Good Times and Bad

It has been a long time since I last posted and to be honest, I'm still not in the mood for this but here goes. As you know we came back to the UK for 2 weeks over Easter, we are still here. Firstly we had a brilliant time with the children and my parents during that time and as you will see from a couple of piccies, we had a fun time with the grandchildren when we took them to a wonderful enchanted forest for the day. Lots to see and explore and we didn't see it all in the time we spent there so we will need to go again. The first photo is where we found this huge "giant's hand" that we could sit on and have a bit of a snack. The second one is where they were trying to say that nannie looked a little like the goblin??? Personally I don't see the resemblance do you? Good job there isn't a close-up here.







Anyway, when we went back to stay with my parents my dad was in a bit of a state with his leg and we took him to the doctors, only to have him whisked away to hospital with a suspected blood clot. He was in there for 3 days and although he is out now, he is still in a lot of pain. That was the first part of the holiday and we should have been going back to France by then but........... Richard had a bit of a scare and went to the doctors, was referred to the hospital for various tests, (I am NOT going to go into details here but rather invasive) and the outcome so far is, he has prostate cancer. We are waiting for the results of the CT Scan on his kidneys and then he has to go for an MRI in 6-8 weeks time. We will probably go back to France to set things in order there and close the house up as we will carry on with the treatment for Richard, whatever it is, in the UK. As you can imagine, we are in for quite a few rough months so forgive me if I don't blog very often.

Take care one and all. God bless.

Happy Mother's Day

In the UK it is Mother's Day on Sunday, so if my sister looks at my blog, I am sending the photos of the flowers for my mum. Happy Mother's Dad mum, I love you very much and will see you in a couple of weeks. I can't wait. We saw this little clump of violets when we were out for a walk and I couldn't get very close to them, and I get very frustrated because I know if I had a slightly better camera I could zoom in to them and you would see them better. Still, they were still wonderful to see. The others are a little clump of daffodils we have in the garden and one of the stems has 3 heads on it. Just beautiful.

I have no idea where the time has gone since I last posted. It was glorious sunshine then and spring had arrived, but since then we have had a day of snow and it has been rather cold, so we haven't done much outside. We started weeding the beds and just when Richard wanted to mow the lawn, the snow came and it is rather wet again. We were hoping to get the grass mowed before we go back to the UK for Easter.

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday because the most amazing bunch of flowers came to the door for me for Mother's day. These were from Clare, so thank you. I have a card from Vicki and I know that I have a special "day out" organised for when I go back so I am really looking forward to that. I keep making guesses as to where we are going, but she keeps telling me off, I have to wait and see :-) It is also our wedding anniversary on Monday, 41 years. It only seems a few months ago that I was telling you all that it would be our ruby anniversary and here we are another year on. It's quite frightening isn't it?

Should Tracy read this, we wish you a very happy birthday for Monday. I bet there will be another super handbag somewhere in the presents!!! We look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks time when we are back.

That's about it for this time, I wish you all a good weekend and for my family, I love you loads.

Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where the birdies is

As it says in the heading of this post, spring is sprung..... well after a fashion. As to "I wonder where the birdies is" we saw them flying over this week, must have been a couple of hundred cranes, what a sight and the sound cannot be mistaken for anything else. You hear that first and then you are searching the skies trying to find them and then this skein appears and there they are. Our neighbour got in his car and followed them for quite a way, he was having trouble keeping up with them at 50-60km ph and then they stop and circle as if taking imaginary photographs so they can find their way another year. Quite amazing.

You can see from the 2 photos below how exciting it all is with the bulbs. The snowdrops in fact have nearly finished and the crocus are out in their best frocks now, all yellow!!! No idea where my purple and white ones went, I think the mice underground had a field day. Our very good friends came to see us last September and brought us some tulips so they were planted up in pots as you can see - not having the mice chewing on those little beauties. Well they are doing really well as you can see and if you are wondering why they are covered with wire netting, if you have a cat, you will realise the reason. She just loves using the pots as toilets. Little darling!

At this time of year the garden will begin to get out of hand so we need to get out there every good day there is. Yesterday I took about 15 hardwood cuttings of elaeagnus which is a shrub with the most beautiful perfume in all the world, to me anyway, so fingers crossed they will be good to plant out as the start of our hedge come next Autumn.

In the evenings it is still on with the knitting, I finished the scarf in the photo and it is really soft wool and such wonderful rich colours, though you can't really see that in this photo. I'm not very good at photo taking, I would like my son-in-laws skills on that front. Still knitting socks, yes Di, still knitting them. I say that because when I told my friend I was knitting them she almost wet herself laughing so the pair that should be winging their way over to her will now be held here. You wait till you see them Di, you'll be sorry!!! :-) They would keep your feet so warm in your riding boots when out with Zeffie.

I have just spent 2 days clearing out my sewing room, oh my goodness, you know what it's like when you start a job and wonder what on earth you have done. Well I was surrounded by wool, fabric, patterns, frames of all sorts and enough cross stitch kits to keep me busy until I'm about 200. Why on earth did I buy all of them and when am I going to do them? I should have had my mum and sister with me when I was doing it, we would have had such a laugh and I could have sent them home with some. I have a massive bag of wool to take along to the sewing group on Monday for anyone who wants some. Full balls, little balls bits and bobs but they will be useful for someone surely.

Today Richard and I went to a town called Condom (I know, don't say anything) which is about 40 minutes away from here and went to church. It was a lovely anglican service all in english and the people made us so welcome. We are thrilled to bits to have found a church for ourselves because we have really missed it, we were very involved when we were in the UK. They hold a service on the last Thursday of every month so we will become regulars.

Oh well, time to go and do some dusting, we have friends coming tomorrow afternoon so I better show willing. Take care family and friends and fellow bloggers.

Before and after

Sitting here with the snow falling gently outside the window with the sun shining on the mountains showing off their wedding gowns, it's easy to know why we are here, but yesterday when there was more drilling in the walls and we were looking through a fog of dreadful dusty mud from the walls, you often wonder. I ask myself will it ever be finished and did we start this much too late in our lives, but being realistic we couldn't have done it before because we were working. To make myself feel a little better I thought I would look to see how far we have come. The first photo is when we were viewing the property.
The next one is a closer look at the work that had to be done. Perhaps another day I will show you some of the inside.

The last one is of the outside and taken by a very good friend of ours who has the knack of making our house look very nice indeed. Sorry about the car in the drive. If I was clever I would be able to take that out, but ho hum..... you have the car!!!

So now I have looked at these and realise just how much we have achieved in a short time, it makes me feel better.

Cat's cradle/bed socks

I am not allowed to mention the fact that I don't have much to say, on strict instructions from my girls, because when I do I tend to ramble on a bit, so now I will start my ramblings. Really it is just to tell you how clever my little kitten Sophie is, as you will see from the first photo, she is taking serious note on how to knit.

Once she had mastered the technique she thought she better have a go at getting the knitting pins in the correct position, this took a little more effort and drove me insane as you can imagine.

There was more than one time when I was busing knitting away and suddenly, whoosh! the damn needle had been whipped out of my hand and into her little paws. She is very quick. Look at her, butter wouldn't melt would it? So after a few days, look at what WE have achieved, isn't she clever?

These are now winging their way over to Vicki, so I hope they fit you OK and keep your feet nice and warm when you are out walking Mabel in your wellies.

Now, can someone answer a question that came to mind, and I'm sure the person to answer it will be aims. When knitting socks on 4 needles, you only use the knit stitch, because you are knitting on the outside of the sock, though it looks like pearl on the inside. I don't quite know how this happens but is this where the words "stocking stitch" came from??

Well the lovely sunny weather is calling so I am going outside for a while. Thanks for stopping by and hello to all my family and friends again, especially the Smith family who I don't see very often. I hope all is well with you and that school/college is going well for Briony, Jess and Charlie. Pete, you shouldn't work so hard, take some time to stop and smell the flowers and Tracy, let me know when you get fed up with your handbags and throw them in my direction!!

Knit one, purl one, graft some

Not a lot to talk about today. The weather has been rather nice, very sunny during the day but frosty early morning and night. We have been trying to do our walking every day, it's not always possible but as you can see from the photo, there are 2 old age pensioners out for a stroll enjoying the sunshine.
I think I told you I have posted off the pair of socks I knitted for Clare and I can't wait for her to get them to see what she thinks. They are very addictive and I have finished another sock and half way through the next one. They certainly knit up very quickly and I can even graft the toe now, thanks to my good friend Helen who is a genius at any craft. Whatever she tries, it always turns out perfect and she makes some stunning things, I suppose I shouldn't like her really but she is so generous with her knowledge and time that she has become one of my best friends over here :-) I have just spoken to my eldest daughter and she is desperate for a pair of socks to wear with her wellies when out walking the dog so I think I better get back to the clickety-click of needles, little Sophie permitting of course.

Well I am certainly achieving some of my new year resolutions, the walking, more time for my craft and trying to be better at keeping in touch with all the people who matter to me.

Time for a cup of tea I think so I will say cheerio for now and hopefully there will be more photos to show you another time. Take care one and all. God bless.

Things I've been doing

Not a lot of chatter today, I just thought I would show you a couple of things I have been working on and some I have finished, which is very unusual for me because I have so many UFO's. The chairs - we found quite a few of these in our barn when we bought the house and I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to re-seat them so I went to a class with my friend Clare, who speaks french. To be honest, not speaking the language very well, it was hilarious and I soon learnt when the tutor said, in french, "Stop you fool, you are doing it wrong". That's how I understood it anyway, she didn't really call me a fool, I just felt it. It was a brilliant class and I learned a lot but having said that, I'm not sure I could do one on my own, the starting off is very, very difficult, so I would need another lesson. The end result though, for a first attempt, I was really pleased with. Richard had to go in my place for the last lesson because I was in the UK and he enjoyed it as well.

As for the socks, while I was in Penzance with Clare and Kenny over Christmas, I think I said in my last post that there is this wonderful wool shop. Well the assistant in there said she had found a pattern for knitting socks on 2 needles and it was easy.............. Not for me it isn't but I have now completed one and I am rather pleased with it. Now half way through the next one so hang on for a while Clare they should be with you in a couple of weeks. I suppose I was a bit naive because I didn't realise there would be so may seams and I hope they aren't uncomfortable when you put your shoes on. I have sewn them as flat as I can. Has anyone else knitted socks on 2 needles? I have to say, knitting them on 4 needles, although more difficult for me, they are a much better looking sock.

Well I think that will do for today, seeing as I said there would be no chatter. Will let you know how I get on. Take care everyone. Love to all my family and friends who take the time to read this.

Home again

Our travels are over for a while and we are back home in France, so no more suitcases to live out of. I love going back and being with my family more than anything, but the nomadic lifestyle isn't for me.




We had a fantastic visit and managed to stay with all our family, my parents for the longest and they are really well though struggling a bit with the snow they have had since Christmas. We were actually very lucky because if we hadn't left the UK when we did, we would probably only have got home a couple of days ago, the roads were completely impassable. We had a wonderful week with Clare and Kenny in Cornwall, with no snow there and it was good to be able to walk into the town, looking at the sea and just enjoying the amazing scenery. We even managed a walk on the beach. We were spoilt rotten while we were there so thank you guys very much. A bonus for me is the fact that there is a lovely knitting shop in the town and they are so nice in there that I could spend hours just feeling all the loveliness of the yarns and looking at all the patterns. Clare was very patient though. This is the name of the shop.



On the 14th of this month it was Richard's 65th birthday so I am now married to an old age pensioner, not forgetting that I'm one anyway when I became 60. I find it very scarey when I think about how old we are getting, I don't think I like it at all and everything that comes with it, I really need to get into a positive mind-set and do something about it. We have started walking and try to get out every day. We have just got back from one and it was an amazing view of the mountains today, they look very close and they have certainly got their wedding gowns on and the sun was glinting and making a myriad of colours of pink and purple and silver. We said we needed our friend Brian here because he takes wonderful photos and , having the correct lens, which we of course haven't. We also saw deer in the fields, it was all rather magical and makes you feel alive. Anyway, going back to Richard's birthday, our little cat, Sophie came up on the bed and decided she would help him open his presents. She was so pleased to have us back, though she has had a lovely holiday with a friend of ours up the road, so much so, that we can't get her to go outside now, she prefers living indoors in front of the fire.
We are now of course missing our beautiful grandchildren, we spent some lovely days with them and Vicki and Bill and managed to see a few nativity plays at the schools which was an added bonus. I am so pleased we were there to see them. Thanks so much for having us stay for so long, I do realise it's a bit of a squeeze having us all there and as William says, I do snore when I'm sleeping in his room with him. Bless him. Out of the mouths of babes.........

So now, back to some kind of normality and I want to do some more of my craft so hopefully you will be able to see some things I've made on here over the next few weeks. I have just sent off a couple of scarfs for the girls and they phoned me this morning to say thank you. Though they seem to be using them as reigns, belts, superman capes, anything except scarves. Still, never mind.

I'm still here

Hi everyone, just to let you know I'm still here. Since the 1st November I have been over in the UK and staying with my parents so of course I have had no access to a computer as Richard stayed over in France. He was supposed to be coming back here on the 17th December, but as a surprise he arrived early on the morning of the 13th which was my birthday. A lovely surprise and I really had no idea. I spent a lovely day with Vicki, Bill and the grandchildren, and my oldest friends, Sue and Jim came for the day as well, so all in all, not so bad getting a year older.

Richard and I are now in Penzance staying with Clare and Kenny for Christmas and we have just come back from a lovely walk where we fed the birds, ducks, swans and squirrels. The cheeky squirrels climbed up our legs to get the monkey nuts so it was a lot of fun. Very cold though, but we were wrapped up warm.

I am going to sign off now but will write more another time. It's good to have the puter back again. Everyone have a lovely Christmas, may you all receive the gift you wish for, and for me that is health, peace and happiness, (oh and perhaps a new handbag!!). Gosh, how cheesy does that sound. God bless you and your families.

Richard, me and my mum and dad outside Clare and Kenny's house in Penzance
Millie's "pink" dolly dress
"I love pink Nannie" so did I have a choice of colour, no I don't think so

My mum enjoying the dolly

Friends leave, summer ends

It has really been ages since I have posted and that is because we have been back to the UK to spend time with the family and also we have had visitors here. The first item there, the trip home to the UK was a brilliant trip. It was our grandchildren's 3rd birthday and we took my parents to visit for the day and I'm not sure who had more fun playing with the dolls the girls received, them or my mum!! She absolutely loved them and was jiggling them up and down and making the dolls giggle, then feeding them, hearing them suck, then burping them and helping them go to sleep, cuddling them when they cried. You name it, mum did it and loved every minute as you can see from the photo. With my mum being 89, when you think of the changes she has seen in everything, she must have been thinking about the dolls she played with as a child, no less loved of course, but so different. All for the better?? I'm not so sure.

After that we took mum and dad to stay for the weekend with my youngest daughter Clare and Kenny in Penzance and the weather could not have been better. The sun shone and we managed to get mum and dad down onto the beach and I was clambering on the rocks with Kenny and Clare and worrying my mum. It never changes does it, you always worry about your children, whatever age you or they are. We had a fabulous time with them and it was the first time my mum and dad had ever seen their new house, so a treat for us all.

We spent 2 weeks in the UK and managed to pack a lot in, Richard doing various jobs with dad in the garden. Dad was in one of his "building" moods and has made some lovely trellises for the garden and has worked really hard. It's all looking lovely. We did some shopping and went to Windsor for the day and basically had some good quality time with them. I miss them.

Back to France and we had some friends coming to stay so we had to get certain things ready for them. Di and Brian are really good friends and we see them when we are back home but have never had the need to stay overnight in each others houses so you always wonder how it will go when you are all living under the same room for a week. I needn't have worried, there was never a moments tension and it was a lovely relaxed week. We laughed a lot, chatted a lot, drank a lot, Brian likes Irish whiskey like me and Di and Richard were on the red wine. We did lots of jobs during the day and Di was an absolute star and helped Richard clear the massive pile of wood that needed sawing and stacking. Believe it or not, she enjoyed herself. We also had a clear out of the pond which had become over-run with bull rushes. Thank you both of you. The weather was perfect and we sat outside in the evening having dinner until about 10pm. Really hot during the day. Can you tell we enjoyed their stay. We loved it and feel very sad that they have gone home. Can't wait for them to visit again. Please don't wait another year both of you.

Now it's getting back to normal again, with summer ending and the evenings drawing in and all our friends have been and gone. It has been a wonderful summer, though the lack of rain is still a problem. I can now get back to my sewing and knitting. I am busy making dolls clothes for the girls for Christmas so that's keeping me busy at the moment. I love it though.

For some reason I can't post any photos so I will post this anyway and try and post some photos later on.

Back to sewing - finally

As you can imagine I have been rather "down" since the family went back and I have felt the need to do something for myself. With renovating the house and Richard always busy working on it, I don't feel as though I can go up to the den and sew because I feel guilty at leaving him working on his own. So, all that has been happening is that I have been doing "stuff", not of any importance and feeling thoroughly fed up. We have talked about this and he said he would love it if I went up to the den and did my quilting, he would much rather I was happy. Of course, I knew that's what he would say, but bless him for making me feel better about it. So...... I have started sewing again and I didn't realise just how much I had missed it. Would you believe I've even forgotten how to do a lot of the basics so it's back to the books again. I couldn't even thread my sewing machine without getting the manual out, that's how bad it was. I have been putting together a little lap quilt which has a cat theme as you will hopefully see from the photo, but the main fabric, which I have taken a photo of, doesn't do anything at all, unless I did a lot of "fussy cutting" (to those of you who don't know that term, it means cutting out each individual picture you want) and of course I would waste so much fabric. Sharlene, if you are reading this, what do you think, I think it would be much too busy to put a border of the lovely cat fabric and I'm just thinking of backing the quilt in. Such a shame not to see all those lovely cats on the front though.

We are off to the UK on Tuesday and I will not have access to a computer because we are staying with my mum and dad, but I am taking a lot of sewing with me and mum and I are going to have some fun sewing together, something we haven't done for a while. I'm really looking forward to it. I am even going to go to some fabric shops and quilt shops, those we don't have in France, at least anywhere near to where I live. I really miss them. Not that I need fabric of course, but it's good to see the latest designs and to stroke the odd fat quarter. :-) Oh well, a little might find it's way into my bag. Oops, who said that??

We still haven't had any rain here and it has been hot again today. Most of our trees have lost their leaves now and the pond is almost dry. The cracks in the ground you can get your fist down, so it will be interesting to see how many of the trees manage to recover from this drought.

Well, I can hear my sewing machine calling me again so I think I had better go and see what I can be doing. I won't be on here again for a few weeks so I will catch up with everyone when we get back. Take care one and all and talk to you again soon.

Oh yes, the other thing is, the swallows. You will see from the photo that they are all gathering, getting ready to migrate. They do this for a few weeks and we were talking with our neighbour, David the other evening and we decided they collected on the telephone wires to "chat" to each other and decide when they were going to leave and what route they were going to take for their hundreds of miles journey. They will gather in their thousands before they set off, an amazing sight.

While Richard has been away I have been picking our produce, plus the goodies our neighbours have given us, and cooking and freezing like there is no tomorrow. The tomatoes have been fantastic and some of them are HUGE as you will see from the photo. When you cut them open, they are so fleshy and so sweet, just yummy. The garden looks dreadful because there

hasn't been rain for ages and we have lost so many trees, especially the fruit ones. The peach trees have lost their fruit and leaves so are standing naked, same with the apple tree, apples still clinging on but not growing at all, the pear has a few pears but they seem to have stopped growing as well. Even our massive lime tree has lost most of it's leaves now, the ones that are left are brown; we are kicking up leaves as we do in the autumn when we walk across the lawn, well I say lawn, there is NO green at all and it is being blown away. How very sad it all looks. The forecast has said we could expect storms tonight, going into tomorrow so perhaps we will get the rain we so desperately need. We just can't water everything because it comes from our mains water and we have a hosepipe ban now so it is a matter of watching everything close down before their time.

Richard is due home on Wednesday about lunchtime and I can't wait. I have to say I don't like being here on my own too much and with being scared stiff of storms, I'm not looking forward to tonight at all. What a whimp I am.

The family have all settled down back in the UK and Bill has completed his bike ride from Edinburgh to London, (525 miles) he arrived back yesterday evening (Sunday). Well done Bill, a real achievement, we are very proud of you.

Well, that will do for now, I seem to be rather boring at the moment so I will try and get some cheer in the next post for you. I will take some photos of Smokey and Sophie playing. They are an absolute delight though Sophie is such a tinker, a bit like a puppy because she chews everything, dives at ANYTHING that moves, especially my bare toes (ouch!) and her teeth are like little needles. Clare has advised me to get a spray bottle of water out and give her a little squirt when she does wrong which is a brilliant idea but I think I may get through a few gallons a day!!!! I will have to do something though because my body looks as though it's been through a war zone I have so many scratches on it. Bye for now, will talk again soon.

The Aftermath

I suppose I should be pleased that I can join the blogging world again, but I'm not because it means that I have access to the room where the children have been sleeping for the past 4.5 weeks. How quiet it all is. The beds are taken up and stripped of their bedding, a few toys still scattered across the floor because I haven't the heart to pick them up, books left ready for me to read to them, but they have all gone back today and I am rather sad. Richard has gone back with them to help with the driving and he will be away for a week, so as I look out into the garden and see 3 empty swings gently moving in the air and a child's hammock lying empty I will wallow in my sadness for just a while.

When you read this Vicki, I have loved having you here with the children and only hope that you enjoyed it too, enough to come back again next year, hopefully with Bill being able to stay a while longer. I do realise it was too long for you and the children without him, but thankyou. God bless, I love you all. See you when we come back in September.

The second picture is of the children "helping" Grandpa to clean out the pond. What a dirty smelly mess we all were and what fun we had, so many beasties to find and Mabel the Springer Spaniel they brought with them was in seventh heaven with the smell and mess. A good shower with the hose pipe was lots of fun though.

The time is going so quickly and the children seem to be having a lovely time. We are very lucky to be able to use a friend's swimming pool so we have been going there most days and everyone loves it. We take a picnic lunch and spend most of the day there and Jan (our friend) baked us all cakes yesterday so we are being really spoilt. As Vicki says, what is it about being by the side of a pool in gorgeous weather having tea and cake brought out to you? Just wonderful.

The girls weren't sleeping at all which as you can imagine was very difficult for Vicki, she was so tired, but the last 2 days they have slept right through, so fingers crossed it will happen again for a few night. A bit of bribery is going on, but as long as we sleep, who cares??

We have had our old car out as you can see from the picture and the children think it's great going out in her, they just love it and of course Grampie loves taking them out in her.

I need to go now because the swimming pool is calling and the children are in their costumes ready to go, so I will try and post again another time.

Sun, water melons and paddling pools

I can't believe the family has been here for a week already. Poor Bill went home yesterday after a wonderful, hot week playing with the children in the paddling pool, they have had a whale of a time. Because it is so hot, we play outside during the morning, then come in for lunch and we either play inside or they watch a dvd until it gets a little cooler. They think it's great being able to eat breakfast outside and tea, but not lunch, it's too hot. William quite likes to "chill" with little kitten upstairs and he has taken ownership of her and he is being very responsible.

Today they have gone to visit their cousins and play in the swimming pool though it is a bit cooler today. Not a bad thing, a bit of a relief. I have taken loads and loads of photos but quite honestly most of them are of the children with wonderful little naked dimpled bottoms so not to be put on here, but you can imagine. It is so good to see them running around our garden at long last, and to think we have about 4 more weeks of this. We are enjoying ourselves so much.

A couple of the photos here are of the children enjoying some water melon and us all out on a walk/bike ride with Mabel the dog. I have to say, the dog is being very good which is such a relief because both Richard and I were so worried about having her here, with having no fences and she has no idea where our boundaries are, but so far, no problem apart from her having a fettish about paddling pools...........

We loved one comment that William made, you know the telephone lines are 4 in a row, like music, well there were loads and loads of swallows sitting on there, a classic picture, and William comes and tells us that he has been watching "bird church". Apparently they were all sitting in their pews singing to Jesus. How cute is that. Children's minds are wonderful aren't they?

I will go now and have a quick tidy up while everyone is out now that I have caught up with emails, blogging etc. The trouble is, the computer is in the room that the children are sleeping in so I'm not getting on here very much, so apologies for not commenting. Back to normal in a few weeks. Bye for now, talk again whenever I can sneak in here....

Just Boosting our Batteries

I don't know where the time has gone since I last posted, but wherever it went, it was good while it lasted. We had our very dear friends Sue and Jim here for a week and it was lovely to just chill with them and catch up with what has been going on in our respective lives. I hate to say how many years I have known Sue, but if I say it is over 50 will that suffice??

I thought I would let you know how little kitten is getting on. Her name is Sophie, a little french don't you think? We obviously have her for all time now because there is no way that Richard is going to let her go. We did ask around at the beginning if anyone wanted a kitten, but it's too late now, she is ours. Smokey is so good with her, though he bats her every now and then just to keep her in line, but all in all, they are doing great together, beginning to play as you will see from one of the photos. The other photo I have put there is of Smokey's eyes, aren't they the most beautiful blue?

As it says in the heading, Richard and I are now filling our reserves, boosting our batteries, ready for Vicki, Bill and the 3 grandchildren to arrive this Sunday. We can't wait, but we know we are going to be absolutely knackered at the end of the month. One of the problems we may have is the fact that it is so hot during the day, so what on earth do we do with them, they certainly can't be outside all the time. I am getting crayons, books, glue and anything else I can think of ready to play with. A friend also gave me a recipe for home made play doh. I won't make it until the children are ready to help.........I wonder if that is a good idea? Yes, I'm sure it is. I only wish they were old enough for other crafts like sewing and knitting but William will think it's a bit girlie I'm sure and the twin girls are only 2, well 3 in September so a bit young yet. Never mind, we'll think of something.

Hopefully I will be able to post while they are here and I know Vicki will want to as well so we should have some lovely photos later on. Till then, time to take deep breaths, relax and panic getting the house ready. It's funny because until you know you are having small children to stay and you look around, you don't realise what an unsafe environment we live in. Richard has various tools, saws, knives, chain saw!!! hammers etc. which I'm sure William will love, but not quite the toys he should be playing with. Bye, talk again soon.

Cute or What

Just a couple of lovely photos of Little Kitten. Smokey is being so good and doesn't bother her at all, hopefully I will be able to get a photo of them together soon. I missed my opportunity today when they were both playing with the same piece of string, I didn't have my camera with me. You will notice that the photos are with the "big stern man who isn't soft at all"....... Yeah right!!
The first one is of Little Kitten and one of the Pirates of Penzance!!!

Just some lovely pictures

I am going to let the photos speak for themselves. They are, and not in the right order I expect, Smokey stopping me from finishing a "taggy" I had made for one of Clare's friend's baby. They are such a lot of money to buy, but great fun to make. The babies love playing with all the little tags and buttons. A rose that a friend gave us for our Ruby Wedding anniversary in March, it is called "Ruby Wedding". A wild kitten (Hissing Sid at the moment) that we found in the garden, very, very hungry but wouldn't come near us a few days ago. Today, he came close enough to eat a little meal off a saucer, so fingers crossed. A hibiscus which I bought from the market today, fantastic colour and looks so good in the anniversary present my sister gave to us. I just love the idea of the big cup and saucer and what a colour that flower is, look at the stamens close up. Perfect.

Back again

Well, here we are back in France after our visit to the UK for 2 weeks. The reason we went mainly was to help our youngest daughter and her husband settle in to their new house in Penzance. Firstly though we stayed with Vicki, Bill and the children for a few days and of course that was wonderful seeing them all again. Luckily we see them fairly often so now they just run straight up to us, I would hate it if they were a little shy at first. Mind you, having 3 children running full pelt at you can be rather disturbing, you have to brace yourself so they don't knock you flying!! Also while we were staying there, we all went to my mum and dads for a day and they are in good health. The children were really good and the weather was marvelous, so much so that we hooked the hose pipe onto the washing line and the children had great fun running through it. Mum and dad love having them there and it was a really good day.

Richard had a list of jobs to do at Clare and Kenny's so it was a matter of putting them in order of urgency. The kitchen was first and he set to cutting, chopping and changing cupboard doors around so they could fit their cooker and fridge in. This was done and it will be down to them now to do the decorating, but it is a nice size kitchen with lots of potential. Richard then did a lot in their bedroom and various other jobs. Clare and I did a fair bit of shopping but really, I couldn't do an awful lot and I felt a bit useless, but there will be other times no doubt. We walked into Penzance which is only about 15 minutes walk and it is a very pretty town and the views of the sea of course are wonderful. I have to say they have chosen well, it is a very practical house for them and close to all amenities and I hope and pray they are very happy there. At least when I talk to Clare on the phone now I can imagine where she is, it always helps doesn't it? They have a walled garden and a friend of theirs who lives close by and loves gardening, has great plans, so I think they are going to have lots of fun doing that. That is something I can at least help with when I next go down.

Now we are back it is getting the wretched garden back to how it was, the lawn and weeds have just gone mad because it has been very warm and wet. That is the only trouble with leaving it at this time of year, we just don't know where to start on our return. We have our oldest friends coming to stay on the 1st July for a week and I can't wait. Jim has been before in a "working" capacity and always when it has been freezing cold, and Sue hasn't been at all, so I am really looking forward to having them here so we can just chill out and enjoy each other's company. First though we have to get a room ready for them so I had better go and do some more work.

Take care everyone, God bless and talk again soon.