I'm back in Yorkshire after spending a long weekend in Oxford. I haven't had a chance to go through the Oxford photographs so have posted an "old" photo with this entry.

The photo above is the fountain at Castle Howard. The fountain is the centerpiece of a huge statuary garden, surrounded by tall hedges. While we were visiting last week, the gardeners were preparing to trim the hedges which required installing plumb lines to ensure a level top trim.

I'll be leaving in the morning to head back home and hope to have the rest of the website updated by Wednesday.

One of the sites we visited this week was Castle Howard, built in Yorkshire in the 18th Century.

Technically, it's not a castle but rather a "country house". Situated on about 1,000 acres, the estate includes lakes, gardens, temples and other buildings.

Fore those who are fans of British television, Castle Howard and its grounds are part of the scenary in the series "Brideshead Revisited".

I'll be in Oxford for the weekend and am not certain if I'll have internet access there.

Last Sunday morning we attended a "Sung Eucharist" service at Yorkminster Cathedral.

At most usual Anglican Church services, the congregation sings the hymns. However, at Yorkminster the hymns were sung by the Boys and Men Choir. Truly amazing voices! And then add in the wonderful acoustics of the cathedral itself.

Following the service, we toured the cathedral then headed out into the ancient streets of York to enjoy lunch at an outdoor pub, poke around bookstores and other shops, visit the Jorvik viking settlement museum and then ending the day walking atop the old city walls.

Tuesday began and ended with rain, but the clouds parted and the sun came out for our day trip to Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire.

Augustinian monks founded the abbey around 1154. While the abbey itself is in ruins, the attached Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert is intact and is still in use after more than 850 years.

We spent a good part of the afternoon walking (miles and miles!) through the surrounding riverside and woods.

Hello from the north of England!

It's been a bit of a whirlwind the first few days.

I left Greater Cincinnati Airport Wednesday morning and arrived at Manchester, England, on Thursday morning when my friends Ailsa and Phil collected me at the airport. I spent the rest of Thursday at their home in Wakefield, Yorkshire, attempting to adjust my internal clock to a five-hour time difference.

Friday we visited the city of Wakefield where we toured the cathedral, visited the local outdoor flea market and did a marathon grocery shopping expedition at Sainsbury's (similar to a Kroger store).

Saturday morning, Phil & I were off to Rochdale for an amateur radio rally for low-power ham radio enthusiasts. I'd attended this particular rally several times in the early 1990s and it was fun to surprise many of my friends who did not know of my plan to attend this year.

While Phil & I were in Rochdale, Ailsa was off to the train station to pick up friends Tim from Oxford, England, and Nick & Phyllis visiting from Park Forest, Illinois. The afternoon was spent in a flurry of activity in the kitchen getting things prepped for an evening BBQ.

Another friend, Debbie from Leeds, arrived and we all loaded into the car for another visit to Wakefield Cathedral and a walk around town.

Sunday was an early start to head off for the city of York where we attended one of the morning Eucharist services at Yorkminster Cathedral. After the service, we toured other parts of the Cathedral and rambled through the city itself including The Shambles, an ancient street that is mentioned in the 11th century Domesday Book. We also visited the Jorvik Museum, which recreates the 9th century Viking settlement of Jorvik at current-day York.

These first few days we enjoyed beautiful weather. We awoke Monday to a drizzly overcast morning. But our plans were to visit Castle Howard and we didn't allow the weather to dampen our enthusiasm.

Tuesday morning's weather (as I type this) is a steady rain but, again, we'll not let that interupt our plan to visit Bolton Abbey.

Photographs will be forthcoming.

I'll post another entry later today.