Windsor on Friday and Saturday

Yeah! I think I can say I am up-to-date with the blogs.

Friday

We wandered around town and it happened to be band-time, changing of the guard in the castle. Stephen and James went down to the barracks and walked up with them. I stayed with "Queen Victoria" (the statue). Most of the video and photos are from James. I managed to cut, arrange and assemble the clips into one.

VIDEO!     (2:49)

In the afternoon James and Stephen wanted to walk the Long Walk from Windsor Castle to the Copper Horse (statue). It's a lovely walk (3 miles each way) but I started working on the Cloak (our church monthly newsletter) and decided not to. Here are his photos! He said that they saw hundreds of deer. 

Saturday

Jane had to be in the morning in the church manning the "surgery", which means somebody is there in case somebody has a question about getting married or baptism. I guess you could call it office hour.

We wanted to go uptown and dropped by the church, the church James grew up in. How many years have I been in it? Never knew there was also a sedilia. Enjoyed several different laces and the floor mosaics. 

Jane took us also into the back where more interesting things were.

OMG, James' old cassock. His name is still in it.

From the church we went through the town. Just enjoyed walking around and popped into shops. I saw something I might have to buy.

On the way back I saw this self-sown double poppy at the edge of a sidewalk. I googled on it since it looked so different then other poppies. Here is what I found:

If you are a fan of peonies and can’t get enough or have difficulty growing them, then you may want to consider growing peony poppies (Papaver paeoniflorum), also known as double poppies. I know what you’re thinking….poppies, aren’t they illegal? Don’t click off this article just yet; keep reading for additional double poppy info. Based on my understanding, while double poppy plants are a sub-type of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), they possess a much lower morphine content, making it perfectly legal to grow this particular variant in the garden – provided your intention is to enjoy it strictly for its aesthetics. Read on to learn more about growing double flowering poppies. Each individual flower will last roughly 3-8 days before the petals start dropping, at which point you will want to cut off the bloom. The regular practice of deadheading throughout the summer will encourage the formation of new buds and ensure longer lasting blooms.

Isn't it beautiful?

Back home. Back to working on the computer.

Ha-ha, the first sentence in this blog ... wrong. Photos didn't come. The video took forever. Oh well....

bye Christchurch / hello Windsor

Yes, we have to see what the Queen is up to.
It's Thursday and we have to leave. Kate and Dave have been wonderful hosts and we enjoyed the time very much. See you in the USA? We hope!!!

The drive took Stephen an hour and a half. No problem. The weather is so good that Jane opened windows and doors and we looked at the garden. One of her waterlilies was blooming. We could sit outside and even have lunch there.

I had a text from Helen that today was the last day to send William a "bunk note" to camp. He is this week at a sleep-over church camp and this is a great website. It is his first time away by himself. We can send him notes and even include a photo. They will print it and give to him. Here is our photo. There might be hope for me taking selfies.

The four of us were antsy and decided to go for a walk. Of course we went to the River Thames. I love it that we really don't need to use a car when we are here in Windsor. Jane lives so convenient.

We walked along the river and then over the Eton Bridge.

Back on the Eton side. I had never done this walk on the Eton side back over another bridge. Love to experience new things. Look at this sign.

Stephen has sold the house and is in the process to buy a river boat to live on. He will get it in about a month but showed us a brochure. So we had fun seeing the boats here.

When we came back over the other bridge we happen to see the duck boat driving into the water. 

On the way back we came past St Stephen's Church where the family has attended for 150 years. 

Back to Jane's house and chilling. The last weeks were full with happenings all the time. Good to get ourselves a bit organized again. Silly things like charging gadgets and answering emails. Jane had a request and I was happy for once being able to do something for her. She just got an apple computer and had a church brochure which is in a program (Publisher) which her new computer doesn't recognize. I love my Mac Pages and was able to transpose it for her. I had the same issue with Pagemaker when I changed computers. Actually, the reason why I left my PC is because when Windows "upgrade" to 10 it made my program (which had cost me a fair amount some years ago) into a pumpkin. Boo-hoo! 

Anyway, fun to accomplish something ... Time to go to bed.

More Christchurch

Wednesday

Another splendid day. The weather is promising. I wandered around the garden. They work so hard on all the little details. Kate says that they have never moved.

Kate and Jane take care of packing a picnic and off we go. Stephen has a 7-seat car and since we were  6 it was good to only need to take one car.

We parked at the Hikers Cafe, passed the Hengistbury Head Visitor Center and started up the hill. This is almost a tradition when you visit.

You can see the gap in the middle of that thin land. Last year we took the ferry over to the beach.

This time we walked.

There is the beach.

From the top you go down some steps and then walk through this maze of fern.

Looking behind me.

There are all these holiday huts (which cost above 100K). Since it was midweek most were empty and we "borrowed" a picnic table. We were not really sure but may be it was communal property. Anyway, no harm done. We took our trash.

Gosh, these were juicy. They call them donut peaches.

The tide was out so we took a different way back. I have never walked this way. Hardly any ups and downs.

That walk was good for me. Loved it.

In the evening Kate and David's daughter Jo and her family came. A birthday present for Jane.

We were 12 and all fitted around the table. I love family time. So much to talk about. And Helen even called via FaceTime. 

Ups, we were 13. I forgot about Tuffy the dog. 

Of course it was a school night. The children had to get home. It was great seeing them. Kate and David will see their three grandchildren on the weekend because Friday starts their "granny camp". They do one every year with several other grandparents and their grandchildren. I think they had told us that there are going to be 18 kids. Sounds like exhausting fun to me.