Into The Earth

As we all sat around the lusciously long table sitting down to breakfast that morning, Jane pulled apart the thick heavy ancient shutters, revealing to us a gasping sight; the first morning sunlight hitting sporadic patches on the curving land that lay around us. Cockerels continued to squawk their near deafening ring [as they like to do every hour throughout the night] as if rounding us up ready for grafting action. Out we went into the crisp November morning, ready for anything. Photographed today is Dan, feeling as satisfied as I was after a great morning's work of kneading the moist and heavily fertile soil of their huge vegetable garden. It was tools away as we ate bowls + bowls full of hearty wholesome soup perched round a table in another hidden away sun flooded dimension of this never ending castle; you couldn't in your wildest dreams, have mimicked a more idyllic scene - even in The Ultimate Living Manual.* "It's a beautiful day guys, go out and find some views this afternoon", said our generous hosts unanimously. So we absolutely l e a p t upon a pair of scrappy bicycles and went riding around the thrilling hills far into the late afternoon glowing light, with two euphoric stops to visit the donkeys. We vouched that we would research more about what they like to eat and come back the next day to feed our new friends. When the sun went down, we played pingpong in the grand back room of our house, fierce with competition and ecstatic energy. We cooked a huge Moussakka for dinner and sat chatting until we began swaying in a gratifyingly fatigued horizontal state at the dinner table, already so excited for what was to come tomorrow.

*The Ultimate Living Manual; a fabricated journal created for effect