England, Ho!

We spent the last week in England visiting Paula, my cousin, and her family. It was such a nice visit, and I'm absolutely crushed that my battery died partway through and I was utterly disorganized about photos. So I don't have many to share.

Jeremy and I were THRILLED to find sushi at the airport -- first time in over a year for me!

Paula lives in a small village in the southwest corner of England. The first excitement was getting to the house. Chris, God love him, met us at the airport. That meant I could follow him through the wilds of England without worrying about directions and so on. In addition, he took the boys, which meant for a nice, quiet ride at a time that my nerves were shot!

Florence is my hat girl!

Going to the village shop

I drove a so-called "compact": a Golf. It's about 3 times the size of my car, AND I was driving on the other side of the road for the first time ever. Nervous, maybe?

Ashley kept up a refrain of, "This is so weird! I didn't know they drove on the other side!" while I was peering through the darkness for Chris's Land Rover. What I hadn't realized was that we were actually going to be driving on an EXPRESSWAY! Yikes! I white-knuckled it behind his (very considerate) lead, and really only had trouble with the concept that the lane furthest LEFT was the slow lane.

The garden was still LOVELY!

Front view of the begonias...on the way to the shops

We made it! An excited clutch tumbled out to greet us, and...Paula had dinner ready and waiting! What a wonderfully warm welcome!!! Off to bed and up for a new day!

The next morning, we set off for the village shop, just down the road. Afterwards, Jeremy and I spent some time wandering around the churchyard.

Sweet door, huh?

 

Family meal!

Pub lunch!

One day we went with Chris to Sherborne to go thrift shopping...had a pub lunch, visited the Abbey, enjoyed tea, and then back home!

The kneelers are all hand-stitched and just beautiful

Mermaid anyone?

And the columns are painted!

Daisy checking out the size of the sarcophagus

Tea for two

Daisy working on a chocolate frosting beard 

The boys pretending to be good for a few minutes after having a run-around outside!

Sunday we went to Lyme Regis, despite forecasts of vile weather. Cool and windy, but really pleasant day. And I had fish and chips! One of my goals for this trip...haven't had fish & chips for about a decade!

For those who have read Persuasion, these are the steps that stupid girl fell down

Daisy being adorable.

Paula!

Chris and Daisy waiting for ice cream

 The many faces of Daisy:

And, yes, we had a lot of other time together...great shopping, great times...no pictures. 

Love,

Alexandra