Friday, June 13, 2008

Slow morning…did laundry. Addie’s quite into helping hang the clothes out on the line! It’s pretty chilly today! We didn’t make it out until 2:30 – after nap, lunch, and a skype session with Lauren. Yeah for the Cavetts joining up! Finally took D his lunch and took Addie to the playground at Christ’s Piece to play. She loves it there; loves watching the other kids, loves climbing up the equipment and sliding down. Getting back in the stroller these days can bring about quite a few tears and a stiff little body, so I try prepping her for it; it worked this time! I understand how she feels about being cooped up in the stroller for too long – I wouldn’t like it either. But that’s how things go. I like seeing how the other moms interact with their kids, and how they dress their kids - much more “hip” over here and not so cute (but that could also be true for everywhere in the US other than the south!). Clarks is a big brand for kid shoes, it seems. The Macaulays invited us to a concert (5-7) at St. Catharine’s College, which is where Ranald went. So I grabbed sandwiches for dinner at Marks and Spencers on the way there while David closed up the church. I love Marks and Spencers! www.marksandspencer.com Want to try some of their take away meals. Anyway, the concert was pretty nice – not great musicians, but it’s a student-run/led orchestra and they selected well-known pieces, so that was enjoyable. Plus just nice sitting on the green listening to classical music. At intermission we caught up with Ranald and Susan, as well as Matt (the new intern from York). They served little glasses of pimms (alcoholic summer-time drink, kind of along the same lines as sangria – very posh over here!) and strawberries and cream (I’m learning my creams – this would be single cream!). Enjoyed talking with Susan and getting to know her a bit (this is Susan “Schaeffer” Macaulay). Then afterwards they were taking Matt to a cafeteria for dinner, and invited us to tag along. We had a nice talk about Matt’s studies in medieval history (esp. castles and crusades) up at St. Andrew’s in Scotland. Also about education – their daughter and family have recently started a “Charlotte Mason” school here in town. Susan encouraged me to go visit one day, and I think I’d like to do so! A very nice night; I hope we get more time with the two of them, although they seem busy with taking care of elderly parents and all their kids and grandkids and friends/groups here.