July 12th (England) - Settling in

Paul greeted us coming into the house last night. Paul is a family friend of the friend that I am visiting (both of us are staying at his house now due to changing circumstances the last couple of weeks). He is also a 94-year-old man in perfect health except for his eyesight and hearing, which are only negligibly worse than the rest of him. But he still reads, talks on the telephone, drives, and works on his “tapestry” every day. He’s thrilled to have both Emilie and I here with him for the time being, and brags to everyone how he has two girls from Ohio to do his work for him.

The house itself is small, but cozy. Em and I sleep upstairs in the guest room, adjacent to a hallway overlooking the beautiful yard (pictured above). On the side of the house is a small sitting room where Paul allows me to practice violin. Downstairs is the kitchen and tea room, which opens out to the breakfast nook, a small cozy sun porch that overlooks the blossoming backyard. Stepping outside from the nook to the yard, I am swept up in the gentle scents of roses, lavender, honeysuckle, and sweet pea.

I thought when Paul mentioned two girls “working” for him it was a joke, but the first thing yesterday morning after breakfast he decided to send us out to pick berries in the garden. It was quite pleasant for a first experience in this new country – out in the comfort of a calm English backyard, picking fresh fruits – until I had my first experience with the stinging nettles, which I couldn’t seem to avoid…. In the end, Em and I picked nearly three pitchers-full of raspberries and currants, which are still sitting in the fridge waiting for us to do something with. Most likely we’ll make some currant jam one of these days… or just continue snacking on them raw.

Yesterday afternoon we attended the fete, a type of English fair that every town holds annually. Paul’s town’s fete was out on the green just across the street from his home, so we popped over for the afternoon. There were booths set up with food, games, and items to sell, mostly hand-crafted jewelry. At 4:00 a young group of guys in a rock band put on a set, so Paul went home and we girls stayed to hear the band. They did mostly covers, including (ironically) “Sweet Home Alabama” and one of our friends’ favorites, “500 Miles” by the Proclaimers.

Well, I guess I could have detailed everything in a little more structured way in this post, but my mind’s a bit fuzzy from the long couple of days of travel, and getting settled in. Tomorrow Emilie and I will travel to Winchester for the day, then from Tuesday-Friday we’ll be in London. Hopefully I’ll be able to have internet access sometime before the weekend, but in the meantime I'm just catching up on posting the last few days' writings as well as I can.

Till next time,
-Allie