My mind is brimming with lovely thoughts, my stomach is brimming with hot peanut butter cookies, and my heart is brimming with plain old happiness!  Dylan and I have spent such a relaxing Sabbath together, but it wasn't at all nondescript.  On the contrary, we ran into so many delightful surprises that I can't justify going to bed unti I've recorded them all!

Church began at 9:00, so we were up bright and early (7:30).  After church, Dylan and I played the piano and sang Gershwin songs together until dinner time.  Dinner was phenomenal--a traditional English meal complete with beef, mashed potatoes, yorkshire pudding, broccoli, carrots, and fried potatoes, all drenched in gravy.  Jeanette, I have discovered, is an incredible cook.  Everything she makes is to die for--especially her made-from-scratch desserts!  Boy, I sure wish I could bake like that!

Dylan and I crashed on our beds after helping with the dinner dishes and took a luxurious nap until 3:00, when we'd promised to call Mama.  After chatting with Mom and Devin on the phone and working out Dylan's flight details, Dylan and I went on a picture-taking spree.  :-)  We marched around the house and yard and neighborhood and snapped enough photos together (using my camera's self timer) to make Mama happy.  We were trying to make up for the fact that we didn't really take many pictures of the two of us at the major London landmarks in previous days.  After taking a picture in the front yard, though, we realized that the front door of the house had closed and locked behind us.  Oops!  We had to climb over the Saltzman's 6-foot gate in order to get back into the house through side door.  :-)

Soon after, Richard offered to take Dylan and I driving through Epping Woods.  We readily agreed!  He first took us to Elizabeth I's hunting lodge (built in the 1500's) where she used to come to watch her hunters kill game on the plains outside the forest.  The hunting lodge is a fun, old-fashioned Tudor building, but I think I enjoyed the breathtaking view of the forest more than anything else.  Here, finally, I discovered the rolling hills and endless trees and unbelievable greeness (is that a word?) that I've been longing to see ever since I came to England.   The landscape looked exactly like I'd always imagined the view of true English countryside! 

We then drove on some quaint, winding little paths through the forest until we came upon the most beautiful, medieval-looking church nestled right in the middle of the woods.   We stopped and walked around.  I was utterly charmed; the whole place had such personality.  The church was surrounded by old-fashioned, weathered gravestones, and I really felt like I'd stumbled into a fairytale.  We wandered around to the front entrance and were thrilled to find that the church was open.  We chatted with some of the other visitors and met a friendly lady who actually works at the church.  She told us that the building wasn't actually built until the 1830's, but that it was constructed in Gothic, 13th-century style.  She also took us up some winding stairs to the bell tower where she taught Dylan and I how to ring the bells and play melodies using the 13-note scale.  Dylan and I both caught onto the process really quickly, and she asked us what instruments we played.  When she found out that I play the piano, she asked me if I wanted to try out the huge pipe organ in the church.

What an experience!  The organ is very old; it was built at the same time as the church (almost 200 years ago) by the famous organ-builder who constructed the organ in the Prince Albert Hall (WOW!).   The lady pulled out some symplified keyboard books, and I was able to fiddle with the organ stops and sightread many of the pieces (including Mendhelssohn's wedding march).  Dylan also had a turn at the organ.  It was thrilling for both of us to hear the sound issuing through actual, wind-powered pipes.  We may never have another experience like that again!

When we arrived back home, Richard insisted that we all sit down and watch "The Great Race."  Apparently, that is the Saltzman family's favorite movie of all time, and they couldn't believe that Dylan and I have never seen it.  As we watched, Jeanette baked several batches of the most delicious peanut-butter/chocolate chip cookies that I've ever tasted.  They were plump and moist and when they are hot, they literally melt in your mouth.  I really need to steal some of her recipes!  The movie itself was very odd (something like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"), but Dylan and I were in a funny mood and we giggled the whole way through.

The two of us have to be up at 4:30 tomorrow to head for the airport, so I'd better sign off now.  G'night!