Travels back in time
If you don't want a blow-by-blow account of the last week, don't keep reading! It has been lovely.
Where to begin? We've had such a wonderful stretch of a week - from Jo & Steve's arrrival to a cosy car journey home from Pisa... In terms of territory - we covered a fair amount - we went to see Little Moreton Hall (I remembered it from childhood days out with our family - Derek & I were blessed by parents who took us places) an old tudor house. It is always a bit staggering to realise that the who building was begun pre Christopher Columbus.
Then, onto Powis Castle's three-hundred year old yew hedge, which creeps lumpily up the side of the hill, and provides many trysting benches. It is truly a spectacular garden, and has enormous structural plants, and colours that nature puts together to stun. The precision of the box hedge, and the imagination of the first gardener... Who would never see her work mature, but had an eye. Truly breath-taking vision. (I am more and more convinced of the notion of organic gardening as a metaphor for christian leadership).
Our next venture into history was York - which we probably did not do justice to - Steve and Jo went into the Minster... for a price. I had an internal (and external!) debate about paying to go into Holy Places. I just don't know. I think at the least there should be a prayer chapel near-by. We also followed Andrew's remarkable food-based-map-reading-mind to a small independent cafe, where we ate sumptious lunches (including a great rarebit) and Andrew & I had (very sweet!) desserts.
On the food front, and closer to (our new-next week-we-hope-home) we also went to That Cafe. It is truly a delight to the senses, and we ate beautiful, sense-ational food. The food was matched by great company - and we are reminded of how seldom many of our conversations seem to touch on wide-ranging discussions about things that really matter.
Hmm. Probably offended lots of people there. I'll keep explaining, I suppose because we see Steve and Jo so rarely, and know that in reality it will be YEARS before we do again, we talked about more than just daily life. ... I imagine that it is a bit like the difference between snatching time with the person you love before hand, and then being married. Not that you don't talk deeplyanymore but that you also talk about cleaning the house, and paying bills, and taking the rubbish out... and that is normal and wonderful at the same time... But, it is different than when you first began. Sometimes friendships are like that (I think). It sometimes takes effort and deliberate choice, to actually go beyond football/films/tv/work. That's all. And there is a part of me that craves being a little deeper... and, in marriage, you make that happen by choice... so maybe I need to try more in other arenas. (right, getting myself into greater holes here, I'll stop.)
So - from York, to Stansted, and onto Pisa. Perhaps that will be the next installment.
Where to begin? We've had such a wonderful stretch of a week - from Jo & Steve's arrrival to a cosy car journey home from Pisa... In terms of territory - we covered a fair amount - we went to see Little Moreton Hall (I remembered it from childhood days out with our family - Derek & I were blessed by parents who took us places) an old tudor house. It is always a bit staggering to realise that the who building was begun pre Christopher Columbus.
Then, onto Powis Castle's three-hundred year old yew hedge, which creeps lumpily up the side of the hill, and provides many trysting benches. It is truly a spectacular garden, and has enormous structural plants, and colours that nature puts together to stun. The precision of the box hedge, and the imagination of the first gardener... Who would never see her work mature, but had an eye. Truly breath-taking vision. (I am more and more convinced of the notion of organic gardening as a metaphor for christian leadership).
Our next venture into history was York - which we probably did not do justice to - Steve and Jo went into the Minster... for a price. I had an internal (and external!) debate about paying to go into Holy Places. I just don't know. I think at the least there should be a prayer chapel near-by. We also followed Andrew's remarkable food-based-map-reading-mind to a small independent cafe, where we ate sumptious lunches (including a great rarebit) and Andrew & I had (very sweet!) desserts.
On the food front, and closer to (our new-next week-we-hope-home) we also went to That Cafe. It is truly a delight to the senses, and we ate beautiful, sense-ational food. The food was matched by great company - and we are reminded of how seldom many of our conversations seem to touch on wide-ranging discussions about things that really matter.
Hmm. Probably offended lots of people there. I'll keep explaining, I suppose because we see Steve and Jo so rarely, and know that in reality it will be YEARS before we do again, we talked about more than just daily life. ... I imagine that it is a bit like the difference between snatching time with the person you love before hand, and then being married. Not that you don't talk deeplyanymore but that you also talk about cleaning the house, and paying bills, and taking the rubbish out... and that is normal and wonderful at the same time... But, it is different than when you first began. Sometimes friendships are like that (I think). It sometimes takes effort and deliberate choice, to actually go beyond football/films/tv/work. That's all. And there is a part of me that craves being a little deeper... and, in marriage, you make that happen by choice... so maybe I need to try more in other arenas. (right, getting myself into greater holes here, I'll stop.)
So - from York, to Stansted, and onto Pisa. Perhaps that will be the next installment.
posted by erdreid at 10:37
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