It took me a long time to realize that this monster was staring in our windows from the beach in front of our house. I've enhanced the picture a little so that you can visualize the creature the same as I do.
The highlight of this week was a visit from Jerry's Aunts. Jerry's Mother was the oldest of seven girls. Of the seven only three remain. This last year Audrey, widowed in Chicago, moved in with my Aunt Bonnie and her husband, Will, in Seattle. The two are a study in contrast. Audrey is extravert, willing to try anything while Bonnie is quiet and shy. Bonnie has been a member of the Boeing Choir for many years and has traveled all over the world with the Choir.
Thursday afternoon, Audrey, Bonnie and Will came. We figured that fresh crab would be a real treat, so I put out the crab pots Wednesday. Audrey has spent most of her life in Chicago. So, she knew nothing about crab. She did offer to help dig them.
After settling in, and having a nice walk on the beach, it was time to go out and harvest the crabs. Audrey, who is 80, wanted to go with me when I went to get the crab pots, but I told her that there wasn't room for her and the traps in the small rowboat. The compromise was bring the traps directly in has they came out of the water and to sort and empty the traps on shore where the "Aunties" could help. There were twelve crabs is the two pots. First the females had to be released, and then the undersize. When we were done we had our limit (five crabs). The Aunties were enthralled with the chaos but weren't disposed to grabbing any of the crabs.
Audrey still wanted a ride in the rowboat. So, we found here a lifejacket and cleaned the crab ?stuff? off the seat. After pushing off from the shore, I discovered that she had very little experience in small boats. Her grip on the gunnels was a dead give away. By the end she had relaxed and was quite thrilled with the adventure.
Will is pretty badly crippled from something and was content to sit on the deck and watch the world go by. As Will said - "I don't have this kind of view at home."
The fresh crab at dinner was a real treat for Bonnie and Will and a real escapade for Audrey. Nancy showed her how to extract the meat, but I don't think Audrey has the strength in her hands to crack the crab. After dinner we had a nice beach fire and roasted marshmallows. They stayed the night and after a big breakfast, headed home around noon.
We have started our serious research on housing in England. Where do you start? The local library has access to a high speed internet. I have to use their computers but the access is fast and the paper copies are unlimited. I sampled newspapers from around the county and found: there are houses available, not only houses, but apartments, flats, and cottages; the prices are reasonable and within our price range and are available in both furnished and unfurnished. In England you don't look for "rentals", you look for "lettings".
Finding what part of England to focus our search is a little harder. We know very little about the various individual parts. We can find information of the historical significants of almost any neighborhood, but the status of the present is harder to come by.
We had first thought that the south coast, the Wessex or the Sussex area, would be idea. We like the coastal towns and this is where the English go for the Coast. The only downside would be the access to other parts of England. We'd like to be fairly central with no more than two hours access to London but the South Coast would require going though London to get anywhere.
Our latest target is the area around Bristol. Bristol is a seaport, close to the Cotswolds and central to a lot of things. We have a long way to go, but we now have a stating point.
We have received a letter from one of our Mountain View friends showing a plan to convert the schoolyard in the backyard to residential housing, 60 units. We were told when we bought our house that the zoning for that property was "school" and could never be changed. There was no hint of this when we left, so it will be interesting to see what happens.