Time for a catch up.

I recently received a note from "A woman of no Importance" and it made me realise how long it has been since I posted anything on my blog.  My last post was at the beginning of the boating season and I was looking forward to some lovely times afloat.  How long ago that all seems now!  We did get away for three weeks on the boat, travelling downstream to Peterborough, across the Middle Level and through Denver Sluice onto the Great Ouse.  Our journey took us through Ely, Cambridge, Huntingdon, St Ives and St Neots.

Here's a picture of  St Neots 

This is a photo of the Middle Level.  Flat and featureless with long straight stretches that you think will never end.  The wind turbines are a relatively new addition to the landscape and are quite impressive close up. Not sure I'd like to live near them though.

This is the Great Ouse on the approach to Ely.  It was a beautiful stretch of river.

This was our mooring in St Ives.

A resident of St Ives.

The mighty Denver Sluice which protects Ely from the tidal section of the Great Ouse.  This is the river at low tide, you can just see a small island in the picture.  We had to wait for high tide to pass through the lock.  The weather was dreadful.  Great waves pushed us back as our little engine battled up stream towards Salters Lode which is the entrance to the Middle Level.  It was quite an adventure but in hindsight maybe a little scary in bad weather.  If we do it again we'll hope for quiet water and NO wind!

We also had a holiday in Castleton, Derbyshire,  with our good friends.  Lots of walking and laughing (though not necessarily all at once!)  We stayed in a cottage right in the middle of the village.  Mam Tor was as impressive as ever and we enjoyed a day's walking along the ridge to Lose Hill.

Here's our route, looking back towards Mam Tor.

I had a lovely few days away with my bessy mate in Durham.  A couple of days in a hotel, just chatting, drinking tea and having a lovely, restful time.  That's definitely on the Must Do list for next year.

Noodle's 1, 2 and 3 continue to surprise and delight us.  Noodle 3, a little boy,  was crawling at 7 months, standing at 8 months, walking round the furniture at 9 months.  We're anticipating the first steps very soon!  Though he is a little preoccupied with climbing at the moment it can't be very long before he's off.  He'll stand for ages without holding on to anything so the balance is there.  Little Devil!  He is Noodle 2's little brother and she was none too pleased when he arrived but they are great friends now.  Well, sort of...

Here he is.

I'm still enjoying my bowling.  This year I've joined a couple more teams so that I bowl on average twice a week.  It's great fun and I'm enjoying the challenge.  I'm trying to persuade 'im indoors to go to Potters for a bowling holiday.  Long silences coming from that area of the sitting room at the moment when the subject is brought up but I'm working on him and if he should decide that it really isn't for him - I'll go on my own!  Though of course I won't be on my own as people from the club go every year so there's no problem.

The caravan is back in storage for the winter.  We had some lovely times up in North Norfolk through the summer and autumn.  I've already booked up for next year.

This year was the first time I had the 'flu jab.  Must be getting old.

Nah!!

Jacks and Joinery

On Saturday I played bowls in a friendly match against Peterborough Indoor Bowls Club.  Our rink didn't win but we had great fun.  The score (22 - 8) looked as if it was very one sided but actually each point was hotly contested.  So long as I've bowled the best I can I don't mind whether I win or lose.  This is the case for most bowlers at our club and is the sure fire way of having a good time.

Today, Sunday, we attended the boat club's AGM.  There was a very unpleasant verbal exchange between the treasurer and the ex harbourmaster.  It made everybody feel very uncomfortable for a while.  It amazes me that anybody would want to cause upset at such a gathering, but I suppose he felt he had good cause.  For the most part the meeting was very enjoyable.  The committee kept the business part of the meeting to a minimum which meant we could get on with the very nice lunch whilst catching up with club friends that we haven't seen since the Christmas meal at the beginning of December.  It was lovely to hear about everybody's plans for the new season.

Afterwards we went down to the boat just to check all was OK and to plan the refurbishment of the mooring.  A major job which we have been putting off for ages.  Luckily two club members with vast experience of rebuilding moorings have offered to do the work for us.  How lucky are we!  They are both well into their 70's and will need us to help with some of the labour but their expertise is invaluable.

It was lovely to be on the moorings again.  Lots of members were there with the same idea as us so we were able to chat in the sunshine - a taste of summer days to come!

Now we wait to find out what we need to buy in the way of decking etc so that we can make a start.

Also I need to chase up the chap who is servicing our engine.  He's had it for three weeks now so I think it's time a gave him a nudge.

Tomorrow Noodle 1 is coming round for her tea.  I've got some sunflower seeds for her to plant.  What fun!

Err, hello?

Hello everybody, been a long time since I posted anything.  Almost a year (can't believe it..).  I see most of my blogland friends have been publishing unabated in all that time.  Makes me feel rather amiss but I haven't been sitting doing nothing.  I have a grandson.  Noodle 2 has a little brother and he's been keeping us all on our toes.  He suffered with colic for the first seven weeks of his life and only started to show us who he is once the distress and discomfort he was suffering finally passed.  Bless him.

Noodle 2 has come to terms with the fact that little brother is here to stay.  Early on she wanted to know who his Mummy was and when was she coming to fetch him!  When that didn't work she wanted Mummy to take him back to the doctors!  Well, he was very noisy at the time.  Now it feels as if he's always been here.  A very welcome member of the family.

Another boating season is about to start (Hurrah).  The engine is away getting a service so it won't be too long before we can set off on more adventures.

Last summer we were away for four weeks.  We travelled as far as Banbury and back,  a total of 172 miles and 155 locks.  I think it's a bit late to post the photos of that trip (it seems a long time ago now).  We're planning another trip this year, to Cambridge via the Nene, Middle Level, Great Ouse and the Rive Cam.  The planning stages are great fun and all part of the adventure.  Our travelling companions, who have a narrow boat, will be accompanying us again so of course we will need plenty of evenings in the pub to sort out all the details.

Bowling has become a big part of my life.  I absolutely love the game and the friendly atmosphere at the Club adds to the enjoyment.  I don't win very often but it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the game.  On Saturday we're playing a friendly match against another local club.  I love those.  New people to meet, 3 hours of bowls and a meal all for £8.50.   'im indoors watches football on a Saturday afternoon but we play together in pairs matches on Mondays and triples on other days.

I'll catch with all your blogs now.  Bye for now.

Balloon Flight

Here, as promised, are some photos of our 40th Anniversary Balloon Flight, courtesy of our son and daughter.  We had a FABULOUS time!

We started by helping to  unload the basket and the balloon itself:

Next we watched as the balloon was inflated.  We were completely stunned by the size of it!  You can just see figures at each end for scale.

and there's the pilot - inside the balloon!  (He didn't stay there though..)

In the picture above you can see the basket lying on its side.  I had to climb in while it was on its side, lie on my back and brace myself against the sides until the balloon was inflated enough to lift the basket to the upright position.  Very strange feeling!!  Soon we were off!!

We rose quickly to 2,500 feet.  I thought if would be cold and had put on several layers of clothing and taken a hat with ear flaps too, just in case.  But I was surprised to find that it wasn't cold at all.  I guess because we were travelling with the wind, we couldn't feel the wind.  The views over Stamford were magnificent.  It was strange to be looking down that far with no glass in front of us.  A unique experience.  The sides of the basket  came up to mid chest, well you can see that in the photo above, so we felt quite safe.

Here are some views from up on high.  The first few though are views of us from below.  I particularly like the one with the moon in the shot.

Stamford Meadows.

Burghley House and Park.  (Where they hold the horse trials in September)

As we came down we brushed the tree tops.

All too soon we're back safely on the ground.  We hardly felt the landing at all.  The pilot was so skilled he was able to raise the ballon and hold it just a few inches off the ground to move us up the field closer to where the vehicles could come to pick us up.  

Here's me in front of the deflating balloon just trying to take it all in so that I wouldn't forget anything.

Everybody, including the families of those who had flown, joined in walking along the balloon to flatten it.  Like you'd do to an air bed but on a HUGE scale!

You won't believe it but the balloon fits into this crate!

And that was us done!

Oh, did I not mention the champagne??

A glass of bubbly each to celebrate.  Rounding off a perfect day.

Happy Easter

Noodles 2 & 1

These pictures are the latest I have of my girlies.  Noodle 2 came round today, Easter Sunday, with her Mum and Dad and visited with us for a while.  We had a lovely time.  We were expecting Noodle 1 and her Dad too.  My Mum was there, waiting as we were, to have the family together.  'im indoors had spent the morning preparing roast turkey with all the trimmings.  With only half an hour to go before dishing up time, I thought I had better ring son to see if he was on his way.  He had said he would ring us with final arrangements for the day but we had heard nothing so presumed that he was coming.  Not unreasonable in the circumstances I thought.  Better to assume he's coming and prepare a meal than to presume he's not and risk him turning up and finding us unprepared for his visit.   The phone call revealed that he wasn't having Noodle today after all. Is this all sounding a little familiar???  I seem to remember a similar post once before.  We were all expecting him to be there.  Only he knew that he wasn't coming.   He should have let us know.!!  To make matters worse son blamed me for not phoning HIM!

Tomorrow we're having a boxing day dinner.  You see we have lots of turkey to use up.................

On a lighter note (literally!) we are due to take a flight in a balloon tomorrow.  We have to ring them at lunch time to see if the evening flight is going ahead.  It depends on the weather.   Our two kids bought us the flight for our 40th anniversary last year.  We're really looking forward to it.  I'll take some pics when it happens and share them with you.  Can't get excited about it yet, still feeling low about son's bad temper.  Hoping to feel better about it tomorrow.

Oh so this is what they mean by global warming?

I couldn't believe the weather today.  It was freezing!  You know that of course if you live in the UK.  After just a few days of fairly warm weather we're back to a temperature of 4 degrees!  Tomorrow it will be April.  It's got to get better now hasn't it?

A long winter

Holidays at the latter end of last year and, frankly, a rather unhealthy obsession with Facebook have kept me away from blogland. I've come to my senses at last though. I think it was when I realised I was hurrying home just to harvest my crops in Farmville, cook some more food in My Cafe and put up the prices at the Zoo! "This is not real life" I thought. "Get a Grip!" So I have.

I am so happy that the long winter has finally, yes finally relinquished it's grip on the landscape to allow some snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils to appear. It's not often we get all three species in bloom together. It makes quite a show. I'm looking forward to seeing all the blossom too. The buds are really fat this year.

We're already starting to make boating plans. A visit to our mooring at the weekend really got us inspired. The boat is in very good condition after the hard winter - much to our relief - so we're looking forward to spending time down there. Part of the fun is looking after the boat and the mooring and there are some obvious improvements to be made. Nothing major on the boat but the mooring needs some repairs and we need to get some more comfortable seats so that we can enjoy the sunshine and take in the view. We do need a new canopy for the boat but that's just a case of taking it up river to the boat yard and paying the money. So not much effort on our part really.

The noodles are just wonderful. They keep me on my toes I can tell you. Noodle 1 still comes out with some corkers. 'im indoors had varnished some shelves prior to fitting them round at Mum's place. They were drying in the kitchen. "What are these Grandad?" "They're shelves, I've painted them for Great Grandma", said Grandad. "Painted them?" Said Maizie. "Yes" said Grandad. "But what colour?" said Maizie.

Noodle 2 is just starting to be able to express her own thoughts too. She was sitting in her high chair eating her lunch. Mum said, "have you finished Emilie?" "Yes" said Emilie. "Would you like something else?" "Yes pees, CBeebies".

Just after Christmas we started playing Bowls. It is fantastic! I am so enjoying playing. We've been going to coaching sessions every Saturday morning and practising on a Thursday afternoon. During the summer we'll be bowling in a league. Not every week, so it won't get in the way of boating. They organise it so that they have a squad of 6 to pick three from for a game of triples. So we'll get some games but not feel bad if we can't make it one week. We joined so that we would have an interest outside the house during the winter months. I think it will suit us very well. My Dad, a keen bowler who played at County level at his peak, is over the moon that we've taken up the game. Another bonus.

Now I'm off around blogland to do some catching up with you good folk.