Mimi's Big Birthday

The big day started off with a visit from Naomi, Danielle and Jenny, bearing gifts.

One was a nifty shopping basket which will be very handy for picking up goodies for Hornucopia.

The best was a plaque with photos of all the grandkids.

Naomi explained how it works.

Naomi invented a Shopping Game, using Mimi's new basket.

Later, there was a small treasure hunt (1 clue).

Success!

Not really a big surprise, as it has been discussed for some time.

However, it seems to work better than the old one.

Later, we went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory...

... with friends Dick and Carol.

Danielle Being Danielle

A Day in Bath

Julie and I decided to spend a day visiting Bath, the site of an ancient Roman resort area.
On the way to the train station, we got to see Her Majesty's Mail service in action.

We caught the train at the Yatton station, changed in Bristol, then went on to Bath. It took about an hour. Nice!

Our first stop was the Bath Cathedral. I learned the presence of a Cathedral was what distinguished a City from a mere Town. The outside is impressive.

The inside, more so.

Most of our time was spent at the site of the Roman baths. They were built around a hot spring, which still produces several thousand gallons of very hot water each day.
The original street level was about 20 feet lower than today. There were statues of Roman officials around the top parapet. These are reproductions.

Down at the ancient street level, a lot of the original stone work still shows the grandeur and craftsmanship that went into the structure. This doorway was one of the principal entrances into the baths. You can see how the threshold is worn from 2000+ years of use.

The routing, control and mixing of the hot water with colder water to make the baths comfortable is an engineering marvel.

This was the main pool. There were smaller theraputic and men's and women's pools inside.

After touring the baths, we wandered around, got hungry, and bought lunch at this place. While waiting for our giros to cook, we got to witness a rather lively discussion between the owner and his butcher, about returning a delivery of meat that was said to be inferior. They eventually arrived at a sort of stalemate.

There was a nice park nearby, so we stopped there to eat our lunch. It was cold out there!

On the way back to the train station, we passed by a medieval bridge, built with shops along each side.

There was another old church, but we didn't have time to investigate.

We often saw a striking blend of old and new. Leave it to the Baptists!

The final 'ancient' exhibit was this fine old Moto Guzzi Le Mans, complete with an aluminium gas tank. (This one's for you, Mark.)

Ada - Day 23: Mimi and Pa and Bear

Ada started the day having a nice conversation with Mimi.

Then she took a little nap. She is learning about "thumb".

Later, she spent some quality time with Bear.

And still later, Pa got to spend some quality time with Ada!

Shopping Around Bristol

One of our favorite places to shop is IKEA and Mamas and Papas in Bristol. They are across a parking lot from each other.

This trip, IKEA yielded up this really nifty metal-frame futon and Ada's new cot (aka baby bed).

On the way home, we stopped off at the Brockley Stores market.

Talk about nice produce! Look at the size of those carrots!

Lots of varieties, all very local and fresh.

They even had broccoli (brockley?)

It was a successful stop.