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The Parish of All Hallows, North Greenford |
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Come in! Taste and see how good the Lord is. |
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Reflecting with Pamela |
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It is one week ago to the day that I was completing a 9 night stay in America having visited with my Mother in Williamsburg Virginia. Checking my watch as I write this and going back 5 hours in time, it was at this time 11.45am that Gareth and I stopped the car in a lay by to have one last look at the beautiful and most breathtaking scenery of the Shenandoah Mts. before we returned our car to Dulles Airport and made our way home to England.
On our travels, both home and abroad, we take with us an assortment of music to listen to both classical and blues and the piece of music for this moment in time was taken from the Album ‘The Armed Man’ written by Karl Jenkins. Some of you who read this might remember that we listened to the words of the Benedictus; a tract from the Armed Man during the Service on Passion Sunday. It was also a very pleasurable experience to hear the entire performance live performed in Holy Week at St. Alban’s Abbey in Hertfordshire.
As I translated the words of the Benedictus in my head, sitting in the car on a warm April morning in the Virginia Mountains, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest’ seemed suitably apt for such a majestic setting combined with the fact that the joy of Easter Sunday was still very much alive within us. Eventually we had to leave the mountain-top and make our way down to the Valley but the view of rolling mountains, brilliant sunshine and evocative music will stay with me for a very long time.
Having lived in England for 41 years, I have inherited the habit of talking about the weather so I want to share an amazing ‘weather story’ with you. While we were staying in the Mountains at a place called Skyland we encountered all 4 seasons in the space of Wednesday morning, 22nd of April. Making our way from the log cabin to the dining room which has astounding views of mountains and the valley floor below, we were bathed in warm early morning sun. This continued to be the case all through breakfast.
After breakfast we purchased a medium size cup of Earl Grey tea (please note I say ‘medium’. Gareth and I have learned that anything which has large written on it in America relating to food or drink is large, beyond all measures) and took this with our light hearted reading material to the communal Lodge, again surrounded by magnificent views. Inside the Lodge is a vast open fireplace, 4 times the size of the one in the Vicarage, I might add. Logs had been stacked in place and to my great pleasure someone had lit a fire for all to enjoy. If you read back a paragraph or two, you will note that I said we experienced warm early morning sun during breakfast. While in the Lodge enjoying our tea, I became aware that the light in the room changed and the sound of howling wind in the trees resembling autumn (or USA Fall) alerted my weather antennae.
Not long after this, large hailstones dropped out of the sky and to follow on from that, the snow arrived. For us who were snuggled up on the expanding sofa in front of the fire, it all felt lovely and cosy; a good Currier and Ives ‘winter wonderland’ experience (in April). It wasn’t long before people rushed in from the outside with amazed looks on their faces and weather conversations began in earnest.
I love the beautiful mountains of Virginia! Bill Bryson stopped in Skyland while on the walk across America using the Appalachian Trail. Gareth and I have walked some of the Trail both ‘up North’ and ‘down South’ but in a very miniscule fashion. If a dream could be fulfilled for the future, I would love to take a 3 month Sabbatical to walk the Trail and write a modern day version of the Psalms. Well, you just never know…..!
For all the animal lovers who read this magazine article, I have to mention the deer. On our first evening when making our way to dinner, we came out of our cabin to find no less then 10 deer munching the grass. They numbered from Bambi # 1 and on up the numerical scale. The bears come out of hibernation at this time of year but there are heightened alerts everywhere about not confronting the bears.
I wouldn’t be an earnest traveller to America in the eyes of Simon Burns if I didn’t close by mentioning the word shopping. However, our idea of shopping and the Burn’s idea of this has no resemblance whatsoever - baby/children’s clothes from kmart and Carter’s instead of elegant grown up garments from Macy’s. Condensed Clam Chowder soup in pseudo silver cans from Walmart instead of silver purchased in Tiffany’s. One or two paperback books from Barnes and Nobles Book store, one pair of Converse boots (Charles), one pair of trainers (Eleanor). Last but not least, the flight bag containing the ancestral ‘family silver’ coming home to England from America was the most unique ‘shopping’ of all.
Blessings from Pamela
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May 2009 |