Trip Report, Part 1

I miss having an English breakfast. I don't eat eggs or mushrooms, but I love the other parts...beans, grilled tomatoes, hashbrowns, bacon and toast. Sigh. I suppose I could make myself an English breakfast, but that's work. I'd rather have someone serve it to me.

I have scadzoodles to do, but I wanted to start my trip report. The flight over was without incident, and we all made it, safe and sound, to England. Wish I could say as much for our baggage. It didn't make it. None of it. Of the eleven people on my pilgrimage who boarded together in Nashville on Sunday, not a single one of them had luggage waiting in London-Gatwick. Zero, zip, nada, niente. They just didn't load it in Nashville. No, I don't know why. I suspect it may be because they needed room for extra fuel, in anticipation of bad weather.

Still sucks.

Here I thought that I had learned from my Scottish experience and packed so much more cleverly than I did last year--sweaters to layer, a light rain jacket, short and long-sleeved shirts. All for naught, because I don't have my luggage for two days after arriving in England. So I ended up buying two sweaters (it was cold the first few days in Winchester), jeans (because I couldn't bear to wear those damn pants a third day), underwear, and socks. So much for my careful packing.

Next up...Winchester. The pilgrimage begins.

A quick report from Canterbury.

Today was beautiful. Just beautiful. Pleasant, sunny, breezy. It was a perfect day to go traveling. First, we went to St. Martin's Church, where Ethelbert's French (and, more importantly, Christian) queen, Bertha, worshipped and where it is thought that Ethelbert was eventually baptized. We reconfirmed our baptismal vows with a 12th century font, and then we went to the Isle of Thanet, had prayers with the Benedictine nuns at the Minster Abbey, and had a picnic lunch on the grounds. After that, we went to visit the Roman fort Ruptiae, where Augustine had built a chapel. We had prayers and shared reflections on the pilgrimage in the ruin of the chapel.

Naturally, I cried, because I am turning into a sentimental old biddy. :-/

After that, we went to St. Augustine's high cross and celebrated Eucharist at the foot of the cross, which was just lovely. Then we had dinner in Wickham at the Red Lion. Faaaabulous meal. I had some wonderful pea and ham soup, chicken in a sauce of white wine and chives, and a toffee pavlova. We made rather merry, seeing as how there were 20 of us, and the wine flowed rather freely.

Hey...we are Episcopalian, you know. ;-)

Tomorrow, we're attending the Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral and, hopefully, taking the train to Dover to visit the castle. Then, tomorrow night, the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral is locking us in and taking us on a candlelight tour of the cathedral. Should be a fantastic experience.

Blessings to you all.

The Countdown Begins.

On Sunday, May 17, at approximately 11:41 a.m., central time, I will be boarding a plane and flying to England. I'm going on pilgrimage to Canterbury. Me, Tameron, a couple of married couples, and a covey of Episcopalian gay boys, all walking a portion of the Pilgrim Pathway.

It should be a total blast.

Star Trek

I loved it! L-O-V-E-D it! I'm not going to post any spoilers, but here's what I really liked, without giving away specific plot points.

--A very, very clever plotting device that makes canon objections moot.
--The young man playing Jim Kirk. Just fantastic...good face, better eyes, tons of confidence and swagger, great comic delivery.
--Bruce Greenwood. If I ran Hollywood, he would be in every movie ever made.
--Karl Urban. The others are just a little too young for me to find them all that sexy (especially the adorable child playing Chekhov), but even with shoeblack in his hair and a southern accent that wanders, Karl tips my applecart.
--Special effects that enhance the character interaction, rather than overwhelm it.

I'd give it a 9 out of 10. And the only reason for that is Winona Ryder. I don't know what they were smoking when they cast her as Amanda, but they should never, ever smoke it again. At least, not while casting a movie. Or operating heavy equipment.

It's here! It's here!

The new Star Trek movie! I am so sneaking out of work early to go to the matinee.

More free books!

Circle of Books is giving away 5 copies of "The Girl Who Stopped Swimming", by Joshilyn Jackson.

Enter here:
http://acircleofbooks.blogspot.com/

Bookish Ruth is giving away a copy of collected Sherlock Holmes stories.

Enter here:
http://www.bookishruth.com/2009/05/book-giveaway-new-annotated-sherlock.html?showComment=1241651820000#c792335203489384940

An acquaintance of mine passed away unexpectedly this week.

She was a very talented bead worker. Several years ago, she designed and made a beautiful amulet bag out of red seed beads and antique jet beads for me. I still treasure it as one of my most unique pieces of jewelry. I have always regreted the fact that I didn't ask her to do another piece for me.

You can see some of her amazing work here:

http://www.geocities.com/~anniebee/cwelch.html

Another Book Giveaway!

fashion_piranha on LJ is giving away two books to some lucky winner. Here's the skinny:

GILDED AGE GIVEAWAY!!!
TWO BOOKS WILL BE GIVEN AWAY TO ONE LUCKY WINNER!
1. Emily Post by Laura Claridge
2. Etta by Gerald Kolpan

This contest will run until May 24th, 2009. Enter by posting a comment here:

http://fashion-piranha.livejournal.com/64525.html

"Here she is! Ms. America!"

Because the First Lady is always the real Ms. America. And here she is, indeed, looking amazing in an Azzedine Alaïa dress and a Peter Sorenon corset. Check out the new 'do, as well.



Take a lesson here, ladies and gentlemen. If you're going to load on the jewelry, keep the ensemble ultra-simple.

I lied.

Apparently, I'm not finished buying new shoes for the spring and summer season. Because I just bought these Anne Kleins on Ebay:



I don't know why I bought them. I hate pink. Okay, I do know why. I have a hot pink linen dress and jacket (I don't know why I bought them, either, because, you know, I hate pink), but I don't have any shoes to match. I also have my eye on this short, sexy black/pink dress at Peebles...

More Free Books!

More free books!

Jo Jo Loves to Read on eBlog is giving away a slew of books for Asian Heritage month.
http://jo-jolovestoread.blogspot.com/2009/05/giveaway-amazing-asian-heritage-month.html

A copy of "Best Intentions", by Emily Listfield, is being given away at Teddy Rose's eBlog.
http://teddyrose.blogspot.com/2009/05/giveaway-best-intensions-by-emily.html#comment-form

Check them out!

Hurrah!

I just won one of two free copies of "Requiem for an Assassin", by Barry Eisler, over at Book Love Affair on eBlog. The entrants had to write an haiku about a spy or an assassin. I won for Best Haiku:

She calls me to serve
In the national interest.
My eyes are her eyes.

Book Giveaway

Circle of Books is giving away a copy of Anita Shreve's "Testimony":

http://acircleofbooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/testimony-anita-shreve-hachette.html

Giveaway ends May 7.