44 and counting

On this day 44 years ago, Abbie and I said "as long as we both shall live". Some of those 44 anniversaries are more memorable than others (for example, on our 25th we were being given a short tour through the Alps near Zurich; on our 40th, we were in Eureka Springs, Arkansas). We will remember this one, too.

Don't let anyone tell you the sun never shines in England. We've been here almost a week and although there have been some clouds on a couple of the days, it really rained on only one day. We have been blessed with bright sunshine, and this morning especially so. We're staying with Pastor Derek Martin and his wife, Margaret, who first came to our services in Madeira in about 1982. They live about an hour and a half SE of London in a country village. The picture above shows their backyard ("garden" to you British readers) and that is where we had breakfast this morning.



This week we've been to Hastings, where the Norman king William earned the added title "the Conqueror" in 1066 in his victory over the Anglo-Saxons. We've been down the Thames, and during our visit to London, had a chance to meet Pres. Obama. I asked him if he would like his picture taken with me, and he didn't say no.

                               (Photo taken at Madam Tussaud's wax museum.)


We travel home tomorrow, and although the word is that the weather has been a scorcher there, up around 40ºC (over a 100ºF), we're looking forward to getting back.

I have finally unloaded pictures that have been in my camera since May, and I intend to see that some of them are published here to give you an overview of the last couple of months. Of course, I have yet to see how high the pile of work is that awaits me when we get back. Will those pictures actually get put on the blog?