Thursday, 25th November 2021-Happy Thanksgiving

The Season of Celebration is upon us. Mine started last week; 19th November was my 63rd birthday. I started the day with a slice of applesauce cake for breakfast!

John took me to Oxford for the weekend. We walked Oxford “flat”. As we walked toward the town centre from the train station, we discovered a Victorian Open Air Market. The location had several trees with striking foliage.

We enjoyed food from the international food court. I had a German sausage and John had a dish from a place called “A Taste of Goa.”

We also found a great accessories booth. Nancy Bowen is the proprietor of The Queen Be Ironmongery. The website is www.thequeenbshop.com. I bought the cutest set of retro measuring cups from her.

As we walked on we found the other half of the Open Air Market on Broad Street. Several booths perveyed ethnic food, vegan treats and traditional Christmas sweets items. We had to reign ourselves in because it would have been easy to spend a lot of money on the hand-crafted products we were impressed by.

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We walked by the Bodleian Library which is actually a collection of specialised libraries all overseen by one administration. John and I visited the newest edition of the library, the home of their gift shop and coffee cafe.

We strolled by the Sheldonian Theatre. The Bach concert emanating from the theatre was an unexpected treat.

That evening we made out way to the Tree Hotel in Iffley, a suburb of Oxford. A three-star accommodation, it had the charm of a victorian house. Our room had an ensuite bathroom. The shower was little more than a trickle, but the water was hot. We had use of a king-sized bed which was very comfortable.

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One of the highlights was finding the ice cream shop our friend told us about. It’s called the George and Danver Ice Cream Cafe. They serve freshly baked bagels and homemade ice cream. John surprised me by saying it was too cold to eat ice cream. I was shocked; because John is an ice cream hound!!! I had coffee-flavoured ice cream with a cup of coffee after a Ruben bagel. It was the 2nd day of my birthday weekend!

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We took the Hop-on-Hop-off tourist bus, which is a quick way to get an overview of Oxford. We rode by the building which housed The Eagle And Child Pub. Also known at the “Bird and Baby”; the pub that C.S. Lewis, J. R.R. Tolkein, and the other Inklings used to meet on Thursday evenings to share their works in progress. Unfortunately, the pub was closed because it is in need of some structural maintenance. I was disappointed, as it is a historic site associated with one of my favourite writers, C.S. Lewis.

We weren’t far from Christ Church College and the Cathedral–so much history, going back to the 1200s. Sunday we walked around Christ Church College, hearing the carillon bells being played from the Cathedral. The sun was shining, and the leaves shimmered in the cool autumn wind. We shopped in the Christ Church Gift shop, then wandered by the longhorn cows of Oxford. You can see one of the cows above.

By early afternoon on Sunday we were ready to return home. I was missing Maisy and I knew she was probably missing us. Yet the much needed break was truly enjoyable, a memorable way to begin our observance of Thanksgiving.