A Summer Walk

In order to give ourselves and our dogs a little break in our daily routine, we took them on a walk at the Charlottetown Boardwalk this morning. The tide was in so the harbor area was especially beautiful. I'm posting a few pictures to share the day with you. The Kiwanis Dairy Bar not only has ice cream, they have also set out a water bowl for visiting canines to quench their thirst. I took a picture of the water so you can see how clean it is - not quite up to Mull/Iona standards, but pretty nice.

Home At Last

Yeah! We made it home (PEI) safely on Tuesday, August 11. Our day began at 5:15 am so that we could catch the shuttle to be at Heathrow by 8:00, two hours before departure. Although the plane took off about 45 minutes late, we had a blessedly uneventful flight to Halifax. The day was overcast when we landed, but as we drove toward the northern coast of Nova Scotia the clouds moved out and it was a beautiful, sunny day thereon. One of the B&Bs that we like the best is Amherst Shore County Inn in Lorneville, Nova Scotia. So we had dinner there before we drove over the bridge to PEI. We arrived at the house about 11:00 pm, 3:00 am in London. We were a little tired.

On Wednesday we picked up the girls and took them for a walk on the Charlottetown boardwalk. It was another beautiful, sunny, breezy day. While we were away the dogs stayed at a kennel on the banks of the Hillsborough River where they could go swimming on occasion. I guess they must have liked the water because last night while we were hanging out in the backyard Dinah walked right into the little pond in our backyard, something neither dog has ever done before. The first time she did it we thought she had made a mistake, and we pulled her out. Then she stepped in again, and this morning Sophie took a little swim. They never cease to amaze us. We’re never sure what to expect from them. Anyway, we had a marvelous adventure in Scotland and England, but it is good to be back home in North America. I miss everybody!

A Canterbury Tale

Our final excursion in England was a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. On Monday morning we set out from London, just like the characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, but rather than walk we took the train from Victoria Station. The trip was about and hour and a half each way. Oh, and we went through a town called Newington. Once we reached Canterbury we walked from the station, along part of the old wall surrounding the town, then through the town to the cathedral. Canterbury became a major pilgrimage destination when the bones (relics) of Thomas Beckett were enshrined there in 1220, but after Henry VIII destroyed the shrine around 1538 it was not visited as much.

Canterbury is important to us Episcopalians because it is the seat of the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The current Archbishop is Rowan Williams. We saw the chair in which the archbishops are consecrated since at least 1205. It is called St. Augustine’s chair after the first Archbishop of Canterbury who was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century. The chair is only used on the day of consecration. After that the archbishop sits in another place when he is in the cathedral presiding at worship. We had a wonderful guide that day, filled with dates and interesting facts and droll British humor. However, the thing that moved me the most was a chapel dedicated to “Saints and Martyrs of Our Own Time,” such as Dietrich Bonheoffer, Jonathan Daniels and a woman who was killed by the Nazis for helping Jews escape from Germany in the 1940s. I was very impressed that someone has taken the time to remember them and write about them so that we might not forget that there are still people who are willing to stand up for what they believe is right and that it can be very dangerous to do so. Back in the day when many people made pilgrimages to Canterbury, it was the custom to crawl up the stairs to Thomas’ shrine. So I crawled up about three steps to see what that was like. It hurt. Those steps are made of stone.

After we left the cathedral and purchased our souvenirs we had a late lunch at the Old Weaver’s Restaurant on the banks of the River Stour in the center of town. As we ate our delicious lunch several boats were poled past and some pulled up to a dock at the restaurant where the passengers got off. We also saw an old dunking stool which was used to punish wives who talked back to their husbands or were accused of witchcraft (if you drowned you were exonerated, if you lived you were guilty). I’m glad we didn’t find out the purpose of the stool until after we had left the restaurant. Upon our return to London we had dinner at Chimes, a nice little pub and restaurant where we had eaten before, and tried to organize ourselves for our flight back to Halifax the next morning. The day was a superb ending to a fabulous trip.

Friday in London

On Friday morning Tom and I walked across Lambeth Bridge from the city of Westminster to Lambeth Borough to see Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. We had not done our homework to find out when or if the Palace was open. Well, it is not open, even a little bit. All we saw were the walls, the Archbishop’s Garden and St. Mary’s Church, now a museum, that are outside the walls of the Palace. So we walked down the street to see the British War Museum and later the Florence Nightingale Museum. I got very depressed looking at all the instruments of destruction on display at the war museum and was glad to spend some time learning all that Miss Nightingale had done to save lives throughout her lifetime. She not only cleaned up the hospitals during the Crimean War, but she went on to work on home health care for the poor when she came back to England. That night we went to Arcadia, a play by Tom Stoppard. Tom loved it. I’m still trying to figure it out. Will let you know more about it when I get home.

We Made It!

Hi there! We made it to London yesterday. We left Portsmouth after breakfast and drove north to Winchester. There we visited Winchester Cathedral which Tom and I both found fascinating. We saw the burial place of Jane Austen. There was also a plaque commemorting that Samuel Wesley was the organist there for many years. Architecturally it is interesting in that it has three distinct styles, from Norman through English Gothic to Gothic. We had dinner last night at the Albert Pub, named for Queen Victoria's husband but not frequented by him. However, there were photographs, most signed, by English prime ministers such as Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, etc.

Today we are off to Lambeth and environs. We'll post pictures soon.

St. Andrew's and St. Giles

Once we paid proper homage to Samuel Seabury, we got directions to St. Andrew’s Church. St. Andrew’s is now the Cathedral for the Diocese of Aberdeen and the Orkneys. The Diocese of Connecticut has a sort of companion relationship with this Scottish diocese, and the bishops from each diocese have visited back and forth for several years.

We met a steward of the Cathedral who shared a lot of information about the Connecticut/USA connection with St. Andrew’s. The steward was very proud of the connection, and he was so happy to have visitors from Connecticut. He let us into the areas of the building that are usually cut off from visitors. According to him, back in the 1920s the Episcopal Church USA wanted to build a new cathedral for the church in Aberdeen, but the stock market crash caused them to change their plan. Instead of a whole new church, they decided to extend the east end of St. Andrew’s and call it the Samuel Seabury extension. In the extension is a big stained glass window on the east wall with the American flag in one section, and a large ornate gold structure called a Baldacchino standing in the altar area. On the ceiling of one of the side aisles are the seals for the forty-eight states that made up the U.S. at that time. I also discovered a picture of the interior of Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford on the back wall of St. Andrew’s.

I’ve included a picture of the big statue of Bishop Skinner who consecrated Samuel Seabury.

St. Andrew’s is a rather large building and more ornate than your average parish church, but it is neither huge nor very elaborate. Most of the windows are plain glass. It’s quite nice but rather understated for a cathedral.

On the other hand, as we were walking through Edinburgh a few days later, we discovered St. Giles Church, the “mother church of Presbyterianism” which is one of the most elaborate churches we have seen anywhere. Every window is stained glass. I have always thought that the Episcopal Church is known more for ornateness and the Presbyterian Church has a reputation for being austere and plain. The two buildings are exactly the opposite of what you would expect to represent the two denominations. Just goes to show there really are exceptions to all my preconceptions. I have included a picture of the outside of St. Giles, but not the inside because I didn’t want to pay the fee to take pictures.

My Birthday Celebration

Today I celebrated my 65th birthday in York . . . England. We began the day by touring York Minster, the largest gothic cathedral north of the Alps. It is a medieval cathedral built on the site of a Norman cathedral built on the site of a Roman basilica that was visited by Constantine. The current building is magnificent and really awe-inspiring.

After lunch we went to see the National Railway Museum, the largest railway museum in the world (e.g., it includes a real roundhouse) they say.

Then we had a wonderful dinner that Tom arranged with Tony the chef at the York Coach House Hotel where we are staying in York. The chef prepared a carnivore's delight for me with lamb, beef, and brat from the meat food group, along with potatoes & vegetables. The dessert was a sampler of five different desserts which, even though it is my birthday, I shared (some) with Tom. There was a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Tom waiting for me at our dinner table. It was a wonderful, unforgettable day!

Jesus in Joppa

Jesus is still enjoying his trip with us on my sabbatical. He has particularly enjoyed his stay at the Joppa Turrets Guest House in Joppa on the outskirts of Edinburgh. He liked the view from the room, overlooking the Firth of Forth. At breakfast this morning he met some travelers from Germany, Ursula and Sarah. Anne and Phil, our hosts at Joppa Turrets, feted Jesus with haggis, and he earned a certificate because his friend, Tom, actually ate haggis.

Anne was concerned that Jesus might get cold during the trip and has provided him with a Clan Ross tartan scarf.