Bill is Back!

 Yes indeed!  Bill is our resident heron.  Last month we came across a magnificent heron standing at attention, waiting for dinner to swim by.  Ever since, we have been checking the river that runs by our backyard castle for Bill, our own so-named fowl.  (David gave it that name last fall.)






Isn't he cute?  Although, I am wondering if he is a she.  Look at this picture of his cousin we saw last month...




He was not there the first year we were here, but showed up last September, shortly after we arrived back in Oxford, we noticed him standing silently - attentively watching the water.  Then sometime later, he was gone, and we felt his absence.  As of March 1, I have been betting SK that he would be back.  We started with $100 and doubled it every day that Bill was not there...double or nothing each day.  As you can imagine, I was deeply in debt to SK!  Today, the slate was wiped clean.  Bill is back!

Spring is in high gear now as trees are blossoming and flowers are everywhere.  Each day, we look at each other and say something like, "We've never been here on March 23rd!"  It is fun.  We are having a heat wave...in the 50's and getting up into the low 60's next week!  I hope I can survive the warmer weather in Oxford.


We had the usual number of Zoom calls today.  We met with the zone in the morning, met with our Oxford elders in the afternoon, had a Zoom call with the senior couple serving with the young adults in Iceland.  We are going to share a family home evening with them in May.  Just so our YAs and the Icelandic YAs can share an evening together and get to know each other.

The couple in Iceland thought of it, and put out a call to see who would be interested....of course we were!

I worked on some names for Ally...I think for her wedding invitation.  That was fun, and I took quite a fair amount of time.  As I get older, I am less inclined to reach for perfection...it is not possible.

Our evening ended with a Zoom mission call...there is one every Tuesday.  Lots of announcements.  Spring Cleaning advice, as well as keeping a 2-weeks supply of food.  Counsel about social distancing.

I wonder what a mission president and companion do when they get home, and the phone doesn't ring for hours at a time?  Perhaps they are so worn out, they are grateful to have nothing to do - for awhile.

Comments

Lia said…
Ohhhh....the names are beautiful! And so is Bill.
March 24, 2021 at 9:38 AM
melissa said…
The names ARE beautiful!
March 24, 2021 at 5:24 PM
Erin said…
Those look quite spectacular! I was organizing a big stack of papers and came across Tessa’s wedding announcement and recognized your calligraphy on that one as well!

So fun that Bill came back. I wonder where he went.

We had a small mystery in our neighborhood. As I was driving down our street towards home I saw a woman pushing a stroller. That’s typical enough but she was wearing a long full pink fluffy dress with a white lace overlay. It was styled after the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. She wore white kitten heels and a large white brim hat. She was also holding a pink parasol. I am wishing I had stopped to ask what the occasion was. Now I’ll never know.



March 26, 2021 at 12:12 AM
Elder and Sister Madsen said…
Thank you...all three. Considering you have all developed more of a discerning eye over the years, I will bask in those compliments! I think Bill was on the Riviera in Spain. What a life! Of course, if you are reduced to eating rats, it can't be all that great.
Erin, I hope you can solve that mystery. I would love to know what she was doing!
March 26, 2021 at 8:37 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Master Teacher

In the 1st Ward today, an 11-year-old boy gave a talk that was one of he best sacrament meeting talks I have ever heard.  He got up to speak and his head just barely cleared the podium.  He is small and has a shock of dark hair topping a cute slightly freckled face. It will be several years yet before his voice deepens.  He had his written talk, and he read most of it, but he was familiar enough with it that he looked up often and it seemed as if he was speaking from his heart. He began with a quote from Nephi in 2 Nephi 25:29, where Nephi prophesies about the future and then tells us how to worship the Savior. How? this boy asked us. He went on to answer his own question.  Nephi says "with all our might."  The boy then asked how that is done. He cited the story of the converts in the Congo who threw all of their idols into a massive waterfall where they were unrecoverable.  The boy said that when we worship the Savior with all our might, that mea...
Read more

Going Home

  Fifteen missionaries are returning to their homes this week.  For this Saturday night zoom conference broadcast, each bore their testimony from their flats with their companions by their sides.  SK and I teared up many times as we listened to humble, sweet and strong testimonies.  It is easy to see the difference as they get close to their release date.  It they have been faithful, there is a maturity and a sweetness that is unexplainable. Here is a smattering of what was said: There is no growth in the comfort zone.  I am about to go home to my comfort zone...but it struck me that my old comfort zone is no longer comfortable for me.  I want to be in a growth zone. The early apostles did not succeed, but they knew we would. One elder quoted Dave's poem "If."  "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same...Hold on...even through the hardest times."  "How can I accomplish these things?  Jesus Chr...
Read more

Shark!

Image
We left our flat way too early for my taste this morning, heading out to go south to Farnborough.  Forty-eight miles, supposedly an hour and twenty minute drive.  We got into some heavy stop and go traffic and it was closer to 2 hours before we got there. We inspected the two young sisters' flat, which was beautifully clean and organized.  They are cute sisters.  They had been in London yesterday for zone conference and excitedly shared all they had heard and been taught.  They had their notes out and were very cute to repeat some great messages from President Checketts.  I hardly ever talk to him when he isn't dealing with numerous issues in the mission and in the middle of at least one or two crises, and planning the next gathering....all at the same time.  It must be that he and Deb are in a constant state of stress.  But he has cleared the half-way mark.  I wonder if he knows how highly he is esteemed by these young missionaries, who ...
Read more