Sidewalk Dentistry

Today was "Ground Force Day" here, which at first, I mistakenly took for a WWII remembrance holiday. Not the case, in fact, “Ground Force Day" meant all of us pitching in to clean up the 35 acres of GROUND here at Ellel. Clever.

My team's job was to dig up the mossy bits between the cobblestone walkway in front of the main house. With all the scraping involved, it was as though I was scraping out major tartar build-up between the “teeth” of the ground before me. One of the staff team who is Ukrainian worked alongside us, and we had a good time talking about Kiev, and the rest of Ukraine. I forgot myself in conversation, and at one point asked a question in Russian! He laughed, and told me he could tell that it was Ukrainian Russian I had leaned because of my pronunciation!

All in all, my task for the day was a lovely job to have (I really enjoyed myself!) and we had a treat of roasted chestnuts and tea afterward! Alas, there was no “open fire"...since I know you are wondering about that.



My friend Phoebe's (left) job today was to weed out the "ha-ha". What's a "ha-ha"? Essentially, it'’s a shallow ditch running the length of the house, some 400 yards from the front of the main house. Its main function was to keep animals (cows, horses and the like) away from the house years ago. I suppose putting up a fence would have ruined the view? In her weeding, she uncovered some stone steps in the side wall of the ha-ha, and the steps have some lovely ivy growing next to them - really a pretty view when you sit on the other side and look at the house. Just beware of the stinging nettle. Ouch!

Side note: I’m back to using “American” washers and dryers! It took me about 10 minutes to realize that the washers I was looking at in the laundry room (as I was given a tour around the property my first day here) were Maytags! AND looked suspiciously like any old American model you might have in your (US) home! WOW! What a paradigm shift!
I'm in the UK, studying in this gorgeous 150-year-old (or something like that) manor house, using a MAYTAG to do my wash, and washing these ENORMOUS loads (if you’ve lived here or visited here you understand the comparison) of laundry! It was a little weird to realize I just washed 3 pairs of trousers, one sweatshirt, roughly 5 shirts and the assorted socks and “pants" in ONE LOAD of washing!! This is normal is you live in the US, but NOT NORMAL by Glasgow standards! I'll try not to get too used to it...…
Jae (and perhaps a few more in Glasgow) is probably green with envy reading this...sorry, girl.



This weekend I have OFF! Whatever shall I do with all that time? Monday is off as well, and there is an outing to Portsmouth planned. I understand that there is a ship in dock which you are able to go aboard and look at, so might take a look & pictures for Dad! A walk to explore Fresnsham pond is in order, so I will pray for some good weather! The neighboring areas remind me of the Brambely Hedge books - if you've not read them, please do! They are wonderful, and if you have kids, they will enjoy them as well. It feels as though I am living in one of those books!

Another thing to add to the prayer list is my visa renewal application I sent off today. I feel a bit edgy with my passport not in my posession. The last one that was sent out for visa approval didn't return. I think it went on vacation with out me. Hopefully this one will return to Farnham, and I can add another "Yea, my visa was approved!" photo to my collection!