Today, and Thursday, Martin is off to London for a
long grueling day in the catacombs (research library). He told me it was
noticeably cheaper for him to take the train up and back, compared to the
expense of him finding accommodations there for the night. Leah picked me up
post lunch, we parked at their house, and then had a nice leisurely walk (some
of us were on scooters - not me, boy, I’ve already tried, and failed, at that
route!) over to Weoly Castle Square*, the closest little town center to their
house, where you can find most every little thing you could want: several grocers and banks, a butcher, several
charity shops, a haberdashery, a card shop, the ‘Smash and Grab’ discount shop,
a pet shop – that ONLY sells feed, Katya and Ollie and I found out a while back
when I was watching them that one week (Oh, were WE disappointed!), a branch
library, plus random other shops (the post office is located in one of them – much like the branch in Days
Market where my friend Pam works). The Ward family had mainly come to visit the
library, but, unfortunately found it closed for the afternoon – once again,
problems with funding. Myself, I looked for a card to send my friend, Byron.
Can you believe you can find about every possible kind of birthday card you
would want, but hope you’re not looking for one that says something like ‘Hi,
how’re doing? – Thinking of you today’ kind of card, because it is not there.
What’s up with that?!
The square that's really a circle - roundabout with shops all around
The square that's really a circle - roundabout with shops all around
[*By the way, there is an actual Weoly ‘castle’ in the area,
which I have visited and will sometime get around to telling you about. Sorry
for the delay . . .]
It got below zero last night – zero as far as
centigrade goes anyway. Martin tells me that this is uncharacteristically cold
for so early in the season, that it will not get a whole lot worse than this
the ENTIRE winter, temperature-wise – only more miserable in that it will be
rainy AND cold. Well, we’ll see how true this expectation turns out. All I know
is that the forecast is for a colder than usual winter from mid-November through
January. (But then, it’s already been snowing in Utah by this time – so NO big
deal, right?!)
In the afternoon we had the greatest treat because
Erin Skyped us and I was able to share the book, ‘No, David,’ with the kids.
Ever since I had first met Oliver I had felt like, as much as this had looked
every bit the character of my own little David when he was a little guy, the
antics fit the Ollie that Leah had told me about and that I was getting to know. (Heck, maybe every little boy is 'David' at some point in his life!) It was so fun to see the kids get into the mood of the book and demonstrate
their true colors to Erin. And, in return, it was fun, I think, for Erin to
hear Katya’s accent as she was the one who read the words out loud to us on
this end. Talk about antics, we also got to enjoy Arrow a little.
Almost a Ty Beanie Boo A girl and her dog
Almost a Ty Beanie Boo A girl and her dog
Later we had dinner and played some games with the
kids before it was time for them to be off to bed. (Got to see Ella’s new bed
all set up – three in a room, oh, boy. But, OH, BOY, did Leah do a fantastic
job arranging everything so everything fit perfectly!) Then Leah and I settled down for
a viewing of ‘The Help,’ which I had never seen, but heard so much about - a
very touching film that can’t help but make you think about the different lots
in life each of us come into – AND what we do with/about it. My special helpers
today were Erin, who gave some of her time to share with us, and Leah, for her more immediate
friendship.
Photos_
The Help
David (or is that Ollie?!)
