Quotography/Friendship

"Friendship is certainly the finest balm."
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Actually young Catherine Moreland says "friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love" when she fails to see her Mr. Tilney at the Pump Room in Bath. Instead, she meets a new friend who promises to be very amusing and will help take her mind off Mr. Tilney. In the modern age where words are often taken out of context --often with disastrous results--Jane's words are true in both quotes. My good friend and excellent needlewoman Sally embroidered this sampler for me because I'm such a fan of Jane Austen.

For more Monday quotography be sure to check out Kelly at Living Life in PA .

Friendship Stories

It hardly seems possible, but three weeks ago I lost a dear friend to an untimely and unexpected death. For over 35 years Lydia Wells and I were the best of friends. As with many friends, we started out as work colleagues--for us in the Kentucky Department of Education. For a time we even shared an office, which worked out great. Lydia Wells was the mathematician and technology pioneer. I was the English major, writer and grammarian. She taught me math skills that I hadn't learned in high school and college and provided my first intro to computers and technology. I taught her to write letters and presentations that wouldn't put listeners or readers to sleep with boring education jargon. We kept up with this reciprocal learning outside the workplace as well. (This photo of us is from 2002, Lydia on the right. We're planning a trip to France.)

Since Lydia Wells' funeral, three close friends have been trying to carry out her last wishes. Those of you who knew her would not be surprised to learn that she had specific written directives for settling her affairs. The main thing was protecting her privacy and not being tacky with the way things were done--and, most importantly, finding a good home for her two beloved cats, Olive and Edith Ann. To that end, the Three Amigos, have been following her directions while sorting though her belongings. Along the way, we have found things that have made us laugh and cry as we remembered all the good times we had together. Yesterday I was thrilled to find this blast from the past, Lydia Wells' hand embroidered cutoffs from the 1960s hippie days! I remember her wearing these cutoffs--once for a formal dinner where she made individual shrimp molds and eclairs for dessert--all served on the fine family china and silver. The honored guest for this dinner was my new border collie puppy Zack.

Lydia Wells added to her "wearable art" as she developed new interests--flower gardening, palm trees for Jimmy Buffet and visits to Florida, animals that she loved, and a small airplane that she added when she got her amateur pilots license (which explains her Kittyhawk blogname--before that it was her CB moniker!). These cutoffs reminded me of another jeans related story. Lydia Wells was a great fancy needleworker, but she wasn't very handy with more pedestrian sewing like mending. Once she prepared my tax returns and I mended some jeans for her in return. As luck would have it, I got audited that year. So, like any good accountant, she went with me to the hearing. When the auditor asked if I'd paid her for her services. She said "Yes, she mended these jeans!" He burst out laughing much to the surprise of others in the office. I guess there's not much laughing at the IRS office?

I miss Lydia Wells so much, as do her many other close friends. She was passionate about many things--learning something new or challenging projects, helping animals and people, protecting the environment. She loved beauty in art and her home, travel, music, plays, and reading. I am blessed to have her as a friend and companion for these many years. Thanks for the memories, Lydia Wells.

Giving Thanks

A lot to be thankful for today-health, home, nature's beauty,and good friends. Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog friends. I appreciate and enjoy you so much.

Fun Monday - Virtual Friendships

Surprise! Maraposa over at Maraposa Tales is making an effort to revive the Fun Monday meme. Earlier in the summer we'd almost given it a decent burial because participation had really dropped off, people didn't have time or interest to host, or they wanted to post on topics that they were personally interested in instead of being assigned a topic. But thanks to Maraposa's setting some topics for August we can play again if we're missing our Fun Monday friends. I'm glad.

This week's Fun Monday topic is "friendships", which suits me just fine because I've wanted to write a post about the many virtual friends I've found through blogging, and, of late, face booking--no tweeting yet because my life doesn't move that fast! I've been retired well and happy now for almost five years. A great part of my daily entertainment and contentment comes from Internet friendships with people all over the world. About five years ago I started this blog and have kept it going almost non-stop since. Then a few months ago I signed on to Facebook and am still learning how to communicate with friends and acquaintances at warp speed.

In the real world I keep my circle of true friends to about five people--or the number that I can count on one hand. Or, maybe tops two hands! This is about the right number for a borderline hermit who gets the bends at the thought of socializing too much. On the other hand, I'm very interested in people--what they're thinking, reading, doing, living out their daily lives. I'm also very interested in the antics of their dogs. Blogging and face booking has helped me find many kindred souls to "e-chat" with throughout the week. Virtual friendships keep me engaged with the world and I appreciate all these friends.

So, on a given day, you'll find me at the computer with Willie lying under my desk. He's been lobbying to get his own "Tailbook" page, but so far I've kept him at bay with regular features starring him on this blog and my own facebook page. It doesn't take long to check in with all my virtual friends and see what they're up to. I try to leave comments to let them know that I've been visiting and thinking of them. And, I'm always delighted when they stop by my place. All that without having to get dressed or move the car out of the driveway!

So, before you leave your computer this Monday, be sure to go over to Maraposa's place for the list of Fun Monday players.

(Cartoon credit: Mr. Parisi, is it okay if I use yours? All this copyright stuff is rather confusing!)

Weekend Serendipity

Serendipity--n the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. Chick road trip. Fall scenery. Craft shopping. Bikers. Good food, artfully prepared. Art. Alice in Wonderland acrobatics. And Robin Hood. All these things made up this past rather serendipitous weekend.

Early Friday morning I met up with five friends for a day's outing to our favorite place, Nashville, Indiana. We rarely make these trip anymore because three of our group are still working. For now anyway, as they'll all be retiring by the end of the year. But for this first almost-fall weekend they decided to sacrifice vacation pay for our favorite chick road trip. So, we piled in two cars (in case someone found a great bargain that required plenty of trunk space) and headed across the Ohio River from Louisville for the two hour drive north to beautiful Brown County Indiana, which is at its best in the fall of the year when the hills and countryside are ablaze with harvest colors. (There won't be any photographs of the chicks as they get a bit tired of my using their mugs as blog fodder.)

Nashville, Indiana is home for many artists, and no wonder that so many are drawn to this small town when you see the natural beauty of the landscape all around. There's painters, potters, glass and leather artists. On the one main street that runs through town, the shops are filled with their art. and, as you might suspect, there's plenty of crafty, kitchy stuff that none of us need, but we don't resist when on a chick road trip. Example: I bought the perfect basket for my new collection of Sharpie ultra fine pens (including the new cafe colors of mocha, hibiscus tea, pomegranate grenade, blueberry, and earl grey), an antiqued tin tray and file folders decorated with travel reminders, and a very satisfactory reading lamp. J-1 gave in to a bright red purse in a great poochey shape that she didn't need, but loved. J-2 snagged some bright orange sandals with a rhinestone toe ring for wintering in Florida. S bought a pink "Life is Good" mug for morning coffee on the deck when she retires in just over a month.

We paired off for shopping to maximize our time, arranging to meet back at the Artist Colony Inn for lunch out on the front porch where we could watch the parade of shoppers up and down the main street. And one bonus for the day, we shared the town with a biker's club which was riding in Brown County for the weekend. We had many laughs about the lengths we might be willing to go to to get a ride on a Harley--leather in unexpected places, more adventurous haircuts, torn jeans and form fitting tops, even a few tasteful "tats" for the right offer! :-) We timed our drive home just so we could inch back across the Ohio River in evening rush hour traffic. No worries, just gave us more time to catch up on all the subjects that may come up on a chick road trip.


Saturday serendipity was much different, but shared a common element--good friends getting together to have fun. This time it was with another set of friends and our mission was to help open the 2009-10 play season at Actor's Theater. We're so lucky in Louisville to have one of the best regional theaters in the south. The plays are original, award-winning (as in Tony), and affordable. The theater itself is a beautiful example of Greek architecture , as you can see from this domed ceiling in the lobby and is on the historic register for Louisville.

The season opener was Lookingglass Alice, a crowd pleaser for the whole family. I love seeing little kids in their "play-going" clothes and teen and college groups dressed in their own idea of what cool artsy people wear--all mixed in with the more staid playgoers like my group who have their season tickets and the same seats every year. Lookingglass Alice was described as "an acrobatic adaptation of a beloved classic. . .part Cirque du Soleil, part Victorian storybook. . ." It was great fun to watch Alice soaring far above the activity on the stage, thrilling young and old with her acrobatics as she learns the secrets of growing up from a lively cast of characters. It just cracked me up when the kids in the audience broken out in spontaneous giggles at the antics of all Alice's "teachers."

After the play we checked out a hip, new restaurant that's just opened in a former art gallery in downtown Louisville. The White Oak is one of the new partnerships that are springing up all over the country between chefs and regional farmers. The farm-to-table movement, such as we enjoyed at White Oak, lets availability of local produce and meats determine the menu. We had down home southern dishes with a light touch. Vegetables plates looked like an artist's palette and, according to my dining partners, tasted wonderful. I had fried banana peppers and chicken with one perfect dumpling. Nothing like what my mother made for Sunday dinner, but delicious.


And then to round out a great weekend, I was home in time to watch the premiere episode of BBC's Robin Hood. I'd been impatiently waiting for the show to get to our side of the pond, having to be contented with brief scenes on YouTube. Will Robin continue to fight for the poor of Nottingham? Will he get revenge for the wicked Guy of Gisborne's murder of Maid Marian in the Holy Land? Only the next 12 episodes will tell the tale. . .

(Image credits: Google Brown County tourism, Actor's Theater, The White Oak, BBC Robin Hood.)

Harem Cookout

(Celebrating independence is the theme for this week's Fun Monday. Grace, our host over at Mama Rehema's , asks us to share how we observe our country's Independence Day. That's July 4th in the U.S. This year was a special one, a Cookout for the Harem, prepared by the Sultan himself.)

On the right is the Grilling Sultan, called Laddio in less formal situations. He has just recently upgraded his deck and was most eager to entertain his harem of six middle-aged women with a patriotic cookout. His chief assistant is Hallie the Pit Bull and sister of my own boy Willie. In the photo above Hallie is checking to be sure everyone will have their drinks of choice properly iced down.

Sally, the Number One Wife, is the only married member of this group of long time friends. Therefore, she very generously shares the Sultan with her friends--we call ourselves Laddio's Harem. He takes us out to dinner and on rare occasions is loaned out to "screw" for us--that is, putting up window boxes, curtain rods, etc. Here's the benevolent Sultan relaxing with his harem while the brats and burgers grill. As you can see, he enjoys his role:
How lucky we are in these friendships of over 30 years. All started by working for the same company for all these years. I'm the late-comer to this group and that was over 20 years ago. When we're together, I look at each of them and wonder how we've stayed friends for so long. We are so different. There's Z the social animal, J the witty and smart geek squad, S the hard-working romantic and Sally my heart friend and partner in many adventures. We don't necessarily share the same interests. In fact, sometimes we don't even understand what the other is talking about, but there's a glue that melds us together. It's is the experiences of a lifetime--work, relationships, family joys and troubles, illness, dog love, adventures.

So Friday night we sat out on the deck until almost 10:30 pm. We ate brats and burgers with all the trimmings prepared by our Sultan. And, after some trial and error and much needed direction from Hallie on how to get the ice cream maker cranking, we finished off the evening with homemade strawberry ice cream under the summer's night sky.

After I got home I read the ending to the last work of the Irish journalist and writer, Nuala O'Faolain, before her untimely death in 2008. In Best Love, Rosie Nuala writes of the challenges of late middle-age and how many of our support systems fail us in our later years. One thing we can always count on though is friendship in its many forms. Here's what Rose sees in her motley crew of friends at her own birthday celebration:

"The breeze was blowing the hair on all five heads in the same direction--so that you'd think, to look at them, that they belonged together: that they were all in the same little gang. But I knew how many hesitations there were between them--and between me and them. And it made me like them even more: that I knew how every one of them found it hard to get life right, and still they were willing to make a celebration, still they were generous. . .Yet I was moved by our middle-aged selves much more than if we had been young. It seemed a wonderful thing that we had come out of our separate lives and gathered on the top of a ridge for no reason but that we were friends." p. 368, Best Love, Rosie by Nuala O'Faolain

So, there you have it, Grace. My independence day celebration--good food, friends and a reminder of how precious the role played by each of these people in my middle-aged life. Now be sure to check out other Fun Monday celebrations. I suspect they'll be similar to mine.

My Mr. Darcy

Over the past couple of weeks I have been so caught up in the PBS production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Sure, I read Austen in high school and college English classes--or maybe I just did the Cliff Notes. None were memorable enough to make me even want to see any of the Austen films or delve deeper into her writings. PBS's Pride and Prejudice has changed all that. The film has touched my heart because it reminds me that long ago I had my own Mr. Darcy.

Fitzwilliam Darcy, played by Colin Firth, is a man in conflict. From their first meeting he admires and eventually grows to love the beautiful and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet, played by Jennifer Ehle. This regard for her increases despite his distaste for her coarse, grasping mother, silly sisters, and weak father. Elizabeth is proud, but cleared-eyed when it comes to her family's shortcomings. She sees what they are doing to diminish the family's oh so important social status in an age when rank and reputation was everything. She warns her father that he must check the behavior of her younger sisters before lasting damage is done to the family. In this concern she is wise beyond her years. Sadly, her father's failures to rein in his daughters and challenge his wife almost doom the relationship between Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet.

That relationship had a rocky beginning. Mr. Darcy was distant and proud in his interactions with Elizabeth, although he was impressed with her beauty, intelligence, and social conduct. Their exchanges were between equals. When Mr. Darcy could no longer keep quiet about his feelings and burst into the Bennet's home to propose to Elizabeth it was bad. He essentially told her that neither she nor her family was worth his attention, but he must marry her anyway. Miss Bennet, to her credit, told him to get lost and quit interfering with her family. . .

My Mr. Darcy was complicating my life over 40 years ago. I was 20 years old and a college sophomore when I met him. Like Austen's Darcy, Ed was a dark-haired, handsome man. He was no Colin Firth, but he did share some of Mr. Darcy's more maddening characteristics--distant, proud, judgmental. I, on the other hand, had a definite streak of Miss Bennet in me.

Ed and I were both English majors. He was a year ahead of me in college. We were in classes together, studied together and generally hung out for quite some time. We had great discussions and shared the same sarcastic wit. Neither of us was very easy with the whole dating ritual.

Our living arrangements complicated the relationship even more. Ed lived on campus during the week and went home every weekend--a weekend warrior--to a doting family of his mother and several sisters. I lived off campus with a young family, earning money for college expenses by being a mother's helper. I had a wonderful life, but it was hard to be a part of the college scene without staying on campus.

So, Ed and I attended classes together, helped each other write papers and eventually starting some half-hearted dating. The relationship was hard from the beginning. Both of us were shy and proud, unwilling to go out on a limb by revealing any true feelings that we had for each other. There would be weeks when we would be very distant--no calls, no after class chats. I knew that the interest was still there though. Remember how Mr. Darcy would stand by the window or sit across the room observing Elizabeth? Well, Ed did the same thing. I also worked at the circulating desk of the university library. Ed always chose to do his studying when I was working. He always sat where he could see my desk, always studying alone, taking a break when I did.

Our friends watched us in despair--we were so inept at the relationship even though it was obvious that there was a real attraction between us. This photo is from a 1965 surprise 20th birthday party arranged by my young family. My more socially adept friends, like David and Sharon, were responsible for getting Mr. Anti-social to the party. Unlike Mr Darcy, Ed even danced that night.

Unlike Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet, our relationship remained complicated, although long lasting. Ed graduated a year before me, leaving campus without promising to stay in touch. I was broken hearted but recovered. Life was good at the time. I was busy learning to be a good teacher and living on my own in Kentucky and Florida.

As happens so often, I did meet up with Ed again. We found ourselves together again in graduate English literature classes. I'd be lying if I said that this was anything but hard for me. However, by that time Ed was married--a mistake from the wedding day he said. . .but he had a daughter whom he adored. I remember that we had a cup of coffee and one of our long chats after class for old times sake, but that was it. Too little, too late.

Pride and Prejudice is a great love story with lessons for us all. Willingness to communicate, to set aside pride and act with compassion and grace brought Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet together in the end. Maybe if my Mr. Darcy and I had tried harder our story would have ended differently. . .

Ukraine Assignment

Last night I was reading 1,000 Places To See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz. To be precise I was also marking the places that I'd already seen in over 30 years of travel both in the U.S. and abroad. Just looking through this book brought back memories of wonderful people, places, and adventures that have greatly enriched my life over all these years. And, set me dreaming about the next trip. . . I'm thinking a train across Europe with a detour on the Orient Express.

Since it's cold and snowy tonight, I thought it would be a good time to tell you about a great travel adventure I had in December 2001 to Ukraine. At that time I was still working for a large farm organization as an adult trainer for leadership development, strategic planning and other potentially boring areas of organizational development. Flipcharts, magic markers, and small group discussions were my friends.

In the fall of '01 I was contacted by the Citizen's Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA)in Washington D.C. to see if I would be willing to travel to western Ukraine to work with several fledgling women's councils in the Zakarpattia Region, which includes the CarpathianMountains. These women farmers were struggling to support their families on privately owned and operated lands. After all, most of them--and their parents--had been workers on state owned collective farms since the World War II occupation of Ukraine by the USSR. In 1991 Ukraine finally gained its freedom from the USSR and farmers in 2001 were still scrambling to learn about private land ownership. They needed help in setting up farm cooperatives to produce and sell their crops and livestock and how to work with a bloated, disorganized government to support farmers. CNFA is the agency of the U.S. government that provides this partnership aid for under-developed countries through on-site training and technical assistance. That was my assignment.

So, I was supposed to spend much of October '01 in Ukraine and then came the attacks of 9/11. I studied the map of the region, tracked embassy alerts, and stayed in contact with the Ukraine office in Kiev. Finally, in December I decided it was stable enough in the region to complete the assignment. I put on my trainer's hat and started collecting all the supplies needed to hold workshops--and even more challenging figure out how to get them on the plane with me. I knew that much of my work would be in remote villages and was pretty sure there wouldn't be PowerPoint capabilities! I cut personal luggage to bare bones and loaded up flipcharts, markers, notebooks, name badges and other goodies that I knew would be symbolically important to my Ukrainian students.

Early in December I was finally ready to go. I put my dogs in the kennel and promised that I would be back in time to rescue them by Christmas. I then boarded the first of several flights to get into Kiev, Ukraine. All the time I was thinking, "Please let my workshop supplies arrive with me and don't hassle me getting them through security."
After almost two days of flying, I finally arrived in Kiev around 4:00p.m. It was already getting dark, snowing and bitter cold. All was well however. My luggage got there with me. I didn't have to surrender any of my workshop supplies(they were in this huge whipcord bag)to security. And thankfully, when I got out in the reception area I was met by Inna, the young woman who would be my interpreter and all around fixer for the next three weeks. We hit it off right away and were chatting non-stop on the drive from the airport to the CNFA office in Kiev. We met the U.S. and Ukrainian staff for CNFA, completed all the obligatory paperwork,worked on the schedule for my visit,and clarified my assignment.

Inna and the CNFA driver then took me to the apartment where I would stay for the two days in Kiev before we traveled on to western Ukraine to meet the women's councils. I had learned from Inna that they would soon be celebrating the Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas in early January. You could tell from the hustle and bustle on the streets that holidays were approaching. Kiev is a beautiful, sparkling city, especially at night. Much better than in daylight. The apartment was very spare, but comfortable with heat and hot water. How I grew to appreciate it over the next three weeks!This was the view out of my apartment window. Notice the snow fences on the roof.
Over the next two days Inna and I explored the city. This elegant building is the MacDonald's! We met Inna's son Demma and his schoolmates there. I grew to admire Inna because she was an ambitious young woman--going to school,divorced, but trying to work with her former husband to care for their son. At the same time she was planning to marry again and was dealing with all the red tape of re-modeling an apartment for the new family.

Here's another example of Kiev's beautiful architecture. This was the entrance to a technology college. I loved the way people dressed. Truly felt that I was in eastern Europe.
Since it was so near Christmas, we were able to go through a street arts and crafts fair setup alongside St. Andrews Church. This church was stunning--a huge wedding cake of a building capped with the traditional Orthodox onion domes. I
bought my sister a set of authentic stacking dolls, called "matroshkas" for their maternal symbolism.

After two days in Kiev, Inna and I were dropped off at the train station in the late afternoon. There we boarded an overnight train for the long ride across the Carpathian Mountains to the western city of Uzhgorod which was our base for the rest of the assignment. Inna had reserved us a sleeper car for the long trip, not quite as cheery as this one but comfortable enough. We bought yogurt, cheese and bread--and Milka chocolate--for supper and hot tea from the train attendant. I remember that Inna and I stayed awake lying in our berths talking into the night about things "girls" enjoy--love, future plans, past mistakes. It was a real slumber party. As the train rumbled through the night I could hear people moving about in the corridor and could look out the window at the snowy, moonlit mountains.

I felt homesick, but excited, and looked forward to meeting and working with the women of the Zakarpattia.

To be continued. . .
(Want a closer look? Click on images to enlarge.)

North York Moors Finish

(Read December 2,5, and 9 posts for parts 1-3 of this tale of two friends walking across Northern England.)
Day 5 Walk, Masham to Helmsley--by now all of the wayfarers are confident that we will finish the over 80 mile coast to coast walk that we began four days ago at Newby Bridge on the western coast of England on the Irish Sea side. We have about 30 miles to go over the next two days to reach our finish,the town of Whitby on the North Sea. We have crossed the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks and begin Day 5 on the Cleveland Way, a major walking path across the North York Moors. Throughout the morning's walk we climbed higher on the moors, walking through heather and seeing the occasional ancient standing stone.


Feet Waterloo--at this point on the walk getting my feet ready for the day's miles was quite a production because the soles of my feet were covered with blood blisters and several toenails were loose. The morning drill involved strategically placed band-aids, sheep's wool(collected the day before)cradles for toes and heels, and (male readers may blush at this point) wrapping all this on with panti-liners--what great multi-tasking inventions! Then the socks and boots went on. . .I tried not to complain, but one of the wayfarers was a tough old doctor who'd been watching me struggle. He alerted Dave, our walk leader, who insisted on having a look at my damaged "stubs" when we met the van for morning break. Before taking my boot off I warned him that he'd probably never seen what he was about to see. To his credit, he didn't flinch (he did confess at the farewell dinner that the sight of my poor feet took his breath away!).

Sally, my walking buddy, and I had made a pact that we were going to walk the full distance, no van hops for these two toughies. However, like a true friend she insisted on cutting out the last five miles of the walk day and riding the van into Helmsley where we were spending the night. Besides, we had gone through village after village and not been able to look in any of the intriguing little shops. So, after lunch, we hopped in the van with orders from the other walkers to search out a supply of foot bandages for the last day's walk.

Helmsley is a cheerful, bustling market town with red-tiled roofs and red-trimmed storefronts. Our inn was just off the town square so we could watch local farmers and tradesmen set up for the week-end market on the town square. We checked out several walking shops, purchasing a variety of bandages and plasters to pass out to the wayfarers when we met them for pre-dinner drinks back at the inn. We also met several great dogs, choosing this fellow and his two buddies for our Dogs of the Day photo. We were told that it would be okay to pet the black one, but should steer clear of the lap dog! We heeded his warning. . .




Walk Day 6, North Sea Finish -- from Helmsley we had a short bus ride to start one of the trip's highpoints. At Pickering Station we climb aboard the steam-hauled Moors Railway, aka Harry Potter's Hogwart Express, for a ride across the wild Flyingdales Moor. (Sally! Sally! Sally! How your standards have gone down. When you started this adventure, it was with shirt tails tucked in and now there's not one, but two, tails hanging out.)

By mid-day we leave the train at Grosmont and hike to the isolated village of Aislaby for our last pub lunch together. This time it had to be the best fish and chips in the north. Looking at this group, I think you can see how excited and happy we are to be this close to the finish. We walked for many reasons: to celebrate friendship, victory over breast cancer, retirement, life in a new country, work assignment, and to challenge old age. Before the day is over we all will accomplish our goal. After lunch we are all very quiet, lost in our own thoughts of what this day means to each of us individually. From the village of Eskdale we follow the Esk Valley until we get our first glimpse of the North Sea!


Dave kept the pace pretty intense as we cross the harbor bridge and walk through the seaside town of Whitby.
The town is interesting--full of vacationers, interesting shops and amusements, but we do not stop walking until we reach our finish point--the North Sea. We repeat the boot dipping ceremony in the North Sea as we did at the Irish Sea six days earlier. Coast to Coast--over 80 miles--we made it! We then raised a glass of champagne to celebrate each other.

After our happy dance on the sand, Dave, true to form, starts us walking again to nearby Dunsley Hall where we will spend our last night of the walk. At the Farewell Dinner we each receive our Finisher's Patch and some good natured words of praise from Dave. And, I can't forget--there was a Dog a Day--a handsome yellow lab who kept sneaking in the dining room from the terrace to get a pat and piece of cheese. Regretfully I didn't have my camera. . .







In our room after dinner, I lay awake. In July in northern England there is very little deep night. The sky is still streaked at midnight and the sheep begin calling outside our window at 4:30 a.m. I am glad to be heading home in the morning, but will treasure the memories of six days walking the English countryside with my good friend for many years to come.

Yorkshire Dales Walk

(Read December 2 and 5 posts for Parts 1 and 2 of this tale of two friends walking across Northern England.)

Day 2 Walk, Leaving Lake Windermere -- from our overnight lodging near Grasmere we followed the shoreline of Lake Windermere for much of the morning with rain threatening. By mid-morning Dave, our walk leader, called a tea break in the lakeside town of Ambleside. How long before the Wayfarers learned? This stop was the first of many tricks Dave would play on us. Any kind of treat like shopping, tea break or ice cream parlour stops meant that we would soon be huffing up a mountain or slogging through bogs and streams. Immediately after tea, Dave fulfilled his evil plan by leading us out of Ambleside and up the Cumbria Mountains in the rain.


When we crested the mountain we had our last views of Lake Windermere and walked on toward the village of Troutbeck. Just outside the village we stoppped at this little jewel of a church, Jesus Church Troutbeck, known for its beautiful stained glass windows. About this time we began seeing our first "free range" sheep which meant that we were getting closer to the Yorkshire Dales farmland. At Troutbeck Church I was amused to see sheep "trying out" the resting places in the church yard.












By mid-afternoon we stopped for our customary pub lunch at Mortal Man Pub in Troutbeck Village. The pub sign read: "O Mortal Man that lives by bread, What is it makes thy nose so red? Thou silly fool that look'st so pale, tis drinking Sally Birkett's ale." The Wayfarers enjoyed some of Sally Birkett's ale and a rest while looking out over the rolling farmland.


We end Day 2 of the walk in Crook on the eastern border of the Lake District.


Days 3 and 4 Walk, Yorkshire Dales--we are definitely in the countryside made famous by the Yorkshire Dales vet, James Herriot of All Creatures Great and Small fame. Walkers are permitted to pass through farmers' fields of grain or sheep pastureland. However, there are rules to follow. The last walker to go through a gate must be sure it's closed. If there's no gate, you climb over fences and the dry stone walls using stiles of all varieties--stone,wood,
ladder,kissing(a double style that ensures close encounters). Once in the field, walkers are expected to keep to the paths by the fence. And just in case you forgot, watch out for a multi-tasking border collie to warn you to mind your manners.


Sheep's Wool and Sore Feet--by Day 3 several of us were walking on feet that hurt despite all the blister remedies that Dave and Bill, our walk manager, had to offer. I no longer had Happy Feet.The combination of climbing up and down rocky hills and walking for long distances had turned my feet into a mass of blood blisters from heel to toe--up hill your heels got it, down the toes. At stops we lost interest in drinks and snacks, instead comparing the sad condition of our feet. That's when the sheep became important. As we walked across the sheep pasture, several of us started collecting wool to pad our boots the next day. It wasn't a cure for sore feet, but at least made walking another day more bearable.

At the end of Day 4 we had a wonderful surprise waiting. We followed the banks of the River Ure, tired and dispirited after a hard day of walking in the rain and wind. Dave kept building our anticipation that something good was going to happen. Boy, he delivered as always. We came off the river path near the town of Masham onto a vast parkland to find this castle at Swinton Park waiting for us! Our rooms were totally luxurious. In fact, someone from our group said that her bath was large enough to fit a small 3rd world county in it-not much of an overstatement. At any rate, it was just what we needed to restore body and spirit for the final push to the North Sea in the final two days of walking.



WALK CONCLUSION--NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS TO NORTH SEA, POSTED MONDAY, DEC. 10