FULL Week and Week-end

Sorry that these photos are not grouped as they should be. I had trouble, so just left them as is.




Coventry Cathedral--The Reconciliation Sculpture in the bombed shell of the old Cathedral

















The Cross family in the Great Hall--







Cameron & Callister with Helen,
their mom

Kay & William with his kids,
Hazel & Martyn





Coventry Cathedral--1 side of the Chancel with organ pipes
other side full of pipes, also.













Coventry Cathedral--Bapistry Window (my favorite)

















Birthplace-
Stratford












Mime playing Shakespeare






















Some of the half-timbered buildings I love
















Our swan on pond above the Manor
Hazel & Calister running to get a photo
















Cross grandchildren--Martyn, Hazel, Cameron, Callister
















Merle & Meurig Thomas--Welsh couple in Village
























Last Wednesday, 21st, I attended the first Musicians' Network meeting. Sally, choir director, is wonderful and is helping students who play instruments and who might need help getting an instrument or who might want to get together to make music, etc., to get to know each other. It was a fruitful meeting; I won't be here to do any making music together, but am glad it's getting started. Sally has gotten a date in early April to have some students perform in a nearby town.

That afternoon we attended a one-person drama commemorating the Holocaust Memorial Day. She depicted two different women's lives very effectively--Irena Sendler and Rachel Corrie.

Thursday, 22nd, we were both fighting colds and pretty much stayed inside and laid low! (We are both feeling better now--Sunday.) That evening we had a 1-hour "Briefing" for our Lincoln trip the next day given by Gordon Kingsley. It was great and very helpful, with students demonstrating the different kinds of columns for the Lincoln Cathedral. He is so good with added drama and visual examples to help us all remember.

Friday, 23rd, all 144 students (required as part of their British Studies Course that ALL take) and about 20 of us faculty persons left on three coaches around 9 am for Lincoln. (The bummer was that I forgot to take my camera, so NO PHOTOS.) We really enjoyed touring the Castle and Cathedral and eating lunch in a warm & dry pub down the street at lunch time. It was cold and the rain came down almost all day, so no eating our packed lunches out on a park bench as we've done in the past. The group was divided into 4 parts and the different British faculty took us around on tours.

Actually, in the Cathedral, we were further divided into smaller groups of 10 or so, which worked out very well. We went on a really interesting tour in the Cathedral with Gordon K and then again with Jan Beckett. We preferred that to the Roman ruins out in the rain! At 3 pm the choir gathered to sing in the Transept of the Cathedral; Sally had gotten permission afterall. The singing went well (with only 2 rehearsals) and all of our group who listened said it sounded great. The Priest said afterward (from the pulpit on a mic) "We all enjoyed the music and the Cathedral liked it, too." I have asked a student who took a photo of us to forward it to me so I can include it in a blog.

Friday evening we took Gordon & Suzanne Kingsley out to the Gregory Arms for dinner as a "thank-you"; actually, they drove us the mile or so there. We stayed for 3 1/2 hours enjoying the food, the relaxing place, and all the good talk and laughter!

Yesterday, Saturday, 24th, we joined 55 or so others to go to Coventry and Stratford. It was a sunny day, though cold and windy. Coventry Cathedral is still one of our favorites, so the hour we had there was a real treat.

We ate our lunches on the coach and so were ready to explore in Stratford when we got there. Dean & I visited Shakespeare's birthday, New Place, and Hall's Croft doing lots of walking between places (& taking photos of the wonderful half-timbered buildings that I love). We ended up with Italian for supper and then went to see ROMEO AND JULIET at the Royal Shakespeare Company's temporary quarters there. The two main theatres are being rennovated and not in use now. The play was good, though our seats were much too crowded for leg room; for Act II we stood up in SRO spaces which worked much better. We got back home around 12:30 AM and went straight to bed.

Sunday, 25th, we slept in and then had 7 guests that we took around the manner for over an hour--Barbara Cross's 2 adult children (& a girl-friend) and their 2 kids each. It was so much fun showing off various parts of the Manor and the grounds (and our room, of course, though we couldn't offer them tea or hot chocolate with only 2 cups!). Both William & Helen had worked here as teenagers in maintenance and housekeeping. Two of the kids and I took photos all around. (Barbara couldn't come along, but we'll see her on Wednesday for lunch.)

At 3 pm Meurig Thomas picked us up to go to their house in Harlaxton Village for tea. Merle was there to greet us and had prepared all kinds of things to eat along with our tea. They are a Welsh couple we got acquainted with in 2000, when they had us for a meal and to go to a band concert at a nearby Air Base; also, Marilyn & Kim and I went down for tea one afternoon(2000). As it turns out, she's the organist at the village church and he's the one who carries the Cross in the Procession. I didn't realize that when I was there that first Sunday for the Welcome Service!