New painting

The new painting that Sam & I commissioned arrived this week. It is for our bedroom and is in shades of purple with gold. I love it - its a very beautiful abstract and I can see something new in it every time I look at it. It is by the same artist as the painting we have in the living room - Sarah Louise Ewing. I will take a photo and post it but it is similar to this one, but a long thin rectangle shape.

Goodbye Clive

Little Clive has gone to be with Boris & Alby - we will miss him!

Exciting day!

Today is Robin's 29th birthday, Pip and Liam's 1st anniversary and we completed on our new house - what a nice day!

Even More Sickness

I am poorly AGAIN - cough, sore throat and a burning in my chest. Really don't have time for this!

More Sickness

Poor little Clive has not been himself for about a week now. He is a bit wobbly on his pins and we thought he might have had a stroke. He still has a great enthusiasm for life - especially pottering around the living room and eating his food.
I took him to the vets today to make sure he was not in any pain. The vet felt it was just old age and was happy that Clive still has a good quality of life. He gave him some drops for his sore eye which have to be applied twice a day - not as easy as it sounds!

Sickness

Sam and I have both had nasty colds. She had it the weekend before last and I had it last week. It was the worst cold I have had for a long time. Neither of us are really full recovered yet - Sam has a nasty chesty cough still and I have one of those annoying tickles. Ah well hopefully we have them out of the way for the winter now!

70th Birthday

Mum was 70 today. We had planned a holiday in Yorkshire but cancelled it as Dad is not well. However we all gathered at Mum & Dad's to celebrate. Sally made two cakes - well technically she made one and iced the other and we sang Happy Birthday. Everyone was there except Robin, Ian, Louise and Andy which was lovely.  We plan to go out for lunch in a couple of weeks - maybe to The Inn at Woburn.

Invitation

We have received an exciting invitation for December -SSSHHHH its a secret!!

New Boys on the Block

Sam and I have adopted three new boys - a dad and his two sons. They have had a bit of a rough ride and have been adopted once and returned, so we have taken them to give them a happy life. The dad is called Barney and is an old boy. The other two are Bill & Ben and look very similar so not really sure which is which at the moment. We are keeping them separate to our other boys at the moment but they seem happy in their new home.
I will post some pictures later.

Grape Juice

Made from grapes from Dad's garden-
it is delicious

Harefield

Dad has had a stent fitted today at Harefield, to open up his airway. He is well enough to come home so Mum and Jayne are going to collect him. He is going to Mount Vernon on Monday for his plotting scans.

Beautiful

Cargo delivery!

                   I bet Vickie and Jerry are glad their furniture was not part of this shipment!

Hospital Visiting

Dad is back in hospital - he had pain in his chest which needs investigating. The doctor said it could be the tumour blocking the airway, a collapsed lung or a blood clot. He went for some tests today but hadn't got the results back when I went to visit. However he was looking well, not on any oxygen and had walked down to the shop for a newspaper. I spent a couple of hours with him and we had a good chat about lots of different things.

The Queen is in Australia

 I wonder if Vickie & Jerry will see her in Perth?

Offer Accepted

We have made an offer of £132,000 on a house, which has been accepted. Barring any major problems from the survey it looks like this will be our rental property. The house is a few doors up from where my sister Sally lives - so at least we know the neighbours are ok lol. It is a three bed mid terrace with a garage at the rear. It has lots of original features and just needs a little tidying up before it is ready to rent out. It is walking distance to the station too. We are both very excited.

Balti Night

Sam and I have just been out for a lovely Indian meal at the fabulous 'Balti Nights'. We had a good time - the waiter always remembers Sam and I - I don't know why. Anyway the food was as good as usual and the service was great. We got a table straight away tonight - no waiting in the bar!

In Love With Glass

I really love things made from glass - I have always liked its reflective qualities. I have found a couple of really pleasing things in the local charity shop just recently - and they fit into the house so well. The first is a Murano style glass ashtray - which is too beautiful to use as an ashtray and looks lovely in the light.

The second is a lamp made from twisted glass. I have had a google and found a similar one from the 1950's. I bought a shade from Dunelm and it looks great on the table by our patio doors. It will be functional there too as there is no light switch at that end of the room for when we come in through the back of the house. 
                   

Positive News

Positive news today from Dad's results. The cancer has not spread and the Consultant says is treatable with radiotherapy - which is great news. He has to go to Mount Vernon for three weeks to have the treatment three times a day, targeting the tumour. He will feel unwell for six - eight weeks afterwards but should then feel well again. He also has to have a brain scan but the Consultant doesn't expect there to be anything untoward on it. We are all feeling very relieved and positive for Dad!

Lunch With Friends

Had a lovely lunch today with Claire, Dawn and little Daisy today. Enjoyed it very much - it was great to chat and catch up. Little Daisy is mobile now and very cute - especially with three adoring adults cooing over her!
Claire is doing well - her hair is growing back now and she is feeling good. She is having her fourth chemo session tomorrow.

Claire says her and Daisy both feel hair is over-rated!

Sunday Tea

Sam and I went for Sunday tea with Gail, Tommy and June in London Colney today. It was nice to see them and have a chat. We started at Gail's house, then went next door for tea at 6.00. It was proper old fashioned tea with ham and salmon sandwiches followed by cakes and a cup of tea.

Coffee Time

Had a lovely time today meeting up with Bonnie. We had breakfast and a good catch up chat - must have been 3-4 years since we last saw each other. I had some reservations about meeting up due to her beliefs but decided to let bygones be bygones!
We have arranged to meet up again soon - but as she hasn't seen her brother and sister-in- law, who only live round the corner, since Easter I'm not holding my breath lol!

Gilbert & Sullivan Sketch Show

Sam and I went to the theatre in Hitchin this evening to see the G&S Sketch Show. My boss, Gill, was singing it in and the evening included a light supper in the interval. It was a great evening with some really good singers taking part. G&S is quite light and funny and we enjoyed it very much!

Surprise Birthday Gift

I received a lovely Birthday gift by post today from Pip and Liam - a lovely selection of spring bulbs from a bulb farm - a really great surprise! I shall plant them at the weekend and look forward to seeing them flower in the Spring. What a thoughtful gift!

Birthday

It is my 49th Birthday today! I have had a lovely day with some very lovely and thoughtful gifts and lots of cards from friends and family!
I am enjoying using my new DSLR camera - and Sam also cleverly bought a book to go with it, which is proving very useful.  I am working my way through it and have learnt lots already.
Charlotte bought me some lovely accessories for the living room - including a very warm chenille throw which I am sure Sam and I will be fighting over during the chilly evenings.
Charlotte, Sam and I went out for dinner - I fancied good old fish n chips so we went to the Wigmore Fish Bar, where we had a lovely meal and got great service!
All in all it was a nice day!

Celebration

Family get together at Mum & Dad's today to celebrate a plethora of birthdays - Jayne's, Lauren's, mine and Shaun's. 
Mum cooked a delicious roast dinner for 14 of us. The weather was beautiful and we ate pudding in the garden - three to choose from: chocolate tart, lemon cheesecake and raspberry pavlova!
We all had a lovely day and enjoyed reminiscing about our childhoods.

   

Move over Macavity

Move over Macavity - this cat beats you paws down!!

This is a cat with two faces, named Frank and Louie in Worcester, US. The animal is known as a Janus cat, named for the figure in Roman mythology with two faces on one head. The owner calls the face on the left Frank, while the face on the right is identified as Louie.

Indian Summer

Quote from the lunch time news -

'Sun worshippers are basking in more record-breaking weather - as Britain feels its hottest September 30 in more than 100 years.
The previous record for the last day of September was set in 1908 - 27.8C in Maidenhead.
The mercury could rise beyond 29C this afternoon trumping the Costa del Sol, Turkey, Cuba and Mexico.
There were reports that many Britons had taken "sickies" off work to peel off in parks, gardens and on the beach.
Many others were preparing to head for the coast this weekend, sparking a huge increase in hotel bookings.
Yesterday saw temperatures as high as 28.8C, making it the hottest September 29 since 1895, when the mercury peaked in York at 27.5C.
Records will be broken again today if temperatures exceed the 27.8C set in Maidenhead in 1901.
Meanwhile, Saturday could become the warmest day ever for October if it peaks at above the 29.4C reached on October 1, 1985, in Cambridgeshire.' 

I can tell you it is bloody hot here in Luton too!!

* Britain has experienced the highest October temperature on record with RAF Finningley in Yorkshire feeling the heat at 30C at 3pm.
The previous record of 29.4C was set in Cambridge in 1985.
It is the second day of record breaking weather.

More gardening

Did some more gardening today as we are having a lovely Indian Summer. Planted some daffodil bulbs and had a general tidy up of the front garden ready for the winter. I cut the lawn - hopefully for the last time this year but if this weather continues it will probably grow again. I would like to get some winter pansies to plant out for a bit of colour so will look for some next time I go into town.
We are having a picket fence and gate erected next Wednesday, which will help make the garden more private and keep out those people who think it is ok to walk across our garden as a short cut.
Just the back garden to tidy next week then all set for winter!

Trip to the seaside

Sam and I had a nice day out today in Southend - we had planned to go to Brighton but it means a long tube journey at the moment as there is work going on on the main line.
We arrived and had seafood followed fish n chips for lunch, sat looking out over the sea. It was a beautiful Indian summer day with hardly a breeze. We played in the Amusement Arcade and Sam 'won' me a little love heart cushion on the grabber crane game.
 Southend is a real old fashioned seaside town - although it has had some recent refurbishment which lakes it very family and wheelchair friendly.
Later we had a trip on the train along Southend Pier - newly reopened and the longest one in the world. It is 1.33 miles long! Sadly there was not a lot to see and do at the other end, other than the RNLI shop where we bought a little kite, so we quickly caught the train back.
Sam flew the kite on the beach - with me as her trusty helper. The kite was a very erratic flyer and kept twirling down to crash on the sand - but it was good fun trying.
We finished the day by eating supper on the sea wall and having a drink in a nice sea front pub, before Sam drove us home. we were so tired and full of ozone we went more or less straight to bed - despite it only being 9.00. Pictures to follow

Visit To Claire

I went to see Claire and Stu today. Jeannie and Bruce came along later too as they had been into Milton Keynes. It was a lovely afternoon and great to catch up with everyone's news.
Retirement suits Jeannie & Bruce - they both looked great. They have moved to their new flat in Goring and are settling in.
Claire had had her third chemo session on Wednesday and was tired but feeling ok. She is half way through the chemo now, then has to have two weeks of radiotherapy - driving from Bletchley to Northampton hospital every day for treatment that takes ten minutes.
Stu was hopeless with Yarl's Wood gossip - typical man! Bailey and Dexter were adorable - so friendly and laid back - great distraction for Claire. I managed to leave my jacket behind - but I am sure I will go to visit again soon!
*Mum rang in the evening about Dad - he has to go to Mount Vernon next week for another scan.

Difficult Week

Some weeks are harder than others - this one has been tough. News about Dad, although not confirmed, doesn't seem good. He came home yesterday having been told he has a lesion although the Dr's letter says 'a tumour' - he has to go back on Friday to discuss his options. We are all keeping positive until we know more details.

Charlotte is upset too as her little rabbit Bruno died on Monday - she will miss him very much.

Dad holding little Bruno at Charlotte's bbq last year

Dad is Poorly

Mum rang this morning to say Dad went into hospital last night and they kept him in to do some tests. He has been coughing up blood for some time now but it was more than usual last night, so he was taken into hospital in an ambulance. He has had a chest x-ray and an a camera up nose and down throat - which showed nothing. He was due to have a  bronchoscopy under general anaesthetic in a couple of weeks time anyway - so this has brought things forward.
I hope he is ok - will ring Mum later for an update.
* Update - went to visit dad with Mum this evening. He was eating his tea and was quite perky. he is having the bronchoscopy tomorrow and a scan on Friday, so hopefully we will have some answers then.

Visitor

Maggie came for tea with Sam and I this evening as she missed our house-warming and so hadn't seen our new house. She was surprised at how roomy it is - as most people are!
We spent a good few hours chatting and putting the world to rights - lots of laughter and wine! It was good to see her as she is a very interesting person to chat to - as she has lived a very colourful life!

Sunday Roast Dinner

Pip and Liam came for Sunday dinner today - it was great to see them. Pip had requested some vegan yorkshire puddings so Sam found me a recipe and i gave it a go. They were quite sucessful and we all had a couple and enjoyed them very much.

This is the recipe - 

Vegan Yorkshire puddings

4oz  plain (all-purpose) flour

salt to taste

1 heaped teaspoon gram flour (chickpea flour, besan)

half a pint of soya milk

vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 230C (450F). Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil in the holes of a Yorkshire pudding or muffin tin and place in oven. The oven needs to be hot and the oil needs to be hot.

2. Mix plain flour, salt and gram flour together with a whisk. Gradually pour in the soya milk taking in the flour slowly until all the milk is added and the flour is incorporated. Whisk with all your might until you can see bubbles. (I used the whisk attachment of my stick blender.) Note: the batter will be very thin, much thinner than pancake batter. It’s supposed to be that way.

3. Carefully remove tin from oven and fill the holes. If using a muffin tin, fill half way up; if using a Yorkshire pudding tin, fill all the way up. Put back in oven and cook for about 20 minutes. Don’t open the oven door to check them, as the oven needs to stay really hot. If your oven cooks hotter at the back than the front (like mine), you can rotate the tin halfway through, but do it quickly.

The only thing i did differently was to whisk the milk in our coffee machine to get lots of air into it. We bought the gram flour in Tesco - the smallest bag they had was 2kg - at a teaspoon a time i am going to have to make a lot of vegan yorkshires to use it up!! Better get researching some other recipes that use gram flour!

Ten Years On

It is ten years today since the September 11th attacks - where did that decade go? I was working at the hospital then and can clearly remember that sense of shock and disbelief that this could happen in New York.
 

This attack has changed the world forever - especially airport security and travel. It left behind a feeling of mistrust and suspicion that hasn't really gone away since.


The site left behind, known as Ground Zero now has a  9/11 Memorial and Museum on it. 

The memorial is to be dedicated at a ceremony on the 10th anniversary itself, and then it will open to the public for the first time on September 12. The memorial is  called Reflecting Absence.
At its centre are two pools that stand in the footprint of the towers. Water constantly runs down the 30ft black granite walls into a second, smaller void in the middle of each square.
The plaza around the pools is planted with around 200 white oak trees. Eventually there will be around 400, chosen in part because they turn a golden colour during autumn, in time for each anniversary.
The names of the 2,983 people who died are inscribed in bronze on the edges of each fountain. It took a year to arrange them next to friends, relatives and colleagues, according to the requests of family members. 

New Dress

I have a new Monsoon dress - a lovely knitted one in Autumn colours. it looks very retro - in fact I had a similar one in about 1979!

I will post a picture of me wearing it later!
 
Here I am in the dress and sitting on my newly revamped chair!

Office Chair Revamp

I was given an old office chair on freecycle. It was in need of some TLC so I have spent time today recovering it so that I can use it as a sewing chair. I bought a remnant of upholstery fabric in Dunelm for £1.50. A quick bit of research on the net gave me idea how to dismantle the chair. Four screws held the base in place. The back was a bit trickier - it needed popping off with a hammer then underneath were some more screws that needed to come out.
Once dismantled I removed the old fabric and staples then stapled in place the new fabric. I gave the base a good clean, tightened everything up and gave it a spray of WD40. Then it was just a matter of fixing it all back together.
I am really please with the end result! Took three hours from start to finish.

Chair in need of a revamp!

The seat was very worn

I gave the frame a good clean up

The back was tricky to pop off - a hammer helped!

        

I worked out where I wanted the pattern placed on the seat and back

                                                           

Staples hold the fabric in place

Four screws hold the seat back on

The screws hold the back in place

The back popped back on

The finished chair