News from the last couple of weekends

Starting with the bad news, Bill and Sue were due here for lunch last Sunday but unfortunately Bill was taken into hospital on Saturday night with chest pains.  He appears to be okay at the moment and will be on 'hospital watch' for a while until they find out what the problem is.  We spent the rest of the weekend pottering around the garden, garage and walking the dog - all very relaxing.

My friend Lynn has been staying here this week as sadly her has father passed away. Our house is closer to her parents home so staying here makes it easier for her to be with her mother in order to make the funeral arrangements etc.  It's all very difficult, and although her father has been very ill for a long time, it is still hard to come to terms with the loss.

Fortunately this weekend has been more fun.  Ryan is working in a place called Rugby (approx. 70 miles north of here) and drove down to see us for Friday night and Saturday before going back to work all night on site - not something he was looking forward to!

Nan had us all round to her house for dinner and cooked one of her delicious fish pies - yummy.  

After moving John's office we were left with the home computer on the floor in the end room downstairs which forced us into sourcing a small office desk - sounds easy so far eh?  However it came flat packed and John had to spend heaven only knows how much time putting it together (partly due to the invaluable help that Betsy gave whilst he was assembling it).

The room is back together now and looks a lot better.  We have moved the sofa bed in which will give us another bedroom for when we have guests staying over.

It's Sunday morning and we are feeling a little the worse for wear as Irene, Robert, Andrea & Simon came over for dinner last night and we drank a serious amount of alcohol - it had to be done as we hadn't met up for a while and had lots of chat to catch up on which obviously made us very thirsty!

 

  

Royal Wedding Weekend

After watching the amazing Royal Wedding on TV, I drove down to Westcliffe-on-Sea to collect my mum (Helen - on right of pic) who had been visiting my Dad's baby sister, Joan for the past week......they tell me that they had received an invite to the wedding but had turned it down as they felt it would be too long to sit in Westminster Abbey without going to the toilet!!  I recommended that they put on a Fascinator, pour a glass of fine sherry and watch it from the comfort of the sofa - just as good and a lot more comfortable on the bladder!

On Saturday morning, I drove my mum to Colchester to visit her cousin (my Uncle Terry) and his wife (Auntie Ann) whom she had not seen for a few years.  It was wonderful to see them together and hear them catching up with family news and stories.

Bad Hair day

John walked Betsy into Boxmoor village today for her haircut and nails trimmed (such a girlie dog!).  On the way back along the canal path she got a little distracted by the ducks and fell head long into the Grand Union (not the lock).    

After a bit of spluttering, she scrambled up onto the pathway (a little flustered and hopefully put off enough not to do it again in a hurry).  All the beauty treatment in the dog grooming parlour was totally wasted as she came out smelling of dank, canal water and had to have a shower once she got home (something John usually makes me give her as he says 'it's better she hates you for doing it than me!')

Easter weekend

Just had a lovely weekend with Teresa and Baz (the hottest UK April recorded for 100 years!).  We finished the office move into the barn on Saturday morning and T & B arrived just after lunch.

We had our first BBQ of the season and sat outside in the sun until 11.00 p.m.  The sun was still shining on Sunday morning so we had breakfast out in the garden , followed by Baz's 'nail' trick (I will show you when we get to Canada Glen, but I can't give away the solution!).

Moving John's office into the barn

We have had a long day dismantling & re-assembling desks, cabinets etc. and preparing to move John's office from the house into the barn (he is going to have to set out early in the mornings to make the 30 yard journey to work!).   David, our tenant, was VERY slow moving out and finally said 'goodbye' at nearly 6.00 p.m. !!  We decided to get stuck in and make the move tonight as we have Teresa and Barrie arriving in tomorrow to stay for the Easter weekend.  We have just finished for the night and come in for a much deserved glass of chilled white wine......mmmmmmm.......

Bluebell woods

Just come home from a lovely evening walk with Betsy in the Bluebell woods  up at the Boxmoor Trust centre behind our house.  This time of year is just so lovely.

How glum does Betsy look on the floor by the sofa now that Ben has gone?  She is clearly missing 'Paddy love' from him (this will only make sense to Brits who have seen 'Take me out').  The camera flash makes Betsy's eyes look a bit spooky.

Ben's boxes have been collected by the couriers and should now be at the dock ready for shipping out to Kamloops.  Hopefully all his 'stuff' will arrive fairly soon.

Steph has been here this weekend to use me as a guinea pig for her Reflexology course (a big change from the world of corporate finance) - it was lovely..... so relaxing.  The cherry blossom is out as you can see in this picture of John, Steph and Betsy.

 

And finally, it's Sunday, the sun is shining and we are having the first Pimms of summer. It is so delicious, may there be many more!!