Spring is "Busting out All Over"!

My sister was visiting this past week and we spent a few days exploring some Cotswold villages together.  The weather was glorious and spring was truly "busting out all over"!  I'm overwhelmed at the beauty of Spring in England. 

Piglets prancing about in a field near Bibury

The village of Bibury was once described by WIlliam Morris as "the most beautiful village in England". I'm inclined to agree!

Weaver's cottages in Bibury

Moss covered roof near Bibury

Fields of Gold -- rapeseed in bloom

Rapeseed is used to make a cooking oil 

Duckings in Morton on-the-Water

The town of Chipping Camdon

Waddesdon Manor -- a Renaissance-style château that was built in  1874 by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild

Tulips blooming at Waddesdon Manor

This country manor is located in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England

Spring showers 

Rain, sun and my sister

Splendor, spring gardens and sprinkles of rain

A Lovely Wedding in London

This past weekend I had the great honor of attending a beautiful wedding in London.  It was a stunning and joyous affair, held on the 29^th floor of a building right on the Thames and next to the Tate gallery.  We were treated to a spectacular 360-degree birds-eye view of London. 

In the background: The Gherkin and financial district of London. 

In the foreground: Lambeth Palace which has been the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury for nearly eight hundred years.

The House of Parliament and Big Ben

The Shard is the pyramid-shaped skyscraper (background left) under construction in Southwark, London which, in December 2011, became the tallest building in the European Union. When completed next month, it will stand at 1,017 ft. tall. 

The London Eye

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace -- the queen was in residence as indicated by the flag
flying over the palace

The old power plant at Battersea

The wedding was for the son of one of our family's dearest friends and his lovely bride

The event was an amazing combination of elegant, personal, beautiful and fun

I particularly like the British custom of women wearing hats or fascinators and men wearing morning jackets.  So elegant!

Three sisters: My sister, Catherine, visiting from Ireland, my "sister" Marion (who was an exchange student from South Africa who lived with my family for a year 40 years ago!) and the mother of the groom, and me.

Dances with the Daffodils

The unfolding of Spring has been glorious in England this year. 

Two weeks of beautiful sunny weather made it seem like spring just burst forth.

I walk nearly every day in the woods behind our house and each day 
spring unfolds with more green to the trees, buds to the hedgerows, 
and flowers to the woods.

There seems to be a penchant here for planting daffodils.  

Almost everywhere you look, there are bundles and bunches of daffodils

Daffodils can make the drabbest of spots look so cheerful.

It is also lambing season and the fields throughout Oxfordshire 
are filled with lovely little lambs frisking about. 
They are adorable for about 3 weeks, 
but then they too quickly turn into sheep.