Today is a typical gray rainy day in Yorkshire, but over the weekend we enjoyed glorious warm sunny weather. On Saturday morning we went into Harrogate to view a couple of apartments, I mean flats. One was just too dark and grungy to consider but the other was really lovely. It is situated across from the Stray (a 200-acre park) and within walking distance of the city center. It has a huge kitchen and living room, plus three large bedrooms. The problem is: there is scant storage space (only one closet) and no yard. We are negotiating for the use of a garage in the back, which might make this place workable for us. In the meantime we are also considering some farm cottages. The location would be more remote, but it is so pleasant in the countryside here. We know of a couple of cottages that are only 5-10 minutes from Brad's office and about a 15-20 minute drive into town. We'll need to make a decision soon, but it is agonizing now dealing with these options.

On Saturday afternoon we made our usual visit to Pocklington to visit with Ginger who is doing just fine. On the way back we stopped in at a Designer Outlet mall just off the main road from the kennel. There were lots of American stores (Levis, Famous Footwear, etc.) represented as well as many British stores (Marks and Spencer, Whittard Tea), but most of the stores were rather small with limited selection. Oh well, if we ever have the hankering to hangout in a huge mall we now know where to go.

On Sunday we drove towards Ripon to pay a visit at Fountains Abbey, a National Trust heritage site. The National Trust was celebrating its birthday so admission was free. Fountains Abbey was a medieval Cistercian monastery. Only the ruins of the abbey remain now, but Fountains is the most intact ruin of all the medieval abbeys in England. It was a breathtaking sight: noisy swallows were swooping in and amongst the gray stone walls and vaulted windows of the abbey against a backdrop of shimmering green hills, blue skies and powder puff clouds. We decided to join in the free guided tour given by a National Trust volunteer. Our guide is a pensioner who is a self-styled medievalist and he regaled us with many descriptions of life during the Abbey's founding and heyday. Basically, life was grim. The Cistercians took a vow of silence. The lay monks (recruited from the peasantry) did most of the work around the Abbey starting at the ungodly hour of 3 a.m. and continuing until sunset with breaks every hour or two for worship. They received only two meals a day consisting of bread and veggies. The choir monks were the educated members of the monastery and spent most of their time in worship and study. It was not possible for a lay monk to advance to the position of choir monk. At least twice a year all monks had to submit to a session of bloodletting, a practice believed essential for good health. After the bloodletting session the monk was able to spend two days of rest in the infirmary and received meat in addition to the bread and veggies. It is easy to imagine now why a monk would agree to such treatment! Even though the Cistercian order did not allow "unnecessary" ornamentation in their structures, I found the soaring stature of the ruins rather beautiful and marveled at the strength of the men who built the abbey, considering the squalid and deprived conditions under which they lived.

I can now legally drive in the UK. It was pretty simple, really, to get my UK driver's permit. I had to take a written test consisting of two sections: a list of multiple choice questions and a page of traffic signs that had to be matched up with the proper description. I read through the driver's handbook last week and took the test on Wednesday, only missing one question. Now that I'm legal, though, I am not too anxious to get behind the wheel. Driving on the left is not the problem. Though I never got behind the wheel during the three years we lived in Tokyo, I got used to traffic traveling on the lefthand side of the road. What scares me here in the UK are the narrow roads in the countryside. They are often no wider than a single lane in the U.S., yet are open to two-way traffic. If that's not bad enough, the roads often take sharp curves and steep dips or climbs. I find it hair raising, to say the least. Then there are the roundabouts, designed to avoid the use of traffic lights at junctions. My heart begins to race everytime I think about driving through (or round) one. They say once you get used to the roundabouts, you'll come to love them (don't you just hate waiting at traffic lights?) but I'm quite sure that in the beginning, I will be whiteknuckling my way along the carriageways of Yorkshire.

The papers and the news programs on TV have been full of stories about the comedian who crashed Prince William's 21st birthday party. From what I've read, the comedian, Alan Barschak, was not too successful with his stand-up routine and has taken to brashly storming on stage into someone else's limelight. He crashed Prince William's party disguised as Osama bin Laden, with a bushy false beard and turban. The kicker is that he was wearing a pink ball gown and red high heels. Footage on TV shows Barshak lifting his gown to reveal a false beard covering his genitals and has been reported to have quipped, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the hair to the throne." The odd thing is that Barshak was not arrested until after he had jumped on stage, given Prince William two kisses on the cheek and leapt off the stage to wild applause from the audience. I guess everyone thought he was part of the stage act. You see, the theme of the party was "Out of Africa" and guests dressed for the part. Prince William himself was dressed in a tiger-striped loin cloth. One of the TV newscasters talked about the potential for disaster should the gate crasher had been a terrorist. Since so many of the members of the royal family were gatthered at Windsor Castle for the festivities, she noted, with horror in her voice," If a bomb had been exploded, that would mean Prince Edward would now be King!" Oh my. I think it's going to be so much fun to follow the exploits of the royal family!

Brad and I drove out to visit Ginger again this weekend. The kennel is situated on the other side of York from Harrogate and we had been warned that traffic would be a nightmare going around York. In actuality, traffic was not bad at all and getting there was a breeze. We arrived early (visiting hours are from 12-3:30 p.m.), so we decided to go into Pocklington, the village near Ginger's kennel. Pocklington is what is referred to as a "market village" -- every Tuesday a variety of vendors set up stalls in the center of town. There are also many interesting shops, tea rooms, coffee houses and restaurants in Pocklington, as well as an impressive 18th-century church. In particular, there is a wonderful bakery from which emanated scrumptious aromas and a long line of people. We had lunch at Peter Wards' coffeehouse, chosen from the other cafes and tearooms because Petes' drew the largest crowd. (The locals must know where the best food is!) I ordered my first coffee in Britain -- after all this place is a "coffeehouse." My coffee was served in an individual coffee press (called a cafetiere) and was delicious! Brad sampled the Welsh rarebit and I had a Coronation Chicken sandwich. Coronation Chicken appears to be a staple on pub and cafe menus. It's chicken salad with fruit and curry mayo. After our lunch we checked in on Ginger at the kennel. It was Brad's first visit with our kitty and he, too, was pleased to see how well Ginger is getting on. He was quite relaxed and content.

We went grocery shopping on Sunday morning in Harrogate. We had already been to the Asda market (a division of Walmart) so decided to stop in at the Safeway. We arrived at 9:30 a.m. and it was not open yet. In fact, most stores and cafes even were not open yet. We are discovering how sleepy a town Harrogate is. Most businesses close by 5 or 6 during the week. And shops, cafes and many restaurants open late and close early on the weekends. You can always count on Bettys, however, to be open from 9-9 every day. (Special note to all punctuation mavens: Bettys is spelled without the apostrophe.) Bettys is Yorkshire's renowned tea room and cafe, famous all over Britain. The main branch is in Harrogate and there a few other branches in Yorkshire. On the weekends you will most likely have to wait iin a long line to be seated at Bettys. We discovered that if you arrive between 9 and 10 a.m. on a Sunday, you will have no trouble getting a seat. A little grey-haired lady played light jazz music on the piano while we sipped our tea and nibbled our scones. Scrumptious!

Last night Brad and I decided to take an evening walk along Low Lane. We passed a couple of farms and several cottages, all of them stone structures. Along the way we admired the scenery: rolling hills, cows and sheep grazing in fields separated by low stone fences, colorful wildflowers, swallows dipping across the fields. We passed a friendly little cat perched atop one of the stone fences. He was ginger and white (so reminded me of our own Ginger) with long hair and a short but bushy tail. I reached over to pet him and made my first encounter with the stinging nettle plant. My right hand had only lightly brushed against the plant but I walked away with a stinging sensation that did not leave till this morning! Twenty-five minutes down the road we came across the local pub in Darley, the Wellington, so we stopped in for a pint. After quenching our thirst we strolled back home, arriving at our cottage about 10:15 p.m. and it was still light out! Yes, now that we are in the middle of summer we are enjoying the extended daylight hours. The sun rises around 4:30 a.m. and sets around 9:45 p.m. I will enjoy this while it lasts and do not look forward to the short days of winter when the sun will not rise until nearly 8 a.m. and will set before 4 p.m.

We have moved from our cozy little B&B in Harrogate into a holiday cottage in the middle of Yorkshire farm country. We are in Scot Beck Cottage #1 on Low Lane in Darley. The cottage is made of stone and is very cute and comfy. On the first floor we have a fully equipped eat-in kitchen, a living room with a gas fireplace and a tv/vcr. On the second floor are two bedrooms and the bathroom. Additionally, we have access to a washer and dryer in the utility room and a patio. The surrounding countryside is absolutely beautiful. We have been blessed with lovely warm sunny weather lately -- very unusual I'm told for this part of the country. The last couple of days have been more seasonably cool and windy with occasional showers. Even during bad weather, the landscape is stunning. The only downside is that we only have one car with a standard transmission. Since I won't dare drive on these twisty turny roads unless I have an automatic transmission, I'm stuck in the cottage while Brad is at work. He's been able to take time off during the day, however, and right now I'm at the base library using the computer with free Internet access.

Penney, our sponsor's wife, very kindly offered to drive me out to Pocklington on Tuesday, so that I could visit our cat Ginger. Aside from the driving in Harrogate (which I find to be terribly congested and confusing) the drive was not too bad. Once we got out of the Harrogate city center the roads were clearly marked and lightly traveled. It took us no more than an hour to get to the quarantine kennel, also situated near the small town of Pocklington, on the other side of York and in the middle of nowhere. The quarantine section is a maze of chain link corridors and enclosures. I was given admittance by an attendant who unlocked one door after another until I got to Ginger's cage. At which point she asked me how long I wanted to visit and then proceeded to lock me inside Ginger's enclosure! It truly felt as if I was visiting someone in prison. I was heartened, however, to see that Ginger appeared to be very calm and content. His enclosure is on two levels, above he has a cat bed to sit in and windows to view either his neighbors or the birds in the countryside; he has two litter pans below. Ginger perked up when I said hello and he came right to me. I groomed him during my visit and he purred the whole time. He did not appear to be stressed in the least and looks well fed and cared for. What a relief! After our visit, Penney, her two sons (aged 10 and 12 and now on summer vacation) and I had lunch at a pub in nearby Allerthorpe. The weather was nice enough for us to sit outside and the food was great!

We have been house hunting lately and have seen about a half dozen properties so far. They range from tidy little cookie cutter houses in suburbia to rustic farm houses in the countryside. We still haven't found one that suits our needs yet. The biggest problem is room size. In most cases, we fear we will not be able to move our queen size bed into the house. In other houses, our living room furniture will not fit. Some of the houses, particularly the ones in the newer areas of Harrogate, have really garish decor: big bold prints on the wallpaper (often themed for young children with clowns or daisys or some such design), screamingly bright colors. The older houses feature broad wooden beams, neutral walls, stone construction and plenty of fireplaces. We will continue our search in the next few weeks. We don't feel too pressured to make a decision right away...it will take a while for our household goods to get here and Ginger won't be released from quarantine until August 8.

We arrived safe and sound at Manchester International airport yesterday morning around 7 a.m. England time. That's about 2 a.m. east coast time in the U.S. and since neither of us was able to sleep on the plane we were pretty tired upon arrival. Steve, our sponsor here in Harrogate, picked us up at the airport and it was a very scenic 1.5 hour drive from the airport to Harrogate. Just minutes from the airport it felt as if we had entered a fairytale land: gorgeous green rolling hills dotted with wildflowers, sheep and cattle grazing in the fields, ancient stone walls separating the fields, row upon row of stone houses, quaint villages with even quainter names (Summer Bridge, Burnt Yates, Glasshouses, NIdderdale, etc, etc.). Steve gave us the tour of the base where Brad will be working, we got our ID cards, had lunch at a local pub and then checked into our hotel, totally EXHAUSTED. The hotel is lovely. It's the Ashley House Hotel , actually a B&B about a 10-minute walk from the center of Harrogate. We had dinner last night at THE place in Harrogate to have fish & chips. And to round out the typical things to do while in Great Britain, we sipped some scotch in the hotel's bar last night. I had a tasty malt called Long Morn.

We had no trouble falling asleep last night and woke up this morning refreshed. After a tasty breakfast, we walked in and about the Harrogate. There is just one word to describe Harrogate: picturesque. Just about every vista, around nearly every corner, down any lane you choose you will be rewarded with a beautiful view. The town is full of beautiful stone architecture. Bright flowers lend a pleasant contrast to the stone buildings. Running through the middle of town is The Stray, a huge swath of green that has been decreed to be forever undeveloped public land. There are tons of antique stores in town as well as pubs, restaurants, cafes, tea rooms, etc. Harrogate used to be a spa town and now it's claim to fame is as a center for conventions. Well, this is just my first impression of Harrogate. I hope to get to know it and the surrounding area much better in the coming months.

Back in Maryland, after a nice visit in Ohio. We relaxed and kicked back in Canfield. Went shopping again (you'd think we were heading out to some remote outpost by the way we are stocking up on clothes and toiletires, etc.!). On Thursday, we took a drive to Kidron, Ohio, in the heart of Amish country. Every week they hold a llivestock auction there -- I held my nose and watched over the proceedings for a while. Farmers and Amish folk sat around a wooden amphitheatre inside a barn-like structure as cows were paraded in one by one. I listened as the auctioneer yodeled out the going prices, but I'll be damned if I could understand a word he said. They also hold a flea market in Kidron and I looked over the items on offer. There were many household wares and tools -- most of the stuff looked kinda junky to me, but I guess if you combed through it well, you might find some treasures. We had beautiful day on Friday (it's about time!) so we ditched the plans to go to a movie and spent the morning hiking through Mill Creek Park in Youngstown. Stopped in first at the old mill house then hiked along the banks of the creek up to the Silver Bridge. Brad kept pointing out places he used to haunt as a kid; most things have changed a lot since those days. Then we had a hearty lunch at the old B&O Station in Youngstown that has been renovated into a wonderful restaurant and bar. After lunch we went to the Arms Family Museum, an intriguing local history museum. The house was built in the early 1900s by the Arms family. It was decorated by the wife Olive Arms, whose taste is said to be inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, but ran to the eccentric in our eyes. This morning Brad, his parents and I all gathered at Joyce's place for a delicious and hearty breakfast before we hit the road. They were calling for thunder storms today so I was a bit worried about the weather, but it wasn't too bad after all. We did not encounter any thunderstorms but misty rain on and off. As we drove through the mountains we encountered some low lying clouds that were quite beautiful. It was raining full force as we hit the Baltimore Beltway. It appears we just can't shake that little rain cloud that has been following us since we arrived in the States.

We're in Ohio now at Brad's parents. It's the first time I've seen their new condo. Though I sure miss the old homestead on Tippecanoe (as I'm sure all the Siersdorfers do), the condo is cute, cozy and quite convenient. They have a nice view from the patio and are within walking distance of the grocery store, bank and library.

On Saturday, before heading out to Ohio, we celebrated Brenda's birthday with a crab feast on JL's patio. The crabs were so tasty and JoAnn made a delicious cheese cake (Vickie's recipe) for dessert. Before the party was over a terrific thunderstorm rolled through and I got some good pics of the clouds that preceeded the storm and the gorgeous rainbow that sprung up after the storm had passed.

On Sunday we hit the road and had a pleasant drive through Ohio to Columbus. We had dinner at Jayne's and all the Columbus crew were in attendance. Dinner was delish and it was fun catching up with all the news from the Columbus crew. The next day we drove to see Brad's alma mater (Ohio University) in Athens. What a nice campus -- all green and leafy. The town of Athens is very pleasant with lots of funky shops and restaurants lining the streets.

We'll hang out in Canfield for a little while before heading back to Maryland. As our days in the States dwindle down, I begin to get more and more anxious about our arrival in England. Will we like it? I sure hope so. We are still getting a good dose of English weather even in Ohio. Today it has been misty and damp and cool all day.