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Day’?s Verse:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. …By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
Ephesians 11:1,3
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I keep intending to write a vast blog about the weekend Ian and I spent at Castle Hill Inn in their Turret Suite. I now have to acknowledge that odds are I will not actually write that huge blog, for a couple of reasons: (1) It will take a quarter-million words to describe the whole experience even halfway decently; and (2) Those of you who really want to know about it will probably have already talked to me or Ian about it anyway. The short story is that we stayed at this amazing, amazing hotel for the weekend and it was like staying in a fairy tale. The six-foot-long, three-and-a-half-foot-deep tub in front of three sweeping picture windows; the vast king-sized bed; the mahogany-paneled bedroom area; the upper turret room with the blue-painted domed ceiling and bay-view surrounding windows; the three-course, must-dress dinner; the fantastic complimentary breakfast and afternoon tea; the whole darn thing swept me off my feet. It was so gorgeous, both beautiful and comfortable (the most expensive way to go), utterly wonderful. Maybe some time I will detail the incredible meals we ate, which stand out particularly in my mind. But for now that’s all I’m going to say about last weekend.

[UPDATE, 11 Feb:] If you want more details, read about it on Ian’s blog. He has extensively described most of the exquisite details of the room, and it looks like he’ll be following up with more of our actual activities in a later post (don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll leave out the shocking parts).

Now, the actual reason I wrote this blog: doing some research this morning, I ran across a rather surprising fact. Until now, Ian and I have washed all our dishes by hand, using our dishwasher as a glorified drying rack. Turns out, though, that

If fully loaded but not overloaded, if no pre-rinsing is done, if low-energy cycles are used, then yes! A dishwasher is more water-efficient and hygienic than doing ’em the old-fashioned way.

Also, of course, you also have to choose environmentally friendly dish cleaners. Check this article and this Q&A; out if you want to know more. It looks like Ian and I will start using our dishwasher, within the boundaries of all the caveats. This is the first time Ian’s interests and eco-friendliness have coincided. Boy, I love that.