If you look closely in the picture above you can see several horses grazing in the distance. There are so many stables in this one village, I just have to turn a corner and I find horses. And what a gorgeous day to just walk around, there wasn't a cloud in the sky most of the day.Today was Remembrance Day here in the UK which is like our Veterans Day which of course it tomorrow in the US.
This is what the news said about one of today's ceremonies in London but there were cermonies and commemorations in just about every city, town and village (including the villages nearby Tunstall):
Remembrance Sunday events will be held across the country in tribute to members of Britain and the Commonwealth's Armed Forces who have died during conflicts.The Queen will attend a service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, where she will lay a wreath in memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.She will be joined by a host of senior royals, Prime minister David Cameron and leaders of opposition parties for the service, a focal point of the nation's Remembrance Sunday ceremonies.
The first stroke of Big Ben at 11am and the firing of a gun from Horse Guards Parade by The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery will mark the start of two minutes' silence, which will be followed by The Last Post, sounded by the Buglers of the Royal Marines.The Queen will then lay the first wreath, followed by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, Prince Michael of Kent and Field Marshal Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank.
I was hoping to attend mass at St. Michael and All Souls church here in Tunstall for mass today at 11:00am but they had moved the service from this church to another town, too far for me to get to. Since I had left Teddy at the house I took the opportunity to just have some quiet time in the small church which according is known for it's unique pews which are enclosed all around by 3 feet or so high walls and each have their own small door to gain entry. I couldn't find an exact date of when the church was built but there was a marble marker down the main isle for a man who had passed in the late 1600's so I imagine the church dates much further back that that. I found the information below on the internet:
"The church is long and
narrow, but the clear windows, white walls and
charming brick floors mean that it is full of
light, and are a perfect setting for the creamy
woodwork of a superb set of box pews. The west
end of the nave is open, creating a sense of
space around a prettily set Purbeck Marble font.
On the side of the tower arch, the graffiti
includes several boats as they might have been
seen on the 17th Century River Deben. The one
jarring note in all this is the wedding cake of a
pulpit, and yet in a funny way it is not out of
place in all this light and space. The
restraint of the nave offsets the beautiful
simplicity of the chancel, where the clean,
modern sanctuary is backed by an excellent window
of the 1950s Depicting three Archangels, St
Michael in the centre flanked by St Gabriel and
St Raphael. A curiously functional maker's mark
reveals that it was Designed by E Dilworth,
Glazier J Andrews, Painter N Attwood - I'm
not aware of coming across their work anywhere
else in Suffolk, but the window suits this church
perfectly, being simple and beautiful.The war memorial
is one of several in east Suffolk which
records how many people lived in the
parish at the start of the war, how many
men went off to fight, and how many died.
Most church war memorials should be taken
with a pinch of salt, as they often
recorded only Anglicans, and then only
those of whom there was a record, or who
still had family in the parish once the
turmoil of war had ended. But these
statistics have a pleasing
verisimilitude, and it is sobering to
reflect that, of the 625 residents of
Tunstall in 1914, no fewer than 131 of
them went off to fight - that's about
half of all the men in the parish.
Eighteen of them never came back."
I didn't take any pictures of the church because when I came out there was an elderly man escorting a younger man who had sadly had an accident or a stroke and was walking hesitantly with a cane and the other mans arm to steady him. They were followed by other family members, one who was carrying a basket of flowers, and they all walked past me to a grave sight to pay tribute to their loved one who had perished in one of the wars as it was Remembrance Day. One of the family members told me that when I asked if there would be a service today. I felt out of respect I wouldn't whip out my camera and start taking pictures of the church's facade while they paid their respects. I'll have to take another walk with Teddy and photographic it another day. As you can see I pretty much only got pictures of the cats today as they played or in the case of the Sooty Cat, kept watch at the window where some small birds were playing near the pond in the garden and I'm sure she was just hoping by some miracle she would be able to pounce on them when they weren't looking. She has a real killer instinct and spent much of the evening chasing down an insect that had made it's way into the house. She did manage to swat it down and then Ollie, the white cat, ate it. It's crazy around here some nights but they're just doing what comes naturally I have to remind myself.
