Hate seeming ungrateful but.........

.......Hubby bought me a new phone for my birthday.

It actually didn't arrive in time so I had a photo of it stuck inside my card.

Bit of an extravagance I thought as apart from a bit of a memory shortage my phone was fine. I'm not on a contract so no free upgrades which I've always liked, hate the changing for changing sake.

When it did eventually arrive I couldn't just move my sim across as the new phone needed a different size. Hubby got onto the Vodafone helpline and after they'd checked all security questions with me he was on there for ages and finally they promised the new sim would arrive by the following Tuesday.

The new phone is bigger (awkward for popping in a jeans pocket which I mostly do) and the outside is really slippy (awkward for in and out of my bag (I've ordered a silicone back cover which hasn't arrived yet)!

While we were waiting we did some data transfer with a Google app which mostly worked but not straightforward. Couldn't really test it out without the sim though. So many passwords to remember or reset. Then of course my old phone and tablet were objecting as passwords had been changed!

The following Friday we replayed the whole Vodafone helpline thing again as the sim hadn't arrived, we also realised that as I'm on pay-as-you-go that service isn't free and my credit was going down too fast, however they promised the new sim had now been ordered and would be with us by the following Tuesday!

Phew it did arrive and it has seemed like a fiddle-fart-about every time I pick up the phone. All the ringtones and notifications were wrong, it did when it shouldn't and didn't when it should have. It hadn't imported my contacts so lots of time tethering but the old phone was short on memory so it struggled.

That led on to us checking the tariff I'm on and seems the cost of texting on Vodafone is the most expensive unless you top up and earn their freebie package regularly! Oh the hassle I see ahead if I change provider and need to move my number!

So the old phone is now switched off and I'm using the new one. I will get used to it. Oh note to self, still need to Bluetooth it to the car!
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Water play.....

O spent the day here and it was another hot day so with R he played with water.

 They loved filling 50 water bombs at once.

Hubby was fixing the water feature.
I was staying in the shade as much as possible.
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Saw the Queen doing whizzpoppers...........

Bet you've guessed already, I've seen The BFG

I quite fancied seeing this as soon as lead characters were promoting it on chat shows and magazine programmes. So I invited R to the cinema......she declined as she really doesn't like the cinema, too loud and too in your face!

O had changed his mind about being a Tudor and Daughter had brought him home to his dad a couple of days ago, today we had him here while M was running his Creative Computing Club and O said he'd love to come see a film with me.

3pm on a Tuesday and screen 11 was almost full. We both loved it, only problem was O having the fidgits as he's a bit light for the tip up seats, wish I'd taken in his car booster seat. It was also nice to be inside for a couple of hours as it was up to 29°C outside.

Of course it's a great story like all Roald stories are and this Disney production had Spielberg magic. I believed every character and totally fell in love with the BFG himself, Mark Rylance has the most amazing facial expressions and warm loving expressive eyes!
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Sneaky proof........

While the others are back in Tudor land R is living with us.
Two things R is reluctant to do is outside physical activity or posing for a photo, however, I wanted proof that she was helping me with gardening.

Gone but not forgotten.......

Very sad news yesterday that friendDJ lost his battle with cancer, he fought long and hard, never giving up hope. We were told he slipped away peacefully surrounded by family with his hands being held. He'd recently told me holding hands made him feel safe so I was pleased he had that at the end.

Today facebook is full of tributes to him, he was so loved.

He was very much a part of our friends group. He loved live music, in fact he had played in local bands himself for many of his younger years which is how bfriendM got to know him as he was following the band her drummer boyfriend played in. While chatting she discovered his love of painting so she dragged him along to our art group. After art we always went to Olive's Bar which hosted live bands on a Thursday night so of course friendDJ came with getting to know the whole gang, although he often wandered off to chat to the rest of the room! He loved a good dance too. As I was the only one there without my Hubby friendDJ would often be my slow dance partner.

He will always be remembered, as a very talented musician and artist, he loved life and everything in it, he hated injustice, he appreciated all pretty things and noticed if I was wearing a new top or had nice perfume on. He would help everyone with anything he could without wanting anything in return And he voiced all this so we all felt loved.

RIP friendDJ.
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Olympic standard........

If eating out were an Olympic sport then I've been in training for years.
If this week were the main event then surely I'll get a medal.

Monday pub lunch with BfriendM (then a visit with friendDJ at the care home).
Tuesday pub lunch with friendLE and friendSG, old friends just getting reacquainted.
Wednesday usual crowd in usual pub as usual.
Thursday birthday dinner in a favourite pub with Hubby, Daughter, R, E & O.
Friday another birthday celebration in a pub of course, with BfriendM, friendHM and friendJB.
Sunday late birthday dinner with Hubby, Son and fiancé.

So I'm going for gold, but must remember to pace myself or I'll never manage to climb onto that winners podium!

My first and maybe my last.........

Yes I'm sentimental and yes I'm a crafter who could now so easily make a new one, but my first real patchwork make that was useful was my peg-bag!

It must be about 40 years old now!
Tumbling blocks patchwork, all hand stitched. Cost me nothing but my time.

Only the very bottom hasn't faded from the almost original colours. The brown was an old curtain, the pink a linen shirt and the purple were trousers, all lined with what once was my favourite denim maxi skirt.

So again it's time to repatch some well worn places to keep it going.
Well you can't just replace an old friend, can you?
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Where does all the time go?........

Will try to remember what's happened since our holiday but too much to write in full so excuse the jumble of short memories, but I'm quite relieved I could remember as much as I did to record it at all (head been quite fuzzy lately).

Inevitably after a holiday follows laundry processing! Along with what was left in the laundry box it was three machine loads, lovely weather so all pegged out for a very full line, and just as I was adding the last few socks the line broke and I caught it then had to hold it up off the ground while Hubby did a quick knotting fix. Our line is the longest retractable cassette line that also hooks onto an extension. It was very heavy! Before the holiday Hubby had planned to reclad the shed as it was taking in water, however a lot of the frame turned out to be rotten so a much bigger job than expected. So after being interrupted for line fixing Hubby continued to rebuild the shed.

Hubby has also been busy with SERV Bloodrunner events. He always comes home amazed at how generous people have been......then has to count it all up and get it to the bank.

As an update about our friendDJ, while friendM was on holiday then we were on holiday friendDJ had been moved out of the hospice and into a nursing home in another town, because his first floor flat was no longer suitable. So friendM and I met for lunch then to visit friendDJ. Sad seeing his deterioration and his world reduced to that small room at the nursing home. We wheeled him out to sit under the trees by the pond. The staff seemed really friendly. On our usual Wednesday gathering this time we took fish and chips to the nursing home and took over their dining room so with DJ there were eight of us. We lifted his spirits. We also lifted the spirits of a few other residents who passed through or entered and stayed, possibly more entertainment for them than normal too. One lady looked fitter and a little younger and was totally intent on getting us recruited to help her put on a Christmas show. When she left the room briefly to get her dolls to show us another lady who was old, frail but bright as a button, laughed and said "take no notice of her  (the first lady) as she's totally bonkers".

Another update on a long story, this time my ongoing bp and joints problems. Early May my GP sent a referral to the hospital, this week I checked with them again to be told that appointments had now extended to 24.5 weeks waiting from referral, which means I'm unlikely to get an appointment before mid-November! So I phoned the surgery who had no doctors appointment so booked me in with the Nurse Practitioner. She actually couldn't help as it was such an ongoing problem that she made me an appointment with the Doctor for the next day. Doctor has now sent a letter asking the hospital for an urgent appointment. She also doubled the dose of my beta blockers so I'm back to taking my bp often and recording it.

Wow M had been nominated for a BAFTA (not the film one, the gaming one) so Daughter&M were invited to London for  the awards. Have to say he didn't win but we were all so proud of him even being nominated :-)  We were having the children here for the day, some of which E was at rehearsals with County Youth Orchestra (for their imminent tour in Germany). End of the day they all went home except O who had asked for a sleepover.

It was another very warm night and all the windows were open, and we could hear really loud music. At first we thought a neighbour was having a garden party then realised it was much bigger than that. It was the first of two nights of Jimmy's Farm festival. Jimmy's Farm is about four miles away from us!

Poor O nearly had his sleep over, all settled into the middle of a double bed, having had a long story read, then we had to go round the house shutting all the windows to reduce the outside noise......but he couldn't settle so mum came to get him.

Sunday was another lovely hot sunny day. Son and fiancé had arranged to come for lunch and O wanted to come back early (as if he'd really slept over) to make our desserts, Daughter and R came too after taking E to another rehearsal day and staying to help. So food on the table inside but all sitting outside for a real summer lunch, followed by afternoon tea,  and sat there through to the evening in the garden, lovely!

And today we have come full circle by doing three machine loads of laundry and pegging it all out on the new repaired washing line. While Hubby continued to rebuild the shed.
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2016 July Yorkshire holiday.......

Well fancy starting a holiday with panic packing! It was Wednesday and I happened to check the holiday rental friendsN&T had booked and discovered we were going Friday when all along I'd thought it was Saturday and put it on the calender as Saturday to Saturday! We were out all day Thursday so washing ironing and all the packing happened Wednesday......I work well under pressure hahaha

Friday 8th - friendsN&T picked us up at 10am and after the usual "load the car jigsaw" game we were off. Services coffee/comfort break, later found a lovely pub for lunch. Arrived at Gunby Hall Cottages about 4pm. Just two semi-detached cottages set remotely on a working farm, and lots of wide open space and fields around us :-)

That brown box at the side is the hot-tub and after unloading the car and having a cuppa we all got in the bubbling warm water, yes even me (for anyone who doesn't know me personally that's a big deal for many reasons).

View from the bedroom is very distracting! Horses, foals, pheasants, moorhens and lots and lots of swallows.

We'd had a meal rather than a snack at lunchtime but thought we'd go and find the local pub which had rave reviews in the cottage guest book. The menu looked so good, as did the food on the tables of other diners that we all had another dinner and the reviews were not wrong!

Saturday 9th -

We imagined how Skipsea Castle had been while looking at the grassy mound in the rain. Thanks to my two strong men I made it over the stile. 

Bridlington beach - lovely long prom and beautiful beach, all very clean. 

Flamborough Head - wild and windy but great. 

FriendsN&T ventured all the way there, I actually stopped at the sign as it said very steep path for 3/4 mile, Hubby kept me company. Seems I made the right decision as they told us the vegitation they had to walk through was higher than friendN so I'd have been totally lost! 

Getting back after 6pm and tired, two jumped in the hot-tub then the men went out for Chinese takeaway and there was masses! 

Sunday 10th - Late start as very heavy rain first thing followed by little showers so we didn't rush. It was decided to be a no-drive day so when it brightened up we'd find the nearest pub walking through the fields, think it's about a mile away. 

Sun out, great walk, fantastic views! Shame when we got there the pub didn't serve food, but two drinks each and two packets of crisps and a packet of peanuts between us made it all perfect lol. 

Sat for ages outside the pub, enjoyed the walk back just as much in glorious sunshine. T used the hot-tub even though it had started raining again and we all relaxed with me knitting, N reading, T sitting in the corner on his ipad so he could stay plugged in and Hubby watching Andy win the Wimbledon men's singles. Dinner was in a village called Escrick at the Fat Abbot pub, Sunday roast yummy! Very slight detour on the way back, mainly because N forgot to look at the satnav even though she insisted that she was showing us all the village duck pond lol. 

Monday 11th - Castle Howard

Tuesday 12th -  A sunny, warm dry day yippee! Today we did the Moors, Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay and lots of points between :-)

Having had a Whitby fish and chip dinner at lunch time we bought snack food for an evening in after the daily hot-tub session! 

Wednesday 13th - Had another busy day, today was in York. So much to see and a buzzy happy atmosphere. The Shambles and The Castle Museum of course! 

Another local pub for dinner and as it had a dart board we used it, wife swapped to make our teams then won one game of 501 each team so decided to leave on a draw! 

Thursday 14th - We decided on a relaxing day because of the early start and long drive home tomorrow. So just a little local drive to our neighbouring air field as we've watched all the light aircraft overhead. Unfortunately it all looked very private so we didn't stop. We did however stop at The Jug And Bottle which is a booze and deli shop highly recommended in the visitors book, and we bought some goodies for lunch and some to take home. After lunch it was lazing outside in the sunshine, reading for us girls and snoozing for the guys. Such lovely weather I even put my shorts on! 

This afternoon a couple of games of KUBB 

The girls lost (I'm the biggest handicap)! Hahaha facebook brought up the memory of us four playing KUBB a day later one year ago! 

Another lovely pub dinner (apart from the ladybird in my salad).

Friday 15th - All packed early, time for breakfast to use up bread, milk etc that won't keep and pack up the rest, then on the road and a good drive home. Comfort/tea/coffee stop in a service station, then later stop for lunch at Krazy Horses motorbike retailers in Bury St Edmund that has a great American style diner. Then home having had a great holiday. Thank you friendsN&T we love you both x

So so tragic that tonight instead of feeling happy, relaxed and content we are reflecting and worried about the attack in Nice killing so many and the news about the military coup in Turkey!   :-(

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Pigs, Plays, Parenting, Presents and new Projects.........

And obviously procrastination as it is taking me sooooo long to write this post!!! Now in panic as tomorrow we go on holiday so I'll have to start the next post!

Yet another busy week (edit to say I'm talking over a week ago), Daughter with E and O are Tudors again for the whole week so as usual R moves in with us.

Last Saturday Daughter was home briefly with O for drama as it was their final rehearsal day, then they left to return to the year 1593 while I stayed to watch R's performance. It was very good, especially as they had lost many of the cast, had very little rehearsal and were tackling The Tempest to just an audience of four! Starting the play telling the story with shadow puppets was very clever.

That Saturday afternoon was our street party to celebrate the Queen's 90th. Thank goodness for large gazebos as it got wetter and wetter the tables and chairs got closer and closer under shelter, but everybody stayed and we had a great time.

We didn't do a great deal all week but did go out every day. Wednesday R had her college induction day ready to start September. She loved it.

Another day we went into town as pigs had invaded our town centre along with yarn-bombing

Just a few of the 69 pigs.

I've been busy crafting for babies. NieceVJH received her parcel by post

Now I'm busy working on the baby gift for my friend's newest grandchild who caught me out as she arrived five weeks premature (no photos until they've received it). And there's another family baby due in September I need to craft for next.

The following Saturday was O's first drama group performance, thankfully to a larger audience. Here he is in costume

Amazed at these flowers that were bought for me a month ago. I had them a week then as we were going on holiday (that was the Wales Holiday) I gave them to my neighbour to enjoy, when we came home so did my vase of flowers, and today, four weeks after they were bought, they look like this

We fitted in a visit to nieceVJH (long drive to Surrey and even longer drive home) but all worth it for lots and lots of cuddles. Big boy just four weeks old and so snugly! 

Hubby had decided to fix the shed which is letting in water by recladding the outside, and he decided to do it six days before we go on holiday. Monday we had our usual coffee morning so he lost half a day. And our trip to Surrey lost him another whole day. He removed the planks from the front to discover lots of the frame was rotten making twice as much work! I didn't get close enough to take before/during/after photos as I was a bit peeved he hadn't waited till after our holiday so I didn't have so much to do by myself, like setting up garden coffee morning (beautiful sunny day) which means moving lots of furniture etc, and all the washing ironing and packing, which then took on some urgency when I discovered we were going on holiday Friday and all along I'd thought we were booked for Saturday. So lucky I noticed in time not to keep our friendsN&T waiting on the drive while we frantically packed lol

Also today we had a lovely lunchtime meet up with friends

Hubby finished and secured the shed 10 mins before leaving home for this lunch and tomorrow we go on holiday! This evening Hubby is out on a bloodrunners fundraising event and I've finished packing, charged up and packed all our gadgets, emptied the fridge and all the bins round the house and put the wheely bin down the drive for the morning, watered the house plants and spent a little time with Daughter when she came here to teach a recorder pupil....and write this. 

Phew, think I've caught up at last. 

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