October 9, 2012. Artemas, PA. Rita and Ian.

We had a wonderful visit these past two weeks.  Rita and Ian are active people.  They washed our first floor windows.  They vacuumed their bedroom and bath before they left.   They cleaned the whole first floor.  And we spent time together being tourists in Bedford County.   Every evening we held a Happy Hour.  And of course, Rita was a huge help in the kitchen, taking over the cooking of the vegetables and setting the tables.   Ian did all the heavy lifting for Ken, all around the farm.  They were both major assets to our lives. here at the farm.

But despite all the assistance from them, perhaps the most important part of their visit was the conversations.   Both Ian and Rita have different backgrounds to us.  Rita is of French-Canadian heritage and is Catholic while Ian was a mining engineer whose area of expertise was setting up the mine.  They have lived in many different places;  Algeria, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Sudbury and the far north, so their experiences were different from ours.  We talked a lot and we read a lot and we all four enjoyed the visit.

Once again, the house seems eerily quiet.  Today they left for Ottawa and it will take a bit to get used to  having no one to talk to.  Somehow, I never am prepared for the silence.