Well, I finally got the problem worked out with my blog (thanks to Marie who gave me some pointers). I don't like the new set up quite as well, and hope that this tiny print comes out better on the blog. I don't seem to have any way of increasing the size on this browser.
1993 was a good year (but aren't they all?). But there appears to have been no traumas that year, no major setbacks, life was plodding along well and Dick and I were able to share lots of time together and see lots of places.
We took a great trip to Britain. We flew into Gatwick and rented a car, going south first to visit the ancient city of Canterbury. I especially wanted to go to the cathedral there where Beckett was murdered by order of the king ("will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest"). Being the history buff I am, I found it incredible to stand on the actual spot where he was killed. We traveled from there to my cousin Mary's home where she lived with husband Peter and son Jason.
They took us for a fantastic tour of the Cotswalds - a beautiful area of England with its small, ancient villages. If any of you watch PBS, they showed the Midsomer Murders series for a long time and it was all filmed in the Cotswalds.
We left them and journeyed northwest towards Southport to spend time with my sister Mair and husband Norman, but stopped on the way to visit the area of England which is where our Pilgrim history started.
The two main leaders that ultimately led the group on the Mayflower, were William Brewster (considered the religious leader) and William Bradford, who became the first governor of the new settlement. Bradford lived in a neighboring town and would travel the some 20 miles each week to listen to the preachings of Brewster. In order to escape the religious intolerance in England, the group first went to Holland, but ultimately joined others for the first journey to Massachusetts.
We spent a few days in my home town of Llandudno, staying with cousin Audrey and husband Derek. I took a few photos of my favorite spots.
This is John Bright Grammar School where I attended for the last six years of my schooling. Grammar school in Wales, would be like High School here.
This view of Llandudno was taken from the Orme. I lived near the touch of ocean you can see on the right hand side.
This was taken up the coast a ways and looking back at the Orme. The town of Llandudno nestled in the flat land you see to the right of the Orme. I spent hours and hours on this beach, sometimes with family and/or friends, but mostly on my own with my dog.
Leaving Llandudno, we drove to the westernmost point in Britain, Devonshire on the south coast. This is where my sister-in-law Kitty lived and we had a great few days with her, visiting local highlights, and going on a genealogy tour of some family history. The following is Ide
and this one is Bovey Tracey. This history comes from the Satterleys. Betsy Satterlee married Joseph Adam Topper, who was Dick's great grandfather. The Satterlee genealogy goes way back, they were even listed in the Domesday Book, which was the first census taken by William the Conqueror, first King of England.
We also visited Lands End with Kitty - the furthermost western point on the British Isles. And spent a day in Plymouth where the Mayflower journey started. This photograph of Dick was taken with him standing on the steps that were used by the pilgrims to board the ship.
On leaving Kitty, on the way to London to stopped at another site I had always wanted to see - Stonehenge.
Another fascinating period in British history and a real mystery of the hows and whys of its erection:
We took up RV-ing this year and made a few really fun short trips around California and into Nevada and Arizona.
We had a big change in our canine family - with the passing of both Buddy and Taffy, we were dogless for a while until Dick looked into Duke's eyes and he joined the household along with Lady, the dog who was rescued by our housekeeper. But Duke didn't last too long, his back went out and we had Lady by herself until she struck up a friendship with a coonhound which had been dropped off at a neighboring ranch and was being fed there.
The two dogs would spend all day with each other playing in the vineyards, and when Lady came home, the coonhound would sit at the glass door looking inside. I started calling her Wannabee (she wanted to be part of our family). Then one day, Lady introduced her to the doggie door and in came Wannabee. The two of them sat side by side in front of me as if asking if she could stay. At that point I changed her name to Will-a-be, and we talked to the neighbors and they already had an army of rescued dogs, so were happy to let us have her. She was quickly called Willie. Shortly after that the two of them set off for their daily jaunt and only Willie returned. Dick and I spent days driving around trying to find Lady, but never did, and it has always been a sad spot for me. Oh how I wished that dogs could talk and Willie could have told me what happened to her. We felt sorry for Willie, she really was sad without her friend, so I went to the pound and we got Samantha - a keeshund.
She was soon followed by Louise coming home one night from work and telling me that there was a dog sitting on the front door step. I think the word was getting out. I fell in love with this border collie and Miss Emma as I named her joined the family.
It was a good job really, as Emma and Willie became very good friends and Samantha attached herself completely to Dick, resulting in going everywhere with him and being our one companion on our RV trips.
Glad to be back on the blogging and thank you to those of you who read it..........Love all of you.
