My afternoon with the Queen of England!

Well - not my afternoon, but my mom's! I thought that since this weekend was pretty average in the US-based McCarthy household, I would not bore you with the details of paint-stripping, bush pruning, painting etc etc. So I decided I would post my mom's experience of a lifetime! Below is her account of the afternoon tea she had with the Queen at Buckingham Palace........




We have had a wonderful time in London. We went up on Monday morning to our Hotel in Hyde Park, it is a very nice hotel with a bath and shower, heated towel rail and even tissues in the bathroom. (because all other hotels expect you to wipe your nose on your sleeve??? - Grant) We left there and went into London to find our bearings - I am an absolute pro on jumping onto the underground trains, then to change and get the Jubilee line, or the Circle Line or the Piccadilly Line etc. We went to Picadilly by bus then walked through St James Park to Westminster and Downing Street, then onto Trafalgar Square and I went into the National Gallery just for a few minutes. We then walked to Harrods and had a look at what they had. Unfortunately they were having a Sale so it did not look as posh as usual with the sale tables all over the place!!! Every department has a different light fittings from huge chandeliers to smaller lit up fruit baskets etc. We went back to the hotel about 8pm exhausted and fell into bed!!!

On Tuesday we went for a walk to Hyde Park, Jean said she could handle traveling one station, so we walked around Hyde Park for about an hour. Then looked for a toilet - a sign said 250 yds - it was more like 250 miles. By now we had walked across the Park and had to get back. We saw an underground station and made for that, but that was about another 250 miles of passages - we could have walked back to our hotel by this time. Time was passing and we had to get back to our Hotel to dress for the Palace!!! We got back just before 12.45pm and then needed to leave again at about 1.15pm. We got all dolled up and even if I say so myself, looked quite nice!!! We got a taxi to the Palace and the driver took us as close as he possibly could, which was right outside the gate.

There were thousands of people there, fortunately we were early and got quite near the front of the one queue. I was dressed a lot nicer than most people, some over the top, others a bit dowdy - we were perfect!!!! The gates were supposed to open at 3pm but they opened them at 2.15pm as there were about 8000 people, more than usual I believe!!! We went in and got a seat at a table and they gave us lemon and barley water which was delicious as it was very hot and sunny. After a while some ladies came around and suggested we help ourselves to tea. There was tea, iced coffee or apple juice. We started off with apple juice and then had tea. The eats were out of this world, tiny salmon pastries, fruit cake, tiny sandwich fingers - I had a couple of egg and ham - tiny chocolate cakes about an inch square with a tiny gold crown on the top - I had a couple of those. There were also little round caramel cakes, choux pastries with fillings, Victorian sponge cake, and quite a few others that I did not have. The tea was served from silver urns, quite posh. The tents had chiffon material draped from the centre of the ceiling and down the sides. There were huge flower displays in large vases, everything first class! Then it was almost time for the Queen to arrive. The Queen, Prince Philip, Charles and Camilla as well as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent all attended. We formed a sort of U shape and Jean and I were in front of the bottom part of the U. They played the Anthem as they stood on the steps and then they all walked down towards us. The Queen then went off in one direction, the Duke in another and Charles and Camilla in another area. We then rushed and got to the front of the side the Queen was walking - I could have touched her she was so close! After she passed we went to where the Duke was chatting and got to the front of that crowd, he was chatting and laughing all the time. I had my little SA flag and one of the ushers (they were older men in top hat and tails with a brolly), said not to let the Duke see that flag otherwise he will chase me with a cricket bat (we had beaten England in a test the day before). Then the Royal group went to their tent for tea with some bishops in long red robes!!! We walked around the gardens for a while and then I took some photos!!!!!£$%%$£@ I wish I had taken more but was a bit nervous!!! The Royal family left at 6pm with the playing of the Anthem again. We walked around a bit more then headed for the gates. We had to pass through the entrance of the Palace which is wonderful. Imagine the Queen on the balcony, well, I walked through the arch right under the balcony - nothing but the best for me!!!!!!! We went into the Grand Entrance and saw the paintings and carpets and chairs etc. then out of the doors of the Bow Room which in itself is very opulent!!! Eats your hearts out!!!£$%~@

Today(Wednesday) we went on the London Eye and around the Tower of London which was in itself a real pleasure. On the way back to the hotel where we had left our luggage, we walked through Hyde Park again to find the Princess Di memorial pond. I was very disappointed in this as it is just a circle of water in the ground. We asked many people as we had looked for this yesterday, but no one seemed to know where it was. Hyde Park is HUGE, so you can imagine trying to find something that is rather flat. Then I saw a little old man with a golf cart and asked him if he would take us to the pond, which he did and then again I asked him to take us the the Lancaster Gate as our Hotel was not far from there. Cheeky!!! He was very willing and pointed out some landmarks to us. We went back to the hotel, had tea and then trekked to the station to head for home. We got the train at Lancaster Gate, changed at Bond Street to the Jubilee Line and headed for Waterloo Station where we headed for Basingstoke and arrived home just after 7 pm.
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That's all I have for you this week. I will strive to lead a more exciting life so that I have some of my own material for next week;s blog :-)

Productive Weekend - even made time for another parade

Our weekend started off with sirens and flashing lights! Luckily none of us were arrested nor required any form of emergency medical treatment. Our friends invited us to their town's annual festival and parade - and after discovering Nathan's new found love of parades, how could we not go? So on Friday evening we drove to Fairview Park, and staked our position along the parade route. Our friends cycled over from their place and met us just in time to sit back and be pelted with candy! Nathan, had a blast as the police cars and bikes drove past - followed by a fire truck and then the floats! This was the part that the candy was strewn along the Street to the waiting children- who were quickly filling up their plastic bags with the sugar-loaded delicacies... We were quite intrigued to see a controversial politician taking part in the parade, Dennis Kucinich. He is a member of the US House of Representatives, and twice ran for president - most recently in the 2008 elections. However, he is most well known for his attempts to get George W Bush impeached, and currently has one of his articles before a Congressional committee.




After the parade - we went to the field in which the Fairview Park festival was taking place. They had hundreds of stores selling a variety of goods. We wanted to stay there until 8pm when the LifeFlight helicopter was scheduled to land. As you can imagine - there was great excitement when at about 8:15pm, 3 police cars pulled onto the field with their lights on a parked strategically for the helicopter to land in the center. But 10 minutes later, an announcement was made that the helicopter had received an emergency call and was needed to transport someone to a hospital. Now try explaining that to a 3 year old who has been sitting patiently to see the Air ambulance come and land before his very eyes. Poor Nathan was inconsolable as we had to leave without seeing the helicopter :(

Saturday was a very productive day for me. It started out with us going to the shops to buy a medicine cabinet for the bathroom and food for our guests that we were having later that evening. When we got home, I finished my painting of the garage door frame and hauled out the pressure washer to clear the driveway of my accidental paint spills. Next on my agenda was to declare war on the lawn weeds. I bought an weed killer that is meant to kill only the weeds - not the lawn ("guaranteed") and walked up and down the entire yard carefully aiming and firing at these evil intruders. That in itself took up a good hour of my time! Once I had finished examining every square foot of my lawn in the 95F/35C sultry weather, I retreated to the garage to assemble some shelves that I had purchased to reduce the clutter. It was then time to bath Nathan and get the grill pre-heated as our Bible study leader and his family were joining us for dinner. Nathan had a great time with them - since they too, own a Wii, and we all played a number of games - and Nathan even beat me in the bowling :(

Sunday morning arrived and my cell phone had me out of bed by 7am so I could be at church by 7:45am for our pre-service rehearsal. The services were excellent - both the music (even if I do say so myself) as well as the message! I got home at 12:30pm and after lunch took a lazy afternoon. That was until Liesel woke up from her nap - then I went upstairs to install the new medicine cabinet in our bathroom. That took us to dinner, bath time and then bedtime for Nathan. Then once Nathan had fallen asleep by 7:40pm - Liesel and I put our feet up and watched a very sweet and enjoyable DVD : The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. What a great way to wind down the weekend!

On a completely different note: my mother is in England at the moment and on Tuesday will be fulfilling one of her life long dreams - and that is to have tea with the Queen! She received an invitation to one of the Queen's garden parties in Buckingham Palace's garden! She is so excited about this - and I just had to share it with everyone!

Fun in the North East Ohio sun!

After returning from vacation last week - our lives quickly adapted to our regular routine. I began waking up at 6am again to head to work, and Liesel and Nathan went about their daily activities.

Liesel and Nathan again hit the Garage Sale circuit on Thursday and came home with her usual bargains. This time she bought a baby crib, with a built-in night-light, a battery operated carousel, music player as well as vibrating feature that soothes the baby and helps them to sleep. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL.... all of these can be operated by the remote control that comes with it! Nathan loved that and spent most of the afternoon turning the different features on and off with the remote!

So when this weekend arrived, along with it's beautiful weather, we took full advantage and headed to our local beach. Well, the water is nowhere as clear and blue as the waters of Lake Michigan or Lake Huron, but it was the perfect temperature to play in - especially when the air was around 93F/34C. Nathan just loves the lake and can occupy himself for hours with either making sandcastles, throwing stones, wading or swimming. It was great fun to see his "tricks" as he "dives" (falls) into the knee deep water. We spent just over an hour at the beach before heading home for lunch - and to take shelter from the thunderstorms that followed....


Being back at home, also meant that some chores that I had been putting off, needed my attention. I borrowed by manager's pressure washer and discovered what a wonderful tool this is to strip paint. I need to repaint the garage door frame, as well as another door frame and our porch's wooden railing. But I prefer doing them one at a time, so I directed all my efforts in getting as much paint off the garage door frame as possible. I got quite a bit off, but because I used the pressure washer, as well as the fact that a couple of thunderstorms bombarded our house with water - I wasn't able to start the painting as the wood was still damp on Sunday afternoon!

On Sunday we headed to church as per usual, but this time Liesel had volunteered to teach Nathan's Sunday School class. I agreed to help her, as I wasn't playing guitar this week. It went as well as expected, and we were soon heading back home for lunch. This afternoon, I sanded the garage door frame down a bit, power washed the side of our house near our entrance, and then removed a ton of plants (weeds??? I don't really know) from one flower bed. So all in all, it was a productive weekend.

However, I must point out that I did set aside some time to watch some Olympic Beach Volleyball qualifiers in high definition! That was amazing! You haven't experienced volleyball until you have seen it high definition! Now I have some extra bounce in my step as we start our summer league tomorrow!

Back from northern Michigan :(

After driving for 6.5 hrs today, we pulled into our driveway. The week long vacation that we had is unfortunately over, as the start of a regular week inches closer and closer. But what a week we had!!! It was a week of sightseeing, exploring, resting and having fun! Nathan loved every second of it, and especially playing with his "cousins": Karl, Claudia and Gabi!

We left here last Sunday and took a leisurely drive to Detroit and spent the night with Liesel's uncle and aunt. The next morning we packed the vehicles, strapped the children in, loaded the mountain bikes and headed due north! When we got there - there was still time for us to do some sightseeing - so before checking in at the hotel, we headed for the quaint town of Charlevoix. Charlevoix is located between Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan. The highlight of this town for Nathan, was not the playground on the beach, nor the beautiful scenery. It was the "up and down" bridge - a draw bridge that would open every 30 minutes to allow boats to pass from Lake Charlevoix to Lake Michigan and vice versa. He has been asking to see it every day, and fortunately I took video of it - and that satisfies Nathan's longing to see the bridge in action!

The next day we relaxed at Deer Lake, where they have kayaks and canoes available, a putt putt course and a beautiful little beach with the crystal clear waters of the lake lapping it gently. The lake is also wonderful for the children to swim in as the gradient is very slight and even a few hundred yards from the shore line, you are no more than waist deep! I took Nathan out on a canoe a couple of times, and another time we played a round of putt putt together!

One of the days we drove an hour north to where Lake Heron and Lake Michigan intersect at a city called Mackinaw City. This is where the world's longest suspension bridge between anchors resides. But also, about a 20 minute boat ride away, is a very unique island called Mackinac Island. This island does not allow any form of powered transportation. Only bicycles (which you can hire) or horses are available to take residents and visitors around the island! We had never before seen anything like this, and it seemed quite funny as the city streets were experiencing rush hour - with no cars in sight! This island is beautiful and has an old fort from the British Colonial days. It also has the Grand Hotel - which is exactly that. It has the world's largest covered porch which is 660 feet long! Men are required to wear jacket and tie and ladies may not wear slacks after 6pm !!! It was a thoroughly enjoyable outing for the McCarthy's.

Andreas and I tried mountain biking and we hit one of the trails in the natural forests in the area. This was a lot more challenging than first anticipated. After pushing the bike up a grueling incline - we made it to the top of Boyne Mountain, and then it was a pleasure to free wheel down to meet up with our family at the heated swimming pool. The Lipperts also treated us to a Ski-lift ride to the top of the mountain which offered us amazing views of the entire resort and area! Liesel loved the view - but didn't particularly enjoy the mode of transport. Not even Nathan's reassurance of how he is not scared helped her overcome her fear of heights....

On the one drizzly day - the Lipperts treated us to an incredibly delicious pancake breakfast in Bay Harbor. Their chocolate chip pancakes were worthy of the calories they contained!

Finally the fourth of July arrived, and we took Nathan to the Boyne City Parade! He is now a huge fan of parades, especially if fire engines are part of the festivities! We had a great time watching everyone march, walk, ride, and dance past us! That evening it was time for the fireworks. The city has such a beautiful setting where they shot the fireworks from. It was right over Lake Charlevoix, so as the sun set around 10pm, and more and more boats made their way into the bay - thousands of spectators (us included) made ourselves comfortable on the shore and waited with anticipation. My word, we were not disappointed - the adjectives: 'stunning' and 'awesome' do not do the show justice!