Final Day at the Cottage

Tomorrow I leave the cottage and return to my home base in Hook, Hampshire. Just as I finally figured out how to keep this place warm: keep the central heating on 24-hours and don't think about the cost. And it only took me three weeks and a direct invitation from the homeowner to make me willing to stop thinking about the cost! In spite of the cold inside the cottage, I've really been spoiled with amazing weather during the three-and-a-half weeks I've spent here. Lots of sunshine and more clear days than rainy ones!

It has been a wonderful vacation here - I feel truly spoiled to have had this chance to live in Wales. Part of my process in deciding to move to the UK involved a scene in "Miss Potter" where Beatrix is living on her own in the country. I wanted that moment but I never thought I'd really get it. But I did. I love it when God surprises me.

Some people out here thought I'd be nervous about staying out in the country - the intense darkness at night, the silence and the strange sounds, and being so completely alone, but none of those things ever bothered me. Although I've been getting tired of being alone all the time, it hasn't really bothered me in the ways people thought it would. Instead of feeling dark and lonely, the cottage has just felt cozy.

The little creek running through the cottage yard.

My next little adventure is that I get to hang out with my big sister in London on Sunday and Monday, November 9 and 10! I'm so excited! Lisa has a stop-over for a few days on her way to India (she's going there for five weeks). Then the following weekend I'm heading to Cambridge for a few days to stay with a couple who are relatives of friends back in Canada (I've never met them). I'm thinking of adding a few days to the trip to travel in the surrounding area but I haven't figured out where to go; if anybody has recommendations, pass them along!

I guess after Cambridge I'll have to settle down and start working.
Back to the real world!