A Joyful Sound

Zoe's friend Jon Pender sings in the Mousehole Male Voice Choir and he clued us in to this concert. What a treat! It was a joint concert with the Nankersey Male Choir. Both groups sang their own numbers but they joined together for two numbers including this one. The hymn is well-known as "Gwahoddiad" and is popularly thought to be a traditional Welsh hymn. It isn't. It was written in 1872 by an American Methodist minister. The choirs here sing the original English text, "I Hear Thy Welcome Voice."

The Mousehole Choir is over 100 years old -- quite a tradition. Their director is Stephen Lawry -- he's on the right end of the choir wearing a fancy vest. Here the group is directed by the Nankersey director, Elaine Tangye. The Nankersey Choir was founded in 1950 and two of the original twelve singers are still singing with the group.

My video doesn't begin to do justice to the quality of the sound -- it will just give you a little tease. The men were magnificent -- and raised many a goose-bump with their performance.

Afterwards, everyone headed to a local sports club for beer and munchies. And after a few pints, the men sang practically the entire concert all over again -- plus some other favorites. This evening was my idea of heaven!

Rub-a-dub-dub, How 'bout Some Pub Grub?

Welcome to the Bath Inn in Penzance -- that's Pete Shapland, owner, bartender, Pete-of-all-trades. We first visited the Bath Inn a few years ago. Jack was going to a local Rotary meeting and I was on my own.

The Bath Inn was close to our bed and breakfast and looked inviting. The building dates back to the 1700s. I was lucky that visit -- they're not serving food in the off season now -- just from Easter to September. I was there in October and ordered the Ploughman's Lunch -- a specialty. It was properly traditional and oh-so-good. It consisted of a large slab of mature cheddar with lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber, cole slaw, pickled onion and chutney, accompanied with warm crusty bread and butter.


And, like so many places in this civilized and dog-friendly country, well-mannered companions are always welcome.

Close to Zoe and Simon's apartment in nearby Newlyn is the Tolcarne Inn. It dates back to 1717.

We hit this spot more than once. It's hard to resist the wonderful fresh fish and chips -- even if they do have to put peas on the plate!


This is the First and Last, a pub in Penzance. First documented in the 1850s, when a visitor was ticketed for leaving an unattended cart and horse in front of the pub, it probably dates back to 1830. Apparently beer laws were changed then and a number of pubs were established around that time.

We ate here twice on this year's visit. It's a Tuesday regular spot for Zoe and some of her co-workers. Very friendly staff -- they always save a table. The food, while not gourmet fare, was ample and inexpensive -- two requirements for the hungry civil servants! This was chicken curry. I expected something with more heat, but it was tasty nonetheless.


My next visit I had cottage pie with chips and beans. Man, those English sure know how to do French fries!

The definite winner in the Pub Grub sweepstakes was the Sportsmans Arms in Heamoor, just northwest of Penzance. The building probably goes back to the 1800s and has served as several things besides a pub. New owners, Helen Cadman and Paul Odgers, bought the place a year and a half ago and completely re-did it. And they took a spot with a less than stellar reputation and are turning it into a foodie destination.

They make almost everything in house and concentrate on fresh and local! My scampi was excellent. They also offer a number of local artisan cheeses. Simon ordered the day's special which featured three different kinds of local fish, mussels and shrimp and potatoes. What you don't see is the side dish with a variety of veg. Simon filled up on the fish plate and left no room for the veggies. Zoe had a bowl of homemade mushroom soup that was out-of-this-world. I know, because I dipped my spoon in it. Jack opted for meaty ribs with homemade barbecue sauce. They might not win prizes in Memphis or Kansas City but he gave them a big thumbs-up.

We tend to do a lot of cooking in when Jack and I visit but we do make the occasional foray out. Pub grub is usually a good choice, price-wise. Thanks to the puny dollar, everything is pretty expensive there. When we splurge, it's usually at the Taj for Indian food and the Newlyn Meadery is a firm tradition. It's hard to have a bad meal when you're in such good company!

Colorful Cornwall

It's actually not very colorful right this minute -- our first really rainy day, which out of 10 so far, is pretty darned good. So today's post is all about colorful sites around town. I love the movie with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett -- never can remember if its The Seasons or Four Seasons -- but in it, Sandy Dennis' character is a photographer going through a vegetable phase. I totally get it.

Who could resist these romanescu -- looks like the mutant child of a match between broccoli and cauliflower!


Huge leeks! Obviously a do-it-yourself joke opportunity!


Savoy cabbage -- great color, texture, vitamin packed -- ugh!


Purple cauliflower? Hmmm. A turnip in the woodpile perhaps?


A number of the stalls have fresh flowers.


And here the flower of British womanhood stands up for the fight against breast cancer. Love the trim on the umbrella!

Pied-a-terre in Paradise

April Cottage, 1 Pleasant Place --doesn't that just sound so Mary Poppins? Zoe's friend loaned us her beautiful home in a little village outside of Penzance -- still walking distance to town -- and it's charming. It faces a tiny lane so I couldn't get back far enough to get a good shot of the front.


This is the backyard -- all sorts of beautiful plants -- roses, fuchsias, primulas and many more I can't name. There's a little water feature with a burbling fountain and water lilies. I don't know how old the house is but considering the low ceilings and bowed roof line, I'd say it has some age to it.

From the breakfast table we have a great view of the garden.



This picture is one of several streets in the main area of Penzance. We walk down there almost every day -- always some errand to run or something interesting to see. This particular shot is looking towards the bay.



The town's main street is called Market Jew -- the "jew" being the old Cornish word for "Thursday." The side of the street with the raised pavement (sidewalk) is called The Terrace.



The closest thing to a mall is the outdoor collection of shops known as Wharfside. You can see St. Michael's Mount through the arch.


Looking up Market Jew Street from the south you can't miss the domed Lloyd's Bank.



Another main shopping street -closed to most traffic - is Causeway Head.



And when we tire of strolling through town, we come back to the cottage and enjoy the view.

Pleased to Be in Penzance

After 22 hours of sitting, waiting, changing planes, sitting some more, running for trains, and sitting some more we finally arrived in Penzance. I slept for 11 hours and Jack slept for 12, then we got on with life -- starting with a walk downtown. This is one of my favorite corners in downtown Penzance.

I took Teddy everywhere we went and took lots of photos of him. Please check his blog at www.teddietravel.blogspot.com for more photos. The rhododendrons are just starting to bloom and we tucked Teddy onto a branch to take his picture. The result was a bit obscene so Zoe remedied the situation with a strategically placed blossom. Zoe and I picked up a couple more fallen blossoms and tucked them behind our ears. Look at the size of those things -- the blossoms, not our ears!


After dinner we walked down to the beach across the street. It was a bit chilly but still beautiful.

The swans didn't seem to mind.

As We Were Going to St. Ives

My daughter Zoe is a fairly new English driver and I think she does remarkably well. Driving here is an adventure as most of the streets and country lanes were not made for today's traffic. We were going to St. Ives where my husband Jack was going to have lunch with the local Rotary Club. Not wanting to drive through the center-of-town traffic, we chose a back road. Zoe's Mazda is not a large car, but there were places where we could stick our arms out either side of the car and touch the Cornish hedges! Luckily, we didn't meet anyone coming toward us. The Rotary meeting was held in Tregenna Castle Hotel. Yes, it was originally a castle, or large manor house. The family wasn't royal, just rich. Today it offers many amenities including indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, gardens and a golf course. Maybe the finest amenity is the view -- a sweeping panorama of the coast with St. Ives as the feature attraction. St. Ives itself is full of touristy shops and was bustling even on a week day. The clouds faded away today but, even though the sun shone brightly, the breeze was brisk. On Porthmeor Beach, kids wearing sweaters waded out into the water. There was even an intrepid surfer riding the waves that washed up on the sandy beach. St. Ives has much to recommend it but I didn't see anything I'd trade for our lovely view of Mounts Bay in Penzance.

Madron Church: Age and Beauty

Tonight we went to a concert of early music -- Dowland, Lassus, Gibbons -- and it was daunting to realize that the church we were sitting in was much older than the music. The main parts of the church date back to the early 1500s but parts are much older. The bell tower was raised to its present height in 1390. Several bits date back to Norman times (the 12th century). On display in the church is a memorial stone which dates to the 7th or 8th century. Overhead was an unusual wagon-roof -- a close-set series of double arch-braced trusses with 250 carved bosses and carved and painted angels on each cornice. The tracery on the rood screen was as delicate as a spider web. In the center of the screen, over the aisle, was tied a sheaf of barley -- the last sheaf of the harvest. This is part of an ancient ceremony called "crying the neck." No one could tell me why it is called that, just that it has been tradition for many generations. This is one of the most interesting churches I've visited and, while I enjoyed the concert, I kept wishing I could spend several hours just photographing the church.

Outside the American Box

Just because we're used to doing things one way doesn't mean that's the only way to do them -- as we're discovering here in England. Staying in a vacation flat, we're experiencing pay-as-you-go electricity. You put a pound coin in a meter and use all the electricity you want until your pound is up and everything goes dark. There was some money left on the meter when we moved in Wednesday -- it's now Friday and we're still going on it. But we're turning off lights, doing without lights, keeping the heat low and keeping the water heater off unless we really need it! It's amazing how frugal we've gotten -- and probably a good thing.

Zoe and I went to the grocery store yesterday and there were some other discoveries. I dropped the cleaning off there. And, in the parking lot, there are covered sheds for the grocery carts. The carts are chained together and to get a cart, you have to put in a pound coin ($2 at today's rate). When you return your cart, you get your coin back. I took a picture of a woman buying some lovely fresh fish and one of the butchers offered to show me his sausage. I can't say I've gotten that offer in Oklahoma.