New Year's Eve 2017. . . . . . . .

Arrived home safely from Europe last night.

No unpacking, just fell into bed.

May celebrate the coming of the new year a bit more 

quietly this time around as we are somewhat exhausted, 

and now Bob is sharing my nasty cold!

Lovely to be home after a great time in England, 

Portugal, Spain and Morocco. 

More on all that later!

Hope your celebration is fun - may the year ahead bring 

you good health and much happiness.

Traveling to London. . . . . . . . .

 . . . . . from the West Country was not easy the past couple of days. 

Cold, damp nights brought icy conditions and thick fog on the main motorways, 

sadly there were several multi-vehicle pileups with at least one fatality during early

 morning commuting hours.

We awoke early this morning and I rushed to take photos from the balcony before

my cousin came to drive us to the coach station to catch our Heathrow airport bus.

I'd never seen Tor Bay like this, early on a foggy morning. Remember, I didn't live

 here with bay views as a youngster - so this was totally different from my memories

 of our lovely town by the sea.

The tiny boat is the small winter ferry which plies back and forth between Torquay

 and Brixham, carrying mostly commuters on its 25 minute journey. We've watched

 it chugging back and forth several times a day whilst staying in the flat.

Today, the fog banks gave the shoreline a beautiful mystical look which was a

 new and quite different view of my hometown. . . . . . one I will always remember.

We are now in our hotel at Heathrow. 

Our window looks out onto the main runway of this gigantic world famous airport.

 We always request a room on this side as we love watching planes leaving for every

 corner of the world. Every 2 minutes a jet takes off. . . . . . it's been happening since

 our arrival at 3 PM and still continues now at 11 PM as I sign off here. 

Soon though it will shut down for the night. We will then enjoy calm hours for our

 'last sleep' here in my lovely England before flying back to the USA tomorrow.

Boxing Day Dip!

It's an old tradition shared by many waterfront communities here. . . . . . . and probably 

around the world. Crazy brave souls don their swimwear and jump or paddle into

 freezing cold water for the Boxing Day Dip on December 26th.

I was sitting at the table enjoying a late breakfast when screams and yells rose from

 the beach below! Hurrying to the window I was amazed by the huge crowd which

had appeared on the sands. Many were already in the water, some with their

 four-legged friends, perhaps clearing their fuzzy heads after the overeating

 and drinking which has become usual for many over the holiday season!

With this lousy head cold I had no plans to join in - plus I forgot to pack my

 swimsuit, or the even more needed wetsuit! 

This beach is Torre Abbey Sands, one I frequented as a young child because the

 water is shallow for a long way out, therefore safe for children and a great place to

 learn to swim. The large white building to the left is the Grand Hotel.

The long building closest to the grass is the stadium at the Recreation Grounds where

 rugby football is played. The one behind it, with the more fancy roof, is Torquay 

Station - trains arrive from all over the UK here bringing tourists to enjoy the coastal 

towns, country villages, Dartmoor, and Tor Bay which is popular for sailing etc.

Harbour sunset this evening.

Tomorrow morning we leave here for London - more coming later 

when I get home, and get caught up.

Christmas greetings. . . . . . . .

We are ensconced in my home town of Torquay in Devon 

on the southwest coast of England, ready to enjoy 

the Christmas holidays with family and friends.

Sending Happy Christmas greetings to you and your 

families and loved ones.

Christmas Eve at home in England . . . . . . . .

The spectacular sunrise from the balcony on our first morning in Torquay yesterday.

The sky was on fire for several minutes, turning the harbour and bay waters many 

shades of pink and mauve.

Torquay Harbour looking across to Brixham.

Later, one tiny passenger ferry arrived from Brixham, the little fishing port across 

the bay, and then the blustery day began.  Winds strong enough to knock one over,

 then rain. . . . . . but hard to use an umbrella without flying away Mary Poppins style!

Yes, English weather can be wild and wet especially here along the coast.

This lovely view is still here this morning, again with brilliant painted skies,

 screaming sea gulls, and I see the little ferry heading over from Brixham.

Much calmer weather is forecast for today but it will be turning colder.

 The shoppers will be making that last run on the shops.

This evening Christmas Eve parties will be in full swing.

Hopefully I can participate despite catching a miserable cold. . . . 

most likely from the ship where several people were hacking

 during the cruise. 

Hope your Christmas plans all work out and that you and your 

loved ones have a wonderful time. 

From beautiful Devon, a very Happy Christmas.

La Coruna, Spain. . . . . . . .

 Last port of call in Spain was La Coruna which we enjoyed.

Following a somewhat rough crossing of the Bay of Biscay,

we are 'home'.

This morning Queen Victoria is back in Southampton and we are preparing

 to disembark shortly after a really wonderful pre-Christmas cruise.

Heading to Devon today - more later.

The voyage continues. . . . .

. . . . . . but the Internet has not been friendly!  

Will be catching up with you once we are back in the UK hopefully.   


Beauty on the walls of the cathedral in Malaga, Spain.

Mary

Crossing the Bay of Biscay. . . . . . .

Queen Victoria left Southampton Monday night with us, and a full complement
 of 1,900  passengers, 90% of whom must be Brits!!!  
So far the crossing from the English Channel to the Bay of Biscay has been
 fabulous with a moderate swell. Walking on the covered Promenade Deck
 and open Lido area has been a bit chilly, however this morning the sunshine
 is bright and I'm off shortly to promenade again while Bob sits comfortably in

 the theatre for the morning lecture by a well known British broadcaster.

 Why anyone would want to listen to someone talk about world politics
 rather than enjoy looking at this amazing ocean, beats me! 
Here, we are now passing the northern coast of Spain on our way to the
 first port of call, Lisbon, Portugal. We will arrive there tomorrow 

morning.

Two views from our balcony on this brilliant morning.

Anyway dear readers, Internet is somewhat slow, and very expensive,
 so I'm off now to enjoy life at sea!

A Different Christmas. . . . . . . . . .

We made it!  
Arrived here at Heathrow Airport, London this morning, right on time, after a smooth

 flight through the night. Signs of Christmas everywhere. This was the bus station
 where we enjoyed a coffee - so much better than what they serve in flight - whilst
 awaiting our bus to Southampton on the Hampshire coast. 

This evening we took a walk to the German Christmas Village in Southampton's
 city center. As darkness fell, the festivities included an early visit from
 Father Christmas flying in his sleigh across the sky. . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . then he came down to earth to meet the children and hand out treats.

Then, as it turned chilly, we headed to a quaint old pub for a fish and
 chip supper by an open fire, taking a few photos of the interesting historic buildings
 along the way. 

We are tired having skipped a night of sleep, but we believe 
that staying up, staying awake and then going to bed at the normal time 
the best cure for jet lag!

Tomorrow we embark on the ship and sail away to the first port of call, Lisbon, Portugal. 
Two days at sea with plenty of time to unpack, get organized, and relax at last.
Note, I've had no time to learn how to get decent night shots with the new camera!
Will try to do better next time.

Crossing the Pond tonight!

Awaiting the flight to London right now. The packing was crazy for this complicated

itinerary but, as you can see, it was completed early this morning.

Yes, I still love old fashioned padded hangers by the way!

My next post will hopefully be from lovely England tomorrow!

I had to buy a new camera yesterday - totally not planned! More on that another time.

These are my first photos - I'll be reading the manual on the plane tonight!

Getting Away From It All. . . . . . . . . .

No, this isn't happening at the cottage this Christmas season.

 These are decorations from another year when I had time for such. 

This year we will be gone from home so the green boxes are staying tucked

 away in the attic. I'm somewhat sad to think the house will be in darkness 

for Christmas. We fly across the pond tomorrow night. Hoping for a great cruise

 and then back to England for Christmas week. 

Hope to keep in touch with you all here, but just in case I'm having too much

 fun to blog, or the Internet lets me down out on that ocean, know I'm sending

 good wishes to each of you, my dear friends, for a wonderful holiday season.

A Magic Paintbrush. . . . . . . .

Sometime, during the chilly, rainy night, someone

 tiptoed through the garden with an artist's palette

 and a paintbrush.

At last we've had some rain. 

Early morning light showers later turned into a steady

 rain yesterday. 

This morning, when the sun came up, I puttered about storing a

 few items in the potting shed for Winter months, taking out the

 garbage, (someone has to do it!), and of course capturing a

 few garden shots to share the radiant colors, heartbreakingly

 beautiful after the rain.

We actually raked a ton of leaves on Saturday, now 

there are tons more! They will have to stay until we 

return after the holidays . . . . . too wet and too little

 time to work in the garden now.

Pre-Christmas cruising . . . . . . . . .

We sailed on this 'royal lady' in June 2014 and loved everything about Cunard's

 smallest - but still large - ocean liner. She took us to the beautiful Baltic

 countries and on to St. Petersburg, Russia - an amazing journey.

This weekend we fly across the pond to London, then head down to the port city
 of Southampton to board Queen Victoria on Monday afternoon and sail away
 that evening. Looks like our deck chairs are waiting - hopefully it will be warm
 enough to relax out there on sea days - bring on the blankets and hot toddies
 please - and calm water will be hugely appreciated!

This ten day cruise will take us to Portugal (Lisbon), Spain (Cadiz, Malaga, La Coruna), 

and Morocco (Tangiers), and return us to England in time for a quick whiz down to
 Devon and my home town for Christmas week with family and friends.
Am I excited? You bet I am!
As always, I will do my best to share highlights of our trip along the
 way - it's all up to the Internet of course!

A dash of Christmas magic. . . . . . . .

Because we'll be so far away for the Christmas holidays, decorating

 is not happening around the cottage this year. It's somewhat sad for me

 as I do love that part of preparing for the festivities . . . . . . .but come

 next year I hope to be here dragging out all those boxes of ornaments from

 the attic, setting up my tree in the gazebo, along with lights, wreaths and

 fresh green garlands on the front porch.

At SuzAnna's Antiques open house last week,

 I did buy this beautiful golden reindeer (oops,
it's more likely a stag!) also the sheet music stenciled
 with a sweet bird sitting on a holly branch with the

French greeting,  Joyeux Noël.
I'm displaying them so at least I have a small touch
 of Christmas to look at this week. . . . . . 
. . . . . . and of course I'm enjoying looking at all the 
beautiful decor around your homes.