Pom, pom, pom......

Busy making pom poms with J & Th, it being yet another wet & windy day, just enough respite for a spin around the garden on the jeep. Actually, it is brightening up & a dry evening is promised. Hurrah! I arrived home this morning, a day later than anticipated as the wet weather yesterday meant that tennis would be off, so I went to Lincoln for the day, as B was there for a meeting. I had a great day, despite the day-long deluge & fear of being swept down Steep Hill, from the Cathedral in a tidal wave! I did the shops, coffee, twice, & went to communion at lunchtime, whilst in the cathedral, before meeting B again at 4.30pm By then the rain had just abated, so we had a good drive home, the a healthy M&S dinner & snooze on the settee whilst watching TV. Being entertained by J & Th today, trying to keep G awake - a full time job! We shall deliver J & Th home later - after boiled eggs & soldiers,(chickens have obliged) then go to see "Gatsby" - G off to Thailand & all destinations East from Sunday, so the last outing for a while. Girly party tomorrow evening, so a little light housework & some baking on the cards.

Summer!

A glorious day & a promise of more to come. I made the mot of it by writing my sermon - Trinity Sunday - first thing - then heading for the tennis club for 11.00am. My first Saturday visit this year, so a little trepidation. I needn't have worried as there was a junior tournament on, so no play & a lot of difficulty getting out again - a single track road with a right hand, blind bend half way along it, log jammed with doting parents in their large cars! I went to collect dry cleaning - closed due to unforseen circumstances, but did manage to make a hairdressing appt for Friday pm, ready for the girly, bring a bottle/nibbles party. Hair in real need of attention, not having been cut for a couple of months, pop to Morrisons, then home. I made a cappucinno & lounged in the conservatory with the Telegraph for half an hour, in the warm - bliss! I only have a paper on Sat, saves on time & money! I love my new coffee machine - my daily coffee now replaces wine, which I really don't miss & feel much better for abstaining. I gardened until nearly 7.00pm - hoed all of the borders,started on the last one - the big one at the top of the garden & collected all of the wood brought down during the week of rain & high winds - yesterday, CPH, 16 & 6 degrees, BHX, 10 & 4!! A hot bath, to deter post gardening aches & pains, then dinner - G watching racing at Mira all day - home about 6.00pm to mow outside lawns with puny Flymo as the mower is still away having a bracket fixed. Seem to have missed the Tudors on TV altogether - sleep seems preferable to viewing any of the available programmes. The Co-op have McV choc digestives half price - beware! JS have Yorkshire tea bags, 240 for £4- eh, a bargain there!

The volvos have it

the beauty treatment, that is - both vacuumed & shampooed to within an inch of their lives, then polished with a wash leather, shortly before the rains came & the bits blew off the trees all over them. Not to be beaten, when G had finished rodding the drains (no euphanisms there - a minor pongy problem from bathroom to laundry), I hosed them off again before returning them to their more usual parking places down the drive. Problem solved - wet but clean. We park them out of the way of the view from the kitchen window, so that we can watch the birds & animals in the field - more for me than G as he spends far less time at the kitchen sink. Hardly any at all, in all honesty, so I suppose it's for my benefit. A cold day with winds & rain - not at all spring-like. Tomorrow is exactly a year since we were in Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, the place of the battle which eventually saw the french leave Vietnam for good - 1950s? A place full of bomb craters, tunnels, museums & memorials, not to be forgotten. I feel the need to shop tomorrow, having a 20% off M&S voucher & coffee vouchers, compliments of aj & needing a pair of jeans that fit. Ventura Park here I/we come. Probably, I. A brilliant programme on Anne Bolelyn tonight on BBC2, with Hilary Mantel, Phillipa Gregory, David Starkey & others - another, on Thomas Cromwell tomorrow, I think.

Can you put a name to these????

Cluck, cluck, cluck.

Overnight rain but a dry if chilly day. I took Cluck & two rubber eggs to school with me, to take assembly, to start of their Global .... week. it all went well & Cluck behaved impeccably! I dashed home to change, then went to play tennis, a little shopping in the Co-op, then home to cook lunch - poached eggs. I didn't feel too good, so had a nap in the lounge after lunch, whilst pretending to watch TV. By 3.30pm I roused myself to make a cup of tea & get into the garden for a couple of hours. I weeded the rockery, accompanied by the chickens, before cooking dinner - cold chicken with sweet potatoes & cauliflower cheese. A brandy & hot bath was planned to make me feel better, but didn't work, but a chat with aj has helped & I've come to bed. I think I'd like a week somewhere warm, being pampered, with good company. Any ideas?

Summer?

Possibly, as this is day 2 without a ground frost. One drawback of retirement is that you don't look forward to weekends in the same way as when the other five days were pretty well tied up. Today I had planned to bite the bullet & play tennis - going alone to fit in with a formed group, admittedly a very friendly & welcoming group, but ...... I had forgotten that we have the Parish Plan training day at Hockley Heath, so tennis defered for another week. Perhaps it will be interesting. The reasons for needing new leadership for the plan is all very political - NIMBYism. It's research & paperwork - not my forte at all & I have no intention of leading it. I had a good shopping experience in Knowle & Solihull yesterday, including coffee & pastry in Pret, for breakfast. Home for a very late lunch & back to Meriden, where there was a bargain brass fender, which we bought for £15, which G has cut down & cleaned, & looks great in the dining room. We have been looking for one for years, on & off. I spent over two hours in the evening, collecting CA envelopes - never as bad as I think as I get to chat with a lot of really nice people. This year far more than usual refused to give, perhaps a reflection of the economic situation or people being more selective about what they give to. I need to pick some lily of the valley to make the house smell nice, before I go out. The bluebells did a sterling job last week, but you have to have the old english, not the cultivated ones, to enjoy the fragrance - the delicate, bendy ones.

Warming up.

There was a ground frost this morning, two degrees at eye level at 6.00am. It has warmed up considerably since then & is pleasant when the sun is out. Church cleaning this week, which took two hours of hard work, mainly due to the junior church & cakes on Sunday morning. I was kept company by the grave diggers - funeral tomorrow. Home for a salad then back to Church end to see the Tealls, Hawkins & Alms Houses residents to ask them if they would have their gardens open on 14 July, to coincide with the grand opening of our new church toilet, church open all day & cream teas served in the church (not the toilet!) Everyone was out, bar one, so I didn't get far, apart from taking tony a nice piece of lemon sponge, made for last night's fund raising meeting & rather good. I've since planted the pansies, bought last week & awaiting a dry day, & want to clean the outside of the windows before going to collect Christian aid envelopes. A lot of paperwork & general sorting out done today & the lotus ready for sale. Anyone want a 20 year old, low mileage (90,000 miles) medina green lotus M100, S2 with a great number plate - M100LTS? I need some fun & excitement in my life. Any ideas??

Brrrrr

You can tell that it's Christian Aid Week by the weather - cold, wet & windy. Tennis was rained off so I trudged around the village, putting CA envelopes & flyers asking folk to twin their toilet with the new toilet at Church for a minimum £15 payment. You receive a framed certificate stating "This toilet is twinned with.....", to put on your toilet door - idea taken from B&E's Xmas present some years ago. I have since prepared a scrummy lunch - tomato & mozarello salad with wholemeal bread (loaf yet to be paid for - picked up at village shop, no money). Di came to complete my CRB application, since when I have drunk a couple of cups of coffee & nodded off. That's what comes of getting up at 5.00am, I blame the light & birdsong. I came home from B&E's yesterday, in time for the PCC mtg at Church - heavy rain all the way - having gone on Mon to share T's b'day meal at Pizza Express - delicious. I had a potter in Bicester in the morning then gone stuck in with the ironing - very theraputic, order out of chaos. Sunday was hectic - Family service at Sh followed by Mattins at OW, P,A,J&Th for lunch, then Evening Prayer at 6.00pm. I slept quite well. Tennis on Mon am, home for lunch, picked up J & Th from school, cooked tea then left them with G & off to Bicester in time for the meal. Today has been so lazy. Actually, the sun has just come out so I may plant out the pansies I bought last week,still in their trays due to the wet weather. What's happened to the summer?

Autumn.

Although warm, today was windy with drizzle early o.n, hence no tennis, which was a big disappointment. I settled for taking a large bag of clothes, sorted out yesterday, to the charity shop, then on to Knowle & solihull. I went to Curtis's bakers for a cup of coffee & cake, to boost the blood sugar, before attacking the shops. I have a great new dress, white linen trousers & a silk top, all size 12, which look really good. Just need somewhere to go to to wear them now. I bought some bedding plants on the way home, but by the time I arrived the weather had broken - downpours for the next hour, on & off, so gardening on the agenda tomorrow. Should I volunteer to do a couple of hours at the shop? Yes. It will do me good. No word from G, despite a text, so obviously enjoying himself. Stirling is a delightful place, perhaps I'll get there next year.

Done.

It's been a fantastic day - warm sunshine all day & evening. I looked for shorts to wear to garden & found that I had none that fitted, apart from lycra gym shorts, so I wore those - I was criticised for my white legs last year & am determined to be browner this year. By the time I was suitably dressed I had a large pile of clothes for the charity shop & it was 11.00pm! It is very cleansing to make space in the wardrobe/drawers. I did a v hot wash of sheets & towels,with tablecloths & tea towels from Church,yesterday. I had an amazing cappuccino from my Nespresso machine, sitting in the garden & eventually started work at noon. I made up for the late start by working until nearly 7.00pm - I've done all of the front garden, de-twigged the field, mucked out & fed the chickens & scrubbed the garden furniture. I came in for a bath & ran it for too long & too cold, but warmed it up with a couple of kettles 0f boiling water. Scrambled egg & smoked salmon for dinner then asleep in front of "The Apprentice". I'm really off TV at present, haven't really watched it for months. Radio 4 is much better.

M holiday.

Yesterday the four churches were open for the day, each offering a different food selection & maps to walk/ cycle/ drive between them. The weather was fantastic - hot & sunny all day & a good number of people enjoyed the day. Sh church was on lunch - ploughmans' lunches, offered from 11.00 - 3.30pm. Everyone else was otherwise engaged, so I ended up going it alone! I laid tables on Sunday evening & was up early yesterday, shopped at Morrisons in Coleshill, then served lunches, teas & coffees, all day - about 40, I would guess. All went very well, food all on boards/ in big bowls, to help yourself & make a donation. It looked & smelt delicious - just right for a hot day. NW did soup - not so well received, LM did cakes - late setting up & missed the crowd. Last week was hectic - Solihull, to collect J & Th from school on Mon, then on to Bicester to do the schhol run with T & KP for a couple of days. Great fun - whatever's going on elsewhere is all forgotten when with the grandchildren, pure delight. I came home, via MG on Thursday, ready to go to York on Fri, to stay with aj. Nephew dick & Emma were married, in the Hospitium in the Museum gardens on Sat - a heartwarming occasion, with all of the family & many friends there to share the celebration. Aj & I went to the hairdressersat 10.00am, then spent until 2.30pm getting ready - takes longer at 49 than it did at 29!! We left at about 9.30pm, Aj very happy by then, as the disco was in full swing. The family all met at Aj's on Sun am, gradually leaving for home during the day. Today I am spending a day in the garden - chickens out at 6.00am, but letting the air warm before I start. No overseer, as G is in Scotland, touring & visiting relatives. I had long looked forward to Scotland in May, but it was not meant to be. Perhaps another time. Another fantastic day in the offing - hope it lasts until after tennis, tomorrow.