Oxford's Covered Market

Bill and I were unaware of the Oxford Covered Market until the wife of one of the presenters at the NEH Institute pointed it out to us. Needless to say, there was an ecclectic collection of purveyors.

I love fish markets (and their smell) which probably goes back to my childhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, where every Friday my (Catholic) mother took me to the market to buy fish for dinner. I thought the Jaws addition below was a nice touch!

Just look at how nicely the fresh meat was garnished with tomato roses and lemon tulips!

But my favorite shop was the cake shop where you could stand outside a large window and watch the employees decorate the cakes.

I loved the Mondrian cake and the tile cake. Mrs. Lasker had watched them prepare the tile cake on the preceding day. The cake artist was actually working from paint samples and discarded fondant tiles which failed to match the samples.

Here are some little petit-fours.

And a wedding cake for the couple that met on the slopes!

Back at Yarnton

After our very late arrival from Italy, we found ourselves without food in the house. Yarnton is a very sleepy little village, as in no Sainsbury's or Spencer & Marks. The only place to stock up on provisions was at the Paternoster Farms Pet & Garden Supplies, a farm co-op that specializes in feed, as in grain for farm animals. The above view is taken from Google Earth. I liked the assortment of roofs below.



Here is the little grocery store for human feed. So, Bill and I had lunch that day. That evening the van took us to a large Sainsbury's in a neighboring town. I love Sainsbury's for two reasons: boxed Indian food and fresh pasta with a wide assortment of fillings. Too bad they don't export their products to IGA!

On to Padova

Because I was unable to either catch a flight on the same plane as Bill when he left Siena or when flew to Padova (via Venice), I trained up from Roma to meet him in Padova. Since he was attending the conference on Saturday, I was left to my own and wandered about the city.

What I most love about Italian cities is that each one is so different from the next, and Padova is no exception. Sure, it shares some similarities with Venice, less than an hour away, both in its system of canals and in its architecture, but there are only traces of both in the Old City.

Here is a pretty little canal. Canals in Padova strike me as more artificial and more modern compared with Venezia.



The most artificial of all the canal systems is the Prato della Valle or Valley Lawn. It dates back to ancient Roman times, but its new configuration occurred during the 1700s. The elliptical canal basin is ringed 87 statues. It's quite a pretty site. On Saturday, it was surrounded by an open air market which by Sunday morning had disappeared.



On the south end is Santa Giustina. The Eastern influence is apparent in its architecture and reminded me of the cathedral in Venice.

On Sunday morning I took Bill down to see the Prato.

I am wearing one of my new silk blouses from my favorite shop in Roma, the Balloon Emporium.

You will recall that Bill's arrival into Padova was considerably delayed, the result of a bus breakdown. So, on Friday evening at 9:30 pm I took myself downstairs for dinner. And it was a good thing I did, too. You see, like Venice, Padova shuts down early. Anyway, I ordered this sea bass ravioli. I've never had such a pretty pasta meal. Good thing I like squid ink in my pasta!

Our good friend and one of Bill's University colleagues, Curt Rom, spent a semester in Padova. He told us about Aperol Spritzes. I couldn't very well go to Padova and not order one. Cin-cin, Curt!

Padova had two open markets on Saturday. This one was closer to our hotel. I would have bought a nectarine and was fingering the fruit when I was told not to touch the fruit. She lost the sale, but it didn't prevent me from taking pictures!

I forget now what this building was, but it closely resembles the architectural style you would find in Venice. Like Venice, Padova is located in the Veneto province.

One of the most pleasant surprises about Padova, something that clearly differentiates it from any other Italian town I have visited is the number of loggia that line the street. While it wasn't as hot as either Siena or Roma, it was still pretty warm and sunny. It was quite a welcomed relief to be shielded from the afternoon sun.

In addition, the loggia arches provided nice frames for my photographs.

These pictures were taken on what I would call the main pedestrian thoroughfare through town.

Off the beaten path, I found this lovely old street. There were many bicyclists, and I would have liked to have been among them.

Here is a shot of this loggia from across the street.

On Sunday morning we headed to this church, the Basilica of Saint Anthony. From the outside it resembled the nearby church of S. Giustina, but inside it was heavily gilded and detailed.

You can still find a lot of medieval structures, like this tower below, in Padova.

Below is the Town Hall. I joined Bill for a cocktail party here. More on the interior of this later.

I liked these little Egyptian lions. Children loved to climb up on them. The proprietor of the cafe liked to perch on them, too. He was quite bald and always very sunburned.

You can see I've lumped together the animals. The horse below is on exhibit in the Town Hall and was designed by Donatelli. It was huge!

Below is a picture of S. Giustina taken from the Prato.

And here is the inside of S. Giustina. Unlike St. Anthony, its interior is very restrained and reminds me of a Palladian church.

The highlight of the trip to Padova was getting to see the Scrovegni Chapel where Giotto painted the frescoes. His use of color is absolutely brilliant (as was the color itself).

Below is my favorite panel. Look closely at the saint's robe on the far right. The colors give it a quality of velvet. It's absolutely magnificent.

If you go to Padova (or Padua), be sure to check out this chapel. You won't be disappointed.

At the end of the trip we took the bus (next to the train station) to the Marco Polo airport in Venice. While waiting (and waiting) for our flight, I saw this rainbow. Off in the distance is Venice.

Oops! I've been a bad mommy - Billy's graduation

It has been a crazy summer, starting with Billy's graduation, two parties, two moves (Billy in, Catherine out), New Jersey, Europe, and the Nestle project. I thought I had posted this blog and when I went to look for it, it was not there. So here it is!

Above is a picture of the commendation Billy received from the Fulbright College; this is not the diploma which actually reads William Reed Quinn. Sadly, both are based on the first seven semesters and doesn't include the final semester where Billy earned a 4.0. In fact, the UA routinely ignores the final semester, even when printing the actual diploma which isn't mailed until six weeks after graduation! If his last semester had been considered, Billy would have graduated Magna cum Laude since he earned higher than a 3.80. Oh, well. The Honors Convocation where Billy received the above award and medal occurred the afternoon before the Fulbright College Commencement. In addition to writing an Honors Thesis entitled The Individual Action and Spirituality of the Questing Knight in The Waste Land, Billy graduated as a Four Year Scholar meaning that he took Honors Section classes whenever possible. Billy majored in English and had a minor in Classical Studies.

The picture below was taken on graduation morning.





Fulbright College is the largest college on campus, so its commencement is held in Bud Walton Area. The incoming graduates are televised on the large screen overhead.





Because Bill is a faculty member, he is allowed the privilege of giving Billy his diploma. Here are the two of them on the big screen...take my word on it!




Here is a picture of the three of us afterward. Catherine had to work that afternoon and wasn't allowed time off from work.




Here are Billy and Sarah. Sarah is wearing Bill's garb because she was cold.




Here she is looking like Hermione!




Here we are at the family party afterward. That's Sarah's mom between Catherine and Sarah. It was soooooo chilly that day (and evening).




Here's the entire group. We were joined by Sarah's sisters, Kimberly, Ashton, and Lizzie, her mom, Barbara, her stepdad, Benny, and Rhonda and Chuck Adams who were not able to attend the big party we had planned for Billy.




As with Catherine's party, Bill set up the big tent in the yard. Billy really likes Middle Eastern food, so that's what I served. We ordered the gyros meat from one of the restaurants in town which made everything taste really authentic and made my job as cook extremely easy. All of the salads could be made ahead of time.



This is the craziest thing I made. It was a radish and orange salad which was surprisingly good and very pretty, too.




Here is the youngest attendee at the party, Elizabeth Maxwell Burris. Her daddy, Sidney, was one of Billy's professors.



And here is a spry Leighton Rudolph at the other end of the age spectrum. He was one of the professors who hired Bill in 1979. We spend Thanksgiving with him and his family whenever we're in the country.



Here is Bill with two of his colleagues, Susan Marren on the left and Dot Stevens on the right. Susan was Billy's thesis director.



Here's a group picture. Seated with the suspenders is Joe Candido, Billy's confirmation sponsor and chairman of the English Department. Both he and Bill were hired in 1979.




Here's a picture of Billy and Sarah.




And one of the four of us.




We're very proud of Billy. Congratulations!

A most annoying thing about my blog

Before I left England, I selected, photoshopped, and saved as drafts the blog entries I wanted to make, just in case my computer and all of the images disappeared. I remembered the changes to King's Cross out of sequence and thought that if I actually published that blog before I got to the Italy blogs that the story line would be restored it to its proper sequence. Well, it didn't happen that way. So it looks like I haven't been updating my blog because you always see King's Cross when you open up the site. The fact of the matter is that I am still publishing (and writing) the posts that precede the King's Cross entry. Therefore, kindly scroll past King's Cross to find the newest entries. Eventually, this will rectify itself. Of course, now you will see this entry at the top and will have to scroll down twice as far to get to the nearest blog!

Mess Transportation

Mass transportation is not what it used to be. It's a mess.

Example 1: Gatwick to Siena. Take for instance our recent trip from London Gatwick to Siena. Supposedly, we were booked on British Air but instead flew out on Meridiana. Now let it be known that when we left the States, Bill and I each traveled with only carry-on luggage. Yes, carry-on luggage. We did not check anything through. We were also traveling with our new and extremely well-made Victorinox bags. Since they are well-made, they tend to be heavier than cheaper luggage. Virginia had warned me about the folks at British Air; they are grumpy. The grumpy desk agent wouldn't let me carry on the only bag I had (it met the dimension requirements) because it weighed 14 kilo instead of 8. Aargh. At least we got Excel class which entitled us to a visit to the lounge and first-class meals.

Example 2: Venice to Padova. Bill's bus from Venice to Padova broke down. He should have arrived at our hotel by about 8:30 pm. At 9:30 I decided I should grab dinner. He showed up at 10:40, leaving me to wonder for 45 minutes if I had been widowed!

Example 3: Venice to Gatwick. Our departure from Venice was delayed by an hour. Although we had return train tickets from Gatwick to Oxford via Reading, once we landed it was so late that there were no more direct trains to Reading. Bill bought new tickets (not on the express train) to take us into London's Victoria Station. However, we ended up on the express train and the conductor was so confused as to what extra to charge us that he let us go without further penalty because Bill had made a good-faith effort to properly pay for our passage. That said, we managed to get to the underground at 11:45 pm at Victoria to make a transfer to Paddington when the P.A. speaker announced that the subway was closing at midnight. We boarded what appeared to be a connecting line, although once on the subway it appeared that we "couldn't get there from here," so at my beckoning we emerged at Kensington (my recollection that it was in a pretty toney neighborhood) to switch to the Circle line. However, the Circle line wasn't running at all. So we surfaced, caught a cab to Paddington, only to find out that there were no more trains to Oxford. The sole window ticket lady recommended we go as far as Reading since it would cost an extra 48 pounds to travel to Oxford during rush hour the following morning. In addition, Bill had to be in class in the morning. Ours was the last train to leave Paddington which offered a rather interesting view of the station as they turned off the station lights (there were no other trains on the tracks to obscure our view either.) We were on the local train. If you're counting, and I was, there were 10 stops between Paddington and Reading! We finally arrived at the Reading station and like Paddington, our train was the last one. As the station manager was locking the doors behind us, Bill asked about a taxi. Fortunately, he put us onto a reliable company that took us up to Yarnton for 50 pounds. We arrived home at 2:36 am. However, we were still on Italian time, so it felt like 3:36 in the morning! And this was the first of two bouts of jet lag I would experience within a 5-day period!

Example 4: Heathrow to XNA. Actually, I can't complain about the first leg of the journey. Delta let me carry on my carry on luggage. As a result, I breezed through both immigration and customs when I landed at JFK in NYC. But then the troubles began. It was nearly impossible to transfer from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3. The lady at the monorail misinformed me not once but twice. When I finally ended up at the correct terminal, it was impossible to find the security line. You see, the ticketing and departure lobby was so small that the security line that formed about 10 feet inside the exterior wall also obstructed access to the ticket windows. It was all one big mess. Once I got through security, the gate numbers were not assigned in ascending order. So when I saw Gate 14 I thought I had missed Gate 11. Terminal 3 is in desperate need of some wayfinding strategies! Next we were told to board. But there was no plane, only a box with seats that looked like a mobile home on top of a scissors jack. Once it was filled, the contraption (box part) descended and we were transported to the plane, a plane that apparently had been parked in the back 40. At the plane, the boxy thing rose again to meet the plane door, but it was the plane's back door so it felt like I was boarding a Ryanair flight. Naturally, our departure from JFK was delayed.

Example 5: Then a most unusual thing happened. As we neared Cincinnati, our plane descended. We were just a few feet above the runway, I'd estimate only 10 to 20 feet above the runway, when the jet engines cranked up and we began to ascend again. We had to circle around the greater Cincinnati area to meet the runway again. Apparently, the plane ahead of us hadn't cleared the runway. Well, that delayed our landing some more. Now I had to run from concourse A to concourse B (or vice versa) to get to my connecting flight that was scheduled to leave within 30 minutes. I emphasize the word scheduled because that really means they want to start boarding 30 minutes before the flight is scheduled to depart. Well, I made it to the new gate in time and without suffering a coronary either. Actually, our flight lifted off a few minutes early. Despite predictions of bad weather and the threat of a delayed landing, we ended up landing 30 minutes ahead of time. Can you believe that?! Catherine met me at the airport and the rest was, as they say, history.