This and That

Home Again - 

But here are some more travel pictures.

The tail end of a fall “ drift” in progress. The ponies are rounded up off the moors and taken to farms for the winter. 

A village church. They are everywhere and hundreds of years old. They are community centers, even if not strong on theology.

Carved wood interior at chancel.

The eagle is the lectern. Note the bread and grapes still life on the font.

Sidewalk railings in the town.

Watercolor 316

Rock Piles on the Moor

Very tiny painting

Watercolor 315

Stone Buildings

Small watercolor of a shop arcade

Tramp Across the Moor

Wet and Watery

We took one last hike this morning, in alternating drizzle and watery sun, with boggy ground, steams, and puddles. But the vistas were vast. The cattle, rock walls, gnarled trees, and tin works remnants were picturesque. 

And at the end one has tea and scones and clotted cream. 

We decided not to go on to the village of  Hexworthy at this point. But more wet lay in all directions.

Did I or did I not brave this crossing?

Marker stone

An old settlement for tin mining. 

The exotic blue Dartmoor sheep. Some are orange.....

Somebody brought home a pet, named him William of Orange and let him go outside after he warmed up. 

Then English tea time.

Watery Excursion

Visit to Plymouth Today 

Seaside memorial to way too many Dead in useless wars. 

Looking toward the national marine aquarium. A fascinating place.

Each of these creatures has a personality, most have names, friends, special tasks in the community, and a place in the order. Fish are not just senseless creatures, but they are special creations that deserve study. We found out a LOT today. 

Mayflower model, though no one knows exact what that ship looked like. It was small, about the length of two buses, with 102 people on it for two months crossing, after several false starts. 

Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe from Plymouth.

The old part of town. One bakery has been there since before the Pilgrims left. 

Watercolor

Sheep on the Moor

Post card size

Sheep on the Moors

They Wander at Will

And a very small watercolor from today 

Getting There

Tiny Roads

On the way to wide open moors we drive through forested countryside. Hedges, ivy covered walls, no shoulders, curves you can’t see around, one-lane stone bridges, passing vehicles that don’t slow down or move over on those tiny roads. That was the drive to Princeton in the National Park of Dartmoor. But we also saw sheep, lots of free-roaming sheep. And ponies, herds of free roaming ponies. They have been there since about 2000 BC. The Romans used them for chariot horses. The native breed is solid colored, but much outside blood has been introduced over the centuries, so pinto, and Shetland-sized ponies, and touches of Arab blood are evident. 

An Abbey Visit

In the countryside

A country abbey with beautiful gardens

There are more lovely pictures, but the internet is very problematic here. 

More Cathedral

Chapels and Figures

One of numerous small chapels in the church. 

Tiny carved wood acrobats on a pew end. These carvings were everywhere.

Centuries of flooors

A gorgeous marble tomb

Chapel and decorative element.

Winchester

Sunday at the Cathedral 

While I have some pictures for later from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I will show you do e from our excursion today. We listened to the service in the Cathedral, with a boys and men’s choir, then wandered the historic edifice,  absorbing the multitude of centuries within. It was a rainy day, good for staying in a huge church.

This church is from the six hundreds, in various forms. It and the town of the same name were seats of rule for Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, many notable names. Kings, queens, rulers, and numerous notable people are buried here, including the Danish King Canute, and Jane Austen, and too many ill-fated soldiers. 

Our first rainy view of the Cathedral 

A view of the great size of the edifice

The lofty nave

The reconstructed stone screen behind the chancel. It was ruined by Cromwell’s destructions in the 1600’s. At the end of the 1800’s it was totally restored, for which we can thank the then-new-interest in Gothic Revival and the Arts and Crafts movement. 

Smaller figures on the outsides of the chancel area. 

More to follow.