RHYS BOWEN: I know this is supposed to be my week to host Jungle Reds, but I am in the middle of traveling. On Thursday I flew to England, arriving on Friday. I spent Friday night with family members in Hampshire, who live in a pretty cottage. (I say cottage because that's what it looks like from the outside, but it has seven bedrooms, eight acres, a pool and tennis court, a guest house etc etc. Quite lovely.
Now I'm happily in my friends house. On Monday to drive together to Lincoln where we're meeting up with more college friends. Lincoln is famous for its Cathedral, its castle that contains one of the few copies of the Magna Carta, as well as the Bomber Command museum, But mostly we'll be chatting, eating and drinking, I expect. I'll post pictures on my Facebook page, if you're interested.
Then back to London on Thursday for an important business meeting that I may be able to tell you about later. It's a fleeting visit but very nice to be in what still feels like home to me. Do you still have a place that feels like home the moment you get there?
What lovely photos! Thank you for sharing, Rhys! My home away from home was my Aunt Nancy Sue's home. You might go for a short visit and still be chatting hours later. And you knew if you wanted, she'd make up a bed for you and cook breakfast in the morning. It was like being at my Mom's house, my grandma's house, all in one place
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to have a place like that. ! I’m trying to make my house the family center where everyone drops in
DeleteThat really is a pretty home! Were you loving the rain? It sure makes England lush and green. Have a wonderful time with your college friends Rhys.
ReplyDeleteA friend who lives near Chicago had a wonderful Arts & Crafts home, three stories of nooks and crannies, glowing woodwork, and charming murals. Roberta and I became instant best pals when we met 35 years ago, and I used to visit every year. I had my "own room" in her house, a tiny space on the 3rd floor where she kept her extensive kimono collection, and a bed covered in one of her amazing quilts. I always felt completely at home there, and we always had fun together.
Her life is totally different now, but I still feel "at home" with her, wherever we are.
P.S. it wasn't a heart attack! Myocarditis, and I am out of the hospital now, and with a few adjustments, back to our original travel plan. Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, prayers, and in one case, burning of precious rare wood. It was really scary, and took the starch out of me for a couple days.
Oh Karen. I’m so glad it wasn’t a heart attack. I’m waving to you across England.
DeleteFrom Karen: waving back!
DeleteThat’s great news, Karen!
DeleteGood news, Karen. I'm glad to hear that you are out of the hospital. Take care and enjoy the rest of your trip.
DeleteGreat news Karen. Now you enjoy your trip, regain your oomph, and get back to your garden. Did the NHS give you free drugs to go home with? I heard that medication is a part of their health care service.
DeleteKAREN: Great news! Take care and enjoy your travels.
DeleteGreat news, Karen! Enjoy Greece!!
DeleteWhat great news!!! Enjoy the rest of your travels! I’m still praying.
DeleteDebRo
So glad it wasn't a heart attack! Have a great trip!
DeleteThank goodness, Karen. I'd have been very scared. Have a good trip--it can only get better, right?
DeleteFrom Karen: yes, free drugs, free tests, free bed and meals, up until the surgical care, which we have to pay for. But travel insurance should reimburse us.
DeleteKaren, I'm so glad it wasn't a heart attack and that you will get to continue your trip. Please do everything you can to take it easy on the trip.
DeleteHope you have a lovely visit, Rhys . . . travel safely.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHave a great trip, Rhys. The photos are lovely. Enjoy your family visits.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of home, I usually think of Kansas City, Mo. I lived there from 4th grade through 11th grade and I still have friends who live there. When you go back to previous places you have lived, it is never quite the same.
ReplyDeleteI always felt most at home at Grandma B’s house and at my parents’ house. Now that they are all gone the place that feels most like home is my sister’s house. And this might seem weird, but I get that feeling of home at the cemetery where my parents, all 4 grandparents, and several other relatives are buried.
Sounds like you're in your happy place, Rhys! Fingers crossed for the important meeting.
ReplyDeleteI love where I live and my house, so I'd have to say I feel most at home right here in my own home.
What a grand cottage! I love the kitchen. Enjoy your travels! I certainly am noticing the peace and beauty and quirkiness of my home city of Portland right now. (where else would the response to the possibility of federal troops be an emergency naked bike ride?) Portland is my home and I love it here.
ReplyDeleteA naked bike ride! Love it - and Portlanders are keeping "Portland Weird". Yes, Portland is a great city.
DeleteGillian B, I saw that mentioned somewhere--the emergency naked bike ride! Portland, we are with you in spirit!! Stay strong (and naked if you wish!!).
DeleteI went to ICE to protest yesterday and there was one pasty looking woman in a bathing suit on a bicycle. I think she's training for the emergency naked bike ride.
DeleteHope it doesn't rain!
DeleteThe first thing that I thought of when I saw the renovated kitchen (after drooling at the stone in the floor) was that my grandmother’s kitchen in PEI was most of her house. Doors to the rest were closed off to maintain the heat which was generated by the be-all stove – heat, cooking, hot water, a place to warm babies (and her tired feet – just pop them in the oven!) There was a wooden table against the wall, next to the stove – this was where all food prep, and baking, and kneeding was done. There was a door to the pantry on the outside wall, so it was chilled. It held the pump, and the milk separator and the dishes – always cold. There was a worn-out cot with a worn and stinky wool blanket for naps or overnight guests or where we had to sit in a line as kids and not speak – the bed sagged so we were always slipping to the middle – “don’t touch me”. The floor was hard-wood – raw and unfinished with no shellac. It was scrubbed every Friday, and was white from wear. Here was where kids played and grew up, people walked – all the day just happened. It was a completely different kind of life, and I was so fortunate to have been in a part of it.
ReplyDeleteOther things – that giant fireplace. I would have loved to see a picture of it in its time – what size fire did they have to set to get going? How long would the timber have been and how did they get it in? Were there the metal hanging-things to hold pots/rotisseries (dead bodies – smoked before burial?)
Then the round table. We have a table similar to that with the same style curved legs, and inset top – our inset pattern is different. Family legend is that it was a gift from a English or Dutch Captain off a ship that often visited Louisbourg - early ‘20’s probably. Considered a wonderful tribute at the time. No other history, unfortunately.
As for home – I could live mostly anywhere if things/people who I love are with me and probably have. Kids marvel that we lived in a barn one summer – shades of Grammie’s kitchen with a rooster alongside! You can bake a Barbi birthday cake on a barbecue.
I love your description of your grandmother’s kitchen
DeleteThis is lovely, Rhys! So exciting! Cannot wait to hear your news… And have a wonderful time!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rhys for your wonderful trip report and photos. I feel a strong connection to England and feel like it's my second home.
ReplyDeleteRHYS: Enjoy your brief visit with friends. And I hope you can share exciting book-related news with us soon.
ReplyDeleteI am so envious that you are in England (and could have/have citizenship) because it is the place I feel at home (other than being in Maine). I have felt that way since my first extended visit 30+ years ago and that has only strengthened over time. We had the opportunity to live there as well for a bit and I still fantasize about doing it again one day. We are headed there in December and I hope to make more consistent trips when hubby retires. We spent the most time in Surrey and I often felt as if I had lived there in a past life. That is not something I have experienced since despite our extended traveling and living in various places. Thankfully I also feel at home in Maine with I am the 5th generation (paternal) to live in the general area of our current home (the 6th generation was from England). I sometimes remind myself of that when I am just running around doing random errands. That my great-great grandparents. also traveled these roads (in horse and buggies).
ReplyDeleteNow Rhys and all of you have made me homesick for England too -- went to grad school there.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThere is a rental house we use each year for a writing retreat that absolutely feels like home. Two weeks until we get to spend a few days there again. Can't wait!
How lovely. Where?
DeleteRHYS: It looks like you are in your happy place! Love the photos. Seeing the photos brings back wonderful memories of my semester living in England. I loved Scotland too. And we travelled to Wales for a day trip. According to my updated DNA, I am 26 percent English and 24 percent Scottish.
ReplyDeleteYour description of your happy place sounds very similar to my happy place. There are several happy places for me in the UK and continental Europe. It is challenging for me to pick one place.
Your cottage looks idyllic, as if it is straight out of a storybook.
Fabulous photos! Hope you are having a safe, and productive, trip.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I’m glad you’re enjoying your trip, Rhys. Have fun with your college friends. It’s great to be with people who knew you “when”.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I am so happy to hear your health news, Karen. Take care of yourself and enjoy the rest of your planned vacation. Safe travels to both of you, Karen and Rhys.
Besides where I live, when I return to the area where I grew up on the Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, I feel very much at home. My parents have been gone for over twenty years, but a few years ago I was on a train from San Francisco to San Jose. The train made a stop at the station in my hometown and I had a strong feeling that if I were to get off and go to my old house, both of them would be there, alive and well. — Pat S
That story really moves me, Pat. I don't really have a place that reminds me of my parents, but there are times when I want to share a small event with them so badly that I have to stop myself from reaching for my phone and calling them, even though they've been gone a long time too.
DeleteEnjoy your travels, Rhys. Looking forward to the pictures
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the photos, Rhys. My husband and I spent a few days in Lincoln, and I remember being very impressed with the cathedral. I feel deeply at home and welcome when I walk in the front door of the home of two college friends who married each other. I've been staying in the same room there a couple of days a year for forty years
ReplyDelete(whoops--I didn't mean to push "publish"). After 40 years of visiting them and over 50 years of knowing them, I feel entirely at home in their company, just hanging out with them.
DeleteThat’s such a wonderful feeling!
DeleteIt is! I'm lucky to have them as friends.
DeleteEnjoy your brief visit and all good wishes for book-news. Being tender because my nineteen year old beagle died two weeks ago, my immediate response to where home is -- is anyplace, mine or a friend's, where there is a canine friend. Different ones have been with me at different times, but home is where a dog curls up.
ReplyDeleteOh Maren, I’m so sorry. Nineteen! What a wonderful life you gave your pup.
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