Visit to Ohio

About week ago, I returned back from a two-week trip to Ohio. It had only been 3 months since the last time we were in Ohio, but I needed to go to see my grandpa (my mom's father), who had been taken to the hospital just a week and a half earlier. In addition, it was my grandma's (my dad's mother) 80th birthday, so I wanted to be home to actually celebrate a birthday with my family. I arrived in Columbus on Wednesday, March 10.

The day after arriving in Columbus, Mom took the day off work so we could spend the day together. I got my hair cut, we went to lunch at Red Lobster, and we did a bit of errand running.

That Friday, Mom and I drove up to North Canton together to visit grandpa, who had been transferred to a nursing home earlier in the week. His condition had improved, and he seemed to be doing alright (considering). That evening I stayed that night and the following night at my grandma's house.

On Saturday, March 13, Grandma celebrated her 80th birthday. Most of her family was able to make it, and she was "so tickled" that everyone threw her a party.

Grandma and her birthday cake

Grandma's 80th birthday cake

My brother, Jason, and his girlfriend, Angela

Grandma, my dad and me

Grandma, me, and Grandma's sister, Aunt Margie

Grandma with her husband, Bob

Aunt Margie and Uncle Roger

The following day, I went to church with Bob and Grandma, then headed over to the nursing home to spend time with Grandpa that afternoon. He seemed to be in good spirits and was looking forward to finding out whether or not he would be able to return home later in the week. My aunt Linda treated me to Olive Garden for supper, then I drove back to Columbus.

The next few days, were nice and relaxing. I did a bit of shopping, went to lunch twice with my dad and tried to go through "stuff" of mine in the bedroom. One evening Norm came home with a dozen pink roses for me! I couldn't believe it. And for no reason, either. Here is Alley modeling my roses.

Thursday afternoon, I went over to the house of a friend, who I haven't seen in at least 7 years. Amanda "White" Dickman and I met in 6th grade science class and had been friends through freshman year of college, but lost touch for no apparent reason. Since then she has gotten married to her husband Steve and has to gorgeous children, Emma (4) and Owen (1.5).

Grandpa was discharged from the nursing home the following Saturday. We drove up to North Canton to see him and celebrate my birthday...together! In the past years, since I've been living abroad, my family would get together to celebrate my birthday, order a Johnny's cake which is the best-ever birthday cake and sing me Happy Birthday... all without me actually physically being there.
Norm, Mom and I had lunch with Lisa, my step-sister, on Sunday. She is doing seemingly well, despite her health and busy-life. Overall, this was a very special trip home... such a blessing. I enjoyed so much time with my family, but of course, missed Jeff and wished he could have been there with me.

Upon my return home (in Gloucester) there was a beautiful bouquet of tulips from Jeff awaiting my arrival. Thank you, Baby!

In-Laws Visit

Robert and Beverly flew to Bristol on Saturday to visit us for the first time in Gloucester. After picking them up at the airport, we drove into Bristol to have lunch, walk around the covered market and show them a bit of the city. Our "tour" even included a visit to John Wesley's Chapel called the "New Room". John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist movement along with his brother Charles Wesley.

St Nicolas Market

Beverly in front of the entrance to John Wesley's New Room

Inside the New Room

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, then over to the Gilmore's for lunch. We then took a drive to Cirencester for a couple hours before returning to the Gilmore's for tea and then to evening service.

CirencesterCirencester church and town center

Jeff went to work Monday, while I took Robert and Beverly into Gloucester, mainly to visit the Gloucester Antique Centre. Robert made his purchases, then we went in search for a light, summer suit for Robert, which we eventually found. We also had a walk through the town and went into the Gloucester Cathedral which is absolutely massive! That was my first visit there.

Today the three of us (Jeff was at work) drove to Wotton-under-Edge which is a village on the south part of the Cotswolds towards Bristol. Robert found his way to a small antiques shop, or "junk" shop, as he calls it, and talked to the man there for a while. We eventually had lunch at a small tea room, only 5 tables! Then we were off to find another antique shop in Westerleigh, but it was closed (on a Tuesday!), so we headed to nearby Chipping Sodbury.
It was already late in the afternoon, so we met Jeff for supper at the mall half way to the airport. Robert and Beverly are now on their way back to Belfast.

Tomorrow I will be flying home to Ohio for a couple weeks.

One for Mom :o) - An oaknut in Chipping Sodbury

I also have to tell you about a total this-could-only-have-been-God moment today. As we were driving down the motorway to Wotton-under-Edge, the car started to lose power, and I couldn't accelerate when the car was going up hill. After getting off the motorway at our exit, the road went up a hill and the car came to a slow stop on the hill since it wasn't allowing me to accelerate. Still on the hill in the middle of the street with cars and lorries going around me, I put on the emergency lights and brake. Luckily I was able to get up the hill very slowly and down the next, but halfway up the second hill it almost came to a stop again. I pulled into a small road and pulled over to call Jeff, who suggested I call the roadside assistance to tow us back up to the service garage in Gloucester. Robert then suggested that he try driving it home, so we slowly drove up the road. It could have only been a mile after we stopped, just as we were entering the village, there was a service garage!!!!!!! We couldn't believe it! Robert pulled in and a couple of men came straight away to help us. After popping the hood/bonnet, doing a computer check and even taking us for a drive up the road to see what the problem was, the men determined they didn't know what was causing the car to act that way, and it was fine the rest of the day. I couldn't believe we just came across a service garage that fast when we really needed one! Thank you, God!

Minchinhampton

Bright and early this morning, I drove Jeff to the Gloucester train station. He had to catch a train at 7:00am to Preston for a meeting at Warton. After a few lazy hours this morning at home, I decided to take Elizabeth's recommendation and drive out to Minchinhampton.

Minchinhampton, "an ancient market town", is located south-east of Stroud, about 30 minutes from our house. It's very quaint and looks very "Cotswoldy," with a small village centre, a church and cottages lining the streets. After walking up a few of the streets from the centre, I found a small table at The Kitchen tea room. The place was packed, not only with guests, but with charm and baked goods. I ordered a cappuccino and a sausage sandwich, made with locally-produced chipolatas - thin, breakfast-style sausages.

I also managed to finally finish a book on George Mueller (1805-1898), a German-born, Christian evangelist who opened and maintained numerous children's homes in Bristol. He relied solely on God's provision to support the children, staff and homes. His life is a fine testimony of the Lord's love and provision for all of His children.

Early signs of Spring!
A cross-shaped patch of crocuses in a church yard

The war memorial at the centre of the village

Cottages up one of the side roads

The Market House (left) and the village centre

A chipolata sandwich served on very fresh brown,
seedy bread and a cappuccino at The Kitchen tea room

Jacket Potatoes

One of the lovliest, yummiest, coziest meals is a simple jacket/baked potato. They can be topped with all sorts of toppings: butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese, broccoli, chili, tuna and mayo, prawn and mayo, or simple baked beans. Jacket potatoes, though easy to make, do require a bit of time to bake.
Jacket Potatoes
One large potato per person.

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
2. Wash potatoes and leave slightly damp. Sprinkle salt over the skin to make the outside crispy. You can also rub the skin with olive oil before salting to make it even browner, but I usually skip this step.
3. Place on a baking sheet and pop in pre-heated oven.
4. Bake for 1 hr. to 1hr. 15 min., or until the center is soft when a knife is inserted.
5. Cut open, but be careful of the steam!
6. Top with toppings of choice... enjoy!

Stow-on-the-Wold

Since the sun was shining and I was feeling a bit cooped up in the house, we decided to explore the Cotswolds around us. We drove out to Stow-on-the-Wold, which is about a 40-minute drive northeast from our house.

The Cotswold Visitors Guide says about Stow-on-the-Wold: "In the north Cotswolds, all roads seem to lead to the hill-top town of Stow - the ancient Jurassic Way and the Salt Way met here and an Iron Age fort was built c.700 BC. The Roman Fosse Way from Cirencester to Leicester passes through Stow, although the town is mostly off to on side, reflecting its establishment as another of the planned market towns for which the Cotswolds is renowned. The town square is large and impressive (it has know markets with over 20,000 sheep crowded there), with various houses, shops and inns around the edge, all built in the local stone. The medieval cross is a reminder of the market's heyday - placed to encourage traders to do business fairly under the sight of God. Stow had a special importance in the English Civil War; it was close by, at Donnington, that the last battle was fought in March 1646. St Edward's Church in the town centre was used as a prison for the defeated Royalist troops. At nearly 800ft, Stow is the highest of the Cotswold towns. These days Stow is famous as a centre for the antiques trade."

Since we arrived at about lunchtime, we ate lunch in "The Old Bakery Tearoom", which is owned by a Christian family, not that we knew that until we sat down and read their testimony, which was printed in a leaflet at each table. We each had a sandwich (Jeff: bacon and Stilton; me: homemade Coronation chicken) and carrot, coriander and sweet potato soup.

After lunch we just perused the little shops around the village, mostly food shops, bakeries and gifts. We saw a fantastic looking caramel slice (Millionaire's bar), bought it and shared it while sitting on a bench in the town centre enjoying the sunshine.

The village centre

The cross that would remind the traders to trade fairly

Cute shops

About to enjoy the caramel square

Enjoying the caramel square and the sunshine

Since it was only 3pm when our parking ticket expired at Stow-on-the-Wold, we drove down the road about 10 minutes to Bourton-on-the-Water, which is known as the "Venice of the Cotswolds". We only stayed there an hour, just long enough to have a quick stroll through the village and have a cream tea (of course!).

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is just catching on in the UK; stores sell roses and boxes of chocolates and advertise for "Dinner for Two" meals, but it's really not a big holiday. That doesn't matter, though. Jeff and I had a simple Valentine's Day lunch at home yesterday. Jeff requested meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn for lunch. Plus, I made him a special treat... a Black Forest Cake.

Mittersill and Munich

Jeff and I got back from Germany on Friday evening, well technically Saturday morning at 2:30 after having sat in the airplane on the tarmac in Munich for 2 hours until the snow stopped falling. We enjoyed 6 days in Austria and 3 days in Munich. Our former church, MICC, was having its annual ski retreat in Mittersill, Austria from Thursday, January 21 through Sunday, January 24, and we decided to join them!

The view of Mittersill from the Schloβ
Schloβ Mittersill
Schloβ Mittersill

On Thursday, Jeff and I flew from Birmingham to Munich, where we met up with David and Sharon Palmer in the luggage claim. The 4 of us picked up the hire car, made a quick trip up to Manching, then drove 3 hours to Schloβ Mittersill. There was only a small group of friends there that evening, but that made it possible to catch up with them before the bigger group arrived the following evening.

On Friday, Jeff and David hit the slopes with a few others. Sharon and I hung out most of the day with other friends who weren't skiing (however, they were brave enough to have lessons on Saturday). Our group walked went straight for the recommended café and had coffee. Sharon and I had our much anticipated Latte Macchiatos. A few others had a hot chocolate which I then made sure to go back for on Saturday. Afterward, we walked around the town a bit, threw a few snow balls, looked inside a church, then decided it was time for lunch. We then returned to the Schloβ and later I picked up Jeff, David and Brian from skiing.

Group at the café: Sharon, Tabitha, Emma, David, Arthur and Jeffry (from left).

Glenn, David, Jeff and Brian

On Saturday, the Hendersons and Donnachies came down for the day. We were so glad to have the chance to see them. While David and Jeff and the others were off skiing, another group of us went down into town again and... guess what... ate lunch and went to the café. This time I had the delicious hot chocolate.

Delicious hot chocolate: warm, frothed milk with dark chocolate to stir in and whipped cream to grace the top.

Steve pouring his Weiβbier

Robin, Betsy and Bron at lunch
Ewan and Masha Donnachie at lunch

Saturday afternoon, the non-skiers went on a sleigh ride! It was heaps of fun. The 9 of us crammed into a sleigh and were pulled around for about 50 minutes. Since Bron was on the sleigh next to me, we sang numerous songs together. Did anyone else mind? Well, I don't think so. They should know us by now that if the two of us are together, there will be singing. I think they would have been more concerned if we were just sitting there admiring the view.

Bron and me before the sleigh ride.

Piling into the sleigh.

Steve and Robin Henderson

Bron and me having a great time on the sleigh

View from the sleigh.

Saturday evening Jeff, a.k.a. "The Quiz Master", headed the group (about 45 people) in a quiz he put together. He does this every year at the ski retreat, but this was the first time I got to experience this "fun" evening. The large group divided into 5 groups and answered 60 questions about the Bible, America, science and general knowledge. The funny thing is, I've not really seen my husband act this way before... very strictly! "If they've only put one name down, NO POINTS!" "If there are more than two answers written down, NO POINTS!" "If the answer is incomplete, NO POINTS!" Very harsh. It was quite funny how many people took it so seriously.

Sunday most people headed back to Munich, but we stayed in Austria until Tuesday. Sharon and I dropped off Jeff and David to go skiing and then continued up the road to St. Johann. Our task was to find a pension (B&B) to stay at for a couple nights. We asked the lady in the Information office to find us a couple of rooms, which she did, then "exhausted" we went straight to the café across the street to have a slice of cake and a latte macchiato... does it really matter that it was only 10:45? After a long sit in the café, we drove to the pension, unloaded the car and pet their cute kitty. Just the "usual" the rest of the day: picked up David and Jeff from Scheffau (SkiWelt) and went to dinner at a pizzeria in St. Johann.

View from our room at the pension.
(Jeff's not mad at all, though he looks like it in the picture!)

Monday, again the boys went skiing, but this time in St. Johann. Sharon and I drove an hour to Zell am See. As we were driving there, we saw hot air balloons rising above the peaks of the mountains. There were so many! We were able to get a great view of them from the lake. Of course, though this was closely followed by a trip to a café for a latte macchiato and a Krapfen. After a perusal around a large gift shop, we headed to the south part of the city, ate a quick lunch, and drove back to pick up our husbands.

View of Zell am See

Tuesday, Jeff and David skied at Scheffau again. It had snowed quite heavily during the night, so they were quite excited about "fresh powder". Sharon and I had our morning coffee then took a nice walk around the village for about an hour. For lunch, Sharon and I ate soup and a Germknodel - a large steamed dumpling topped with ground poppy seeds and sugar, and served with melted butter - it's a very typical Alpine "delicacy".

Germknodel

Around 2:00pm, Jeff and David said "buh, bye" to the slopes, and the four of us headed up the road to Munich. After David and Sharon checked into their hotel, we drove up to Neufahrn, just north of Munich, to Dan and Iara Pinkney's home, where Jeff and I stayed. We caught up with them for a couple of hours, then met with Brian and Karen Bland at an Indian Restaurant nearby. Brian is recovering well after a heart attack he suffered in September.

On Wednesday, we drove into Munich and met Kari Jones at Woerner's Cafe at Marienplatz. We enjoyed yummy hot chocolate and cake there, then went on a walk to Odeonsplatz and through the Hof Garten. It was sooo cold that day! As we were walking around, my face got so cold that it was hard for me to talk... imagine that!


That evening we joined our former small group at Thomas and Angelika Berber's home. It was nice to get to put names (from the prayer request emails) to faces as well as spend a little more time with friends.

Thursday, Jeff and I drove to Olching, just west of Munich, to visit the Bolme family - Erik, Amanda, Kai (3 yrs. old) and Josiah (6 months old). Kai loved the Cars activity magazine we brought him from England. We thoroughly enjoyed spending the afternoon with them talking and playing Candy Land and Jenga.


Thursday evening, we met up with friends at Vapiano near Marienplatz. This was the first chance I had to see Sarah Robinson again, since she was unable to make it to the ski retreat. Also, David Hepler, Sarah and I celebrated our 6-year anniversary - we met 6 years ago almost to the day and became instant friends.
Friday, we packed up the car and drove over to the Sanday's home, just a few streets over from the Pinkney's, to see Michelle and Oliver Sanday. Paul, Jeff's former colleague, was at work, though. Again, it was really nice to catch up and see Oliver so grown up... he can feed himself!


Our time at the ski retreat and in Munich was very nice, but I'm glad to be living in England now. Jeff wouldn't mind having been able to live in Munich longer though, but he says he's happy living anywhere.