Quintessentially English

Spending the night with our good friends, A and V; A and I were at Leeds Uni together, and they're both from Sutton Coldfield, but now in Bristol. Absolutely wonderful to sit in their gorgeous garden, catching up and comparing notes on the NHS (V is a consultant and Julia a beginning midwife), theology, kids, and everything. The magnificent tree is a silver birch.

Blipping while they're all in the kitchen making dinner, keep being distracted by the conversation...

Gratefuls:
- relaxed morning at R&R's
- safe driving across the country
- this truly beautiful home and relaxed hospitality

Not so greats:
- our electricity has given up in Mourão, so no water for our trees, and in spite of spending the morning on the phone with Cecílio, unable to fix it, though a huge grateful is C lugging up water and emptying our freezer for us, what a friend!
- the sad news I couldn't share before is that our Padre will be leaving Mourão at the end of the summer; the Bishop has asked him to move to a larger town near Lisbon. We will miss him so much, and will have to rethink how we work, much will depend on who the new Padre will be...