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Despite the fact that I woke up early this morning, I couldn’t winkle myself out of bed. I snoozed on for another hour or so, then read my book for a bit before hitting the word games on my phone. John, however, was a bit better at getting up and brought me a nice cup of tea at about 9.30.

I finally dragged myself from under the bedclothes at about ten o’clock to get ready for our guests, Dave and Chris, who were popping in with a little gift for the baby. “We won’t stay long,” said Chris. Haha! Once we get nattering there’s no way that’s going to happen!!!

Chris and I nipped up to the shops to buy some ingredients for a casserole that I planned to cook in the afternoon for Michael and Danielle. While we were in the Co-op we saw some lovely pizzas in the ‘reduced’ refrigerator. “Do you want to stop for lunch?” I suggested. “No, no, really, we won’t stay long,” Chris replied.

Once we were home, we nattered some more…. and had pizza for lunch. How lovely to spend time with friends and to get on so well with each other that you just natter and natter!

Chris helped me with the casseroles that I was cooking for the Kenilworth Newbies and offered her experience and expertise as a professional cook as to what would taste particularly nice. Apparently, her advice was spot-on. Michael said the chicken casserole went down a treat and the boys loved it.

Puzzle time….. what, do you reckon, this is?

No…. it’s not a mangled spatula. It is, in fact, a dead, plastic whisk. I only went and put it back in the pan that I’d left on the heat, didn’t I? No use to man nor beast now!!! Ah, well, I was due a new one, anyway.

After Dave and Chris left, I had a bit of a clear-up and then lit a fire. I know it’s Spring and all that, but we’d had the windows open while we had guests and John had gone chilly. The clouds had accumulated and hidden the sunshine, so it felt just right to be cosy in front of an open fire. John was delighted to have the warmth of the fire and promptly fell fast asleep, snuggled up in a blanket.

I gathered up all the goodies that I was to take to the besieged in Kenilworth – the little gifts Chris had brought, plus her delicious coffee and walnut cake; the just-come-out-of-the-oven chicken casserole; a chilli con carne; some ready-to-cook jacket potatoes and rice; and some tasty, fresh pineapple – before I set off to deliver the ‘Red Cross food parcel’.

All goodies were gratefully received, but ‘before you get here Mum, will you call in at Sainsbury’s and buy more nappies, please?’ Size Ones. For the newborn. Hmmmm….. the Sainsbury’s in Kenilworth doesn’t have its own-brand nappies in that size, but I bought others. “I tell you what,” I said to Danielle as I delivered the nappies, “I’ll pop over to Canley and see if they have any of their own brand in size ones.” They did. Success. Fingers crossed that Oliver doesn’t grow out of that size before he goes through the seemingly thousands of nappies I’ve bought……

All in all, a good day. But no time for dealing with the dining room. I did think that I might have a go at getting some more of the polystyrene off this evening but, by the time we’d eaten, I was tired and it was blog time. Maybe tomorrow?

Take care everyone. 341 people died with Covid today. 45,077 people tested positive. It’s definitely not over. Even if it’s no longer deemed newsworthy…….. God bless.

Being a Sunday, I thought I’d go to church and, as I awoke early, I decided to nip to the 8 o’clock service to say my prayers and thank the Lord for keeping an eye on us over the last couple of weeks.

I should’ve checked the weekly newsletter though, shouldn’t I? No eight o’clock service today – Peter is on ‘is ‘olidays – which I had forgotten, d’oh……. never mind, I watched the 9.30 service online instead.

But what was particularly delightful this morning was that John got up early. He was downstairs by 8.30 and we were breakfasting on bacon butties together by ten to nine. Oh, bliss – to have John’s company early in the morning. I thought I was in heaven.

My plan for the day had been to do some scraping of polystyrene in the dining room, but honestly, I felt weary today and couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. I did a bit more sorting out of the kitchen, where I’d deposited items from the dining room, then sat and had a cuppa and a sandwich before it was time to go over to Mum’s.

John, meanwhile, was still tinkering in the garage. That is, until his glasses fell apart….. we think he must have sat on them because they were a bit bent and the glass had parted company with the frame. We spent a good half an hour fiddling about with them to try and mend them, carefully putting the teeny, tiny screw to one side so we didn’t lose it…….. hahahahaha…… John picked it up and it immediately escaped onto the floor. Nope. We couldn’t find it. Fortunately, we had a spare pair of glasses which we cannibalised to repair them. They are not great but, luckily, we found another pair that would do just as well, so all’s well that end’s well.

I visited Mum this afternoon and she was quite well. She couldn’t hear me at all, though. Then we found her hearing aids on her bedside table. No wonder she couldn’t hear me!! I gave them a bit of a clean-up and she popped them in and, all of a sudden, we were having a conversation. Mind you, it was fairly one-sided in that she couldn’t remember anything much, which isn’t such a bad thing when you’ve been poorly and can’t remember having been so. But she was happy.

I told her that Graham and Gail were on one of their trips to celebrate Gail’s 70th birthday – which is today. Mum was delighted they were enjoying themselves but shocked that Gail was 70. She kept shaking her head as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

G&G have gone to Christmas Island which I think is very exciting and I think they are having a good time despite the rain!!! Of course, it’s the wet season now, so monsoons are in order. Despite it being very close to Java in Indonesia, it’s an Australian territory, so they import much of their food from Australia. Gail says meals out are hideously expensive as a result….. and the crabs that run around everywhere are inedible, so no local speciality, after all.

Take care everyone. Look after yourselves. God bless.

I felt a bit grumpy when I got up this morning. Not sure why – missing the dog(s) maybe? Whatever it was, I managed to shake it off by lunchtime after I had spent the morning digging the kitchen out and re-locating its work surfaces.

John had another bit of a lie-in before he settled down in the lounge and had a look at what was happening in the Grand Prix Qualifying. It seemed quite interesting one way and another but, in the end, no surprises as to who drove into pole position. Looking forward to the race tomorrow though!

Michael and Danielle sent out a plea in the general direction of anyone who was around – could someone please go and get cream for the cure of nappy rash? We promised to run the errand. After all, being retired, we have a lot less to do than Paul and Harriet who have millions of children to look after. Chuckle, chuckle….. well, it seems that way, anyway!!

So I toddled round to the Kenilworth Newbies and was treated to a whole family appearance on the doorstep. How lovely.

The family is beginning to look better and recovering from Covid, but the Lateral Flow Tests aren’t yet all clear for Michael and maybe Thomas. Fingers crossed they come clear over the weekend.

When I got back from Kenilworth, John was pottering in the garage. He’s really getting on with the work, but he says it’s very slow going. Never mind, even if he feels like the tortoise, he’ll get there in the end.

With John getting on with his project, I thought I’d start mine……. this is the wallpaper nicely removed and piled high ready for the bin – didn’t need to do any scraping at all – it just pulled off.

And then I got onto the underneath bits….. We had lined the walls with polystyrene to provide a touch of insulation to our solid-walled house, so that was next and this is it, so far:

Hahahaha!!! The polystyrene is coming off very nicely with a bit of scraping…. but so is the wall underneath it!! Now we remember why we said we needed to re-plaster. Fingers crossed that the plasterer comes on Thursday, as promised.

By 5.30 this afternoon, both John and I had had enough. I cooked the tea and then we just sat, zombie-like in front of the box. We’d run out of energy and decided we needed a rest. Oh, Lordy, I think we are feeling our age…….

Take care everyone – and, just in case you thought I’d forgotten, Covid cases are currently 1 in 14….. God bless.

It felt like a busy day for both of us today. John, however, wasn’t feeling the best this morning and took the opportunity to have a little bit of a lie-in to recoup his strength. Since he caught a nasty cold a couple of weeks ago, he hasn’t quite go back to where he was in March and there are days when everything is a real struggle.

Nevertheless, John was up in time to greet the ‘furniture man’ who came at 11 o’clock. In my head, I thought the man would be here about an hour and gone on his way with a decision made – but no, there was a lot of measuring up to do and then multiple decisions to be made. And we all know how long a decision takes to make these days…..with the devil in the detail.

We were very happy, though, with what was suggested and we were satisfied with the price, so we said ‘yes’ to submitting an order. The furniture man, Mark, looked a bit sheepish when we asked about lead times for delivery. “It’s 13 weeks to delivery,” he said. We were relieved. Delighted, in fact. We have wallpaper to whisk off the walls, plaster to chip off and new plaster to put on, electric plugs to cable in, flooring to repair and decorating to do. 13 weeks? Not sure that’ll be long enough….. Mark was rather relieved when we said we didn’t want delivery asap.

While Mark was doing all his calculations, John went off to the loo. Calculations almost done, I went through to call John in – and this is what I saw: Chester, who was waiting patiently outside the loo to keep John company, had squeezed himself into one of the cat beds………. made me giggle.

After Mark had left, it was gone lunchtime, so we grabbed some crusty bread and various cheeses that I’d bought for the family last week, and enjoyed a half-hour sit-down.

The Kenilworth Newbies were expecting Chester back today, so I took him out for a walk mid-afternoon, having neglected the duty first thing this morning. Once we were back we invited him into the car for a ride home. I think he knew what was coming, because he was quite excited and keen to leap into the back of the car, woofing his head off.

With the pooch safely delivered and a reassurance from the Kenilworth Newbies that they were OK, we came home and basically flopped onto the sofa for the evening. “We’re not doing anything else this evening,” we said to one another, “we’re dog-tired….” (see what I did there?)

It seemed a busy day – even if it wasn’t….

Take care everyone. God bless.

I have decided, with all this wonderful family expansion, that I am going to start my new project. The Dining Room.

I know I’ve mentioned it before but I am in earnest now. I’ve started clearing out all the cupboards and putting everything into boxes, and we have a man (or maybe a woman) coming round tomorrow to see if there’s anything we like in his/her range of dressers and bespoke solutions for a dining room. Then next week, another man is coming round to take a look at the room with a view to re-plastering it. This means that, not only do cupboards need clearing out, but wallpaper needs stripping.

It will be interesting to see if I can get round to doing all of that before next Thursday. I mean, we are hoping that the Kenilworth Newbies won’t be infectious with Covid by Monday and we’ll be able to go round and give them a hand with whatever might need doing. I may not, therefore, get the room ready for plastering inspection – but I hope I will.

John, meanwhile, is still keeping on with his labour of love and spending as much time as he can in the garage to get the car sorted. He’s onto the trim now – and is almost spending as much time researching the appropriate piece for the car on the computer as he is actually fitting it…..One interesting factor in getting the right stuff is that it seems as if all those in the classic Lotus supply chain are retiring and selling up their businesses. Makes the restoration process awkward…… hey ho.

Excitingly, we did see baby Oliver in the flesh though, today – albeit at a distance. With Danielle’s blood pressure having been low, we suggested she should perhaps check it each day over the next week or so. They don’t have a blood pressure monitor, so we dropped ours in. Michael was nursing the baby as he answered the door – whereupon we got a glimpse of the little darling. Michael came outside and sat on a stool so that we had a better view, and thus we were able to admire from afar.

We still have Chester for the time being and I am enjoying the walking again. Especially as the weather is very nice, with the sun shining and the air relatively warm. Today’s walk across the fields was lovely – especially the dandelions. Hehehe.

All for now. Take care everyone. God bless.

I slept like a log last night – relieved that Oliver had arrived safely and that Danielle had got through her ordeal OK. Once again, thanking the Lord that all is well and grateful for all the prayers offered.

John and I pottered through the day waiting for news from the Kenilworth Newbies – firstly, we took a trip into Solihull for a visit to the audiologist. John’s hearing aids were on the blink and one of them has to be sent off for a repair. Just the next couple of weeks of: “Eh? What did you say?” and me repeating or shouting……. it’s not much to ask, is it?

Pete and Dawn had hoped to call in for coffee this morning, but that idea was shelved with our little trip out. However, we finished at the audiologist very quickly, so we texted them to say, ‘How about coffee at yours instead?’ to which they were game. We spent a good while there chatting and imbibing refreshments – including chocolate cake, which was lush – before we came home again. The dog was pleased to see us…..

Oh, yes, we’ve swapped Mac for Chester for a day or two and Chester was waiting for his walk, which he enjoyed once we finally got going this afternoon. Here he is, waiting for a treat…..

We followed the same route that I had taken with Mac. Amusingly, the dogs approached the path quite differently. For the first half an hour, Chester and I made slow progress. Every single blade of grass seemed to have the most interesting smells and he gave them their due attention. So, it was trot on for a bit, then stop….. sniff, sniff, sniff… trot on for a couple more steps, then snifferty-sniff-sniff….. then trot on one step before halting for more sniff, sniff, sniffs…. and so on. Fascinating.

Nevertheless, we managed the whole route and it was clear that Chester had enjoyed it. He was even game to go round again, I think!

Meanwhile, as we arrived home I was ready for a sit-down with a Magnum ice-cream and John was ready to come in from the garage, where he’d been tinkering with the car, and grab a cuppa.

We ate our tea and wondered how the Kenilworth Newbies were getting on. No sooner had we started wondering, when a video came in from the original Kenilworth Sleaths. Michael was at their house explaining to William and Thomas that there was a new baby brother awaiting them, with Mummy, at home – and did they want to go and meet him?

A little while later, and there they all were……

Boom!

A new baby!! Marvellous and thank the Lord for his safe arrival.

Michael and Danielle went to the hospital this morning to await the allocated slot for a caesarean section and then this afternoon welcomed Oliver into the world. We are, as you can imagine, very excited to have another grandson and can’t wait to meet him in person.

All being well, Danielle will come home tomorrow and William and Thomas will say goodbye to their cousin Freddie, with whom they’ve been staying, and make their way home to say ‘hello’ to the darling little chap.

Michael, naturally, has been at the hospital all day, so we went over to their house to let Chester out for a run and, in the end, brought him back with us because, equally naturally, Michael isn’t keen to leave Danielle on her own overnight.

Gosh, I am delighted that attitudes have changed with regard to the support needed for a woman after childbirth these days. Thank goodness we are out of the dark ages……

Take care everyone. God bless.

Alleluia! Excitement in the church calendar with a celebration on Sunday, to commemorate the day that Jesus rose from the dead. So I went to church. My friend, Moira, had suggested that the service would be streamed into the church hall and not many people would be in there, so it would all be socially distanced.

In the end, I went into the church because it was socially-distanced there, too, and many people were still wearing masks. It was a good service with a good sermon, brilliant singing and friends to acknowledge. Naturally, my mind wandered back to the heady days of many years ago, when the whole family bundled into church and chased Easter Eggs down the aisles and hugged fellow congregants to wish them a Happy Easter. Nothing like that on Sunday, but uplifting nonetheless.

I was in such a flap beforehand because most of the family were coming for lunch, and perhaps sleeping over. However, I was motivated by Martin Luther’s comment when he said, “I have so much to do today that I’m going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done.” By the time I came back from church my flap was over.

We had a wonderful day with the original Kenilworth Sleaths and Andrew. The Kenilworth Newbies stayed home to convalesce but joined in our celebrations remotely via WhatsApp video.

John and I did the lunch prep and then Andrew arrived home to cook everything and deliver the most delicious turkey dinner – that would be the frozen turkey I had bought for Christmas just in case we couldn’t get a fresh one….

The weather was wonderful and we sat out on the patio to eat our meal and generally enjoy both the sunshine and moonshine until it was bed-time. The wine rack was raided and glasses of wine enjoyed by everyone except Lily, who doesn’t like it, and Freddie, who is too young.

This is us, except for Lily who took the picture, trying to get a sensible family photo…….

We didn’t get chance to do our traditional egg-rolling yesterday, so we scheduled a little run out to Abbey Fields in Kenilworth today after we’d eaten our brunch. Once again, we were blessed with the weather and we were able to sit out on the patio to eat, before sorting the hard-boiled eggs out to take with us.

Well, I say that, but we were a couple of eggs short as two of them had cracked in the pan. Harriet put two more on to boil to replace them and later on, I took them from the pan and popped them onto the table with the others. Harriet was merrily decorating her egg when it slipped from her grasp…….. it splatted on the floor and over her brand-new trainers…….oh, dear. Well, that one wasn’t cooked, was it? It transpired that Harriet hadn’t actually lit the flame under the pan and I’d mistakenly thought they’d been boiled….. Ah, well, it made for an ‘eggs-citing’ moment……

Grandpa won the egg-rolling, with Ellie coming in a close second. The rest of us were nowhere as our eggs smashed up at varying intervals down the hill with Mac busy trying to eat every single one as it whizzed past him on the way down.

We continued onwards towards the park and the café for coffee once we’d finished the competition and had congratulated Grandpa on his victory. There we sat, for a very long time, chatting, drinking coffee and soaking up the sun, while Freddie played in the park supervised by the egg-rolling victor. It was lush.

Alas, all good things come to an end and I thought we ought to get going because we had yet to drive to Cambridge and back to drop Andrew off. So we said our goodbyes and came home for a refreshing cuppa before we set off up the A14. We had an excellent journey there and back; hugged Andrew hard before we left him and had a quick turn around home again after we’d inspected his new accommodation.

All in all, an Easter as it should be – en famille and plenty of chocolate…….

Take care everyone. God bless.

A little list of jobs to get through this morning which I ended up doing all before I took Mac out for a walk. One of the jobs was to mop the floors. There are muddy footprints everywhere. This, we think, is because Steve, our milkman/lawn cutter/hedge cutter, has very kindly dressed the lawn with some feed. It is obviously sticking to Mac’s paws and he’s wandering it in and out with no apology whatsoever.

I was grateful to John, however, as I scanned the list and sighed a bit about the things to do. “I wouldn’t mop the floors today,” he said, “wait until Mac has gone home.” I brightened up a bit. Now that seemed a good idea – so I crossed that job off the list. The floors are still muddy – as are Mac’s paws….. ah well….

It was mid-day before I wandered out of the house across the fields. Another glorious day in which I didn’t need a coat or a cardigan even. We had a fabulous meander and I took time to admire the flora in the fields and hedgerows again.

This is the posy I mentally picked to adorn my table: celandines – all milky yellow and arms open wide; cowslips – their heads nodding gently as we brushed past; cow parsley – their frothy heads just beginning to emerge; ladies’ smock – so very, very refined; daisies – little rosettes of fine, white petals; dainty dead nettles – their flowers peaking out from under their pointy leaves; and dandelions.

The dandelions were absolutely stunning. Mini-suns turning their faces upwards to drink in the sun’s rays – and I’ve decided that they are my new favourite flower. I mean, would you look at that? I challenge you to find a bonnier, jauntier, happier-looking flower than this….

John, having stayed back at the ranch, was tinkering in the garage again and trying to get the car started. It didn’t like it much and point-blank refused to get going. More tinkering required. It may be frustrating, but this is what John likes. He loves a challenge and loves the thrill of getting a section finished and ready for the next one. Even engines…..

Having tested negative for COVID, we went round to Pete and Dawn’s this afternoon. We sat out in their lovely garden – some of us in the shade and others – well, me – in the sunshine, all of us drinking pink Cava and eating super-juicy strawberries. Some of us had ice-cream as well. Not me….. oh, and cake. Gosh, it was yummy. The diet starts on Tuesday…..

We had a great time. So lovely to see them in the flesh at last after they’d enjoyed the delights of COVID, which they refused to share (and for which we are very grateful). Everyone is better and Dawn actually managed to dodge the little blighters that had infected Peter and Jack.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that the hour we promised to spend with them turned into two, and then a bit more, as we admired their new car and learned the intricacies of the specially-adapted wheelchair system.

Another dog-walk this evening and then John and I both agreed an early night is in order. We both feel a bit tired – must be all the sunshine.

Once again, I have avoided watching the news with its hype about the Sussexes, the horror of the war in Ukraine, and the plan to send refugees to Rwanda. Heaven help us – the world has gone mad.

On the Coronavirus front, Danielle is feeling a bit better, but cases are still 1 in 15. After this weekend, I am wondering whether it’s be higher than that again as people congregate over the Bank Holiday. What say you?

Prayers and positive vibes still welcomed if you are so inclined as the baby is due on Tuesday….

Take care everyone. Happy Easter and Peace be with you all.

We have lived in the village for over forty years and, in all that time, we have not discovered all the paths there are for an enjoyable walk. To be fair, we haven’t been strong on taking walks so it’s not surprising. However, today I went on a walk of discovery with Mac and took a route I hadn’t taken before. It was lovely. I walked miles.

Not only was the route enjoyable but the sights I saw were amazing. Spring has properly sprung and every hedgerow was bursting with blooms, buzzing with bees and positively perky. Wildlife was abundant with rabbits, loads of birds everywhere, including a jay which I always get excited to see, and butterflies – yellow brimstones, orange tips and red admirals. Cracking stuff.

The sun was shining brightly too, and it was very warm. Here is Mac taking a bit of shade early on in our walk…..

Later on, as we neared the end of the walk, Mac was trotting along very nicely on a long lead, half length, but he was obviously feeling the heat, so what should he do but launch himself, in full belly-flop style, into a very pretty stream running by.

Oh boy! Did he enjoy that!! He had a good rummage around for fish and frogs, burying his nose deep into the muddy water. He didn’t half look pleased with himself as we walked home. Not a contrite muscle in his body.

Our early evening walk was a simple one around the ‘new’ estate i.e. the Kemps Green Estate, which was established in 1981-82…… However, this was also a brilliant walk with the flowers on trees, shrubs and in flower beds pumping their pollen out like nobody’s business. Not only did they look beautiful, but they smelt beautiful, too. And the bees were still a-buzzing. The sun was setting, a full orb, like a bright tangerine in the sky and opposite, was a creamy full moon, as massive as you like. Glorious.

My favourite season? It has to be Spring. It’s just so lush, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, John has been pottering in the garage for most of the day or scrolling to and fro on the internet for spare parts, which seem to cost far more than they should do. But what can you expect for a classic car, eh? Ha! Another discovery – the cost of things.

When he wasn’t tinkering with the car, John was sleeping, bless him. He’s worn out. We’re not sure exactly why this should be just now but I suspect it’s post-cold fatigue. He keeps saying he’s ‘done’……..however, there’s plenty of life in the old boy yet in my opinion and, anyway, he’s got to get the car finished, hasn’t he? I wouldn’t mind having a spin in it this summer…… “Yes, yes,” he says, “it’ll be ready by summer.” Ah….. but which summer, eh?

On the COVID front, Danielle is still feeling poorly, but no worse, so fingers crossed that she’ll be on the mend soon. Thomas was poorly yesterday with a tummy bug and spent most of the day throwing up. I think it generated a lot of washing and necessitated Michael taking the day off work. Ay-up! Never rains but it pours. However, he is on the mend today so that’s one blessing, at any rate.

I nipped over to the Kenilworth Newbies to drop off some masks for Danielle and the Easter Eggs. Me at one end of the path and Michael and the kids at the front door. Thomas was clearly excited to see me, making high-pitched little noises to make sure Daddy had noticed exactly who it was at the door….. so cute. Fills my heart – but also breaks my heart that I can’t go in and help. Ah well……..

I’d like to comment on the current affairs, but find myself switching off the news, unable to stomach what’s happening and the likelihood of an escalation of hostilities in Ukraine. It’s just sickening. However, one pinprick of light is that the Ukrainian family, who are going to stay at Linda and Brendan’s, have arrived. I saw the wife today, shopping in the Co-op with Brendan – I do hope they can make a good life here in the UK.

Take care everyone. There but for the Grace of God……