Well I’ve been home for two and a half months and been running full tilt. Our house is full and crazy and jumping into the school year 6 weeks late generates even more paperwork than usual. 

Suzie moved back in with the parents after 3 years at school in Ellensburg to do her full time student teaching at Bothell High School. Student teaching is super intense and so she was gone all day and then doing lesson plans and homework all evening. In addition to evening jazz rehearsals she also did a once a week lunch time group at Canyon Park JH. Despite doing everything in her power to extend her undergraduate experience she’s officially completed her BM degree and is waiting for her certificate to come so she can start subbing and looking for a job.

Nicole finished her first and last semester at Cornish for art and fell in love with photography. Check out her work on her blog and facebook group. She got great grades going to school full time while teaching night school at NW Hair Academy nearly full time. Her lease was up in November and she decided to move back in with the parents to save up for moving to Canada. Earlier this year Nicole met Amanda from Vancouver BC & they got married over Thanksgiving weekend. Nicole spends her weekends there and then is back here while in school and teaching, only really home to sleep and when there's a little time cook for us and do our hair. She’s in the process of getting a work visa and residency so she can move up there permanently. Once in Vancouver she plans to work in a salon and take the photography course at VanArts and hope that they open another Paul Mitchell School for her to run. 

With three grown girls moving back in there simply isn’t enough room for everyone’s stuff. Nicole and Suzie have a full storage unit and most of my stuff is under my bed. I’ve spent the little free time and energy I’ve had shuffling everything around in the house to try and fit more things in. Suz got a free loft bed on craiglist and we set it up over my bed. Nicole’s futon is squashed into the computer room and we do our best to not go crazy living on top of each other. I had thought that I might have enough saved up to move out by now but not so and I still have to wait for Suzie to get a job.

My biggest busyness has been being back at school. Concerts, trips, performances, hoodies, uniforms, recruitment, arranging etc. I’m doing Bel Canto and Mello-Aires at Edmonds Woodway and band and Cedar Valley Elementary. Bel Canto is half the size it was when I left but the kids are great and we’re working hard. My friend Wendy covered the class for the first six weeks of school until I got back. She conducted the Fall Concert and then I took over for the Winter Concert. Mello-Aires hopped right in learning the Christmas binder and did nearly a dozen holiday performances in December and started learning jazz tunes for future festivals. Elementary band was a new experience all together. Quite the learning curve but now that Suzie’s done student teaching she’s been helping out. 

It was a sprint to winter break as usual and not until break did we get to think about things like Christmas trees and presents. 

We had a quiet holiday- lots of baking (Suzie stirring her cauldron of fudge), eating, napping and media consumption with an adventurous trip to the dentist thrown in for good measure. I got all caught up on Bones and Suzie’s getting caught up on Doctor Who and it’s time now to start thinking about school and planning for retreats, the musical, the quad workshop, MENC conference, middle school glee club, men’s choir, spring tour etc etc etc...and hope that at the end of the year I’ll still have a job and don’t end up on the chopping block again.

So I arrived back in the states to all kinds of insanity. The first bit was All State auditions. Every year high school kids audition for All State groups. Two years ago I got roped into screening auditions. I was asked again this year and agreed because I found out that they’re paying screeners this year and I really need the money. All the auditions are uploaded as sound files onto the WMEA website. There were around 300 Altos that I had to listen to sing two scales, arpeggios and America the Beautiful. It would have all gone swimmingly had I not tried to do it while preparing my Masters recital. I did about an hour and half of listening while in England which left about 10-12 hours to go with a Monday due date. So I spent literally all of my first two days back, locked in our computer room, listening to, scoring and ranking auditions. The payoff was worth it but I don’t recommend trying to do that all in two days.

Saturday I managed to head out to the Anita Wardell Jazzvox workshop in Auburn. I just love those workshops were you get to meet people, get some individual attention etc. So fantastic.

It was a little funny because I had seen her gig at Seven Arts in March down the street from flat. My teacher had told me to go say hello afterwards but I bagged out right when it was done around 11pm so I could catch the last bus home instead of walking over a mile in the dark. Not that I hadn’t done that before. Anita who’s originally from Australia but lives and works in London knows my voice teacher and on Saturday chewed me out a little for not saying hello then. The workshop was on improv and it was great to get feedback and hear about her process of practicing improvisation.

I stopped at Ikea on the way home and picked up a shelf with which I plan to organize all of mom’s violin music. It was a bit of a trick picking it up and loading it into my little Honda on my own, but I managed.

Monday was my birthday. I was still adjusting to the time change and so I woke up early with lots of energy. I knew that all this transition energy would only last so long and I should make the most of it. So I spent about four hours reorganizing the food storage in our garage. We have some great shelving out there which doesn’t get used well because we never want to go out there because it’s messy and cold. It’s nice that the bulk of our food storage now comes in #10 cans because they’re uniform. I sorted all the cans out by food and got them all sorted and organized so they’re not randomly scattered in cabinets and under beds.

Then I headed over to EW to hear Mello-Aires auditions and was surprised by a cupcake, card and balloons from my kids before heading home to celebrate with the family and some pumpkin birthday cake. 

There’s nothing quite like trying to sleep before a big trip, knowing that you have to be up bright and early but I was so tired that I managed somehow.  I got up and forced down some breakfast before lugging my bags down to the front hall. After my recital, my church friends protested when they found out that I was just planning on taking a bus down to the train station. It probably would have been fine but with yesterday’s addition of a giant duffle bag I really appreciated their insistence on giving me a ride. 

As I was waiting I chatted a bit with Peter and Maria.  It was a little strange as though I was just heading out for another long weekend instead of, "Well it’s been nice living here for a year, see ya." Peter was really impressed by my recital yesterday and said that I had been a very good lodger.  [My flat] I left them a bag of stuff for the charity shop which was handy because Maria works at one.  I also left him my broken blender to try and fix- not to mention half a thing of milk, cheese and butter.  

Br. Hardcastle came and dropped me off at the station. My biggest concern was getting these two giant bags and backpack onto the plane, in London, by myself. I was determined. It was a bit dicey getting through the gates and thank heavens a kind lady helped me hoist my bags on to the top baggage shelf.  Then tucked in on the train to London journalling away. Long hallways and two lifts later I had all my luggage on a tube train to the airport.  Unfortunately it wasn’t quite the right train which necessitated a hop off and hop on a different one. By the time I was on the correct one I was having a difficult time staying awake. A little luggage shuffling at Heathrow and I managed to get them just barely underweight and headed into the terminal to grab something to eat, shop a little and head out.

The compression socks made a big difference on the flight.  Between that and an aisle seat which allowed me to get up and stretch more frequently I was so much more comfortable.  The challenge this time was I had tweaked my back from moving all those heavy bags.  I’ve never really done something like that to my back before and I’m not a fan.  As I got settled in my seat I knew that I would pay for it for the rest of the flight.  I asked the stewardess for some pain meds which she eventually brought me along with a release form. Several movies later we arrived in Seattle. I got pulled aside to have my bags searched, ended up leaving one of my carry on bags behind and had to be escorted to go get it and finally got through to my family.

I was rather delirious and hungry.  Mom need to pick up some meds for dad in Bellevue so we did that and then stopped next door for some homemade mac and cheese at Whole Foods.  Highly recommended.

I had had all these plans about trying to squeeze in a last day trip then it was going to Harewood House, then just a desperate desire to go to Roundhay Park once more but it wasn’t to be. First things first I headed into town to return library books and close my bank account. 

I got all my clothes sorted into the brilliant Rick Steves’ packing cubes and started loading bags.  As I did I realized that I had seriously underestimated how much stuff I had and was going to need another bag/suitcase.  So I measured the bag that I had and headed back into town, trip number two. I gave myself two hours to get things sorted.  I went to charity shops, Primark, TK Maxx and the Leeds City Markets, but finally settled upon Argos.  I knew that they would have stuff and it would be cheap but not totally crappy.  I picked out the two most likely and had the bring them out so I could see them.  I picked a large rolling duffle instead of the regular suitcase and took it home.  I was a little alarmed once I got it home at how large it was, but it fit everything perfectly and wasn’t too heavy because it was mostly clothes- hoodies, my blanket, my turkey.  Ha ha.  So I had about an hour to load things up before heading back into town for the third time in a day. 

I started out a bit late and so didn’t really have time to get to the bank before I needed to meet people at the Wardrobe.  Instead I popped into Clas Ohlson and got a luggage strap to try and cinch in my new giant bag and compression socks for the flight tomorrow.  I got to college 20 minutes early and so I went to the postgrad room in the library to use my phone to call the bank.  They charge you here to call 08 numbers from a cell phone which is exceedingly lame because 08 numbers like calling your bank are toll free at home. I tried but then it cut me off.  So I got online and topped up my account but it ran out the next call before I even got through the automated choice.  ARGH!!!  I don’t know how I’m going to close this account. 

Then I headed downstairs to the Wardrobe where I had dinner with Louise, Wei Li, Felicity and Mark. We ate and chatted for about three hours. We talked about the college and what we’re all doing next, international music scenes, conducting classes etc.  It was fun.  Then Louise gave me a ride home and we managed to get the clavinova in her car.  It was funny because the next morning Peter asked about the piano and I said, “Oh you didn’t hear us last night?”  Apparently they heard us talking some but nothing to make them think that we were moving a piano.  That’s good.  Then I had to say goodbye to Louise.  This is all so surreal.  I can’t believe it’s really over.  

I've been back for a month and a half now and it's time to get caught up on blogs...

The last step in preparing for my recital was putting things together with a rhythm section.  In my mind I thought that I would have the same players that I had in June and be able to rehearse throughout September.  Things didn’t turn out that way.  First of all my bass player backed out at the last minute.  Secondly not everyone was around.  In June it was difficult to schedule rhythm section players because everyone was doing final recitals.  In October it’s just us Masters students who are getting ready and our recitals fall on the second full week of school so all the underclassmen students weren’t quite in town yet.  Two of us ended up having to use one of the teachers to play bass.  He’s a great player but we had to figure out how pay him and work around his schedule.  We ended up having 3-4 hours of rehearsal the week before.  Overall the whole process was super stressful.  It was hard because I had just spent two months preparing everything on my own and now I had to rely on others to help me put it all together. 

Warming up in a practice room that morning...

On the big day I was delighted to have about 15 friends from Church come. It was so great to see so many shining faces and to know that most of them having not properly heard be sing before and so they were in for a bit of a surprise. Up to the week before some of them were still under the assumption that it was a piano recital.

So I started with “The Beauty of All Things” which was ambitious to say the least.  It makes a good opener but it’s so hard to sing.  It really needs a lot of support which is not assisted when it’s the first tune and your nerves effect your ability to breathe.  So that was a hair lackluster but I had made a few adjustments to the solo in the middle so that the range wasn’t so extreme and that went well.  Then it was on to the Dance Medley which felt really long.  The tempo changes are a bit tricky.  The band did a good job of getting them in the right place but they were often a hair slow or fast- but we managed.  I blanked out during the scat chorus and stopped after the first chorus not really sure if I had just done two or one so I turned to Aron and let him take a chorus, thank heavens.  Then we were able to get back on track.  During “Dream Dancing” on the way out the band goes all slow and loses swing feel more than I wanted so that was annoying.  They did it correctly once then when I told them that I liked it they went over board.  Bother. “You are There” was really lovely.  

The intro of “No More Blues” then came in stark contrast and I could see the external examiner dancing in her seat before being brought up short by the transition to the vocal/piano section.  Hee hee. I LOVE the vocal with horns line- it’s so cool. The scatting was rambling I’m sure. Minuano, oh Minuano.  The first half is really rough.  I was glad that during the rehearsal yesterday we had decided to bag the off beat horn parts in favor of more long notes. But still it’s that breath support issue again.  It was a big relief to get to the tempo section and then it was a lot more fun.  The ending is also lackluster too because the vocal part goes down in the range and so the band kept wanting to back off instead of playing through which robbed the ending of it’s impact. Then it was time for my favorite tune, Body and Soul.  It went very well, man it is long and I just had a great time.  I even managed the next to last note pretty well. I’m really glad that I switched the order around and put that last because it’s definitely the best and the most impressive.

Afterwards it was really fun to greet everyone and see/hear their reactions. We chatted and tried to take a few pictures but then I kind of shuffled everyone out to the foyer so Wei Li could start setting up for his. That afternoon I listened to the two other recitals.

That's Louise, my teacher, just behind me.  She's amazing and I failed at getting an actual picture of us together.

I got my marks (about a month later) and they were about what I deserved but not what I would have liked. If I could go back and do it again I would simplify and focus more on improv, but that’s how you learn. I also got a DVD of the performance but haven't been able to bring myself to watch it yet.

Of course by this time my body knew that I was done and was ready to collapse.  I went home but managed to stay awake as I started sorting through things to gather up the housewares that I’m going to give so the girls at church.  Around 5:45 I took the bus to the Girls’ house.  The Girls being Annie, Rachel, Katie, Ruth and Sally.

They’ve been living together all through uni- this being their third year and so they’re a tightly knit group.  Last week and FHE when they found out I was leaving so soon they invited me over for dinner. They live in a typical brick student terrace house 15 minutes walk from Uni.  I met Annie on the street and she brought me in the back door into the kitchen. They had decided to make me a traditional English meal- toad in the hole, roasted veg and cake with custard.  It was brilliant.  Toad in the hole is like sausage with puffy pancakes/yorkshire pudding.  It sounds a bit strange when you’re used to having puffy pancakes as a sweet breakfast food but it totally works and the sausages with just the right mild flavor to make it work.  The veg was courgettes (zucchini) and sweet potato.  Yum!  Then they heated up tinned custard which we poured over layer cakes from the store. We sat at the dinner table for a good while chatting about everything.  They had asked me what I missed and I had mentioned my car which led to a long discussion about getting drivers licenses and other driving adventures.  

Then they gave me a tour of the house.  It’s interesting after hanging around older girls who are busy with setting up their own apartments or houses and furnishing them just so to see a student house where the furniture is just whatever is provided and the house is a bit ragged and no one seems to care. They’re so not concerned about anything and just so open and friendly.  So delightful. We ended up hanging out in Ruth’s room talking about siblings and Christmas tradition.  Then Katie came home from uni before we all loaded into the car to take me home.  It was funny to invited them all up to my flat to pick things up.  It was definitely the most people I’ve had in my flat. I gave them three bags of random household and pantry items.  They were particularly delighted with my sad little Christmas tree and promised to set it up in their front room.  It’s sad that we’re having so much fun now that it’s time to leave. 

Have I mentioned that I love England? It’s not all sunshine and rainbows- although the sunshine and rainbows are awesome (as seen from my window)

but I just love the countryside, I can’t get enough of it and I was determined to not let another Saturday slip away without another days tramping in the woods. 

Most days out are a result of a few hours of internet research to find the best combination of train, bus, timetables, passes and discounts. I confess that my patience was wearing a little thin on this planning spree but I managed it okay.  Since the Saturday am session of conference would be on at 5, I would have to head out early to get back in time. This meant actually setting my alarm and getting up before seven. I took the bus to the rail station and a train to Ilkley. I think I might have been the only person in my car, it was very peaceful. I whipped out my notebook and schemed about EW. After a short wait I caught a bus to the abbey.  I wasn’t sure how many stops there were or where exactly I was supposed to get off and I misjudged. I think that I knew it was wrong as I was doing it because none of the other people who looked like walkers were getting off and the bus driver did give me a bit of a quizzical look. Heaven forbid I should ask. [What do walkers look like? Older women or couples wearing waterproof jackets, daypacks, hiking boots carrying walking sticks with their trousers tucked into their socks.]

Thanks to a road sign we had passed earlier I knew it wasn’t too far and so I just headed down the street in the direction the bus had gone. 

I was surprised to find the car park only a half a mile down the road. Through the car park I found a visitor information centre and a restroom which was sorely needed. The abbey proper was another block away. The ‘village’ of Bolton Abbey consisted of the visitors centre, fancy food shop, rare book shop, and tea room around a triangular ‘round about.’ 

Through an arch in a stone wall I found stairs down to the ‘ruins.’ There was a kite festival on this weekend but I had arrived early and it hadn’t really gotten started and so the activity and face painting boothes sat empty. 

I had looked at the trail maps and decided to walk up the far side of the river, cross over and head back in my three hour window. The river runs through a wooded gorge and the first section of trail was on a ledge and hill above the river. While I’ve conditioned myself to distance walk I’m a wimp when it comes to climbs. I was delighted to find that as I met other walkers on the trail they all wished me ‘good morning.’ This was nice when compared to a smile or nod of acknowledgement or being ignored. I came across two downed trees which at first I thought had some kind of funky fungus growing in them...

 but it was money,

 2p coins to be exact.

The trail wound it’s way through the woods with the river below and moor above. Eventually I came out and down belong the river again.

I saw a bridge which I thought must be the aqueduct half way through the train but which was actually a bridge to the pavilion marking the beginning of the trail. I had meandered for about 45 minutes only to get to the beginning of the trail. I realized that there was no way that I could make it all the way up the gorge and back to the bus in time so I settled for wandering some of the smaller circular routes on the other side of the river. Of course I picked the short, hard, steep one first and that first climb was a workout. Thankfully there was a nice bench at the top where I ate part of my lunch before carrying on.

 Not a bad lunch view.

The gravel trail continued on the ledge of the hill above a wider paved trail near the river. My trail sometimes rolled up and down like a roller coaster and before I could stop myself I found myself running head long down the drop to ride the momentum up to the next rise before plunging in again. No one else was on the trail and my feet pounding and crunching the gravel sounded a bit harsh but man was it fun.

Eventually the trail met up with the lower paved trail and I headed back to the pavilion the through a car park and grassy field to the actual abbey. The back half of the building is a ruin and the front half is still used as an Anglican church.

It’s always fun to wander through old church yards and I found some Whitakers, possibly a family relation? And Waddingtons- I had a companion named Sister Waddington.  During the summer they do Shakespeare in the ruins- how did I miss that??

I made my way back to the village to wait for the bus. I had a bit of time and decided to pop into the rare book shop. It was a proper rare and collectable book shop. 

I walked in and felt as though I was in someone’s home or library. The few rooms were lined with book shelves of old books included the history of the area, even old doomsday books. I was tempted by an old edition of a Georgette Heyer book but resisted.

The bus was late and I was nervous because it only comes every two or three hours and I was determined not to miss it. Apparently it had broken down but eventually arrived and I got back to the station. The shops in the town centre looked super cute and I would be tempted to wander if I had time, and if they weren’t mostly the same shops we have in Leeds. I popped into the Ilkley library to see if they had anything of interest (they charge you to put things on hold here so I always check if I’m in a new town to see if they have anything I want to read.) I took the train back to Leeds, nearly nodding off, then a new bus to Headingley in search of a used book store. It was the best I’ve seen so far but nothing handsome enough to tempt me. There was also nothing at the Headingley library and no cookies at the Headingley Sainsbury’s so I took a second new bus home where I picked up some groceries and arrived home in time to make dinner before conference. I also managed to rack up enough miles today, 7.5 to meet my goal of 1000 miles in Britain!! Woo hoo!

``She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker. I shall never forget her appearance this morning. She really looked almost wild.''
....
``To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is, above her ancles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! what could she mean by it? It seems to me to shew an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country town indifference to decorum.''

``It shews an affection for her sister that is very pleasing,'' said Bingley.

``I am afraid, Mr. Darcy,'' observed Miss Bingley in a half whisper, ``that this adventure has rather affected your admiration of her fine eyes.'' 

``Not at all,'' he replied; ``they were brightened by the exercise.''

P&P Ch 8

In all that I’ve read and heard about the Bronte’s I expected Haworth to be more moor like, more barren and harsh but it was absolutely green and lovely. The bus ride to Hebden Bridge gave me a little more of an idea of the whole area though. We wound through the valley and through a few neighboring villages before going up and over a huge moor that was more what I had in mind. Then we descended into another green woodland valley. I managed to pick out the correct stop at the street that heads into Hardcastle Crags. The entrance was about a mile up the road. A bus was due to pass that way shortly but I thought that I would start walking.

It came along when I was about halfway there and I decided to just keep walking. It was really lovely. It was a narrow road and at first there were some houses on the left which overlooked a gorge and on the right a steep wooded hill heading up.

By the time I had made it to the National Trust car park I was a little disappointed to find out that the mill was another mile in. Well, here we go. There were a few wooded trails here and there but I decided to take the gravel road straight to the mill and then perhaps pick another trail from there. There was a group in front and behind me but far enough that there were times when I felt like I was along in the woods, which was fine to me. 

Unbeknownst to me it was an English Heritage open day and so there was no admission charge to the mill. 

It was a functioning cotton mill in the 19th century and then became a dance hall. As it is now the mail floor was the dance hall and there was a tea room upstairs. 

Water from the mill pond still drives two turbines and produces all the electricity used in the visitors centre and cafe. My interested was of course cinematic. Gibson Mill was Dotheboys Hall in Nicholas Nickleby.

After the walk through I went out behind the mill to get a clean shot of the pond from the back side.

 There was a long trail that continued into the woods along the river which I followed for a little while but wanted to head back to catch the 5pm bus into town.

I had a great time taking pictures. From the mill back to the car park I followed the trail along the river which was rocky and rather muddy in places.

There was one set of stairs heading down that was really deep mud and unavoidable. I got back to the car park at 4:40 and decided that instead of waiting for the bus I could start walking in and meet up with it later. When I met up with the main road I just barely missed one of the buses and decided to just keep walking. In the visitor’s centre it said something about in the turn of the century when Hardcastle Crags was a bit holiday destination that people would walk the two miles from town for dances and then like. I had already walked a mile so town couldn’t be too much further. It was a long but lovely walk down into town with a great early evening view of this mass of stone buildings perched along the hills of this little valley.

The rail station wasn’t directly in the town centre so that took a little more wandering and my feet were about to give out as I had racked up nearly 10 miles.

Have I mentioned before that I love Jane Eyre? Once or twice? So how could I pass up the opportunity to visit where the Bronte's grew up, only twenty miles away?  I had planned to go sooner with a friend but it didn't turn out and it still sat there on my outing list. It's so funny that sometimes I'll mention to someone that I'm going somewhere and they'll say, "Who with?"  Myself.  I have a good time.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all about having a travel buddy but I've also gotten used to striking out on my own.


As with many of my adventured half the fun is getting there.  A week or so ago I bought a train/bus day pass so I wouldn’t have to worry about passess as I hopped from bus to bus and train to train or which train I ended up taking.  I headed out hoping that the weather would hold out. I took the bus to the rail station and then a train to Keighley [Keith-ly]. When I arrived in Keighley it was rather overcast and damp and I wandered into town following my guts, map and a few handy signs to find the bus station. I was even lucky enough to walk right on to the correct bus. As is usually the case when riding a new route I got off a little early and was rewarded with a long uphill climb in the rain to the Bronte Parsonage. The ‘main street’ in Haworth is cobbled and very very steep.  Look at that.  Stone villages nestled in green hills.  Love it.

It’s lined with adorable shops, B&Bs and tea rooms. My legs were killing my by the time I reached the top and I wasn’t even sure I was going in the right place.

By the time I found the church and hence the parsonage the rain had blown over and the sun came out. Oh yeah, fall in England, it does that, I had forgotten. 

The parsonage was a large stone home behind the church. Often when you go to restored homes like this you walk through and it can be not all that exciting but I found this one very interesting, and larger and homier than most. Immediately on the left is the front room where the girls would sit and write. [I couldn't take pictures inside so these are borrowed.]

In this room Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall were written. I took a moment to let this sink in. It’s amazing isn’t it? Three parson’s daughters in rural England gathered in their living room writing literary masterpieces. 


Across the hall is their father’s study which had an intriguing looking cabinet piano. 

Behind that a small kitchen, which didn’t feel very kitchen like because there were no windows- I think they’re used to be before a later parson redid the house. To the left behind the living room was a storage room later used as bedroom for Mr. Bronte’s assistant, whom Charlotte ended up marrying later. 

Upstairs there was a servant’s bedroom which now displays relics of the church from the Bronte’s time, before a fire in 1879 (?). There were wood doors from the pews, one had a music staff and notes rather crudely carved into it. Next was a bedroom that for a time served the Bronte’s aunt and then later Charlotte. This room held many of Charlotte’s things. Some clothes, a writing desk, drawings and books etc. It was odd because people were walking through exclaiming over this or that of “Charlotte’s” and I kept turning because I thought someone was talking to me. I’ve never had another Charlotte in my class. There was one Charlotte in my piano studio at UW but that was it. Here it’s a moderately more common name. I love my name. Good job, Mom.

The next room was the children’s study, another place they would write and imagine. Bramwell, the son of the family had been given a set of wooden soldiers and they siblings wrote stories with these soldiers as their characters. As part of a temporary display in the museum an artist had come in and made a large scene with soldiers and a castle and a church made out of pages from books in the children’s study. It was really neat, as though you could see the imaginings and stories walk right out of the books.

Next was Bramwell’s room, where he died. There’s a lot of pressure as the only boy of 6 children. He tried his hand at several things but never really took to them and died young of drugs and alcohol. The next room had been his studio during a year he was a portrait painter. From this room there was a new addition on the building which was more museum like and help a wide variety of possessions, manuscripts etc from the family. It was all very well done and as is the pattern empties into a little shop in which I satisfied myself with a stack of postcards and note cards.

From the shop I headed back around to the front to take some pictures before heading back down the hill to catch the bus. While there is a rail station in Haworth it’s only served on weekends on a local route of a historic steam train. That would have been cool. Here's the coal alongside the station, all ready to go.

I needed some lunch and while all the little shops were super cute I was pretty sure they weren’t quick, easy and fast. There was a Spar grocery store across the street from the rail station, next to the bus stop. I settled on a pasty which was hot and cheap and not to mention greasy. While a pasty combines the twin delights of thick beef stew and light flaky crust they are super hard to eat without making a mess of yourself. But somehow I managed it before the bus showed up which was nice.  On to Hebden Bridge...

I like Lord of the Rings, probably a little more than the next person but I’m not extreme. I don't feel a need to be from middle earth, dress up and teach myself Elvish.  Even though it’s not PC I think there’s fine line between weird geekery and a genuine love for a body of work without needing to participate.

I’ve read the books and listened to them on audio, watched all the movies and extras and listened to the podcasts. Over the last year I’ve really enjoyed these podcasts and having something intellectually stimulating to listen to while I while away the hours on public transportation or do the dishes.

I figured that while I was here in the UK I should look into what events are happening in relation to my interests of music, history and literature. I found this event called The Festival in the Shire, which looked really promising. It would have a festival of booths and activities for families, a fan expo with talks by experts and a legit academic conference with scholars presenting papers. How great does that sound? And Corey Olson, of the previously mentioned podcasts was going to be there. 

I went back and forth as to whether or not I was going to go but finally decided, hey I’m here, let’s take advantage of the opportunity. It took a lot of coordination and a bit of money to get housing, train tickets and the entry tickets since it was out in the middle of no where in Wales. As it got closer I started to notice little things that made me think that maybe it wasn’t going to be as cool as I imagined it to be. I was hoping for an expansion on the discussions started by the podcasts and some Comic Con like displays, but it was not to be. Add to that that the same weekend was the first ever Single Adult Conference in Manchester and the fact that this turned out badly makes me feel guilty about not going to the conference. Bother. 

I spent Thursday taking three trains out to Aberystwyth (Just say the ‘y’s like ih and you’ll get it.)  and during which I finally finished the first Artemis Fowl book, did some finale entry and slept. We arrived at the end of the line, around 3:30. I found the bus stops out front and hopped on the number one up to the university campus. I didn’t know if there was more than one stop on campus or not so I got off at the first one, just in case. The campus is literally perched on the hillside above the town and once on campus I had to wander about up the hill to find the residence halls, and then the reception. I checked in and went to find my room. While I’m glad that I never lived in university housing I think it’s a great accommodation alternative. It’s cheap like a hostel but safe, clean, private and franchised like a hotel. My little room had a bathroom with a shower, single bed, desk etc, your basic ensuite dorm room. It was on the third floor with an incredible sea view.   

I hopped back on the bus to go get dinner, pick up festival bus passes and check out the town. It was 4:30 and I knew that the last bus back up the hill was just after 6 so I didn’t have a whole lot of time to explore. I looked at lots of shops and surveyed all the food options and then noticed that everything started closing at 5. I suppose that’s reason enough for the buses to stop running. So I grabbed some dinner from a stand on the shore. 

It was a bit cold and very windy which made eating outside a bit tricky. I ordered a chicken salad sandwich, which I expected to be like tuna salad but it was just chicken with greens, cukes and tomatoes. It was fresh and huge and I couldn’t finish it so I asked for a bag- only to discover later that the may leaked right through and all over my purse. I also ordered a strawberry ‘thick’ shake, which was not thick, it was milk. Oh well.

Catching the bus back up was a bit tricky because the buses would come into the lot with one number, drop people off, move to a different station, change their number and head off somewhere else. Fortunately I did get this figured out in time to get back. I stopped at the grocery store by campus for some snacks and then was back in my room around 7. It’s a good thing that they had free wifi otherwise I would have gone mad.

Friday morning I caught a private bus out to the festival location. There were only 7 of us on the bus. It was a 40 minutes drive inland, absolutely lovely but I couldn’t stay awake. We arrived and checked in and I ended up heading in through the back door. The main building had one huge space that was divided into two spaces. One was a stage complete with sound system and band set up the other was for the festival vendor stalls/exhibition.

Main Hall Projected

Main Hall Actual

Art Exhibition Projected

Art Exhibition Actual

In the corner was the entrance to the fan expo art exhibition which wasn’t open yet when I arrived. I could tell walking into the room that I would be able to walk through and see everything that they had in about 15 minutes, and there weren’t buses going back to town until 6 and I was planning on staying two days! I knew then that one day would be enough, I would head home tomorrow and be able to go to church on Sunday. 

I really hoped that the talks later would be worth it. They finally did open the art exhibition and it was pretty small- def not worth paying more. It was around noon and there wasn’t much scheduled until 1:30. At noon there was an italian pianist who is apparently amazing and just recorded a CD all inspired by Tolkien. He played (it was miced too loud) and I wasn't particularly intrigued. Then there was a lady who sang Celtic folk songs and played the guitar. She was a fine singer, but once again, not overly impressed. Then there was a storyteller who told the story of Beren and Luthien and it was pretty good. When she was all in character it was quite good, but when she broke character, not so much. They had some food vendors and so I went and picked up a chili baked potato which I tried to eat while listening. There was a Corey Olson session on the program that overlapped with this one, and then they tried to squeeze it in. It was super cool to see him in person and I couldn’t help but grin. But at the same time it was a little lame to have a 20 minute little discussion about the Hobbit with a handful of audience when I’ve already listened to 3GB or 48 hours of podcast lectures and know that there’s more too it.

After this I found out that the Fan Expo talks were taking place in the next building and I headed over there. They were a little behind due to some laptop/projector technical difficulties. It seems like every time anyone uses a laptop/projector combination there are huge delays. You’d think that we’d have come up with a solution by now. The first talk was given by a young woman who I must assume is a student and who’s first language is not English. It was painful. It was scripted and predictable and yet at the same time impossible to follow. Full of quotes and buzz words but with out substance or direction. She looked the part but then leaned against the stage and read from her notes. I tried really hard to concentrate but it was just painful. They were a bit behind schedule and the conference runner was trying to subtly get her attention to tell her to wrap up. When subtlety didn’t work he sat in the front row, then stood up, then actually stopped her to tell her to wrap up. Okay, and then she went right on at the same speed forcing him to finally just have to cut her off. Painful.

Nearly the whole weekend was saved by the next speaker. Tom Shippey, professor for 45 years, prolific writer, great speaker- thank you, that’s how it’s done. I thoroughly enjoyed it and got online and found a few other talks he’s given on itunes U, much of which echoed when he told us.

The next speaker had written a book on the friendship of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein. I’ve listened to a few lectures on this topic and so was rather well versed and interested. The speaker was a stereo typical English Professor complete with slightly crazy dark grey beard and hair and tweed jacket. He started out a bit stilted reading from his notes but once he started just talking extemporaneously about the pictures in the slideshow it was much better.

Then I headed back over to the main building for what was supposed to have been a staged singing/acting presentation but when I walked through and nothing was happening I headed back to the talks to hear some from a Dutch Collector. It was interesting to get his perspective on working with collecting a variety of things over many many years.

The final talk that I thought I would have time for was on Tolkien and the Welsh language by a greek professor who teaches Tolkein at a University in Wales. She used a power point and read from notes but read like I would- animatedly, clearly, loudly and too fast. It was dizzying to follow. After that I headed out to wait for the bus. It was there but we weren’t getting on yet. Corey Olson was standing there chatting with various people and I’ll be kicking myself for a long time that I didn’t just go up and join in. That would have most likely improved the weekend. I’m just so painfully shy and spend so much time alone that sometimes I fall into a habit of doing more observing than participating. [Per Elder Bednar’s warning.] 

I overheard someone say that they were going to hold the bus until the last talk was over and so I popped my head in to hear the last talk by an artist. Unfortunately the bus didn’t wait and I saw it drive away just as I came out. ARGH!!! So I had to wait and hour and a half for the next one. There was nothing on except for that Italian pianist again and a french blues band that had next to nothing to do with Tolkein. 

But I was cold, my fingers were blue, so I went inside and read my book until 8. 

Was I too hard on them?  It was their first year.  Would it have been better if I was able to go to the scholarly talks?  I thought about staying but it seemed like a lot of the fan talks were going to be repeated on Saturday. I think I mostly had expectations that were too high and was cranky about having spent more money than it was worth.  Don't mess with me and money.

The drive back through the sunset was absolutely gorgeous. 

These pictures don’t do it justice because they were taking through the windows of a bus in motion. Back in town I dragged my self up the mile hill back to campus, 

got some more snacks and settled in to watch Top Gear clips [specifically challenges] on youtube to make myself laugh. Hopefully I learned a few valuable lessons this weekend...