The boys (what we're up to)

We (Kees and Thomas) have been attending the local cubs pack and we thoroughly enjoy it. We've been doing all sorts of fun activities, including tent erecting, shelter making at snowball plantation, tin can cooking, and designing and making tents and catapults. At school I (Kees) have been taking part in the 4th and 5th grade production of Dragons in the chorus. And I (Thomas) have been making some very interesting lego movies, about many different things. One of the best, called Men at Work, is posted on this blog entry, along with Thing.






Here are some pictures of Kees and Thomas with the Second Saint Thomas Cub Scouts Pack, and a video of the Scout parade on Saint George's day...

Saint Thomas and Saint Maurice

As I am writing this, I am looking out from the back window of our house here in York, and looking out over the church of Saint Thomas and Saint Maurice. It makes me realize I have not yet written about this, our church home for the semester. When we first arrived in York, we were under the impression that the church was closed, and, indeed, for a while it was nominated to be made "redundant". But thanks to the initiative of the parishioners, a "mission team" was set up to give this church new life, and make it a visible presence in the Groves (that's the name of this neighbourhood), and it is a living, and lively, community. Perhaps the Minster has more liturgical splendour (and I occasionally go there for Evensong, to enjoy the choral music). But the warm welcome to the stanger and the sense of community makes us know that Christ is present here...

Our pictures made it onto the welcome sheet and web pages...

http://www.stthomaswithstmaurice.org.uk/

(Go to "enter Saint Thomas", and check out "picture galleries".)

A Joust in Leeds.

While our last days in York were approaching, we realized that we had not visited Leeds yet. So we took the train to Leeds to see the Royal Armouries. The city of Leeds has some attractive newly restored waterfront along the River Ayre.

The visit to the Armouries was a highlight. The central tower (above, right) shows a creative way to deal with the enormous quantities of swords, pikes, and cuirasses. We saw the only surviving set of full-body elephant armour, dating from the sixteenth century (above, left), and watched a special fathers-day joust in the afternoon.

A Trip to Durham.

While Jen was here, we visited Durham cathedral, a long-overdue visit. We wish we had planned an excursion here when our students were here. With the tomb of Cuthbert and Bede (below, right), there certainly were many sites that related to our "Christianity and Culture in Pre-Modern Britain" course. Besides, the cathedral is a gem of Norman architecture.

Kees and Thomas’ main points of interest were the gigantic knocker on the North door (everyone who knocked on the door was granted refuge in the cathedral precinct for sixty days), and the colony of bats that inhabited the cathedral cloister (that's the small spot in the centre of the photograph).

After Durham cathedral, we made a trip to Finchale priory, on the River Wear, where Saint Godric lived as a hermit. His life was the subject of the novel of the same name. Only a simple stone cross in the nave of the ruined church marks the last resting place of Godric.

Hiking Hutton-le-Hole

The day after the students left, Liz and Jen arrived for a visit. Later that week, we went hiking near Hutton-le-Hole, and Gillamoor. It was a beautiful day, almost Summer. (Rather unlike the rest of June here.) Our hike took us through some adventurous byways, in which we had to cross a field (we only saw the sign abou the bull after we’d crossed the field), and cross a river. Thankfully, a fallen tree provided a make-shift bridge. Below, a picture of picturesque Hutton-le-Hole, where sheep grazed the village green.

We also visited the churches of Saint Gregory Minster in Kirkdale (with an Anglo-Saxon sundial), and Saint Mary’s in Lastingham. The latter had a beautiful crypt, the resting place of Saint Cedd, and contemporary of Bede.

The Students Leave.

On May 30, our students left for the States. We had a wonderful good-bye party, and the weather permitted a real cook-out. Eric handled the barbacue expertly (photo left), and we organized a mock-graduation ceremony for Katie, who missed out on her Commencement. But really touching (and funny) was our students’ tribute, on the melody of an ancient Yorkshire ballad ... Next day, the bus went very early in the morning. Good bye, we'll miss you ! (Now back to grading...)

Hadrian's Wall.

Most of our students turned out to be done with exams a week before their return date. This gave us an opportunity to organize one more trip, one we originally though we couldn’t fit in: to Hadrian’s Wall. First we visited the Vindolanda excavations (site of the adventures of the Latin mouse "Minimus"), and after that we hiked a distance of the wall, from the Roman fort at Housesteads to Caw Gap. Without a doubt, this was one of the most spectacular parts of the wall, offering some impressive views. Every half hour or so, we were hit by a rainstorm, that you could see approach from far away. Despite the chilly weather, it was a rewarding day.

A Visit to Malham.

Apart from our short trip to Wensleydale, we had never been to the Yorkshire Dales. So, at the end of May, we visited Malham. The impressive Malham Cove was formed by one of the last Ice-Age glaciers in Britain. For a long time, it was the site of a waterfall, until the river seeped into the limestone rock, and now emerges from the bottom of the cove instead. On top of the cove we saw these fantastic limestone formations (photos above). We hiked up glacial valleys to Water Sinks, where the river that comes out of Malham Tarn (Yorkshire’s biggest natural lake) disappears. (I guess that is the same river that reappears under Malham Cove, Malham Beck; it eventually flows together with the Gordale Beck, to form the River Ayre, just south of Malham, in a place appropriately called "Ayre Head".)

After returning to Malham, we had some tea, and visited Gordale Scar, an impressive canyon with a waterfall. I had originally planned to come back this way from our walk, but the official footpath led right down the waterfall, so perhaps it was a good thing we changed our original plan. Thomas and Kees had some fun climbing the waterfall nonetheless.

On the Minster.

That same first weekend in May, Richard and Carleen and their kids (Maaike, Joost, and Gemma) also visited us. We took the opportunity to walk on the walls (Thomas is impersonating a gargoyle, above), climb the Minster tower. We could just make out the Kilburn White Horse in the distance.

Moors and Dales

The first weekend in May, I organized an optional hiking trip for Calvin Students to the Hole of Horcum. My brother Jan also was visiting us, and we conveniently all fit into two cars. I was a bit sleepy, because the night before, Kristin (one of our students) had broken her elbow, and we spent most of the night in the Hospital Emergency Room. (Kristin underwent surgery, and is now doing fine!) We hiked from the Hole of Horcum to Levisham Station, and took the train from there to Pickering and back. It was Steam Gala Weekend, and we got a glimpse of the Tornado, and were pulled by Sir Nigel Gresley (pulling in to Pickering, photo right).













Pickering is a friendly town, with a bailey-and-keep castle, and wonderful fifteenth century frescoes in the church of Saints Peter and Paul.

That same weekend (a Bank Holiday) when Jan was visiting, we also visited Wensleydale, where we saw not only Middleham castle (below), but also the folly gardens and mazes of the "Forbidden Corner", England's answer to the gardens of Bomarzo.

Left and right: Kees and Thomas in the garden of wonders, the Forbidden Corner. Below: More mirabilia, when on the way back we made a brief stop in Ripon to see the cathedral’s fifteenth-century misericords (including this boar playing the bagpipe).