A pansy planting kind of day

What a glorious day to be outside. Absolutely lovely! I bought some pansies at the supermarket yesterday and today was the perfect day to plant them. They will grace our front steps and will make me smile each and every time I see them.

Retford and beyond

Howard was in England last weekend for Janz Team board meetings. Our friends Nigel and Helen lead the work there. They are veteran missionaries whose work extends into eastern Europe and central Asia. They have helped many people from that region come to know Jesus and grow in their faith.
They live in a town called Retford, near Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood fame. An old market town, Retford was granted its first charter (the right to hold a fair) by Henry III in 1246. This was extended by Edward I in 1275 to holding a Saturday market: a tradition that continues today.
A lovely canal flows through the town.

The church, of which Helen is the artist in residence, where the meetings were held.

Poor Peter

You may recall our neighbour's pesky cat, Peter (pronounced "Pay-tah"). This morning as I was backing out of the driveway on our way to church (Howard was away) I saw Peter lying in our flower bed. He hadn't moved a muscle when I'd started the van so I feared the worst. When we got home from church he still hadn't moved. I walked to the neighbour's house only to find the gate locked. What to do? Basically I fretted all day until one of their children finally came out of the house and then I was able to ask her to go and get her "Papa". He came out looking somewhat baffled and I told him the sad news. Fortunately none of the children were around. I told him I felt so sad for the children and he was also very concerned about them. Awhile later he came with a bag and collected poor Peter.

Trees

The trees in this town get pruned to within an inch of their lives every fall. However, they sure are beautiful and full in the summer so it's worth having them look like something from a different planet for the winter months!

Hot Lunch

Today we served another hot lunch to the great kids from our mission. On the menu: baked potato bar. It was a huge hit which made us all happy!

Not tired yet

I will never grow weary of the architecture in this area. It amazes me how much planning has gone into the details of so many homes and buildings.

Open doors

When we were in language school in São Paulo
one of our language instructors once told us that she always went
into the Catholic church to pray
because her church was always locked.

I have thought about that many times over the years as we have

wandered into countless unlocked churches here in Europe.

There is always such a hush and a respect in these houses of worship
that seems to be lacking in our churches.

It's always a wonderful experience to walk into
a church like this...

...and enjoy its peace and tranquility.

It's arrived!

Every so often a wooden stork can be spotted announcing the arrival of a baby. It's a fun practice and I have to smile when I see these random storks. As you can see this one is well-equipped with a nest and the fabric cradle that the baby arrived in.

A theme and variations

You are probably as tired of hearing about this as I am writing about it! But because it gives such beautiful pictures, I am writing again about another big snowfall.
On Friday we actually thought we were going to have a snowfall reminiscent of the 2005 dump we had on exactly this weekend.
But by Friday afternoon the snow had stopped and the rains came in.
There's still a lot of snow on the ground, especially higher up, so it was worth a drive to enjoy the sheer beauty of it all.


There is a very neat method of signage that they use here. The street that comes into a town from the village before it is always named for that village. It is a very intelligent and practical method.
With all the snow one sees signs like these very often. It says: "Be careful. Roof avalanche".



We came to the end of the road here and so Howard stopped so I could take some pictures and then a farmer appeared at Howard's door. They had a good chat about the weather and the snow and the fact that they hadn't had snow like this since the 80s.
As we drove away we commented on the fact that farmers are the same everywhere. Bethany wondered how he remembered that in 2005 they still had snow in March. We told her that he was a farmer. The weather controls their livelihood and they simply remember. No other explanation needed!

The view

I told Howard yesterday that if the only view from our house was of the house across the street we would always know when the seasons were about to change just by what the neighbours were doing with their decorations. It really is a delightful thing to live across from them!

Happy Birthday to Bethany!

We had a plan. I had contacted Bethany's employer to ask if it would be alright to come on the morning of her birthday (this morning) to deliver some flowers to her. He said that was no problem, and in fact, they were thinking of giving her the day off. So he said we could come and bring and flowers and then kidnap her and take her home. I was excited! What a plan!!
Yesterday I was sitting on the couch in the living room nursing a migraine when I heard the back door open. School was out so I was sure it was Katy. Instead, it was BETH! She said the family had gone out for the day and that she'd had a headache and stayed behind. Then she decided that she just wanted to come home. At any rate, the plan for the next morning was foiled! I wrote to her boss and he said to just tell her that she had the day off on her birthday, that they sent their warmest wishes to her and that there would be a present waiting for her when she got back on Thursday morning. These are really some amazing people that she's working for!
Anyway, this morning was the gift opening at home instead of in the van and we were all quite fine with that!


So she spent the morning doing the things she loves the best. These are her flowers that only got delivered as far as her bedroom!
I also have an amazing boss. She thought that I would probably like to be able to spend the day with my daughter on her last birthday in Europe, so once she got back to the library after her German class I was free to go home!
It was a beautiful day so we drove the 13 km to Badenweiler to find a cafe where we could sit outside in the sun and enjoy our lunch.
We both agreed that this was a bad picture but we also both agreed that it had to be here to mark the day.

Beth just had to pose with this statue...


Home to decorate the carrot cake which Bethany referred to often as "just a big muffin".
Beth set another beautiful birthday table.


The girls and their guests....