A trip to Harrogate

Yesterday:







Jeremy Bergstrom, who is in town for his viva (PhD thesis defense), was awakened by a morning snarf!

Todd, Jeremy, and I traveled 1.5 hrs to a cute little town called Harrogate. It's located near York and was a fun little town with some cute shops to see.

We wound up at a shop for lunch called "crepes and creams" where we got the yummiest savory crepes and milkshakes.

Salmon and cream cheese crepe! Yum!

AND

Chunky monkey milkshake- vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips, bananas, coffee and chocolate syrup! Slurp!

We topped off our lunch with a gourmet cupcake from "Cupcakes by Charley".

 After lunch, Todd and Jeremy found a bookstore (like you had any doubts!). Meanwhile, across the street, as if it new that I needed some magical place to linger while the theologians did their favorite thing, was a shop called "The Remnant House". There was more beautiful fabrics than I've seen here and I felt like singing and grabbing hold of the fabrics like Maria in the Sound of Music when she realizes that she can use the drapes to make play clothes! Drapes people! She is my inspiration!

But, alas, the store was packed with people (it was Saturday after all) and to save myself the embarrassment I instead looked quietly through the fabrics.  I found a beautiful fabric that I considered trying to make into a dress for a friend's upcoming Florida wedding. But when I discovered that the fabric I fell in love with was 12.99/meter I decided that my sewing skills would need to be perfected before such expenses could be justified!

 
On the way home, we stopped at Ripon Cathedral, which has a lot of history but is really well maintained. It has a small library of Roman artifacts that were found on the site and displays many of the silver vessels used previously in the life of the cathedral. It also has a small crypt below the sanctuary. 

 

Sanctuary

Todd headed down to the crypt.

The strangest thing we saw here was a wooden hand protruding from the organ case above the choral stalls at the front of the church. Apparently, the wooden hand moves up and down with the organ pedals to conduct the choir. I find this a bit strange, but it was fun to see.

We had a nice time on our trip and got to eat some really yummy food....always a must for any Brewer adventure. 

Spring

Finally, the sun is sticking around a bit longer in the day. It's setting around 6pm and it is out when I wake in the mornings. My daily commute to and from the rail station is now in the sunlight instead of in the dark. Well, it's not exactly sunny, but it's certainly brighter. Early spring flowers are also appearing here as well. It's certainly a nice perk after a long seemingly sunless winter to have crocus and daffodils out already. I'm highly enjoying their presence.

This picture is of crocus blooming in front of St. Andrew's Church- a view from my journey to school/work from the rail station in Newcastle.