Happy Days

Well, today we're at the halfway point of my in-laws' two-week visit. So far so good. The day they arrived (after many fears that they would not make their connecting flight) was my father-in-law's 69th birthday, so we put him to work.

The following day, we went to Wales. Let me remind those of you who might have forgotten that I am not very physically fit. I do not play sports, I do not run (unless chased), I even get nauseated watching other people engage in physical exertion. However, I do enjoy a good hike. So, whenever anyone leaves the planning of vacations to me, I seek out places where I can walk at a lovely pace and see glorious things (or at least not-ugly things). So when Ariel suggested that we take the Wolfer-Johnsons (Johnson being Ariel's step-father's surname) to Wales, I first looked for a nice place to hike. I picked a short circular walk of only 4 miles that wasn't too strenuous that went along cliffs and though meadows of wildflowers. The weather was glorious and the hike was more of a gentle stroll, but we weren't 2 miles in before the whole of our adventuring party started to whine. I expect Lena and Livia to whine, but we just rebut them with the reminder that they have hiked more than 5 miles on mountain goat trails in the Sierra Nevadas (the Spanish ones). But the grownups were no better. My mother-in-law Tracey repeated muttered the phrase "forced march." Norm complained of chest pains. Now Ariel and I are prayerful people (Ariel is prayerful and I make us plural people). Norm has a history of heart issues, and we pray each time that Norm and Tracy come to visit that Norm will have no incidents on our watch. On the trail, when I heard Norm's quiet complaint, I myself nearly had a heart attack. Maybe I had carelessly killed my father-in-law. But he recovered, we made it to our car, and o the last few miles to our B&B in Fishguard.

I like to say "Fishguard" because it's funny. It's a ferry port to southern Ireland and a charming little Welsh village. It's greatest claim to fame is that there was the site of the last invasion of Britain. Hastings tries to make that claim, what with their William the Conqueror and all, but in 1797, a 70-year-old American led a French force of 1400 against England, hoping to land in Bristol, but getting washed up to Wales. A Portuguese trading vessel had just delivered a shipment of whiskey, and many of the French found this while looting. The hero of the day was a woman named Jemima Nicholas who, when she heard of the invasion, took her pitchfork and rounded up 12 invaders, dropped them into the local jail, and then gathered the women to go round up more. The French saw the women's traditional red cloaks and thought they were British soldiers (Redcoats), and surrendered. Quelle surprise.

We could have hiked again, but I was shouted down. We next went to St David's, Wales' smallest city. It's only a city because there is a cathedral there (which is what makes it a city). Also were the ruins of the Bishop's Palace. The Bishop did all right by himself. Then during the civil war, Cromwell's men looted the building and stole the lead from the roof. The palace fell into disrepair.

Needing something to make up for torturing my in-laws the day before, we went to the Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust near the town of Miza Llinelli. There we were able to see lots of obscure wildfowl such as swans, ducks, and robins. We also had to chance to take canoe trips through the marsh where Ariel and I learned an important lesson: canoing is not good for one's marriage. I can't count the number of times that we crashed into the marsh grass. It didn't help that Lena had the map and was giving directions -- that led to dead ends. We had a great time. (Lena had such a good time, she remained smiling in the picture despite the fact that when I turned around to take it, I bashed her in the head with my oar.)

As Ariel has reported, Lena was baptised Saturday. It was so lovely. I had made both of her dresses -- the white one she was baptised in and a green one she changed into. Livia provided a musical number and sang "When I am Baptised." Afterwards, we went out to eat at a Chinese buffet about which someone had told us. We walked right past it into the center of Banbury where we stumbled upon a Town Crier competition. Lena was congratulated by a lady-town crier. Sunday evening we had a party with about 50 people to celebrate Lena's big step.

School starts tomorrow. Hallelujah.