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Yesterday we went over to the Kenilworth Newbies to offer a bit of moral and practical support while Danielle is still in recovery from her op and Michael is still in recovery from Covid. We had a lovely day – although Michael didn’t take the rest that we hoped he would.

Instead, we went across to Crackley Woods for a walk among the bluebells…… it brought back some lovely memories of when we were children, although the bluebells weren’t as vibrant as I remembered when I was twelve…….or maybe the photo doesn’t do them justice.

We had a great time clambering over fallen longs, venturing along ‘secret paths’ and racing through the glades. I think we all acted our shoe size and not our age and it was wonderful.

When we got back to Michael’s we were thrilled that Paul had texted to say that he and Freddie were coming over. Harriet was getting ready to go out to her hockey club dinner (at which her team won an award) so couldn’t come.

The boys were thrilled to see each other and we set off over to the park. Paul took charge of the boys and the dogs. Hilariously, as it turned out! He tied the two dog- leads together and basically, the dogs walked themselves…..or, rather, Mac walked Chester. I am not sure that Chester was best pleased….

Once we were back home, the children played like mad things on their scooters and bikes in the garden for a while and then calmed down in the house, fascinated by a new toy that William had been given – some magnetic shapes. Even Thomas was joining in. And there’s a baby in the crib that Grandpa is gently rocking. Bliss.

We stayed on after Paul and Freddie had gone home and helped to put the children bed and read a bedtime story. Afterwards, we had a take-away and relaxed in front of the TV for a while before coming home. It was a tiring, but wonderful day.

I must have been tired after a busy day yesterday because I overslept this morning. My plan was to get up early, get showered and all ready for this afternoon’s ‘Hen Do’ for Lucy, before following our church service online. Ha! The alarm went off but I must have snoozed it. It was half past nine before I woke up! I was running late before I’d even started.

Anyway, I was ready on time for when Pete and Dawn arrived to collect me. John was also ready and waiting for Pete to collect him on the way back. Dawn and I were going out for an exciting ‘hen do’, while John and Pete were having a Sunday Roast round at Pete’s.

The ‘hen do’ was brilliant. Lizzie had worked hard to put a few games and puzzles together. We were all terrible at guessing how old Lucy was in the various photos Liz had produced. Even Lucy only got 4 out of ten….. but we were better at choosing what she would prefer – a city break or a beach break? an Indian takeaway or a Chinese? a cat or a dog? To be fair, some of the answers were ‘either’ or ‘both’, but several people scored full marks and clearly know Lucy very well.

Here’s the gorgeous girl herself – the ‘Bride-to-Be’, looking just stunning. Honestly, she could be a model, she looks so lovely.

John had a good time at Pete’s and spent a happy half-hour rootling through metal bits and pieces that Pete had got in his treasure trove. John found a spring that he thought might do the trick and double as a bush for his bush-less stay for the Lotus car door. And he was right. It works a treat. He’s delighted.

I popped over to the Kenilworth Newbies this evening to help with the bedtime routine again and enjoyed a good couple of hours with the family. Although it is very clear that, although Danielle is getting more or less the rest she needs, Michael is not. He is absolutely exhausted but battling on. If only Thomas would sleep beyond six o’clock…. ah well, maybe tomorrow?

Take care everyone. God bless

We’re not ‘packing it all in’ as in giving up – don’t get the wrong idea – but we’re packing a lot of life in and haven’t half packed a lot in today.

John was up and about quite early this morning, raring to go and get in the garage. He was just finishing his coffee in the kitchen when I got back from yoga just before eleven o’clock. “How was yoga?” he asked. “Agony!” I replied. In the last year or so, I’ve found that all my joints, all my muscles and all my tendons are as dry as dry and creak like Billy-o the minute I do any movement. You can even hear the blooming things graunching……

Anyway, I discovered that daily collagen tablets have eased the symptoms amazingly well, so generally, I can leap about and bend and stretch, and so on, with little difficulty. But….. for the last couple of weeks I have been intermittent in the taking of the tablets, having got a little bit out of routine. Hence the graunching of everything at yoga today. I managed to keep up mostly, but whenever Jaime suggested we might like to bend just a bit further, raise the leg a bit higher, hold the pose a little longer, or ‘chaturanga’ into an ‘up-dog‘, I baulked at the invitation. Maybe next week? Must keep taking the tablets.

Meanwhile, John took himself off into the garage and I nipped across to our marvellous village seamstress, Donna, to collect some trousers that she had turned up for Mum. Stayed and had a little chat and then moseyed up to the pharmacy to collect my prescription before making my way home to continue with some washing and a few more of the chores I’d started yesterday.

We were both beavering away at our little jobs, contented as can be, when John came into the kitchen and said, “See that?” I nodded. It was a stay for the Lotus car door. “See? The bolt to attach it to the car itself rattles around in the hole. There should be a metal bush……. but it’s missing.” Ah….. a rummage among all the spare parts he’s got in trays and boxes everywhere proved fruitless. No appropriate bush. And there we are – another day when hours will be spent on the internet trying to find the right thing, sending away for it, waiting for it to arrive and keeping fingers crossed that it’s the right one when it does!!!

We went over to Pete and Dawn’s this afternoon for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. That was lovely. Relaxing and stimulating at the same time. Marvellous to be with friends who know us so well that the conversation just flows. John told the tale of the bush-less stay. Pete said he’d got lots of spare parts in his garage, too. They agreed that, on Sunday when John goes there for lunch, he’ll spend a happy hour rummaging through Pete’s trays and boxes. Fingers crossed he finds something suitable – it would save hours of research.

We left Pete and Dawn’s just before tea-time, having promised to pop over to the Kenilworth Newbies to hear all about their week with Danielle’s parents and to help out as best we could. They continue to be exhausted. Three boys….. gosh, I know what that’s like. There is nothing like that particular fatigue of caring for children and holding down a decent job, is there?

We cooked tea and stayed until it was time to put the boys to bed. I had the pleasure of reading William a couple of bedtime stories before he settled down. “Pat me?” he said, hopefully. “Yes, I’ll pat you,” I replied. “And sing a lullaby…..?” he continued. So we went through my repertoire of lullabies and nursery rhymes and then, when those were exhausted, William offered more suggestions of his own. Oh, bliss.

Meanwhile, over in the other Kenilworth Sleath household, I believe that the Tooth Fairy may be called upon again, very soon. Harriet sent us a photo of Freddie this afternoon, his upper tooth having migrated into the gap left by the falling out of his other tooth yesterday. He is impersonating Worzel Gummidge, by Paul’s account…….I agree and it made me chuckle. Bless him – he’s definitely thrilled with his wobbly teeth!. What do you think? Remind you of Worzel Gummidge with the central tooth, the rosy cheeks and the dishevelled hair? Tee-hee! Gorgeous.

When we got home after our visit to Kenilworth, I ran out into the garden to collect in the washing. The once-dry washing was now rather wet as a result of the shower in progress. Booooo…….I spent a little while sorting it out onto the clothes horse and then remembered, with a sinking feeling, that I’d taken the sheets off the bed earlier in the day and had yet to put clean ones on…… Well, there was little job I didn’t particularly want to do at the end of the day. Another Booooo…… ah, well…. but I do like to get into bed with nice, clean (ironed) sheets, don’t you?

Take care everyone. God bless.

After what seems like ages I thought I’d better do a bit of housework today. A touch of Spring Cleaning. This was prompted by Paul who passed comment on Tuesday about my lovely cobwebs. They’re the new fashion, don’t y’know…..

Anyway, I got out the feather duster and gave the kitchen and lounge a bit of a going over – just got the rest of the house to do now! And then it was on with washing and drying of bedding and towels – just the weather for it, so very warm outside. While that lot was going on I cleared the decks in the kitchen, which seemed to have got a bit clutter on them, while John pottered about with more Lotus stuff. Honestly, we have three parcels a day delivered at the moment. All very exciting.

We were, of course, still waiting in for the nurse. I phoned the Community Nurses this morning and left a message on their answerphone, not expecting anyone to get back to me, but they did. Yes, yes, the nurse will be with you today, sometime before 5 o’clock. Good-oh. We had our fingers crossed she’d come reasonably early because we wanted to nip into town to collect the ol’ man’s hearing aid which was in for repair.

And luck was on our side for once. The nurse arrived just after mid-day and had no trouble sorting John out, so he’s feeling a bit comfier now.

After the nurse left, I thought we’d have a cuppa and a bit of a sit down. John promptly fell asleep, so I left him to snooze for a while and carried on with a few more cleaning jobs until he woke up.

With the nurse having arrived at an optimum time we were able to shoot into Solihull to collect John’s hearing aid, which we are both relieved about. John, because he’s fed up of me ‘not answering him’ and me, fed up of having to repeat myself……..

On the family front, the Tooth Fairy is having a very busy time. When they called in on Tuesday to collect Mac, Freddie was a bottom tooth-less, having just lost it while eating an apple on the way over. A photo of him this morning now showed him a top tooth-less……….. and he wasn’t half looking pleased with himself!

On the news front, Covid doesn’t feature in any headlines at all now and even the war in Ukraine seems to be falling down the pecking order, with the editors concentrating on today’s local elections, the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial and the interest rates rise today. I hardly know what to say.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Tired and done for the day but, rather than allow yet another flash past without reporting in, I offer a swift summary of our day.

John has spent all day in the garage pottering about with the car and waiting in for the nurse to come. She didn’t turn up so more frustration and phone calls to no avail. Will try them again tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I sauntered about in the garden this morning. I had been to the garden centre the other day and bought one or two things so I went out with the best intentions. Of course, it’s always the other jobs that grab your attention, isn’t it? So, naturally, the main event – which was to liven up the rockery with alpines – didn’t happen. I did, however, manage to plant up a hanging basket for Danielle to cheer her up. Some weeks ago she’d asked us if we could get one of those pointy-shaped hanging baskets. At the time, there weren’t any available where we visited. But voila! We found one at the Hampton Garden Centre.

After a grubby morning, I shot upstairs to get a shower, before going out to a neighbour’s house for ‘afternoon tea’ with several other ladies of a certain age. It was all very nice and genteel and we had a good chat.

When I got home, John was still waiting for the nurse and opted not to come over for grandparenting duties at the Kenilworth Newbies. Michael was working between 5 and 6, so could I go and feed the boys their tea? Of course….. Had a lovely time and stayed on to read William a bedtime story. When I got back home the nurse still hadn’t been….. par for the course I suppose, but nonetheless it’s very irritating.

We simply sat and watched the box this evening – two of my favourite programmes, MasterChef and The Great British Sewing Bee, were showing so I lapped them up.

And there we have it. A day in a nutshell.

Take care everyone. God bless. Keep safe – Covid is still doing the rounds…..

We have some days that are driven; some days that are purposeful; and some days that are meaningful but a little more relaxed…….

Today was one of the latter. This followed on from a similar day yesterday, in which we had lazed in bed, trundled to the garden centre, taken the dog a walk and then chilled in front of the TV.

Today? A yoga session for me early on. A potter in the garage for John. A trip into town for me, mid-day. More pottering in the garage for John.

I came home from town, fairly laden with goodies – especially some nice ham, cheese and sourdough for lunch. Fatal. “Where are you going to sit to eat your lunch?” John asked. “The lounge,” I replied, “in front of the TV.” Hmmm……… the trouble with that little plan is that one is drowsy after one’s lunch and the TV has a soporific effect. John was aware of this fact and initially held back from sitting in comfy seats. He was easily persuaded however, and we both dozed for a about three-quarters of an hour…… pah!

John roused himself and went back into the garage for more tinkering. Although it seems that he’s a little frustrated with the whole process. Invariably, he has a bolt or screw or thingamajig that is just the wrong size. Naturally, he has to send off for a new one. It arrives. He tries to fit it. Only to find that it’s in metric, not imperial, or perhaps vice-versa…..and he has to send off for another one.

Meanwhile, I see that the car is coming on. John cannot see that it’s progressing much yet, but it definitely is. Although there is still a lot to do.

After I woke up from my doze, I took Mac for a walk. Once again, I enjoyed it. The rapeseed, as tall as me, is now turning to seed and the petals are dropping, showering both me and Mac with yellow confetti as we brushed past. Lovely.

I sent a little video of Mac on his walk to the Kenilworth Sleaths, as I do most days, and was surprised to get a reply from Paul asking when they should pick him up. Not knowing exactly when they’d arrived back from Malta, I tentatively suggested, ‘Tomorrow?’. Apparently, the family had arrived back mid-afternoon, so were refreshed enough to come and collect Mac this evening. “We’ll be round in hour,” said Paul. Another lovely.

It was great to see them. Freddie marked the occasion by proudly showing us a nice little gap in his gum where a tooth had just come out on the way over. He’d been munching on an apple. He’s hoping the Tooth Fairy will arrive tonight…..

They didn’t stay very long though – just long enough for a cup of tea – before it was time to take off and put Freddie to bed. School tomorrow…..

And that was us today. Busy, but not so busy as to be driven.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Without thinking it through, we invited Michael and Danielle over for lunch today, imagining that it would be a lovely way for them to relax. Being ‘Pooh Bears of Very Little Brain’, we had forgotten that Danielle’s parents were on their way over from Jersey and would be landing on the Kenilworth Newbies doorstep at any time on Sunday.

However, Danielle thought they’d be able to get over for brunch before they met her parents for a Sunday Roast, so how about we do that? Naturally, we were game for that!! So, to our delight, the family visited today……

This is the best I could do, photo-wise. Michael wondered if I had a photo showing his full face? Erm… sorry, no. Or one with Danielle’s eyes open? Nope. Or one of William smiling? No….. Or one without Thomas’s finger in front of his face? No, this was it! I thought it captured the moment perfectly. At least Oliver is looking good, that’s what counts, isn’t it? Hehehe…..

We had a really nice time, even though the visit was shorter and perhaps not so restful as we thought it might be. While Michael was out collecting some bits and pieces on his way over to our house with William and Thomas, I nipped over to collect Danielle and Oliver. John cooked the brunch. Wonderful.

“Come through to eat your breakfast, William,” I said, to which he replied, “It’s brunch, Grandma!!” Silly me….. I do love to be corrected by a four year-old.

I am not sure what we did with the rest of our Sunday. We watched a bit of telly; I took Mac for a good long walk; John tinkered a bit on the car; and then we had a ‘cream tea’ consisting of tiny salmon sandwiches and a scone, laden with jam and clotted cream. Oh, and Prosecco. Nice.

With other things going on, I have failed to mentioned that we are currently dog-sitting Mac again for a few days. Paul had to go to Malta on business so he thought he’d take the family out there with him over the Bank Holiday weekend. With no-one available at short notice to take Mac, I had a phone call which went something like, “Do you want to come for tea? Oh, can you have Mac over the weekend, please?” Well, how could I say ‘no’?

Anyway, on my walk with Mac today I had a very exciting time. I thought we’d take the path where I knew there to be badger setts. My thinking being that we might spend an early evening camped out for an hour at dusk in the hope of seeing them. Well, I needn’t do that now……

Just as we neared the setts, storming out of the rapeseed fields charged two badgers, hurtling towards safety. They took both me and Mac by surprise. Me, so much so, that I squealed before I realised what it was. Mac was also slow on the uptake, only realising that there was something to nip at after the larger badger had bolted between his legs and scuttled into the sett. Too late, as well, for him to do anything about the junior badger careering across his path and rushing into the sett by the back door.

I know badgers aren’t everybody’s cup of tea but, honestly, I was thrilled. I think it was a mother and her offspring, the larger badger being too small to be a male but too big to be a youngster. I have no idea why the badgers would be out in broad daylight nor why they’d be thundering back home as if their lives depended upon it. Maybe it was us who had disturbed them…… but it was very exciting and very unexpected!!

Take care everyone. God bless. Hope your weekend is turning out to be a happy one.

We have spent the last couple of days round at Michael and Danielle’s ….. because we could!! The household is all clear of COVID, so we took the opportunity to shoot round there and spend some time with new baby Oliver.

Here’s us – all very excited to make Oliver’s acquaintance for the first time properly!

Andrew stayed for a little while and then went off to Nottingham where he was having a very posh meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant, while John and I stayed on.

I walked with Michael to collect William and Thomas from school and we were amused when William emerged – he was so busy telling Daddy all about his day that he didn’t notice me at first. When he did, his little face lit up and he said what he always says when I am there unexpectedly: “Grandma! What are you doing here?!” Makes me grin every time.

We had a lovely walk home, with William scooting almost all the way as proficient as you like, and Thomas toddling half the way home. Delightful. Especially the bit when William was holding my hand and telling me all about it…..

William had a birthday party to go to in Sutton Coldfield this afternoon and the plan was to take both William and Thomas. We chose to go and spend the afternoon with Danielle to look after her while Michael was out. When we got there, Thomas was fast asleep, so we said not to worry, we’d entertain him, so Michael and William went on their way.

We had a wonderful afternoon. Thomas and I spent the afternoon running round and round the garden, clearing up various bits of debris and gathering up all the stray balls from the ball pit. They were everywhere!

We also had fun in the double buggy-cum-pram. Oliver was fast asleep in the pram on one side and Thomas spent a good hour strapping himself in and out of the buggy. We went ’round and round the garden, like a teddy bear’ and did lots of ‘tickling under there’. Each time we spied another ball, out Thomas got, picked it up and popped it into his ‘choo-choo train’ trailer. Excuse the pun, but I had a ball.

We came indoors as the afternoon waned, and Grandpa took up the reins in looking after Thomas while I did a bit of tidying round the kitchen and cooking the tea. At one point, Grandpa had his hands full of Olivier and Thomas while Danielle nipped to loo – and a sterling job he did, too.

Marvellous. I love a bit of family time, don’t you?

Take care everyone. God bless.

We really wouldn’t want it any other way, would we? Full days? They keep us on our toes and, for some reason, keep us looking well. Apparently anyway, ‘cos that’s what the college crew said to me tonight – that I looked well. I’ll take that, thank you very much. I think it’s all that scraping of wallpaper and polystyrene that’s kept me fit!

Anyway, today was another full day one way and another.

Before the plasterer came round, I did the housewifely thing of vacuuming up all the stray bits of paper and polystyrene, just to look a little bit presentable. When he arrived, he ran an experienced eye over the room, talked through what we might do with skirting boards, architraves and picture rails; offered us advice on where to go for good cornices; and suggested we use an electrician he knows to move the plugs. I was impressed and, more importantly, so was John. Marvellous. And the price was right, so we’ve booked him. Goody! Not until June though…..

Next job? Pull up the carpets and order the flooring. Woo-hoo! Can’t wait for it all to come together. Fingers crossed it does, just at the right time.

And now to use the wonderful gift John bought me yesterday. He certainly knows how to treat a woman right, doesn’t he?

Buzzing in the background to any activity I may be undertaking was John, tinkering with his car, surfing the internet for parts, watching YouTube videos on ‘how to….’ and nipping out to Tool Station or Screwfix for a piece of equipment. He’s worked hard today.

This afternoon I did the ironing (I know, I know) and then thought that I might offer another casserole to the Kenilworth Newbies. They are both exhausted. Michael said ‘yes, please, if you don’t mind’ and, of course, I don’t mind at all. So I did a bit of cooking this afternoon for them and took their tea over to them at five o’clock.

One good piece of news is that Oliver, who has been developing a nice shade of yellow from jaundice, is improving. Michael and Danielle took him to the clinic at the hospital today for a check-up and the bilirubin levels are coming down. That’s a relief. Cheers to Oliver……

Meanwhile, Andrew is home – sort of. He arrived on Tuesday and we had a lovely evening meal over at Paul and Harriet’s together. He then slept for most of the day yesterday, cooked us a wonderful roast dinner, packed his overnight bag and went to stay over at one of his friends.

Home again this morning, but he clearly hadn’t had a lot of sleep so he napped all afternoon, before disappearing to the pub just before tea-time….. he has watched a film with John this evening, while I chatted to the college crew, and then he’s up to Nottingham tomorrow before he heads off home. It’s been lovely having him around, but we haven’t had much of him really….. maybe next time…….

Take care everyone. God bless.

When I saw Pete and Dawn yesterday we arranged for them to come to our house to help eat up the ‘fatted calf’ I’d originally got out of the freezer ready for Andrew’s homecoming on Monday. In the end, we had a change of plan and they didn’t come. The prodigal son had arrived home and so they suggested we enjoy the joint of beef with him en famille, rather than in a crowd.

I had planned to cook a wonderful roast beef meal, but Andrew, being a chef, got stuck into the cooking and banished me from the kitchen when it came to it. I didn’t argue. I mean, who would, when you can have your meal prepared for you, eh? It was lush.

I am not surprised he’d turned his nose up at my suggestion of steamed vegetables. His version of a roast dinner was with creamed leeks, cauliflower cheese and glazed carrots as accompaniments. Delicious.

Such a glorious meal was very welcome. We’d had a busy day one way and another.

First thing this morning John and I had a run out to Heartlands Hospital for his regular immunoglobulin treatment. I dropped him at the hospital door and drove home, before returning a couple of hours later to collect him.

“Everything go OK?” I enquired as I picked him up. “Yes,” he replied, “but it was a bit odd as the nurse kept coming to adjust the speed at which the infusion was going through, which they don’t do normally. It only transpired, as I was getting to the end of the treatment, that I wasn’t supposed to be there this morning, but this afternoon, instead! She said they didn’t have the heart to turn me away, knowing that we’d come a long way and I’d been dropped off and you’d already left. Mind you, there was a lady who had to wait for treatment while I had mine. No wonder they were keen to whizz the infusion through.” Oops….. we hadn’t double-checked the time of the appointment because it’s always at 9 in the morning…..just not today.

As Pete and Dawn weren’t coming round after all, once I was home and before I went back to collect John, I set to and got on with the wall stripping. I am delighted to report that I have managed to get all of the polystyrene off the walls in the dining room to reveal the full horror of the crumbling plaster underneath. I have also revealed a little bit of house history….. did this used to be a book case, do you think? I was quite charmed by this unexpected revelation.

This afternoon, before John was engrossed in tinkering with his car again, we went over to Paul and Harriet’s to retrieve our cars, where we’d left them last night. We spent a few minutes chatting to Harriet, which was very nice, before we all set off home in our individual cars. How profligate……

Andrew left us to our own devices this evening and went to see his friend, Tubsy. We had our quiz to look forward to – and, once again, it was good fun. Lovely to see everyone and enjoy their company. The scores on the doors were about the same as they are every week, but there were plenty of questions that challenged us. I wasn’t on top form tonight, feeling rather tired from my scraping exertions, but it didn’t matter – everyone else was!!

Take care everyone. God bless.

Had a great morning. Pete and Dawn picked me up in their new car and we all trundled off to Solihull to see if we could sort out some accessories for Dawn’s Mother-of the-Bride outfit.

We went to the best place in Solihull for such things and, within minutes, had found a ‘titfer’ that looked like it might fit the bill. Naturally, we didn’t plump on that one straight away; and also naturally, we had to go through every other hat of the right colour and shape, just to check. The shop assistant finally came over to assist and, of course, the first one that we’d picked out was the one.

And a handbag? I’d found several that might do the trick, but when we got them close up, they were either too small, or the wrong colour, or the wrong material. The assistant brought out a few more bags and…. boom! There was one that was just right. Ooooooh, we were very happy bunnies.

“Shall we have a coffee to celebrate?” Dawn suggested. Don’t mind if I do. So we popped to a café nearby where there were very few customers, and thoroughly enjoyed our beverages and good conversation.

John, meanwhile, had been at home tinkering on the car again. Lots of lovely parcels keep arriving with bits for the car so, obviously, they need to be attached. It’s coming on…..

In the afternoon John continued with more car collation and I busied myself in emulating the ‘Bear Ladies’ from the Repair Shop. William’s little cuddly toy had sprung a leak in his arm and some of the stuffing had fallen out, so could I repair him please? I am not the best needlewoman in the world, but I had a go and voila! There he was, all mended and ready to go home.

I then had a half hour scraping away some of the polystyrene in the dining room. Oo-er! Honestly, it seems that we’ve been holding the building together with polystyrene and wallpaper……

Had a great evening, too. We were invited to Paul and Harriet’s for tea, so I gave up on stripping and we got in the car and drove over to Kenilworth. We had a lovely time. Andrew joined us, having driven across from Cambridge, and we sat over the dinner table all evening chatting away. Sometimes loudly debating a point…… a great time had by all. So much so, that it was an Uber home…….

Take care everyone. God bless.