Home at last

I haven't been blogging for the last few weeks because I was in England, visiting my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.  The weather was cool and damp for the first two weeks, but turned very nice the last week I was there.  We managed to do some outdoor stuff, including two different trips to places where we could climb a hill and enjoy a lovely view.  Kate and I had a chance to visit an historic home without the kids and also into London to the Tate Modern, with only Sarah accompanying us.  Sarah and I didn't care much for Miro, but we all enjoyed the rest of the museum.  Olivia and I toured the Victoria and Albert Museum, looking at glass, jewelry and home furnishings.  One day Geoff's brother John met us in London and we all went to Greenwich by boat.  Despite the rain, we enjoyed a lovely lunch and toured the Observatory. John is a lot like Geoff and it was such a treat to see the two brothers together. Kate and Alex and I went to Kew on a lovely sunny day. We went up into the treetops walk.  I wasn't sure I could manage the height, but it didn't bother me and it was fun being up above the trees.

All in all, it was a good visit.  I got home just in time for a week of rain - which I sincerely hope is over as of yesterday!

I will post a few photos of my trip.  If you want more, they are on flickr.  at  www.flickr.com/photos/kathydillard

 Olivia is flying the kite on Juniper Top, one of the hills we climbed.  The path up is not difficult, even Grandmas like me can get up easily.  Geoff spent his time on the top looking for wild orchids, which he found.  They aren't much to look at, but still fun to search for and find.  I took lots of photos of wildflowers on our various excursions.

 Here's another climb we made.  This is the view from a hill in an area called the South Downs.  We met up with a friend of Geoff's from work and hiked up a rather steep hill.  The view was definitely worth it.  Lots of wildflowers growing along the trail.  As you can see, it was a beautiful day.  After the climb, we ate dinner in a local pub.  I had a very English meal - drank cider and ate fish and chips. 

 This is one of the interesting glass objects we saw at the V & A.  I took many photos, but won't bore you with more.  I realize not everyone is crazy about glass and pottery!  There are MANY more on my flickr pages.

 At the V&A there is a long gallery which one must walk along to access the other galleries.  We were in it several times, as we tried to get to where we wanted to be.  Olivia is better than I at navigating inside the museum, but we still had some trouble finding our way around.  This is one of the sculptures in the long gallery.  I really like this face, so gentle and lovely.

 This is one of the buildings at Kew.  I think they are called conservatories.  Basically, huge greenhouses.  Some have tropical plants, some desert plants, some have orchids.  Whatever won't survive the English climate outside is grown inside.  Kew has acres of gardens, some areas just natural, others landscaped with flowers, etc.  It's a great place for picnics.  We ate lunch under a tree near the playground, but Alex didn't want to play, so we just got our ice cream cones and headed off to climb up into the trees.  I don't have photos from the treetops.  The trees were in the way!