Guess Who This Is.

Isn’t he a little sweetie?  I bet his Mum and Dad were so proud of this little lamb.  He’s three and three-quarter years old here.  I  know that’s exactly right, his mother had written it on the back of the photo.

Then I’m guessing this is a year later, his first school photo.  Still looks like butter wouldn’t melt.  OK, I’ll tell you.  It’s William of course!

Then we have me at approximately the same age.  It looks like I have curly hair doesn’t it?  I didn’t.  I suffered having my straight hair twirled round strips of rags on Saturday nights to give me those ringlets.

William and I grew up in the same town and went to schools within striking distance of each other.  I walked passed his school on the way to my school every day and we never met or noticed each other, well we wouldn’t at that age would we?  I’m three and a half years younger than William. Funnily enough though, many years later when we did meet at my cousin’s wedding and started seeing each other, I sent a photo to my sister, Maureen, and she remembered seeing him on our way to school.  Mind you sometimes I think my sister has a photographic memory, she remembers all kinds of things I don’t.

Changing the subject completely, we’re off to Devon again this weekend, this time for the full week.  Unfortunately the weather forecast isn’t too good.  It doesn’t matter though we’ll still have a good time!

 
TTFN

It was a busy day today…

…for Billy.

He was doing things like washing windows and window sills, climbing ladders and cleaning gutters, washing cars and gardening… it was all too much for me, so I went off to the park with Caroline and Charlie and left him to it.  It’s better that way. I did make him a drink before I went though!

If you enlarge this photo by clicking on it you’ll see Charlie is giving me the thumbs up sign for some reason.  He’s so cute!

Today the park was Uppermill, the one where Victoria nearly tipped Nicholas into the river.  We had a lovely time.  Picnics definitely rank very high on my list of Simple Pleasures.  Are they on your list too?
TTFN

Picnic by the Canal

Today Nicholas and I took a picnic lunch and ate it by the canal.

 

As we got there this boat was just being moored. I got chatting to the lady and she told me that they had travelled up from Essex.  I didn’t know that it was possible to come that far on our inland waterways.  I asked how far north they could go and she said no further than Lancaster.  I think this was only their second year owning their own boat, the lady told me they were broke but happy.  A retired couple, they’ll be spending all summer on the boat, just going home occasionally.  Not a bad life that I think. 

Nicholas and I found a bench and ate our picnic.  Then a little stroll along the towpath and across the bridge to the other side.

I like how the white house above has put in French doors and added a little veranda to make the most of their view.

Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours on a sunny spring day.  We must do it again soon!

TTFN,

Kathleen.

Out and about

I was up and out quite early (for me that is) this morning.  I had a couple of errands to run before I needed to be back at noon in time to collect Charlie who was keeping me company this afternoon.  I was outside Costco even before they were open.  It was a successful trip and I got what I needed.  It was then back to my little home town where I popped in a couple of shops and amazingly still had time to spare. I’m usually on the last minute with everything I do so it was nice to be ahead of myself for once!

I wandered up Shore and looked around me. 

Another one of those houses I could live in.  This little cottage is tucked away and just looks so cosy to me. 

Looking back down the cobbled lane now. This white cottage  dates back to 1622. In the distance is Hollingworth Lake, beyond that is the M62 flyover cutting through the Pennines.  The motorway climbs steadily from that point and is actually the highest motorway in the UK.

This afternoon Victoria and Nicholas came to play.

Fortunately all the hullabaloo about the volcanic ash cloud hasn’t made any difference to our weather.  It’s been a beautiful, bright, spring day today with clear blue skies and sunshine.  Let’s hope there’s more of it to come.

TTFN

Nicholas’ birthday and a picnic in the park.

We’ve had a busy weekend at our household.  Nicholas was 3 years old on Saturday.

His birthday treat was a trip over to Head Over Heels, an indoor play area, the other side of Manchester.  He, George and Charlie had a great time, those places must be sheer heaven for little boys.  Fortunately they have a very nice cafe where adults can while away the time until the kids are worn out.

 

Then it was back to Victoria’s house for Nicky Noo’s tea-party.  In the main picture above he went all bashful when we sang Happy Birthday to him.

 

Later in the afternoon George went to play at Grandad Ray’s house, William and Trev went off for a game of golf and Gary went to watch Rochdale FC play an important match.  Things went well for The Dale, they won and are now in line for promotion.  I don’t follow football but it’s nice to see the local team doing good.

 

We girls then finished the afternoon off up at Caroline’s house, sitting in the garden chatting and enjoying the good weather while the little boys played.  So everybody was happy.

Sunday we all took a picnic to Towneley Park.  We love that place.

 It wasn’t exactly red hot but we weren’t the only people braving the weather and having a picnic.  There happened to be this bouncey slide down near the play area.  George and Nicholas loved it.  That is until the management gave Nicholas his marching orders!  He kept coming down head first and was warned a couple of times that if he did it again he’d be out.  He didn’t listen, so they chucked him off.  It was for his own safety but he didn’t see it like that, poor thing!

So, that was our weekend, hope yours was good too.

TTFN

Caroline ..

… has got good reason to smile.  After months of studying, day in and day out,  she learned today that she has passed an important exam at work. Congratulations daughter, I knew you’d do it!  xx

Purple Shamrock…

…is one of my favourite plants and yesterday on a trip to the garden centre with Caroline I bought one.  I already had one but it was on it’s last legs and this new one is just so full of leaves and flowers and healthy looking that I couldn’t resist it. One of the things I like about Purple Shamrocks is that they “go to sleep” at night.  The leaves fold back and …. well, go to sleep!  Isn’t that cute? I also bought this little chalk board.  I’ve been wanting one for ages.  They are perfect for writing greetings on and as today is Nicholas’s birthday he’s the first to have his name on it.  I’ll change the greeting with the season or occasion.  You wouldn’t believe how much this little thing is pleasing me.  Crazy, eh?
TTFN

Easter seems to …

... have faded quickly into the past but to help keep the memories alive here’s my scrapbook layout of our holiday weekend in Devon. Credits: Memories LT another Freebie by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals.com; Font, Pea Amy Rica by kevinandamanda.com at Twopeasinabucket.com

This blogging thing...

... is addictive and catching.  My younger daughter, Caroline, has caught the bug. 

If you look over on the right-hand side you'll see My Blog List, click on "Family of Three" and it'll take you to her blog.  Go on, take a look, you'll be glad you did!

TTFN

My niece and her family…

…came up to spend some time with us on Monday afternoon.  Fortunately it was another lovely day so we all went to the park. I do not know what this family would do without parks, we seem to spend an awful lot of time in them! Credits:  Sock Monkey Kit by Lynn Grieveson at Designer Digitals, A Victoria Love Frame from Digital Scrapbook Place.                                                                                             These are her four children and a happier, more loving bunch of kids it would be very hard to find!  There’s another boy but he’s all grown up, has flown the nest and is enjoying life in the RAF.This is Amelia, the baby.  She underwent eye surgery not too long ago and thankfully it was a great success.  Isn’t she a little doll?
TTFN

Looking back through …

… old photographs last night I came across these pictures.  How sweet are they? This mother swan and her cygnets  were on the lake at St. Anne’s on Sea one sunny Sunday afternoon in June 2005.  I had only ever seen this in books before and it was such a treat to see in reality.  I hope this brightens your day a little.

TTFN

Park benches etc.

On Friday afternoon I went to the local park with my girls, their boys and Gary. It’s a lovely park and fortunately it was a lovely day.  As in most parks and public places there are benches.    More and more we are seeing memorial plaques on them. I love to read the inscriptions, like the one below. Do you think this means “Our Ann’s” ashes were scattered hereabouts?  If so, I think that’s really nice.  Her favourite place and last resting place all in one!

George stayed overnight on Friday (more Uno) and I promised to go and watch him rock-climbing at the indoor centre where he is learning the sport.  So I tagged along yesterday when Victoria went to pick him up.  I was amazed when I walked in and saw how high he climbs.  He’s only six!

Later on in the afternoon Caroline rang and asked if I would like to meet her up at the King Bill.  That’s a local  pub in a lovely setting up on the hill behind our house.  Muffin and I set off on foot to meet her. It’s a lovely walk up through the fields and I was looking forward  to sitting outside the pub, with Caroline and Charlie, and a nice cold drink when I  got there. Unfortunately when I got there this was the sight that greeted me. 

The pub was shut! 

Caroline arrived minutes later and she was as disappointed as I was.  However, we went back to her house and had a drink there instead.  It’s been a lovely weekend and I’m hoping for a good summer filled with many more (a bit sunnier maybe) just like it.

Simple Pleasures are Life's Treasures ...

.. and here are some of mine.

Credits: Happy Go Lucky Kit a freebie from www.shabbyprincess.com Jewellery tags and Speed Byte LT No.70 from Katie Pertiet at www.designerdigitals.com Little heart and clock, freebie from Creative Wings Designs

It doesn't take much to make me happy!

As always the image can be clicked on to enlarge.

TTFN 

More from the weekend.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day.  In the morning we took in Seaton with its  lovely wide bay and nice long prom. Looking over to Beer Head.  The white dots on the cliff top are caravans on Beer Head Caravan Park.  Each one of those caravans has a superb sea view.  We should know, we’ve spent many happy holidays over the years on that caravan site.At the far end of the bay is Axmouth.  It has a thriving yacht club which is always good for a mooch around.  I’ve never wanted to go sailing but I do like looking at boats.  To be honest there weren’t many about this weekend, perhaps it’s too early for the sailing fraternity. Then we spent some time in Branscombe.  Here we are, having a Cream Tea outside The Sea Shanty.I know it doesn’t look like it on these pics but the place was absolutely heaving with people.  We have never, ever seen it so busy.  Easter, it would seem, is a very popular time for a holiday break in these parts. Charlie with his new spade.
Thanks to Trev, who turned the car round after we’d left Branscombe and went back, we finished the afternoon off with a drink outside the Mason’s Arms. Not wanting to leave him out here’s Muffin keeping warm on the beach!
All in all we had a great time and the good thing is we’re all going back again in a month’s time!

Easter in Devon

This weekend was our first weekend using the caravan which we bought last November.  So to say we were all looking forward to it is a bit of an understatement! 

We set off in the dark at 5 o’clock on Friday morning to avoid all the Bank Holiday weekend traffic. It took just about 6 hours to get to Sidmouth so it wasn’t too bad.   Looking at these photos you can see how wet the grass was from all the rain that we’ve been having.  In fact we couldn’t park the car at the side of the van because the grass was so wet.  The site management had recently laid new drainage in our area and they were having a few problems with it. Billy and Trev did all the necessary stuff i.e. connected gas, water, electrics, stabilised the caravan, unloaded the trailer etc.  It took a little while but next time when they are more sure of what they’re doing I know it’ll only take a few minutes.  As soon  as the van was sorted we headed for our favourite place, Beer. We had a hot drink on the beach and it tasted good in the fresh air and with the sea just a stone’s throw away. Look, blue skies, it was glorious!  Saturday morning we had breakfast on Beer beach (don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of that) and then went over to Sidmouth.  I love the old-fashioned feel of Sidmouth, it’s very genteel and like everywhere else around here has a beautiful rugged coastline.  This is Jacob’s Ladder at the top end of the prom.  On the other side of that wall are Connaught Gardens where we had our first Cream Tea of the weekend.These gardens are absolutely full of the most beautiful flower beds in the summer months.And just for good measure a picture of Caroline and Charlie in Sidmouth Lifeboat House. 
More to follow tomorrow.