Friday, June 30, 2017

June: A Good Halfway Point

June 2 - A Lovely Walk with a Friend



June 3 - I've been enjoying lots of asparagus this month.



June 4 - What James thinks of freshly-squeezed apple juice



June 5 - More packaging that made me laugh - I'm not used to the word slaughtered on my beef.



June 6 - Pretty, fuzzy peaches



June 7 - Beautiful Morning Walk near the Barley Field




June 8 - Baking with Ella



June 9 - Little Boy Playing



June 10 - More Summer Fruit


June 11 - A Very Southern Sunday Meal


June 12 - Summery Kebabs


June 13 -  Aquarium Field Trip with James


June 14 - Hot weather meant a cool after-school treat for the kids.


June 15 - Picking Strawberries in the Back Garden


June 17 - A Funfetti Cake for Father's Day


June 18 - A Sunny Sunday Performance


June 19 - Such a fun charity shop find


June 20 - Wildflowers, Barley, and the Devil's Arrows


June 21 - a 10:12 p.m. Summer Sky


June 22 - She's always working on a project.


June 23 - Backyard Bounty


June 24 - Country Church Foyer


June 25 - Beautiful staircase at Beningbrough Hall (Can you believe a soldier rode his horse down it when he was billeted here during WWII?)


June 26 - Andy Griffith and Crafting at the end of a Monday


June 27 - It feels like the perfect summer read for me. (It's one of my book club's picks, and I'll be excited to discuss it with Yorkshire ladies.)


June 28 - Copied from my She Reads Truth Romans study book


June 29 - How much do I love this?  So much.


June 30 - Getting 4th of July Ready  (How cute is this infographic for the national anthem?)

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Conwy

One of the fun parts of having visitors is getting to explore a new place together.  When K.J.'s parents came over in March, K.J. planned a little family history exploration.  He's been volunteering at our local North Yorkshire library this year, and one perk of that is having free access to online ancestry records.  You might be interested to know that according to some research, K.J. can trace the Pugh family history to Welsh kings who supposedly were descended from Anna of Arimethea.  You know, Joseph's daughter.  😏  I'm unconvinced about that.



On the more accurate and reasonable side of things, K.J. was able to trace his family line back to the Pugh who left Wales for the new world in about 1660, immigrating to what is now Pennsylvania.  And that is cool enough for us.



We made our way to the town of Dolgellau (which of course is not pronounced the way it's spelled) with a stop in Conwy (pronounced Con-way) to explore the amazing castle there.



It is a very cool, impressive castle built by Edward I in the 1280s.  



There were some stunning views from the towers.



I loved the stained glass window with the couplet:


At the altar they heard estuary birds
cry over the kiss of salt and river water.


It's a perfect and beautiful description of the place.


After we explored the castle, T and I did a quick little walk through the town.  I love ducking into charity shops.  You see so much of the stuff life is made of that way.  Plus, as they say, One man's trash is another man's treasure.  And it's just delightful looking at all the colorful doors.