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Cheer-e-thoughts Page 9 Dec. 25, 2005 - 2007.
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| February 18, 2007 Happy Chinese New Year of the Pig (that means you Andrew, and Weigao) | |||
| February 18, 2007 MOVED AGAIN Many thanks for the New Year wishes from my friends and family. I've been busy since my return to the UK as I have moved, yet again, but it should be my last move as I've got a really fine 1 bedroom flat in a lovely Hampshire market town - Romsey. The fascinating thing is that I am only about 10 miles away from where I was born! I've come full circle and I couldn't be more lucky. Because of the unexpected availability of this flat, I snapped it up, however it had no carpets and the lino floor in the bath and kitchen needed severe updating. So I've been tapping my meager savings account to replace all the flooring, and the old-fashioned wallpaper had to come off the living room walls, as well as paint the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom. Oh well, I don't want to sit around and twiddle my thumbs! With some much appreciated help from my friends I've stripped the wallpaper off, painted the rooms needing it, had to buy a bed and still need a stove, but alas, no income means I must slow down and sit for some time on my lawn chairs! No matter, I have gotten the wallpaper, now, let's see how much ends up on the wall and not stuck to me head or arms. I shall be working on this project for some time I fear. I've paid the damn TV license they require in this country (nearly $400 a year, ridiculous!) and renewed my car license and insurance, little wonder I exist on salads and tuna. My next, rather first tour of the year is to China in March. I do hope for more. Oh I've bought a microwave for cooking. Will work on some photos of this place in various stages. And the biggest news is I've got broadband, at last! Going without it here since last June has been a challenge. Oops I will probably have to change my email address again, so sorry, my friends and family seem to suffer the worst with me updating my addresses so often. Thanks for your patience and extreme understanding is all I can say. Send me your horse photos if you have a chance. I need to change the home page. | |||
| Happy Reunion photos below | |||
 2006 brought me many challenges. One was the problem in my left leg, so troublesome that early in the year I was actually limping when I walked. I went for 2 sessions to a physical therapist in Andover who managed to contort me into a better alignment, just in time for my first China tour in April. Tour work involves a lot of walking, or standing, and then sitting on coaches, moving awkwardly through Chinese traffic I might add, but you are mainly moving not consistant to your normal daily life. Thankfully I was fit enough to manage all of the tours I had this past year, 4 in all to China, and two lovely tours to the New England states of America. Returning to London Heathrow after each tour, I spent the in-between times following the Rolls Royce Enthusiast Club events. This past year I drove my car to the Annual Rally held each June in Northampton where there are over 1000 RR cars in attendance. Guy came over in September on his vacation to go with me in the car to Germany for a week long rally positioned along the Mosel river home to many wineyards specializing in riesling wine. One day after that rally, I drove up to Lincolnshire to visit family and friends. Guy didn't ever want to drive as driving in England is very different than in the US. However, he had a lovely relaxing experience as a passenger. I am happy to report that my nearly 30 year old car performed very well. I put about 1400 miles on it for the year. Now the car 'hibernates' in it's farm building home waiting to be started up come later this month. I will attend a RR seminar specializing in the Silver Shadow where I can learn more about the inner mechanics of this admirable vehicle. November of 2006 my parents and my family met together in Los Angeles for their 50th Anniversary. The event was even more of a delight as my brother and his wife Teri came with my new niece Valerie Cheer who was totally the subject of all the shutterbugs in our family. I was fortunate enough to visit my brother for a week after my parent's anniversary party to help Teri with Valerie's feeding and I loved every minute of it. She is a delightful baby, and long awaited! My last niece has just turned 16 years old! I must say, having that time in southern California in November reminded me how wonderful sunshine feels, especially when I've been living the last 6 years in England and only returning in the winter to our Vancouver, Washington home. With any luck I intend to spend some of my exploratory time this new year in the sunny south of France or Spain where the lifestyle is much more relaxed than our hectic lifes tend to be in America. But what is the problem with weight in America? I've noticed that we as a nation appear to be gaining size to the point that our new 'characterization' from those in other countries is a FAT nation, not slender. The portions we are served at restaurants are enormous say my English friends, and of course we pay much less for food then they do but we don't push the food away. We must stop eating so much and exercise. Truely I cannot tell you how surprised I am to see how we are now developing a 'new look'as a culture. Sorry, I just wish to say this because I do see that other nations I've been to i.e. China, France and England, residents walk more, cycle more and take public transport so therfore do get more physical exercise than we do as a daily course. There is nothing to be gained in status or health by being overweight. People abroad have thought much less about our nation due to our politics involving Iraq, now they have more food for fodder. Okay, down from my soapbox. I do hope that 2007 is a good year for you and yours. I see it is the Year of the Pig in Chinese astrology. I know a couple 'pigs' and both are good friends. Depending on my tour work this year, or lack thereof, I may take up an opportunity to work in China teaching English in a middle school in a mid-size city. The Chinese put education in a very high position in their culture, and all Chinese must learn English. So the demand for native English speaking teachers is incredible. Most students can read and write, and understand grammar, they just need serious help with conversational English. More on this career op later this spring. I've got to make another page of this page as we start a new year. I also got a new iPod video for my birthday which I have toadmit I'm not totally in sync with yet however I do enjoy the Sponge Bob cartoons I've downloaded from iTunes. He makes me laugh so no matter how bad my day is, I feel happy after watching him. Soon I hope to learn how to make my own podcasts so that I can speak about my travels, rather than type and upload. I just don't sit down long enough to update this page, and I find that what I do must not be that interesting to anyone since we all have such busy lives. I will put more photos on the next page after this one as I think they are totally more exciting than reading what I write. |
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| October 15, 2006 Travels to Germany with Guy, New England in Oct, China next | |||
In August I had another tour in China. Then Guy flew over the pond to visit me for 3 weeks. We went on a 9 day Rolls Royce car rally to Germany during that time, taking 2 other friends with us. The car ran beaut ifully, followed by a jaunt to Lincolnshire to visit a good friend totalling near 1400 miles on the clock in those weeks Guy was here. He thoroughly enjoyed his visit and he sure looked smart in his tuxedo for the last evening's festivities. Then my second New England tour this year happened on the first 11 days of October during the most picturesque time of the year in that part of the world. My tour with 29 passengers couldn't have been better as we had sunshine EVERY day! I returned to have one day of rest when I was requested to go again to China as another tour manager had an emergency cancellation. Well with only 3 days to get organized, I will be again in China for my last tour of this year. Then I will be back home in the US for the holiday period. I can't wait, I miss being in the USA very much. I'm sorry not to have had the time to update this page, or add photos. I hope to in November when I get back to having high speed internet. Using dial up is so very slow and discouraging. Please know that I will get some photos online when I am home long enough to catch up. The one here is Vermont's capital building in Montpelier taken Oct. 8. I'm in purple sweater next to lady in all white. |
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| JUNE 2006 Rainy New England awaits us | |||
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JUNE brings a visit to New England. Wow, how lucky for me to travel on tour to the east coast of the US! I was sent with a group of 29 very lovely and gracious travelers from the UK. We begun our tour in Boston June 5. From there, we took in Newport, Rhode Island, Cape Cod, Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower II, Boston itself, then to Lincoln, New Hampshire, Montpelier and Stowe, Vermont then finishing our tour with Kennebunkport, Maine and a brief visit to Salem, Massachusetts before leaving the US back to London. Along the way we saw beautiful coastline, numerous clean rushing rivers and many lush green forests. There were some covered bridges and one Moose. Fortunately I shall be back on this same tour October 2 when all the leaves will be turning bright yellow and oranges. Below left is a covered bridge in New Hampshire. Below right is the Maine coastline at Perkins Cove.
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| April and May 2006 brings China times Two | |||
Those of you who have not been to China I suggest you please go! I was there in April and May of this year on tour with Thomas Cook. It is amazing how fast the country is growing and changing - even in the course of one month, I saw remarkable changes and buildings where before there were none! I've really enjoyed my tours to China because of the constant change, the friendliness of the people, the wonderfully delicious food and the costume and tradition seen from city to city. The country has lots to offer a visitor. Each century of history displays their own distinct flavor. And it is still quite a value for the traveler for purchases of all things China produces, in particular silk, pearls, jade etc. I've made several friends now with my Chinese guide counterparts, so each visit is a happier seeing them again! Below left is Shanghai's pudong disrict. Below right is my group from my May 2006 tour with my wonderful guide in red, Miranda. She's become a super friend. Wish we didn't live so far away!
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| March 21, 2006 A fancy hobby (or parallel life to Arabian horse ownership) | |||
Here is THE car for me. I wanted to share my
This Sunday is Mothering Sunday here in the U.K. The Wessex section of the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club has arranged a lunch in Shaftsbury, Dorset. I will be taking my friend John (the former owner) and Stuart (see his pic below) with me in my first outing as a RR owner. There is a lot of distance between where the car lives and where they're having the lunch. I figure I will be putting about 300 miles on the clock for this outing. Then when time allows, I have some leather conditioning work to the seats and door panels. |
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| March 15, 2006 A new baby (on the way), a new (old but classic) car and a visit abroad | |||
| In the last 2 months, I've had a couple of big events. One is the purchase of a 1997 Silver Shadow II Rolls Royce. This blue car belonged to my good friend John, however, due to a health problem, he is no longer able to drive, so he offered me his car, provided I take him to some of the Club events. I never thought I would be so fortunate to buy the car I had already driven and admired. See photo on page 7. My first outing in MY car is on Sunday March 26 which is Mother's Day in England. Guy is very excited about this new development and we will be touring the Mosel river in Germany this year, in a repeat of the rally I first drove this car on in Sept. 2004. The other news is I took a trip to sunny but cold to Madrid for a 5 day visit to view art in the many art museums in the city. What a fascinating city! The Spanish that I learned over 20 years ago in high school proved to finally be of use, even though I don't remember much, I was able to use the language which made me feel very encouraged. The best news of all is that my brother Mark and his wife Teri are expecting their first baby this August. My family is very excited, and I do hope she will manage during this delicate time. They are pictured above right in the group photo on the far left. My new career is off to a fine start this year as I have 4 tours booked, 3 to China and one to New England (Boston, Lincoln, Kennebunkport). If you live in New England, please write me and tell me what are the highlights there as I wouldn't want to miss them. Guy's birthday is in 5 days so must finish my online shopping! | |||
| January 19, 2006 | |||
| The new year starts with new problems for me. Flying back to the UK on Dec. 31 means you are actually in the air crossing numerous time zones as the New Year arrives. No celebration on the airplane, most people were sleeping. I arrive to my new home to experience a faulty heater on the ground floor serving the living room. Wonderful... and the hot tap in the upstairs sink still drips although I expected my landlady to take care of that, ehem, 2 months ago! Never mind, add these to the top of my pre-made list above install phone line, re-establish satellite link, make address changes on bank cards, etc. Oh no my car radio isn't working, seems the battery died while I was away, bummer. The weather, well I left rainy weather to arrive to rainy weather, sure glad I spent 125 hours worth under the sun lamp over the last 2 months because at least I look and feel like I've had a nice spell of hot sunny weather to all those around me. Opening the mail that had made it through 2 forwarding addresses, hey, no surprise the electric bill and council tax bill finds me, only the electric bill is 3x as much as it should be, so that needs to be fixed. New year, new problems, but now that I've gotten through the first two weeks, I have already attended my Mac computer class, and my Rolls Royce annual general meeting, and next week I'm taking a Chinese conversation class. The bright side of my life here in the UK is the social and cultural experiences I can enjoy. Before January ends there is a trip into London with my computer class, an art lecture on Chinese art and a trip to see the Chinese art at the Royal Academy in London early February. I'm also attending a 2 day seminar on the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow car at the RR headquarters early February. It's an all encompassing course to learn all about the construction and maintenance of this model of car. This weekend I will visit my family friends in Southampton to catch up on what's been happening and share photos of our holiday times. Husband Guy meanwhile has been elected President of our home association where we have recently moved. Lucky him, he gets to deal with the problems the builders haven't fixed on behalf of the whole homeowners. He's the man! | |||
| December 30, 2005 | |||
| These past two months have been quite stressful for me. Guy and I have sold our house on 5 acres which means me letting go of my horse property. Both of our lifestyles have changed considerably. Because of that, acreage with its demands on regular maintenance, combined with the rainy weather here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, requires time and hard work that Guy cannot manage on his own with me living and working in England. Sadly we have sold the house but on the flip side, we have purchased a large-ish townhome nearer to Guy’s work, nearer to the city’s amenities, with a greenbelt behind it for the semblance of Mother nature near to what we had just left. We are very close to Washington State University’s Vancouver campus which fortunately has a very lovely walking path that winds through old growth forest and crosses over the Salmon and Mill Creeks harboring resident wildlife of its own. We have had to pack up a large home and barn contents and bring them to a smaller residence. Lo did we throw out much! Our moving sale netted a good profit, and I sold both my cars, my 1981 Ford F250 pick up and my 1987 Mercedes. They went for very little with so much age on them but the new owners were tickled pink on their purchase. My good friend Stuart came over from England to spend the month with us, pitching in with boxing, cleaning and moving stuff. We could not have done it I don’t believe without his generous help. Luckily his entire time was not spent working, as he got to enjoy the beauty of the area, and the American culture. He walked daily sometimes sharing the path with both my part-Arab mare Phoebe and our Australian Shepherd Kona. You ask of them perhaps? Phoebe is now boarded about 3 miles from our new home with a wonderful family who are Guy’s good friends. She has the company of two other mares where before she was alone. Kona has gone to Guy’s brother’s family who live on a dairy farm in Oregon. She will have children to play with and a stay-at-home mom for company, besides many cows! It wasn’t easy for us to remove our two ‘pets’ from our daily lives. However they can both be easily visited. My father came to visit for a week and half over Thanksgiving - that was a real treat for us. Stuart was also still here so he too enjoyed a turkey dinner cooked by myself, although he chipped in to make the stuffing. Living amongst boxes and not knowing where exactly to find things invariably needed adds to the frustration level at times but there will be a silver lining ahead. Now that the guests are gone, Guy and I have time to mooch around our new area, make some decorating decisions and generally settle into a new way of life. Just the other evening we went to see the new Harry Potter movie (Goblet of Fire). It was very good. Sadly a good friend of mine in England passed away while I have been in the US. His name is Charlie Brooks. He was an American gardener who lived 3 miles away in the village of Wherwell. I will miss him. He cooked wonderful Chinese food from when he worked in a Chinese restaurant, and barbequed hamburgers for me. He had a cat he dearly loved by the name of Otis. When I return I shall try and find out what happened to his cat. I don't think he had any family. I will be returning to England beginning of January to do the same as here - unpack boxes as I had just moved my self to a 2 bedroom home literally minutes before I was summoned back to the U.S. to handle the house sale. Unfortunately I was not able to go to the Crabbet Convention in Australia due to the house sale. I do hope I will receive reports about the show and convention to post on the website. |
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