A House in Chipping Campden, England                 Photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

There is something strange about me that almost no one knows about.  I see faces in things. I can be at the dentist's office staring at the accoustical ceiling and I can see faces from all the dots. Or I can be looking at burber carpet and see a face.  Really I can look at anything that has a random sort of texture and . . . I can't help it, I see faces.  Out of the nothingness I'll see a nose, and then a mouth and eyes . . and viola . . all of a sudden it's a face.  Well, guess what I saw in this house that prompted me to take the picture?  Back up and squint your eyes.  Do you see them . . the three tenors?

Bourton on the Water, England . . . . . . . . . . Photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

You know, it would be practically impossible to say what town was our favorite over in England, but surely Bourton on the Water would be in the running, with it gourgleing stream running through the middle of town and the lovely stone bridges allowing pedestrians to access either side of the street.

Bourton on the Water, England . . . . . . . . . . Photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

Even though we were rained on 9 out of the 10 days we were there, it didn't bother us a bit. We just carried an umbrella where ever we went.  You see, it never rained very long; just two or three minutes and then the sun would come out again and stay for an hour or so and then it would rain again.  One day we even got hailed on, if you can believe that, but just briefly.  

I think it was Frost who said that good fences make good neighbors.  Well, I wonder what a good stream would do for that equation.

House in Chipping Campden, England . . . . . . . photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

This house was on the way to the Church in Chipping Campden where I was sure I'd find some lovely old tomb stones, but then that'll be another blog.  Can you see the fellow in the lower right corner looking back at the camera?  That's my husband and I'm sure he was saying something about how I probably already had enough photos and that I should hurry up.  Funny, but I have a lot of pictures with him a half block ahead of me. 

This time our trip to England was in early April instead of late September like last time, and although that's a little too early for most of the flowers, we still managed to see quite a few flowers and shrubs with colorful new growth, like this photenia.  Sorry, but I couldn't find photenia in the dictionary to ascertain the correct spelling  . . . which brings up a pet peeve of mine . . . how are you supposed to look something up in the dictionary if you don't know how to spell it? 

St. Covans Cottage in Chipping Campden, England . . . . . Photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

I really like how the English people name their houses, at least in the country they do.  This honey colored Cotswold house was called St. Covans, and I couldn't resist taking the picture. After all, it's a stone house, it has flowers, a stone fence and a gate to boot.  What else could I want, other than a cat posing on the front sidewalk.

In Chipping Campden, England          Photo & enhancement by Chris Duffy

This is going to have to be a very quick blog, because it's late and my husband is reminding me that way past my bath and bed time.  I've been working feverishly to get my photo album done and I do have that done now.  Out of the 694 pictures I took I chose the best 204 to print out.  That took a while, and several print cartridges.  NOW we know why they practically give you the printers . . . they make their money on the consumables.  Anyway, I'm please with the album and I can revisit the Cotswolds any time I want by just looking through all the pictures. 

I've had nothing but troubles with my computer trying to print out all these pictures too.  I really do think the time has come to let this one go to it's reward.  It just kept locking up and then the only way I could turn it off was to pull the plug, and we all know Windows does NOT like to be shut down that way. 

Oh, dear, here he comes again to remind me how late it is.  Gotta go folks.

House in Broadway . . . in the Cotswolds . . . Photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

You know it dawned on me at work today that what you SEE depends an awful lot on the monitor you're using.  The picture of the street in Lechlade (April 14th posting) looked really great on my monitor at home, but it looks very dark and forboding on my monitor at work.  Pitty too.  I'll try to remember that and not use very dark images. 

When I took the picture above of this house, I was tempted to walk up and move the bicycle out of the picture and then put it back after I had taken my shot, but I was afraid the home owner would come out and bonk me on the head with her rolling pin.  Now, I'm kind of glad I didn't move the bike. . . it's growing on me.  Besides they use bikes a lot over in England, and this picture just reminds me of that. 

Bourton on the Water in England . . . . photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

I thought this house was really unusual.  It's right up to the river's edge.  Look closely and you can see the stepping stones from the back yard to the front yard IN THE RIVER.  Can you just imagine standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes and looking out the window at this river as your view.  WOW.

It would be interesting to dig up the picture of this same house from our 1996 trip to see how it's aged . . . or hasn't aged.  Heck, when your house is over 200 years old and made of Cotswold stone, what's another 8 years?  Here in Texas we have Austin stone and I'd love to have a house built and covered with Austin stone, but I think it would be terribly cost prohibitive . . . at least for OUR pocketbook it would. 

Side Street in Lechlade, England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

Honeysuckle Cottage in Broadway, England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

My poor husband was constantly having to say, "Hurry up, Chris, you already have plenty of pictures".  I have lots of pictures where he is a half block ahead of me.  I took pictures of every cottage that looked even remotely cute to me and he could care less about whether or not we have pictures to remember the trip by. . . . he has the images in his brain.  Well, my brain needs a little reminder once in a while, so I take my pictures.  Besides, then I can "play" with the photos once we get home.   

A Cotswold cottage in Burton on the Water in England . . . Photo and enhancement by Chris Duffy

I just love all the honey colored cottages that are so prevalent in the Cotswold district of England.  And I think it's interesting how they all have names as well as addresses.  This one was called Riverside House and there is a small stream that runs right through the town.  It just blows my mind that some of these houses are older than our COUNTRY.  Imagine that.  And those stone walls and fences are ever present too. 

The Park across the street from Prince Charles' residence . . . . . . . Photo by Chris Duffy

If you can imagine this scene going on non stop for 6 long blocks.  It was a sea of daffodils.  We're back from our trip to England and I thought I'd share some photos (surprise, surprise).  I don't think I've ever seen so many daffodils in my life, and I don't think I'll ever see a daffodil again that I don't think about England.  Our trip was scheduled a little too early for all the spring flowers, but the daffs were sure out in force.  They were everywhere too, not just in the parks.   They were in people's yards, on median strips, along the side of the highways . . . really everywhere.  I'll show you what I mean.

Burford . . . . . . . Photo by Chris Duffy

Along the side of the highway. . . . . . . Photo by Chris Duffy

Even in the Church graveyards, this one in Lechlade  . . . . . . . Photo by Chris Duffy

Lower Slaughter . . . . . . . Photo by Chris Duffy

Bibury Court Hotel  . . . . . . . Photo by Chris Duffy

See what I mean!?!   Beautiful daffs everywhere!