It's day four of our England adventure. Today I, Rebecca had a small dream realized...to visit the home of one of my favorite authors, CS Lewis. Lewis lived here at the Kilns from sometime in the fifties till his death in 1973 on the same day Kennedy was assasinated. We met a man today who grew up playing with Douglas Gresham, the stepson of Joy Gresham, the woman "Jack" married in his older years. He is a fiesty man with a passion to see the name of CS Lewis be remembered in Oxford. We saw Lewis'study, bedroom, the pond where he sat and pondered, and even visited his graveside at the local parish church where he worshipped for over 30 years. Apparently Lewis was a dirty bachelor, leaving Joy to replace the carpet where he dumped his pipe ashes. She said, "If it wasn't for the cobwebs and books in his house, it wouldn't be standing." Toiday, residents of the home are students who are studying, often writing dissertations, etc. I would love to come do a short study here someday. They have week long studies up to ten months.Did I mention we had lunch at The Eagle and Child? This is the pub where Lewis and Tolkien met with other authors to drink beer and discuss their writing. I enjoyed a shepherd's pie, something unique in the UK.
From our Lewis tour, we made our way to the colleges. Our goal was to catch a bit of evensong, the nightly church "service" that most every cathedral has in England. We can't get enough of the ornate and gorgeous stone buildings. To think that many date back to the 16th century. Our nation has nothing in terms of age when we compare!
No comments:
Post a Comment