In Love With This Day

 "I am in love with this day!" ~India Mayer (6-17-10)

Today was good and sad.  Lillie and Mrs. Shepherd left us at 8:00, and we had breakfast and headed to the market around 9:15.  We spent a while at the market (LOVE markets!) and then Mr. D and I went back to the hotel to get my luggage and go to Paddington station.  We got to Paddington and I bought some flowers for the Paynes (they look lovely on the table...sitting in a teapot with some other flowers from their garden!!) and hopped on the train at 12:20.  The train pulled out of the station at 12:35 (so close to 12:40!!).  It was sad to be leaving London, but I will be going back there to the airport, so it's not goodbye yet.  :)  And I was glad about the lovely ride through the beautiful countryside and staying with the Paynes.  The land is so gorgeous! I could be here a whole month every summer and never get tired of it!! 

Anyhow, when I got off the train at Castle Cary I turned around and Mr. Payne was standing right there!  How perfect!  So, we drove through Castle Cary (they actually live in Wells, which is a little way from the station).  We went by their son's house, which is enchanting.  It used to be an old mill, so it is just wonderful, plus there is a huge field right out the front door and a lovely garden where their son is getting married in a few weeks!  We had a cup of tea and looked around a bit before heading home.  We put together some lunch and took it to the cathedral green.  It was a lovely walk, and there is a castle-type building (that I just forgot the name of!) with a moat around it!!  It is just a *perfect* English countryside town. 

We ate on the green (big open field/courtyard) and then Mrs. Payne and I went to Evensong at the cathedral.  There was a boy's choir, which was wonderful.  After that we wandered around the town a little, looking at shops (which were all closed, but we looked in the windows) and almost going to a coffee shop, but it was closed.  The city is called Wells because there are little springs everywhere that used to be wells.  There is a kind of drainage path/moat thing in the sidewalk for the water that is constantly running through the city. 

So, we had dinner and watched a Hercule Poirot (written by Agatha Christie...I know, I sound like a broken record...) movie.  I had some strawberries with meringue and clotted cream...**love**.

Tomorrow we're going to church, then there is a lunch at the church, then I'm not sure what we'll do.  I think we may go to Bath, but there's several options of things to do around here and I'm not doing well at keeping them straight!  :)  Night!