Adieu to France

We are back in Manchester for a night before flying home tomorrow. We had a whirlwind wonderful three weeks in France. There is too much to cover in detail since Susan left you in Lyon, but some of the highlights were:

Two nights in Arles. On our way down we stopped to see the awesome remains of a giant Roman aqueduct system at Pont du Gard. We stayed in a hotel (with a pool) just outside town and the girls enjoyed that very much. We toured the Roman city of Arles with its coliseum, amphitheater and other sites. One of the best parts for us was attending a show in the coliseum. Arles is near the Camargue, a natural wetland and prairie home to some amazing flora and fauna. The people of the Camargue region have a tradition of raising beautiful white horses. Our show featured trained horses. Part two was the French version of a bullfight, not a fight at all, but a show of courage as young men try to run at the bull and snatch ribbons from its horns. The bull is eager to prevent this of course and chases the men as they leap out of the ring. Quite fun (and fans of David Sedaris may remember his story about this kind of show).

After Arles it was on to Carcassonne in the heart of Cathar country. The Cathars were heretics who were prevalent in France and southern Europe in the 12th century until they were suppressed by the Albigensian Crusade. There are lots of lovely castles, Carcassonne being the best preserved and most impressive. We stayed in a charming little Medieval village called Caunes-Minervois and also had time for a day at the beach on the Mediterranean.

From there we headed north into Limoges, first stopping to visit one of the caves where prehistoric people painted animals and human figures. From there we stopped by Poitiers and saw a 4th century baptistery that is one of the oldest Christian buildings in Europe.

Finally we reached the Loire valley where we had booked a five day bicycling stop. Our hosts provided us with food, a lovely suite with two bedrooms and a bathroom, and bikes for our daily treks. We cycled, visited the lovely chateaus of the region and tasted some of its famous wine.

After a stop at Chartres cathedral we reached Paris on Thursday night and flew to Manchester Friday. Hard as it is to believe, tomorrow we fly back home. This has been an absolutely incredible summer journey and it will take months to integrate what we have seen and done and learned.

--Eric

Latin Lover's Lyon: August 16

People thought I was strange for taking so much Latin in school. But I loved its structures, its predictability, and the way that prose and poetry in Latin were puzzles to be unscrambled by those who knew its grammar. Classmates and adults would marvel (then roll their eyes) as I could provide definitions to strange words like "pulchritudinous" by identifying the Latin root ("pulcher, pulchra" - beauty, beautiful). Yes, I was odd that way. But hey, I did well on the SAT-verbal...

Still, until last Saturday, Latin was a beautiful system of long-dead language. Then we went to the Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon, built on (and into) a hill that includes the oldest parts of the city. Here we're talking really old: as in 40's BC - 200's AD , when the city was called Lugdunum and served as the capital of Roman Gaul. Just outside the museum was the well-preserved Roman amphitheatre, where we could imagine chariots racing... or Christians being martyred...

The museum held artifacts from Bronze Age pre-history through the Christian era of the 300's. And for the first time, right in front of me, were road signs, official proclamations and sarcophogae written in Latin. I could decipher many words (not as many as I'd hoped...) and still puzzle over the grammar. It was cool. Did you know the Romans painted those precisely chiseled letters red? Yep. The paint was still there. I couldn't help touching the stones, making them all the more real to my senses. Somehow those stones, some grand, others mundane, were more impressive to me than the major architectural wonders. This was real Gallo (French) - Roman life, 2000 years old, still painted.

Also incredibly impressive were the collection of mosaics taken from homes and shrines -- we even walked on a very large one, laid out like a quilt with geometric patterns interspersed with more pictorial sections. This pulchritudinous artwork was the floor of one of the galleries! How many sandalled feet at walked across it all those years ago?

Latin may be "dead" but it lives on in Lyon and many other parts of France... Including our next stop, Arles, where we sat in the actual Roman Amphitheatre to watch a regional spectacle (see Margaret's blog on this!); and even the grand, medieval Carcassonne -- built atop an old Roman fort. This Latin lover is happy.

-Susan

Emily in Lyon

We are staying in a hotel in Lyon that has a very confusing garage. Today we went swimming in the pool. It was really cold, but really fun. Today we also went into town. I had a donut and tea for breakfast. I didn't like the donut, so dad got me another pastry that I liked better. After breakfast we went up the tram to a cathedral. It was all about Mary and was very detailed (ornate). The story is that a bishop prayed to Mary that when the Germans were about to attack she saved them and then they built this beautiful church. There was a wooden statue of Mary that was painted gold. It was very big. There was also a part about Joseph in the church. But they ran out of money so it was kind of plain.



There is another cathedral which had a big clock. The clock was very old (700 years) and we saw it play. First there was a rooster who sang. Then there was an angel who moved and it played a song and another man moved while the song was playing. That's it.


Then we went to a Roman museum. (Lyon used to be an important Roman city.) It was very interesting. And we also went to a miniature museum. For lunch we bought baguettes, salami, and strong cheese. We ate next to the river. For dinner I had chicken on a stick with a Thai sauce. It was very good. And I had chocolate fondue with fruit and some ice cream later.





We had to drop off Alex at the train station. I was very sad. But at least we got to see her an extra day.





Tomorrow we leave and go to another city called Arles. Our hotel there will also have a pool.





--Emily

Vive le France

As Margaret wrote in her blog, we are having a wonderful time in France. We have started our time with a visit to our French exhange student Alex and her family. We spent two days with her grandparents in Chatres in a lovely part of the rural Champagne region (though not the grape producing part). Susan and I had a great day on our own touring museums and churches (notably Saint Chappelle - the most stunning high gothic church in the world- and Musee de Cluny, a museum of Medieval art). Then we all came to Paris the next day for a whirlwind tour of Notre Dame, the Pantheon, the Eiffel tower and a boat ride on the Seine.

Then it was off to Lorraine in the East where Alex lives with her parents. They continued to wine and dine us and brought us to several of the most interesting places near them including: Verdun, a powerful and moving reminder of the horrors of WWI; Nancy, their home city, with Place Stanislas, the most gorgeous city square I have ever seen; and Thursday a whistle-stop tour of Alsace, beginning in Strasbourg and continuing to the fairy tale castle of Haut Konigsberg and the Route de Vin with a stop at the charming Medieval village of Riquewihr, with its lovely painted wood houses. We have had croissants and coffee for breakfast and have tasted food and wine from several regions of France.

Today we left the Swisteks (reluctantly) and headed south to Lyon, but brought Alex with us for one more day of touring before we send her home on the train. We had lunch in Dijon on the way down. Lyon is a very historic city. Named Lugdunum by the Romans, it was the birthplace of the emperor Claudius (and another emperor I think) and has some important Roman and Medieval sites. We also passed on the way down two important monasteries, Citeaux and Cluny, which played a pivotal role in the history of the Middle Ages. We didn't stop as it was pouring out and we weren't sure how far we would have to drive. Lyon is also known for wonderful little restaurants called "bouchons" and we had a lovely farewell dinner with Alex in one of them.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we tour Lyon and then it is off to Arles, Nimes and Avignon before we reach Carcassonne, our next major stop.

From Margaret: August in France!

Well, after leaving Britain we got on an hour and a half flight to France! Alex met us at the airport and we got a rental car and drove to her grandparent's house/farm. By the time we got there it was dinner time- 10:00 pm- which was really, really BIG! They have one dog, Ucla, (oo- claa) and Alex has a dog, Sydney. Her grandparents have a brown pony, a ton of rabbits, 2 cats, ducks, and chickens!
Our first full day in France Mom and Dad went to Paris to see the museums, and left Emily and I at the farm with Alex because we would have been bored. When they had left Alex took us for a ride...By attaching the pony to her cart! Alex knows how to drive the cart very well and we drove all around, looking at the beautiful French countryside.
When we got back to the farm we had a really good lunch of pasta and one of the ducks (roasted) with magnifique French bread. We planned afterwards that in an hour we would go to her great-aunts' house because they have a big pool. When it was time we walked over, said Bonjour and wow, was the pool big! It was a huge in ground pool with a cover over it, so you could swimeven when it was raining - it was very hot, though - and stayed there for about two hours before drying off and walking back home, where we hooked up the cart again, and this time took the dogs for a long walk.
When we got back Mom and Dad came home and we all had dinner.
Well, that's one of our really great days in France! The next day we all went to Paris.
I miss you all so much - see you soon!!

Last days in Britain

After a fantastic week up north in Northumberland, we have come back down south to Cheltenham (near Gloucester) to be near friends. Our time up north was another wonderful jaunt back in history. We explored the furthest Roman settlements on Hadrian's Wall. And we saw some of the earliest and most important sites for early Christianity in England, including Lindisfarne (Holy Isle) where St. Aidan established a monastery at the invitation of King (and St.) Oswald. Aidan brought the Irish tradition of Christianity from the island of Iona. We also visited Whitby Abbey where St. Hilda was abbess and hosted the important synod that brought harmony between Irish and Roman Christianity. And as Emily mentioned, we visited Jarrow (now part of greater Newcastle) where the Venerable Bede lived and wrote his famous history of the English people, and from whom we have most of our knowledge about that early period of Christianity.

We were also amazed at the beauty of the Pennines (very wild still and mostly uninhabited) and the Lake District where we visited my friend Adrian Barlow. He is in the midst of restoring a fabulous (and from our perspective) opulent country home back to its former glory. The property goes back to the 1500's under the name of Keen Ground and was formerly part of the grand estates of Furness Abbey. After the dissolution the property was separated and the house dates from the early 1700's. It was renovated several times, most recently in 1922 and a formal garden added by Thomas Mawson. The house has a view of the valley and sits above the charming village of Hawkshead. We toured the grammar school there which was established by the Archbishop of York and granted a royal charter by Elizabeth I in 1585. William Wordsworth was educated there and we have a photo of his name scratched into a desk.

Now we are visiting with Graham Donaldson and family in Cheltenham. The girls have really enjoyed playing with his four children. And tomorrow we will catch up with another friend, James Luckhurst and his family.

Despite all the wonderful places we have seen and the history we have learned, for me the best part of our trip has been the people. Meeting the parishioners in Brymbo and Southsea, catching up with Welsh relatives and seeing friends from high school, college and Jamestown. It has made the visit more personal, I guess. Sightseeing is fun, but it is entirely different to be with people you know and love and to establish or reestablish relationships.

From Emily! 8-4-08

Last Friday Dad, Sisey and I went to Bede's World. Bede lived in Jarrow. He lived there all his life. Sisey and I got to dress up as monks. We also saw a church with a monastery, where Bede had lived a long time ago. There was a fountain in the hall, and a museum with stuff about Bede. Bede was an author and they had copies of his books in cases. It was really cool to see something really, really old.

by Emily.

____
From Mom: the story of Bede's Bones

There had been a shrine with Bede's remains at Jarrow for centuries. But Bede was most famous for telling the world about St. Cuthbert, whose shrine was in Durham Cathedral (the whole purpose it was built, actually). So a monk from Durham went to Jarrow and asked to pray at Bede's shrine overnight. He was given permission - after all, he was a monk, right? But this monk had brought a sack with him... and in the night he stole Bede's bones and hightailed it back to Durham! The monks at Jarrow were horrified of course and petitioned for the remains to be returned, but Durham outranked them and they had to just deal with it. Now Bede is in the Lady Chapel behind the narthex of Durham Cathedral, and Cuthbert's shrine is at the front end, just behind the high altar.

From Margaret 8-3-08

Hi! I cannot believe how this trip has whizzed by- it's already August! So many weeks have gone by ..
On Monday we drove up to Bamburgh Castle. It isn't like most castles because there are still apartments that you can pay to stay in! (There were places blocked off that said "PRIVATE APARTMENTS")
Bamburgh castle, in addition to being a castle, has an Aerospace Museum. It's not large, but has many pieces of things from airplanes and guns from WWII, and a huge gun that looks more like a tank. We enjoyed the view of the sea (however very foggy it was) and the towers and took loads of pictures!
What's a place that you can only go to when the tide is low? Lindisfarne Island, another Holy Island. This is an island where the Venerable Bede was ** (NO, not the cat, mind you,) and also St. Cuthbert. St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert had a monastery on this island, and we saw it's ruins. There was a map of what the monastery must have looked like when it was running. Magnificent!
There was also a museum on Lindisfarne that talked about what the different saints did on Lindisfarne and where they went from there. Surprisingly enough, there were lots of little shops and things as well.
When finished at Lindisfarne we drove back to the cottage.
That is just some of what we did in Sparty lea!
After we had checked out of the cottage and said Ciao to the birds we drove to the house of Dad's highschool friend, Adrian, and spent the night in his very old, beautiful Georgian house. 1700's! He was very nice and cooked dinner for us and everything.
After saying good-bye to Adrian we drove 200 miles to our hotel, and had dinner an hour later. And that's where I am now!

Best wishes to everyone and see you soon,
Margaret

** from Mom: Bede never went to Lindisfarne but somehow he knew all about what Cuthbert did there, when he wrote his Ecclesiastical (=church) History of the English People, around the year 731. Bede was a monk who lived at Jarrow, not far from his final (but not original) resting place at Durham. But that's another story.

Goodbye to Wales

As you can read below in Margaret's blog update, we have left Wales for a week in Northumberland, near Hadrian's Wall in the north of England. Susan and I really enjoyed our course on Celtic Spirituality and saw some really neat out of the way places that I had never heard of, let alone seen before. We really enjoyed the group also, an eclectic mix of DMin students from Drew University, some retired English seniors, a Canadian catholic priest and another American on a sabbatical thanks to a Lilly grant.

After Susan and I picked up the rest of the family in Llandudno, we spent a last night there with cousin Dolo (Dorothy) Roberts and her husband Trevor. They were very kind to host us as they were getting ready for their big parish summer fair. We attended the fair and loaded up on wonderful cakes and said our goodbyes to them and to Dolo's sister Megan.

On our way up north we spent a night with cousins in Wolverhampton (Bob and Jenny Thom). On the way we stopped for a visit to Shrewsbury Abbey, the place where St. Winifride's relics were brought in the 12th century. It was an important abbey with ties to the Norman royal family. We found an ornate grave of Richard and Katherine Onslow (Susan's parents' names). Then we were warmly welcomed by Bob and Jenny with a tour of their lovely village of Codsall, a delicious barbecue dinner, gifts for everyone, and some good French wine. The next day we went to their church for morning prayer and a nice walk.

On Friday we stopped for a visit to Coventry Cathedral (destroyed in WWII, the new cathedral is a monument to peace and reconciliation and incorporates the shell of the old cathedral -- very moving. We drove north to Yorkshire from there and arrived in Ingleby Barwick in time for supper with Paul and Kaitlin Dominiak. Kaitlin is Emily's godmother and Paul was a seminarian at St. Luke's for two summers. He is now assistant curate at St. Francis church there and they are settling in well (see photos).

Finally we arrived at the Elpha Green cottage in Sparty Lea. A gorgeous spot to relax in the peace and quiet (at least until the roosters start crowing at 5 am!). We will be making day trips from here to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Durham, and Hadrian's Wall.

We have added a second volume of photos to our blog. Check the upper right corner for the addresses. They are:

http://picasaweb.google.com/revemw/SabbaticalPix

http://picasaweb.google.com/revemw/SabbaticalPixPart2

July from Margaret - The Place Here is Just Fowl!

We have made it to Elpha Green Cottage- which happens to be in the Middle of Nowhere! If you look out one of our windows you're not very likely to see a town or a HOUSE, even. Keeping us company are about 6 ducks, 4 chickens, 2 roosters, and a male PEACOCK! There is also a black cat who is so sweet, and I call her Cobweb.
Well, as it is Sunday, we didn't really want to drive to a church in a neighboring town so we made our own. In the sunroom we put up candles, and there was an "alter" - (a table that was conveniantly in there) and we mixed red wine with water and had some good bread for communion.
As I haven't written in a long time LOADS have happened! A little over a week ago we were in Llandudno with Granny. We stayed in a tiny room - seriously, you couldn't stretch your arms out in there - in a B+B called The Moorfield Hotel. Mum and Dad were at a class for religious stuff while we were doing some sightseeing! We went to a pub called The Albert 4 times, every other day!
Mum and Dad got to stay at the B+B overnight, and they didn't have to leave till the next afternoon, so we went the next morning to our great-grandmother's grave and put flowers by it. Mum and Granny went to Conwy and we would meet them there at 12:30 for lunch.
When we met Mum and Granny in Conwy we went to lunch at a tearoom where we had sandwiches and crisps. (potato chips)
By the time we got back it was time for Mum and Dad to go. They packed their bags into the rental car and drove off. (We would basically walk and go on buses)
In the next week we got to go almost everywhere we could! We got to go to the top of Snowdon- the highest mountain in Wales, unfortunately on a wet day. By the time we reached the top it was pouring! A few brave people ventured out of the train but we stayed inside. We passed by a lot of things on the way up and down, though!
Another day we went to Llandudno Junction and went to the cinema where we saw Wall-e. Movies sometimes come out a bit later than the USA.
We also spent a lot of time at the library! We got a library card and came back nearly every day to get more books! Sometimes we would just go back to the B+B and read the afternoon away.
On Sunday we were very goodbecause we went to a church right in Llandudno. It was called Holy Trinity and had a very nice service.
Near the end of our stay we went back up to Conwy to see Conwy Castle. We took a bus and then went right to a cafe that had an entrance to the castle attached to it. The resteraunt used to be an old newspaper press- It was called The Press Room- and was interesting to read about!
When we entered the castle the man at the cash register gave us a detective worksheet that we used to figure out how the Welsh conquered the castle. We had to figure out using clues who dun it and how they did it and everything, and we got a prize when we finished it!
We spent a good hour and a half or so at the castle before going hunting for the smallest house in Britain- unfortunately we didn't find it. So we caught a bus and went back to Llandudno.
Yet another day we went to the Great Orm tramway to get up to the Summit! At the top there was a huge playground that had a very very long and narrow slide that was really fast!
We took pictures of the beautiful scenery as we went down.
WELL, that was our week in Llandudno!

At our cottage we have certain advantages like Internet (as you can see) and good phone service, so it's pretty nice!

I miss you all so much and I hope that you all are following us on our sabbatical!
Oh- and one more thing, in about 2 weeks we will be in France!!


Au Revois,
Margaret

Melangell, Patron Saint of Welsh Rabbits – er, Hares; July 22

Medieval female saints: Not many are known by name, but their stories nearly always follow this plot: A young, beautiful virgin, desirous only of spending her life in prayer and devotion to Christ, is threatened with rape by, or marriage to, some brute of a nobleman. She refuses, of course, and is cut down in a very gruesome manner by said boor. But due to the purity of her life and devotion, the lady is miraculously restored to life, and the murderous brute dies on the spot in spectacular fashion. (The best-known example of this story is St. Winifred (Gwenfrewi) of Holywell.)

A welcome exception to the pattern, however, was our most recent study: seventh-century Melangell. Never heard of her? Well, read on. A local prince named Brochwell went out hunting on his land. His dogs pick up the scent of a hare and give chase. The terrified little animal leaps into a bramble bush, where a lovely, young, Irish, fugitive-from-marriage named Melangell is at prayer. The dogs refuse to go any further, and the hunting-horns of Brochwell’s servants are silenced on their lips. When the angry prince investigates he finds Melangell, sheltering the hare; and he is convinced of her holiness. Immediately he gives her a parcel of his land on which to live, pray, and welcome others seeking sanctuary. She becomes an abbess there, as well as the patron saint of hares.

This story takes place not far from St. Deiniol’s, in an area called Pennant (“top of the valley”). So 11 of us rose early today, to be commissioned and blessed; then drove to a village near Pennant in order to hike about five miles to Melangell’s 12th c. shrine and the church built around it. The weather cleared and we had a beautiful, warm day (finally!) for our hike, which took us over squishy peat-bogs, through heather, thistles and blueberry bushes (here called “whimberries”), and across sheep-dotted pastures.

Nearly three hours later we arrived, prickled, soggy and foot-sore, to our pilgrimage destination. It was like Eden. Near the peaceful church dedicated to the saint, and its circular (and hence Celtic) churchyard, was a beautiful garden surrounding the “Melangell Center” for Christian counseling. The staff of two had prepared a wonderful lunch for us all, the other half of our group having arrived by bus. After lunch we celebrated the Eucharist in the recently-restored church, and explored its medieval contents. It was truly a holy place, full of blessings.
This prayer was written some years ago by Donald Allchin, our lecturer:

We thank you, Lord God, for the life and prayer of your servant Mellangell. May her care and compassion for all your creatures inspire us in our day, with the same concern for all that You have made. May we, with her, learn to find Your glory in the world around us, and in all that you give us to do. We ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
-Susan Williams

Celtic Spirituality, July 16-17

We arrived at St. Deiniol's Residential Library on Wednesday July 18, having delivered my mother and the girls to the Victorian seaside resort of Llandudno. St. Deiniol's was founded by Sir William Gladstone in 1894, receiving additional funding from his descendants and friends. The library not only houses Gladstone's extensive collection of books (and more, of course, since then), but is also a theologically-minded conferenc and retreat center.

We're here for the library's annual Celtic Course. This year's subtitle is "Ancient Sites, Ancient Gods and a Living Faith," and we partake of all three through a combination of lectures and field-trips. There's a class of about 20 students, many of whom are from the US as part of Drew Theological Seminary's DMin program. Also there are several retired English persons and another American pastor on Sabbatical.

Our first lecturer was Ian Bradley, who teaches at St. Andrew's University, Scotland, and (apparently) is a well-known broadcaster on BBC-2 radio; he's also written a number of books. Ian's first task was to debunk "Celtic Christianity" by poking with delightful, cynical quips at the romantic notions that most of us had. He quoted JRR Tolkien: "'Celtic' is a magic bag into which almost anything can be put, and from which almost anything can be taken." There's little evidence to support most of what's marketed as "Celtic" these days.

What we do know about Christianity in the British Isles in the 6th - 12th centuries: It was monastic in character (communal, but not necessarily single-sex); with a strong tradition of pilgrimage (moving frequently, not necessarily having a long-term home-base); and a deep connection to the saints as role models. Dreams played an important role in its mysticism; and springs or wells became sacred places since they represented baptism, quenching of thirst and healing.

To illustrate those ideas, we took a tour bus over highways and some very narrow streets, to the Llyn Peninsula where centuries of pilgrims have made their way west. Like them, we visited two shrines (now churches) dedicated to St. Beuno, a travelling monastic who covered extraordinary territory in Wales making converts, beginning communities and then moving on.

The final stop was the Church of St. Hywyn at the very western tip of the peninsula, near the point where one could take a boat if the weather was good, to Bardsey Island, where 20,000 saints are reputedly buried. (Hmm. It's not that big.) We did not have a boat to check the facts in person. But the vicar there at St. Hywyn's led us in a meditation, asking us to think of our life as a journey to the west, stopping at holy places for refreshment before moving on. To paraphrase a quote from the 6th century Irish saint Columbanus (not to be confused with Columba): "Life is a way, a roadway. We walk upon it, we do not dwell in one place. For some the road is long, for others short; for some it is happy, for others it is sad. But we are all seeking a homeland in the west, there to dwell eternally."

May your journey this week be blessed by God, keeper of roads and resting places.

-Susan Williams

Farewell to Southsea and Brymbo

Sunday, July 13 was our final Sunday at St. Mary's Brymbo and All Saints' Southsea. Eric, accompanied by Margaret, Emily and Susan's mom Kathie (who had just flown in from Michigan), went to St. Mary's for the 10 am service. Susan did the 10:30 am service in Southsea. After the service in Brymbo there was a lovely reception with coffee and tea and gifts were exchanged. Eric presented the warden, Bernard Davies, with a book about the history of the Chautauqua Lake region. Bernard presented the Williams family with a plate commemmorating St. Mary's centenary and histories of the church and steel mill. He also gave Eric a Brymbo steelworks tie.

At Southsea there was a lovely buffet reception after church. Delicious sandwiches, scones, bara brith (a wonderful fruitcake), cakes with strawberries and cream, and on and on. They presented us with more gifts and we gave the parish a mounted poster of Chautauqua Lake. Then they sang us the sentimental Welsh favorite: "We'll Keep a Welcome in the Hillsides." You can hear part of it here:






It was amazing to all of us how much we had become attached to these people in less than four weeks. We are so grateful for the warmth, hospitality, kindness and generosity that were shown to us by everyone. We hope Noel and Wendy had just as warm a welcome in Jamestown as we have had here.

From Eric -- July 14 Seven Wonders of Wales

Yesterday (Sunday, July 13) we finished a little sightseeing project that had become a minor obsession with me. There is a lovely anonymous poem written in the late 18th or early 19th century by an English visitor to North Wales. In it the poet describes the "Seven Wonders of Wales." Well, I happened to notice a couple weeks ago that we had seen at least half of those wonders between this trip and previous visits and that the remaining ones were all near by, so on we went to see the rest. Here is the poem for those that are curious:


Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham steeple,
Snowdon's mountain without its people,
Overton yew trees, St Winefride wells,
Llangollen bridge and Gresford bells.


Pistyll Rhaeadr is a lovely waterfall (a bit hard to get to) that is the highest waterfall in England and Wales.





Gresford parish is a beautiful church with renowned bells.

You can listen to the bells tolling 5:00 p.m.




St. Giles, Wrexham has a famous steeple that was copied at Yale University (Elihu Yale is buried at the church as well).





Snowdon Mountain is the highest mountain in Wales. Kathie, Margaret and Emily may be taking a narrow gauge railroad to the top this next week.





St. Mary's Overton-on-Dee is another lovely church which is renowned for its 21 ancient yew trees, one of which is reputed to be over 1500 years old.


St. Winifride's Well will be a stop for Susan and me this next week during our course at St. Deiniol's. We've seen it before.

Llangollen Bridge is the first stone bridge over the River Dee and a popular spot to look at the river below.





You can see more of the seven wonders on our photo site:

http://picasaweb.google.com/revemw/SabbaticalPix





Search on that site for "sevenwonders" and you should get photos of some of these places.

Welsh History in a Day - July 8

On our busy Tuesday (July 8) one of my favorite stops was the National Center of Welsh History and Culture in St. Fagan's, north of Cardiff. Bearing a strong resemblance to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan - only spanning more centuries - this "museum" is really a collection of historic buildings from around the country, restored accurately including furnishings. There was a thatched home dating from 1607 (at right); a lovely formal gardens; farm buildilngs and genuine Welsh sheep; and - perhaps most interesting - a series of workers' row houses dating in sequence from the 1700s to 1980, showing the progress of home life for the working classes.

At left, the girls pose in one of the earlier houses of that set of row houses. In each, the living/dining/cooking room is maybe 12' x 12'. A tiny back room barely holds a twin bed, and a very narrow stairs in the corner would lead to the attic "bedrooms" for most of the family. Forget privacy in any of those centuries.

If we hadn't been in a hurry to get to the "Big Pit" coal mine (certainly worth the visit, really spectacular place) I could have spent several more hours at St. Fagan's. You could tell how carefully, even lovingly, everything had been set up. The collection was spread over many acres, which made it all peaceful but meant we just couldn't get to it all. If anyone reading this Blog intends to visit Wales, be sure to give yourself a good chunk of time at this excellent national treasure. Did I mention it's free to get it? (Thanks to the taxpayers of Wales. Cheers!)

-Susan

Weekend in York June 28-30

On June 28-30 the Williams ladies travelled by train to York, England, so that we could attend the ordination of Paul Dominiak at the astonishing York Minster cathedral... plus spend time with Kaitlin Krull Dominiak and tour that historic city. We did hear a lot of history - including ghost stories from the Roman era to the present! York makes the most of its nearly-2000 years of civilization.

Our weekend began on a rough note, however: Less than an hour after our arrival, Emily had to be taken to the walk-in health clinic! Chasing Margaret along the ancient city walls, Em tripped and landed on her knees, opening up the cut so recently stitched. Sigh. Her cut was butterflied back together and leg wrapped like a mummy, to minimize chances of more troubles. Needless to say, we moved slowly for the rest of the visit. But she was a real trooper about keeping up with it all.

Well, that was really the only "sore point" of a terrific weekend. As you can see from these photos and others posted on our photo page, the weather cleared up and we enjoyed many amazing sights. Highlights included the Minster, the very well done York Castle Museum (mostly history, including a Victorian-era street of shops with costumed staff), and the York Dungeons which brought ghost stories and plague scenes to life, featuring creepy characters from York's past. (The girls begged to go. I wanted to see the National Center for Early Music but their minds were made up.)

You can see more photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/revemw/SabbaticalPix.


The ordination service on Sunday was glorious, full of great Anglican music, prayer and ceremony. The famous Archbishop of York, John Sentamu (originally from Uganda) presided, along with a parade of clergy and 22 ordinands! Paul was the tallest so it was easy to pick him out of the crowd when they all stood for their Presentation and Examination, prior to kneeling in turn before the (rather short) Archbishop for their Ordination. Emily wants to point out that the service was exactly TWO HOURS LONG. Time well spent, I say.

As Americans it's hard to get our minds around the dates that get tossed about in York, such as: after the ordination, we joined Kaitlin, Paul and other family members for pizza in a building from 1764. And that's pretty new compared to certain parts of York in use since the Middle Ages. (The fact that the buildings lean a bit only adds to their charm.) Colorful characters are around every corner. Roman centurions, Viking marauders, medieval shop-keepers, victims of the plague, 17th century soldiers trying to hold out against Cromwell's army, and a Quaker tea-totaller named Rowntree who decided to create an alternative non-alcoholic beverage... are all citizens whose stories echo among the great walls of glorious Eboricum / Jorvik / York.


-Susan and Emily (Margaret's posting her own!)

From Margaret July 9

Hello out there! We are having a lot of fun over here if a bit wet...
We recently took a trip to South Wales overnight. The beach was great although a bit windy and the B+B had two large DOGS! One was a German Sheperd named Ocika (I think I spelled it right...) and the other was a Samoyed; her name was Cali.

We got to a coal mine on our next day which was very interesting! It was damp, dark and smelly, but very interesting. I never really thought about how dangerous those mines were...

School is fine, this Friday is my classes's big field trip to Chirk Castle, and we are all very excited about that! Emily and I recently got our school sweatshirts with their crest on it. I am excited to show it off when we get back!

Today seemed to NEVER stop raining. I heard that it was pretty warm over there! I hope that the Carters are doing well.

We recently did a bit of family history by going to my Grandpa's home town in South Wales. We couldn't figure out what house he lived in, though. If you want to know the name of the town ask my Dad.* I'm not going to attempt to spell these Welsh words...Except Llangollen.
We miss everybody in Jamestown! I sincerely hope that things are going well at the church. Continue to check our blog and make sure to leave a few comments as well!

Lots and lots of love,
Margaret

*The town is Caerau -- pronounced Ki-Ri, with long i's

Exploring Wales July 5-8

This past week we really did some Welsh adventuring. On July 5th we headed out for a day of castle exploration. We toured three of Edward I's masterpieces -- Beaumaris, Caernarvon and Harlech. At Caernarvon (see left) they were celebrating Welsh veterans day with a service, ceremony and parade (including a fly over by a WWII fighter plane). At Harlech the "Knights of Longshanks" (a reenactment group) was doing crafts and weapons demonstrations. Eric got to try on a ring mail shirt.

You can see photos of all the castles at http://picasaweb.google.com/revemw/SabbaticalPix.

On Monday and Tuesday we made a quick trip through South Wales. We went to the Gower, a peninsula near Swansea to visit the scenic beaches there (though it was still windy and cold... but the girls had a great time). Then Tuesday we visited Caerau, where Eric's dad was born. We then went to St. Fagan's museum of Welsh folklore with a "village" made up of buildings from various periods of history and parts of Wales. Later that afternoon we visited the Big Pit in Blaenavon, a coal mine that was in operation until 1980 and where visitors can now go down into the mine and learn about life as a Welsh coal miner.

Other highlights of the week:

July 3 There was a lovely party in our honor at the Brymbo cricket club hosted by the Minera deanery with a good turnout from all the local churches. We played "Beatle" which was lots of fun, but beyond my powers to describe accurately. It is kind of a cross between Bingo, hangman and Yahtzee.

July 4 Susan and I went mountain biking at Llandegla forest. We rode the "beginner" trail which was plenty exciting for us. Oooh those rocks hurt me bum! (-Susan) That evening we went to Shelagh and Gordon Watkinson's house for her birthday and an American barbecue (hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.) Margaret and Emily enjoyed playing games in the garden and Margaret helped give Shelagh's grandson, 1-yr-old Tom, a bath. She got her own shower in the process!

Update July 1

Well, we're still having problems connecting to the internet, so we apologize about the sparse updates. Lots to tell:

The girls are loving school at St. Mary's in Brymbo, as you can read from Margaret's updates. Susan and I took advantage of the first really sunny day today to go on a lovely 2 and 1/2 hour hike to the top of Hope Mountain nearby with lovely 360 degree view of the area.

While the girls were in York at Paul's ordination (photos later), I met up with an old friend named Graham from my year at college in Wales (1984-5). We went to Erddig House, a lovely late 17th century house with spectacular gardens. The day before I explored nearby Oswestry (with a lovely old church named for St. Oswald King and Martyr which has an 11th century tower) and Chirk Castle gardens (some photos are posted).

Saturday after I dropped the girls off I drove up the Wirral and through the tunnel into Liverpool and spent the day at the glorious cathedral. Had a private tour and listened to the dress rehearsal of Britten's War Requiem with the Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra and chorus and a choir from Cologne, Germany. Liverpool is the European capital of culture for the year and is having a number of events.

We had a fantastic day on Friday meeting up with cousins in Llandudno: Dolo Roberts, her husband Trevor, and her sister Meghan. Dolo and Meghan are first cousins of my dad and his brothers on his father's side. I had never met them before and it was wonderful to hear stories about that side of the family and to see the village where they were from--Dolgarrog. My grandmother was from the next village, Trefriw, and Meghan knew her side of the family as well. We are going back this week to look for the site of the old house up the hill and the graveyard.

We've also visited Llangollen, the home of the international eisteddfod, a music and cultural festival. We'll be attending some of that next week. And the nearby Pontcysyllte aqueduct, a marvel of 19th century engineering by Thomas Telford.

We've also done some actual work in the past week. Thursday both Susan and I had nursing home services. And Friday I had a funeral at All Saints' Southsea. Trevor, the lay reader, and Richard, the funeral director, made sure I kept on track.

That's it for now as our hour at the internet cafe is running out. Keep checking back for more photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/revemw/SabbaticalPix. We'll try to update the blog as we're able.

Best,

Eric

From Margaret July 1

It i so hard to believe that it's already July! We have been really busy these last few days; having lots of fun!
School is going extremely well, all of the kids shower me with questions every day. They are being so nice!
Today was Sports Day at school, and they allowed me to jump in. My house was Robinson; all of the houses were competing is races: Skipping Race, Sack Race, Obstacle Race, Bean-bag Race, and Relay Race. The winning house would get a trophy.The houses are Wilkinson, Robinson, and Darbon. Guess who won?
This past weekend Mum (Mom) , Emily and I went to York to see Kaitlin and Paul Dominiak, who were married last summer. They are doing really well, and are soon going to get a Chocolate Lab puppy! Paul was ordained at York Minster, the largest and most beautiful church I have ever seen. He is now a deacon.
There were many placesto SHOP in York! The town that we were in was basically all SHOPPING, with a lot of history mixed in. This history includes lots of ghost stories; some people say that York is the most haunted city in the world!
During the time of the Plague, they used to board up people's houses if someone had it. This accured to one large family that killed everyone...Except the smallest little girl. People back then thought that you could get sick only from living people, so when the men came to board the houseup, they boarded her up, too.
Eventually, the little girl died of starvation. People can see the figure of the little girl, looking out the window of her house.
On a brighter note, we stayed at a bed and breakfast called the Abbingdon, which was lovely. There were two beds: One double bed and one single. We let Emily have the single because she always thrashes and kicks in her sleep.
We didn't have a car in York, we had taken a train, so we walked everywhere we went or, if it was too far, took a tour bus.
One of the streets in York is very famous for it's age. It's the Shambles, which we walked through almost every day. It now has tons of little shops and cafes, and we enjoyd it very much.

Miss you all!
Margaret

From Margaret 06-25-08

We started school today! I made a lot of friends with the girls in my class. My favorites so far are Kaitlin, Leah and Casey. They came over to us as soon as we got there to say Hi.
My teacher's name is Ms. Masters, and she's very nice. The children say their prayers before"dinner" (lunch) and before we leave school - but in Welsh. The teacher taught me a few colours in Welsh. One I haven't forgotten is "gwyth" - green. I don't even know if I spelled it right. For dinner we had two choices - cheese rolled up in a tortilla or noodles with meat sauce. I had the noodles.
We got to play outside a lot, despite the weather being cold and drizzly. For all of the kids reading this - they call Freeze Tag "Stuck in the Mud" and soccer "football" and football "rugby". It sort of confused me at first.
I miss all of my family at church dearly, and all of my friends from school. I will send you post-cards with lots of love.
Margaret

more photos

We've added more photos to our Picasa album which you can find at: http://picasaweb.google.com/revemw/SabbaticalPix

We spent Saturday in Chester doing some shopping and sightseeing. We happened to arrive during the Midsummer festival and saw a charming parade. People make elaborate costumes and wear them year to year. We also attended choral evensong at the cathedral, one of our favorite services. The choir (twelve girls and six men) did a fantastic job, though few were in attendance. We also enjoyed the Roman amphitheater and a walk on the walls of the city. After supper we went back to the cathedral for a concert by the Chester Philharmonic.

On Sunday we led the service at St. Mary's Church in Brymbo, a lovely 19th century church on a hill overlooking the valley. After a lovely roast beef dinner we were off to St. Asaph for the diocesan conference. The girls went with a family from church to an indoor activity center and had a great time.

Monday we were off to Llangollen, a nearby village that hosts the annual Internation Eisteddfod, a musical competition that brings choirs and musicians from all over the world. We rode on the Llangollen steam railroad and walked over the nearby Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, an engineering marvel constructed by Thomas Telford. Completed in 1805 it carries the Llangollen canal 126 feet over the River Dee. You can read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontcysyllte_Aqueduct.

Photos

There's so much to tell about our trip so far and it's only been a few days. We led our first service this morning at St. Mary's Church in Brymbo, part of our two-point parish which also includes All Saints' Southsea. We also attended a diocesan conference (convention) an hour away at St. Asaph Cathedral, the smallest cathedral in Britain (and very lovely). We have met so many lovely people and have toured (so far) Wrexham, Mold, and Chester. We are gradually settling in and finding our way around the area.

You can see lots of photos of our first few days by clicking here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/revemw/SabbaticalPix

First Update from Wales-- June 20

So sorry we haven't checked in until now. We've had a terrible time getting connected to the internet. We've had a lovely time so far--lots to update. Here's the first information dump:

From Emily: Friday, June 20:
TODAY WE WENT TO THE WELSH SCHOOL WHERE WE ARE STARTING ON WEDNESDAY.NEXT WE HAD A PICNIC AND AFTER THAT,WE WENT ON A HIKE.AFTER THAT WE GOT A TOUR OF THE CHURCH WE ARE GOING TO TOMARROW.AFTER THAT WE HAD DINNER ON THE PORCH.THEN WE FED THE FISH.BUT WE SAW THAT THE FISH WERE TANGLED UP IN THE NET.SO MOM GOT KNIFE AND CAREFULLY CUT IT LOOSE.
EMILY

From Margaret: Friday, June 20, 2008
Since our Internet wasn’t working that well, we had to miss a few days. Sorry about the wait…
Today we had an interview with the principal of St. Mary’s School. We will be starting school this Wednesday and we have uniforms at the ready! There are a variety of uniforms at the school, actually. Some kids have dresses like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, while others have dark navy blue trousers. We are hoping to get a sweat-shirt from the school with their crest on it. We will be going to school on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for a few weeks.
We also toured St. Mary’s Church today. It is basically your normal, Victorian church. It’s definitely bigger than All Saints, our other church; so big that they have a microphone on the Altar! It has a graveyard in the back (large) and it has lots of grass (also large). After touring the beautiful church we went to a library, not far away from where we live. We got our own library cards, which will be a very nice souvenir. It’s very nice and quiet, and we enjoyed every minute. I am discovering that England has a variety of different books than America!
When we came home we saw lots of kids playing around! We made a new friend, Katie, who just turned 6. She has a little brother, Aled, who is almost 4. She lives right across the street and Emily will have a friend even before school starts. We saw a couple of girls who look my age and I hope I’ll get to meet them soon.
Bye! Margaret

From Susan
I’ve been trying to get a sense of “home” here in Moss, and it’s not been that hard. My body-clock adjusted right away by getting me up at 6 a.m. each morning. The first morning I went for a walk around the neighborhood. There are some nice panoramic views of the valleys in several directions. Our road, and house, are called “Bryn” which means Hill in Welsh, and we really are on a relatively high spot. The house itself is over 100 years old, with ceilings at least 9 feet high. We’re getting used to the British types of showers (not so great), electric appliances (very fast, probably due to the higher voltage) and supermarkets (it’s interesting what sorts of things are like, and unlike, ours. And pretty much everything costs more).
Thursday we met our first group of parishioners, at the smaller All Saints congregation which has an 11 a.m. service each Thurs. followed by soup lunch. This was a very warm group who clearly enjoyed each other’s company, and made us feel right at home. Thursday evening, Eric and I were treated to a fundraising event at Eaton Park Hall, owned by the Duke of Westminster (not in attendance). Wow, what a place! We Americans are used to seeing manor houses on PBS; but here was the real thing, family portraits and all. The event (benefitting Alzheimer’s Disease programs) included music by two groups of high-school age musicians who were really excellent. Wish Margaret had been along.
What strikes me most is the sense of history, a building of generation upon generation that is mostly lacking in the USA. (We just haven’t been around long enough!) We climbed the bell tower of St. Giles’ Church in Wrexham, where Elihu Yale is buried; the tower was complete in 1525 and parts of the church are from the 1100’s. About 900 years of faithful Christians, gathering and giving and working for the building up of Christ’s Body; keeping a beautiful structure intact so that a fellow beneficiary of Yale’s generosity could come from America to be among the visitors.
Gratefully, Mother Susan

All Saints, Southsea

The smaller church we'll be serving in NW Wales is All Saints' congregation in Southsea. (We don't think there's a "sea" anywhere nearby, however.) This building, dating from the 1920s, was originally the parish hall. But, it was consecrated for worship when the church building was deemed structurally unsafe in the 1980s.

Sabbatical church: St. Mary's in Brymbo

With a little digging (thanks, Google) we found some photos of St. Mary's church in Brymbo. There's a capstone dated 1872; and the place has an interesting architecture. This is one of the two Anglican churches we'll be serving during the first month of our sabbatical - the other being the smaller All Saints in Southsea. Fr. Carter has "warned us" that the Welsh definitely like to sing their hymns with gusto.

Introduction

This blog is intended as an ongoing online postcard from our sabbatical. We'll be in Wales, England and France and will update this blog roughly once a week starting in mid June. We'll post pictures and link to interesting sites. We may even post short audio and video clips. The purpose of our sabbatical is to trace our Celtic roots, both in terms tracking down our family origins and also spiritually as we learn about and walk in the footsteps of the great Welsh and Anglo-Saxon saints.