Time Flies By!

I seem to have lost two weeks of my life! I haven’t had time to write an entry and I can’t remember what I’ve been doing!

I was trying to keep up with the Journals I have on Alerts and that was taking up hours each day. So I’ve had to make a decision, to cut down the number of Journals I’m alerted about and will in future pop in from time to time to keep up with the latest news.

One of the things that I can remember is, I went to visit my sister on Tuesday afternoon, in her new house in Shropshire. While I was there she gave me an Indian Head Massage, which was very good. She mostly did my neck and shoulders, as that is where all my tension manifests itself and I shall be going back for another one.

My sister’s daughter, is in Australia at the moment, she has been travelling around the world for last nine months and won’t be home until the new year. So especially for Emma, there are a some pictures of the new house at the top, which I must say is very nice but as always, impossibly neat and minimalist, how on earth can two sisters be so different………… I’ve just had a quick think about that because I know we also have similarities, so we are probably like two sides of the same coin, the light and the dark, the good and the bad….? What?….. Oh well, I suppose I’m the bad one. Lol.

Visited Mum on Wednesday afternoon and took Harper Dog. That was funny. Wilf has waged war on the squirrels in his garden, who destroy his bird feeders. He sits in his armchair by the French windows and waits until they are up close, opens the door and rushes out roaring at them. Goodness knows what the neighbours think, as it is a very ‘select’ area.

Well now Wilf has an assistant, Harper, who spotted a squirrel through the window and started barking at it. Wilf jumped up and opened the door for Harper to go rushing out to scare the squirrel. Good thinking, as Wilf is eighty and not too nimble. Unfortunately there was a major flaw in this plan, Harper is senile, so he rushed out and forgot why he was rushing out and then just stood there admiring the view. Ah well, back to the drawing board!

We were invaded by The Germans again this weekend. Catherine, Flo and Isabella arrived here on Friday, after a flying visit to friends in Stoke.

It was Flo’s birthday yesterday (Saturday), so on the Friday night I ran them into town where they had a lovely meal and evening out, their first since Isabella was born in June. Isabella was no trouble at all and never woke while they were out.

She is developing fast and is becoming so tall. If you say her name she will look at you immediately and when Catherine told her to wish Daddy a Happy Birthday, she looked straight at him, so she seems to be understanding that certain words relate to certain things.

Simon also came up over the weekend but he was coming and going as he had his own friends to see but I did manage to get some photos of him holding his niece, of whom he seems quite fond.

Flo had a birthday surprise. He knew he was going out with us for the day but nothing more.

We had got tickets for The Severn Valley Railway and whisked him off there, we decided to upgrade to 1st Class and so had a comfortable compartment all to ourselves. The SVR is a volunteer run steam train line that runs from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth, just over an hour each way. You see some of the most beautiful countryside on the journey and if you’re lucky, as we were, the elephants at the West Midlands Safari Park will be standing right alongside the line as you pass.

We had good weather, which was so lucky, as the heavy rain had only just stopped before we left home.

When we got to Bridgnorth I told Flo, as it was 1.15 pm, we needed to get up into High Town asap, as we might have trouble getting into somewhere to eat. What he didn’t know was, I’d booked a table at Bailey’s, an excellent Wine Bar/Bistro and that my Mum , Wilf and sister Val, would be sitting there waiting for us.

I told Flo I had a place that I thought we’d try first and then was slightly bemused when I made him carry the pushchair upstairs as soon as we got inside, I’d just spotted Wilf at the bar, a few feet away and I didn’t want the surprise to be spoilt at this late stage.

Catherine, as ever, was trying to countermand, my instructions, saying perhaps we should get drinks before we went upstairs. I hurled her a death stare and jerked my head towards Wilf’s back. For once she was quick on the uptake (usually when she has entered into a ‘discussion’ it will take her several seconds to back down from her point of view). It took all my self control to not burst out laughing as she rounded on Flo and told him to take Isabella up the stairs straight away, as we needed to get a table first before we ordered drinks. Poor Flo looked like he’d just been hit by a whirlwind. The two of us working together can be a bit intimidating.

When we got to the top of the stairs, I told him to just keep going, until we reached the room where our table was. He stopped and looked around for an empty table, it was priceless when my sister looked up and said, “I think there’s room here.”

He had no idea we were all meeting up and we had a lovely lunch together. All too soon Mike and I had to leave to get the 3pm train back, as we were going to a Charity Auction and had to be there, in our best bib and tucker, by 6.30.

The auction was also a dinner, cooked by members of the charity which raises funds for St Paul’s Hostel in Worcester. It is a hostel for the homeless and a charity I feel very strongly about.

Last year Henry Sandon was the auctioneer, Mike and I have known Henry and his wife Barbara for ages and they are a lovely couple but getting on in years now. Unfortunately Henry knew so much about the donated, antique items, that dinner was served hours late and poor Henry was on his last legs by the time he‘d finished.

Mike was a bit nervous about following such a ‘National Treasure’ as Henry but he did very well and manage to hike up the bidding at times, when thing got a bit slow. The dinner was only half an hour late this year.

The food was wonderful, I chose the Festive Beef and Venison Casserole, followed by Trifle (big eating day, don’t ask what I weighed this morning!)

The auction raised a massive £2,390 but I don’t know the total for the whole evening. The chairman was thrilled, he thought it was a record and a good start to the beginning of their 30th year and his first year as chairman.

I came away with a lovely washbasin and jug with roses on it. I was determined to buy something and thought it would be nice for my Isabella Rose, either in her bedroom here, or at home . Catherine saw it and said it’s going home with them next time they drive over, as it will look lovely on her new chest of drawers. I knew Catherine had got a ‘Rose’ theme in the bedroom but you can never be sure if someone will share your tastes, especially your own daughter!

I now have my house straight and empty again, which is lovely for a day or two…until I start missing them again.

School tomorrow, last day of swimming, hurrah!!

PS. For some reason the title has dropped off, I have just tried to add it again, hope it works.