And... we're back.

I haven't been posting on this blog mainly because Facebook has satisfied my desire to connect with the outside world. This return to blogging is due to several factors... a distrust of Facebook's stability (almost crashed last week due to a hacker attack), several family members and friends aren't on Facebook, and frankly, Facebook's novelty is wearing off a bit, a friend from high school has a nice little family blog that motivates me to keep it up. Also, a blog allows longer explanations and updates than social networking sites.

So, here we go again!

Here's a pic of our cathedral I took myself a couple months ago:

It's been well over a year since the last update, and we've been in Durham now for ten relatively happy months. Nathanael is now attempting to communicate with words, sometimes actually succeeding. I've managed to turn in a fairly large piece of research earlier this spring, which was very well received, and hope to turn in another large piece by the end of Sept, just in time for my twelve-month review. That should put me at just under half-way through my PhD thesis by the end of my first year... not bad! Even though the material I've finished is fairly rough at this point, it's very important just to get it down and work on all the finer touches in the future. Working through the ideas and getting them on paper is, at least for me, a very important (and sometimes delicate) process. Jackie has done very well staying at home with Nathanael, and she and a few of the other ladies in our building keep themselves very occupied playing with toddlers, going to the gym, etc. Life in England is good.

We've manged to visit quite a bit of historic/scenic locations around us... this area is the historic borderland between Scotland and England, and there are tons of castles around from when these two countries didn't get along very well! Hadrian's wall is ancient testimony to the conflict between Scotland and the civilized world (ha!) and border forts have abounded ever since. Here are a couple pics of the two best local castles.

Bamburgh (pronounced BAM-burra)

Bamburgh is the historic seat of the old kingdom of Northumbria. Owned today by a certain Lord Armstrong, it's a beautiful sight, perched on top of a rock at the seaside. Very dramatic.

Alnwick (pronounced ANN-ick)

Alnwick is the second-largest castle in England, just behind Windsor Castle. Apparently it was used for some Harry Potter shots, and is the current residence of the Duke of Northumberland. We've yet to fork over the money to go inside, but apparently it's very nice. And though not as dramatic as Bamburgh, it has a simply wonderful pastoral beauty.

Much less populated than the South of England, the Northeast is far more noteworthy for its countryside and historic sites. And lucky for us, it's generally a more affordable place to live! I personally very much appreciate this area's roots as a key birthplace of English Christianity, when St Aidan, an Irish bishop, was invited by the Northumbrian King St Oswald in the 7th Century. Apparently Oswald, who knew Irish far better than Aidan knew the local dialect of Old English (the Angle part of Anglo-Saxon), translated for the missionary bishop as they toured around the kingdom together evangelizing people all over the North of modern-day England. It's a great story, and very interesting to see the Celtic-Irish-Angle roots of Christianity in this region.

And here are a few more shots of us at random places:

The crazy awesome gardens at Belsay Hall:

Nathanael playing in the churchyard of Durham Cathedral:

Having a picnic at Durham Cathedral:

Jackie snagged this pic of me and Nathanael on the beach at Bamburgh, I think she did a great job, love this pic:

This is a favorite of mine, taken at Lindisfarne Priory (torn down by Henry VIII), one of the real historic hearts of English Christianity:

Playing at Tynemouth Priory, another dramatic spot on the coast (and another victim of Henry):

In the Lake District, right near Keswick:

In Edinburgh, Scotland:

Just outside Durham at Broom House Farm, one of the highest places in County Durham; if I wasn't in the way, you could probably see Durham Cathedral in the distance:

To my shame, I've realised I don't have that many pictures of Durham City itself. On the first sunny day I promise to spend some time out and about with the camera. It'll be a good excuse to post again.

That about wraps up this post... and having uploaded all these pictures, I'm reminded again of why I don't blog that often... it takes forever.

Thanks for reading!