Sunday 17 February 2008

the rest of the story

Now people are in bed so I can think again.


Okay - Leeds Castle. They were hosting Hands on History, a group that gives talks and lets people see and touch historical (mock-ups) weapons and clothes, etc. There was a tent out back of the castle with lots of cool stuff. Each of the children got to dress in Saxon or Norman armor. (They were showing the time period of the Battle of Hastings and ... help me out, Ganieda! Avignon? Anyway.) So we did that, and listened to the talk about the armor and battle tactics. Pretty cool stuff. Then they had a trebuchet that launched a water balloon across the grounds to the lake below. Bob liked that because he'd never understood before how those actually work, and now he does. Good for him.

Then Bob took the stroller and two babies for a stroll while the children and I navigated the maze. (He was tired/his hip is hurting and he didn't want to carry a baby through the maze.) The children each took a turn leading through the maze, and we still made it in pretty good time.

It was nearly 4 by then so we headed back toward home. We took the trolley to the parking lot this time and saved a long walk. On the way home we went through a tunnel instead of over a bridge. After we got around London we exited the Motorway and had supper at a rest stop type place (near Stanstead Airport). They had KFC, and first we went over there, but they don't have biscuits! (Under any name). Bob says you can't eat chicken without a biscuit, so we ate at the Burger King that was also there. I got an Angus burger that really is made from Aberdeen Angus beef, and it was very good. After I realized I'd just paid $10 for a fast food burger, I savored it even more. The regular cheeseburger ($1 in the US) was 2.50 GBP - $5. But there was a family deal with 4 ea burger, fries, and drink for only 12 GBP, and we got that.

So we finally made it back home. It was about 1 1/2 hours to our house. Bob has some pictures up, but he's trying to do just one page at a time so you can see without having to scroll through several pages.


Sunday

Today we went to Mildenhall Baptist Church. They use the NIV, and have the children leave during the preaching, but we were able to enjoy the service anyway. :-) That's twice now I've been to a more-or-less Charismatic Baptist church. I really enjoyed the service - the preacher actually preached from the Bible instead of just talking about stuff, and we sang several songs I knew. Those folks can sing! harmony! With gusto! A welcome change. So we will see.

After church we went on base to eat, fill up with gas, and get more groceries to fill the new fridge. I shouldn't run out of milk this week. Yay!
This was my first chance to actually make dessert, and I made a brownie pizza.

I've been reading a "diet plan" that Bob brought home one day. A guy at work gave it to him.. It is written by some top bodybuilder person. And while he doesn't advocate lots of sweets, he does say it is effective to have a day or two each week with higher calorie intake to keep the body from going into 'starvation mode.' So I don't feel too bad. I lost 3 pounds last week and gained a lot of confidence in God's ability to keep me on the right track. I can't do it, but He can do it in me.

Pray for Bob as he does his tests this week.

4 comments:

Ganeida said...

Battle of Hastings (early Medieval) Oct 14, 1066 Normans V Saxon Britain. The Bayeaux Tapestry remembers the battle.

Do you mean Agincourt? Final battle of the 100 years war Henry v (Britain) V Charles vi (France)
Oct 25, 1415. England won. This is interesting for the English use of the longbow. I forget how fast the English bowmen could draw but I do know they were all deformed from the amount of archery practise they did & they totally wiped out the French. Massacre.

Avignon is something else entirely & to do with the turks, I think? Not sure.

MamaOlive said...

That's right, Agincourt!

I knew you could help on that one. I can remember the story. Funny, the man talked about how the weapons and warfare developed and changed, but I really didn't "get it" that the two battles were 400 years apart!
He said they could fire off an arrow every 4 seconds, and had a demonstration of an arrow going right through chain mail. Powerful stuff, but I have enough brain to remember that from "Robin Hood" and "Ivanhoe" and "The White Company."

Thanks for straightening me out on the actual facts. Lol.

Ganeida said...

Yeah, well my history's a little vague when it comes to medieval times but my Shakespheare's still good. lol.

Ditz & I did archery last year & our instructor was telling us about the right side of the English archers being over~developed from their use of the bow. They were actually terribly lopsided. Put me right off.

kimba said...

Aah, I am dead jealous. I would love to see England and medieval England at that.