September 3, 2016. Indoor activities on a rainy day

LOCATION:  Housesitting in Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire, England

WEATHER:  Cloudy in AM, Rain in PM

The weather forecast was for rain, so I took the dogs for a long walk in the morning.  Happily, we encountered another dog walker with one of our dogs' friends.  They played together and worked off their energy.

It did rain most of the day.  The dogs seemed to understand this and rested quite a bit.  In a break from the rain, we got in a second hike.

We did rainy day things.....read books and watched some BBC shows including "Miranda" featuring the actress Chumley from "Call the Midwife".  Highly recommend.  

For lunch, I warmed up the faggot we had bought at the butcher shop.  I looked it up on google.  It is a  sausage ball-type thing made of pork shoulder and liver, all the leftover bits of the pig I think.  This is what it looks like, even though my google search of "faggot pictures" resulted in an amazing other bunch of photos!, 

We made some future travel arrangements.  On George's bucket list are the French islands off the coast of Newfoundland named: St Pierre and Miquelon.  

One would think this is Canada, but it is actually a part of France.  They speak French there, use euros as currency, and apparently have great French restaurants.  It will be an adventure.    We bought tickets to go there later this fall.  Our next travel plans are coming together.....

This week:  Canal trip with daughter Alexis and her friend

Late September:  Ireland 

Then 3 weeks in Nova Scotia visiting 2 sets of friends.  One couple we knew when we lived in Gainesville, Florida, and another couple we met traveling in our Airstream.

Then, 3 days in St Pierre and Miquelon.  

Then early October to visit daughter Meredith and her husband in Detroit

Then mid-October back to Rochester, Minnesota where we used to live.  

From there, our plans are not definite, except for  3 future housesitting assignments.....

**Late November/December in Portland, Oregon

**Christmas in San Muguel de Allende, Mexico  

**February/March in Lake Norman, North Carolina

This around-the-world trip started with the month of February in New Zealand, 4 months in Australia, and now  2 1/2 months in England.  

DINNER:  Pasta using some courgettes from the garden and sausage we bought at the butcher shop in Thame.