Home again (sort of)

We're back in Iowa with Keith's parents again. It's a nice, relaxed place to recover from jet lag and general weariness of traveling... although I will be very glad to not be living out of my hiking pack any more. Same old clothes all the time! I figured I'd better get my last Europe-themed post off before school starts next week. I look forward to it (school, that is) and dread it at the same time. We've had a really good summer with lots of traveling, so being back in our own apartment and with friends will be great, but I'm still not sure if I'm ready for studying again just yet. Luckily, I have learned to knit without looking, so that means I can knit while I read my textbooks, thus keeping me awake. Very nice! That reminds me... I need to do another knitting post soon!

So, first some pics from England, which I never managed to do before, due to slow connections and lack of time... Unfortunately, my camera was on the fritz for most of the trip. The exposure was all messed up, and I don't think it had to do with my skills as a photographer. Just about every outdoor picture was over-exposed. Need to get that fixed! Anyway, enjoy the pictures. :)


My first act upon starting our 4-day, 35-mile walk was to put Keith and Rebecca in the stocks... just kidding. We walked through the Peaks District National Park, through farmland and wilderness areas, and made stops in the towns of Tideswell, Eyam, Bakewell, and Monyash.


We saw lots of sheep. The sheep themselves were fine, but certain parties who had never had the pleasure of cleaning up after horses disliked all the poo. I, on the other hand, really didn't care.


We also saw lots of heather.


On day 2, we walked along a ridge (Froggatt Edge) with some spectacular views.




We visited Chatsworth House, where Elizabeth Bennett went on her summer vacation.


Day 3 of the walk was very wet. The next morning, our clothes still weren't dry!


We did, however, stop for crumpets and tea, which made everyone feel better.


Some cows decided to follow us on day 4. They were curious, we think. This did not please Rebecca.


Every morning, we had a lovely English breakfast! Keith and Rebecca, the non-eaters of breakfast, discovered that a hearty breakfast really does get you going in the morning. They are now reformed in the ways of breakfast eating.


Back to where we left off last time... In Trier, Germany we visited Roman baths, gate, basilica, and amphitheater! There were fun tunnels in the baths.


This is the Roman Amphitheater. The evening before, when we first tried to visit it, it was full of goths attending a concert. Keith expressed his interest in attending said concert wearing a green and white striped shirt with Tigger on it.


Keith with a beer. This picture is for Joseph. (Oh no, don't show Mom! Rebecca has one too!)


We visited the Mosel River valley, where vineyard after vineyard of Riesling grapes are grown to make wine! We picked up a couple more boxes. They grow grapes in some of the craziest places!


We had dinner in Cochem. It was very pretty there.


In Köln (Cologne), we visited the cathedral (the tallest in the world) and the German-Roman museum, which contained Roman artifacts from the area. In the cathedral, we climbed up into the tower, stopping to visit the belfry, where the world's largest swinging bell is! (It's supposed to be in the background of the picture below.)

Also in Köln, we visited a bakery selling "Berliner," a type of jelly-doughnut. JFK made them famous (at least to German students) by calling himself one in his speech in Berlin: "Ich bin ein Berliner!" He should have said "Ich bin Berliner," thus calling himself a citizen of Berlin rather than a jelly-doughnut. The indefinite article makes all the difference. Incidentally, I taught Keith to conjugate the verb "to be" in German using this phrase. But I digress...


We visited Familie Kabelitz in Wernigerode and Kassel! We met Fabi (René and Helge's baby) and Dominic, Franziska's boyfriend. It was great to see the rest of the family too, as we had not seen them in several years! We also played a special German game a couple of times. Perhaps some of you have heard of it? It's called "Die Siedler von Catan." :)


So, the impetus for the whole trip: Rene and Helge got married! We had a lot of fun all weekend long, since many of the family and friends spent the whole weekend in a castle together celebrating. The ceremony was at the Rathaus (town hall) in a nearby town; in the picture below, they are arriving at the Rathaus. Fabi is in the carriage. Following the ceremony was a happy (noisy) caravan back to the castle, then lots of food and various "tasks" for the bride and groom to complete...


In this task, René tried to pop coin-filled balloons, while Helge caught the coins with a bucket. Other stuff happened too, but I don't have too many pictures, since I was busy eating and talking to people. There was a lovely buffet and a roast pig! Wow! So delicious! (So, if you are reading this, René and Helge, congratulations again! We were so happy to see you, and we had a great time!)

Hallo von Deutschland!

Hallo! Wir sind in Deutschland! Es ist sehr schön. Ich kann die Schilder lesen und mit anderen Leuten sprechen. Ich habe ein Buch heute gekauft: Märchen von die Brüder Grimm! Das ist fast alles, was ich auf Deutsch lesen kann. Ich muß auch für meine Familie viel übersetzen, so ich bin ein bißchen müde. Aber alles in Ordnung! Wir sind bei Freunden (Familie Kabelitz) geblieben, und es ist sehr nett.

Translation:
Hello! We're in Germany! It's very nice. I can read the signs and talk to other people. I bought a book: fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm! That is pretty much all I can read in German. I've done a lot of translation for my family, so I'm a bit tired. But everything is okay! We're staying with friends (the Kabelitz family), and it's very nice!

Love, Celia (and Keith)

Picture update!

Hello, friends!

Finally some time to update with pictures! We're in Semur-en-Auxois, still in France. Later today, we will be in Germany, where I can talk to people, read signs, order food, etc.! I'm so excited! Over a week of grunting and pointing has been getting to me... otherwise, however, our time in France has been lovely! Oh well, learning French is on my to-do list. :) The rest of the England pics will need to wait... I ran out of time!

Love, Celia et al

Paris!

Chocolate fest!

The car was slightly full.

Hiking near Dieulefit

Making Poffertjes, a Dutch specialty!

We tasted (and purchased) some lovely wine! This one was one of our favorites, ever!

We shared meal prep. Keith and I made "French Feijoada" with red beans and lentils instead of black beans!

Lots of cards were played, late into the night.



We went on a lovely hike, almost into the Alps!



We enjoyed seeing Fontenay abbey yesterday.

Vin, Fromage, and the scent of Lavender...

Greetings from Dieulefit, France! We're here staying in a lovely house with some friends from the Netherlands: Jan, Willy, Lucia, and "kleine" Jan Scholten. Jan (the father) was my dad's exchange student in high school, and our families have kept in touch ever since.

We're enjoying the markets, which happen just about every day in some nearby town or another. We can pick up ingredients for a homemade dinner each morning. Keith and I have contributed a couple of meals, including oven-roasted vegetables with chicken and French-style Feijoada--there weren't any black beans in the supermarket, so we used red beans and lentils instead! Other local activities have been wine tasting, hiking, horse riding, and card playing. It's very relaxing here.

Today we went to Avignon, and saw the Palace of the Popes, from the time when the Papacy was in Avignon. The structure was beautiful, and we really enjoyed the elegant decorations in the few rooms that had been restored. Unfortunately, the building was heavily damaged during the French Revolution. We also saw a beautiful Virgin and Child painting by Botticelli in a museum of medieval and renaissance art.

On our way south, we had a lovely day in Paris. We saw the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, and we generally walked around the city. We were pleasantly surprised that no one was rude to us or refused to speak to us! Amazing!

More updates hopefully soon, when we next find internet service! More stuff is on my parents' blog. Love, Celia, Keith, and Rebecca (Sorry, no time for pictures... three or four people are waiting to use my computer!)

Greetings from England!

I'm writing from a lovely bed and breakfast in Derbyshire! We're on a walking tour, and today's walk was very wet. The clothes are hanging to dry in the bathroom. We had good weather the last two days, though. Walking is fun!

We were in London first... a bit of a letdown, especially since our hotel was an overpriced dive. Oh well, we're not there anymore. We saw lots of cool stuff: the Tower of London, the Globe Theatre (from the outside), Greenwich, Kensington Palace, the British Museum, and the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Some pics are below...

Keith and Rebecca say hi too. :)

Sitting in the chairs that cost 2 pounds... we couldn't find the sign, but they wouldn't just let us get up and leave...

Tower of London

Rebecca admires Henry VIII's armor.



Massaging our aching feet at the British Museum.



Greenwich, near the Prime Meridian... picture complements of Sarah Pyle, and old friend of mine.



The Houses of Parliament at night



Eating Fish and Chips in Tideswell

More pictures (mostly of sheep) coming soon. :)

Where has the summer gone?

I can hardly believe that over half of our summer vacation is gone... I guess I should say "my" summer vacation, since Keith is still busy with his Exegesis class (that's historical/cultural/literary study of the Bible, basically).

I don't really have too many pictures of our summer activities, since I have been too busy doing things to take pictures. I really have to discipline myself in that regard, or I will regret it later. Anyhoo, here's what's been going on...

I've been working with Julia, one of our pastors, to plan worship services for our church. We've been meeting most weeks that I've been here to plan. I've also been leading vocally in church, and encouraging others to do so as well. This is new for our church (vocal leadership, that is), and it has been well received and helpful to the congregation.

The garden is flourishing! The herbs have doubled in size, and I've harvested kale and lettuce several times already. The zucchini plants... 4 of them... are huge!!! There's tons of flowers. This is actually very exciting to me. The tomatoes and peppers are looking great too.

We went to Boston! It was GREAT to reconnect with many friends and enjoy the delights of BEMF (Boston Early Music Festival). I played a little concert at the ungodly hour of 9:00 a.m. (and this was 2 days after arriving from the west coast!) which was really quite well attended, considering. I really enjoyed preparing the music, since I had the opportunity to play great music with some really talented people. It was over too quickly!

Another highlight of the time in Boston was the BEMF opera, in which my friend, Tess had a role. She was superb! Many others were too, but we had eyes only for her. The whole production was eye and ear candy. Yay for French Baroque operas!


After spending 6 days in Boston, we went to Connecticut to spend some time with Bob and Gerry, Keith's aunt and uncle, and many cousins. Keith's daddy drove out to meet us there. We ate lots of good food, had good family time, went to the Mark Twain house/museum in Hartford, and I played with the kitties, even though I really shouldn't, since I'm allergic. When I got out my viol to play for everyone, I definitely had a captive audience with Bailey the cat... reminds me of Indiana... he used to try to climb on my lap when I played cello. I also made a very successful cherry pie! Everyone said it was the best ever. I picked the cherries at cousin Cathy's house. They were delicious, and perfect for pie!




When we returned to Seattle, Keith worked on a project in Dad's wood shop... a special bench for practicing cello/viol with drawers for accessories and slots for music I am working on. I don't have pictures at present, but I'll get some soon! Good for Keith, he used recycled wood (old shelves). Yes, I am a tree-hugger.

I've also been doing some stuff around the house. Last week there was a very large quantity of strawberry jam. My friend, AnnaMarie and I picked 7 gallons of strawberries, and made most of them into jam, syrup, and preserves. Unfortunately, my beautiful soup pot got ruined in the process. :( Hopefully the warranty will cover it. Tomorrow's project is ginger ale!

Last weekend we went to Jane and Allen's wedding. Dad and I provided music (mostly hymns on treble viol and baroque guitar). There are many pictures of us playing, but I don't have any. I do, however, have pictures of the bride playing badminton at the reception. The day after, we went canoeing down the Skykomish river between Sultan and Monroe with my family.

Yesterday we went hiking with Matt and AnnaMarie, friends from church. We forgot our cameras, hence no pictures, but that's not all we forgot... Keith left his boots behind. Thus we hiked 11 km with Keith wearing my outer socks and his birkenstocks, and me wearing hiking boots and hiking sock liners. As a result, I have some spectacular blisters on my heels, and Keith (and my socks) escaped unscathed... even though we were hiking on snow and mud much of the time!

What's next? We are going to North/South Dakota and Iowa next week to see Keith's family and meet our new niece and goddaughter, Elizabeth! Here she is with Sarah and Nate, her proud parents.

Then we're on to England, France, and Germany to see friends and go to a wedding! My parents and Rebecca (Keith's sister) are going too. We're going to London, Derbyshire (taking a walking tour!), Paris, Dieulefit (southern France), the Mosel region in Germany, Wernigerode, and Kassel. Looking forward to it!

I hope everyone is having a lovely summer. :)

Our cute little garden

Yay, it's almost summer! I'm having a great time planting things and watching them grow. We've been enjoying our little patio area, having lots of people over for meals, and just sitting out there in the afternoon.






So, we've got some herbs growing, also kale, lettuce, zucchini, butternut squash, tomatoes, peppers, a whole bunch of pansies, and our 4 little trees. The peppers and tomatoes live in a planter box Keith made me for my birthday out of recycled wood (it used to be my parents' garden boxes).

Many thanks to Mommy too, since she gave me new pots for the trees, potting soil, the herb plants, and some seeds for my birthday! Hopefully we'll be eating well this summer. I already harvested the kale once and the lettuce twice. Yum!

To our friends in Boston...

Keith and I will be arriving in Boston for Boston Early Music Festival on June 12. We will be in Boston until June 17, then in Connecticut with family until June 23. I don't know if any of you actually look at my blog, so I'll probably be emailing too.

I'm playing in a "fringe concert" for the festival called "Gamba Gamut" at (gasp) 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 14 at St. Paul's, 138 Tremont St. I think it's free, but I'm not sure--a donation may be requested. If you like viola da gamba, you can stay and listen to viola da gamba mini-concerts all morning. I'm playing with people I met last summer through the Viola da Gamba Society of America Conclave.

We're hoping to see many of you, so send us an email or leave a comment on our blog!