Just One in One Thousand

Somehow we just happened to notice that this post would be the 1,000th for NDL.

We deliberated about whether that called for something significant to mark the milestone. 

And then we thought, "nah", let's just carry on as we would have. 

So here is what was next in the queue of drafts. It is a photo taken last spring of a jumble sale sign from the UK village of Temple Guiting.

Make that an Extraordinary Jumble Sale sign!

Back in the  80's we read several books by Barbara Pym*. 

Mostly what we remember about them is that the characters were perpetually preparing for church jumble sales while having tea and talking with or about the vicar.

So imagine our delight to spot the jumble sale sign outside this lovely church yard,

across from a sunny tea room,

in a charming English village

on a beautiful day in the middle of a long ramble through the countryside.

The only thing missing really was a vicar sighting.

Sometimes we feel apologetic about the number of times we have traveled to the same country when there are so many other places under the sun that we have not seen. Days like this, however are why we return again and again. Every visit holds in store a new delight.

*Very coincidentally Wikipedia tells us that Barbara Pym died on this very date in 1980. It also tells us that " A superficial reading gives the impression that they are sketches of village or suburban life, and comedies of manners, studying the social activities connected with the Anglican church. Her works are deeper than that, however. She closely examines many aspects of women's and men's relations, including unrequited feelings of women for men, based on her own experience. The dialogue is often deeply ironic. A tragic undercurrent runs through some of the later novels." 

Looks like we will be putting Barbara Pym back on our book list to see what 35 additional years of life experience brings to a rereading.