And thus ended Visitor Season

This’ll be the last of these visit-in-brief posts. I promise. (Unless someone else comes. Anyone? Anyone?) They probably aren’t interesting to too many people, but I feel as though they might as well be documented, so here goes.



The guest saga continued through Easter with the arrival of my college friend and twin (July 5 birthdays are by far superior to all 365 others), Melissa, and her husband, Jason. They live in Grand Rapids and (wisely) decided to use us as an excuse for a European holiday. They spent a few days in London and Paris before flying to Newcastle on Good Friday.

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After a cooked breakfast Saturday morning (see the 'kitchen' photo below), Melissa, Jason, and I left Josh to his paper-writing and wandered around Durham, climbing the cathedral tower for impressive views and shockingly cold winds. I’ve seen snow in Durham about three times total, so I found it rather amusing and depressing that it chose Easter weekend for one final fling!




We attended church on Easter Sunday at the cathedral, which I whole-heartedly recommend if you are ever in the area at the right time. It’s pretty amazing to celebrate the most important event of our faith where it’s been celebrated for a thousand years already. Plus we were treated to a sermon by the bishop, N.T. Wright, and a sung liturgy by the boys’ choir. I’ve never sung the Nicene Creed before! While it’s difficult to fully dispel the melancholy of a massive, Norman cathedral even on such a celebratory day, the venue was nice enough!

After Durham, Mel and Jason were heading for Scotland. I decided last minute (quite literally) to use my holiday (yea for Easter Monday in the UK!) to see more of my friends and hopped in the back seat for the ride.

We spent a night in Edinburgh and then drove to Stirling castle (first photo below), through the beautiful Glen Coe (second photo below), up to Loch Ness and then all the way back down to Durham.We got to admire Scotland in the snow, see hundreds and hundreds of baby lambs in the fields (they are sooooo cute!), and eat two fantastic Scottish breakfasts. I love bed and breakfasts, especially when the views from the breakfast table are the two below:


And then they were off again.

It is so nice to see friends, but it’s sad to see them go. I think that’s true of most visitors. There’s a sense of relief that the intrusion into normalcy has gone, but I always feel a bit bereft for the next day or two. I think seeing people reminds me that I do indeed miss them! This period of our lives feels so separate from everything else, so it’s been very nice to show it to those of you who could make it. We were glad to provide the excuse, and we will make every effort to continue to be one in the future! Now if we could only gain independent wealth so that we wouldn’t have to work while you were here, and we could fund those who can’t afford the trip themselves. Ah well….. You can’t have everything.