Hello from Arizona!

This is a great website!  My husband and I took our first trip outside N. America last fall and I can't stop thinking about it.  We visited both England and Ireland.  I posted a few photos from London, Salisbury and York, and will be sending more in the future.

I have a lot of pretty cool shots from Ireland too, so I searched Ireland on POE and there are 4 photos.  I tried to attach one, but the Town or Attraction drop down box doesn't recognize "County Mayo," or any other Irish town name.  Do you still accept photos of Ireland?  I hope so.  That little corner of NW Europe known as the British Isles (which includes Ireland)  has to be the prettiest place on earth!

North Yorkshire is the best place I've ever visited.  I even checked out the internet for a good recipe for Mushy Peas.  One of our favorite TV shows is "Last of the Summer Wine."  Thank you for the site.

Wow Andy, you are on the ball.

Welcome to the forum Ruth, it really is wonderful, the forum members and the site itself, with so many pictures to see and so much to learn.

Enjoy and don't be shy, we are a friendly bunch (some are a bit weird, but I won't mention who :))

Wow!  Thank you all - Andy, Lyn and Sue for your kind words and welcome.  I took over 1,200 pictures while we were over there and I placed a lot of them on the network where I work.  My coworkers are also amazed at the beauty of the place.  I think it's probably a fact that visitor's photos convey the true "picture" of places.  The travel brochures just don't do them justice!  I especially appreciate being able to see England thru the eyes of you who live there.

I'm not a professional or even amateur photographer.  I'm more interested in capturing memories, so some of mine aren't so great, photography-wise. I'll be checking out your photos, too.  And hopefully by the time I run out of mine, I'll be able to come back over and get some more!

Cheers, RG

May I also welcome Ruth and glad to read how much she'd enjoyed her vacation over here.

As Ruth's profile suggests, Arizona is one of a handful of States I'd love to return to, to take photos of; the others being Utah, Colorado, and Texas. I guess not many States can also boast having a secondhand bridge from London in it. Look forwards to seeing more of your photos from your trip. I only wish I'd taken one of my Dad parked on the Arizona highway changing the oil at 500 miles on our new Ford Galaxie 500. He was a stickler for service intervals.

Dear POE Friends:

Thanks for all the kind comments.  I had a chance to check out some (not all for lack of time) of your photos.  Excellent shots!  My favorites are:  From Andy - the cliff path at Bempton (nothing more majestic than towering cliffs) and the brickyard pond at Bloomfleet (peace and cool refreshment is what it suggests to me).  Lyn, all your pictures of the Maulden woods remind me of some of the areas in the National Forests in the higher elevations of Central & Northern Arizona.  The tree species are of course, not the same, but Arizona is not all creosote flats and saguaro cactus.  We have 6 out of the 7 N. American life zones in our state, including Arctic tundra at the top of the San Francisco Peaks outside Flagsaff.  Sue, if you now live in Nevada you may have been to AZ, and can relate.  I love your shot of the wood pigeon.  It reminds me of our whitewing doves that spend summers here and migrate to old Mexico and points south in the winter.  The difference in the birds is that whitewing doves wear blue eyeshadow!  I also love the shot of Isaac's Oak and the dew drop laden spider web.  That reminds me that the quality of the light in both England and Ireland is so different from here, because of the moisture in the air.  Maybe it's me, living in the desert so long, but when it's a day over there that has what your TV weather casts refer to as "bright spells," it captures light in a way you may not realize.  Ireland's like that too.  Paul, that was a great story about your Dad in AZ, changing his oil.  And if you live over here, that's one thing that you want to be a stickler about - because we drive so much.  My favorites of yours are Bodian Castle in E. Sussex and Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.  I'm a sucker for all the old historical buildings.  When we were there in both Ireland and N. England, we didn't cover as much ground as we would have liked because every time we spotted an old ruin or ancient building, we had to get out and tramp around it.  It was amazing!

Sorry, this is so long, but I wanted to express my appreciation and to ask you....Do you know how blessed you are?  You live in a place (Sue formerly lived in a place, although Nevada's not too shabby if you exclude Vegas) of incredible beauty.  You have the 4 seasons, you have all that green, you have history as well as scenery, and above all, you all seem to have an appreciation for it.  You especially Andy, having the opportunity to drive all over the country, camera in tow.  If I lived over there I'd make it a point to make sure I hit every county on every island at some point.  It's so easy to get caught up in the mundane, sometimes drab existence of daily life, but it's a CHOICE to notice all the beauty around you and make it YOUR WORLD.

God bless, RG

Hello Ruth

I'm glad you like our country.  It's a great place to live.  Yorkshire is a great county, there's some georgeous places to visit in that area.  Anyways enjoy POE and the forum.

Karen