Happy Birthday J.

Nine today so the flags will be out in Ringsted along with combined Halloween/Birthday celebrations.
I've just returned from a couple of wonderful days in York, in bright sunshine, seeing the sites but mainly to deliver a bed to J and J, who are expecting a baby any time now and will need Lily's cot not long afterwards.
I'm having a double bed in place of the single.......eventually.
Not decided on the carpet yet - possibly a large rug so some boards are visible?

K's a "man with a van" and so was an excellent choice of companion for the trip - rewarded with a night at AJ's, a fish and chip supper, a  walk around the city walls, a pretty thorough exploration of the city, a visit to St John's (which had it's open day), Holy Trinity Church, and Evening prayer at the Minster.
AJ found some posh frocks for the "Shwap" on 21 Nov and we drove back yesterday evening, pretty tired.

A glorious day again today and much warmer than yesterday.
Lots of jobs to do re the Charles Hanson lunch next Wed - sold out - food to order, plates and glasses to organise........
More publicity for the Clothes Shwap and letters to get out re The Christmas Tree Festival in order to find sponsors for the trees.
A much needed visit to the hairdresser at 5.00pm, before  going to The Belgrade to see a new musical.
I'd love a day in the garden - perhaps the sermon won't take too long and I can garden on Saturday. 

On this day in 1995.......

Latvia applied for membership of the EU
A great day for Latvia.
To celebrate the day I've just played three sets of tennis, wearing sweatbands in the Latvian colours.
I'm about to do the ironing that seems to have been mounting up for the last couple of weeks whilst I've had better things to do, then go to Coleshill to put up "Clothes Shwap" posters, then prepare dinner in preparation for a visit from no 2 son.

I've spent the last three days seeing JR finally put to rest - his ashes buried in his parents' grave on Friday.
"I should be in my box" was one of his much used phrases in later years - I suspect that he anticipated a rather larger box at the outset, but the grave only had space for a small casket, hence the cremation.
K and I spent the remainder of the time emptying drawers and cupboards  to sort out the family papers and photos to bring home, material of local interest, for the local historical society and a pile of memorabilia for The Leys School in Cambridge.
I doubt that many 90 year olds still have their school cap, scarf, boater, OCT uniform, school magazines, reports, accounts and even the letter sent to parents in 1939 outlining the details of the evacuation of the school to a hotel in Pitlochry.
As it was, the family came here for the duration of the war and lived with his maternal grandparents (my grandparents, as well).
It was during that time that JR worked on local farms, enjoyed it  and so the family bought Shardelows farm at the end of the war.
That era is now at an end.
The valuation of  farm and contents, for probate, is being done today - impressed by the cleanliness of the house, apparently.

We have patronised The Linton Kitchen for coffee and cake/sandwiches on many occasions and had a couple of dinners at The Dog and Duck, also in Linton, both highly recommended and a welcome break from all of the sadness and hard work entailed.
No more older relatives left so hopefully those are skills that I shan't need again.

York tomorrow to deliver a bed to J and J, making room for a new double bed for what was my bedroom as a teenager and will become my cosy winter bedroom.
Should I cover the lovely oak floorboards with a fitted carpet, to make it even cosier?

Happiness, happiness........

the greatest thing that I possess.
I'm watching a programme about happiness (recorded earlier), apparently the nation is a smidge happier than we were last year and it's much more to do with what we do/who we are than how much we have.
Doing things for other people increases your own happiness; having happy employees saves you £500,000 p a .
Wow!
I think that I'm usually happy, I would be happier if I lost the weight that I've put on in the last few months so that I could wear my size 12 jeans again.
This would involve dieting rather more successfully than I am presently, but eating makes me happy.
A quandary.

I've been out to dinner with a charming man following a day visiting an antiques centre and delivering the chest of drawers that I sold on e bay, both in the vicinity of Wolverhampton.
Tomorrow I'm going back to Shardelows, possibly for the last time, following the burial of JR's ashes - the end of an era.

Winter seems to have arrived - much cooler and lots of leaves down.
The chickens are doing well despite not laying yet - can't have everything!

Chicks away!

The chickens have had their third day out of the run today - this afternoon actually, when I came home from tennis - with only one minor infringement when one roosted by the stables last night, but easily found and put to bed.

Two hours/three sets of tennis of which I won two,  5 - 6 in the other, so not too bad.
Perfect weather and good fun whatever.
I came home to put the washing out and have some lunch, then sorted out the paperwork for the Christmas tree Festival before going to Solihull to collect J and Th from school.
Two games of football with Th, one win each, tea and spelling practice before coming home  for dinner and not a great deal else achieved.
Never mind, tomorrow's another day!
 

Home Alone

Just had a great day - church at Shustoke followed by driving to Newton Percy, near Wellesborne, with friends, where we went for a nice walk to the pub in Ashorne for lunch in the Village Tavern - very good.
We walked back across the fields to have tea with the congregation at St Georges church and then Evening Prayer - an inspiring service taken by the vicar.

Yesterday I took the family to BHX to fly home then went on to Solihull for coffee and a little retail therapy and to avoid the empty house.
It was lovely to have the family here - a tree house promised before their next visit.

Safeguarded against flu.

Just a small prick and I'm guaranteed a flu free winter and no side effects to date.
Can't be bad.
Actually, I should have gone yesterday, but got the date wrong but the surgery computers had all gone down, resulting in some confusion, so the nurse saw me during the break.

This afternoon W, MK and K pruned the wisteria and pear tree growing up the house, with some difficulty as the wisteria was growing under the guttering and up the roof .
The boys collected prunings and found all sorts of games to play with them, before reaching the bonfire.
As we were all in the garden in the sunshine, I let the chickens out for the first time.
They had a good time scratching around in the field and all went to bed before dark.
We've dined on Morrisons' free range chickens and posh sausage with a load of vegetables, followed by the long awaited Malteser cake, decorated by J and DK.

Just watched "Pinky Blinders" - a very violent period drama with some strange Brummie and Black Country accents - not a patch on "Antiques Road trip"!

Oxford Natural History Museum.

is brilliant!
W and MK were planning a visit to London to the Natural History Museum but decided that a London visit warranted a two day trip, so settled for Oxford, an easy drive away.
It is a beautiful, light building with wonderful architecture and a freshly restored glass roof.
Everything well presented and immaculate with enough dinosaurs/prehistoric monsters to impress anyone.
Add a dodo, the Alice in Wonderland connection and a host of large, hands on specimens, not to mention the adjoining Pitt Rivers Museum of man made artefacts and there's hours of pleasure to be had, all for free. (donation)
Even a café with real tea.

We went there this afternoon after a tootle around the town, through Christ church Meadows and lunch at an Organic restaurant in Friars Passage - excellent food  but surroundings  a bit grubby.

A great day but tiring - I had to retire early to the museum café for a sit down and a cup of tea.

I've just watched the second episode of "The Apprentice" - irritating, but necessary in order to enjoy "You're Fired" with Dara O'Briain afterwards.
What a lot of no hopers this year - at least, three have gone.
Steve and Sarah must go next!   

It's stopped!

Raining, that is.
The yard is largely under water after  24 hours of solid rain - J and DK have wet weather gear with them, so some fun in the garden later.
The jeep has two new batteries and is going better than ever and there are three new chickens to be checked on at regular intervals - one in lay at the moment so taking it in turns for today's egg.

The weekend just whizzed by - the family went to Bicester whilst I finished preparing Sunday's services and cleaned the church with K, on Saturday, took the services at Sh and OW, had lunch at the Bull, read the papers then back to church for Evening prayer on Sunday.
A bit of a common theme there, but the last Evening service  for the year and the next two Sundays off for good behaviour.

Charles Hanson Valuation lunch tickets for 5 Nov have gone really well, nearly all sold.
I just have to decide on the menu now.
Clothes Swhap planned for 21 Nov - bring along your unwanted clothes and accessories, sized and priced.
We put up the clothes racks and tables  and provide a glass of wine - have I missed anything vital?
Time for breakfast.

Breaststroke

We, MK, J, DK and I went to Tudor Grange swimming baths this morning - the first time I've been there since W and B were small boys, in the kiddy pool.
Little had changed apart from the crowds - only two people in each pool, apart from us, so we had a great time.
We went on to lunch in Pret, bought boots and jeans for the boys and did the Beatties sale before wending our way home to play in the garden, cook the tea and mow the lawns - guess who did what.
Actually, the mower fought back so I didn't get far.

Three new chickens arrived yesterday, selected by J and DK, sort of - we even had an egg today, so breakfast settled.
All well so far, but they are still in the run so the fox is having to look elsewhere for dinner.
I have a wildlife camera in the wood focused on the latest badger sett, so hoping to see some photos of these elusive lodgers after years of anonymity - time will tell.

Welcome

An epic day, Manchester airport to collect W, MK, J and DK - arrived just in time, having forgotten which terminal to go to.
haircuts for the boys at W's hairdresser from the Manchester days whilst MK and I had coffee, then on for lunch, hospital appointment and then home, driven by W.
We experienced every type of weather from sunshine to downpours, 8 to 13 degrees - that's Manchester!
M&S Indian meal bought on the way home and an early night, just me to go to bed now.

Yesterday was a hive of activity cleaning, polishing , making up beds, lawn mowing and garden tidying - I actually vacuumed up the last of the broken glass from the vase that fell over in the conservatory on my birthday at the end of August.
All warm and cosy, fire laid but not needed.
A lazy day planned for tomorrow, some new chickens to be collected and welcomed into the family.

Officially Autumn.

Blimey it was cold and wet this morning.
Every year, as far back as I can remember, or certainly since W was born on 1 Oct 1974, the weather has changed on his birthday, summer has gone and autumn has arrived.
Every year this takes me by surprise - today was no exception.
It took longer than expected to get up, due to the cold and needing to cook bacon and egg for breakfast.
It did warm up to a sultry 12 degrees by the afternoon when I was in Solihull en route to collect J and Th from school.
House of Fraser has a sale; I bought Christy sheets and towels at less than half price and had great service from the assistant. - well worth a visit.
I bought socks, undies and a sale T shirt from M&S as they're having a bad year, I believe.
Home by 7.00pm, having bought dinner for the rest of the week at M&S at Monkspath, cooked, ate and checked my e bay account - much easier than I had anticipated, so now selling everything that's not bolted down to pay for my round the world cruise.

Sorry for the typos - Matthew has started dropping his aitches (please note, especially if you work for HSBC and answer the phone, THERE IS NO H IN AITCH!!!!!) and Newbold Pacey is near Wellesbourne, Newbold Percy is something altogether different!
A story for another day.
 

Mattew. 21 33 - 45

I thought that I had my sermon in the can for tomorrow, then it all fell apart and I had to start again, hence the late blog.
God moves in mysterious ways indeed.
I was so confident that I hadn't even worried too much that I had forgotten to take my notes to Bicester when I went to babysit yesterday and even took a leisurely route home, stopped to shop for food and watched most of "Strictly" before coming to bed to complete it (I turned off the boiler when I left yesterday and had forgotten to switch it back on, so a little chilly)
All done, just the intercessions to complete, after a night's sleep. 

Another year older........

Friday already - where did the last week go?
I think that Mon and Tues were lazy days, recovering from the weekend - work on the church fundraising events and collecting J and TH from school.
By Wed I did get around to some housework, upstairs all ready for the family visiting next week, more still to do.
Yesterday was a day out - Newbold Percy, to see the lovely church, Warwick to potter around the Antiques Centre,  then Kenilworth to visit Waitrose.
In the evening I went to The Albany Theatre in Coventry to listen to a concert of barbers shop choruses, which was brilliant.
Today was baking followed by a trip to Bicester where I've spent a lovely evening with T and KP and have learnt one rule about adding"ing" to the end of a verb.
ie repeat the final consonant for words that have a short vowel and end in a consonant.
beat that.
Sunday's sermon to complete, but I've left my notes at home.

I've bought Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's new cookery book - "Light and Easy", sort of Paleo.
Really good and useful next week, I hope - off to bed to make a shopping list.