Signing Off

it is 4:39 am -

i have been awake all night reading japanese fairy tales and listening to rap music -

and i am about to get a cab to the train station - 

from there i will leave for the airport - and then i will be headed for america -

this is me signing off -

j

London Town - Family Style

London has been awesome! Nate and i have been doing the town up and really getting to know each other alot better - we were saying that it is so funny how you can be close with someone for 20 odd years and you don't really know them - we've been out to a few pubs, had the "best" fish and chips in london and seen the sights - today we are going over to the south bank to see the Tate Modern Art Museum and i am very very excited - he says he isn't the art type but i'll see if i can warm him up to the idea - and the best part is it is free! 

it definitely hasn't sunk in yet that this is my last day but i guess it will - i am so excited, and i just can't hide it, i'm about to lose control and ...anyway - tonight i am going to cook a big meal of gratitude here at his flat and meet some of his freinds here - then i am off from heathrow at 8:30 in the morn - 

much love to the states!

j

Last Day in Tilford

I am all set to leave early tomorrow and head up to foggy London town - but for my last day here i enjoyed a kayak adventure down the river and a nice bike ride in the rain - i know ... i have great legs -



Tonight we're having a big ol' dinner and maybe even playing some cards!?!? everything has been very nice here but i am ready to be back on trains, plains and the north american continent -

I'll be seeing the sights first thing tomorrow through the wonder of the tube and then meet up with Nate around 7 - hope to have a few pictures -


welp, keep the light on for me -
j

Nature boy

The past couple of days have been really nice - there was a big rain two nights ago and yesterday i biked a muddy couple of hours in Bourne forest northwest of Tilford - it is a national trust forest like Brown County state park but nothing in it except trails - This morning i rode to the back of the park - the sun is shining beautifully and the breeze is nice-

I'll be in London for the final weekend in England - my cousin Nathan works for a bank there and has offered a couch - i'm really looking forward to hanging out with him -

here is alittle slice of life from today at tea time - the neighbors came over and i went under cover so you could enjoy the ambience - in the audio you can here the children in the river playing, you can hear the neighbor ladies talking about people, peter chimes in along with the windchimes, sally offers more tea...its nice i think - and here you can see the meadow that Meyon, their black standard poodle, sometimes bounds and gallops through chasing rabbits - which are plentiful but rarely caught -

much love back home-

josh

It's Kind Of Like Batesville!

Today i rode up north of Tilford in search of the beautiful North Downs Way- i found a nice part of it from Farnham Culverlands to Seale - alot of walking the bike through places that look like they are private property but i don't think they have guns here so i was safe - then i found alot of really beautiful bridleways down south back to Tilford -

the hills were really steep at times but i didn't wimp out - i'm sort of addicted to biking now and i might want to try to pick it up where i left off today tomorrow-

i still haven't heard from max, but i guess i would hear about him being lost in the canadian wilderness -

everything is just so beautiful here and the people are so kind - today i was on a remote road and a guy stopped and rolled down his window while i was looking at the map and asked if i was lost, and i said, no i am just deciding where to go - and then he gave me some sheapard's pie! no not really but he did go ahead and tell me what direction a few of the landmarks were -and i was thankful because i got to see an old church called Waverly Abbey -

on the way back i saw all the kids playing in the river - it is very cool -

i am glad to be a week out but am loving it here -

hoping Obama's hip is going to be okay,

josh

I Bike England!

Today i took off on the good old bicycle, a fine way for any featherless bi-ped to get around England - the bridleways (horse paths) are everywhere in this county (Surrey) - i rode from Tilford over two villages to Milford and back through Churt - every town has its own little pride about it - and if you are ever between Tilford and Elstead for any reason you have got to stop by The Donkey - it is a great pub with two donkeys and a bunch of large really happy people who will talk to you and give you left over food from lunch -

on my journey i also became fasinated with names here - the villages and counties all have the best names - Sheephatch, Shackleford, Hambledon, Frillinghurst, Chiddingfold - I mean those are some beastly names - there is just something so.... English about them iambic pentameter and stuff -

I'm sitting in the computer room which is in a house that is around 450 years old - it is wierd that they had such forethought - i can here the river which is full of screaming chilren...playing in the shallow water... and the occational cheers from the cricket green across the river - i still don't understand cricket but i am not too worried about it - i just can't wait to get back and watch a colts game this fall with watery beer that is served too cold and call french fries, french fries and chips, chips and football, football and drink everything with a ridiculous amount of ice in it - anyway -

i plan on working a few more hours tomorrow to finish up the garden here and then i might take off and ride a stretch of the North Downs Way which i hear is amazing -

well now that i have sorted this out, i'll belt up and i shouldn't think it will be frightfully long before i post again -

much love,
josh

MInding a Manor

Things are going quite well today - i am finished with the first day's work cleaning out beds in the garden - here is one of the long beds i finished today with a regal pose from Crackers, the dog born on christmas day -

This flower is very nice but i have no idea what it is - this home is amazing - it was orignally a large barn and they have fused the old cottage with it - the barn wood was all sandblasted and reused - so the large timbers wind up the wall retaining the white plaster walls - they also have a large meadow in back with all the geothermal pipes running underground so the house maintains a nice cool temperature in summer -

The kitchen is something right out of Food and Wine - maybe some ideas for you mom and dad!

I enjoy working again and the temperature here is perfect, although they say it is really hot - i miss the good old 90 degree days with humidity - Only 11 more days -

much love to the states,
josh