Yesterday was just about the perfect birthday. We went to Skipton Castle, one of my favorite castles (and I am a total castle-addict, as you guys know!), ate lunch afterwards at a great vegetarian café, and then Patrick made chocolate birthday cake, and we got takeaway from my favorite Indian restaurant for dinner. I loved it all, especially ( Read more... )

Yesterday, for once, the weather was absolutely perfect - gorgeously warm and flooded with sunshine. Maya and I spent two hours lying outside soaking in the sunshine, I napped for most of that time, and ohhh, I felt so much better afterwards ( Read more... )

We got back home this afternoon, after one of the easiest drives ever - I kept wishing I had wood to knock on as we drove, waiting for the inevitable August Saturday traffic jam to appear somewhere...luckily, it just never happened. Undoubtedly, this was all just intended to put us off guard for our next trip, but I'm very grateful nonetheless ( Read more... )

...And we finally went to Bath! We took the train from Wales to Bath on Tuesday, and although - of course - we didn't have nearly enough time to spend there, it was a great day out. We planned to go to two different museums, the Roman Baths/Pump Room and No. 1 Royal Crescent (another Georgian townhouse), but the Baths & Pump Room ended up taking ( Read more... )

We're off to Wales soon, really - no, really, this time! As usual, we started out intending to leave first thing in the morning...then, by the end of last night, we realized that wasn't realistic, so we changed our goal to a noon departure - and now it's 11:46, and we're hoping to get out by 1:30 at the latest...! But we will get out eventually, ( Read more... )

One of the nicest things about having guests is that it inspires us to find nice places around Leeds that we would never have taken the time to discover on our own. Today we went out to Lotherton Hall, a beautiful Edwardian estate that now belongs to the city of Leeds. We picnicked, walked around the wooded paths, admired the deer and the birds, ( Read more... )

Thanks so much to everyone for all the messages I got my birthday! :) It was really great to read them. And it was a great birthday, too. Patrick and I drove out to York, one of my favorite British cities, to visit Fairfax House, which bills itself "the finest Georgian townhouse in England". It turned out to be too old to be really useful for my ( Read more... )

We made it! It took us a day longer than expected to get back to Leeds because of a nasty flu bug Patrick picked up on the plane, but now we're home, and I'm feeling extremely slug-like, pinned to the couch with jet-lag and general travel exhaustion. But I get to cuddle Maya on the couch, so I'm happy ( Read more... )