Sunday Summary

This is just a quick look at the past week.  It has passed so quickly I can't believe that it is Sunday already.

Firstly we shouldn't have been here !  It was the second of the two weeks we had put to one side for our annual holiday.  However, we were so tired that neither of us could face going away, and we had the knowledge that this coming week is the week when our central heating will finally be fixed.  So we stayed here!  Nothing got done, not even a lot of sleeping.  The phone didn't stop ringing and we ended up working as normal :(

Anyway, apart from that it was a good week.  Mum has been getting more and more frail, but this week she has seemed a little stronger, and I even managed to visit on one day at the same time as my brother.  We had a good reminisce, and that seemed to do her good and stand her in good stead for several days afterwards.  I'll be off to visit her again tomorrow, and I wait to see what that visit has in store. 

It was a week of rain for many parts of the country, but we have escaped very lightly.  Yes, we had rain, but we also had sun and managed to dry some washing on the line on more than one day.  Other areas have had a dreadful time, though, and my heart went out to my 85 year old uncle who made a pilgrimage back to the north-east to meet up with old colleagues and visit relations, probably for the last time.  He travelled to the part of the country that seemed to be almost totally underwater, and although he is now safely home, he was unable to see some of the sights he wanted to visit.  It is a shame as his sight is almost gone, and he will probably be unable to make the trip again.

We had fun and games with our plumbing.  Although we had no problems with the rain we woke one morning to find the kitchen floor under water.  Fortunately a plumber arrived poste haste and the leak was fixed.  It was a very strange washer in a pipe joint.  Dealt with he departed and we began the mopping up.  The next day he was back.  The same thing had happened overnight and we had to start again.  Not funny.  I suppose it serves us right for living in a Victorian property.  Who knows what the heating engineers will find this week, but I'm not even going to think about that until it happens.

I spent a delightful morning with my little grandson while his mother had an appointment.   He is now nearly walking, and his vocabulary is growing so we can have 'conversations'.  He has also discovered the word 'No', and shakes his head furiously, laughing all the time, when asked to do something.  It was a really fun morning, and I look forward to the next time.

Our 'holiday time' came to an end on Saturday when we made our first visit of the autumn to Urchfont Manor.  It was a busy weekend with students of Yoga, Trees and prospective Head Teachers all mingling with C&G Diploma students with Sian Martin.  We felt as though we had never been away ......  I was able to show them some vegetarian silk and explain how to manipulate it.  Watch out for it soon on Etsy: http://www.sassalynne.etsy.com/

Urchfont? I don't think so

What a disappointment.

We should have been going to Urchfont Manor in Wiltshire today. It is a regular venue, and we enjoy our visits there as it is in such a lovely part of the country. The alarm was set for 06.30 and at that time all was well. We leave at 08.00, and all was well at 07.49, but at 07.50 it began to snow and this is what greeted us as we went to the car.



There is usually a remarkable absence of radio travel broadcasts on a Sunday, so we had no idea what was waiting for us. We joined the motorway (M3) at Junction 4a and travelled slowly but surely until we reached just beyond the service area. Now we had our first radio message. Don't travel on the M3 - anywhere between junction 1 and 14, and sure enough we were soon at a standstill.



Inching forward we progressed. Having travelled less than half a mile we were overtaken by a police car and a highways vehicle travelling cautiously on the hard shoulder. The object of the first delay became obvious just around the corner as we saw the remnants of a 3 car collision. Further on, but within view were two more cars on the hard shoulder, then another two, and finally a more serious accident (or, to be more politically correct, an 'incident' as someone was possibly to blame)with an ambulance in attendence.

It took us two hours to travel from junction 4a to junction 5. We gave up at this point, and returned home. The traffic was still inching forward towards Basingstoke, but no idea of what was actually causing the problems further on.

We left the motorway and returned via the A roads. It was beautiful, but we were glad to be on our way home again. As we approached home it was lovely to see the faces of the children building snowmen. They obviously hadn't needed any encouragement to get out of bed this morning. Fathers were enjoying it too!

This is the view that greeted us when we returned after our twenty mile round trip.



Sorry, Urchfont, but I think we did the right thing, especially as you will all want to get away at lunchtime. Hope you all get home safely, although it will probably all turn to sleet and slush before very long.

Spring isn't just yellow

It was such a beautiful morning I couldn't resist a quick trip around the garden. I had the camera in my hand, so here are a few quick pics, although the quality leaves a lot to be desired.



It isn't long since there was a race to see who had their daffodils flowering in time for St David's Day. This year it seems that everyone won! In fact, if you look closely at this shot you can see that one of the flowers is already spent.




While yellow is a refreshing site in spring it is lovely to see the other colours appearing too. This Camellia uaually flowers at the beginning of May, however, not only is it now in full flower...





.....some of the flowers are already dead.









The strength of the sun can be seen in the depth of the shadow,










These little flowers are forming a carpet under the trees, and there too are the bluebells. It won't be long before they are ready to flower too.