Have any of you popped over to see Sue Baxter Wells yet? She has been leaving interesting comments on lots of blogs recently, she blogs at Brown Calico Curtains and hails from the top most Eastern Corner of the US. I have a question for you Sue. There have been a few comments floating around about "circles" what they are and how they work. Would you like to enlighten us?
What a wet few days/weeks, there have been a few dry bits but nowhere near enough. I feel that I have been paddling forever, even on the dry sunny days I squelch with every step.
The funeral went as well as these things do, it was a simple service as planned ages ago. A few unwelcome people turned up but were ignored and left to stew in their own juice.
Jeannie was supported well by her sons, David and Carl, Peter's Grandchildren Francesca and James and their dad, Michael. There was one moment when I had to hold Fran close but she held up well. She adored her Grandfather and was adored right back.
Jeannie wrote a couple of pages for the eulogy but asked Michael to read it out.
Fran stayed here until Saturday and we did lots of chatting and remembering, we also sorted out a car load of her possessions to go back to Beckenham. We were up early and on our way by 8.00am. The journey, thanks to Tom Tom, was straightforward and 2 1/2 hours long.
Ben snuggled next to, on and around Fran the whole way. We had a quick brew and then walked the High Street, I could not resist popping in one shop and they kindly allowed me to take these.
I was very good, thinking of my waistline, and only bought some chocolate covered coffee beans as a gift for someone. There were many of my childhood memories in the shop but the prices!
After all that walking our tummies were thinking that our throats had been cut so we popped into the local bakery and bought some bread and, shame on me, pasties. Not too huge and absolutely delicious, washed down with another brew they gave us energy to walk in the park.
Just 3 minutes gentle stroll from the house is a lovely park. Lots of walks, some were marked as NO DOGS but the majority is dog friendly. Although there were loads of dogs running free I did not let Ben off his lead. There was a lot of open water and many of the paths had run off water flowing across them ( lots of mud). We had to make a detour as one path was under about 6" water for a 20 yard stretch and the surrounding ground was completely water logged. There were several little weirs and I got close to this one.
After well over an hour we left the park and went back to the high street to visit the Sausage Shop, they make an amazing array of sausages from Plum and Ginger to Toulouse Garlic with 5 varieties of Lamb, in Lamb casings, and 9 Chicken types. There are also gluten free, beef, kangeroo and vegetarian. I bought 2 each of 4 varieties and will tell you about them later.
We had yet more tea and I left at 4.00, it was a good decision as the traffic was very light. I was home, indoors drinking tea before 7.00.
Leftovers for a quick dinner, a wedge of chicken and Leek pie with half a tin of baked beans that were left from Fran's lunch on Friday.
I had a knock on the door this morning, the Postie left this with a neighbour yesterday.
It was absolutely stuffed to the gills, and I will share it tomorrow, at the moment I want to lust over it in private. mmmmmmmmmmmm.
Reasons to be grateful.
1. An easy and rewarding trip to London.
2. A drool worthy parcel from the US.
3. Ben tired and cuddly after his busy day yesterday.
4. Seeing Michael dry and looking better for it.
5. James asking me to make a cake for his wedding to Cerys.
The date has not been set for the wedding yet, hopefully later this year. I have offered to share the cost and the work of the catering with Cerys,s Mum. It is as good a reason for a long trip to Wales as I could want.
That will be another quilt then, do I feel up to making a Double Wedding Ring?
Now I have a thank you to write and send off for my lovely parcel.
Stay dry and well. TTFN Pam
Good to see you back & to learn that all went as well as could be expected. Lovely to hear about your trip with Fran. Love the way you always find reasons to be grateful, I do it at the end of the day & it really concentrates the mind on the positives in life. Looking forward to hearing about the parcel's exciting contents, take care Vee x
ReplyDeleteI spent some good quality time with Fran, our little walk round Beckenham will be repeated several times, we only did one end of the High Street and 1/2 of the Park. I have many reasons to be grateful, as most of us do.
DeleteI'm glad everything went well for the funeral. Sounds like you had a lovely time with Fran while she was home. I haven't seen an old fashioned type sweet shop like that for years, you were very restrained! I would probably have succumbed to more of the sausages too :)
ReplyDeleteThe sweet shop was very tempting but i have a very selective sweet tooth, if I fancy a certain item and can not find it I do not substitute as it would be a waste. I decided to have 4 varieties of sausage to try every time I go to see Fran. I will keep a record so I know which I prefer.
DeleteLovely time you've had by the sounds of it, Pam!
ReplyDeleteYes, I would love to know about the circles, so many of the nice people who comment on my blog are only contactable in 'circles' and when you click on them it is very difficult to work out what they are all about. Sadly I lose contact with some people because of this, or can't respond as I'd like to. I will watch with interest! Lx
I have looked at some of the requests to join circles and am reluctant to sign up to something that I do not understand. I hope that Sue reads the post and can offer some pointers.
DeleteGlad all went well for you. That parcel looks huge and exciting we will look forward to hearing about it.
ReplyDeleteCan you remember when every town had a sweet shop like that and you could go and buy 2oz in a teeny bag.
So we will both be dressing up for weddings this year! Good news indeed
In our village there was the School then the Church and next to that was Catchpole,s little shop, it was a Tobacconists and Sweet shop. I used to buy real rainbow sherbert weighed into a pointed conical bag, rainbow drops that were like multi coloured rice crispies, Blackjacks and Fruit salads, Sugar Barley Twists and enormous gob stoppers with my pocket money. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the wedding is this year.
DeleteGood morning from the Olympic Peninsula! Thanks so much for mentioning me in your lovely post. I'm afraid I am no expert on Google+ or Circles, so am going to defer to the experts to help us understand. My son (my own personal Internet guru) pointed me in the direction of Google+ when I began blogging. I posted a YouTube video on my blog this morning courtesy of Google+ help. Hope this can answer any and all questions you all may have. Have a wonderful day in your corner of the world! http://browncalicocurtains.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, I will check it out later, I am having a busy be morning. Ben has been to the groomers and I needed to tidy round upstairs now that Fran has removed boxes from both our rooms.
DeleteI do so love a parcel ....and we have one of those old fashioned sweet shops on Anglesey ... gosh it does take you down memory lane. As a child I would walk 4 miles to the sweet shop (we lived up on the moors ... in those days we roamed for miles .. quite safe) ... we would but rainbow sherbet and sticks of that hard liquirice to dip in ...oh the joy!
ReplyDeletex
I forgot the licorice sticks and i loved them, I now buy Australian soft licorice and Pontefract cakes.
DeleteWe have a lovely sweet shop like that in the older part of our High street, it's quite expensive though.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see what's in your parcel!
I suppose that expensive is a term that covers any thing remembered from childhood, my 6d went a long way including 2d for Church collection. I have no idea what the average take home wage was then but when I started work I got less than £5 a week and it was riches indeed.
DeleteSo glad your package finally arrived!
ReplyDeleteI have sent you an email. It is a wonderful parcel.
DeleteHello Pam, thanks for popping over to Thriftwood ... how have I missed you? Oooh I do love a thrifty blog, so looking forward to getting to know you!
ReplyDeleteLove Claire (your latest gang member!) xxx