Five months on...

It is exactly five months since my last post on this blog.  Time for a new one, do have a look at:

https://julietpostwashington.blogspot.com/?m=1

Time to go home

So this evening we are at the airport - David will fly to Pittsburgh and will be home later in the month but for me it is time to go.

So my blog ends as it began, with a glass of champagne ‘to steady the nerves’!

It’s been a great adventure.  Now maybe a new UK based blog?  Anyone still out there reading this one (I know I have a few gaps to fill in for the last few weeks!)

So, will it all fit in?

In Pittsburgh

A chilly day with snow flurries and a freezing wind.

We are staying in the Wyndham hotel in the downtown area near State Point park where three rivers meet.

Due to recent weather the huge landmark fountain is switched off and the area around is flooded as the rivers rise.

Flowering trees such as this early dogwood are struggling with the cold conditions.

The redbud is coming..

Cherry Blossom is out but shivering somewhat in the wind!



This evening in the hotel bar the tv was showing a live baseball match being played across the river at the Pittsburgh Pirates stadium...not exactly baseball weather..

Point of Rocks

Cleaning the Ducts!

It’s a beautiful day but the sounds of the birds singing are completely drowned out by the noise of this giant vacuum cleaner on the back of a truck, cleaning out all the air ducts of the heating/cooling system!

Celebrating 90 years

On Monday at my Leaving Potluck, we also celebrated the very special birthday of a fellow volunteer.

Yesterday when she came to the Bargain Loft at lunch time for her afternoon cashier shift, she had a surprise welcoming party with balloons, cupcakes and a little fizz!

Ruth has volunteered for the Bargain Loft for more than 35 years.  Many years before that she came to the US from her native Sweden.  

Hence April’s very apt decoration on her birthday cupcakes! Swedish Fish!

Table/desk for sale!

There are a few things that are just too heavy/fragile/awkward to bring home - or we don’t have a place for them.  One such is this unusual table with school desk insert that I bought at The Bargain Loft.

Hence we are trying out some of the local selling groups - without too much luck so far.

It is an interesting item!

Final Fire!

It was very chilly today and much higher temperatures are forecast for the end of the week.

Time to use up the last of the firewood - and the final few coloured cones that Lauren gave to David a few birthdays ago, to make a truly colourful final fire!

Leaving Lunch

This is a beautiful and very clever cake made by April  for my ‘Leaving Potluck’ today with fellow Bargain Loft volunteers.

A wonderful array of different savory dishes and desserts.

Lots of conversation and the celebration of another volunteer’s very special birthday.

 




A ‘team’ photo.  I am going to miss these lovely people!

Blossom & Flowers

Our plans to travel into DC today didn’t come to fruition, but on our walk this morning we still saw a variety of cherry and other flowering trees.

It is a little early for the Redbud trees to bloom but the characteristic buds are starting to sprout on the trunks and branches.

In the woods a few wood anemones were poking through the dead leaves.

This little flower was even more delicate than the anemones and I haven’t yet identified..

However the tiny flower - less than a centimeter across - was exquisitely beautiful in the sunshine, even though a little nibbles at the edges.

Speed Awareness!

Back in December on a road that I (thought that I) knew well in Bath, I exceeded a 20mph limit by a significant amount - believing at the time that I was in a 30mph area.

I was completely unaware that I had been caught by the speed camera and so the letter detailing the offense was a bit of a surprise when it arrived some weeks later.

Avon and Somerset Police are one of only four police authorities in the country that currently offer the option to take a 20mph Speed Awareness course as an alternative to the automatic £100 fine plus three penalty points that the offense carries.  It is of course possible to take the case to court but given that the end result of that could be a £1,000 fine, I don’t imagine that many people would try that option.

So it was that a few days ago I headed to Taunton (the nearest course within the 120 day time limit  that I could find whilst in the UK) to join a group of 30-40 other motorists of all ages for some classroom driver education.

At the start we were asked how we felt about being there and the responses ranged from ‘embarrassed’ to ‘cynical’ but over the three hours of discussions, video exercises and a workbook, most of us, I think, learned quite a lot about our own attitudes to driving/ how we might drive more safely/why and where the 20mph zones are created.  

Certainly the course provided plenty of food for thought and opportunity for reflection and was a useful refresher on the practice of driving and the Highway Code after nearly forty years behind the wheel.

‘Accolade’ (Friday 6 April)

The first flowers are just coming out on Mum’s beautiful cherry tree.  There will be lots more flowers to come as soon as there are a few more warm days.

The deep pink buds and semi-double blossoms of this tree, called ‘Accolade’ are usually the first to appear in the garden.

At ‘The Min’

I  have been inside this historic building before to attend meetings - many years ago - but have never had the occasion to be still and look around at the oil portraits on the walls, the statues and the grand staircase.

As there is now a major appeal to site a new, state of the art, Rheumatology Unit on the main RUH campus at Combe Park, I assume that the Min (or the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases to give it its correct name) as a building will cease to exist.

Of course it was originally built in its town centre location in close proximity to the Hot Sorings to enable patients to be treated for their ailments by immersion in the mineral waters.

In the waiting area, some framed reminders (in teatowel form, so perhaps produced for fundraising) of how things were for staff and patients not so very long ago.  The Duties of Nurses is undated but the Rules for Patients date from 1939.  If you are able to zoom in to these pictures you will see that it was a fairly tough regime for patients and staff alike.  Nurses appeared to be living in.

 For patients fresh air was obviously considered very important except on bath days (presumably days on which they had received treatment in the hot baths).  Fresh air was definitely not approved of, however, on rainy days.  Three glasses of the mineral water from the springs were to be consumed throughout each day.  Patients were required to help out with light work (men) and dusting (women).  No mention of smoking for the women but on the men’s ward that was ok.