Runnymede

A day out on Sunday found us about 3 miles outside of Windsor at Runnymede. Famous for being the site where the Magna Carta was signed. On the other side of the meadow from the memorial, the Thames runs by and you can see the planes taking off from Heathrow. A bit different than the scene back in the 1200's!

We had a nice walk around the memorials here, then walked along the river. The river seemed a bit high and fast-moving. We saw a poor little duck trying to make it from one side to the other, but he just drifted by sideways, unable to fight the current.

A stop at the nice little cafe for a light lunch, then off to Windsor Castle for scootering down the long walk.

When You're Home Sick. . .

. . .you discover some interesting things.



Like who creeps around your house during the day. . .
















And how your dog makes a good doll for bored children. . .

Fascinating Lives

Over Christmas, we went to see 'Peter Pan' panto. It was quite good and enjoyed by all. Since then, we had to get out some of the movies of Peter Pan - the Disney animated version and 'Hook'. As they take place in London, I was doing a little reading on James Barrie, the author of Peter Pan (who met the Davis boys in Kensington Gardens who were the role models for the story.) That brings us to the title of this blog entry. Barrie (1860-1937) had quite an interesting literary life. Check out this bit from his Wiki entry. Can you even imagine having friends like this?!

"Barrie traveled in high literary circles, and had many famous friends. With Arthur Conan Doyle he wrote a failed musical. With Robert Louis Stevenson he conducted a long correspondence, but the two never met in person. George Bernard Shaw was for several years his neighbor, and once participated in a Western that Barrie scripted and filmed. Jerome K. Jerome introduced Barrie to his wife; H. G. Wells was a friend of many years. Barrie met Thomas Hardy through Hugh Clifford while he was staying in London. Conan Doyle, Jerome, Wells and other luminaries such as G. K. Chesterton and A. A. Milne also occasionally played cricket with a team founded by Barrie for his friends, the "Allahakbarries". (The name was chosen under the mistaken belief that "Allah akbar" means "God save us" in Arabic; in fact it means "God is great".)"

"Barrie also befriended Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott and was one of the seven recipients of letters that Scott wrote in the final hours of his life. He was godfather to Robert's son, Peter.^[2] Another close friend of Barrie's, theater producer Charles Frohman, who was responsible for the debut of Peter Pan in both England and the U.S., died famously, declining a lifeboat seat when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat in the North Atlantic. In doing so, Frohman reportedly paraphrased Peter Pan's famous line from the stage play, "To die will be an awfully big adventure."

"On several occasions he met and told stories to the little girls who would become Queen Elizabeth II and her younger sister Princess Margaret."

Check out the Peter Pan statue next time you're in Kensington Gardens. Sounds like a good place for a letterbox!

Jam & Jerusalem

Anyone watch this show? It's called 'Clatterford' in the states. I watched it in the US when it first aired about a year or more ago. Being a fan of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, I couldn't pass it up. Then we moved and I forgot all about it. Until this month. I finally found the UK version 'Jam & Jerusalem' and have now been watching it again.

I bring it up because this last episode they went for a ramble on the moors at Dartmoor! (The show is based on a village in Devon and centers on the womens guild.) So the ladies were out for their walk and the mist started to come in. They all sat down in a circle and talked while the mist took over and surrounded them. Finally, even though the mist was still thick and all around them they decided to move on. But when they stood up, all their heads popped out over the mist to a bright sunny day. It had only been a few feet in height. LOL.

In general, the show is not hilariously funny. Very subtle humor that you catch more and more as you watch and get to know the characters. As it is a womens guild, no doubt it will appeal more to women. But with the comic talents of Saunders, French, and even Joanna Lumley making appearances from time to time, I think it's good. Plus, what fun that they are located in Devon so you can get some Dartmoor shots from time to time.

Welcome 2008!

Here we are - Welcome 2008!

We spent a week in Suffolk with family over Christmas. Christmas day wasn't nice at all, but Boxing Day brought the sun and the beach front (the North Sea on the East Coast of England) was very busy with everyone out for walks. Penny Dachshund was a little timid on the beach at first, but then she found a Jack Russell to chase around and had a good time.





























One afternoon was spent at Southwold - a popular UK destination. I have to say it didn't really impress me much. It vaguely reminded me of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. Of course, you have to take winter trips to summer destinations with a grain of salt. We weren't seeing it at its best.















New Years Day will include watching football/soccer. We're off to Reading to watch Reading vs. Portsmouth. Our first Premier League game.

Goals for 2008. . .to finally hit 200 on geocache finds. I'm so close! Then hit 1000 letterbox finds- a lot harder as a trip to Dartmoor or a major gathering will be needed to get the numbers. Speaking of trips - events planning on attending this year include the 'We Live and Breathe' event in Oregon in September; the Spring meet at Dartmoor; and the UK-USA meet in June.

A revised sig stamp is forthcoming. And I'd like to try some LTC creating and trading.

Whew!

Should be a good year!

Box Hill

Took a little drive over to Box Hill in Surrey today. Planted one of the hedgehogs here as I had planned. Should be pretty close to the Hercules box, so make sure to get them both at the same time. Also, a lot of geocaches around this area. I only had time to do 3, but there are at least 10. You'll have a great time if you come on a nice warm day and do both boxing and caching!

Box Hill is a National Trust area between Dorking & Leatherhead in Surrey. Dorking is nearly the center of Surrey and lies directly south of London. Convenient to get to from London or nearby Gatwick Airport.

People have been coming here for hundreds of years (Daniel Defoe lived near here once and wrote about it back in the 1700s.) Box Hill is one of the best-known summits of the North Downs (the whole of south-east England was once covered by a huge dome of chalk which has eroded down to form two ridges: the North and South Downs), the chalk ridge which runs from the Hampshire border to the west, eastwards through Surrey and Kent to Dover. It is 634 ft tall and stands at the corner of one of the few big gaps in the otherwise unbroken line of the North Downs. The name Box Hill comes from the box trees that grow here.

Beautiful views, but unfortunately, a dreary December day isn't the best choice. Still, a good day out. Not too exciting in the winter - as far as seeing beautiful plants, orchids, and animals. I think a trip back in the spring will be necessary.

Photos:
Views of the countryside
Car Park trailhead - white paper on left comments on a recent dog attack on some sheep :(
Box Hill Fort - built in 1899 to protect London from southern invasions
Baa Baa Black Sheep - sheep are important here in encouraging flora & fauna diversity
An evil little nano geocache - it was so small I couldn't hardly get the minute log out

My Personal Logbook

Way back in time, I used to be in the printing industry. And even though I have bought logbooks - both for my early personal books and for planted boxes, having a custom made logbook is quite special.

My current book is large, but I love it. I designed the size, and selected the paper stock I wanted. Picked out my cover material. All the paper and cover material I was able to get from paper companies I worked with. I pulled in a favor to get it bound at a huge bookbindery in Tennessee where I sent all the material in with my specifications back in late 2004. I tried to keep it in good condition, but a long day out at Dartmoor in 2005 subjected it to constant rain. It survived, but it certainly wore it out a bit.

Having done postal letterboxing, I was at a crossroads for a while on whether I wanted to keep the stamps apart - one book for letterboxes in the wild, another one for plbs. In the end, I decided it was too much hassle to separate them. I keep everything in my one special logbook.

The organized side of me tried to maintain some sense of neatness and order to how I stamped into my logbook. Keeping certain stamps together and such. I still do try to keep multiple stamps from an event or a certain area or park together on a single page. But other than that, it's a hodge-podge of various stamps.

What to do with first finder certificates? I decided the best place was with the stamp. So they get glued in on the pages. This has turned my book into a touch of a scrapbook. But scanning through it and seeing colorful stamps, postal ring stamps all together, FF items glued in and even a few photos has really turned it into a memorable treasure.




At one point, I thought maybe I better not take it out in the wild with me anymore. Better to stamp on a piece of paper or card and glue it in and preserve my book. Plus, it's heavy (think carrying around a college textbook)! But, it just really loses something for me when I can't have the actual logbook in my hand. So I pack it around. It's been to at least 6 different states plus England and France.

The sad part is that my logbook is about 80% full. Filling each page (I think there are about 400 - 200 x 2 - if I recall what I spec'ed) both sides I thought would take it quite a few years. But here we are just going into it's 3rd birthday and the end is in sight. The good part is that since we moved to the UK and I'm not doing PLBs anymore, it should last a bit longer. But anytime you go to an event it seems like you can expect 50 new stamps in your logbooks - give or take. And that fills up pages quickly.

Regardless, I love my little book. No one else has one like it, and the treasure of stamps inside is wonderful. Including the day my kids found it and scribbled on a few of the pages.

I completely recommend you shop around for the ideal logbook for yourself. Maybe it's the reader and book lover in me, but finding a special one-of-kind book is the best.

A few options for you. . .

Fancy making a quality book yourself?
Try The Bookmaaker kits from Plickity Plunk Press (http://www.plickityplunk.com/bookmaaker.html)

Want a unique quality pre-made book?
Try Oberon (http://www.oberondesign.com/)

Yes, I know they are not exactly cheap. If you want cheap, then go down to the office supplies store and pick up a hardbound blank journal for 5 dollars/pounds. You can leave it as is, or change it up with some altered books ideas. My first 2 logbooks were this type.

So, if you're in the market for a new personal logbook, shop around and find the one that works for you!