Good to have you back Dad

As the picture shows, Smokey was very pleased to have us back, although we did have a friend staying in the house a lot of the time so he was very well looked after. In fact, Geoff was saying what good company Smokey is, more like a dog than a cat because he follows you everywhere.

The ducks are still OK although the first nest which had at least 7 eggs in, they were all eaten, so she made another nest in a very exposed place, and they were eaten. Now, since we have been back, she has made another nest somewhere else, I won't tell you where because it's a secret!! and so far we have 5 eggs in there, so we will wait and see what happens. If you remember we had 2 drakes and one female so we had to get rid of one male, and would you believe the original pair, Thomas and Poppy's mum and dad, the owners called today to say that their male has been taken by a buzzard!! Their mum is sitting on eggs at the moment and if she abandons her eggs, they will bring her over to us so we will be back to 3 again but this time the ratio will be right. I hope you kept up with all that and that it made sense, I did ramble a bit didn't I? I knew what I was saying.

We had a lovely 18 days in the UK with the family. First off we stayed with Vicki, Bill and the children and they were all fit and well and in very good form. Oh how I miss them, the girls are doing so much now and chatter all the time. Just delightful. William is getting to be a proper little boy and went on his first "grown up" cycle ride with his daddy and managed to do 8 miles. Amazing. Just a photo to show you the children and their daddy. After that we went to my parents and stayed with them for the rest of the holiday, which of course they really enjoyed. Dad is slowly improving with his back but he is still having these injections in his eyes, so until all that is over which should be about June/July there is a lot of back and forth to the hospital. I went with him last Saturday and they did say there was an improvement so that's the main thing. While staying with my mum we spent time with Clare and Kenny because they live close and they are getting themselves ready for the move to Penzance. No moving date as yet, but shouldn't be long. We will then be going back to the UK stay with them and see where they are going to settle down, also I think "Dad" has a few jobs lined up like putting up shelves etc. Not to worry though because he loves it and we enjoy staying with them.

The day before we came back to France we went to London to have lunch with Richard's eldest sister for her 70th birthday. We had a lovely day with them and also Richard's cousin and her husband so all in all, a wonderful family day and so good to see them because we don't see Susan very often.

Well I suppose it is back out into the garden tomorrow to try and tame the foot high weeds and grass. We can't believe how much everything has grown in just the couple of weeks we have been away. The pond has over flowed because they have had so much rain, but in between it has been warm, perfect weather for growing!! Next post, I will show you how I am getting on (or not) with my socks.....or should I say sock. In this last picture it shows how quickly a man can get back into the swing of things. He! He! Three men here, I think they call themselves the Musketeers, putting the world to rights over a beer or two, or three, or four!!