We are officially recovered from our Israel trip and back into the rut of every day living. Which means another Better Halves Club meeting. There were eight and a half of us which included two and a half daughters. We met at Hackwood Farms (link) for breakfast and it was very good. The place is a working farm that has a small restaurant and shop onsite. One of the benefits of the club is finding out new places to eat which has been a great benefit with all of the "different" tasting food over here. Unfortunately we are losing a member this week and another member next week due to their secondments ending. I am trying to add more members but have been unsuccessful so far. Hopefully once some of the new families get settled the spouses will feel comfortable enough to join us.
Update on last week's Carol Seppanen book entry. I finished The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury, 439 pages, this week. Decent book with a different twist on the Templar legacy, interesting but not captivating read. Fortunately it is not a series so I don't need to buy any more of his books. Since that is done I have resumed the mystery novel Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell, 404 pages. I picked it up because it won the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure in the same year. Not sure what all the other awards are but if novel won the Best First Novel Edgar Award then I figured it would be good. The only other Best First Novel Edgar Award book I have read is A Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton. Not only was that a good mystery read it was set in the eastern UP. So far I am about a quarter through Postmortem and it is a fast read.
This weekend we planned on attending an air show but the threatening rain forced us to Plan B, The National Brewery Centre (link) in Burton Upon Trent. (Burton is the town that sits on the River Trent.) It did rain off and on so I am glad we picked an inside activity. We opted for the self guided tour which I found to be very informative even though I only read a third of the info boards, and even at that pace Lori and the kids were about three rooms ahead of me. I guess they didn't find it as interesting as me. I also tried the four Worthington Ales which are brewed on site for my free samples; two were good, one was not good and one was terrible. Overall I thought the tour was sweetly short and jam packed with information but the rest of the family thought it was just okay. I also increased my pub glass collection at the museum gift shop, check out the glasses at the end of the post.
Malt info board.
History of Burton brewing.
Hands on activities for kids of all ages.
Have I said how much love these info boards before?
Look Ma, I'm as big as an 1864 door!
16.5 hh KJ - seeing the hh designation reminded me of the Western books I read growing up.
The Teresa Robinett pic - Massive Monty, the Shire horse. More on Shire horses later.
A couple of older cars for the old car buffs.
Worthington time line. I looked up America's oldest brewery and found Yuengling was established in 1829.
Pre-dinosaur animals roamed Burton.
I thought this was neat.
Official volume and weight measurement containers - I guess this is my engineer side coming out.
The Toby Jug made me laugh.
Trademark trivia - The Bass Red Triangle is Britain's first registered trademark.
Cooper display. The coopers made the beer barrels.
Molson Coors bought Bass so this brewery's sign out front says Coors. Coors Light is also one of the few American beer brands you can buy over here.
William the Conqueror is credited with bringing Monty's ancestors over.
Young Lori posing by some old Lorries.
Sunday is Father's Day so HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all of the Dad's out there. Lori is making homemade chicken and gnocchi soup today and is spoiling me by doing the cooking all weekend long. Ain't she great? Plus we picked up a Victoria Sandwich Cake which is three layers of white cake with lard frosting and raspberry jam sandwiched between the cake layers. Throw some powdered sugar on top and my gut ache is complete.
The Dana Johnson - double dee-lish!
This month's facial hair is the Skunk Stripe. I would just say Stripe but with the grey in my beard coming out (thanks Lori) I am sure it will be mostly white by the end of the month.
The proud Skunk Stripe with his Father's Day loot (love ya family) and two Worthington's Glasses.
Jay
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