Berkleys and Dukes

When you are anticipating venturing to the Welsh Beer and Cider Festival, a good way to pass the time is watching The Dukes of Hazzard, British boxing and The A-Team, fool. You may want to bring along some knitting and be close to a computer so as to shop online for yarn as well; otherwise, you might fall sideways into a coma.

As well, E's housemate, Rob Berkley has discovered his own personal connection to Thanksgiving (one day late, so it was not able to be included in educational discussion on the actual day). His ancestors actually organised the very first Thanksgiving one year and 17 days before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts! It was held on Berkeley Plantation, which also claims historical interest from a number of items, including being 'the site of the first distillation of bourbon whiskey, produced by missionary George Thorpe, who declared it "much better than British ale".'

THEN to further amuse and educate ourselves last evening, we made the discovery that Berkeley Castle is really close to Cardiff (relatively speaking), on the Welsh border, and we will be planning a field trip v. soon! The castle was begun in 1117 A.D. and is the oldest continually-occupied castle in England. YAY!!!! Who knew that we were so close to someone with such an illustrious geneology?

Now that we are in an absolute twist about the Beer Festival not including free samples, it appears that the boys are almost ready to go...