The Last Few Days.

Wednesday just gone was my oldest grandson, George’s, 9th birthday and I yet have to catch a good photo of him to mark the occasion.  I think I’d better put that at the top of my to do list. 

While Victoria took the birthday boy and three of his friends to the pictures I was in charge of Nicholas and Charlie.

It was a beautiful day so I took them to the park before we joined the birthday party at Pizza Hut.  Boys have lots of energy don’t they?  That’s all I’m going to say.

Friday found me in Manchester again, this time with Caroline and Charlie. 

Caroline wanted to go to a frozen yogurt bar she had heard about in the Spinningfields area.  We got the frozen yogurt from “Frurt” and took it to this superb seating area in the middle of all the office blocks, shops, cafes and restaurants that make up Spinningfields.  The big screen was showing the Olympics. 

The sun showered its rays on this little oasis of calm.  We were there just ahead of the lunch break workers and had a front row seat.

Walking back to the train station through Corn Exchange the big screen there had a full audience of Olympics enthusiasts.  It seemed to me like there was a holiday atmosphere in the air.  I suppose the sunshine and Team GB doing brilliantly helped things along no end.

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A couple of times just recently William and I have found our way to the local lake and sat outside the pub there.  It’s a great place to people watch, have a drink and, my favourite thing, watch the bikers come and go. 

               

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I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since the Olympics started.  William and I were down in Devon and he was reading about the success of the opening ceremony and now I’m off to sit in front of the telly and watch the closing ceremony of a very successful London 2012 Olympics. 

29 Gold, 17 Silver and 19 Bronze.  Well done Team GB!!!

Kathleen.

July 2012 in Devon

After a very wet start …

… and in the first few days with skies like this our two weeks holiday in Devon happily turned out to be one of the hottest we’ve had over the last few years.

               

With temperatures in the 70s and even as high as 81 degrees we were all smiles,

we were swimming in the sea (yep, that’s me out there),

and sitting in the shade.  It was marvellous!

Whatever the weather William usually does a fair bit of this.

It’s oh so nice to do this when that little old currant bun is in the sky.

Charlie taking pictures like a pro!

Bucket and spade play on West Bay beach.  Heaven for a little boy!

It was heaven too for Harley.  He went swimming (he loves the sea), ran around and had a whale of a time.  Unfortunately though, he got heatstroke and for him it was heaven no longer.  When the picture above was taken he was beginning to feel ill.  An emergency visit to the vet and a night’s stay in hospital brought his temperature of 103 degrees down but put an end to his holiday fun.  Poor thing!

  

Our little dog Muffin isn’t so energetic any more and most of the time he seeks the shade, never goes near the water and fortunately stays cool and happy.

Plenty of ice cream was consumed.  Especially by me.  I could eat the soft whip variety until it comes out of my ears.  No exaggeration!

When the sun is cracking the flags my favourite beach to be on is Beer.  The beach has a couple of little snack huts and we make good use of them.  That’s William in the green shirt coming back to our table with a couple of coffees.

The view up above the beach huts …

…and in front of them.  Incidentally, I love the pebbles.  I love the crunching sound they make when you walk on them and they don’t get into places they don’t belong like sand does!

A little peek inside one of those beach huts.  Not very big are they?  But they’ll store all the paraphernalia needed for a week on the beach.  They’re available to hire for approximately £45 a week.

It being Jubilee year and the year of the London Olympics the Union Jack was in evidence everywhere.  Beautiful!

These photos are all from the first week and now I need to get the second week posted as soon as I can.

Kathleen.

We’re in August Already!

And it seems like the whole nation is gripped by Olympics fever.  I’m certainly enjoying them far more than I thought I would.  Not surprising though when Team GB is doing so well!  Gymnastics is my favourite sport.  Didn’t our Men’s team do well winning our first Olympic medal in the sport for 100 years!  I was on the edge of my seat most of the time watching that event take place!

On Wednesday I got the train into Manchester where I met my lovely cousin, Sylvia, for an afternoon of shopping and catching up with each other’s doings.

These colourful patriotic deckchairs were lined up in Exchange Square…

…where shoppers, workers and visitors to the city can sit and watch the Olympics on a big screen.  Sadly the weather wasn’t up to much on Wednesday so not many seats were occupied.

Of course when Sylvia and I meet up a cup of coffee or two is always on the agenda.  This time around Afternoon Tea in Marks and Spencer’s fitted the bill.

Victoria had asked me to look after George and Nicholas for a couple of hours today.  So with the sun shining we packed a rucksack with necessities (a towel, change of clothes, drinks, camera etc.) and set off for a walk through Ealees.  George volunteered to carry the rucksack for me – it was quite heavy and he carried it all the way too.

Ealees is always popular with the boys.  A stream runs through it, need I say more?

George pointed out this scene as being worthy of a photo.  He was right.

This of course is not a scene from this afternoon’s walk.  This is Beer beach and that is a swan!  I’ve never seen a swan on sea water before.  I’ve just looked it up on the ‘net and apparently swans on saltwater is not unheard of, just not an everyday thing.

I’m wading through my holiday photos and intend to post them ASAP.

Kathleen.

 

The Great British Summertime.

Really there’s been nothing great about this summer.  Unless the best is yet to come?

I took Charlie to the lake Visitor Centre for an ice cream after school on Tuesday.  The ever present rain meant it had to be eaten indoors.

My new holiday handbag.  It’s a Cath Kidston.  I bought it in the sale just over a week ago.  I love the patriotic print, it’s called Royal Stan.  These handbags are made from oilcloth, which I presume means the bag is waterproof.  Methinks that could prove to be an advantage this summer!

I’m on a patriotic roll at the minute.  These are my new wellies.  I think they’re lovely but I’ll be very happy if I never need to wear them!

I’m signing out for a couple of weeks.  Lucky us are heading down to the southwest again at weekend.  Rain or shine – we’ll take it – at least it’s by the sea.

Kathleen.

PS. Having moaned about the weather throughout this post I’ve just realised, it hasn’t rained once today!

Armed Forces Day, Sports Days and a Race for Life That Didn’t Happen.

Have you ever psyched yourself up for something?  Something that you really, really wanted to do and then that something is cancelled.  Well, that happened to Caroline, my younger daughter, today. 

She rose with the larks and was all ready, set to go run a 5k Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research in Huddersfield.  Charlie and I went along to give support.  However when we got to the venue there was no crowd ready and raring to go with her.  The race had been postponed due to the course being deemed unsafe to use because of all this flippin’ rain we are having!  Talk about disappointed!  What was a girl to do?  Head to the nearest coffee shop and have a little treat, that’s what.  Caroline wasn’t the only deflated runner there.  Several other ladies followed us in all with the same forlorn, can-you-believe-it look on their faces. 

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George and Nicholas stayed overnight with us Friday night.  Here’s Nicholas making pancakes for breakfast yesterday morning.  This was at 7.30 and George, sensible boy, was still in bed.

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Sunday last was Armed Forces Day. Caroline had seen an ad for events taking place in Halifax Piece Hall and that’s where these pictures were taken.

The day had a 1940s  theme.  The band played songs from the era, mainly those associated with the war. 

Both boys had a turn at dressing up like a real soldier.  Charlie particularly was in his element.

Both got to ride on this vintage funfair carousel.

People came dressed in character for the day.

I loved seeing this old lady in her house pinny and carpet slippers.  The 1950s trolley is just like the one my siblings and I would’ve been pushed around in.

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Charlie’s Nursery School Sports Day was held earlier this week.  He did really well and won quite a few of his little races.

Afterwards his little friend came to play at Charlie’s house.  Don’t they look sweet holding hands?

Nicholas’s Sports Day was also held earlier this week.  He too did really well and won lots of his races.  George, Nicholas’s brother, fell foul of the weather and his Sports Day was cancelled.  He wasn’t happy about it, poor thing. 

What a long post this turned out to be but I’ve been dragging my feet over this one and when I finally got stuck in I didn’t want to leave anything out!

 Kathleen.

A Month’s Worth of Rain.

I don’t know if it’s a threat or a promise but a month’s worth of rain in a day is what the Met Office insists is heading our way!

So, with that in mind when the sun was shining and the threat/promise of rain did not materialise I headed to Hebden Bridge for a late breakfast this morning.  I was able to sit outside my favourite cafe in the warm fresh air with the sound of the river roaring over the weir right in front of me.  Yes, roaring!  This little town has suffered badly and was flooded recently. The river was still very high today, hence the roaring.  Several of the shops were still closed for business while repairs and refurbishments go ahead.

I’ve been working on the silhouettes above.  They are of my grandsons, George and Nicholas.  I printed them off as 5 x 7s in time for their lovely mother’s birthday which was the day before yesterday.

Happy birthday daughter dear!

I’ve been trying to write a post covering the last week or so but I seem unable to get my act together and just do it.  Never mind, I’ll try again tomorrow.  I think maybe I need a little blogging break.

Kathleen.