One of the
things I love most about living here in the U.K. are the surprise discoveries
that come along every week. This
past weekend I joined two friends at the Nettlebed Sue Ryder yard sale. Afterwards we decided to grab a bite of lunch
and wandered along a country road in the Chiltern hills until we found another spectacular estate called Grey Court. What was supposed to be a quick bite of lunch
turned into a lovely afternoon of exploring walled gardens and ruins; watching
Morris Dancers accompanied by bagpipes and a hurdy-gurdy; wandering through the
estate house, and generally being enchanted buy the loveliness of this
beautiful place. Before we knew it, we had spent the whole afternoon enjoying a
late summer day in this spectacular setting.
It was
exciting to know that I’m not the only one who fell under the spell of this
estate’s charm. Next week’s 3rd
episode of Downton Abby (Season 3) was filmed in part at Grey Court.
This picturesque 16th-century mansion and lovely gardens were home to the Brunner family until recent years. Mrs. Brunner took up residence as a young bride in 1932 and lived here until her death in 2003.
There is series of walled gardens that create a colorful patchwork set amid medieval ruins
Morris danceis a form of English folk dance that dates back to the1500’s. It is based on rhythmic stepping by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins and accompanied by music.
Morris dancer wear colorful costumes and often wield sticks, swords or handkerchiefs as they dance. I love the bird on this man's hat!
The hurdy-gurdy (played by the woman) is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin.
About 30 minutes from Oxford is the lovely parish village of Nettlebed. It is known for the beautiful manor house and estate called Joyce Grove, which was the home of Robert Flemming, great uncle to Ian Fleming who wrote the James Bond books. The current members of the Fleming family still live locally, run the Estate, and take an active part in village life. Joyce Grove has been donated to a charity here known as Sue Ryder Palliative Care and is a hospice care facility. Once every three weeks, there is an enormous yard sale at Joyce Grove estate where all of the outlying buildings (the stables, guest house, garden building and grounds) are overflowing with stuff for sale: used clothes; furniture; books; kitchenware; art; sports equipment; etc. The space involved is about the size of a department store -- all filled with yard sale treasures. It is such fun! I went with two friends this past weekend and my bargains included a step ladder for 4 pounds; 2 folding chairs for 3 pounds each; and a sewing machine for 15 pounds. Bargains and beauty all in one place. I'm hooked.
“As Churchill himself pronounced, ‘If you are going through hell, keep going.’ On the afternoon of the death of her sister, Princess Margaret, the Queen was visiting Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children to celebrate its 150th anniversary. She was clad in black but smiling.
"How does she do it? She compartmentalizes. Her philosophy seems to be, there may be trouble ahead and behind but, at this precise moment, I am enjoying doing something useful and cheering people up so I will concentrate on that.
“Clearly, she plans for tomorrow but lives in today.”
WPA Pool
Take Small Bites
“Only modest forkfuls make their way into the Queen’s mouth; she chews the foodstuff to a paste and swallows the mixture. Then she speaks. Note, the Queen prefers non-fizzy drinks. Indeed, it was Joan Collins who pointed out in her book My Friends’ Secrets—about beauty, health and happiness—that the one secret shared by most of the elderly but still functioning beauties whom she interviewed was that they never had fizzy drinks. Fizzy drinks harm digestion.”
Live Frugally
“As a child the Queen kept detailed accounts of her one shilling a week pocket money. As an adult the sequins and beads from her evening dresses are recycled on to new outfits. And heating bills for Buckingham Palace have been dramatically reduced by the ecosystem there, which has been in place for decades. A combined heat and power system, along with LED lights and double-glazed skylights, keeps costs down.”
Shun Fashion
“The Queen has always hated fashion. ‘Oh poor Britannia, she would have hated being Cool!’ she remarked when Tony Blair was peddling the idea. In fact, the Queen rejects new fashions, opting instead for the opposite stance, make do and mend.”
Get Plenty of Fresh Air
“By continuing to ride, four days a week, she keeps up the capacity to do so. The requisite limbs remain used to the flexing. And by continuing to walk approximately four miles a day, she retains good use of her legs. In short, fresh air is a prerequisite, and all the royals are known to go out in the kind of weather that most people would not dream of venturing into.”
Have Impeccable Table Maners
"If you are a man, talk to the woman on your right for the first course and to the woman on your left for the second. It is almost like a team game and the one who lets the side down is the person who selfishly doesn’t turn, causing the whole process to collapse like dominoes. So turn you must, even if you have fallen passionately in love with the person next to you at the table.”
Muster Mystique
“When everyone around us is drunkenly confessing to their foibles, perversions, and physical defects, we are fascinated. But what we really find fascinating are those people who have not confessed at all.
"‘We must not let in daylight upon magic,’ urged the economist and critic Walter Bagehot, who did not think that royalty would benefit from its public knowing the human details. And one reason for our Queen’s enduring popularity is that she retains that mystique. We know she is a human but we do not know—and most of us certainly do not want to know—the details, thank you. Take a tip from her and keep your private details private. Do not tweet or Facebook or sell to the press stories connected to the less lofty side of your being human. Soul-bearing can and should be done, but not as a facet of gossip or titillation or for the short-term gain of drunken bonding."
Be on Time
“Members of the Queen’s generation are never late. The whole point of being on time, instead of starting to make phone calls to announce that you are running late at the moment when you are meant to have arrived, is that you thereby sidestep the terrible anxiety and guilt we have all got used to feeling since mobiles came in. Mobiles give the illusion that we have extra time. In fact, they rob us of it. Take a tip from the Queen and let people set their clock by you.”
Routine
“The Queen’s routine is fairly invariable. At 8 a.m. a tray with tea will be delivered to her bedroom and her bath will be run for her to the correct temperature, tested by thermometer to be 72 degrees fahrenheit. Her clothes are laid out for her and her hairdresser will be present.
"At 9 a.m. the piper plays beneath her windows and she walks from the bedroom, through her sitting room to the dining room, holding her Roberts radio, listening to the news of the day. She has cereal, toast, and Oxford marmalade. At 10 a.m. her private secretary will arrive to discuss correspondence and state papers. Then she studies her briefing material.
"If having a routine works for the Queen, let it work for you. Like continuity, it provides a yardstick against which we can measure ourselves. It breeds a sense of security and reassurance, and frees the mind for more taxing topics."
Be Tidy
“Tidiness is one of the primary life skills. Like not reading the Sunday papers—which effectively gives you an extra day per week—it frees up so much time when you are able to put your hands on things easily. Crawfie, the Queen’s nanny, revealed in her autobiography that as a little girl the Queen was compulsively tidy and was always arranging her shoes in tidy rows and also her collection of sea shells.”
Mary Killen writes a weekly advice column for TheSpectator. A journalist since l984, she began her career on Mark Boxer’s Tatler. She has since written for the Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, and the Daily Express, as well as Marie Claire magazine and Harpers & Queen. She writes a monthly motoring column forHouse & Garden magazine, and a diary column for The Lady, and freelances for many other publications.
Every year, on the second weekend in September, The colleges and facilities that are usually closed to the public open their doors with free admission. It is an extraordinary opportunity to see the treasures of this city usually closed to the public behind the walls and old wooden doors of this beautiful city of Oxford.
Oxford Open Doors was established in 2008 as an annual weekend for local people to discover more about their world famous city. The event is now in its fifth year, has been named the most successful event in the country with 2011 seeing 60,000 visits to 185 different venues and events. It is a wonderful weekend to be on Oxford.
The Quad with it's sundial at Corpus Christi College, founded in 1517 and the 12th oldest college in Oxford.
Looking over the wall of Corpus Christi College to the private Fellow's Garden of Christ Church College.
The chapel spire and a vine covered wall at Brasenose College, the only college named after a door knocker.
The chapel at Exeter College...
...and the alter at the chapel of Exeter College
A stained glass window at Hartford College depicting William Tyndale, an English scholar who became a leading figure in Protestant reform in the years leading up to his execution. He is remembered for his translation of the Bible into English
Watching London host, broadcast, and support the greatest Paralympic Games in history has made me even more impressed and proud of the great country of Great Britain. These games have been every bit as exciting, attended, talked about, watched and cheered as the regular Olympics. The stunning performances and the personal stories of the athletes have been so moving and inspiring. I've always been a huge fan of the Olympics but now I'm an even bigger fan of the Paralympics. I'm so very glad I got to see a part of them. I'm sad to see them end.
A TV commentator said that the joy, excitement and sense of pride the England has felt this summer from the Diamond Jubilee to the Olympics and the Paralympics, has made a permanent positive mark on the psyche of this country and impression of Great Britain to the world. Being here this summer certainly has made an unforgettable mark on me.
The Closing Ceremony with the Band Cold Play and Rihanna. Photo by Denise Williams. I watched the closing ceremonies on TV.
North Greenwich Arena near Olympic Park hosting Basketball and Wheelchair Basketball competitions
Go Team GB
The arena an hour before the game -- before it was full of spectators.
The Netherlands creamed the U.S. Women's Team
The Paralympics Logo
The two teams greeting each other before the game
I just couldn't capture in a photo the grace in which these athletes move
