Goodbye for a while...

I'm signing off for a little while, things have happened and I will tell you about them later but not just now.

I just need  some time to pull myself together.

I hope you'll come by when I return.

See you soon,

Anne xxx

Phew!

Scorchio!

I'd like to bet we don't get weather as good as this in the "real" summertime!

It has been absolutely lovely today, so I thought I'd get on with a little project I started back in the winter. I have a little front garden and it was landscaped (I use the word advisedly!) by Social Services for the previous tenant. So I inherited a lot of horrible red shingle and some funny looking red block paved steps (not very eco friendly). Now there's not much I can do about the red stuff but I decided to make a little border that will at least give the impression that it's a garden!

As I said, I made a bit of a start during the winter and did a bit more today. At the moment it looks like this.

It's a bit of a rubbish tip at the moment but I'm hoping there may be some improvement by tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a couple of lovely sunny/garden pictures.

And I've just thought...all these were taken in the front garden, so it can't be all that bad after all!

I've been on holiday!

Well, I haven't actually BEEN anywhere, I just decided that I wanted to spend a bit of time just enjoying being in my own little world!

I felt I needed a bit of time to just relax and chill out after having my bad chest infection, which seemed to take a while to get over. And it seems I picked the right time to do it!

The weather just seems to be getting better and better, the past three days it has been too warm to work outside in the garden, so I've been reading, lounging and pottering... Oh I do love a good potter!

I've also been getting some more plants for the garden. This weather can lull you into a false sense of security, as far as plants are concerned but I NEVER put any Annuals out until the first week of June, with the exception of Sweet Peas and some veggies. I do plant them but I leave them in the Greenhouse. The last couple of days I've had to evacuate the plants from the Greenhouse because it has been positively tropical in there! Then I have to put them all back in the evening because the temperature drops right back down to single figures. I'm not kidding, it has been 20+ during the day then it drops to 3-5 at night.

But it is so lovely being able to start having my brekkie outside again. This morning, I was just finishing off when my Daughter called round with Little Pink Flower. She'd been to the baby clinic and LPF now weighs 20 and a half pounds! LPF was her usual bouncy self, giggling away! They just called in on their way to "Time for Rhyme" and it was a real unexpected treat so early in the day.

So, I haven't really done anything much and I've had a wonderful time doing it!

Just sitting, looking at....

And I may well do the same tomorrow!

Thursday thoughts...

We have been just so lucky with our weather, it makes you wonder when the bubble is going to burst!

I think our weather bubble is about to burst because I've been listening to the weather forecast on the Beeb (and as you know, whatever Auntie Beeb say is true!!) and it seems we on the east coast are going to get the usual sea fret coming on to the coast over the next couple of days. So while London and its environs basks in about 18, we will be lucky if we reach 13 here. Well, never mind!

This afternoon I played with Little Pink Flower while her Mam was doing some work on the computer. She is really such a delight and each day she discovers something new to do! Isn't it just wonderful to just sit and watch them, you can almost see their brains working! And she is such a pleasant little girl, always so happy to see you. It seems as if Thursday afternoons have developed into a little routine of playtime with her but I'm not complaining, that kind of routine I can definitely put up with!

When I got back, it was still quite sunny outside although it was a little cold. So I went out in the back garden and had a look around. There's so much going on, things popping up through the soil and lifting their leaves to the sun.

But one thing I don't understand. We haven't had any rain,

so where did this come from?

Isn't Nature strange?

But wonderful!

A lovely afternoon..and a little bonus!

This afternoon, Mam, Sis and I went to the Cinema. Tuesdays are cheapy days, only £2.95 for any performance!

So we all went to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and it was fab!

With such a great cast, it was bound to be good but I didn't expect it to be quite so funny, or sad, or poignant, or uplifting. It was thoroughly enjoyable. I'm definitely going to get the DVD when it comes out!

Before we went to the Cinema, we visited a brand new little tea shop nearby. Sis and I have been waiting for it to open since just before Christmas and it finally did yesterday. It's called "Serendipity" (not to be confused with the ones in NYC!) It's slogan is "Tea and Trinkets" because aside from scrummy cakes etc it sells lovely little bits and pieces such as;

It's a lovely old fashioned tea shop with lots of gorgeous crockery, tea pots and the like and all the cakes etc are home made. It reminded us of the "Alice's Tea Cup" cafes in NYC but without the pretentiousness, if that's a word! The staff are warm and friendly and I can imagine spending time in there, reading my Kindle! I think I might be buying some of their "trinkets" in the near future too!

And a good afternoon got even better when  I went to Slimming World. I found I had lost 3.5 pounds!! Imagine that! Although I have been trying to be careful about what I've eaten, I thought because I've been unwell most of this week I wouldn't have lost any weight. But there you go, you never know do you?

So 3 good things today; finding a new tea shop, seeing a good film and a good start to my weight loss.

RESULT!!!

A Very Special Day!

Today is my first-born Grandchild's 18th birthday!

I can't believe it, he was born 18 years ago today, where has the time gone??

I remember it as if it was yesterday.

Of course I was prepared for it, although we didn't know what "it" would be. I had plenty of time to prepare for it. I knew it was going to be wonderful and I couldn't wait for he or she to get here. I knew I was going to be all gooey and gaga...what grandmother wouldn't be?

At least I THOUGHT I was prepared for it.

I wasn't present at the birth, that privilege was reserved for my Son and my Daughter in Law's Mam, as it should be. I was waiting outside though, ready to go in as soon as I was allowed to. So, when I was finally told by a nurse that she had been safely delivered of a boy and I could go in, I was ecstatic!

However, what no-one can prepare you for is the first time you see your child sitting there holding their child in their arms...this is what greeted me when I walked into the Delivery Room.

It was as if every breath of air had been sucked from my body, I couldn't breathe because I had a lump in my throat the size of a brick. I was mesmerised by the sight of my Son holding his Son. I was completely unprepared for the sheer overwhelming power of the feelings I had.

I quickly pulled myself together and went to check that my Daughter in Law was okay and to congratulate the exhausted but very happy new parents. But I couldn't forget those feelings, they kept threatening to overwhelm me.

I have two beautiful Grand Daughters and I experienced the same feeling with them and experienced the joy of watching one of them come into this world but at least I knew what to expect.

But I never forgot when I first had those indescribable feelings, eighteen years ago...

He has grown into a fine young man.

His hair may have been more colours than Joseph's coat, he has a ring through his lip (which I'm not too happy about, but it's not my mouth) but he is a warm, loving brother and a wonderful, adoring cousin to Little Pink Flower. He is a lovely, caring Grandson and he and I have the most wonderful telephone conversations, which no-one else would understand (sometimes I don't even think we do either!!)

He is the best of both his Father and Mother and you can't get much better than that!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Grandson!

Britain's First Photo Album

Usually I only send my family "programme alerts" but I thought I'd tell you about this one. Unfortunately it probably won't be available for those of you from other parts of the world (but there again, you might not even be interested, so you could just go off and read something more interesting!)

Anyway, if you haven't watched it, please give it a go, it's fascinating.

BBC2 or BBC HD Channel, weeknights 6.30pm. It's about the Victorian photographer, Francis Frith, who went all over Britain, documenting life in Victorian times. John Sergeant is following in his footsteps, taking pictures.

Now you might not think that it would be very interesting but it's stunning, particularly in HD. And it's re-fuelled my desire to go to various places in England. Lyme Regis, for instance. I only know Lyme through Jane Austen's novel Persuasion and The French Lieutenant's Woman but it has so much more to see than The Cobb.

Anyway, if you're at all interested in social history, wandering around Britain or photography, you'll love it.

I also thought I'd let you see my latest addition to my garden, it's very rare and not much is known about it, how to propagate it etc.

It's name (according to Linnaeus) is, "Incendi Lacus" and here it is in full flower!

Lovely isn't she?

and for those who don't know yer actual Latin, it's common name is "Firepit"

And she's supposed to be "everblack", so it will give me all year round colour!!

Have a great weekend!