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| house on the left, 2nd floor room with bay window |
Our landlady was Mrs. Ellsworth, and a true gem she was. She took in mostly long term boarders like us. I can only recall one other tenant, a young man our age, David, whose parents were working were out in Bahrain. Little did I know that I would also end up in Bahrain one day. My husband was working rotating shift work so there were days that I had to stay out of the room while he slept. My son and I wandered through the town of Harrogate, but mainly enjoyed our time in the Valley Gardens. As I recall it was a fairly sunny summer, or maybe I had already learned as we were taught..If the sun was out, take advantage of it.
Mrs. Ellsworth was wonderful to us and oh did she feed us. The English Breakfast was in all its glory then with eggs, bacon, sausage, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, fried bread and a good pot of tea. While it sounds a lot, the weather wasn't terribly warm to us and with all that walking, at my young age I burned those calories off. As regular tenants, we also had dinner with Mrs. E. I don't recall those meals in detail but I know they were good. Real, fresh food was a given in our years in England. Simple and hearty and delicious. British food had no bad reputation for us! After our meal, we usually sat around and talked, and once in a while Mrs. E. would ask my husband to 'bath the dog.' Old Blackie would reluctantly be led out to that driveway next to the house and get hose downed, soaped up, and rinsed. He smelled much sweeter and endured these episodes with a British upper lip. I wish I had a picture of it all.
It wasn't an easy few months but even then we knew it was a good time.
1 comment:
What great memories. How nice that you can bring that memory out. I had a woman neighbor like that. She was like my mother when I moved to the town of Arcata, California. She really did more for me that my own mother would have.
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