The Last Month.

Aghhh! It’s been a month!! How??? Can’t think what I’ve been doing since my last entry but time certainly flies.

Rowley’s settling in and his shaved bits are growing back. He’s mostly a good boy and is getting better about barking at dogs when we’re out.

 

He lies in some of the funniest positions

 

And lies down to eat.

 

And we had to make it clear that this seating arrangement was NOT acceptable!

 

I’ve made a start on the Allotment with my friend Sue and hope to do a lot more in this coming week.

It's light soil but we have to get rid of this thatch of grass and weeds first. Glad we only have a half sized plot!

The week with Valentines Day in it was our Half Term and Mike & I managed a day out together. We went in my car, as Mike’s had died the previous weekend and we were waiting to hear if it could be resuscitated. (It turned out it couldn’t, so that was a big expense, buying a new car and a headache for me, having to find a new one!)

Back to our day out. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. So we drove to Great Tew in Oxfordshire, for lunch. We went all the way there and came back, with the top down on the car.

We lunched in The Falkland Arms, a delightful, ancient thatched pub, with a roaring log fire. Coming back, as the sun started to drop, it was so cold, we had to have the heater on as high as it would go. But we were determined not to give in and got home just before we died of hypothermia! Then we toasted ourselves in front of a lovely, roaring, log fire, in our own home. I’m so glad I had a fireplace put in when we had the old gas fire removed.

While we were travelling, I noticed the hedgerows were starting to show the delicate green of the new Hawthorn leaves, spring is really on theway now.

I found us a new car, to replace Mike’s. The wonder of the Internet. How did we ever cope before? Let’s hope this one can cope with the number of miles it needs to do taking Mike up to Shropshire, or down to Gloucestershire.

I’ve been going through my photos and thought I would share some of my favourites from the last year. Well it’s that time of year isn‘t it, for the Oscars etc, so I thought I would award some of my photos the honour of appearing on here. (Please remember they are mine, so if you want to use any for anything, please ask first)

A friendly squirrel in Halesowen Churchyard.

 

Horses at Helens, which is a a lovely old house in Herefordshire. I just love their fat bottoms and the peacfulness of this photo.

 

These steps were in Fiscardo, Kefalonia. The colours and lighting were just perfect.

The next two are the ones I liked best from our day at The West Midland Safari Park. Don't think I need tell you what the first one is.

 

These were two Painted Wild African Dogs. Very rare and are being kept there as part of a breeding programme to preserve the species.

And finally...Wales.

If there is a God, Wales is the place he created to give us a taste of heaven. There are places in Wales, that just to see them, makes your heart soar and you feel like you are breathing for the first time. I have to go there at least once a year, otherwise my soul shrivels.

Back to real life.

OFSTED went well and we got grade 2, Good, for almost everything. So that’s out of the way for another couple of years. They did comment on how effective the teaching support was(THAT’S ME!)

Flo experienced his first Car Boot Sale yesterday. He didn’t thinkthey would make any money and was sulking a bit at the effort involved of loading up all their crapfrom the garage into the car.

He couldn’t believe it, people were opening the car doors as he pulled up and they made £67 profit in an hour and a half. Not bad for crap, eh Flo?

So we’re planning to do one together, as I have at least triple the amount of crap they had, in my loft, shed, garage, boxes in the bedroom and anywhere else there is a space in this home.

My birthday is in April. Two years ago Simon got back from his first duty trip on his submarine, the day before my birthday. He obviously hadn’t had time to get me anything as he rushed home to enjoy some Leave here with Tori. So he popped into Homebase, which is just down the road and bought me an Orchid. It was very pretty but I didn’t expect it to flower again. I’ve never had a great deal of success with Orchids. Well it did flower, just before my birthday last year. But this year it’s excelled itself and this is how it looked today.

 

 

Isabella is growing up very quickly and talks babble, interspersed with real words , which is very funny to hear. A lot of what she says sounds like bugger, bugger bugger. This is her posing for the camera, she either pulls a funny face, or looks serious.

This isn't the house I want to live in, it isn't old enough, or big enough and sometimes the garden demands more of me than I can give but there are times it gives me something that I know would be hard to find, even in my perfect house. We've had some stunning sunsets recently.

This was last night. The view from my office window. I should count my blessings.