Life!

I had a couple more attempts at the spliced with Steve this month – one with Pete and Muffie and one with Margaret and Peter B both unsuccessful but at least I rang quite well which was good for my confidence as I was beginning to feel I was not up to it.  Finally on 25th I scored a nice peal of it with David M, Chris and Mark – although there were some hairy moments I felt I knew what I was doing throughout and was even able to stay on the lines when others tripped, so at last I feel I can actually claim to be able to do it! At the beginning of the month I went back down to Devon for a couple of weeks - enjoying mixed weather.  We had some good days but others were torrid with 24 hours of rain and 60 mph winds on one of the days.  Still it saves watering the garden.  The gardeners have planted some plants at the back which look lovely but need watering each day if dry.  Also Jayne had done me some pots for the patio which also need watering.  It all looks very nice at the moment

I agreed to go home on the Saturday, rather than the Tuesday originally planned, because Julia came over to Ireland and was staying with us.  Jayne and I went for a walk in Parke on the Saturday morning and then had a light lunch in the "Walkers" part of the cafe in which you can take dogs -  I thought it would be just a damp cold barn, but it turned out to be warm and dry and prettily laid out in the same way as the main cafe.  The food there is excellent - it is all organic and locally sourced and it is run by a lady who has a cookery school in Ashburton.  I had a wonderful tuna baguette - and then had a large piece of victoria sponge just to keep me going on the drive home.  It was just the way I like it with jam - no butter cream. Jayne walked home and I set off for London.  I had a good drive home - I listened to my book for most of the way and then listened to a Neil Diamond album and a Carol King album to keep me awake for the last hour.  These were albums Malc had sh

Went walking with Maryanne and Mary on 11th – this time organised by Mary. Walking from 19 Court Way over the river on the ferry then across the meadows for a circuit of Richmond Park. Then lunch at the Lass O' Richmond Hill before heading back.  It rained heavily while we were at Mary’s house and we were worried about not having waterproofs, but it cleared by the time we started and was a beautiful day thereafter. Supper with Caroline and Pru on 13 th at Azzuro.  Pru had crashed her car earlier in the day and was a bit late – but glad to have a glass of wine with friends after such a stressful day. On 15 th went over to Majorca for 6 days to visit Amanda on my own this time. She picked me up from the airport in her lovely new car – a Citroen C3 which has lots more space than her old car and is very comfortable.  Amanda's new car The weather was much warmer and the place was livelier than in January, with many holiday makers around and people in swimwear lying

On 1 st went to Carolyn’s for a roast dinner for her birthday.  Went for a walk afterwards and got soaking wet.  Ollie shouted “come on Michael” to Mike as he ran down the road and we were all a bit taken aback that he should address his Uncle Mike in this way, until he explained that Mike was Michelangelo and he was Donatella (ninja turtles). Mike played lots of board games with Ollie when we got back – including Chess which was pretty impressive. Lunching with Bishops!  On 2 nd went to the service of inauguration of Sister Jennifer as Mother Superior at the convent.  Mike played the organ for some of the service.  There was lunch afterwards and the one of the Bishops came and joined us at our table and even went to the buffet to get Mike some dessert. Sister Barbara gave me a huge box of threads, material and framecraft pieces, and also said I could keep the frame she had given me with the Snow Wolf I am finishing for her.  She has given up all cross stitch now because of h

So I got to the end of February and stopped blogging for a while.  The trouble is the longer I left it the harder it became to start again.  So I am going to catch up February to June and kick start the blogging again. Went to appointment at Charing Cross for removal of ingrowing eye lash.  They were somewhat bemused that I had been referred to hospital, and pulled it out with a pair of tweezers.  They have put me down for laser removal in August – but between now and then I shall watch for it growing again and see if I can pull it out with tweezers myself.  If I can, I will cancel laser appointment. End of February saw the Barnes Ringers AGM – followed by Annual Dinner in the Melvill Room - Penny Dupre did the catering this time.  I wore one of my new tops, and experimented with leaving my hair down.  It looked ok when I left the house but later it looked awful and billowed out around my head.   I shan't repeat the experiment until I have found someone I trust to layer it