Back Again 20 May 2008. Holiday in Hopton

Wow, ages since I last posted. My daughter commented that she missed my blog, so it kick started me into action.

I had a great little holiday with my family at Hopton, near Great Yarmouth. I shared a caravan with Rene, Sam's Mum, which worked very well. It was very cold at night and the van didn't have any heating, but once in bed it was fine. The lounge had a gas fire so that was ok.

The full complement of our 'gang' was as follows:

Ivor and Maureen (Ivor is my first husband's father and Maureen my first husband's first wife). Work that one out.
Abigail, aged 10, Maureen and Ivors' Granddaughter.
Paul with his 3 children, Brandon, Conor and Gracie. Paul is Maureen's first born, his father is my first husband.
David, Sue and Dawn. David is Ivor's youngest son from his first marriage, Sue is David's 2nd wife and Dawn is David's daughter from a previous relationship. Complicated or what!
Jason, Sam and Jack (my elder son, his wife and my grandson).

The Haven caravan site has a club house, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, crazy golf, loads of those weird and wonderful machines that eat your money and flash lots of lights at you. Totally incomprehensible to me.

Jack had a wonderful time. He loved the pool, especially the section which had fountains and jets going in all directions. He would have stayed there all day! There was one of those big slides in the centre and I braved it once!

The site also had various characters who entertained the children. Jack's favorite was 'Bradley' a rather large bear. In the evenings they performed on stage.
Not my usual kind of entertainment but I quite enjoyed it for a change. I even played Bingo twice. The 2nd time I won £160 so that was fun. It enabled me to treat the others to some very bad for us food.

We had a great day out in Great Yarmouth, fish and chips all round of course! All in all, a splendid holiday. I spent hours with Jack and he loved every minute.

The photos above: Jack on the bike, Gracie and Abigail enjoying the fun at Great Yarmouth.
A very windswept me sitting on a breakwater at Hopton, plus Sue and Dawn. Jack with Bradley. Gracie in her Dad's hat. Rene and Abigail playing Crazy Golf and then we all squashed together for a group photo. Our caravan with Jack on the steps. I think I'll do another page re: Ireland.
g time no

Busy Gardening Day, 27 March, 08

Having gone to bed at about 4am, it was a late start to the day. Much better weather, sunny at first, then at tea time it changed to rather cold with a stiff wind. Jim popped into Gort to do the shopping. I weeded the rockery and spread our home made compost over it. Also planted some saxifrage, red, pink and white. They are so pretty and make lovely mounds like a cushion. I also planted some viola in the rockery and the Grotto bed. I spent the last couple of hours weeding there as it was a sheltered spot. Very wet underfoot, I moved a couple of big stones to stand on. It started to get dark and my feet were like stones, so I headed in just in time for dinner. Sausage, chips, egg and baked beans. Wonderful.

Martin the farmer's cows keep getting out and wandering all over our drive and eating some of our bushes. Very annoying. If I see him, I'll mention that his one band electric fence does not keep them in. The poor things are hungry as the field has very little grass left in it.

The cats have played outside most of the day and have been worn out tonight. BlackJack on my knee as I type.

A bit of scrabble on Facebook and to bed.

How Others Live and the Lawn Mower Hunt. Weds 27 March 2008

Well the Australia holiday has come and gone, a separate blog to follow. Now back in Ireland and loving the re-birth of the garden. The daffodils are still out, if a bit battered, the cats survived (just) and the magnolia stellata is just about to burst forth. A gorgeous camellia that we planted last year, dark pink, has one flower almost fully out. Various bulbs we planted on the fairy hill, rockery and arboretum beds are coming up. Lots of little blue grape hyacinths popping their heads up in contrast to the yellow of the daffodils. There are 2 stunning pale salmon colour hyacinths out on the arboretum bed, they are really a picture.

Some of the grass seed I scattered before Oz has come through and Jim has managed to mow the arboretum grass already. We have been trying to decide what extra machinery to get this year to make all the manual tasks a bit easier on our old bones and joints! Jim found a ride on mower for sale, second hand, not too far from Limerick, about an hour from us, and made an appointment for us to view it today. The weather has been weird all day with bouts of hail, incredibly heavy rain, sun and blue skies and black skies that make you think the end is nigh! Having driven through all this assorted weather, we found the house. The mower was parked outside, along with assorted toys, bits of machinery in various states of rusting decay, a noisy dog tied with a rope and mountains of mud!

Now had I been wanting to sell a piece of machinery I would have cleaned it at least. It was only one year old but looked 10. It had obviously been kept outside as there wasn't a shed anywhere and all the other machinery was also outside. The very friendly lady invited us in for a cup of tea and ushered us into the living room. There were 2 settees, both absolutely filthy, covered in muddy dog prints, food and an assortment of children in various states of undress! I sat on the window sill, Jim braved the settee. 2 dirty mugs were taken from the heap on the coffee table and reappeared filled with tea. A mad springer type dog leapt around pulling rubbish from a bag on the floor.

There was a small pile of festering baked beans under one chair and a frying pan under another. Plates on the fire guard and the mantel piece was piled high with dvds and any number of other bits and bobs. I was sure that if one item were moved, the whole lot would tumble to the floor. An enormous tv on the wall dominated the room. As we left the room, items were spilling out of the other rooms in view. Now I am not the fussiest housewife but I do like my kitchen to be clean and if anyone is coming, will tidy up a bit and maybe slap some polish here and there! I do have 'clutter' but it's clean clutter!

Having said all that, the children were very well behaved and brought us various toys to admire. In spite of all the chaos, the lady of the house was as calm as you like.

We didn't buy the mower.

We drove through more 'weather' and headed back to Limerick where there is a large lawn mower sales showroom. The most helpful salesman showed us many mowers from large to giant sized, industrial strength to average lawn size. For not much more money than the 2nd hand mower we had seen, we can get a marvellous, brand new 15.5 horse power ride on mower with a large cutting width and a trailer. Delivered free to our door, guaranteed for 2 years. Bargain. We need to sort out our funding then will buy one of the ride on beasts.

We lunched in an excellent cafe and mused over our odd experiences. A quick trip to Tesco and back home as the sky blackened once again and the rain poured down. Oh, we also bought 2 fruit trees, one plum and one greengage. 9.99 euros and big trees at that. While we were away a large plum tree in our orchard, which was diseased, crashed to the ground, as did an ash tree next to the fairy hill. So we have a replacement plum. Sadly it looks as though we may have to take down the rest of the ash tree, which is a multi trunked affair and the base is obviously rotten. All excellent fuel for Stanley though.

Before we went away, Paddy the architect came and measured for our renovation works. We rang his office on our return and he was to get back to us. No phone call yet. The Irish.......

On Sunday I fly to the UK for a 4 day caravan holiday with Sam, Jason and Jack (who I miss so much) and many other members of my extended family. Should be fun as the site has a club house and covered, heated swimming pool, so the weather isn't too important.

Ready to Fly... Friday, 16th Feb, 08

Back to the Arial font. It's been yet another great day here. Colder, but some sunshine and no wind again. The spring flowers are growing daily and I'll be sorry to miss the rest of the daffodils. The magnolia stellata is absolutely covered in buds. I hope it waits until our return before it actually flowers.

Today I have done a bit more tidying on the way up to the veg plots and sprinkled grass seed just before it got dark. Hopefully it'll have grown by the time we come back.

Cleaned up in the cottage for our return. I must get up about 8am to change the bed, fill up the bird station feeders and one or two other bits before I go. Sandra and Pete are picking me up at 10am to call in at Aldi as they have some craft mats I might buy then on to Shannon Airport for the flight at 1.05pm to Gatwick, then a train down to Worthing. Phew! I shall miss the cats, but I expect they'll be ok. They can go in and out as they please through the cat flaps and Sandra and Pete will be feeding them.

Tonight I have just watched The Last King of Scotland. All about Idi Amin and his reign in Uganda. I would like to know how true to the facts it was. Approximately 300,000 Ugandans were killed during his regime. Then he died of old age in exile. Why he wasn't brought to justice I don't know. Brilliant, Oscar winning performance by Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin and James McAvoy as his personal physician. In fact all the performances were of an equally high standard. A quality film.

Must to bed now. For tomorrow I fly.

More Gardening, Holiday getting closer, 15 Feb 08

I can't believe this weather. Although today has been a bit cooler, it's still been lovely outside. It's been so still, which is quite unusual for Doorus, we often get quite strong winds. I finished rebuilding the wall and I'm very pleased with it. It looks more like a rockery really, and I've planted some primula, sedum and other bits and bobs in the cracks. My camera is in the UK but I'll take some photos of it on my return from Oz.

We have quite a large parking area, which is covered in small stones. There is a path off which leads to Jim's vegetable plots. Over time some of the path has become overgrown and it's much too thin making it difficult to get a wheelbarrow through. So today I widened it and leveled it as best I could. It looks so much better and the grass should grow back by the time we return. What a productive few days. Tonight my back was aching a bit so I've sat and watched a bit of tv with the cats one on my lap and one by my side. They purred all the time. I managed to do some more of the latch hook mat around the cats! Not easy I can tell you.

When I return from Australia I will take a photo of it. 3 days to go.

I must mention a couple of days ago I was sitting having breakfast in the conservatory when I thought I could see 2 dogs running around the arboretum. In fact they were foxes. They were in beautiful condition, too, both big, so I suspect they were both males, with gorgeous bushy tails and a stunning rust colour, their coats glistened in the sunshine. Wonderful.

Tomorrow I must clean up and leave the cottage cat proofed and pleasant for our return. Boring stuff but has to be done. Also gather up any bits I need to take on the flight.

KD Lang singing on the tv now. What a talent she is.

I gave up trying to light Stanley yesterday but it was very cold. Tonight I've had another go and he's going like a trojan. Must be my lucky day! It's certainly warmed up again.

Sandra and Pete, our neighbours, were out all day and when I rang tonight it was engaged. I know S's father is very ill so I hope it's not bad news. I'll try and catch her tomorrow for an update.