Whitby

I always love remembering "what we were doing this time last year," and this year that means remembering a lovely get-a-way we had on the North Yorkshire coast during the Easter holidays.  You might notice that beach attire in North Yorkshire is a little different from your typical American spring break.

We met a lovely couple last year who own a bed and breakfast in Whitby, and they invited us to visit for a few days.  The Birdhouse was so peaceful and relaxing, and we enjoyed getting to know Doug and Hillary so much.  This was my first week dealing with the now infamous "glass in the foot" episode, so the first day we arrived I wasn't able to go walking with K.J. and the kids.  I was really disappointed, but I had a good book and a cup of tea and a view of Whitby Abbey in the distance, so who could ask for anything more?  Besides not experiencing stabbing pains when walking, of course. 

Let's just take a moment to marvel at how the sun changes everything.  Our first full day in Whitby was brilliant in every way.  Walking on the sand ended up being really hard on my foot, but we had so much fun looking for sea glass and pottery washed up from the North Sea.  All the rocks were so unique and colorful, too.

 

The biggest gamble in any British holiday is the weather, but apart from one very wet excursion into Northumberland we usually had at least one magnificent day on our trips.  Maybe they were just normal sunny days, but when scattered amidst cloudy days, the sunny days always felt special.

As someone who grew up with Alabama and Florida beaches, I'm always struck by green fields running up to the sea, the ocean to one side and cows grazing on the other side of the street.  The gorse was blooming beautifully.

This was my first chance to explore the streets of Whitby, which I did until my foot couldn't take it anymore, and I called K.J. to pick me up.  It was such a delight.  Take this punny name:

There are many charming shops in Whitby, but any exploring I do is always going to be of the book-browsing variety.  The Whitby Bookshop is your place for beautiful new books, items of local interest, bookish gifts, and lots of charm.  There's nothing so charming as a spiral staircase in a bookstore.

This shop had the most amazing prices on Usborne Illustrated Classics.  A book I'd spent 20 pounds on at Christmas was in here for 8 pounds.  Funny story, I accidentally shoplifted at this shop.  I was holding a book I was debating on buying.  I decided against it but forgot to put it back on the shelf and made it all the way to the bottom of the 199 Steps before looking down and realizing I was holding a book I hadn't paid for.  I walked as quickly as I could back to the shop, nonchalantly strolled inside and put it back on the shelf before exiting quietly.

This was the place to find second-hand treasures, my favorite kind.

Books I Didn't Buy

Whitby really became a place we loved on this trip.  I highly recommend it.

"Every young man's story should have a bookshop."

- Matthew Pearl, The Last Bookaneer -

Monday Musings, vol. i

Good morning from one of our local Starbucks!  K.J. and I have been trying to think of a way to schedule me some regular time on my own, and today is the first morning we're trying something new:  me popping out the door early.  I was a little afraid we wouldn't be able to find something open.  K.J. recently spent a morning on a ruthless search for a place open before 9 a.m. to buy milk.  Coffee, of course, is a different matter entirely to milk.  And I feel the need to reassure my mother that it was daylight when I left, and there were plenty of people around to make it safe to walk down the street.  

All the people out on the street are scurrying off to work, blues music is playing, and the soft murmur of two Frenchmen meeting for coffee is my background this morning.  

We had our second service at EIC Ternes yesterday.  There were about half the number of people there as we had last week, which is probably pretty normal considering last week was Easter Sunday, and we knew a lot of people were there from the mother church who wouldn't normally be there.  Since it was less crowded I was able to meet  someone who had visited last week and came again that I didn't meet before, which was good.  Hearing the stories of people from vastly different backgrounds than ourselves is a humbling thing.

We're enjoying watching the spring slowly arrive.  The leaves have finally come out of their buds in the trees on our street.  Everywhere there are trees the horizon is sporting that lime green color of new leaves.  The temperature reached 70 degrees yesterday.  I know how crazy this sounds to our fellow Alabamians, but that feels really hot to our bodies now.  Speed-walking to church and climbing stairs out of the Metro made us all feel a bit clammy, but then after church the sun disappeared and rain blew in, and it felt much cooler.  Layering is a springtime must.  And I think we'll actually really need a summertime wardrobe this year. 

I hope it's a good Monday and a good week wherever you are.  We have an appointment this week with a French government office regarding our visas, after which we will hopefully have all we need to rent our own apartment.  We shall see...French bureaucracy has been notorious for a long time.  Being part of a church filled with people from all over the world, we've heard a lot of stories, and it made me laugh when I came across this in a memoir by an American journalist living in Paris in the 1930s writing about his experience with the prefecture.

"...the nearest foreigner who chanced to

have asked for something he was forced

by law to have and could seldom obtain."

- The Last Time I Saw Paris, by Elliot Paul - 

Friday Favorites

The first thing that popped into my head as I sat down to write this post was something that was NOT my favorite this week, but I'll bypass that for the things that were.

1.  Easter Monday

I first heard the phrase "Easter Monday" while we were living in the UK.  The Monday after Easter is a Bank Holiday and part of the two-week Easter holidays from school, and it's such a great thing.  I know American pastors and the people who plan and sing in Easter Cantatas and even those who spend all morning preparing Easter Sunday lunch could really benefit from a holiday the day after Easter.

Our Easter Monday this year was spent with friends enjoying an amazing brunch.  Ella greatly enjoyed the overabundance of carbs.  Thanks to France she's learned the delights of Nutella on pancakes.

2.  Spring Blossoms and New Friends

We spent yesterday afternoon with a family who visited EIC Ternes on Sunday and had a great time getting to know them better.  They took us on a walk around their neighborhood.  It is one of the prettiest Paris suburbs I've seen.

3.  The Story of the World, Volume II

I know I'm late to the party using this for history, but it's just SO GOOD.  History told as story (which it is!) is so captivating I'm never ready to stop reading.  The kids love it.  James especially loves the stories within the story when there are myths and legends from the different cultures included.  This week we've been reading about the kingdom of the Franks and Charles the Hammer and Charlemagne and who gave the rock of Gibraltar its name.  I should probably order the activity book. 

4.  A Friday Night Picnic

Temperatures reached the mid-60s this afternoon.  After school the kids and I went to the store for supplies and met K.J. after work in Tuileries for a picnic.  It was a delight to enjoy the warmth of the sun and short sleeves, even though I was wishing I'd brought a cardigan on the walk home.  

Happy Friday!  

Our Little James

We went on a walk with friends this week, and James jumped at the chance to walk Murphy.  I had to take his picture walking on the Rond-Pont Saint James.  

"Paris was wonderfully walkable."

- Julia Child -

Parc de Bagatelle

Last week we had lunch with a lovely family at EIC ("E-ic" church, James called it), and they took us to a beautiful park that afternoon.  There were several fields of daffodils in bloom, and peacocks roamed freely.  

This guy was a real show-off, turning slowly in circles so all the ladies could get a good look.  It made for a good photo-op. 

She walked away seemingly unmoved by the performance.

It was a big park with lots of green space, but you can see the city peeking through the trees.  It's actually a botanical garden, and it looked like the roses would be an amazing sight when they were in bloom.

The full-sized tulips weren't blooming yet, but their were a few mini tulips.  I had never seen them in miniature before and thought they were so pretty!

I'd also never seen a field of hyacinths, but I'm a fan.

I think we'd definitely enjoy going back again.

The First Sunday

Yesterday marked the first public service for Emmanuel International Church Ternes.  It feels like all new churches should begin on Easter.

Many members of the Rueill-Malmaison congregation came to support this first service, but there were many visitors, too.  I think I remember Parker telling us on our first trip to Paris 5 years ago how he felt there was a real need for more English-speaking churches within the city, and meeting so many people who had been looking for a local to them English-speaking church was such a confirmation of Parker's vision, which ultimately came from God.  

Yesterday was a beautiful beginning.  I loved getting to sing these words with people from so many different nations:

Holy, holy, holy,

is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come...

I know I'm biased, but the pastor sure did preach a great sermon from John 11.  Somebody just needs to remind him to record it next week. 😉

An Easter Sunday Anniversary

Happy Easter!  The above photo was taken last year on Easter Sunday 2017.  That morning I couldn't take a step on my left foot without a searing, stabbing pain shooting up my leg.  It was like walking on glass, which 7 months later we would finally discover was exactly what I was doing with every step.  

I stood in the hallway and cried last Easter Sunday because of the pain and then limped to church and played the piano, limped back home and served Easter Sunday lunch to our family and a guest because that's what grown-ups have to do.  I'm just so thankful that's all over, and I'm especially thankful today, the anniversary of when this saga began.  It's appropriate that it's on a day of resurrection and new life.

This Easter Sunday morning I can take a walk through Paris without pain, and I've never been more thankful for pain-free mobility.