Dispatches from the North: A Year in Photos

August 1st will be my one year anniversary of living in the UK. I live in such a beautiful place, I can never put my camera down. Here is my year in review as told by the photos I have taken.

August 2008

Within my first weeks of arriving here my husband took me to a nearby castle, it was my first visit to a real English castle. Some of the outdoor scenes of the first Harry Potter movie, like Harry’s first flying lesson, were filmed here at Alnwick Castle which is home to the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland.

September 2008

In August my husband and I embarked on a dream honeymoon. First we spent a few days in Giverny fulfilling my lifelong dream of visiting Claude Monet’s house and gardens and then we spent a week in Paris. To get there we took a train direct from Hartlepool to London, then First Class from London to Paris on the Eurostar before taking a small train up to the edge of the Normandie province where Giverny is nestled along the Seine.

October 2008

My husband is in the Royal Navy and has seen almost every port city in Europe and parts of the Caribbean and Africa. He says the tide here in Hartlepool is one of the most extreme he has seen. At high tide the water comes right up to this sea wall and at low tide it recedes several hundred yards.

November 2008

In late November we got a little dusting of snow on the sea front. I was delighted as I wasn’t expecting to see much snow at all, especially this close to the sea. I was quite surprised when I woke up to find snow on the ground and surfers in the water.

December 2008

The Boxing Day dip is an annual event that happens the day after Christmas. Its a charity run on a whole different level. Instead of running 5K or a half marathon, these participants start at the nearest pub where they prepare for the event by downing brandy and hot toddies. Then they run all the way down the beach and into the freezing cold North Sea. In fancy dress, of course. This is the aftermath.

January 2009

In January my husband and I took a mini break to the Lake District. It was a wonderful getaway and there is so much to do in this area we will be able to return for years to come and do something different every time. My favorite activity was taking a lake cruise on England’s largest natural lake, Windermere.

Febraury 2009

Living on the east coast it is always worth it to get up early to see sights like this. On this day in February I woke up to a bright and silent morning with a blanket of snow that didn’t last much past this sunrise.

March 2009

Sometimes I feel like I live surrounded by an ever changing work of art. On this bright March day I decided to take my camera out when the tide had receded to capture the unique landscape. After the winter all of the rocks are bare, but you can see the beginnings of a new crop of plant and algae life on the rocks. Now in the height of summer these same rocks are completely covered in a thick layer of sea grass, algae, mussels, barnacles and other sea life.

April 2009

Easter marked my parent’s first visit to England. We had a busy schedule which was fun for Jason and I because we got to be tourists in our own country. My absolute favorite place in England is York. I think it has more to offer than any other city in England, even London. York Minster is the most breathtaking structure I have ever had the pleasure of exploring. It is so massive that it has a heavenly air and it is full of light, unlike so many other cathedrals which tend to be a bit dark and depressing.

May 2009

In May my husband and I started our family. We adopted a dog from Dogs Trust. Max is 2 years old and as far as we can tell he is some kind of dingo, at least that is the story we are sticking to. He is in heaven, playing on the beach every day and chasing after sea gulls. In my opinion there is nothing more picturesque than a man and his dog.

June 2009

I have seen more rainbows this year then I saw in all my 25 years before moving to England. I have countless photos of rainbows, but unless they are as brilliant as this one it is very difficult to capture the colors in a photograph. This was the most vivid rainbow I have ever seen and the amount of color that translated into this photo is proof of that.

July 2009

This summer we have had a “heat wave” by British standards with some days climbing into the 80s. On these hot days the sea water gets warm and is crystal clear and blue. These are perfect days for family outings on the beach. We love playing fetch in the water with Max’s favorite softball which I brought all the way from Chicago.