Something rather traumatic happened today: my phone deleted all the photos I took from our time in the Lake District. I would not be lying if I said urns of tears were shed. The worst thing is, while I was walking through the fields, I kept thinking, words can't do it justice and neither can a picture really. But it gets closer than anything else. Beatrix Potter once said something about, what is this constant desire to always replicate things? That she could never leave well enough alone and attempted to capture it somehow--painting for her and her brother, photographs for her father.
No one, no one has ever exaggerated the beauty of the Lake District.
What is there to say? It was one of the most beautiful days of my life? That I kept thinking, for the only the second moment in my life, yes I could live here? That I was amazed by the stone walls, held together by nothing but their own weight? Sheep poo? The fact we are allowed to walk on paths with sheep and cows? The delightful inn that was truly the inn one would expect to find: a coal fire; a stack of board games; heart-warming food; a sign that read "muddy wellies welcome." My astonishment at going into Beatrix Potter's house and finding that I knew more about B. Potter than most of the tour guides in the house, but was especially delighted by her brother's paintings of the Scottish borders.
Then, then there was the incessant rain. The six mile hike, the ferry to Bowness on tow rope; the water taxi tour we took by accident; and the welcome sight of my tent. Waking up in the middle of the night to have been peed on by Indy... The two hour trek to breakfast and the mini-golf game I lost in the last two holes. Arriving and finding a room of one's own where I can unpack all my books, with a desk. Such a haven.
My days are now filled with Latin and my head is so full. But then the tennis is a constant distraction. I keep wanting to play TMNT with someone when Fran told me I was going into nanny withdrawal. Probably right. Today I have been chased about by the cleaner, going into each room to work, being followed by a vacuum cleaner. I also have had my first driving lesson which went better than I expected. And now the question is to go see Moonrise Kingdom or not?
Here are some links to the things we did:
Low Wray Campsite
Low Wray Castle
The Cuckoo Brow
Hill Top Farm
Zumo Cafe and Mini Golf
[We also passed by Dove Cottage, but I've never been much of a Wordsworth fan.]
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