TheSecondTimeAroundEngland

 I am breaking my new rule - AGAIN.  It just seems to be the wiser choice to write this evening instead of the morning when we will be trying to leave for the day.  This is the week of transfers.  We have thirteen missionaries leaving for their homes, and four new elders and eleven new sisters who have arrived in UK already.  They are all isolating now.  That means some serious changes of assignments.   Tomorrow, we will get away from home while it is still dark (that isn't nearly as dramatic as it sounds - it is still mostly dark a half hour past supposed sunrise at 7:30).  We will travel east a couple of hours, pick up an elder and take him to his assignment - which will be an hour and a half to the west.  The flat where we will leave him is in Newbury - where my great grandmother Checketts was born (nee: Shingleton).  We will take one of the elders who now reside in Newbury and drive him 2 1/2 hours to the east and north to his n...

 The steady drumbeat of rain accompanied us in all that we did this day.  Saturday - how fast the weeks fly by.  We were talking this morning about the fact that in a couple of weeks, we will have been in Oxford (the second time) for as long as we were in Gilbert (the interim time), and in another month, we will have been in Oxford the same amount of time as we were the first time....September to March. There is a chill dampness that comes with these days.  I wonder how on earth people survived the winters here for hundreds of years past.  Especially the cavernous castles and prisons, where not every room had a fireplace.  Did the average person ever feel completely warm? The inevitable happened today.  SK.  His hair.  It has been a couple of months since he saw (or was seen by - more aptly) a barber.  We covered him with a garbage bag and I reassured him that I would be very conservative with my trimming. Melissa, I take my hat off to y...

 I am happy to say that the mystery of "The Lost Art of Having Fun" has been solved.  I checked with everyone who knows us and knows what we do with the young adults - except our children.  Those rascals in Arizona sent it!  Here is an example....it is a game that I'm looking forward to playing with Oxford as the place to hide in! We are waiting to hear from the visa department and the National Health Service about obviously, our visas and our vaccinations.  We might as well settle in, because those wheels grind slowly. I actually pulled my mixer out today and made cookies!  Well, I made the dough.  First thing tomorrow, we will some baking and then make some deliveries.  The sun came out in the afternoon for a glorious walk.  These days, we have been racking up 2 to 3 miles, not as many as we used to do, but that will come.  Three miles is a lot of distance to see a lot of Oxford, and we always feel as though we have traveled much farth...

 Well, there has been some activity towards resolving our visa situation - I'm not sure that it is a positive move.  Sister Hartvigsen called this morning with a message from Anna, the lady who is in charge of visas for UK.  Anna is concerned about the amount of time that has elapsed since we submitted our papers, and since our visas expired, felt that we ought to reach out to the visa office. SK and I discussed it, and I forwarded to Anna the last communication with the visa office, which said, "We have your application, don't call us, we'll call you." - kind of.  I asked if she wanted us to check anyway.  Within an hour of that happening, we both got an email from the visa office saying they needed one more document.   We forwarded that on to Anna, who obtained the document and sent it to us, which we sent on to the visa office.  And now we wait.  Again. These are just a couple of Facebook posts from our snow day. We also heard from the med...

 "I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree." During our walk in the afternoon, we walked past a huge stately tree.  I can hardly wait to see it when it has fully leafed out.  Oxford is rich with stately old trees, and I often find myself snapping pictures of them.  But I think my telephone camera (good as it is) just doesn't do justice to them.   What has that old tree seen as it has quietly observed life around it? Do you see SK - a tiny figure at the base of the tree pointing it out for us? On our way home - around 5 p.m. It was about 4 p.m. when we took our walk.  We had attended our district council with the young missionaries in the morning, and then spent several hours filling out forms to turn in to receive vaccinations for COVID.  I made a few phone calls as well, trying to get it all figured out.   Finally, with forms in hand, we walked the approximate mile to the clinic, deposited them in the appropriate box outsi...

 Ah - youth!  I lamented to SK today that while we were sitting placidly inside watching the snow drift down out of the sky, Kristina and Cameron, two of our cute young friends went outside and built a snowman, nearly 5 1/2 feet tall!  They went to University Park, a gorgeous walk filled with meadows and river offshoots.  They said there were so many people out erecting their own creations, they could hardly find a place to build their own snowman. As we were out and about today on our walk and on a drive to pick up a prescription, we saw ample evidence that there was indeed plenty of good snow for building all kinds of snow characters.  Since the weather has been very chilly the snowmen are still mostly standing, evidence of the glee the snow brought to so many. SK with hood up, mask on and posing next to the remains of a snowman!  I think the movies "Frozen" and Frozen 2" have popularized snowmen more than ever. This unremarkable picture is delightful in ...

 With my newfound goal of getting into bed early and waking earlier, I find that old habits die hard.  I was in bed last night by 10:30 and fell asleep, but was awake at 4 and tossed and turned until time to get up at 7:30.  It will be tricky to train myself anew.  Last summer in Gilbert, we awakened at 4:15 in order to get out and walk before the sun came blazing to life each morning.  We gratefully went to bed by 10 and sometimes 9 each night. I find it difficult not to be anxious.  I wake up in the middle of the night and find a dozen things to worry about, try a dozen methods of relaxing my mind, toss and turn and then sleep fitfully.  If I am doing that, I wonder what everyone else is doing?  The isolation, the news, the personal situations - must all gang up on many individuals in the middle of the night, as well as around the clock.   We have a young man from India who is here working on his master's degree.  He is a quiet ma...

 Despite the frost clinging to the rooftops this morning, the day will be bright clear and crisp.  There isn't a cloud in the sky as the sky grows lighter.  The forecast is sunshine all day and temperatures now hovering in the mid-twenties will rise to 36 by sunset.  It will be a beautiful day. Wuhan China has passed its year mark with the virus, UK's numbers of new cases appears to be easing from its all time high earlier this month, and Arizona is still leading the nation (and it would seem the world) in numbers. In other headlines, business women interviewed from several parts of the country have abandoned their "beauty routines."  After so many months in isolation, working only from their computers, they have ceased to wear uncomfortable clothing and shoes, makeup and stopped trying to make their hair look just so.  Many claim they have a new-found sense of freedom and will not go back to those time-consuming routines.  I say "Hallelujah!" ...

 I am sitting in the darkened living room watching that beautiful white stuff drifting down out of the sky.  It got down to 27 degrees last night and is now 30.  When I first looked out our windows, there was a covering of frost on all the rooftops and a light dusting out on St. Thomas Street.  Now the snow is coming down in great snowflakes and it looks like it is a for-real snowstorm.   I shouldn't take such delight in it.  It IS mesmerizing. The news reports last night issued weather warnings for the whole island.  This weather will make it difficult for people.  Inclement weather is still one of the lesser worries here.  The conflicting reports of the new virus strain are troubling.  Boris Johnson said that there is some evidence that it could be more deadly than the original...instead of killing 10 out of a thousand, it is 13 or 14 out of positive cases of COVID.  Our mission doctor began our mission call last night with m...

 It is 7:10 p.m. and I am writing my blog!  It has been a lovely day.  And it's about to get lovelier.  we have the adult session of stake conference which will begin in 20 minutes.  It will last for one and half hours, at which time we will join the mission Saturday night evening call.  We are looking forward to both, because in our experience - both are always outstanding. When the Saturday night call is over, I will get ready for bed and crawl in!  I have been staying up til past 1 a.m. for weeks now, and I know I have got to change in order to feel better physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  The young missionaries go to bed at 10 and are up at 6:29.  I am going to plan on being in bed every night at 10:30 to 11 and be up by 7 or 7:30.  I will have time to study and do a little stretching video that Lia got me started on a couple of years ago.  I know I feel better when I do that. I will write in the blog in the ea...

 Our Senior Missionary Conference was today, beginning at 10 a.m.  When we first came to England, there  must have been twenty to twenty-five couples serving in various capacities.  We knew a few of them, and were able to get to know just a hand full because of the assignments we have.  The couple we got to know best was Elder and Sister Call, who served in Cambridge.  They were dynamic and wonderful.  She was a rocket scientist, and he was something equally impressive, but they served with diligence and sweet humility.  They were truly inspiring. Currently there are ten senior couples including Dave and Deb.  The "Tech Elders" on the lower right keep everything running, and the APs (Assistants to the Mission President are center bottom).  One couple will be going home on February 11 and another mid-March. There are three other couples now who we see regularly on Zoom, and whom we have developed great love for.  Two of them will be ...

 Our walk took us past our back-yard castle today.  I always - always - always think I ought to take a picture of it.  It is a lovely old place, haunted they say.  It changed hands several times over the centuries, and its history is embedded outside of the entrance/gift shop.  At SK's suggestion, I snapped a picture of his favorite one.  It almost always puts me in mind of his favorite Gary Larsen cartoon of all time.  Somehow it is even funnier here, except for the fact that WE are the Saxons!  But I am certain that despite all his British ancestry, SK identifies with the ones doing the mooning. Considering everything in our country is comparatively new, this plaque does give one pause.  Over a millennia ago, this was a spot on the map!...a town. Just in case you can't make it out, the caption says:  "So then I says to Borg, "You know as long as we're under siege, one of us ought to moon these Saxon dogs." When I awakened this morning,...

 It's been a quiet quiet quiet day!  I have made numerous phone calls, texted several people, lined up a Family History lesson with a lady for tomorrow, I listened to Sheri Dew's book "Insights" about President Nelson (well I listened to about half), while I painted.  Lia ordered a paint-by-number kit for me.  It is fairly large and will take some time, but when I am listening to scriptures or podcasts or audio books, it is absolutely marvelous!  I love to keep my hands busy, and the painting is relaxing.  It already looks pretty good. We had a district council today with the young missionaries - there are six of them.  I really love those kids.  I love their sincerity and their enthusiasm.  Some of them are kind of a little discouraged because - you know what is coming - the ward council doesn't seem very enthusiastic.  They are too young to know that missionaries have been lamenting this particular challenge forever....well, maybe the ...

 It has been raining most of the day and in fact at this moment, I can hear the steady patter of rain on the building outside.  It is such a cozy feeling to listen to the rain.  We are still in hopes that this coming new week will have snow.  But every time it is in the forecast, something happens by the day it is appointed, and - no snow. We took our walk along side one of the many beautiful rivers today.  It was cool and overcast and at the time, not raining.  It was plenty muddy though.  SK found some geese and swan to interact with.  None of them were much impressed with his overtures. This is the walkway to people's homes (on the left).  Their front yards are tiny little squares with the fences you can see.  Some are completely overgrown with vines and greenery and the look of a wild forest, while others are pristine and properly manicured.  Whatever, they are each unique and have the river to look out at any time of the day or...

 Another Monday has come and gone as we inch nearer the five-month mark of the second half of our mission.  Our first tour of duty lasted from September 2019 to March 2020 (six months).  We were furloughed from mid-March until late August when we got the word to return (five and a half months).  Clearly, we are on to something here with that on-again-off-again kind of a mission. If we are granted permission to stay sometime in the next 6 weeks, there will be joy and rejoicing as we open our bottle of bubbly elderflower juice, which SK purchased four months ago for this very purpose.  And if we are granted a stay of another 6 months, we could be here through September, making it a 2-year mission!  (And of course that would require another bottle of bubbly elderflower or apple juice.) Although we were able to see our family, which was absolutely wonderful, and although we were officially released by our stake president, we never lost the sense that we were di...

 This has been a very sweet birthday..I am seventy-two today, as of 10:30 in the morning.  It was my mother's tradition to retell the story of my birthday.  It was a short narrative, but always made me happy.  She was hanging wet clothes on the outdoor clothesline - on January 17 in frigid temperatures, standing on the snow-covered ground.  She became suddenly aware that it was time to go to the hospital.   Aunt Adell was summoned to take care of Judy and they headed to what was then called the "Dee Hospital," on Harrison in Ogden.  I arrived that same day - at 10:30 in the morning, so it must not have been a lengthy labor and delivery.  When she was dismissed from the hospital (she would have been in there several days because having a baby was strenuous and they separated mothers and babies while the mothers were basically pampered for up to three weeks!), she, Judy and I went to Wellsville, where we stayed with Grandma Jones til Mom was up...