Just the two of us

....we can make it it if we try. 

Oh my, there is nothing which replenishes the soul quite like a trip to the Lake District in Autumn, just the two of us. Seriously my eyes felt like they were on overload, trying to take in the colours from every direction. I loved it! England you are magnificent! Fern you are gorgeous in burnt orange. A feast for the eyes!

We drove up after lunch Friday, listening to Kermode and Mayo discuss the merits of Interstellar. The light was fantastic.

 We drove down to Windermere, via Ulswater which quite frankly makes Windermere look like the plain cousin! 

The joy of weekends away, and there are many, but one of my favourite things is the freedom of time; no schedule and we have a kind of 'make it up as you go along' type of attitude. We saw a sign for a Aira Force and decided to check it out. It was beautiful.

Other weekend highlights include - 
Chinese food 
Great tasting breakfasts
Booths ( how nice is Booths??)  
Chats
 A winter market at Holker Hall, where I could actually look at bits and admire, though not buy which Nathan does not understand at all! The compassionate side of him makes him feel sorry for the stall sellers and a need to buy something to make them feel better. Gingerbread cheesecake - fab-u-lous with a hot chocolate of course, makes for a great lunch.
 A walk by Windermere; some reflective chats. 
Goal setting which I love and Nathan eye rolls as I'm predictable at using time alone for making him have these deep conversations!! 

 In the evening, after I actually manged to get half decent curls in my hair for the very first time, all by myself, we scored a great deal at a restaurant which has a cinema offer. The food was delish and we got tickets to see Interstellar on its opening weekend. Apparently no one else in Windermere knew!!

Haha! Only 8 of us in the lower floor. There is something special about watching a film in an 'old school cinema' like this one. Love; the Wurlitzer at the front; the springy seats.

and taking random selfies during the interlude, yep the interlude!

On Sunday, we had to do church ourselves. We went to the War memorial in Windermere and paid our 2 minutes of silence in remembrance there. There were at least 100 names on the memorial, which seems a great price of life for such a small town.
 We did our Sunday School lesson - Jeremiah, what a man! So steadfast. What a charge - preach about the coming destruction to wicked Judah. They'll make you pay for telling them these things they do not want to hear. They'll put you in stocks, throw you in a pit where you'll sink in the mire, try and have you killed. At one point you'll cry out that you want to give up, that you wish you'd never been born but you won't give up because you are strong. What a prophet. I felt genuinely moved by his example and obedience in the face of adversity.

We then went and spiritually fed ourselves on another walk. This time by Derwant Water. Totally stunning. We were aiming for the view at Friar's Crag. Nathan returned to the car as we'd forgotten to pay and display. So, I sat on a bench for 15 minutes in silence taking in the view, which was pretty though a slightly blocked by trees. trees. When Nathan finally returned, we discovered that I was a mere 50 metres away from the previously mentioned spectacular view at Friar's Crag!! I chuckled to myself and thought about the spiritual life lessons there are to be learnt from settling for where we are when there are greater blessings when we take the extra steps.

Seriously I felt like we were on the edge of heaven looking at this vista and being with him. 

The weekend away was a blessing. We're blessed to have parents who will have the children for us; blessed to be able to stay over somewhere nice in such a beautiful location so close to home and blessed to just enjoy so much being with each other.