Catching Up With Friends

"But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold."
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

NB Cleddau and NB Valerie

   Up on the Macclesfield canal we are traveling through the stomping grounds of our friends Sue and Ken Deveson. I first made their acquaintance about two and a half years ago when I found Sue's blog Boatwif, about their travels aboard NB Cleddau. I emailed her about their composting loo which fascinated me.
   We struck up a fine friendship owing to our mutual interests and experiences: narrow boats, composting loos, education and writing (I work for an American University teaching writing tutorials and Sue is a teacher and writer; retired from the Air Force, Ken serves his community as a school Governor. We both have children and grandchildren in the States, and we all have Welsh ancestry--my maternal grandmother was Welsh, and Ken and Sue were born in Pembrokeshire.)
   They were one of the first couples to come and meet me and Les when I first came over to England in May of 2011 to meet Les' family and friends, and they stopped in for a visit again last autumn after me and Les returned from our wedding in America.

   Finally we have caught up with one another aboard our boats! We enjoyed a visit to NB Cleddau yesterday for tea, delicious Rosemary Orange Cake, and a tour of their boat which is indeed lovely.

   I finally got to see the composting loo on board a narrow boat and I am ever more impressed than when I first read about the idea.
   Sue and Ken joined us aboard NB Valerie today for coffee, Banana Cream Pie, and a long natter about this and that. We have unique perspectives on Britain and America, having family and loved ones in both places. Visiting with the Devesons made Les and I realize once more how very fortunate we are to live our lives on the cut; to have time to stop, enjoy the view and share in the company of good friends.