RifRaf

Janet volunteers on a Friday at Chatsworth House,which is about 3 miles from their place. The definite bonus of this is that we can get into the house for free instead of paying £24! Chatsworth is home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and has been passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family. "Chatsworth House is renowned for the quality of its art, landscape and hospitality, and it has evolved through the centuries to reflect the tastes, passions and interests of succeeding generations. Today, Chatsworth contains works of art that span 4,000 years, from ancient Roman and Egyptian sculpture, and masterpieces by Rembrandt, Reynolds and Veronese, to work by outstanding modern artists, including Lucian Freud, Edmund de Waal and David Nash. There are over 30 rooms to explore*, from the magnificent Painted Hall, ... read more

Fridays Janet volunteers at Chatsworth House, which is about 3 miles away. It is a very impressive house that is well worth a look both the house and the gardens. Each year they hold a country fair which I have been hearing about for years but this year I'm here for it. Rob, Jim and I went on Friday and Janet, Jim and Jim's mum Ann went on Saturday. It was a bit like the Perth Show without all the judging of things. There was a main arena with displays all day and some rides and then rows and rows of tents selling everything from country clothing, petware, gifts, food and samples, lots of gin stalls to cars and BBQ huts. We had pretty good weather with a few small showers but nothing to put a ... read more

Today was Buckingham Palace day. The State rooms are only open 10 weeks a year and a friend told me there was an Exhibition called QUEEN VICTORIA'S PALACE on at the moment so I booked online before I came over and off we went. I love the show Young Victoria so I was really looking forward to it. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth, a special exhibition, Queen Victoria’s Palace , tells the story of how the young queen transformed Buckingham Palace from a private house into a working royal residence. Together with Prince Albert, she made Buckingham Palace a rallying point for the nation, a powerful symbol of the British Monarchy, and a family home for their nine children. You can see more of the exhibition url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/que... read more

Travelling solo for the morning as Jim had some work to get done. Caught buses into Harrods for the obligatory visit. The facade was covered in scaffolding as were a lot of the buildings in the area, so it didn't look as welcoming as my previous visit 22 years ago. My favourite place is the food hall. So many amazing products and all presented so very beautifully, also all costing a pretty penny. The flowers were stunning, I was admiring a beautiful bunch and then looked at the price - £200!!!!! Oh boy! The Harrods merchandise section that was a small corner 22 years ago has morphed into most of the basement. You can buy anything imaginable with the Harrods logo on it. Continued down Brompton Rd and came to Brompton Oratory , the parish church ... read more

Our conference was held at Drumaliswhich is the most incredible venue. Our SPRED conference was amazing. Lots of time to reflect, small group sharing, a mass each day with all of us involved. There were two priest there, one from USA and the other from Malta. Portions of the mass were said in Maltese when Father Trevor was celebrating the mass. We had music from USA, Malta and Spanish. One of the masses we were asked to say the Our Father in our own language. I had Spanish one side of me and Gallic the other, which was really powerful to have such a thing in common, and to hear all the different ways to say the same prayer. In our small groups I has 3 Scottish Sisters, 2 other Scots and American and me. The ... read more