Have I got news for you?

No great news, that's what I'm watching - Martin Clunes in the chair.
It's very good.
They have just shown a woman of 100 winning the shot put in the age group, 100 - 104, in Brisbane. She also throws the javelin.

I had a very good time yesterday. Thomas & I went to Brueton Park, fed the ducks, splashed in the puddles, kicked through the leaves on the way across to the playground, then had lunch in Macdonalds.
T then went in his buggy & slept for an hour around the shops & halfway back across the park.
We collected Jessie from school, had tea whilst J went swimming then I came home at the & went to the Wheelers for dinner, along with the Pears, Manders & Swindells.
Transport was arranged & I got home late.
I've had a great day; I didn't get up until 8.30am then went to clean the church then on to the Woodwards coffee morning then on to shopping in Coleshill, Knowle & Solihull.
I have all of the ingredients for a wonderful Sunday lunch, a Piquot ware hot water jug, two silk & one linen skirts for my holiday & a bunch of yellow chrysanthemums to augment the altar flowers in church in the morning.
I've since done the ironing, vacuumed & made up the beds for next weekend as I've a busy week.
I went into Help the Aged & they had a copy of "The God of small things" by A Roy, the book that I wanted. 50p
On the back of such a successful couple of days, I bought a lottery ticket.
I haven't dared check it !

All quiet on the home front.

I was just pondering the title, watching "The One Show", discussing hearing loss, when a list of titles came up.
This one seemed to fit the bill.
They made a high pitched sound, then reduced the frequency, finding that the younger people heard the sound first.
We've been doing that one in schools for years.

Actually, I have to admit that I,ve only just woken up - I generally manage 7.00pm without a problem.
We both went to the hairdressers this morning, then I did housework whilst G packed for his diving holiday, tomorrow.
We were going out to lunch, but it didn't happen as we had to collect G's new wheels from the garage in Kingsbury.
We went to M&S for a snack & coffee (The emmental & mushroom croq monsieur was wonderful), then on to Boots for diving medical necessities.

It's wintry today - leaves blowing about, cool (9 degrees) & damp.
I shall have an early night as it's a Thomas day tomorrow so I need to leave home about 7.30am.
I'm going to P & R Wheelers for dinner, which will be good - always interesting people & good food.

Bedtime.

A good day.
I played tennis this morning - too warm for a sweater.
G went to work at lunchtime; I altered two pairs of trousers for G, cleaned all the downstairs windows, mopped through & then did a couple of hours in the garden.
Di & Steve came to dinner - roast gammon, roast veg, & cauliflower cheese followed by pear & ginger sponge & cream - & had a good natter.
I don't think that the meal would fit into any of W's diets - normal food, meat & 5 veg (5 a day!), with a fruit pud ( no 6).
Yes!

How is it that some days you can get loads done & others , very little, seemingly expending the same amount of time & energy?

Has anyone got a copy of "God of small things" by A. Rob?

Autumnal

The weather has been kind so we finished tidying up the top bed and trimmed hedges enjoying a relatively warm afternoon and sunshine after a misty startacross the fields early on .

This long dry late summer has given us a great show of reds, browns and gold around the garden. Valuable investment as a good tidy-up at this time seems to pay off in the following spring. an opportunity to post a few photos for a change!

Another fun day at the funny farm.

I hope that you are all watching "Life" on BBC1 - the latest David Attenborough series, three years in the making & amazing.
I have just sat down, after dinner - green salad with flaked Parmesan & fresh croutons followed by lemon & herb crusted salmon with golden new potatoes & sugar snaps - to relax whilst G finalises holiday arrangements on the internet.
I find that it's best to keep well out of it.
Last night I had forgotten this!
So I am relaxing at the end of a relaxing day.
I played tennis in the sunshine this morning, which was great & did my shoulder the world of good.Then I pottered to Solihull for the opening, after refurbishment, of my favourite charity shop & shook hands with the Mayor - I've not seen him in there before, or perhaps it's that he was wearing his chain today.
G was home just before me, which was not in the plan. I hoped to be in my garden clothes, looking as though I'd been "hard at it " all afternoon, before he arrived.

I finished my Ian Rankin book this morning so have to decide on what to read next.
Any recommendations?
Nobody has commented on the new Dan Brown yet.

T may need a nurse tomorrow, so an early night is on the cards.
DK is completely irrigated & is due in for surgery on 18 Nov so I,m planning a Danish break to do some Granny duty

Home & dry.

I've had a busy week, without any teaching.
On Tuesday I tootled over to Bicester, via Kenilworth, in time to collect T from school & then KP.
G stayed overnight on his way from London.
On Wednesday KP, baby Annabel & I took T to school then took baby A home, made a picnic & then went on an adventure to Waddeston, to look for a sleeping princess.
We decided that she slept on the top floor, inaccessible to mere NT members, & was having a lie-in.
Never mind.
Perhaps next time.
KP was on great form & asked about 500 questions during the day.
Some I could answer!
We collected T from school, made cakes, then had tea.
T joined in the questionning! Quite an intellectual challenge.
On Thursday KP, baby Annabel & I took T to school then took baby A home, made a picnic & then walked into Bicester, where we picnicked in Costa Coffee.
It was a beautiful day, warm & sunny.
Then I drove home, via Solihull.

Today was a Thomas day, which was fun. We went to the park & the shops.
We didn't manage the 1 1/2 hours on the swings that G lasts!
I did break a glass today.
I never break things at home; Solihull seems to bring out the clumsy in me.

Gardening tomorrow, apparently.
I hope that it warms up.

But Thursdays & Fridays are great!

So what do you do on a Monday morning after a month of full time work, when your husband cooked a stir fry with 1/2 kg of ginger in it for dinner?
You go to the loo every hour during the night then clean the kitchen & the bathrooms, to put some order back into life.
It is now mid-day, I'm showered & ready for the gym (not a quorum for tennis today - hols & injury) & some shopping.
I am tempted to clean the bedrooms first - the joy of a big clean duster & a micro-fibre window cloth!
G has gone to London & will stay over with M, if she'll have him, visiting Bicester on the way home tomorrow.
I have an invitation to a cookery demo at Wood End this evening, so need to be home at a reasonable hour.
I'm working at the little bureau in the study, now officially"my desk", hoping that it won't cause me any further pain in my shoulder.
Something keeps bleeping on G's desk.
No idea what it is.

Over the weekend we've been to the Harvest Supper, worked in the garden, I've done my usual hours on a sermon & two services & yesterday afternoon we went into B'ham to buy A's birthday present.
We were pleased with it so I hope that it was what he wanted.
B'ham is vile.
We haven't been in since last Christmas & I don't think that I will bother again - seedy shop fronts, vacant premises, smelly traffic & lots of people.
I want to see extravagant window displays full of beautiful things that I can't afford, not Primark, Bookworks & The Poundshop!

School finished well. - a couple of hours after school, the Head came all the way to the top floor, where I was in my room, finishing marking, to thank me & confirm that I'd do Mondays & Tuesdays from Jan, to take the year 11 C/D borderline students for maths.
He wants me to do some 1:1 mentoring as well, when the finance is sorted out.
I was given 2 bottles of wine & a large box of chocolates (oh dear!) by colleagues; bottom year 10 said how much they had enjoyed maths with me & the parent of a distraught year 7 student wrote in to express her concern that I would no longer be teaching her daughter.
What was I doing wrong for the last 25 years???

I'm really just enjoying being at home on my own today.
Sad, or what?