Dear Friends and Family,
It’s hard to believe that the summer is already drawing to a close! Actually here in Oxford we’re presently enjoying a bit of “Indian Summer” weather, which is a great improvement on the “real” summer time. Having more than one sunny, if slightly cool day in a row is a welcome change, as we had double the standard precipitation for the month of August this year. (It was a lot of rain!) Probably the most noticeable change at the moment though is actually the fact that it is now getting dark around 8pm (about 2 hours earlier than at the peak of summer). This and the coats beginning to surface on commuters first thing in the morning reminds us very poignantly that those months of cold and 3:45pm sunsets are not all that far away!
Not much has happened in the Criswell household since we last corresponded in the first weeks of June. Basically both Brian and Rachel worked the summer through. Brian continued to program for Oxford Computer Consultants, while Rachel spent substantial time both writing her thesis and tour guiding. (She did more than 90 tours in the month of August…it was a lot of talking!).
Certainly, all the hours at work have not proved to be dull for either of us. Brian’s colleagues clandestinely set up a telescope on the office roof so that they could all watch Venus transit past the sun in early summer. (It was quite an adventure as they were apparently mobbed by little—harmless—spiders that swarming on the roof that morning). Rachel’s work environment included mobs of children, not on her bus, but hanging around the tour’s main stop eagerly hoping to catch sight of the cast of the Harry Potter films, as the 4th movie in this series was being filmed next door in August. (Yes Rachel saw several of the stars as well). Additionally, because both of us were here all summer, it was a good opportunity to get to know both church and work colleague a bit better.
One of the highlights of this included a 4-hour punting excursion on the river Cherwell with Brian’s work colleagues. Punts are flat bottom wooden boats you push with a pole from the back (like a gondola) instead of rowing. Typically you also take lots of food a long and have a huge picnic at any inviting portion of the river. Rachel was by far the worst punter in the boat; although she was relieved she didn’t run anyone into low-lying branches on the river. Brian on the other hand showed great adeptness at this activity, holding his own with several colleagues who spent 4+ years at the University of Oxford punting on a regular basis. Based on this experience, Brian hopes eventually to do the Islip run, a daylong punting trip (4 hours each way) to a town up river. We either need some friends to come along for this or Rachel has to get a lot better at punting before this feat can be undertaken, however.
By far, the most rewarding of these summer social activities were the opportunities to spend more quality and fellowship time with friends and acquaintances from church. This included a fondue night with a Swiss family (learning how to make it properly!); an open house for our small group at our house; and several after church outings. It has been so encouraging and rewarding to get to know many of the people from our small group in greater detail; enabling our church to truly begin to feel like a “home church” instead of “that place we attend.”
