Still feeling kind of
poorly due to allergies – third day straight. Even with medication, my nose is
a sieve and there’s something going on there in the back of my throat – swollen;
congested, I guess you might say. I have to admit that I am finally constrained
to have an abundance of sympathy for ‘allergy sufferers.’ It is nothing you think
much about until it is suddenly ‘you!’ See if you can relate to this: put your
hand in a cupping shape a couple inches from your nose-mouth area whilst making
this low ‘aaaaagh’ sound. Kind of knit your brows a little, at the same time.
Know what I mean? Get the picture?! Hard to put a finger on – you just don’t
feel at the top of your game.
I was listening to a fun radio program on BBC4
this morning – kind of like Car Talk on PRI, except for the small difference in
that this one is all about everything having to do with gardening. Audience
members ask related questions and then each in a panel of experts gives their
often humorous, but well-educated, answers. This week the consensus was that
when people remember the 2012 growing season, they will think weird! (Leah had
told me that prior to my arriving in England the second week in July, it had
been one of the wettest summers ever – an epoch season, one panelist termed
it.) Because of the profuse precipitation, fruit yields have been especially
low and there has been a preponderance of blight compared to past years. (Heard as well that, also due to the weather,
honey production has been reduced drastically – with only 3/4s - 4/5s of the
usual yield going to be available.) Though
autumn doesn’t officially end till winter begins on December 21, I’d say it
pretty much has pretty much come to an end in my book.
I’ve noticed the strangest phenomenon here in the
waning weeks of autumn that I just can’t get over – it is the sun being so extremely
low in the sky at an especially early hour of the day. For instance, today,
before it was even noon, the sun was where it would be at 4pm (on a winter’s
day even!) at home. It is SO weird to me - how it looks. At least I know at
this point that it all has to do with how far north the British Isles are – I
guess I just never realized it before. (Now, HOW early it gets dark is a whole
other weird issue altogether!)
Also atmospheric-related, today’s weather news
continues to predict that we are in for blizzards and severe inclement weather
through February, that temps will hit the lowest they’ve been in a hundred
years. Oh, joy! Just last week a woman was drowned in Somerset (southern part
of the country) when her automobile became submerged as she tried to cross a
swollen stream that had engulfed the roadway. It will be interesting if these weather
predictions are realized – certainly flooding has been a major concern. Leah tells
me that when it snows in England, EVERYTHING shuts down – schools, work,
trains, buses, you name it! Because it is such a rare occurrence they just do
not have the means to deal with it – no snow removal equipment or anything like
that!
A co-worker of Leah’s called yesterday and said if
their baby wasn’t born that very night, his wife would be induced the next day,
and could she possibly come in and cover his classes. Auntie Honey Bee to the
rescue! I spent last night on the couch so I’d be ready to go (as the care
giver) as they handed off the goods on their way out the door at 7:20. Ella’s crying was that frantic crying kids
put on just as their parents are leaving them with the babysitter. After that,
happy all the while. We played, ate, and walked up to one of Auntie Honey Bee’s
favorite diversions - Weoly Castle Square. Ella had a little nap while I looked
around. She is at a really fun age – 18 months. Either I’ve forgotten, or I
have grossly underestimated little guys – it never ceases to amaze me how this
little sprite knows EXACTLY what it is she wants. Even though she doesn’t
always have the words to express what it is, she KNOWS – and is happy to keep
working with you ‘patiently’ until you’re able to figure it out. There aren’t a
whole lot of more fun things to do then spend it with kids!!
On Sunday Amanda invited me to come to
her and Nathaniel’s home to share in the Thanksgiving dinner they were having
for the missionaries. (A Sunday before this she had been asking me when
Thanksgiving was exactly – her guestimate had been off by about a week! But
that’s okay - it’s the thought that counts, right?! I have noticed that many
British persons (if they’re aware of Thanksgiving at all), though they DO
associate the holiday with a Thursday, are under the false impression, for some
reason, that it occurs the last week of November. I’m sure the missionaries
were just pleased for turkey and stuffing (sorry, no pumpkin pie this time – rather
a surrogate apple crumble), regardless of the exact date on which it got
celebrated! (I was thinking it was awful nice of the Farley’s to go to all this
effort to feed the missionaries, and the longer Amanda and I talked about it
the more impressed I became. It seems that as her husband is the Ward Mission
leader it has been their agenda to feed the missionaries EVERY Wednesday night.
Wow, that’s quite an undertaking, and a brilliant example of a good helpmeet
for you!. They see it as a means for Nathaniel to stay close to the pulse of
the missionary work in the ward – sounds like a good approach to me!
I walked myself in the cold and dark to my 530
appointment on Durley Dean Road (does that sound ‘other-than’ American, or
what?!), till a block before I arrived when who should I meet up with but
Elders Eckelt (London) and Gorougi (Germany). Our easy chatting warmed me as we
finished the last leg of our journey. I thought for sure I was going to be the
last one to arrive, but actually we were the first. Mmm, sure did smell good!
Soon Elders Steel (Utah) and Gunderson (Texas) and Sisters Wheatley (Provo) and
Mὒller (Germany) arrived. Let the festivities begin!
After a delicious meal – Amanda had really outdone
herself! – and a commitment from Elder Eckelt to write a list of five persons
to pray about who we felt could benefit from the gospel in their lives, the
missionaries hurried off to prior commitments and Nathaniel went to work on
some chemical engineering homework. I was happy to spend the time with Amanda
and offered to help with the tilting stack of plates and serving bowls, grimy
pots and pans. With the dishes out of the way, she showed me some samples of
her innovative fabric posters she’d told me about when we met on campus for
lunch that she uses to augment her presentations– so convenient to bundle up
and stick in your suitcase. And then, following that, we were all set to play
some Phase Ten I had brought along, before Amanda had to get started on a good
night’s sleep with plans of leaving early in the morning for a workshop. However,
in the end we never did get to that game of cards as Amanda began telling me
about their wedding a year before and at my coaxing brought out her computer
and showed me photos of their special day. A thoroughly satisfying and
enjoyable evening – Amanda feels to me like another fine daughter.
Photos_
1- autumnal
mask
2- ring of yellow, orange, red and brown, with pint-sized conker for a center
2- ring of yellow, orange, red and brown, with pint-sized conker for a center
3- illustration
of the world, demonstrating how once you travel north pass the British Isles,
there’s not a whole lot left other than the North Pole, ergo early dark
there’s not a whole lot left other than the North Pole, ergo early dark
4-8 Ella
Bella
bundled
walker
exhausted shopper
experienced
texter
distracted
talker
what
Leah refers to as square-eyed (you KNOW what’s at the other end!)
9- Thanksgiving
feast #2
10 – BEFORE: my camera lens having recently come inside following my invigorating walk. Thankfully, it was none the worse for wear once it got warmed up. (Can't necessarily say the same for me, unfortunately . . .)
10 – BEFORE: my camera lens having recently come inside following my invigorating walk. Thankfully, it was none the worse for wear once it got warmed up. (Can't necessarily say the same for me, unfortunately . . .)
10- AFTER: playful missionaries caught at a bad camera angle (Ah: one elder’s mom sent him those fun plates and napkins to use for his
Thanksgiving dinner – trusting in faith that he would have one!)
11- up-and-coming, versatile fabric poster, aka
poster session at home (see Day 134)
12- now you see it – now you don’t!
Great Britain just here ↓
