Ginger Takes A Nap.....Again

Usually Ginger runs and hides as soon as I whip out my camera. Today I caught him napping and crept up as close as I could and began snapping pics. But who was I kidding. He knew I was there all along and obviously gave his consent for me to take his picture. At least this time.

He is doing really well on his medication. His previous symptoms have disappeared (except for some occasional bad litter pan habits) and he appears to be his normal cute and cuddly self again. Right now he is perched between me and the keyboard, purring and occasionally nudging me, trying to convince me to give him a treat. Yep. He's back to normal alright.

Flasby Fell

Today was a record breaker...the warmest day ever in October in Great Britain (at least since they began keeping records in 1880). I went hiking today just north of Skipton and it was apparent that I and my fellow ramblers were not quite trusting of the weather forecasts we had tuned in to this morning. We all set out with light jackets and windbreakers on. Before an hour had passed by we were stripping off our outer garments and stuffing them in backpacks or wrapping them round our waists. We hiked from a pub called the Craven Heifer Inn towards Flasby Fell. I chuckled at the name "Craven Heifer" -- what, is it a "cowardly" cow? But, as it turns out, Craven is a local government district centered around Skipton. The word Craven derives from the Welsh word "craf" which means garlic. It seems in the middle ages the Skipton area was known for its wild garlic. But I was concerned when I heard the word "fell." I knew then I was in for a challenge. The word "fell" means a treelees mountain landscape shaped by glaciers. And sure enough, we did a fair amount of climbing today. It was the most strenuous hike I think I've been on yet. Oh, but the weather really made it all worthwhile. The view from atop Flasby Fell was magnificent. We got a little bit lost after we left the Fell and ended up backtracking and climbing even more slopes. We returned to the Craven Heifer around 2 p.m. tired, thirsty and hungry. Luckily they serve food all day. It was nice enough to sit outside. The food was great, the staff friendly and accommodating and they served some of the very best chips I've ever had in the UK.

There's A Place...

PIER HEAD, LIVERPOOL, FROM ALBERT DOCK


MENDIPS, BOYHOOD HOME OF JOHN LENNON


20 FORTHLIN ROAD, BOYHOOD HOME OF PAUL MCCARTNEY

I realized a dream of a lifetime yesterday...well, actually, the dream of my preteen years when I was mad about the Beatles and thought how cool it would be to visit Liverpool, hometown of the fab four. I finally made it. I caught the 7:28 a.m. train out of Harrogate, changed trains at Leeds and pulled into Liverpool Lime Street station around 10 a.m. I had been studying maps of Liverpool I had found on the internet and made my way easily to the tourist info center near the station. It was there that I picked up my tickets for the National Trust tour of the boyhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I had about an hour to kill before meeting the minibus for the tour so I headed out in search of a cafe for some tea and a scone. By the time I was seated for my mid-morning treat I had only 20 minutes left before the appointed time to meet the mini bus. I wolfed down my tea and scones and headed off. Leave it to me to get lost finding my way to the minibus. I took a wrong turn somewhere and saw no sign of the tour bus. I began to panic, thinking I'd miss the bus. I ran into the lobby of the Marriott hotel, showed the map to the front desk clerk who was able to set me on the right course. I made it to the bus with about five minutes to spare.

A 20-minute ride from the Liverpool city center brought us to Mendips om Menlove Avenue, the home where John Lennon lived from 1945-63 with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George. I had been prepared for the experience having watched a special about the National Trust opening Mendips to the public and having recently read excerpts from Cynthia Lennon's recent book about John so I wasn't surprised by the quiet leafy residential area and the cute little semi-detached house. The National Trust conducted research with John's family members to furnish and decorate the house the way it would have looked while John grew up there during the late 40s/early 50s. Only two pieces of furniture from John's time are in the house.

I loved the house. It had such a warm cozy feel to it. TRhe kitchen had black and white floor tiles while the walls were bright turquoise and cream. The leaded glass windows looked out onto a trim garden with trees in their fall foliage. There were some lovely oak furnishings, built-in bookshelves (quite an innovation for those times in that area) and art deco fireplace fixtures. One room had been turned into a photo gallery with photos by Astrid Kirchherr from the early days in Hamburg. There was a photo album full of family photos.

The time flew by so quickly. We weren't allowed to take photos indoors but had a few minutes for some outdoor pics. I managed to take a few snaps before the minibus arrived to take us to our next destination: 20 Forthlin Road, Paul McCartney's boyhood home.

What a difference from Mendips! The house on Forthlin Road is a terraced council house (in American-English that means rowhouse public housing). The house was also furnished and decorated to the late 40s/early 50s time period. None of the furnishings were original but care had obviously been taken to recreate the house to its original appearance. 20 Forthlin Road definitely has a more plain and threadbare look to it but the house was nonetheless cozy.

In each room photos by Mike McCartney, Paul's younger brother, were on display. The photos were taken in the rooms they were displayed in so you could see John standing in the very kitchen you were standing in, making tea. The lounge had been decorated with three different kinds of wallpaper -- on one wall was the more expensive Japanese-motif wallpaper while the other walls were plastered with a cheaper variety. Again, we weren't allowed to take photos indoors and had just a few moments for photos outdoors before being whisked away by the minibus.

Once back in the city center I made my way over to Mathew Street in what is now known as the Cavern District. I took a peek at the Cavern Club -- it is a rebuilt version of the original club on the original site using the original bricks. It is now a pub and live music venue. From there I strolled down to the waterfront and was duly impressed by the "three graces" at Pier Head: The Royal Liver building, the Port of Liverpool building and the Cunard building. I walked over to Albert Dock, an impressive refurbished dockside warehouse that now houses several museums, cafes, restaurants and shops. I really only had time for one museum so I chose Tate Liverpool. I breezed through a manageable collection of 19th- and 20th-century art before wending my way back to Lime Street station.

I wasn't too sad to leave Liverpool...I'll be back in about a month's time when my sister JoAnn comes to visit and the two of us will spend a day there.

A Simply Wonderful Day

It was my birthday yesterday and I had a wonderful day from start to finish. I woke up to flowers from my hubby who also gave me a gift certificate for an Indian head massage at the newly refurbished Turkish Baths in Harrogate. I opened my other gifts over breakfast: an intriguing book of photographs, "Sitting in China" from Domenica and a lovely earring and necklace set from JoAnn. I went to my book club in the morning where we had a lively discussion of our latest book, "The Fencing Master". I didn't let on that it was my birthday as I didn't want anyone to make a fuss over me. Upon returning home my neighbor called me over, telling me she had a wonderful surprise for me. And wonderful it was: another bouquet of flowers sent by Brenda. Checking my email, I heard from a friend in Germany who I haven't heard from in a long time and it was great to reconnect. Brad said he would take me out to dinner wherever I wanted to go. I chose The Royal Oak Inn in Dacre Banks. I've always wanted to go out to dinner in one of those lovely traditional inns here in Yorkshire and I've heard many nice things about the Royal Oak. The only glitch was that there was a large function going on at the inn that evening and our service was a tad slow. The inn itself was charming and the food good (but not great). We decided to skip dessert because of the slow service, but Brad promised me dessert from Bettys tonight. So I finally got a chance to try out Bettys Banana Toffee Pancakes with ice cream. Scrumptious! And surprisingly light as the pancakes were actually very thin crepes.

A Strenuous Hike And A Night At The Circus

Yesterday the Thursday Ramblers went on the Dacre Walls Walk. It's the third time I've hiked this trail and I always love it for the history involved: hundred-year-old drystone walls, a 12th-century packhorse bridge and historic drystone wall features. On today's hike we encountered lots of cows of different breeds. We even passed a cow that had obviously just given birth: the little calf was curled up at mama's feet and mama still had the afterbirth hanging out. Gross, but fascinating. This hike is also one of the more strenuous; I'm out of shape and was aching and tired by the time we sat down to lunch at the Wellington Pub. I had several errands to run after lunch and finally collapsed into the armchair at home around 3:30 p.m.

The Chinese State Circus is in town and Brad and I wanted to catch one of the performances. One of my other errands for the afternoon was to walk over to the box office and buy tickets for the show last night. So, after my brief rest I hobbled on over to the box office. The circus is set up right on the Stray near Oatlands Drive -- just a 10-minute walk from our house. We had decided to splurge on ringside seats so I was fully prepared to pay the full price of £25 each for our tickets. The woman at the ticket window asked if I had any "vouchers" ("coupons" to us Americans). I told her I didn't know anything about vouchers. She said I could get a voucher for half off the ticket price at any of the stores in town that displayed their poster. I knew there were some such establishments just a stroll away...so I hoofed it on over towards Station Parade, picked up my vouchers, went back to the ticket office and got great ringside seats for half-price.

The show was fabulous! Wonderful feats of dexterity. Plenty of spectacle: a Chinese lion dance, a dragon dance, Peking Opera. Perfoming with the circus were the Shaolin Warriors performing martial arts that surely must have been inspiration for movies like "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon". But my favorite performers were the acrobats. I winced as I saw them perform their routines. There I was nursing my sore muscles and there they were bouncing all over the place, contorting their bodies effortlessly and beyond belief.