No News is Good News

Thursday, 23 June

Hard to believe June is nearly gone already!  We've been lucky about the weather; it's been drier than last year, sunny most days, but still cold.  There hasn't been a single day I would venture outdoors without a sweater or jacket.  We are enjoying the long hours of night, too, although with the solstice just past, those hours will decline sharply now.

We go to bed when we're tired and get up when we wake up.  We eat when we're hungry and go out when the weather is nice.

Demetrios is hard at work on his book and I've been typing (and debating) it with him.  The debating part is very difficult because for some reason, I become very emotional about it.  I suppose I want it to be so perfect, and am frequently disappointed.  Hard to explain how something so crystal clear in his mind (and indeed, in his writing, once he takes an hour or two to explain it) comes out as gobbledegook to everyone else.  He has drawn some illustrations, though, and written some more, and drawn some diagrams and compiled a glossary of terns, so his meaning ought to be more understandable now.  It's an extremely difficult subject to begin with, which may be why nobody else has done it.

I've been concentrating on the charity knitting, and have finished a darling blanket with matching cap for a girl preemie.  Am having fun planning what to do next. 

We've continued attending the Tuesday night Bible study, although it didn't meet this week, and I'm still enjoying the Knit 'n Natter group at the OPC (Ormskirk Parish Church).

New friends?  Well, we met a very nice Ukrainian woman at church Sunday.  Her name is Valentina, and she's here studying finance at Liverpool, commuting between here and Dublin, where her husband and children are. 

We reconnected with Zisis, the dapper young lad who is taking his master's degree in shipping, who introduced us to his friend, another grad student named Maria.  Zisis has found a job since we last saw him; he works at what he says is the best clothing store in Liverpool.  Meanwhile, he's still looking for something in his own field.

Diana, the lady we met at Liverpool Cathedral, writes that her house is surrounded by scaffolding; new windows, new doors, and a new roof are all being installed.  So she can't come for tea just yet, but hopes to when the construction work is done. 

Our dear Elias came for lunch yesterday.  He's someone you just feel you've known all your life and we had two hours of delightful communing.  He didn't pass the big exam he took on Monday, so will have to re-take it at the end of August, so we may not see as much of him as we'd like. 

David and Julia and their son Nick are off in Vienna with her cousin Robbie.  Before that, last weekend Julia and her friend Sue went to the Royal Ascot.  We are eager to hear them tell us of both places. 

And that's it.  Nothing earth-shaking.  And not a single theological thought in my head just now.  But we're enjoying it all enormously.