THREE MORE DAYS!

Oboy! Just three more days till departure to England. Leaving at 4:30 a.m. on the 19th, will arrive at Heathrow at 8:10 a.m. the next day, 20th. I was just trying to remember how many times I've made the flight from the U.S. to England. Fifteen, perhaps? My first trip was in the '80s after I met Mr. Moore in the San Joaquin Valley, CA (Ethan in my romantic suspense novels).

That's when I fell in love with England. And more specifically, Cornwall. I didn't discover Dorset till later, on my own. In fact I ended up living in England for a time after that. And even spent three months there a couple years after living there and returning to the U.S. One of my dreams - to buy a cottage in England and live there six months out of the year.

This trip will be to Weymouth - Dorset and Port Isaac - Cornwall. Port Isaac is the home of the British TV series Doc Martin. It airs on public television, in fact you can see the reruns now. The fifth season was filmed this summer, darn, we just missed it. And we're staying one house down from Doc Martin's place in the tiny fishing village. So exciting.

More on Port Isaac after we get there. 'We' means my friend and housemate, Trish, and I.

Another dear friend of mine and her fella are staying here to housesit and take care of my babies - Oreo, Princie, and Albee. The cats know both of them, for they've sat with my babies before, and as friends they are here quite often. So all should be well. But I can tell you right now, I'm already missing my feline beauties just thinking about being gone. I'll worry about them anyway. Silly, huh? Can't help it, I'm so attached to them and they me.

So, I'll be posting daily about the trip, and will be posting photos starting on the day we leave. Am already packed, have been for a week. But of course I've unpacked a few times, taking things out and then putting them back, decisions, decisions, decisions - should I take this blouse or this sweater. It's hard to travel light when you know you need to keep it at a minimum because of the many train stations in England that don't have elevators. And invariably, you arrive on one floor and have to depart on another. And sometimes you have only a few minutes to spare from one train to the next. So if you have several pieces of luggage and they're heavy as hell, you are so out of luck. Learned that on past trips. Especially traveling the underground in London to get to the station one needs to depart from to all points west, east, south, and north. It'll be an adventure, regardless. Trish hasn't made this trip before. So that'll be fun watching her excitement.

Actually once we travel by train from Heathrow to Victoria Station in London, we're busing it west to Weymouth. The lesser of two evils, and easier to transfer with luggage from bus to bus. More comfy traveling too.

Okay, just wanted to get the ball rolling about the trip. Do comment as we go along. Would love to hear from you.

Ta Ta ...