Like Piccadilly Circus.......

This has been Daughter's main summer event as a Tudor so as usual we are here for any grandchildren that remain in the 21st century.

Daughter went off on Friday with E and O and now O is bigger he's having a go at being a Page to the Gentry.

R is staying with us for the duration (11 days) and as she is working (voluntarily) for Red Rose Chain while they put on Much Ado About Nothing at Jimmy's Farm, Theatre in the Forest we started our substitute parenting by collecting her at 10:15pm as we did every night after, dropping her there for 4:30pm. I say we but actually Hubby did every run apart from Friday night collection. 

She/we had Sunday and Monday off (Hubby was out all Sunday fundraising) then as a last minute thing R tells me she really needs a 1930/40s style costume for the following Sunday as they are holding a street party for the audience before the final performance. She had a look in mind and what she really wanted was a beige knitted tank top and had looked in the charity shops in Ipswich without success so Monday we went to Felixstowe as they have an abundance of charity shops and a lot of elderly residents so if not there then I doubt we'd find one anywhere. Well all we found was a very washed out beige long-sleeved jumper which I restyled for her and paired it with a white shirt and black skirt still in the wardrobe from her mother's teenage concert playing days (see I knew they would be useful one day).

She chose not to wear the belt

Also R had wished she'd brought her devil sticks with for something to do, so on the way back from shopping we called into home but her key wouldn't work, second attempt M let her in but she couldn't find the sticks bag, third attempt after messaging her mum asking if she'd left them in the car and told she hadn't they were found yippee (I drove a lot of miles to get them considering they only live 5 minutes away).

Monday evening we had a phone call from Daughter to say E wasn't feeling very well and will probably benefit from a couple of days rest from camping so Hubby went to get her. While here she ate well and slept well but did very little all day Tuesday, I'd started the day with my weekly physio circuit training session so was pleased they didn't need me to do more than sort meals and make packed food for R to take with.   Wednesday E got motivated to get arty and creative and needed me to hunt out art materials at various times, she also needed Hubby to sort computer/scanner/printer etc. 

Meanwhile I finished knitting a cotton top which unfortunately turned out far too small for me and although knitted all from one cone seems to have a shade change across the front! I was given the cone of cotton so no costs lost so I'll put this into a charity bag and maybe someone will love it. 

Very early Thursday Daughter arrived to grab a shower and collect E to get to college and pick up her exam results (two very good passes) she then took E back to Kentwell with her and had intentionally left O behind as he'd had enough. His Tudor shift was covered in clay and he told us he quite enjoyed being a page but hated having to wait until all the Gentry had eaten before the servants were fed, so he gave that up and spent lots of time in the pottery. 

He took up his usual position on the floor by the door, as there are sockets available there, and gets stuck into his technology (making music this time).

He stopped for a while when an experiment came to mind of "how can I position mirrors up and down the room to reflect images remotely like watching tv round corners". He was thrilled to see we had saved some mirror tiles under a bed for just in case!

This had to be an ongoing experiment and the mirrors had to remain in place for days! 

Thursday we also had a visit from sister-in-law who hasn't been here for years so it was lovely to see her. She came by bus and then train and Hubby picked her up from the station. We all had lunch together and later tea and cake then Hubby had to take R to Jimmy's Farm for theatre of course and O wanted some extra computing stuff from home so by the time he did that he was almost late for taking SIL back to catch her train so a bit of a rushed farewell.

R was telling O about her theatre work and all about this Shakespeare play in the forest and so O said he really really wanted to see it. So I booked us a couple of tickets for Friday night. I've given our night out it's own blog post. 

Friday M opened R's post as requested by R and gave her her exam result via messenger, also a good pass. 

We had arranged for R's friend F (who also volunteers for theatre) to sleep over Saturday night as they have the end of show party for cast and crew till midnight and a last performance Sunday. I've known F and her mum for years as they are friends of Daughter. Twin beds in R's room so no problem. Then Saturday evening R sends a message do I mind if two more girls stay over as well. Of course I said they could and gathered plenty of bedding for them in the lounge to use the four recliners as beds. Hubby had to wait ages for them in the car park and they got back at nearly 1am and I could hear them chatting for ages. 

Unfortunately O had a bad evening not being able to get to sleep so I was up and down, then when I'd seen the girls home I got into bed with O and stayed there till morning, each time I tried to leave he cuddled up so I couldn't. 

All up and breakfasted and then Hubby goes out for the day with his friends which had been arranged ages ago. So I cleared away all the bedding, done two loads of washing, and made packed food times four for them to take to theatre. Because of the forecast really wet weather the forest had been cancelled and moved to their much much smaller Avenue venue so R got a message could her and the girls come at 2pm instead as the whole set needs rebuilding. 

Now of course I've the "fox-chicken-corn" situation with a five seater car, driver plus four girls plus O. It's now raining really heavily, thankfully it's so close that I made two trips. 

So O now had me all to himself and first request was baking

followed by board games at the table. 

Bank holiday Monday and I'm home with Hubby R and O and nowhere to rush to! A much quieter day, O happy to watch tv or sit with his ipad and headphones. R didn't even get out of bed till 3pm. Ending the day with a full roast dinner and thought Daughter and E would be back to share dinner with us before taking the children home. But they were running really late so we gathered all their stuff, and there was lots, and I took them home. 

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Phew it's hot. ....

But you knew that already!

Last Sunday was warm too but unfortunately it turned out to be a very wet day and in great British tradition we had plans for watching a band live in the park and starting with a picnic.

We couldn't change our plans as E is a percussionist for the South Suffolk Youth Orchestra who were the ones performing, so we went and got a bit wet and mostly sheltered under a tree, but were rewarded with a great concert and this xylophone duet which made me a very proud grandma as granddaughter E is only just 13 years old.

Buggar it won't let me put the video here, says it's too big,

and I'm not sure how to link to it either, but you can
 find it on my Facebook page if you're a friend. 

Please let me know if there's a way I can do it! 

I think this is a link!

Monday I met friendJ (we go back some 40+ years) so a very long lovely catchup lunch, and she got me back in touch with another friend from our youth ☺

Tuesday hubby and I met friendsL&K at Audley End, which is an English Heritage manor house and we did the garden tour before a lovely lunch.

We've been trying to do a little gardening as early in the day as possible before it gets hot and I've been taking my sewing outside but staying in the shade. Our pond is really overgrown but as it's shade for the fish Hubby won't thin it back just yet.

I have to share this.......I showed Hubby my friend's daughter's yoga pose photo and he proved he could do it too. Not bad for a 63 year old man eh?

It's a bit awkward in our Close this week as the gas board are replacing old pipe work with new, so lots of hole digging with noisy drills and lots of lorry road blockages but thankfully not causing too many inconveniences and they do keep letting us know what is happening when. Think they are messing up our drive and possibly having to lift a lot of our patio next Monday. ...fingers crossed it all goes back ok.

Last night I cleaned the oven, you see life isn't always so glamorous!

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As an extra note all bloggers love getting comments, however, occasionally I comment on other blog posts and they never show up because for some reason their filter hadn't liked me. So may I suggest all bloggers regularly check their spam folder incase I'm caught in there desperate to be set free.
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Lovely, local, lunch and laughter......

We never get together often (she's always so busy) but when friendKK and I manage to synchronise a free day out we always have fun and yesterday was no exception.

My first dilemma was what to wear. It looked so lovely and spring like but I knew it was colder than it looked, so it had to be layers, warm enough but not heavy if I ended up having to carry not wear and a rain coat as Hubby assured me we would have heavy showers at midday.

FriendKK arrived about 10ish and we headed out to a place she knows just over the Suffolk border into Essex.

Hall Farm Shop is just off the A12 on the way into Stratford St Mary and the gateway to Constable Country.

Hall Farm got some pretty impressive awards for being the ‘Best Farm Shop’ in 2008 and the ‘Best Informal Dining Venue’ in 2009 – so worth a visit. The Suffolk Food & Drink Awards granted them Best Farm Shop 2011 and they pride themselves on offering everything you may need for a weekly shop plus much more!

They have a wonderful cafe open for breakfast and serves lunch and afternoon tea. There is a shop and deli to browse round before enjoying a relaxing cup of coffee or tea in the cafe.



We were just popping into the restaurant to reserve a table for lunch but decided to start as we meant to go on and have tea and cake as elevenses......my coffee and walnut cake was enormous but as light as a father so I ate the lot mmmmm. The windows of the restaurant area look out onto the farm land and we watched goats and alpacas and sheep wandering around. And we talked and caught up on life, families, friends and general gossip.

Leaving there we got into the car and the heavens opened into a really heavy shower and sure enough it was 12:05pm hahaha.

We drove into Dedham village and parked just as the rain stopped! We marveled again at the houses covered in wisteria (quite famous locally). We have so many lovely villages.

We headed into the art and craft centre which is run as a co-operative and is very big inside, packed with a great variety of stuff that kept us there browsing for nearly two hours!

   http://www.dedhamartandcraftcentre.co.uk/


Then it was back to Hall Farm for lunch, we both had the grilled mackerel fillet on a bed of cabbage and sanfire in a butter and crab sauce with new potatoes, truly scrumptious! Conversation carried on as always with not much time between each recollection of what we used to do together and hilarious memories of past times, we always laugh a lot. Neither of us had dessert, not so soon after the morning cake, there just wasn't room for any more!

Then of course we had a good wander round the farm shop and I bought some huge scones to bring home for Hubby (his favourite). As we were leaving the car park we spotted the pigs in the nearby pen had two young piglets in there too so we watched them for a little bit too.

Heading homewards and then a sudden diversion into Bypass nurseries at Capel St Mary.
They have so many departments other than the huge plant nursery including their pet store called "Cats, rats and elephants" which I knew was a memory so far back that I couldn't quite grab, so frustrating and made worse because I couldn't get an Internet signal in there to look it up. I just did and it was from The Unicorn Song by The Irish Rovers, find it on YouTube and you may remember it too. Of course I now have it as an ear worm!

Home with just enough time for a quick cup of tea and to show friendKK my new studio space, and she is so jealous (her words) as we used to do so much of our crafting together which I'm now back to but she doesn't have time until she hopes when she has retired in two years time.

Waved her off then rushed around to sort some art stuff to take and check if I'm giving friendDJ a lift (unfortunately he's still not feeling well enough) and get out for art group, followed by live music at Olive's Bar and home just as the street lights went out.


Disclosure: none of the photos are mine, I pinched them all off Google searches as I was having too much fun to take photos. 
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Winter draws on....

....still !!!

It's 4th April but still bitterly cold outside with a very chilly wind and it was actually snowing again today too and I've got the coughs and sneezes again. O is full of rotten head cold too. It's UK wide and I've heard of so many people having boiler problems, depriving them of heating or hot water when they need it most. And of course running the heating for enough hours to keep the house warm and get the laundry dry is going to cost us all a lot more than it ever should. This winter is going on far to long!

Bet you're reading this curled up under a blanket too.
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