Return

We woke up early (4:30 am) yesterday morning in our dorm room in the Durham Castle Keep, it's triple windows open to a misty, clouded northern England, and returned last night to ozone-alert Indianapolis, hot and harsh -- I happened to see the ugly green j. beetles as they chewed away on one of my roses).

That is the unreality of traveling back home.

Catch-up:

We sang Sunday at St. Mark's Parish, Marske by the Sea in Yorkshire. The church was about the size of Trinity. One of our choir members grew up in the parish. They don't normally have choral evensong, and the vicar decided to do the whole Prayer Book service. Thirty minutes early, large numbers of white-haired folk walked into the church, filling every pew. They were incredibly appreciative, and expressed their gratitude for our coming to their church. The vicar said that it was highly unusual to get such a crowd on a summer Sunday afternoon.

The next morning we rode a chartered bus to Manchester and got home easily, without incident.

Our cats have been kind, but not all that excited. Franklin the dog, on the other hand, has been ecstatic and a little clingy. My grass is jungle like, but we are under a no mow request due to smog/ozone problems. Maybe this evening.

I got a very good night's sleep. It was a great trip, but it feels great to be back home.

In one of the comments, Hugh referred to an Edwardian structure on Lindisfarne island. I think he was referring to the medieval Castle on the Island, which was turned into a residence in the early 20th century. The owner used the legendary Edwardian architect Edward Lutyens with an accompanying garden by his collaborator, the great Gertrude Jekyll.

I must confess that I was within a mile of a Jekyll garden, and I didn't go see it. We literally had an hour and fifteen minutes, and decided that I couldn't see the priory, walk through the village with partner and another friend, and make a dash to see the garden, which is actually between the priory and the castle.