the counting

(we call it 'the counting' after 'cold comfort farm'!! - needless to say it is VERY different - haha)

we had a lovely day with ALL the immediate family present - plus Lizzie's Matt who came for the first time. so there were 21 of us (there! i did do SOME counting!!)

o had wanted her party to carry on despite her cracked hip - which i thought jolly sporting of her - although tbh it was better that way as she was virtually forced to sit down and let the rest of us do the work - which she doesn't usually allow!!

it was a lovely family day - mainly sitting around chatting and eating - and chuckling at the antics of the littles!

lots of toasts (of course) including one by frankie to peter for agreeing to be the one to give her away at her's and alex's wedding in december!! of course she still misses boogs very much (as do we all) and it has been hard for her to choose someone to stand in his place at such an emotional time. as eric said 'what a result'!!

i never did get around to organising all of us together for a photo shoot - so here we are in bits and pieces:

Frankie and Clara:

o and g no longer have a car so we used the garage as an extra room - here are Eric Janey and Imy having a chat - and there's G just peeping round the doorway:

















Frankie, Lucia, Stella and Oma in the Kitchen:



















Peter, Cat, Freddie and Kezia:


















Cat, Freddie, Kezia, Matt, Janey, David and Jago:

















Freddie, David, Jago, Rich and Clara:


















G snatching a quiet moment in the kitchen:

i misssed Lizzie, Alex and James somehow - but they were there somewhere . . . .

wine, women and song!!

thursday:
went with the women's group on a day trip to france. it was a great day out. met at jackie's at 5.30 a.m. and reached boulogne around mid-day. this is boulogne from high on the bridge. not a terribly good photo - it is much much prettier than this really - and so delightfully french!!


strolled through the town and then had a wonderful lunch in the courtyard of the hotel de ville. there were 11 of us and here we are waiting for our meal:

from left to right: siobhan, dorota, sue s, dottie, jackie, cathy, hilary, liz, sue j and katrina. after visiting the basilica, we headed for cite europe for the inevitable wine/cheese etc shopping and then home on the ferry.
and the song, i hear you ask? well we all sang 'white cliffs of dover' as we landed (to stares of bemusement from several other travellers) haha! arrived home at 1.30 a.m. friday. it was a blast!!
friday:
bit of an anti-climax after thursday . . . at work we moved offices . . . to a much nicer office, i think, though naturally many of the other staff spent much of the time grumbling. our little team have a good spot tucked away in a corner - and i am in the furthest corner of all - just how i like it tee hee!!
saturday:
visited o and g. poor o had cracked a hip bone whilst on hols. it was very fortunate that the bone did not break completely - at 87 years it would have been no joke. the hospital have given her a zimmer frame and she manages to hop around the house very nicely. apparently it will take about 8 weeks to knit back - 8 very impatient weeks for her and 8 very trying weeks for my poor father. took g shopping into daventry for groceries as he gave up his car last autumn so not as mobile as previously. janey, eric and lizzie popped in on their way home from hols (j and e) and staying with cat (lizzie). we are all looking forward to the 'counting' next saturday. here are o and g when i visited them a couple of weeks ago - and before their hols:

saturday night and sunday morning:
went on the starlight walk in aid of the peace hospice. this was a sponsored walk of 13.1 miles starting at watford colosseum at mid-night and ending back there at (for me and margaret) 4.20 a.m. i understand that 1,200 women took part (it was a women-only event) and was a fun way to raise money for the hospice. my feet jolly well ache now and i am fairly tired but i am so glad i did it. i first met boogs on a sponsored walk way back in october 1967 (a 20-miler and we were both 17 so took it well in our stride - if you will excuse the pun!) and the peace hospice was where he was for the last 3 days of his life. the care and kindness with which he was treated were outstanding - this was a cause well worth walking for!

it often pays to be obliging . . .

work asked me to go in on wednesday and have friday off instead.


i didn't really want to but as i had nothing planned i agreed to do it . . .

this morning just after nine stella phoned my mobile (thinking i was at work)

she had a job in london and was taking jago and wanted to know if there was anywhere nice they could go in her 2 hour 'break'

so i met them at kings cross - yay!

we went to the british library, looked at the 'sacred' exhibition' - comparing Judaism, Christianity and Islam through their holy books. we couldn't stay too long but we did see the display of ancient texts which was beautiful and fascinating.

here are jago and stella at the library
we had a quick coffee in the cafe and then it was time to say goodbye
a great afternoon - and i wouldn't have been able to do it if i hadn't gone in on wednesday!!

i should be blogging the good things in my life . . .

. . . but they have been so good i have been too busy to blog!

wednesday: visited o and g and had a lovely day with them

thursday: stella rich and the pies came for dinner. it was horrible!! i was supposed to do some fishy dish but used far far too much lemon. no-one liked it. stella and i ate it but i think that is only because we have been 'trained up' to eat everything on out plates hahaha!

friday: collected kezia and jago after work and had them here over night. we had a lot of fun - they really make me laugh!! after the catastrophe the evening before i gave them sausos and beans - didn't think i could go wrong there!!

saturday: the pies and i had a fairly lazy morning and then just as we were finishing lunch (weather was nice enough to have it in the garden) frankie, alex and lucia came to call. we needed a couple more chairs out for f and a so got the fold-up chairs that live in their own liitle bags out of the shed. as soon as they were up, kezia got inside one of the bags - it came up to her armpits - and started jumping around the garden. i was laughing too much to run inside and get the camera!!

then we all went over to jackie's for a barbecue and sat out until quite late nattering

sunday: frankie and alex went to the baptism course at church so i had lucia for a few hours. we went for a walk and then sat in the shade of the trees in the garden for a while. she was very good - i am looking forward to having her one day a week when frankie goes back to work in september.

tuesday: frankie alex and lucia came round after i arrived home from work and frankie cooked something nice for us

i have done very well in the grandchildren department recently!!