General Chat

Morning/Evening All

Fiona I'm hoping the sun will break through here later on.It is warm and I am sleeveless :-D.
I'm pleased the Christening went well It sounded quite a hectic day for everyone.

It is little Willam's 1st Birthday today,and they are having a morning of opening the family presses.There were lots of gifts on a table yesterday from everyone else.

I have done a bit of ironing so at the moment it is all clear(for now).Two loads of washing to get done so it will start piling up again :-S

I hope Carmel is feeling a bit better in herself today Willliam.

Did we not see Frank yesterday????

I'm off to get a few bits and bobs and then pop down the lane to see Fitz.

Morning All Evening Kim

We have the sun back again, I have not been outside yet ,so not sure how warm it is, still it's only 9.45 plenty of time yet.

Victoria did phone last night, she said she was tired (with a busy day and the heat)
she said everything went well, there was 4 babies being baptised , and Matteo was the youngest, she thought in the beginning he probably would be the oldest seeing that they normally baptise them in the first month , Matteo is 6 1/2 months now, anyway there was a set of twins at 10 months and another baby . she didn't know how old, the baby was,
The church was very busy. some of Daniele's relatives came to the church but most showed up at the restaurant where they had lunch.
Matteo was fine through the whole time, only got a bit fretful at being past around to relatives and when he wanted fed, :-)
Sofia was glad to be back at Nonna Adele's house so she could play on the swings, this was the first time Matteo had been to Italy, so he was in the limelight, being his special day, knowing Sofia she will have felt a bit put out that Matteo will have been getting a lot attention.
when they are here visiting , she always says gran give Matteo back to Mamma & play with me .
anyway I'm looking forward to see some photo's , I think it will be a while before they are sorted out , Daniele's dad took a video too so goodness knows when that will arrive in Scotland,

Time for a coffee, :-D :-D

Yes, Mel - we have been watching The White Queen. Apart from me dozing off when everyone seemed to get killed by Warwick - there seems to be so many names we are losing the plot a bit. I'll have a go in BBC Iplayer today and patch up the bits I missed. It is well filmed though even if the scenery and locations seem a bit 'un-England at times.
Maybe my history on that period isn't as good as I thought. Still enjoyable watching though.

Been out with the washing and it's a cold blow out there. What happened to summer? We'll be hearing how many days to Christmas soon I expect.

Evening all,

It's been a busy weekend here , hubby's been busy doing the work tops in the kitchen so its been a bit hectic here ,also had Jake here for the day.

Nice to see you back Ann ,glad you had a lovely holiday, it looked a lovely place to stay ,and more beautiful photo's :-)

Will catch up with other posts tomorrow .

Night Night

Anyone else watching the White Queen?

Evening everyone.
Golly were we chilly.Certainly not the warmest day for an outdoor party and BBQ.But it was a lovely afternoon .About 40 guests.William was a little poppet. Passed from pillar to post and not a murmur I think he was probably somewhat bemused by it all lol
I have just had a nice hot bath and am now TOO hot :-S..Chris has just gone up to get ready for bed .He's up at 5.30 in the morning.I just found a spider in our bed !!!!!!! (when I turned back the duvet to get my nightie ).There better not be any more in there :-|

William I am so sorry Carmel is feeling so down .It must be very hard for you.I really hope that something can be done to help those headaches .That alone must be dreadful ,let alone all the other things.You sound a wonderful caring husband <3

I feel just about ready for bed too so will be back refreshed in the morning.
Night Night x

Oh, I forgot to say HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY to little William, bless him. <3

Evening All,

The wind here has dropped at last and it seems to have stopped raining! I hope it stays that way as I have done a 'holidaysworth' of washing to put out tomorrow.

Sorry Carmel is feeling so low William. It must be hard for you as well not knowing what to do to help, but you do a sterling job with what you do do. How nice of M*rrison's to come to your aid like that though, it's good to know that there are some caring staff there. You made me smile with your post..........I'll be looking out for a pigsty now!! ;-)

Mel, thanks for saying what the little bird was, I hadn't a clue! How many eggs is your banty sitting on? It will be nice to have little chicks running about the place. I love the little cheep cheeps they do. I see you have a snake now! I've never been very keen on snakes, even the non poisonous ones. Those Grass snakes like swimming don't they.......... so I hope it doesn't go hunting in your ponds. :-S

Maureen are those Diners like Fra*kie and Benny's? We have one of those next to our nearest cinema and have popped in there after a film before. It was quite nice to have something 'different'.

Fiona your daughter is lucky her dad can sort out the water tank. It could have caused a lot of water damage if it had burst as you say. It is a shame you couldn't go to Matteo's baptism, but at least you get to see him a lot of the time, which is lovely for you. I bet his other grandma is just the same and wishes she didn't live so far from him and have to miss his other milestones. It's good you are able to go to church again now and to meet your friends for a coffee. I hope you can sort a home visit with the hairdresser as that will give you a lift when you see your old self in the mirror again. My hair is being cut on Tuesday and is beginning to get on my nerves so goodness knows how you must feel after all this time!!

Afternoon All

Hope Carmel is feeling more comfortable William, very nice of the shop people to care.

Been a wet and very windy day, managed to get to church this morning without being blown away when I got out the car.

OH up at Katherine's house, went up to fix the over flow pipe outside as it was leaking but when he went to see what was happening to the water tank in the loft found that the tank was rusted and to far gone to fix , so they had to go and buy a whole new water tank, he's been up there since 1.00 and it's now coming up to 4
it just as well he sorting it out hate to think if the tank had burst there would have been a lot more mess. :-| :-|

Was feeling a little sad this morning as today is Matteo's Christening, really wishing I could be there in Italy with Victoria & family but with that heat and all the goings on, I couldn't have enjoyed it, I'm hoping Victoria phones tonight.

ANN thank you for the photo's of your holiday, the cottage where you stayed looks lovely, and so does the surrounding country side. :-D :-D

William I do wish Carmel better soon. It could be all the worry over other ailments, treatments and changes of prescriptions etc. Nice to have been spotted by the CCTV and someone came to see all was ok but there is no place like home when you feel under the weather. We all know she will get the best care there with you as her personal nurse.

It has brightened a bit and oh is out mowing up all the mess he made on the lawn scarifying it the other day. Think I may go out and pick a few boulders off the newly sown grass in the back field. Roots too.

It's me I'm back. I thought Carmel was a bit improved today when aftr a late breakfast she elected to go with me to do a little bit of shopping at our local M*rrisons. All was going reasonably well until after we'd checked out and we were making for the door. She asked to see the receipt, which she often does (likes to makes sure all the bargains have been rung through) when she felt faint. Luckily we were near a seat in the store, so we both sat down, I cuddled her and made the right noises and she had a drink from some still water we'd bought.
I was waiting for her to recover, we'd been there about three minutes, when this young female member of staff approached us and asked if everything was alright. We explained, she asked if she'd like a drink then if she'd eaten this morning. She was very concerned and when I asked if she'd been alerted she said yes. So it must have been picked up on the stores CCTV. All Carmel wanted to do was get to the security of her own home so this young lady and a male ember of staff escorted Carmel out to our car while I took charge of our trolley.
Now that's what I call being on the ball and all credit to this store on this occasion. It's not a mega-store, so I'm impressed that they pay such attention to customer care - in the truest sense.

Carmel is now having a rest and hopefully she'll feel a little better by the time we have our meal this evening.

Ann, you are a natural with a camera, well done on those you emailed out. I think you could take a photo of a pigsty and make it look artistic. It certainly looked a lovely location and also looks like the weather favoured you.

Thanks for the photos Ann, brilliant, well I wouldn't expect any less from you now and your post was really interesting. Good to have you back.

Poor Carmel, no wonder she feels depressed. Just knowing you are there William must be a great comfort for her.

We ended up in Watford yesterday evening went to an American Diner instead of N*ndo's, it was nice, had a chicken with garlic mayo wrap, and a lovely chocolate cake with whipped cream, I'm not going to be able to keep this slim figure the rate I've been eating lately. I expect a lot of these Diners are popping up now, there just glorified cafes really.

So Andrea won The Voice, I missed it. She did have a nice voice but I wouldn't have betted on her to win, thought there were a couple of others better.

Paint brushes are out today as it isn't sitting in the garden weather.

Stonechat video's

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/European_Stonechat

I, yes me, shot a squirrel in the garden this morning.

Glad to see you back Ann.What a beautiful area you stayed.Smashing pics .The little bird couldn't be a baby Bullfinch could it?
Can't type well as I'm in car on way to my sister and its bumpy
BB tonight

Welcome back Ann, looking forward to checking your pics on my emails.

Sorry I haven't been on but I have tried to scan through the posts.

Carmel is very depressed and feels all her illnesses are getting on top of her and I can't blame her. We went to the docs on Friday but he said one of the samples left at the hospital lab was 'untestable', has to be done again sometime. Limbo there! The neuro surgeon at Coventry Uni hospital wants to do another different injection in her head as the other one didn't work. We learn this from a copy of a letter he has sent to the surgery. I've told her we now need to see her GP and discuss what this injection is all about. Her headaches are getting even worse (didn't think they could) and it is affecting her vision. Yesterday she just lay on her bed most of the day. I can only help by tip-toeing around the house.
I don't know what else I can do, I just feel so helpless for her.

Sorry to unload on all you guys. I know you all have your own problems.

I have spent about 20 minutes trying to add Ruby's email to my contacts on my email system. Sometimes they don't make thing either easy or logical. In a universe, no one seems to make things universal! Have you noticed that when you see a computer screen on a TV programme it never seems to have a view that looks like your!!!???

My only good thing yesterday was that Andrea won The Voice on BBC1 last night. Proper order, she has a clear sweet voice that gives me goosebumps and if I had any hair, would raise that too!

Off to sort a bit of brekky. C Y A L.

Morning All and Evening Kim,

Welcome back Ann and Gordon, I see you had a smashing time. Loved the pic of the little garden and the Osmanthus tree flowering. It did look a lovely place to stay with plenty for you to do. I have replied to your email about the little Stonechat. Rather a saucy little male bird as he will mate with more than one female at a time.

Weather here today is very blustery, grey and cold.

Oh ringing for two churches this morning so he went off early.

My banty is still sitting on her eggs in the little ark. I may have chicks in two weeks as I set her on Monday last. 21 days to wait so now it is only 14. I hate waiting......

Thank you Frank......I didn't realise you had been there......you seem to have been to a lot of places on your travels! I bet it was good for fishing. We did see lots of small crabs and people had crabbing buckets at Beaumaris. Sorry to hear your knee has been playing up. It must be tricky when you don't know just when it will give way like that. Talking of walking sticks I think I may get some of those walking poles for getting up and down the odd step on hilly trails. I saw a few folk with dodgy knees using them and they are good to steady yourself where there is no handrail to grab!!

I see Jane is off to a 'do' and Maureen is just back from one! Thanks for the smashing wedding pics Maureen.......your outfit looks great on that nice slim figure you have managed to keep!!

I'm off to bed now......feel really tired.....xx.

WELCOME HOME ANN, Nice pictures. We use to go to the area when we went sea fishing. I loved it up there.

We are all settling down after Lewis and I watch the football. Brazil V Italy. Great match 2nd half. but too many free kicks and fouls.

I won't be long before I'm in bed, I have has a busy day.

Hi to you all, :-)......I'm home :-D

We got back yesterday, but both seemed to have a tummy bug......not ideal for travelling!! :-S OH was worse so I ended up driving most of the way back as well as driving a lot of the way there!! He's in bed now feeling shattered after more 'trots' to visit the 'WHITE FRIEND' today. (as Frank would say). He still has a bad foot too! I seem to have got off lighter than him and just feel hot and headachey and off food.....hopefully that's all it will be.

Well, we really enjoyed our holiday and will definitely be going back. There was patchy rain on the way and on the way back and there was a shower one night, but it was sunny and warm every day. It was like stepping back into the 60s in many ways. I thought it would be quite busy at the end of June, but there was very little traffic, most parking is free and not many people about either. We hardly saw a soul in the tiny village we stayed in and very few cars passed through. You could just park outside the village shop....no yellow lines or marked boxes......brilliant! The cottage was quirky, but had steps up and down into the rooms which wasn't great for the old knees, but the little garden was completely private and the bedroom patio door overlooked it which was nice. The only thing we disliked about it was the bathroom, which didn't get much ventilation and was a bit musty. The village we stayed in has a lot of history and was important in the past although it is now a quite tiny village. The church at the back of the cottage is double naved and grade 11 listed and dates from the 12th century. We would walk through the churchyard and cross a couple of fields to get to the beach. Something I have never seen before on the headstones in a churchyard is people's addresses as well as their names!! A small estuary ran along the side of the village 100 yards or so to the sandy bay. The first time I saw it it took my breath away it was so beautiful and hardly a soul there. We later found that there were lots of pretty coves/bays to explore.

There was a good tearoom in the village, very clean and with good food. It was run by social services, who employed people who might otherwise find it hard to get jobs to give them work experience. Some may have had mild effects of Down's syndrome, or something like that. They all wore nice maroon uniforms and there was a manager in charge of them. One young girl who was very keen and cheerful really had me lost for words when she took our order and laid our table as it seemed that every sentence she said she repeated in Welsh without any pause for breath and would then be back to English again for the next sentence......I really should know what the words for knife, fork, cups, spoons etc in Welsh are now!! :-) It was a lovely atmosphere in there and when we left the first time, the girl who served us saw us pass by the window outside and shouted quite excitedly, 'Thank you for coming......please come back soon' and waved her hand to us!!

The island's race circuit was only a few miles away and we went up to look around it. We just drove in and parked to watch a bit of a practice going on. There were what looked like old (empty) miltary buildings and a helipad to one side of it, but the location of the circuit itself is stunning and high up and right on the edge of the coast. There is a raised bit of land where spectators can stand and watch the whole circuit and see the coastline in both directions.

I'd better stop rambling soon or I will bore you all to tears, but the South Stack lighthouse and RSPB at Holyhead were well worth visiting......another stunning location and free to park and roam around unless you wanted to go into the lighthouse itself. A chap there passed me his binoculars to show me the Puffins and Razorbills and Kittiwakes that were nesting on the cliffs.

We saw a few of the search and rescue helicopters while we were there, but no Prince William although we did watch the tv programme last week about the service and saw him on that!! I think there are more episodes to follow. Since we came home I have discovered that he and Kate stay in a place which is only 2 minutes drive from where we were but have no idea where it was.

I will try to send just a few pics!! Will catch up with the posts later.