We had a lovely visit with Claire and Simon for the weekend. It’s been more than 5 years since we have seen them, but we could jump right in together as if it was only yesterday. We had so much to catch-up on, and it was so nice to have meals and talks together and share each others company. They brought us some lovely gifts and English cheese that we love — yum, stilton and real cheddar!

We even managed to get a lot of unplanned projects done, which was way above and beyond the call of duty for friends. Simon deserves an award for tackling a very unpleasant stinky problem we had, hence the photo with the plastic bags on his arms. And they both were incredible to completely cut back all of the trees and bushes at the front of our house, and we all had a lot of fun doing a project together. We can actually see out the windows now! Even after all of that, Claire somehow had the energy to give me a nice massage.

I’m not able in words to capture how much their visit meant to us, and just hope they know how incredibly wonderful they are, and how grateful we are to have them as such good friends. And of course, Jansen and Jane loved them being here too, and are not looking very happy about them having to leave (or us either!).