The Secret Garden: Essex

This garden I discovered because I'm a runner!  It was located in Holland-on-Sea and I was only able to find one footpath that didn't seem to be paved.  I was happy to discover it, and near the "sea end" of the trail, I found this little garden outside of the owner's fence.  The "good" garden was entirely enclosed with a locked gate so I never did get to see what it might have to offer.  I suspect that these were the leftovers.  I enjoyed it every day after its discovery and made a short journey over to this area to see it change as the two weeks went by.  The tulips were replaced with the beginning of iris.  How I love spring!

Cambridge: Bike Capital of England!

One of my sisters had never visited Cambridge, so while in England, we made the train journey from Clacton to Cambridge.  We had a wonderful day!  It started with a visit to the Cambridge Botanical Garden, a walk over to Queens College and the Mathematical Bridge, a walk along "the Backs" and  a visit to King's College Chapel.  We also visited Emmanuel College, designed by Christopher Wren, and were delighted to find another lovely small garden behind the quad.  Bicycles abound in Cambridge.  I can certainly understand why, and it was interesting to see how many fences, railings, and walls had "No Cycles" posted on them.  The fence or gate is considered to be private property and I guess they can't accommodate all those bikes.  I noticed that often the signs were ignored.  This was my favourite bike that I spotted in Cambridge and there were many to chose from.  The racks at the train station were a sea of bikes!  Ride on!

Visiting Norwich

During my Sister Act in Essex, we spent one day travelling to East Anglia and the city of Norwich.  The three of us loved it.  It is a city of old churches and cathedrals and we visited on a particularly misty and fog laden day.  It added to the atmosphere.  This garden, called Plantation Garden, is located in Norwich and is an old Victorian style garden with an upper level for viewing and paths to wander at "plant level".  The stone work and brick work were decorative and whimsical.  The plantings were thoroughly delightful and it ended up being one of our favourite places to visit.  We also loved the "honesty box" at the garden entrance.  Sometimes, a small garden is such a treat.

2014 Biking

I've now had two trips to town on my bike.  Last year I figured that I saved about one gas fill by doing this and sometimes it's hard to stay motivated.  That's because I get a lovely, easy ride into town but have the challenge of a couple of steep hills on the way home.  There's lots of things that I like about the ride when the weather is warm.  I'm certainly not "saving the planet" in not buying one tank of gas.  So why do it?  I need some encouragement about this.  Hope you see this post, Andrew and Shelley!  It's snowing today so I know I"ll take the car.  But what about next week??

Lego Art

The most ambitious display at the Morris Museum when we visited was the "brick art" of Nathan Sawyca.  The artist actually glues each piece of his lego art together and if he wants to undo it, a hammer and chisel are required.  His work is amazing!

This artist self-portrait was probably my favourite piece at the Morris Museum display.  If you want to check him out, try this link:    http://brickartist.com/category/gallery/                                                                             

Morris Museum

I am a fan of the Morris Museum located in Morristown, NJ.  We went for a visit on Jan. 2 this year, basically to view the lego art.  What a treat!  The museum, during this particular visit was very kid-friendly with the lego art, a wonderful model train/town display, storybook "trees" created by kids, a permanent dinosaur discovery area and a small wildlife display with a lego play area adjacent  to it.  I plan to do a post about the lego art if I ever figure out how to do that!  Took lots of pictures - not sure if it's legal to post them.  I'd recommend this museum if you're in the area - to me it really beat the Crayola Museum in Easton, PA and was considerably cheaper.  Maybe not quite as kid-friendly, however!  Some good photos of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on display as well and there's an unusual collection of early musical playing devices and automatons as well.   Check it out if you're in the area.  

The Table

 I purchased this table as an impulse buy about 2 months ago and have wondered from time to time if it was a good idea.  It's going to be a table that will need vacuuming, if the boys pull it over on themselves they'll be killed, and if anything spills into the grooves of the leaves it's going to be a nightmare to clean!  However, it's a work of art.  I've been away for three weeks and I'd actually forgotten about it.  It looks great in the room and I REALLY like it.  So with all the analysis I've done about this table, I think I've finally accepted it as a wise move.  Happy New Year, everyone!