Photos from Egypt - to warm you up!

. Downtown Luxor.

The Temple of Karnac, adjacent to Luxor.

This is 1.8 miles from the Temple of Luxor - they were joined by an avenue of sphinxes.

This land is being purchased & cleared in order to excavate these sphinxes.

There are 134 of those colossal columns in the hall of hippostyles, all decorated .

.
A view from the entrance to the Hall of Hippostyles

In the shade.

All of these treasures are on the West bank of the Nile near to Luxor.

The Collosi of Memnon.

The Temple of Hathsethsut, next to the Valley of the Queens.

G in the Valley of the Kings.

Small & empty as it was all taken to Cairo. Small because Tut died young & tombs were built during your reign.

Ramses 11 enormous tomb was dug next door & the waste buried Tut's tomb, that's why it wasn't found until 1924.

There are still tombs to find in the valley.

It was quite hot.

More photos , later

Happy 60th birthday William snr.

Sorry about the short blog on Saturday.
Ben came to see us along with T @ KP, for the day.
T was helping me, which involved a great deal of deleting so when he suggested a light tea of bacon, sausage, egg & fried bread, I closed down with some alacrity & got the frying pan out.
We had a great day, although, sadly, E was at home, unwell.
We played, ate the last of the turkey,( in the traditional dish, with cheese sauce, a cheese & breadcrumb topping, served with green vegetables), followed by Danish rice pudding, then had a grand bonfire of garden waste & Christmas wrappings.
T tested all of the Christmas Cd's & a selection of DVDs, KP talked & cuddled us all, a lot.

On Sunday G raked up mighty mountains of leaves while I was at church, then we made one colossal mountain at the top of the field with 90% of the leaves from the whole site. We then collapsed in front of a big fire, in the lounge, with scampi & salad & the rest of the wine from Saturday.
The mole has returned so G now creates a nightly pyrotechnics display by pouring petrol down all of the holes & setting fire to them.
Moley has just moved to the side lawn again, where we caught him in action this morning.
He got away!

We have been into Birmingham to Lee Longlands - they have amazing furniture & beautiful carpets. We bought a bed settee for the study & now have the challenge of de-cluttering & decorating, before it arrives.
We then had a nice lunch at Cafe Rouge in Gas Street Basin before shopping in Solihull, briefly.
G had taken the food shopping to the M&S car park, I had the emerald green cashmere jacket that I had admired before Christmas, (£99 down to £29) in my hand, when the fire alarm went off & the store was evacuated.
Obviously it was not meant to be mine.
The car park was closed, but G was already there, so really we were lucky to be out & to come home.
We may go to the cinema to see "Australia".

It's very cold.

Boxing Day walk - J on her new bike.

Nine days to go.

Christmas started with the midnight service at Shustoke, as usual.
This is a bit of a misnomer as the service starts at 11.30pm so that communion is at midnight.a

A Happy & Peaceful Christmas to you all.

I'm back.
G & I have just spent a fascinating week in Egypt, sailing from Luxor to Aswan & back.
We put up the outdoor lights & the Christmas tree, made up the beds & cleaned before we left, leaving only the shopping, dusting & decorating to do.
That was yesterday & most of today taken care of.
The house gleams (almost), the tree glitters, the table is laid for lunch & there is a large M&S turkey in the laundry fridge so all's pretty well with the world.
Actually, I'm a bit cold but haven't lit a fire as it will then be ready for tomorrow.
I'm watching the Christmas service from Kings College whilst I prepare tomorrow's family service for Nether Whitacre (11.00am)
We shall be going to the midnight service later, to celebrate the start of Christmas proper.
I hope to stuff the turkey & wrap the chipolatas in bacon before then.
I've been asleep for about an hour, so there's a fair chance of success there - I should stay awake!

I hope that you all have a lovely Christmas day with good company & that lunch goes well.

I shall post some holiday photos later.

Friday already.

I have found the secret to a good night's sleep - don't fall asleep on the settee before bed.
This was my modus operandi last night, mainly because G was away & the house was cold.
I did some reading for my sermon - John chapter 1, as read brilliantly by James Fox on Tuesday night, then fell asleep.
I woke up at 7.25am - wonderful!. I showered, revived my hairdo, dressed, did some jobs & set off for Cambridge to see JR.
He was fine, although feeling rather sorry for himself as he has a bladder problem (men!) & is having uncomfortable treatment on his better eye, to preserve his sight.
G caught a train to Manningtree, where Peter picked him up & drove them up to Shardelows.
We went to lunch in Linton at The Crown,then back to JR's for coffee & then home later, via Coventry to collect my car from G's office.
It is cold, wet & windy.
We have a nice fire & shall shortly have supper.

I'm sorry that there are no photos - I will try harder.

Is it that time already?

Apologies for the break - this is the first time that I have logged on since the last blog.
Anyway, MK, J & DK went home last Thursday.
I left them at the airport in the morning& went to Solihull to avoid the empty house.
M&S kindly supported me in this by having a 20% discount day.
I enjoyed the odd few hours there & then on to the gym then home.
A pretty good day all in all.
I have stripped the beds, washed & ironed, but done no other housework since then.

Friday was a Thomas day.
G picked me up mid-afternoon to go for our Bupa medicals, which went well.

On Saturday we pottered, went to see P&A then on to Wagamama & the pictures to see "Lakeview ------" It was OK, not great.

On Sunday we went to see B & E, a nice relaxing day, concluding with dinner.

On Monday we went to London, G to a meeting, me to potter.
I was very pleased with myself for hopping on & off the tube with competence all day, minding the gap with the best of them.
I met aj & Paul at Kings Cross for an hour or so to chat, then on to Oxford St, Libertys, down to Marble Arch, window shopping, then on to Covent Garden, where I eventually meet G for a coffee & the journey to Margaret's.
We went out for a great Thai meal then slept over.
On Tuesday we went to Leatherhead to see J&G. It was O's 2nd birthday.
We had lunch then on to J's practice for G to have a treatment before travelling back into London to St Lukes in Sydney St in Chelsea for a Christmas concert in aid of The Elizabeth Finn Trust. Joanna Lumley, James Fox & Kate Adie did brilliant readings, Betjeman's Christmas poem, John, chapter one...... & wonderful music.
We got home late.

Wednesday was a Thomas day, I then drove on to Bicester to babysit whilst B&E went to see Quantum...

I drove home this morning. Bicester was at a standstill. The M40 south was at a standstill, but the M40 North was quiet as everyone was avoiding the M40.
I got home, finished the Christmas cards, posted them, went to the hairdressers - you will have to take my word for the fact that I look really glamourous, sitting here on my own, blogging, watching Question Time, planning Sunday's sermon.
I went on to the dentist to have my tooth mended, then into Solihull to shop - late night shopping, but quiet.
Tomorrow I am going to see JR.
G is in London, at a dinner. He will go to Manningtree, by train, be picked up by Peter & drive up to Lavenham to meet JR & me for lunch.

On Saturday we may have a lie-in.

White rabbits + 1

Another busy day.
I put a note on the front door, directing all deliveries to the back door, just in case W is still shopping, then we went out.
Actually, I had a phone call from Aga yesterday, saying that I had won a food mixer in their draw at the Food Show at the NEC, & it would be delivered shortly.
I'm really delighted. I just hope that it's not a wooden spoon!

We got up at a gentle pace & then went to Kenilworth, where MK, J & DK scampered around the castle whilst I went to Sainsburys to shop.A bag of iced buns assured that we got home without anyone fainting from hunger.
We pottered around home for what remained of the afternoon, played with the boys, wrapped presents, watched J's DVDs & ironed.
DK has fluffy fly-away hair, having enjoyed a bath with J & a kick-about without his boots on.

Manchester tomorrow, so we are hoping for the weather to warm up a little. We shall take a picnic lunch to eat in the cafeteria.
The hospital food looks very unhealthy!

I need to make a dental appointment to repair the tooth that broke last night.
I fear that my own Dundee cake may have been to blame but I have officially blamed the seeds in the loaf

I'm back!

Sorry for the gap, I've been busy & have fallen asleep every time that I've sat down.
It has been a great week - J has just come to help, so this may slow down.
Last Sunday I did services at Shustoke & Over Whitacre, there was a "Cavie show" at OW & the car park full of cavie-lovers cars, packed in like gerbils.
We went for a tootle in the afternoon.
On Monday I went to see JR in Cambridge.
His sight is deteriorating & he can no longer drive, which gets him down, but he enjoys a visit & lunch out.
Tuesday, I shopped - nothing edible left in the house. MK thought that I had got lost.
The time just flies when pottering.
Wednesday, we went to Manchester. DK had his plaster removed & replaced with a brace, which was brilliant. I think that he has doubled in size in the last few weeks, all due to a diet of liquidized potato, masquerading as non-dairy baby milk.
Thursday, we either did nothing at all, or I've forgotten.
On Friday we all went to P & A's to look after Thomas & collect Jessie from school, then have tea.
J had such a good time that he sobbed when it was time to come home.
I collected W from the airport in time for dinner.
W, MK & family went to Bicestre to see B, E & family for the weekend.
G & I did a "St Andrew's Eve "fundraising evening, for Shustoke church, with all Scottish food & whiskies - roast beef & Yorkshire puddings(?), smoked salmon, mackerel, scotch eggs& haggis with neaps & tatties, followed by Dundee cake, shortbread flapjack & gingerbread.
We raffled whiskey, shortbread & a hottie, had a Christmas bring & buy & all wore a bit of tartan.
We all had a good time & made £250, so it was worth the effort.
On Sunday we had a united service for our 4 churches for Advent Sunday & to celebrate Dianes ten years here as our vicar.
A very generous Villa player in the congregation said that he would match the money we had raised, & did so from his jeans' pocket.
Added to that, two of the churches have stalls at a table sale in Coleshill next Saturday so we took all of our unsold goods to them after lunch.

I have just remembered Thursday.
Mk had a day of peace with the children & I went to the NEC to the Good Food Show, which I really enjoyed, bought some of the food for Saturday evening, some presents & saw Gordon Ramsey's demonstration at the end of the day, before staggering out, laden with beef, whiskey & chutneys, to meet G at the station.

Plenty to do today - cold & sunny at present.