Wales

on Saturday week, Andrew kindly took me to Enterprise car hire in centre of Norwich for me to pick up my Ford Fiesta (with built in Satnav) that I drove to Wales.  I didn't trust my old jalopie making it there and back without hassles, hence the hire car.  I had a bit of a fiddle with the satnav to start and Andrew came back to the garage where I was parked filling up, and helped me get it right.  But once I'd sorted that out it was plain sailing all the way to Powys.

Once you've finished skipping through my notes, if you click on the photos, they will come up much better and detailed.

 

My arrival committee with welcome glass of white stuff!!  Plenty more of that followed, I can assure you. 

Jean's front garden.

On Sunday we met up with Hannah and Emily (Barbara and Les' granddaughters) as well as Hannah's husband Paul and their two lovely girls and Emily's little baby Eloise (with one on the way).  That was a lovely treat and great to see them again.

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The view of the Knighton clock tower and lady with chic sun hat ... there are a lot of street works gong on in Knighton at the moment.

We also took a drive out to see my cousin, Paul - his place is divine, what a view over the hills and fields from his lounge. 

I sneaked a pic of Paul as we were chatting.

These are photos taken of Barbara and Les' back garden with the viaduct behind.  Lovely. 

Hereford ... we spent an afternoon wandering around, while Les and Barbara had some other stuff to do. 

 

STOKESAY CASTLE

Barbara, Jean and I went through to Stokesay Castle on Friday - this is one of the best preserved medieval fortified manor houses in England.    Almost everything visible today was built in the 1280's and early 1290's by Laurence of Ludlow, a wool merchant who had become one of the richest men in England.    There are ongoing restoration projects underway at the castle but it was a lovely day out, they have one of the best English Heritage shops I've ever been in!  

 The view of Stokesay as you approach it from the road. 

 Two ladies standing outside the shop.  Hope Graham likes his Damson Gin, Jean!

 Me propping up the building.

 View from the interior stairs of the great hall
looking down on two ladies.









Various shots inside the rooms of the south tower 

 The 'Solar' which is being restored at the moment. 

 Two ladies sitting on a bench.

 The south tower

Some stuff I got from the awesome shop at Stokesay Castle.

 
We went to the nearby church of St. John the Baptist, also a VERY old church, I was fascinated with the enclosed pews and stained glass windows.  Bought a watercolour print from there. 

 Two ladies searching for the Communion wine.

Jean has had her back hedge removed and a wooden fence installed (her carpenter Idris, is in his late Eighties!) ... one of the unwelcome visitors (although I thought he was cute) was a little brown rat that found the pile of dying hedge very interesting indeed, we think he comes from the brook behind Jean's garden, you can hear it babbling away in the night.

 On Thursday evening, Les, Barbara, Jean and I joined Paul and Sue for a lovely dinner at a lovely restaurant near where they live - this is me all dolled up to go out.  You know I don't take photos, so this is quite rare and I look cross eyed 'cos I was trying to take a 'selfie'

 Jean had a lovely oil painting framed and delivered by the gallery owner (Graham) and it is now installed on her wall above the new heating system.  Very pawsh.

Jean sweeping up after we finished potting out the rose she got for her birthday and some other plants I got her from the local garden shop.  

I had a really great time in Wales and would also like to thank our chauffeur, Les, for driving us around all over the place.  Jean also did her share of driving around and providing refreshments on tap.  We had some very long natters way into the night and I managed to catch up on a bit of my family history and confirm memories I have of my granddad and grannies' house in Preston, I must have been three or four, so I have a reasonably good memory I think.

I will be seeing Jean again at the end of September when we go to Scotland - can't wait.

Thank you for making my visit so special,  it's always awesome going to Wales!

New house and Andrew's cycling update

We are now in this lovely new home here in Tharston.  My bedroom window has this view:

Quite lovely hey?

I got Ewan a high sleeper bunk bed/desk/cupboard arrangement - shame poor Kevin had to battle the whole day to put it together but he did a great job - as well as the red blinds that Ewan chose.  His room looks quite nifty now.

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Andrew competed in a 50 mile cycle race this last weekend - here are some of the pics I took when he stopped at the half way point for drinks and refreshments:

 Leaving to do the rest of the race:

Lara

Well the last time I saw Lara was December 16^th, what a lot of her growing up I have missed.  She is a lovely little baby, quiet until she’s sure of her surroundings, then makes her baby sounds and is fascinated by lots of things.  

She was so easy to hold and kiss, which I did all the time as much as I could.  Like I told the women there (Sarah, the social services bird and Caroline, the foster carer) I’ve got a lot of missed kisses to make up for.    I took her some clothes and a teddy but she was more interested in the Fisher Price shapes butterfly that I got her – well the box - she happily tapped away on it for ages.  and then played with the pieces after we moved to a nice shady area in the park where we could sit on the grass.  

There was a Thrush near us, who came almost up to our hands, he was so unafraid of humans.  She was fascinated with him too and made sounds at him like mmnm and mmgnmm  ... she is strong and sits nicely by herself.  She eats banana, you give her a piece and she just gums away at it to her hearts content, in fact you have to watch her else she tries to pig out on it.   She is eating very well and is a happy little child.  

It was such a joy to see her and I’m amazed that I didn’t cry, I think I was just too absorbed in holding her and watching her.   She was so sweet when I said bye bye, wriggling and laughing - the last photos on the video of her is when I was going and Caroline held her up for me to take a few more photos.  I really hope I get to see her again soon and that all of you, her extended family here in the UK, can also get to see her while she is so young and responsive.  

Faye's 13th birthday ...

Some photos from the day ...

Easter 2018

and here are some mpvies Ewan made and edited...

Macbeth ... Year 4 - Ewan

Here is a little video of some of the highlights of Ewan's school version of Macbeth.  His bit of narration is around 9.10 ... one of the girls in the front row (Ewan's row) has rather a flat voice!

Ewan's best mate, Archie Green is Banqo ...
Ewan's favourite song is round about 7.15 ... he really gets down ... 

Anyway, the video will be here once it's done processing (took all bloody day!):