Off to England

                                                               


I'm going to be on vacation the next couple of weeks and will have computer access occasionally but not regularly, so the usual 5 days a week here will not be happening. I hope to be able to post once every few days so do check back.

The map above shows you where we will be for half of the time. The red area on the map is known as the East Midlands. Very close friends who are from South Africa spend the South African winters (which is now) in this part of England where one of their daughters lives. They have purchased a small house and have asked us to come over for a visit. The four of us will spend another week traveling to the Cornwall area, which is the peninsula on the far southwest corner of England. Our friends found what looks like a wonderful hotel right on the coast almost as far south as you can go. It's near Penzance which you may remember in the Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta The Pirates of Penzance.

Cornwall has been the setting for so many novels that I've read over the years. I've always wanted to go there and now I will have the opportunity to do so. Daphne DuMaurier set most of her books in that area. Stories of pirates and smugglers often took place in Cornwall. The seacoast and cliffs make the perfect background for mysteries in particular. A bestseller of many years ago that Rosamunde Pilcher wrote, titled The Shell Seekers, was set in Cornwall. One of my all-time favorite books. If you've never read it, do look at the link and read the reviews. You'll surely want to put it on your list of "To Read" books.

Robert Louis Stevenson placed Treasure Island in Cornwall. If you google the title and his name, you'll find several sites that will allow you to download the book for free.

We take three flights tomorrow going from Kansas City to Atlanta, then on to Amsterdam, and finally a commuter flight from there to Humberside, UK. Our friends will be there to pick us up and a grand reunion it will be. We met 25 years ago at a week-long bankers convention in Washington, D.C.  They have come to visit us several times, we have been to their home in South Africa a couple of times and we have met and traveled together in other countries. Between trips we are in close touch via email.

The day we arrive is also our 49th wedding anniversary and I can't think of a nicer way to celebrate the occasion.

Until the next time I'm able to post from England--ta ta!