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Home Again (September 2024)

Hello Dear Readers,


Well that was a long journey home, but thankfully everything went smoothly for us. We retraced our steps from a year ago and drove from Oxford to Paris (via the Chunnel), then flew to Newark on La Compagnie, a wonderful dog-friendly airline. A temporary rental car took us back to New England.


Gingersnap and Bentley did great on the trip. After some initial confusion upon entering our house, I think they are happy to be home. We thank them for their wonderful companionship this past year; their willingness to travel with us whether by car, ferry, or plane; and even to be stuck in the house all those times we went off to be tourists in London. We put 17,555 miles on our English lease car, and they were with us for most of them! Yes to some extent a dog does "tie you down," but on the other hand they are delighted to go wherever you go.



As for us - we are happy to be home and there is so much to do - unpacking, starting up our teaching jobs, acquiring a car for Robin, and especially reconnecting with our friends and family. We hope we will continue to savor each day and remember to appreciate our abundant blessings.


United Kingdom: you were so much fun and we will be back!


Thank you dear readers for following our sabbatical. Good-bye from these pages, but I look forward to connecting with you again soon. ❤️

 
 

Savoring our Sabbatical's Final Days

Updated: Aug 26, 2024

Our year is up! It is hard not to feel some pangs as we prepare to leave behind this UK sojourn we have loved. A few weeks ago we were walking around the beautiful grounds of a nearby castle, and reflecting upon the conclusion of our sabbatical. We do know intellectually that it’s been an anomalous year, like a long vacation without worrying about home maintenance, civic responsibilities, etc. We can’t live this way forever! But given how much we've enjoyed it all, I think we've nurtured a greater sense of “carpe diem” that hopefully will inform our lives back home.


Meanwhile we've revisited some of our favorite places and checked a few more items off our list, in between making arrangements to move ourselves and our dogs home. The farm fields around our house in Oxfordshire, mostly consisting of wheat and barley, have turned golden and are being mowed. The hedgerow blackberries are beginning to ripen, but the crowds of tourists are still in London.

Fields of gold all around

We've made a point to revisit our favorite pubs for that last cider (me) and beer (Robin). We've enjoyed a couple more days in my favorite city, London. And we finally took a walk up to and around the Uffington White Horse - a hillside engraving you can't miss, around 3,000 years old.

Uffington White Horse

Now here's a slideshow of what else we've been up to. I'll have one final post after Labor Day, letting you know how we did on our trip home. Thank you dear Readers for following our adventures! (Click first photo for slideshow with captions.)




🇬🇧 🫖 🍺 💂‍♀️









 
 

Ireland, Part 3: Charmed

Updated: Aug 22, 2024

Hello Dear Readers, and welcome to Blog Post # 34! With our sabbatical drawing to its close, I'm aiming to conclude with 36 total posts. # 36 will hopefully be about our final, convoluted dogs-in-tow journey home to Massachusetts in two weeks. If you have stuck with me this long - I really appreciate you reading!


Meanwhile, we made it back to Somerton, England yesterday after our 12-day car/ferry trip to Ireland. We only scratched the surface of that beautiful country, and had too little time to see many of the scenic and interesting places Ireland is known for. I'd gladly go back to experience more of the warm Irish hospitality! Truth be told, Scotland is still my favorite, but Ireland is totally charming.


The final stage of our visit began with rented bikes and a ride along the Great Western Greenway, a bike path which goes from Westport to Achill Island in County Mayo. Taking advantage of a nice shuttle service to the most scenic part, we biked only about a third of its 49 total kilometers, but it was a great day out. The weather was cool and sunny and the path was easy to ride. We met three young expat women living in Dublin on our shuttle -- originally from the US, France, and Croatia. Running into each other along the trail was fun!



Next, we left the northern half of the country and drove around 5 hours to Ireland's southern shores, near the town of Skibbereen in County Cork. We were welcomed by some very hospitable friends to their beautiful home in the village of Glandore. On our journey south, we began to appreciate why Ireland is known for being so green!


During our time in Glandore we played bridge with some really delightful local players, visited another ancient stone circle, enjoyed the company of our hosts and soaked in the scenery. Then it was time to depart for the Rosslare ferry back to Wales and the drive home to England.

When we leased our English car we had to estimate the mileage we would drive this year (as it affected the monthly price). We went high with 15,000. As of yesterday, we'd done 17,080. Whoops! Fortunately the price for excess miles is not too bad.


I leave you for now with photos from Glandore. (Click on the flower photo for the slideshow.) Thank you for reading, and I'll be back next week with how we savor our sabbatical's final days! XO



🇮🇪 🥃 ☘️ ⛴️

 
 

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