A Rainy Day in Wales

As far as weather goes I have been super blessed. Other than sweating while sitting still for a couple days in Slovenia (although I don't like the heat I can't complain cause it was nice and sunny) I have only had about 1.5 rainy days since my arrival. One day in Ireland it was cool and "soft" as they say which means kind of misty or drizzly. And one day in Bath it rained in bits but the sun was out in between. Today I would classify as my first really rainy day because it was precipitating all day to some degree. It was a lot of fun though. We ran to catch a bus, which we missed by seconds. We could see it pulling away as we were running up to it. As a result we ended up in a cute little gift shop and had coffee while we waited an hour for the next bus.
The bus we took to Bangor, Wales took us an hour and a half. It was a long ride and when we arrived in Bangor we headed right to the "chipper" which is what they call a fish and chips joint. After we had been adequately fed we walked around town in the rain looking in little shops. The only things purchased were a tea towel and two umbrellas. We had coffee in a café and then hit the bus. We stopped at the town with the longest name which is called....

Yeah I can't pronounce it and it would have taken me 15 minutes just to type it. I'm not sure why the town's name is a phrase but it means "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St Tysilio's of the red cave." No Kidding, that's the name and that's what it means.
Then we got back on the bus and this time it was a double decker which thrilled Noa and Sandy because it was their first time on a double decker bus. It was fun. I always like riding on top myself.

Everyone is happy to be out of the rain and the kids are stoked to be on a double decker bus.

 

Noa and myself a little damp but still enjoying our day.

In the town with the name and the prized umbrellas.

 

 

A walk on the beach after we got back into town.

We had dinner and then the kids went to bed. I facetimed my family back home and could fall asleep while I'm typing. My watch just alerted me that it is midnight and I could have fallen asleep on the bus at 6 p.m. I was so tired. Not sure how the time just gets away from you here. I'm maintaining that it the sun. It doesn't go down until around 10 p.m. so it doesn't feel like it's late because the sun is still up at 9 p.m.

Yesterdays adventures should also be recorded so keep reading...
Yesterday I got up early to say good by to Luke and Abi who had leave early. I had trouble falling asleep on Tuesday night and only got about 2.5 hours of sleep. I got up at 6:30 a.m. and bid my dear friends adieu and picked up the kitchen, made my bed, packed up and Lucy picked me up to take me to the train station in Bristol. There was of course a stop at Starbucks on the way and during the ride some new-friend bonding took place. Lucy is a riot! I see us having some pretty good adventures together in the future. We exchanged phone numbers and addresses at the train station so not only are we virtual friends we are facebook officially real life friends.

The train ride was uneventful which is ok but I wish someone would have let me pray for them. Instead I ended up talking about politics, education, the state of the UK, weather in the USA, places to see in the USA, criminal law, ethics, and health insurance with a Welsh Lawyer on the train. He was funny. Upon arrival in Holyhead I was afraid that I would once again be waiting at the wrong place at the train station but I figured I'd follow the crowd and I ended up finding Noa who was with her Grandmother to pick me up. I had just about put my luggage in my room and Lea was asking me if I wanted to take a dip in the sea. She said "it isn't that cold, although I did get the kids wet suits because it isn't very warm." I was thinking if your kids are wearing wet suits I probably don't want to go in. But I put on my swim suit anyway and we walked down to the beach. I walked up to my ankles and it wasn't just cold, it was painful. I had to get out after a few seconds. Then I walked back in and repeated the cycle for about an hour. Then Lea mustered up some bravery and went in so I figured if a mom of three could brave it I probably should have a go. It was breath takingly cold but I did it. Lea quick snapped a photo to prove that I had done it. It wasn't too bad once you spent an hour warming up to it.
                      Lea making it look good.                    

Lea and Noa having a paddle.

                                          The girls looking great.  
        Dyllon being adorable.

                        Me and Noa braving the waves-ish. 

Me after the whole event.

 

Lea said the cold water was payback for making her ski on some icy trails. In my defense I didn't know the trail was going to be that icy, she knew how cold the water was. :-) It was fun anyway. We headed back to the house for some dinner and then we headed to bed again late. It has to be the late sunsets.

 

 

FYI: If you don't have any battery charge to watch movies on your computer feel free to pull it out on the train anyway. The blank black screen makes a decent mirror and when you can see yourself you tend to make funny faces so you have something to watch on a 4 hour train ride. If you put in head phones people will assume you can't hear them and wont bother to ask you why you are making funny faces at the computer.

It's A Beautiful Day

Today was absolutely perfect. But in order appreciate that last statement you need to understand that in my head perfect doesn't mean without flaw.

 I slept in again, which is so nice. After spending a winter getting up at 0400 hours and some days not getting to bed until 2200 to start it all again at 04000, it is such a blessing to be able to stay in bed past sunrise. Then I got up and took a shower. Picked up the kitchen and living room from the previous evening's revelries and headed to town. It was a short peaceful walk to Ilminster's "high street," also known as the "main street" where I come from. I saw some very cute shops and wished I could have had 200 pounds to spend because there were some nice items in the town. I also saw the old church in town. I think I spent about 20 minutes just drinking the in atmosphere at the church. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Even though there was a grave yard surrounding the church it wasn't eerie at all. It was pleasant and picturesque.

The Minster

Roses in the cemetery

While walking around town I stopped into a shop and bought some flowers for Abigail.

 

 

I love this wall of clear windows in the back of The Minster.

 

This is the front of The Minster where there are some really old graves. In my bliss of enjoying the day I neglected to stop and look at the dates, one of my favorite past times is stopping and reading headstones. I love how the grave yard in front of the church just flows into the town. Notice no fence. But it is one of the happiest feeling grave yards I've ever been in.

 

The red door is that of the Vicarage. This side of the church yard has a fence.

 

 

The back yard, or garden if you prefer.

 

 

 

The entrance to the church and obviously a important person's grave because they have a fence around it.

 

 

So after I bought my flowers I headed back down the high street. I stopped into a coffee shop for an Americano which while walking the top popped off and scalded my hand. In the heat of incident and amid the burn I managed to salvage most of the coffee to be sipped at a later moment when it had cooled. My hand was quite sore for the rest of the walk but I didn't let that stop me from enjoying my day. I then popped into Tesco for some supper supplies. I finished the walk home feeling like I was in a movie, with my flowers in one hand, a sack of groceries in the other with a fresh baguette sticking out like if you were coming home from the market in NYC or Europe somewhere. The sun was shining and although my scalded hand was protesting to holding anything, it was an absolutely glorious afternoon. When I came home I got ambitious and decided to make myself a cup of coffee, because the scalding incident didn't provide enough coffee to reach the required daily coffee intake. Now the Talmages don't have a coffee maker of any kind and I didn't even have grinds I had whole beans. So I ground them as well as I could with a mortar and pestle and then did a French press as it were and strained off the grinds using a very makeshift straining system using a cup and a paper towel. It didn't turn out half bad. I ended up scalding my previously burned hand again but it was worth it. (Don't worry Other Mum, I did bring Arbonne Hand Cream so its all better now ;-)

 

I do believe Holy Spirit has been with me the past couple days because I've been cooking. Not only have I been cooking I've been making food that I was surprised was so good. Some people came over for small group (they call it life group but it was really a small group as only three people came). It was a good discussion followed by a time of prayer and worship. God confirmed some things He showed me on Sunday which is really exciting and kind of scary, but the scarier the better. Killington ski area's motto used to be "if you aren't scared you aren't skiing." I like to say "if you aren't scared what's the point?" Where's the fun and adventure? I really enjoy my walk with God because it is challenging. Without challenges there isn't any growth and I'm a huge fan of growth.

 

On that note I need to head to bed so my cells can grow in the four hours I have before I need to get up and get going for tomorrow.

 

 



Randomness

The Eye of London at night. The building to the right of the eye was lit up with pink and purple just before I took the photo then turned blue so the whole other side of the river was blue. It was very pretty.

I have been thinking a lot recently about technology and how I've communicated with my family in the past 4 weeks. Email, Facebook, Skype, Facetime, and all of it free if you have internet connection. Also I have a British 'mobile' phone and I can call them on that. It isn't cheap mind you but I can and it is easy (once you learn the country's international dialing code). In years past, and not to long ago, the only way to communicate over seas was either a long-distance phone call or a letter one posted which ended up becoming 'air mail.' I used to remember getting air mail as a kid, ok well I never got any as a kid, but once in a while one would come in for my parents and it was always in a funny envelope and it was so cool. I used to keep the envelope after they were done with it and pretend I got air mail. I never really thought that one day I would be the one sending home the letters from another country. I sent a few postcards recently from the UK and the continent and now they just have a little sticker that says priority in about three languages (depending on the country you are mailing it from) and it goes on the letter or post card and off it goes. Definitely not as special as it used to be. However with the lost of air mail being so special comes the convenience of being able to not only talk to people at home but also to see them if you Skype or Facetime. In one day I talked to my sister twice on facetime, sent her a message on facebook and texted her repeatedly. No need to be homesick at all these days.

Chillin'

The last few days have been glorious. Nothing outstanding really happened apart from being with some incredible people. On Friday I got up and bid Marjorie adieu as she had to leave in the morning. I took my time and showered and packed up and then headed to the train. Got onto a coach at victoria and started the 4 hour bus trip to Taunton. It wasn't bad but it was tiring. My seat mate was an elderly woman who was a christian counselor with a charity. We had a lovely chat. I was picked up at the bus stop by Luketon Abi. We went for dinner at a Chinese buffet. We then went home and just visited. We went to bed around midnight which was really good for us.

On Saturday Luke had to leave early but Abi and I stayed in bed until late. Around noon I made her a cup of Starbucks Tribute Blend and I brought it to her in bed. She was in heaven. Then we sat on the bed and talked for about two hours. It was a great start to a Saturday. Then we went with Luke and a friend to the movies, oh, sorry, the "cinima to see a movie." We watched Man of Steel. It was alright. The actor who played superman was actually British but pulled off an American accent quite convincingly and he and I are the same age, practically. We went home and had some supper and then watched some Downton Abbey. We then went to bed around midnight but I later found out that Abi stayed up for a few hours working on her blog. I was up for a few hours after that because I ended up skype with my sister and my niece and nephew.

Sunday morning we got up and Abi and I once again ended up chatting instead of getting ready for church so we were a few minutes later than we originally wanted to be. Church was good and I once again was overwhelmed with the goodness of God and how blessed I am. Today is the half way point of my trip and it has been amazing. After church Lucy, Abi and myself went to Taunton to try and find a dress for Abi. Unsuccessful we went to Starbucks where we played on our computers, chatted, laughed and drank way too much coffee. In the evening we ended up watching Downton Abbey. Round about midnight people went to bed and I couldn't sleep so I ended up praying for a couple hours and skyping with my family who also prayed with me from across the pond. At approximately 0300 hours I felt sleepy so I went to bed and slept straight through until 0500 hours. I did go back to sleep and slept fitfully.

I got up at 10 this morning and started my day. It was a delightful day of just puttering. I didn't do anything spectacular and it was fantastic. I did some laundry, some ironing (I still maintain that ironing is not of God. It is an intrument of tediousness introduced by the devil. I don't know why culture has adopted a wrinkelfree shirt as buiness work attire) some dishes, walked to the market to get some supplies for dinner and then I cooked dinner. I'm not really a fan of cooking and wouldn't pick it as my top ten past times but today I really enjoyed cooking for people who have been such a blessing to me. Luke and Abi came home from work and we ate stirfry. It is probably the best stirfry I've ever made. You can probably guess what we did next. We watched Downton Abbey. This time we watched the last episode of season 3 which they had never seen before so it was...well...sad since now we have to wait for season 4 to come out. Lucy came over and we ended up giggling and chatting and watching funny youtube videos until a few minutes ago. Now things have settled down and I'm contemplating staying up to watch game 6 of the Stanly Cup Finals or go to bed and watch the highlights tomorrow.

 This is a picture from my walk to the market. The sign in the corner is advertising a "car boot sale." A car boot is a car trunk so....I guess it's like a tailgate party except they probably don't have food and they want you to buy their junk...just spit-balling here.

This is a picture of the neighborhood I'm staying in right now. It's so cute and so quaint and so English it's adorable. I'm so spoiled.

FYI: The only place I've used a clothes dryer in the past 4 weeks was at Liz's. Most people in this part of the world don't see a need for one. The air dry clothes too....eventually.



 

Back in Bromley

The last two days were very full and at the end of the day had me plum tuckered out so I figured I'd catch up on them this morning before I have to take a train to my bus.

On Wednesday we were going to go to Venice but it was stupid hot and we decided that walking around a brick city in sweltering heat by two people who easily burn wasn't the brightest of ideas so we settled for a few hours around Ljubljana before we headed to the airport at Trieste, Italy. I picked up some odds and ends and mailed a gift home because it was my baby brother's birthday. Following lunch we headed to the airport and had a few minutes to spare so we stopped at a shopping center in Italy. At the airport while waiting to check my bag Janja and I had a good discussion about God. It was really refreshing. My flight to Stansted was uneventful and I just about finished the book I started reading 6 months ago. Upon arrival I received my first UK stamp in my passport. I hired a car to take me to the hotel. This was the first time I had ever ridden in a cab. I went to the hotel. I was pretty stinking tired so I headed to bed.

My last lunch in Ljubljana

 

In the morning I got up and walked across the street to Starbucks. The cab picked me up again and took me to the airport where I caught my bus to Victoria Station in London where I got a train back to Bromley where Marjorie was so gracious to allow me to leave a few pounds worth of luggage so I wouldn't get charged overweight fees on Ryanair. When I arrived in Bromley I walked back to Marjorie's. We had lunch, caught up, I talked to my family and then went to the town to replace my watch that died the last full day in Slovenia. I found a suitable one at T.K. Maxx. Went to Starbucks (Bromley has 3 Starbucks and a slew of other coffee shops as well. After my walk back Marjorie and I had supper and we watched South Pacific for the first time. It was nice. That was followed by a two hour chat about God and how much He loves us. Again, refreshing. I fell into bed again in awe of how much I'm loved.

Nine Stamps

After 27 years of being stampless, my passport has now collected 9 stamps in 18 months. I'd say I'm redeeming the time as promised.

I'm back in Bromley, England for the night and heading to bed. I am so blessed. Good thing we don't get what we deserve. Grace is awesome.

Full Passport Page!

I have to give a shout out to the Italian, Slovene, Croatian, (and Slovene again) customs who filled up my first passport page.

Top right stamp was the first it is from the airport in Ronchi, Italy when I landed. The top left is from earlier today when I left Slovenia to visit Croatia. The bottom left is from Croatia when I left to go back to Slovenia. We had to ask and persuade the policija officer at the border to give me one when we left because he wanted to wave us through, but when we told him we had only been in the country to two hours and that I wanted one he complied. And the bottom right is from Slovenia when I re-entered the country this afternoon. I did many other things this afternoon, this was only one highlight of the day.

So after Janja worked from home today we headed out to the seaside of Slovenia. Since we were going in that direction we went to Croatia. The seaside in Croatia is very beautiful as well.

While in Croatia Janja and I went to a ritzy resort restaurant and had drinks.

 Coffee with Milk

 

 
 



View from the highway

Then we went back to Slovenia and had lunch.

 

 

This is probably the best fried chicken I've ever had. Now, my southern friends please don't get up at arms and start another war. To be fair I haven't eaten fried chicken at every place in the south but of the fried chicken I've had this is probably the best. It's also hard to be certain without a side by side taste test. But it was good enough to make a bulldog break it's chain.

 

Then we went to the salt flats where they make salt the same way that they did the medieval times. I would have thought they could have come up with a better method by now but it was still cool.

 

It was still pretty cool.

 

The neatest part is that at the end of the flats there is a spa with a sea salt swimming pool which we took a dip in. It was perfect, cooler than the air but not cold. It was amazing.

 

After our strenuous afternoon in the pool we went to Piran to see the fishing town. We had to park on the hill and then walk down to the town which was fine, but the walking back was pretty sweaty since it was fairly steep and hot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the last pictures are all from Piran. It was nice but small.

 

 

FYI: The traffic lights here warn you that they are going to turn green by turning yellow first so you can rev your engine and get ready...or something like that. I mean why else would you warn someone it is going to turn green if you don't want them to get a quick start of the light?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting

Since my time here in Slovenia I had yet to see Nina. She also came to the States with Janja so today we are going to see her. I got up this morning and spent some time in good prayer and worship. It was really good. Then Janja came home and she ate a cucumber sandwich for the first time. She liked it so much she ate a second one. Then we went out and met up with Nina. We had home made Elderflower. It was really good. Then we went out and had an iced coffee. In Slovenia they ice the coffee with ice cream and not ice. It's more like a full-on dessert than just a coffee but it was really good as well. Then Janja and I went to the Ljubljana castle to watch the sun set and then we ate dinner there cause it was late and we figured it would save time. It took an hour and a half to get a soup and some pasta so we didn't end up saving any time but the company was good and it supplied more visiting time. Now I'm really tired. Tomorrow is my last full day in Slovenia and we are going to the seaside.

Oh and while we were out today I got myself some traditional Slovene slippers approved by Janja.

Janja and Nina

What shape do you see here?

Iced Kava

 

Me in front of the city at Ljubljana Castle at sunset

FYI: In Europe you don't run the risk of losing your top sheet in the night because there isn't one. They don't use top sheets only fitted ones and then they put a duvet cover on a duvet and that serves as your top sheet. Which I prefer because then when you make the bed you have one comforter and I end up making my bed in the mornings here because it's so easy.

Sight Seeing continued

Me at the top of the stairs


Another view from the island


 
 
 
 
 

 

It's hard to capture how green the lake really is in a picture but this photo gives you a glimpse of it.

 

 

 

My seafaring friends. Janja in front, Gregor at the oars and Mojca in the bow. You can see the island tower in the background just to the left of Gregor.

 

Then came super time. Everyone had pizza and I had a traditional dish. I don't know what it's called but it was very good. It's some sort of pastry with curd and cream or so said the menu description.

 

 

 

After super we took a drive into the mountains. Well it was more than just the mountains. As we were driving and the mountains got bigger and grander and more magnificent it dawned on me and I asked "wait, are these the Alps?" and Janja says so nonchalantly "of course." As though this is an every day occurrence. I love my white mountains in New England and when we drove through the Rockies some years ago it was indeed amazing but this was different and the sight that strikes awe and wonder in someone. All I could say was "oh, wow!" and half the time I couldn't say that because it was so awesome.

 

 

 This one I took from the car window in the valley. It is amazing. Oh look, hay rows, and they pick it up by hand.

 

 

 

 

I took this on the drive up the mountain. We passed a bus coming down as we were going up and we ended up behind it on the way down as it was very slow for him to make the hairpin turns. Also the smell of clutch or breaks was the aroma on the way down as parts of the road were very steep.

 

These are known as the Julian Alps in Slovenia. We also drove through Triglav National Park. Triglav (pronounced tree-glow) is the highest point in this part of the alps at 9,396 feet.

 

 

This is where I want to build my house. I could get used to waking up to this every day.

 

Then we came home, and watched Slovenia has talent the finals. It was interesting. Slovenia has some interesting talents. Like a kid who flies a radio controlled airplane like it is dancing and some good singers and dance groups. I took a shower and was hoping to get to bed early. Which for me was midnight instead of 2 a.m. But before I could get to bed Gregor roped me into watching how a combination lock works on youtube. It was interesting. I learned that I could possibly foil a combination lock made by Master.  It was a full tiring day. I am so blessed.

 

Being in the Alps today was a dream come true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sight Seeing

I have seen so much and don't so much already I'm just worn out trying to recall all the places I've been in the past few weeks. Today was no exception. There is a town in Slovenia called Bled and it has a lake, one of only two in Slovenia, and it harbors the only island Slovenja boasts. On the island is a church and some other buildings, a café, and of course a gift shop.

We parked at the ski area and there was a car slide thingy. Gregor and Janja's sister, Mojca, went and then Janja and I went. It was a lot of fun.

          This is the cars at the top

 

 

This is the view from the top of the ski lift over looking Bled. You can't see the island it is just out of view behind the trees on the left.


We went into the town and got the worlds best cream cake. I'm not sure how it is called in Sloven, they told me all day and I tried to repeat after them but it escapes me at the moment. It was wicked good.

Mojca with the tray of cream cakes and one ice cream dish.

We walked back to the lake and took a row boat out to the island. I took a turn at the oars but Gregor did most of the hard work. On the hill just to the right of us is the Bled Castle.

On the island there are 98 stairs to get to the top.

I did make it to the top of the stairs and I do have proof but again my computer is being balky and won't load any more so if the computer cooperates There will be more pictures of today on the morrow.

It was a good day. The sun was out all day so I applied sunscreen and only got a slight amount of sun on my arms and neck which I'm ok with. I don't mind getting more freckles I just hate burns since they happen so quickly to me and after all the pain I don't even get to keep the colour, I go back to being white again so it isn't worth it, but today was good. No burn, time in a boat, good company, great food and wonderful country side and sights to see.........to be continued.