North Yorkshire #4--My new home

Hi Everybody,

I decided that, before I write another e-mail on falconry, I would say a little about what I'm doing in North Yorkshire.

But first, I would like to explain about jesses. I got some feedback from my last e-mail in that people didn't totally understand what jesses are. jesses are the strips of leather that are hooked onto the birds feet so that you can hold them to prevent them from flying off. Each bird wears an anklet on each foot that rarely comes off, and a pair of flying jesses that are attached to the anklet. These are also left on at all times, unless they get damaged. There are also mews jesses, which are slid through a hole in the anklet that secures them and is also used for easy removal. These jesses are much easier to hold onto. Anyways, I will try to send pictures of all the equiptment so that everyone will understand what I'm talking about.

Ok, Yorkshire. When we first drove up to Bedale from London we stayed in a bed and breakfast called the Green Dragon. The morning after we arrived, we scheduled to meet the pastor of the Methodist Church of Bedale. Before we went to meet the minister at 2:00, we visited the falconry center. This was when I first met John Sigrove, who's second-in-command at the center. I also met Sophie and Terry, who are some of the other people i work with. We just had a short meeting in the morning, and arranged to come back after closing time to talk over transportation, et cetera. That evening we met with them again, and settled that John and Terry would take turns driving me, and that I would start on Monday.

Earlier that same day we went to the pastor's house. This was my first experience at being invited inside for a cup of tea! Very nice... So, we basically got to know each other a little bit. The pastor's name is Fran (she's a woman by the way ). The Methodist Church of Bedale is actually a circuit of seven churches. Fran normally pastor's four, while another minister pastors the other three. We asked Fran if there was any way someone could act as a host family for me. She said she had a couple of people in mind, and could we come again the next morning before we went to York to sightsee. So, the next morning she said she'd found a potential family, and that she'd arranged for us to meet them the next morning. She showed us how to get to their house and sent us to sightsee. On Saturday, we met with the family. Their names are Wendy and Paul Arrowsmith. Wendy is Scottish, so she has a cool accent. They have two children: Kirsty who's 7 next month, and Peter, who's 5. They have a wonderful and huge chocolate labrador who's about 17 months old. He still enjoys jumping on people and doesn't know what "down" means. He's really sweet though. They also have a big fat cat named Bumble who looks a lot like Garfield, but is much nicer . So, after talking to them, and explaining my situation for aobut the 3rd time (It was getting a little tiring), they said that it would probably work out, and that they would give it a try.

So, after a couple days work, We found a great home for me to stay in, transportation to and from work, and a church for me to go to. A little about the church: It's really nice, and I enjoy going there. The two small problems i had were 1, They don't play quite the music I'm used to, and 2, I apparently need to sit near the back so that I can get the cue on when to rise and sit from the people in front of me. So my little dissatifactions are not a big deal. Actually, the music thats played as background music before and after events is just the sort of music I love, so even that is not too big of a deal.

So, that's my story of finding a home in North Yorkshire. Now you all know what happened to me, lol.

Lots of love,