“Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”
~ Benjamin Franklin
We finished our farm housesit with all 95 animals alive and seemingly well so a resounding success as far as we were concerned. We’ve been staying with friends since then – a 3-night stay in Cheltenham and one night in Cranham – no pet care required in either case.
We spent most of our time sharing meals, conversation and laughs with old friends, but also re-visited Painswick, Cranham and Cheltenham. This part of the country has more of the rolling green hills that people often associate with the Cotswolds. Ray spent one afternoon doing a long, hilly man-hike with Wallace, while I chose instead to drink tea, eat sarnies, and wander around Cheltenham’s literature festival with Val.
Few things are as iconically English as the red telephone box, but what do you do when a cultural icon starts to become obsolete? We’ve come across some creative uses for former phone booths.
Canadian Thanksgiving also came and went while we were here. It was our first Thanksgiving away from Nick and it came with mixed emotions. Holidays can be hard when you’ve lost loved ones, and Thanksgiving hasn’t been quite the same since my mom passed away. Losing my dad, sister-in-law, and father-in-law in the last couple of years hasn’t made it easier. And we missed Nick. But…we have SO much to be thankful for – family (the ones still around and the ones in our memories); wonderful friends (some of whom joined us for our “Thanksgiving” meal at an Indian restaurant in Cheltenham, while others, in Ottawa, graciously welcomed Nick into their home for a Thanksgiving meal), and, of course, we’re particularly thankful for our health and health care system.
Nick spent the long weekend hanging out with friends in Ottawa, going to the climbing gym, studying for midterms, and being spoiled by neighbours who took pity on our poor abandoned child and fed him.
Thank you so much for coming to spend time with us. Not just because as always it’s lovely to see you both but from a selfish point of view it’s been so good to feel you both in our arms xx
That was part of the reason we chose England for our first vacation destination – wanted to collect on all those virtual hugs people sent us this past year. xo
Love the phone booth photos! I’m so glad to see that the housesit experiences have gone so well 🙂