And still it rains! The south of England is virtually being washed away by the high tides, winds and waves. The Thames (pronounced-“Tems”) is at flood stage and going over. We still cannot walk on the lawns here at the temple or we will sink into the ground and disappear. Every morning we wake up to more rain washing down our windows. However, I’ve started to think that this is a normal winter. Even if the Brits tell me it is really unusual to see SO MUCH water, I won’t believe them. Truly, I was planning on a lot of rain, so I’m certainly not disappointed.
Let’s see—what else is new? Oh yeah, we spoke in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday. Once again, I took some of Niel’s time. Honest, I try not to do that, but it just seems to happen every time. How on earth am I going to give a talk on the purpose of Jesus Christ in the Godhead in only twenty minutes? It’s impossible, I tell you. Anyway, we must have made an impression because before I could even get up off the pew, there was a lady right there, wanting us to come to her house for dinner and give the talks to here two inactive boys. Seriously, I’ve never been put on the spot quite like that. We will send her our outlines etc. in an e-mail and hope she will take it from there. Sounded like they are a ways away from being active again. Boy, you never know who or what is going to jump into your life and get you involved up to your ears.
On Monday, Sister Littlefield and several of the other temple missionaries took what we call a “Van Trip” in the temple van to a wonderful country manor located on the other side of London. Even though it rained for most of the time, we enjoyed it immensely. Kenwood Manor was built in the 1600-1700s. At one point a wing was added (the library) and remodeled by a Robert Adams. May I say, it was beautifully done.
Snow drops
Kenwood back entrance
Kenwood front entrance
Then in 1924, it was purchased by Sir Edward Cecil Guinness, first Earl of Iveagh, of the Guinness brewery in Dublin. This fellow was best known for his art collection. He used the manor to house his large and very expensive art collection, where it is today. People, we’re talking about Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Turner and many other great artists. Part of his philanthropy was that anyone could come to Kenwood to see it and the art and not have to pay even a pence. Can I tell you how wonderful it was to stand in front of paintings worth millions of dollars, much less take pictures of them?
The pictures included with this blog are something that we have never been allowed to do in any other manor, castle, or palace we have visited. Usually, no pictures are allow. As long as I didn’t use a flash I could take all the pictures I wanted to, which ended up at almost 100 snapshots. This is as close as anyone who would like to see the interior of a manor will ever get. It just isn’t done. So please enjoy them. I wasn’t able to attach dialogue or explanations with the pictures that I e-mailed. So I’ll try to tell you about some of the things you will see in this blog. Remember, I couldn’t use my flash and they kept the rooms fairly dark to protect their contents, so they aren’t the best quality.
Two of the paintings I’ve included are a self-portrait of Rembrandt and a painting by Vermeer (he’s my favorite) called “Girl With a Guitar”. There is a painting of the old London Bridge, which now resides in Arizona, which was very interesting. I hope I put in some darling dogs etc. I took some pics of a beautiful needle point rug. And then, if the English Heritage Org. didn’t want you to sit on the old chairs, etc. they put a couple of thistles on them. Kind of cute.
Hope you enjoy them half as much as I did. By the way, Dad stayed back at our flat, relaxed and worked on the computer. He was in seventh heaven, and stayed in his underwear all the day through. What a life.
We loved reading the talk our granddaughter, Ashley, gave in her Sacrament Meeting on Sunday too. We love her so much and were very impressed with her testimony. I have a great quote about sacrifice for all of you.
President Spencer W. Kimball once said: “There will come a time when everyone will have to lay everything on the altar of sacrifice.” Brother John Hafen added to this that everyone who is willing to offer their all in sacrifice and do it willingly will find in the end that what they thought was sacrifice really isn’t.
We love you all, Happy Valentines. Niel enjoyed his 68th birthday this week and passed the UK Theory driving exam!!
Also, a big Happy Birthday to our daughter-in-law, Lezlee on the 15th!
Niel and Carolee
a.k.a. Granny and Grumps
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