Meet our house guest...

***Update*** The links now work!

It's not often that we get visitors from the United States here in England. Actually, during the 7 years we've lived in Europe, we've only had my Mom, sister Janie and cousin Melanie come to visit us, so to our surprise, on the 6th of March 2009, we had a guest come nearly 4500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean and all the way from St. Clairsville Ohio. His name is Flat Stanley and he was encouraged to visit us from my little cousin Ben. Ben is in Mrs. Wallace's 2nd grade class at St. Clairsville Elementary School and he wanted Flat Stanley to come and visit us in St. Columb Major, Cornwall, England so he could learn all about where we live. Flat Stanley chose to visit us at the perfect time of year too!

See, we live in Cornwall which is the county which is in the most South West part of England. On 5 March 2009, we celebrated St. Piran's Day. St. Piran is the Parton Saint of Cornwall and according to legend, he was a Celtic monk who sailed from Ireland on a millstone in the 7th century. The town we live in is St. Columb Major and our town is famous for Hurling. Hurling takes place twice a year, first on Shrove Tuesday and then again on the Saturday the following week (10 days later). It is between the Town People and the Country People, where the teams try to keep or take possession of a small silver ball and it is really exciting to watch. Our house is in the perfect place to watch as we live in the town center and we can watch all the action from our upstairs windows. It can also be dangerous and all the homes and businesses in town protect their windows to prevent the silver ball or team members from being thrown into and breaking them. Today 7 March 2009 is the Saturday match for Hurling and were were very excited that Flat Stanley came to visit us for this event.

Here are some pictures of some of the things we've done with Flat Stanley while he was here visiting.

Just arriving to our home.

That long trip made Flat Stanley hungry so we went and had a Cornish Pasty for lunch. A pasty is a pastry filled with beef, potato, onion and swede. It was so yummy.

Now that we had our yummy lunch, we have the energy to visit around the town. Here we are in front of the bell tower at the parish church. This church has been here since the 15th century and the bell tower is 80 feet high.

If you look closely, you can see Flat Stanley at the war memorial. This is a Celtic cross to honor the memories of those that gave their lives in various wars. Every year in November we place Poppy Wreaths in front of the memorial. The church is in the background.

Flat wanted to make a phone call, so we took him to the phone box.

You can't come and visit England without having a traditional take away dinner of Fish N Chips!

He can hardly wait to take a bite!

Here we are getting ready to watch the hurling.

Isn't it exciting!?

Now it's time for Flat Stanley to return back to St. Clairsville and back to Ben so he can finish his school project. It's a good thing he's flat or he might not fit in the post box. Oh, did we mention that we live IN the Post Office? The house is made of 2 foot thick stone and has been here for 200 years and during WWII it was the telephone exchange. It is listed on the historical registry. Oh, and Ben, the next time Flat Stanley comes to visit us in England, please make sure you pack his wooley jumper (sweater) and a rain jacket as it can be quite chilly and rainy here.

Here is a video of the hurling so you can see for yourself.