dad's study and pointed to his closed laptop saying, "Mark?" Yes Asa, Mark and I do live in the computer. :) But it was lovely that my two year old niece and nephew are already able to know us even though we're thousands of miles apart.
So, I may gripe about technology from time to time. Most of you know I believe computers are evil beings that hate me. But on occasion they are wonderful, such as when booking plane tickets or talking to loved ones. Because suddenly the world is a much smaller place, and England doesn't feel an ocean away, but more like I'm down the street from my family.
So I thought I should put that in writing! :)

Legacies

Nine years ago today, on a cool but lovely sunny day, much like this one, my grandfather left the 'shadowlands'. Then, it was a Saturday morning and I awoke to an early call from my father to give me the news that Grandpa Garfield's term was over and his holidays had begun. How well C.S. Lewis was able to voice the feelings and thoughts so many of us have! Then as now, I shed tears of grief and hope at the same time. The idea of lamenting in hope seems strange to the unbeliever, but as we have been learning in church recently, the Old Testament prophets were experts in it. Grief for the destruction of Israel, and hope in the coming Savior.
Every March 2nd since then, I think about my grandpa's life, rather than his death. It seems that God likes to give me sunny days to mark this anniversary and I am grateful. The beauty of that day was amazing; I went down to the water (I was living in Seattle at the time) and just sat looking at Puget Sound for an hour or more, with the white dome of Mt. Rainier rising behind me and the green mountains of the Olympics before me.
We Garfield grandchildren have never been to Disneyland. And I don't think any of us regret that. Our vacations were nearly always spent in Portland, Oregon, visiting our grandparents. These trips included cousins, coffee, the beach, the zoo, the city and love. Such an overused word. But it's the best one. I don't mean syrupy love with kittens playing in the flowers or something. I mean love that can only come from lives that have been fermented in it for decades. That love flowed from Grandpa and Grandma Garfield into their children and their children's children. It cemented our family in Christ.
Now, seperated by a few blocks, a few states, or a few thousand miles (!!) we still feel that bond. I don't just refer to my own siblings and I. We still love the cousins we shared these grandparents with and keep in touch with them as well. Someday, I hope we'll have the Bob Garfield family reunion.
My grandfather was the best Christian man I knew. He raised a son to be like him, and he raised a son to be like him as well. I have been blessed to see three generations of God's promises and am watching the small number fours being nurtured in the admonition of the Lord as well. God willing, I will have my own to give this legacy to.
It's been nine years since I heard my grandpa's defining greeting "Hello friends!" but I can still hear it whenever I think of him and I think all of us-- his wife, his children and grandchildren--will hear it again when we join him in glory.
I still miss him. I wish he could have seen all our weddings and children. Maybe he does. I'm delighted that Grandma did and I know she misses him most of all.
But today is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! Because his life isn't over and we'll see him again.
I love you Grandpa.

London Part Two

The next part of our London saga was to see "Wicked". I have seen it before with my sisters, but Mark hadn't. So a few months back, we planned to take a few days in his half term break and go see the show and then spend the night in London and explore the next day. This we did and had a blast! We also walked over half of London, so I feel I got my exercise in. There is so much to see and do in London and, aside from the cost of getting there, it is largely free!! So on this trip we went to the Imperial War Rooms, the Victoria and Albert Museum and into the world's largest toy store. The pictures I took of the war rooms are largely for my dad and other history geeks. If any of my former students are looking at this: be jealous. Be VERY jealous. :) (Which you should be since history is the best subject as I'm sure you all remember.)

As we arrived, this is what greeting us outside the station. I was seeing pink elephants? Already??!??  :)

British naval guns outside the museum.

Full shot of the front of the museum to give you an idea of the size  of  these guns

This is me, looking rather pleased with myself for being there. (I was)

Mark likes the guns

More size scope. Yes, I could basically STAND inside that thing!

If you look up as you walk into the museum, behold the Spitfire

No, I don't know what sort of gun it is. I just know it's WWI vintage and cool

This is Tirpitz the pig. He was onboard a British ship in WWI that was hit and yet he survived, swimming in the ocean.  A sailor jumped in and saved him and he became their mascot for the rest of the war. He lived beyond that in a zoo I think to a ripe old age and was stuffed upon death and given to the museum. I thought this was great. 

Really fabulous painting of the Treaty of Versailles

The enigma machine. History people should know what this is.

More great weaponry. 

I loved this inspirational poster. If I was still teaching, I would totally have bought a replica for my class. :)

This my friends, is the Rolls Royce engine used in the fighter planes. 

And THIS, this nearly had me keeled over I was so impressed. It is indeed the Eagle from above the Reichstag when Berlin was taken by the Allies. You can see the bullet hole in its wing. Whew!

Harry Potter fans would know which film this shows up in. But I think St. Pancreas station is lovely without being in movies. :)

Since I taught Peter, I had to take this for him. 

This theatre was fantastic!!!

Mark and I had a lovely Italian dinner before the show,   and decide to get TWO packages of cookies from Marks and Spencer for dessert. No regrets!! :)

The dragon above the stage

And you can sort of see how cool this theater was. 

This is the giant statue in St. Pancreas of two people meeting after a journey. I really like it a lot

There are loads of fabulous bakeries in the UK. This one made me think of my own wedding (colors) but also of Kathryn, so the next shot is for her too.

All of this is edible by the way. Spun sugar flowers and edible gilt. Wow.

And this part is for the kids! This is the world's largest toy store with five floors of joy! This bear said hi when we came in.

This was a section on the girls floor. Naturally I took this picture for Amara and Madeline. :)

And look who I found you guys! I was riding the escalator up to the boy's floor and there was Wall E! He's very nice and he said to say hello to Hobbes, Madeline, Amara and Asa. He'd like you to come visit him soon!

Mark and I have started getting into the habit of bread and cheese for lunch on outings like this.  This is one of our favorite combos: White stilton with cranberries. Mmmmm.....

And Mark's happy. (Food has this effect on him)

These pigeons are sitting on the park bench. I thought that was OUR job. They're also grossly fat.

I don't know what it is with me and pink elephants, but it seemed chiastically appropriate that we saw one upon leaving London. :)

London Part One:

So we recently made not one, but TWO, yes two ladies and gentlemen, jaunts into London in the space of two days! :) Many of our English friends thought we were insane (possible) but as an American and Irishman respectively, we pooh poohed this perspective and jaunted happily. The first jaunt was a Saturday and we went expressly to meet up with Brooke and Dan as we felt it had been too long since we'd seen each other. As they live in Cambridge, and we live in Bristol, London is the best place to meet up. I use the term 'best' rather loosely as we would all far rather meet up in say, Oxford but according to everyone over here, London is the black hole of transport. Oh, don't get me wrong: the airport is one of the best in world and if you've been through it, you already know it is not the black hole. No, I am referring to the insanity that is the British rail system. Due to many complicated and hard to understand reasons (they don't get them either, so don't feel badly) there is no direct rail link from Bristol to Cambridge. In fact to get from the west side of the country to the east side, one HAS to go through London. Just how they did it. This has led me to speculate frequently as to how the British get ANYWHERE (their roads are better but still odd) but then it is these little oddities for which we love them. No one does anything about the appallingly out of date state of the rail network because that would mean a politician sacrifices his current popularity for something that has long term future generation benefits. Okay, sorry about that rant on rails; I just finished a book called Eleven Minutes Late, about the history of how the British rail network came to be. I promise, it's not boring. But you are left wondering if the British will continue to use a system from 1914 until it just falls apart and they have to replace the whole thing!!

So anyway, we met up with Brooke and Dan and had a grand time in the London drizzle. Well, we didn't stay in the drizzle, we went into the National Gallery since it's free and dry. But we did have fun casually 'meeting up' in front of Buckingham Palace. It is useful. :) So here is London Part One in pictures: 

Brooke posed for me in Trafalgar Square. If you peak over her umbrella, Queen Victoria is watching you.

And there she is unobstructed

Do they look English or what? (Well Daniel is so.....)

These are statues of Queen Elizabeth and King George VI. After seeing the King's Speech and adoring it, I felt it was right that we stop and pay a bit of homage here.

I just love the lions in Trafalgar and can't resist taking their picture

The fountain is also quite nifty

What are they all looking at you ask? An Asian church in a side street. 

Do I need to explain this? It's just cool

So we went to a burger place for dinner and I looked up to see a picture of my parents back in the....well a decade beyond memory. :)

That is exactly what it looks like:  a giant ship in a giant bottle. 

My awesome mood shot of Brooke and Dan in rain with bus in background. 

Lions! (Wouldn't it be cool if they came alive at night like Night in the Museum?)

We popped into this church where this fantastic group was practicing Vivaldi. It was amazing.