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