Xmas in the US

Three loverly weeks off over Xmas, spent on the West side of the US. Trix & I went back to Seattle, catching the Cascades train down from there to Portland. Still suffering from the aftermath of terrible ice storms, the journey took a lot longer than planned, but we still met up with our pal Geoff who had come over via San Francisco. Together with Trix's Mum (Caroline) we all squeezed in at Ren's place for the "Holidays", with a trip down to Bend to check on progress with the cabin. It became clear that the orriginal plan to spend a few nights there was not possible due to somewhat slow progress with the build, but at least we got the garage doors installed whilst there.

New Years day, Trix & I went on down to Las Vegas - which also looks like a construction site at present with several building sites along the strip.






























































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A pilgimage to Folkestone

Image
Canon W H Elliott died in 1957 after a distinguished life dedicated to the Church. In his time, he had been a regular preacher in Canterbury Cathedral, a radio broadcaster during the 1930's, Canon Emeritus of Coventry Cathedral and Chaplain, not only to Kings George V & VI but to our present Queen Elizabeth from 1952 until his death. Earlier in his life, he had been vicar at Holy Trinity in Folkestone. In April, I went with my mum (Irene) to visit that church where they have applied a memorial inscription on the entrance doors. And of what relevance is this Rev gentleman to the Scutts ? Why did we visit & why do we remember him ? Well, as I'm fed up with publishing this blog with never a response, so I'll leave it to my mum, or maybe my brother to post a comment & explain all ... over to you, family !
Read more

The Home stretch

Image
Back to Oregon in May and this time I went too. From Seattle we drove south on I5, with stunning views of first Mt. Olympus to the west, then Mt. Rainier to the east - at 4,392m this peak really dominates the landscape. I'm possibly the only person that hadn't realised the logic to Interstate numbering - odd numbers run north/south, even east/west. As we followed and then crossed the mighty Colombia River, the familiar sight of Mt. Hood welcomed us to Portland, glowing a beautiful pink in the evening sun. As we drove the last leg to Ren's home in Gresham I was reminded that this is where they grow many of the plants for America's gardens - fields of flowering shrubs; rhododendrons , azaleas and of course, roses. Portland is known as the "City of Roses" and we missed the Rose Festival (which runs through June) by a week ! The City is also know as the home of t he Dandy Warhols & countless micro breweries, but we missed them too this trip. And so down to B...
Read more

St.Anne’s Churchyard one summer morning - July 08

Image
Early one morning, killing time with a coffee walking through Soho, I came upon St.Anne’s Churchyard. I stopped to watch a group of people taking a Tai Chi routine, reminding me of those I’d seen in San Francisco’s Chinatown Park. But what really interested me was the very large gravestone & strange shed like memorial to William Hazlitt. Born in Maidstone in 1778, Hazlitt was a philosopher, critic and essayist, little read or remembered today, but much quoted by my Father.
Read more