We had three days in London. I was not really looking forward to London, as I figured that it was just another big city. Also, we had a lot of free time in London, so no guide to show us around. We were pleasantly surprised. There were tons of great things to do in London, and we had a lot of fun. We toured Westminster Cathedral, the British Museum, and the Tower of London. We saw an show. Actually, we saw a show with my brother, who was also in Britain on vacation with his wife. We wandered around Kensington Park, saw the marble arch, and we tried to go for a horse ride. The horses were too small to carry C. B. -- can you believe that! Anyway, we saw the changing of the guard and Buckingham Palace, and we actually had some rest time too. It was actually a very interesting and fun part of the trip. The only down side of London was the hotel. It was definitely the worst hotel of the trip, but it really wasn't that bad, and it location was pretty good. I saw Tim's hotel, and I don't think it was any better.

On the way to Stratford on Avon, where we planned to spend the night and see a play, we spent the morning in the Cotswolds and the afternoon at Warwick Castle. The Cotswolds were beautiful. We took pictures and Pam bought some paintings for her office.

Warwick Castle was interesting because it was one of the first English (as opposed to Scottish or Welsh) castles we had toured. Also, Pam's mother's maiden name is Warwick, and so we were really looking forward to exploring a little of her family history. The castle was fun, but a bit touristy.

Stratford on Avon is of course the home town of Shakespeare. We had a really wonderful dinner in the lovely hotel. The town is beautiful, and we walked to the theater to see Macbeth. We did not have tickets, but there were cancelations, and we had great seats. The play was wonderful. A little loud, but a outstanding performance. In the morning we toured the museum and gardens and walked around town.

The highlight of our last day was Coventry Cathedral. Coventry was famously bombed during World War II. And the cathedral was destroyed, but a new cathedral was built that is spiritual and a real work of art. It felt more alive than most of the churches and cathedrals that I had toured in our two weeks exploring Britain. I took some very interesting photos, but they do not do the cathedral justice.

So that is the story of our trip to Britain. It took me a while to get out, but hopefully you enjoyed it. More pictures soon, I hope.

Our trip was grand. As I mentioned in my last post, after Scotland, we headed to Wales, and we stayed in a Medieval castle. We even had a medieval dinner at the castle. The castle was haunted. I know this because the story teller (bard?) at dinner told us it was haunted...

Well we survived the haunted castle, but the next day we lost half our party... At some point we had a boat tour of Windermere... After Manchester, we visited a castle in Cardiff and then we went to Bath... Stonehenge was interesting... Read More...

So we have been almost a week in Scotland. Well North Umberland and the Lakes Region of England as well Scotland. We have stayed in York, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and on the Isle of Mull. We have seen cathedrals, castles, abbeys, and sheep. Lots of sheep. We have seen cows and birds and flowers, and lots of beautiful scenery. And we have done research. We have been researching Ales, and when we ran out of ales, we started researching malt whiskey. (Scotch whisky is also known as the water of life in Scotland.) Read More...

Well it is now over a week since the conference, and I am running out of time to finish these notes. Soon, it will be time to publish some of the hundreds of pictures I have taken. Britain is execptionally beautiful, and our tour is keepiing us very busy. Well, enough of that. Back to the conference.

The second half of the conference focused more on healing and less on "new age." We covered a bunch of different topics. The focus was healing those who are broken in body or spirit. Read More...

The 3rd International Conference of the Order of Saint Luke ended yesterday, but I still want to record my thoughts on the second half. As time goes by, memory becomes dim, but here goes.

Each day of the conference, a bible study was held. Rev. Canon Roy Lawrence presented some very points, and some great stories. I did not go to all his classes. I attended about half of them, and I did my own prayer and study with his notes. Here is what struck me from his talks and notes and my study. Read More...

As Pam and I attend this 3rd International Conference of the Order of Saint Luke, I will publish some notes about what I am hearing from the speakers and from God. This conference entitled "Christian Healing: God's Promise to the Fragmented World" has inspired me. I want to write down and put to use what I am learning lest I forget.

The first several talks were about "New Age" spirituality and healing, and the next few talks also touched upon a growing and desperate search for spirituality and healing. How is the Church and the "New Age" movement addressing this need? How does this relate to alternative and traditional western medicine?

In Notes from the Conference, Part 1, I summarize what I have heard and learned at the conference, during the first two days, and my reactions to it. Read More...

On Memorial day weekend, as usual, the SCA (society for creative anachronism) went to war. I like to join them for the whole weekend, but with our England trip upon us, I could only afford one day and one night. But the really great thing was that Pam came too. And the dogs. What fun. Anyway, there are pictures. See Events:May War.

Here I am stuck in the airport on the way to England. And the democrats are doing their thing on TV. So I wrote a letter. Read More...

We leave for England on Sunday! It's coming up real fast. Am I ready? No. Will I be? Sure. Besides, I really need the break. I am really looking forward to the trip, but it won't be real until I am on the plane.

There is now an itinerary for the tour part of the trip on the England page on the website. There is not a lot about the OSL conference, so maybe I will write something up before I go. There are two itineraries. One is detailed, with color illustrations. The other is briefer and up to date. They are both PDF, so you have to download them.

During the last update, I broke Arwen's puppy pictures. I had to rebuild completely, including picture selection. So, although I re-selected most of the original ones, I added some new pictures of when Arwen was just a little older. Oh, they are all still puppy picts, but now they run from 2 to 6 months of age instead of 8 to 14 weeks. Anyway, have a look: Arwen:Puppy Pictures.