Do you remember the James Herriot Stories?

James Herriot's Office and Home

You'll never guess where I was yesterday.  I was in Darrowby--the town in Yorkshire, England where James Herriot worked and wrote his stories.  The town isn't really called Darrowby, it is called Thirsk, and there is a museum there in the house where James Herriot had his vet office and his home.  It was really interesting.  I got to see it just the way it was when James Herriot lived there. 

The place where the vets made medicine for the animals

Me at the Market Square

I also went to the market square and went to the bank, the drug store and the grocery store there.  I'm attaching a picture of me at the market square clock.  Do you remember the story of the "Market Square Dog?"  Too bad I wasn't there on a Monday--because that is still market day in Thirsk.  So there were no stalls set up, but it was a lively place with lots of people out and about and plenty of people walking their dogs.

Guess what?  James Herriot's son still lives in Thirsk and he is a veterinarian just like his dad.  He comes to the museum a lot and does book signings and talks about his home and growing up there.

More stone age stuff

Hey are any of you reading this?  I haven't had any comments lately!!!!  Okay, just in case some of you are reading this, here is an update on what we have been doing.

We have been travelling in our campervan driving to see some different things.  Yesterday we saw this cool place called Avebury, where there are lots of standing stones put up by stone age people.  That is 5000 years ago, or about 3000 BCE, just about the same age as Stonehenge.

Avebury has a long avenue of standing stones and a giant stone circle with two smaller circles inside it.  Each small circle once had a cool thing in the middle of it--a giant obelisk in one (get Mrs Strickler or Mrs Ford or Ms Goudie to help you with that one), but the obelisk fell down a long time ago and they only knew about it from drawings and marks in the earth.  You have to remember that when they put these stones up, the wheel wasn't even invented yet!!!!  Imagine being an engineer in charge of getting those stones put up in exactly the right place--not easy.

I can't get to my camera right now, but when I do I'll add photos.  Don't be shy, send me a comment!!

Our new van and Stonehenge

Hello everyone,

Our new van

I hope things are going well for you and that you are enjoying school.  Say hi to your teachers for me!  The last few days we have been doing a lot of driving in a rental car until we were able to buy a "campervan."  That's the British word for a motor home.  We got a cute, small volkswagen westfalia which you can see in the picture.  We will try it out tomorrow and we plan to stay in it a fair bit as we travel around.

Stonehenge built in 3,000 BCE

When we were waiting for the van to be ready, we were able to visit some ancient sites.  We went to Stonehenge, which is circles of stones put up by stone age people.  So 5000 years ago, before they had any tools except stone tools, and before the wheel was even invented, people put up these giant stones.  It is a mystery how they could have moved these stones or how they could have lifted them to stand up.  The other mystery is--what are the stones all about?  Some people think they are a giant calendar because the sun shines exactly through the arch of stones onto a special "heel" stone on the summer solstice (June 21st).  Also, every month on the 21st the sun shines exactly through a different arch.  Stonehenge is a truly amazing place.  The giant stones are carved to have a big hump in the top that fits into a hole carved into the lentil or crossways stone.  It is an ancient mortise and tennon joint (I"m not actually sure I've got that wording correct--ask your teacher's what it should be!)

Hello from England!!!

I was so happy to get posts from Maddy L and Melanie!  Thank you!  Sorry I haven't written in a long time but when I was on the ship it was very, very, very expensive to use the internet.  Plus, the connections were very slow so I just decided that I'd have to write once I got settled in England.

Leaving New York

Our trip on the Queen Mary was really fun.  We went to the planetarium a lot and learned a lot about the stars and planets.  Unfortunately, three of us (not me!) were quite sea sick and so we ended up spending a fair bit of our time in our room.

Here is a photo of the New York skyline that I took from the ship.  Once we left New York, we didn't see land again for 7 days!  The Atlantic Ocean is huge and it can get rough.  Some waves got as high as 7m tall.  Yikes--that's why some of us were seasick.  Ugh.

This next photo is of my family and me at the Pier in New York, just getting ready to go aboard the Queen Mary 2.  You can see the ship in the background.  The orange things are the lifeboats.  Our room was one of the windows in the lower white bit, under the second lifeboat.  

Going Aboard.

Now I am in Winchester in England.  It is a pretty city, about the size of Guelph.  There is an ancient cathedral here that I will visit today.  More information and photos in my next post.  For the next week I will be able to get on the internet regularly, so I'll try to write more than once, and I will check for your posts.  

Can you say hi to Mrs Roy for me?  I didn't get a chance to talk to her before I left, so tell her I'm wondering how she is doing.  What are your new classes like?  

Sept 6th--What I'm doing today

September 6, 2011

Day 1

Queen Mary 2

Hello June Ave!

How has your first day of school been?  It was very strange for me not to be there, greeting my new students.  So what am I doing instead?  

Did you know that I am on board a huge ship called the Queen Mary 2?  It is a huge ship, about 345m long and 72m tall.  We set sail yesterday from New York’s Brooklyn Pier.  As we left the pier, we went under some bridges with only 4 m to spare!  The musicians were playing fun music and waiters came around with beverages.  We stayed on deck watching the New York skyline get smaller and smaller until we couldn’t see it anymore.  Today when we woke up we couldn’t see any more land, just Atlantic Ocean all around us.  

On board the ship there is sooooo much to do.  We borrowed some books from the huge library.  We went to the planetarium to watch a show about the universe.  Tonight we will go to see a movie and perhaps listen to bedtime stories read by actors.  

I hope you have had a good first day at school.  I’ve been thinking about you!

Take care,

Mrs. McMillan

Starting Up Again!

Hello everyone!
I hope you've had a great summer!  The weather was super, so hopefully you got outside a lot.  Are you excited about heading into grade 3 or 4?  I am usually nervous on the Labour Day weekend, wondering what my new class will be like and how we'll settle in.  I bet you'll have amazing years with your new teachers.  


Right now I am in New Jersey, USA.  We came down on Monday, just a few days after Hurricane Irene swept through this area.  When we took the train in to New York City (NYC) this week, we passed roads that were still flooded and saw railway tracks that were still underwater because of the hurricane.  The place where I am staying (my brother-in-law's) has a "boil water order" because there is concern about the safety of the drinking water since the hurricane.  Wow--hurricanes have a lot of power behind them!


We went into NYC twice this week.  One day we saw an amazing musical called "Wicked."  It is the story of the Wizard of Oz before Dorothy arrived.  It was phenomenal!  The Wicked Witch of the West, and the flying monkeys (played by actors) actually flew through the theatre.  The singing was superb.


We also went to the American Museum of Natural History and saw an exhibit all about FROGS.  Kate loved, loved, loved it!  It was really well done.  We saw lots of poison dart frogs--they are really tiny.  There was one that looked like one I saw at Mrs. Stockton's pond, but since it was an African Bullfrog, it would have been a long way from home, so I'm guessing that I was mistaken.  There were frogs that looked like leaves, giant bumpy frogs that if you walk too close will bite you and hold on!! (Don't worry, they only live in the rainforest--not North America).


We also saw a "Harry Potter" exhibit.  There were artifacts from all 7 Harry Potter movies.  There were wands, the philosophers stone, Hagrid's Hut, the Marauder's Map, Harry and Ron's beds, trunks.  Fawkes was there too.  It was really neat.  Did any of you see this exhibit when it was at the Science Centre in Toronto?


I have some pictures that I hope to add tonight or tomorrow--so check back in!


Happy September,
Mrs. McMillan