Jane Austen once said that "There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort" and I have to agree with her. While most everything I did was wonderful, the past few weeks have been perhaps a bit
too full, I was beginning to get a bit harried so decided to hide at home this weekend to rest up and recuperate.
(Also, my twin Miss Dick sent me a present of a Jane Austen puzzle and I'm obsessed and will not leave the house until it is completed.)
I didn't use to be such a social creature, as a kid I was famous for putzing around in my room alone for weeks on end. As a teenager and in college I was simply too exhausted or poor most of the time to do all the things I wanted with friends, and by the time I was ready to graduate OU I was quite worn out. I could have graduated early but instead decided to spend my last quarter studying abroad in London which is someplace I'd wanted to see since I started learning about it through books as a child. I took the minimum credits required so for the first time in four years I had a ridiculously small amount of school work to do and it was brilliant. We did many class trips and I lived with a wonderful group of girls to go on outings with, but I found myself doing solo adventures too. Sometimes just wandering around the city or reading in a park but I did do two day trips to
Shrewsbury and
Hampton Court. I'd never done so many things alone before, it wasn't easy but because they were such incredible places it was always worth it.
With the Olympics going on I've been thinking about London a lot, but honestly when do I not think of it? With the rain tapping on the top of my air conditioner I'm pretty much acting out
Kathy's song by Simon and Garfunkel, gazing beyond the rain drenched streets to England where my heart lies. I know I'll be back some day.
Oddly enough, the study program I was part of required us to start a blog of our trip and that's how Mumbles
came about. I let it go after I got back to the states but picked it up again two years later. I was once again in a fascinating city where the liberty of a steady income, good friends, and the glory of public transportation meant I was constantly running about doing things (and eating things too!). Emails to my family and friends just got longer and longer, brimming with photographs, and they kept asking for more so I finally decided to open those discussions into the world wide web and here we are!
Last weekend when Miss Lyndsey was in town we got to talking about blogs over the Greek food we were eating (And I'm so pleased that Miss Lyndsey decided to go ahead and start
a blog of her own!). Blogs are a wonderful way to have conversations with friends who are far away, to be able to see into their lives and share our common interests. Mumbles has become a habit, while I'm constantly taking pictures it does take time to write it all up so sometimes I just know it wont happen until the next weekend which is annoying. The addition of
Flora will be a big change and I'm excited to share more of the things I see around the city and forget to bring my camera to.
But that's all for some other time, this weekend is all quietness. Good movies, good pasta, and
brownie in a mug. If I'm still thinking of England I'll make some curry chips to have with my tea.
