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