Leaving my home in George, there are naturally things that I will miss. Here are a few pictures of the things that will pull at me whilst being away:

I will miss Mums obviously. FaceTime will be running between us regularly!
Mums has just celebrated her birthday!
Mums was so sickly I never thought she would reach her 50th birthday. What joy the family had, marching into her bedroom, with a tea tray, roses and presents on her 81st birthday. We partied the day away!!!

It is Perdita, my little ageing wire haired dachshund, that I will long for. 
After I leave, Perdita apparently sits by the front door waiting for my appearance. For three days. On the fourth day, she gives up, abandons the door and promptly settles in to her new home.

Every night, I go to sleep with Perdita tucked into my side and Spencer, my cockatiel, muttering beneath his covered cage on my left. I just adore sharing my flat with Spencer. Every morning, with Perdita crouched on my lap, Spencer comes out of his cage and has an exploratory walk around my bed.
I look so forward to going back to his bed walk explorations.

We have a coffee house in George, Ground Control.
The coffee and carrot cake are ambrosial. I had to think quite seriously about going overseas. No Ground Control carrot cake for almost a month!!!

Every morning I gaze up at my George mountain and am perpetually astounded by such incredible ‘God-made’ beauty!!!

My friend, Jans, introduced me to succulents.
She came round with a glorious windmill, beautiful rocks she had picked up at the beach, and my first fleshy, multi-coloured succulents. I have added more as time has moved on.  How I love letting Perdita out every morning and perusing my sensational plants. I wonder how they will change during these weeks of separation?

I’m leaving Perdita with Mums and her best friend, Brendan. How I adore that little black and tan bundle of lively mischief. He is so good for Perdita. He is forty-eight dog years old and Perdita is one hundred and five. With his youthful vigour and zest, he keeps my ‘little old lady’ on the go. My best thing is watching them sleeping together. He rests his chin on Perdita’s back as they drift into the world of dreams.

I will love my time in England. I will be seeing special places but even better, I will be reconnecting with people I love that mean so much to me. 

And then….I will go home.

This quote sums up my feelings exactly:

“The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and it feels even better to come back.”
Wendy Wunder, The Probablily of Miracles

The post There’s no place like home! appeared first on 'ear 'ear! by Gaynor Young.

I think back on my time in England and my heart smiles. My time wasn’t spent seeing wonderful new sights. It was spent seeing old friends and making new ones! Here are simply a few pictures of the England I know and love…….

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–       Like Eva Cassidy, I love the Fields of Gold in England! The bright red poppies sparkling amidst golden fields of wheat and barley in the sunshine simply take my breath away.

–        Many of the houses and cottage are beautifully crafted in local stone. England differs to South Africa in that in many areas you can actually determine where you are by what the a buildings are made out of. At the beginning of my holiday, I was fortunate to stay in Cassie Bassett’s (nee Holliday) wonderful holiday cottage in the Cotswolds. All the houses in this area are built of the most beautiful sandy, russet, golden blocks of stone. In the sunshine they seem to positively glow. Where ‘B’ lives in Norfolk many of the cottages, churches and walls are built of Norfolk split flints and instead of glowing, they sparkle in the suns rays.

–       The light in England is different to South African light. South Africa has a beautiful orange-gold glow to it. In England it is softer. It is more yellow-gold. it is gentler somehow. They are both beautifully different.

–        As I have mentioned before, the colour I associate with England is green. Radiant thickets of green foliage tickled with rays of sunshine. Breathtaking in their greenness.

–       England has one of the best television organisations is the world with the BBC. They also have the best TV Catch-Up App with the iPlayer. This App is absolutely tremendous particularly when used in conjunction with my wonderful iPad that was a birthday gift last year. Whilst I am in England, I can turn on my iPad and via the iPlayer watch a myriad of TV programmes. Drama is my favourite category and what is even more amazing is that every programme is available with subtitles!!!! Only people who are deaf can fully appreciate the absolute joy of subtitles! I am able to download any programme I want before I head back to SA and they will remain available for me to watch for the next 30 days

–       Whilst in England I go to B and John’s church, Proclaimers. It is a vibrant church made up of young, enthusiastic, non-religious Jesus loving people. Their pastor, Tom Rawls, is phenomenal. His messages are inspired by the Spirit of God, and while making you think, he also makes you laugh. I always leave there with my precepts challenged and that is what good preaching is about, isn’t it?

–        I love this time of year in England. The sun goes down at 9.30 p.m. in the evening. It is the most idyllic thing sitting in the garden at that time of night, listening to the birds make their final preparations, drinking your last cup of camomile tea, before going inside, brushing your teeth and in turn heading for bed – and the iPlayer!!

However, my favourite thing in England, without a shadow of a doubt, is my best friend and soulmate – B!

PS – I have had the most glorious hot and sunny weather whilst being here, this is nothing to do with the English, I brought it with me from South Africa!

The post England, My England! appeared first on 'ear 'ear! by Gaynor Young.

I have been to beautiful Manor Houses like Blickling Hall, Hampton Court and Windsor Castle. This time while in England I visited Chatsworth House. It was stupendous inside. But I had seen it all before. Sumptuous rooms magnificently draped. Antiques so splendid that they didn’t seem real to me. How I wished Mum was with me. She would have done her nut about all those wonders! I try to imagine the people that lived in those homes and I fail miserably. Maybe it’s because I am not one for historical novels. I prefer Patricia Cornwell and very rarely do any of her characters romp around Windsor Casle! So going around the splendid inside of Chatsworth House was beautiful but there was nothing new and exciting to me.

It was outside that I had surprise after delicious surprise! I discovered an enchantment that made me gasp in wonder and amazement.

B, John and I joined several others and piled onto a golf buggy and off we trundled around the magnificent estate. If I were to describe England I would use the word green. Green arbours, field of green grass with a confetti of daisies, large green towering Oak trees – green! Cow Parsley is rampant. Some of you, the non-Englanders, will need me to explain what Cow Parsley is. It is a plant that grows about a metre high and it has a dome- like head of cream lace-like flowers. And it is everywhere! It’s delicacy is enchanting!

We arrived at the first spot: a magnificent fountain called The Emperor Fountain, the highest gravity fed fountain in the UK. John jumped out of the buggy to take a picture and was instantly reprimanded by our driver who was telling us about the various places.

“Excuse me, Sir, please come back. We have a tight schedule.”

“I’m just getting this one photograph.”

“Well, Sir, I would rather you stayed seated,” he responded crossly. B and I pretended we didn’t know John. We had to! He got out to take photographs every time our buggy pulled to a stop. By the time we had finished our tour in the buggy, our irate driver had developed three ulcers!

A beautiful grotto was pointed out to us, cut into the hillside in the1800’s. We were going through the woods when all of a sudden there was this magnificent statue of a hare standing by the Grotto Pond beating a drum. He was so handsome and…right. Indeed all the outside statues we saw that day seemed to grace the portion of the garden they were placed in.              .

Then we came to the Cascades. I looked up at tier upon tiers of water cascading and tumbling towards me. Copious quantities of water falling in stages down a steep slope. This was built in the 1700’s. It was a scene of breathtaking beauty. Young children laughing as they splashed and frolicked in the tumbling waters. What a treat to see children doing that rather than sitting playing with their computer games and smart phones! The Cascades seemed to be laughing aloud at the joy of life. I smiled at the foresight of its creator who never lived to see his masterpiece completed. But what a masterpiece!

I could go on for ages recounting the wonders that I discovered in Chatsworth gardens. But…..you must go there and sample the delights for yourselves!

I carry my experience of that estate with me when I left. It has coiled itself into my heart where I can often look at it with delight.

And smile.

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