A lovely Saturday with the Harris'

I just talked with my family from Minnesota this week. It was 50 degrees Fahrenheit below zero with the windchill factor! Since it was 50 degrees above zero here, for some reason I did not miss Minnesota this week. (No offense to dear friends and family that live there!)

We are often overwhelmed with God's provision in so many ways in our life here in Cambridge. One way He has been very kind to us has been the advent of many new friendships. We have really enjoyed our friends Adrian and Fiona. Their three girls are very sweet, and our girls (and Andrew) enjoy them too!

Yesterday they came over for lunch and then we traipsed over to Anglesey Abbey to see their 'winter garden.' When we first were told that this part of the Abbey was beautiful in January and February, we didn't believe it. Being from the northern Midwest, we pictured snowblown fields and frozen ground. As you will see in the pictures below, we were wrong!

Adrian and Jim joked about how excited they were to see the 'snow drops', flowers the garden seems to highlight. And so after giving us women a hard time, they started a club. You might need to click on the letter below to read it. This arrived for Jim via Adrian.


And so off the Softies and their families went to Anglesey!

Enjoy the scenery! We're not sure what each flower is called; we just know they were amazingly varied and beautiful.

Early blue Iris.



My friend Fiona...



The shrubs had beautiful blooms, too.


Sarah showing us her new earrings~


I wish you could smell these pink blooms...


Charming flowers of another kind!


And, of course, the famous Snow Drops~



Daffodils were up at the end of January!



Aren't these ghostly white Birches lovely?


One of the neat things to find at Anglesey Abbey is the old water mill.

According to the National Trust, there has probably been a mill on the site of the present Lode Mill since the time of William the Conqueror's Domesday Survey in 1085. They think the present mill was built in the mid eighteenth century; that means this mill was grinding wheat before that deplorable rebellion in the American colonies!

They still grind wheat, corn, and oats, which you can buy there.


The sun beginning to set over the water by the mill~


Jim and Adrian, those Softies, have discovered a 'treasure trove' of Snow drops!




Look at the eerie green trunks of these hedges. The branches look like windswept hair.


There is such a variety of lines and textures in the Winter Garden. The bush next to Jim and I has branches that are curly and twisted like corkscrews.


We ended up in front the Abbey~


Right before we left, everyone (the children, that is!) jumped to Jim from one of the trees.


Nothing like a brisk afternoon walk to work up an appetite.

As Adrian lit a fire, Fiona prepared a feast for the hungry crew, ending with a chocolate fudge pudding. She is a wonderful cook!

We love getting together with the Harris'... especially when we end up back at their house for dinner!