Day 28: Life Changing (a.k.a the day I was Lisa Hill)

Day two (Tuesday) in Ambleside was even better than day one, if you can believe it.  I feel like a changed person today.  That might sound strange and slightly unbelievable, especially after you read the events of the day, but it’s true that that’s what I feel.  It has by far been one of the best days for me from this entire trip. 

It began with the second “B” at our B&B.  They have great service!  Although, the waitress was a little shocked when all five of us didn’t want tea or coffee.   We got a kick out of her expression each time she looked at us.  We got the most flavorful fresh fruit with real whipped cream and the best granola I have ever had.  This was just the first course and the second course followed with croissants, poppy seed muffins, and a homemade flapjack (it’s not a pancake like I thought but more of a granola bar).  With full bellies, our half of the group headed back to Dove Cottage.  There’s a museum near the cottage that houses a priceless collection of out of print copies of Wordworth’s works, parts of his personal library, and many manuscripts relating to his work.  Remember how I said my professor has connections?  Well they are serious connections because we got to go into this upper room that houses all of these items and actually work with the manuscripts!  Hardly anyone besides researchers from universities get to do that and they let our group have this experience! 

The room is brightly lit and all of the walls are covered in priceless books.  There’s a large square table in the middle of the room that we all sat around to listen to the curators.  We first heard from an intelligent woman (who’s name I forgot) that has a lot of passion for the work she does.  She talked to us about the Romantic poets and Wordsworth’s life.  I would tell you all about it but you probably don’t care too much and I already recorded it in my notebook.  I will just tell you a couple of things I learned.  Wordsworth’s poems were not spontaneous!  I had this idea in my mind, especially from the day before, that he just sat down with Coleridge on a pretty mountainside and the words came to him.  He actually had to work quite hard to write his poetry.  One of his poems called Michael took him two months during which he wrote a different draft each day, burning his drafts at one point out of frustration.  That taught me that he was gifted and intelligent but that hard work is involved in all great work and inspiration.  The curator passed around some amazing works from the Romantic period including:  first and second editions of Lyrical Ballads, a first edition Frankenstein, a second edition Jane Eyre, Adonas, Keat’s Poetry, Wordsworth’s copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and to top it all off we held Wordworth’s own copy of Paradise Lost.  We were all kind of freaking out!  These books have changed history and we got to touch and hold them.

After our first lecture, we had a little snack break and they provided homemade shortbread and gingerbread for us!  SO yummy!  A soft-spoken curator who worked especially with the manuscripts did the second part of the activity.  The museum has 90% of the known records and we got to look at manuscripts from the women in Wordsworth’s life.  Trying to read them was difficult until I realized it was like trying to read Elder Gish’s letters and then it became easier.  Three things impressed me about the documents we saw.  One was a letter from Mary Wordsworth to William.  Paper and postage were expensive during that time so they tried to fit as much of a message as the could on one piece of paper.  He writing was extrenely small and was squished to entirely fill every single space on the page.  Knowing that it was a love letter showed me how much she had to say about her love for her husband.  There was a document that I couldn’t read, even when I pretended that Zach wrote it.  It literally just looked like scribbles on a page.  The curator told us that Mary Wordsworth went blind later in her life.  There was no way to stay connected to family during those days except by visits in person or by post.  Mary was determined to stay involved in her family’s lives and so she continued to try to write letters.  That reminded me of Grandma Great and her failing eyesight but how she still loves and keeps in contact with her family.  We saw another document that was well worn and bleached by the sun.  The curator asked us what we could assume about its importance just by looking at it.  We knew that the recipient must have treasured it and that it was read often.  We were told that Mary Wordsworth wrote this letter to her son Wiliam Jr. who was in the army in India.  She wrote a letter to him because it was too hard for her to say goodbye in person.  In the letter, it says that her last wish was to see her son alive again.  Unfortunately, she died before he returned home and so her wish was not fulfilled.  It must have been such a treasure to have a “goodbye” from his mother that he could read again and again instead of just a memory.

After looking at these manuscripts that are treasures now, I couldn’t help being impressed with the importance of record keeping.  William’s sister Dorothy kept a journal and that is how we know so much about him and his work.  Each day she would record something, even if it was just a list of what activities they did that day.  Sometimes when I record things, I think it has to be deep and soul stirring but I realized that just keeping a record will be valuable for me and might be treasured by future generations.  I also was impressed that handwritten records are very valuable.  During our time, correspondence seems to be all electronic.  What will happen years from now when someone is looking for a record that was in an e-mail or on a word document?  Will those records be lost?  I found myself becoming recommitted in that reading room.  I recommitted to keeping a consistent journal when I get home from this trip.  I also committed to writing down my feelings for others.  I could be better about writing letters to my missionary friends and relatives.  I could be better about writing notes to my friends and family telling them how much I care for them as opposed to writing something on their Facebook walls.  Written notes are always treasured because it shows the person is genuine in their feelings.  They take the time to think about you and write something down.  (My roommate Michal is very good at doing this.)  I just think about how precious William Jr.’s letter was and how precious notes of love can be now and will be later to the ones I care about.

We were able to have an official tour of Dove Cottage after our manuscript work where we learned more details about Wordsworth’s life.  Before this trip, I didn’t have a favorite poet.  I can now say that he is by far my most favorite!  I bought a book of some of his most famous works that I plan on reading throughout the summer.

After an enlightening morning, our group got ready for an invigorating afternoon with a hike to a tarn (lake)!  This is where I became Lisa Hill.  I love my aunt and her qualities!  I am not really a hiker but I thought I’d be adventurous and do what Lisa would do.  It was a great experience that I should try a lot more often!  We walked through Ambleside, through some fields, then started up the mountain.  We climbed straight up something like hiking the Y (roommate joke- every time I hike the Y…) but with less switchbacks.  We got up into the hills and went up and down and up and down for a while.  The hills were stunning!  Many people commented on how they felt like they were in “the Shire” from Lord of the Rings.  It is very green with enclosures (old stone fences) and sheep EVERYWHERE! We truly climbed through the great rolling hills of Northern England.  At one point, our professor thought we were lost.  My friend Jaden and I were pretty far ahead of the group so we just started climbed up this tall hill next to us.  We climbed up until we saw the lake and shouted that we were going the right way.  The hill was high and steep but it went up even higher.  I looked at Jaden and she and I just climbed our way to the top.  I don’t usually go out of my “physical comfort zone” but I was being adventurous!  We kept climbing, at one point climbing like a climbing wall, and made it up.  It was SO worth it!  The view was absolutely spectacular!  (I didn't take any pictures at the very top unfortunately.)  We could see green hills for miles around, many large lakes, and blue skies.  There’s something rewarding about accomplishing a climb/hike.  I can’t put into words what I was feeling but I know I’m different for feeling it.  I want to try to hike this summer.  I’m not going to be good at it and lots of hikes will be hard but I’d like to try.  “Adventure is out there!” (name that movie)  A couple of boys thought we were pretty cool and hiked up to meet us.  They made it down a lot faster than we did- that part was harder than getting up.  One of them said, “I’d help you down but there’s no dating on the program.” Ha ha.  Funny. 

(The first tarn)

(The second tarn)

(The third tarn)

We finally made it to the lake that was pretty but not overwhelming.  Our group then had two options.  We had done about a third of a loop.  Half the group wanted to go back the way we came, the other half wanted to do the rest of the loop.  We split up and I continued along the route, something I wouldn’t normally have done because it was longer.  Once again, I’m SO glad that I did!  The rest of the hike was the most beautiful part!  We walked through a path with lots of trees that reminded me of American Fork Canyon.  We passed two more absolutely stunning lakes and fields of wildflowers.  At one of the lakes we stopped to take pictures and just enjoy the beauty around us.  A few people were out with their dogs and there was even a swimmer out in the middle of the lake.  I jogged a little ahead of the group, literally, because I had so much energy and just wanted to enjoy a minute by myself.  I just looked all around me and felt totally, completely at peace.  It was another indescribable moment.  The loop ended along little cottages that were outside of the village.  I figured I’d take a picture of one for Lisa so she’d know where she could live if she came to stay out here (there are even bike paths for you Lisa!).  The whole landscape is beautiful.

Our hike lasted about four hours total.  Some people were starving after so they went to a restaurant.  Jaden and I weren’t hungry enough for a meal or clean enough for a restaurant so we went to a little convenience store.  We laughed and talked while we ate our little yogurts and digestives (a yummy cookie with a gross name) on the sidewalk.

If you can believe it, we ended our night with one more hike!  Although, this was more like a short nature walk.  We walked on the outside of Ambleside to a little waterfall.  It really was little when we got to it and slightly underwhelming.  We all thought th3e waterfall would be bigger and that we would actually get in the water under it.  It wasn’t worth us to get wet under the little one so we walked downstream and walked barefoot through the creek instead.  This is another thing I normally wouldn’t do but it was “adventurous.”  Only a couple of us slipped (myself included) but it was worth it.  We dried our feet off on moss and laughed the whole way back to our B&B. 

(myself, Katie, and Jaden in the stream)

We will all be sad to end this peaceful time we’ve had in Ambleside.  Our B&B doesn’t have free Wi-Fi so I’ve had no Internet or contact with the outside world.  It has been such a JOY to have no social media and be in a slow paced village surrounded by such natural beauty and history!