A life on the ocean wave . . .

 

A life on the ocean wave . . .

 . . . well, Solent, anyway.

                                    Kat, Callum, Hailey and Melia 

Callum ‘phoned. He was taking Kat and the children to the boat, just to familiarise them with it, though Hailey is too young to do more than just sit and look. Kat was intending to take the children home after a couple of hours, so Callum asked if Barry would be interested in going for a sail.

    Melia gets to grips with ship to shore technology in the navigatorium.

Barry hasn’t been down to the boat for an exceptionally long time, with things like sepsis and pneumonia and associated problems disturbing the natural order of things. He agreed he would like a day’s sailing. It’s always enjoyable for him as he doesn’t have to do anything, just keep an eye on things and issue occasional instructions while Callum does the rest very capably.

                            Callum takes his ease before setting sail

Susannah, at home with us for the weekend, said she would drive, as she would like to see her nephew and meet her great-nieces.

Hamble Point Marina is just over an hour away from us, and they set off shortly after 9.00. Callum lives much closer, so his journey is significantly shorter.

Marnie and Dean joined the party later with their two children, who are old enough to take on some of the tasks. It was a lovely day, with light airs, blue sky, and a pleasant amount of sun.

                                            Fergus and Isla
They had a wonderful day, avoiding the Isle of Wight ferries and the cruise liners. The Solent is a remarkably busy stretch of water, but big enough that close encounters of the sailing kind are easily avoided. 

Barry brings the boat alongside after a most enjoyable day

(I don't know whether the video will play! Just checked - it won't.)

Plans are afoot for the future. Gareth and Elliot fancy a day out, too.

 

Defaced blue ensign, ASA

It can only be flown when Barry is aboard 

Outside of a dog . . .

 

Outside of a dog . . .

                              . . . a book is man’s best friend.

Our eldest grandson and his little family visited us on Sunday, unexpectedly. It was delightful to see them all. 

Callum's elder daughter, Melia, is almost two and a half years old, and a very competent little girl. In the morning before they set off from home, she announced that she wasn’t going to wear nappies any longer. Obviously, she judged that the time was right, though it wasn’t the most opportune time to relinquish them, but she didn’t go to the loo very many times while she was with us.

Her baby sister, Hailey, is four months old and she was happy to gaze around at her surroundings, and coo.

Melia is very used to dogs and our dogs were happy to have visitors, particularly those at nose level with sticky fingers. They had to be segregated periodically when food was being consumed.

Books and toys, drawing pads and colouring pencils were brought out to entertain. 

Gilbert, being a Literary Labrador showed an interest, using the books as a pillow after our visitors departed.

                             Our cats, too, have shown Literary Leanings.

      

                                                  The late Winston Ocicat enjoyed blogging.

                                                 He also enjoyed reading his Kindle in bed.

                                           Pats the Abyssinian enjoyed books from kittenhood.

                                                 Herschel Ocicat guards the bookshelves.

          Jellicoe Ocicat is studying ornithology amongst other subjects.

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.

Groucho Marx

 

Dorset to Glasgow

 

 Dorset to Glasgow and back

On Thursday, our eldest grandson flew to Glasgow for a business meeting. There was a severe weather warning in place, with Storm Eowyn expected to wreak havoc, but Callum had not been told of any alteration to plans. While he was waiting for people to arrive and the meeting to begin, a colleague said, ‘Right, I’m off home,’ and wished him farewell. The meeting had been cancelled, but no-one had thought to tell Callum!. Everyone was being advised to go home and stay there.

There being no point in him remaining, Callum decided he had better return home. All flights had been cancelled, so he had to arrange to travel by train. He would reach London Euston just before midnight. He could have stayed with middle daughter, Susannah, in London, but wanted to get home to his pregnant wife and little girl. Eldest daughter, his mother, Gillian, donned her taxi-driver’s hat and drove from Dorset to meet him and take him home.

We were watching Miss Marple, the adaptation with Julia McKenzie in the title role, when the dogs alerted to Alexa announcing, ‘motion detected on the drive.’ That’s nothing unusual, but a few seconds later the front door opened, followed by the porch door, and finally the sitting room door, and Gillian appeared.

 Pandemonium ensued as two deliriously happy dogs mobbed her. She had decided to break her journey with us for a couple of hours and gee herself up with coffee before meeting Callum at Watford, the last stop before Euston. That was preferable to driving into London, and made for a shorter journey.

We tried to persuade her to come back to us for the night, but she was adamant that Callum wanted to get home, and we understood that.

It was so nice to see her, all the more so because it was unexpected. We knew she would not reach her home in Dorset much before 2:00 a.m. Consequently, I read until about 2:30, when I could be satisfied she had probably arrived home safely.

Eowyn didn’t do much in our area, but Herminia is threatening now, and many flights into Heathrow have been cancelled.

It has been a cold, wet and windy day, but at least there will be no ‘mercy dash’ by car to pick up a weary son/grandson.

On the other hand, son Gareth is supposed to be on his way to Austria today for a week’s skiing. I hope his time will not be spent in the airport lounge.

Unexpected

 

Unexpected

Melia, 20 months old

Mooching around on Saturday, doing nothing in particular as usual, we received a ‘phone call from our eldest grandson. He was headed in our direction, and would we be about for a visit?

Momentary panic as I looked around the sitting room. We hadn’t got five hours to clear up! On the other hand, we hadn’t seen him and his little family for a long time. Of course, we would be delighted to see them. After all, they were coming to see us, not conduct an inventory of the house and a critique of our home management.

Callum knows us well, and lived in the caravan on our drive for a year while he did his gap year near GCHQ. (The rest of the house was full with Susannah and her little boy.)

When they arrived, their little girl, Melia, had just woken from a nap and was clinging to Kat, unwilling to engage with strangers, and quite right, too. 

Really not sure, but safe in Mummy's arms

She is used to dogs and cats. There are two of each in her house, and all her Dorset cousins are knee deep in dogs, mostly working Labradors like ours. Nonetheless, we gated our dogs in the kitchen so that they could adjust to the excitement of visitors.

As Melia roused, she relaxed and showed her lovely smile, until Barry or I looked at her, when the shutters immediately came down. When we released the dogs, who went straight to Callum, she was entranced by them and life suddenly seemed more familiar to her.

 Gilbert, trying to understand

 Gilbert, our young boy, is not accustomed to toddlers, so he skirted around Melia, sniffing her surreptitiously, not yet realising that little children are sticky and good to lick. Roxy, having grown up with Frankie, is wise to the ways of infants and paid close attention as Melia munched a selection of sandwiches and satsumas.

The cats prowled around, as cats do, and Melia stroked them. Then she got into one of the empty dog beds, a big, fluffy doughnut of an affair, and was very happy. She is a very capable little girl and will be a loving big sister next March, when she will be two years old.

All too soon, it was time for them to leave. It was such a lovely surprise to see them and made our day.

The dogs were exhausted, as they always are with any change in routine, and slept soundly for the rest of the evening.

Visitors

 

Visitors

                                            Melia, learning to sit

On Monday evening I had a ‘phone call from my eldest grandson, Callum. Were we doing anything the next day? I confirmed that our day was clear so he said he and Kat would come and see us. This was to be our first meeting with Melia, our youngest great-grandchild.

They arrived mid-morning. They live about 1½ hours away, a distance of about 70 miles. Travelling during the summer holidays is much easier and their journey was trouble-free. Melia slept all the way. She is five months old and such a smiley, happy baby, with big, dark blue eyes. She has made tremendous progress since her heart operation in May and is really well and strong.

Susannah and Melia

It was lovely to see them all. Susannah took a break from work and popped round to see them and have a cuddle with Melia. Babies don’t stay small for very long. She is already rolling and teeth are imminent. We shall see big changes the next time we meet.

Gilbert was most interested - his first baby!

Gilbert the Good - my morning

 

Gilbert the Good - my morning

I slept in a bit this morning. It was a busy day in the garden yesterday, helping to repot lots of plants. Roxy didn’t do much; she doesn’t really like gardening but I like to get my nose into everything. The humans call me a Monty Don dog. So, anyway, I was a bit tired and didn’t get up until 6:15.

After breakfast, I played with Frankie when he came round and after he had gone to school I made Roxy play with me.

Later on we all went for a walk. It was lovely and green. We didn’t go to any of the ponds but I managed to find a muddy puddle and bowled Roxy over in it. She was covered in mud and she’s still quite damp, several hours later. I only got mud on my paws.

When we got home it was time for my elevenses and then I had a snooze on Janice’s feet. That way I can be sure she doesn’t go anywhere without me knowing.

There are lots of boxes in the house. New ones come every day, big, small, heavy, light, all filled with interesting things, though some of them seem to have more paper in them than anything else. I reckon it’s my job to make sure nothing has been hidden in the paper. I’m very thorough. I did a really good job today.

 When my humans saw the results of my work, they laughed, but I went away from my bed to lie somewhere different, just in case I was in trouble. I don’t think I was, but a lad can’t be too careful.

Dreaming 

Look! No mud now!

After a while, I went back to my bed because I wanted to play with my squeaky pig. When Callum gave it to me I was only very little and I was frightened by the noise. Now I love it, especially when one of the humans steps on it by mistake and it makes them jump - that makes me laugh.

Arthur and Lottie came to stay last weekend and I thought they were coming again this weekend, but they’re not. It was fun, but we were so tired when they went home, we slept and slept.

 I think my humans had a bit of a zizz, too, though Barry calls it ‘watching rugby’ and Janice says she’s doing cross stitch. Is it called cross stitch because she gets cross when she’s doing it?

 This is a video from earlier this month showing my approach to searching. See how meticulous I am? 

Turn the sound up and you'll hear my pig!

Announcement

 Announcement

I hesitated to post this before the parents had taken to social media, but now that they have I can introduce my youngest great-granddaughter, Melia (pronounce Meh-lee-ah) Shay. She was born on Saturday 25th February, three weeks early, thus catching out her usually super-organised parents. 

 In Hawaiian culture Melia means plumeria or frangipani. 

All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In Greek mythology the Meliae are ash tree nymphs. 

For now, Melia, just one week old, is keeping her besotted, exhausted parents busy.

A busy weekend

 

A busy weekend

It was Barry’s birthday on February 3^rd, a significant decade marker. He was born on the day Stalingrad fell during the Second World War, though some authorities have it as February 2^nd.

We had a gathering of the clan on Saturday and were only missing a few members. The oldest was, of course, Barry, and the youngest, Luca, four months. There were seven under elevens, eight in their twenties, eight forty to mid-fifties and two over seventy. We also had three visiting dogs to add to our two. If everyone had brought their dogs there would have been twelve in the house, rather too many and too much of a trip hazard!

Since Jellicoe is now an honorary Labrador, we had to shut him and his brother away in our bedroom, otherwise he would have wrought havoc in the dining room, where food was laid out on the table. Ariella, nearly two, and Jack, four, both love cats so had a special trip to the bedroom to see Jellicoe and Herschel. The cats were worried and wide-eyed at being shut out from proceedings.

We had opened the double doors from the sitting room into the dining room so that people could wander in and out at will, helping themselves to whatever took their fancy. Susannah took control of feeding people and Callum was in charge of drinks. Barry and I relaxed and enjoyed catching up with our extended family.

It was lovely to have such a crowd of young people in the house, and so many of them very tall!  The young adults were as amusing and entertaining as ever and the little children were each caught in their own egocentric worlds, and equally entertaining.

It is rare for us all to get together and each time we say we must do it more often, but life is busy. The next organised occasion will be Susannah and James’ wedding later this year, in November. We are all looking forward to that.

The 24th blog of Augustus Lazarus Cooke (Gus)

The 24^th blog of Augustus Lazarus Cooke, (Gus) aged 9.

Hello everybody? Anybody? Is there anyone out there?

I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone had abandoned this blog, just like Mrs H seems to have done! She thinks she’s the only one who’s got lots to do. It’s not even as if Frankie takes up a lot of time now because he’s at school. Humans! They should try being dogs. We have to be alert all the time, guarding the house and barking at the television. We like Kitty Croquettes so we clear up after the cats, too, but the Humans don’t like us doing that and pull faces and tell us to go away. That’s not a nice thing to do to loyal Labradors, or any other faithful dog, for that matter. I suppose they have their reasons.

Talking of devoted dogs (and we all are) Mrs H saw a photograph of Buddy Liver Spots on her Facelook feed the other day. What? Facelook! What’s wrong with that? Oh, Jenna’s just told me it’s FaceBOOK. Well, I didn’t know . . . Anyway, it was a lovely photo. I remember Buddy, and Dominie, but the Dalmatian I remember best is Frodo the Faller. 

(If you want to know why he was called Frodo the Faller you’ll have to read about him here and here and here and here . . . and so on.)

I loved Frodo. I really admired him and wanted to grow up to be as big and strong as him.  I didn’t grow as tall but I’m sure I’m just as strong as he was and quite broad, too.  We all missed Frodo when he travelled on but we had each other and then Roxy came to live with us and she’s a lot of fun. Well, the other day, in the Dreaded Woods, we met a Dalmatian and Bertie and Roxy and I really enjoyed playing with her. I felt as though I was a puppy again. Jenna was very friendly to the Dalmatian, too, but she’s thirteen and doesn’t charge around any more. She prefers to stay close to the Humans because they’re carrying the biscuits and she loves biscuits.

I had to go to the Vet before Christmas because I had a lump on my leg. My Humans thought it was a cyst but it was a tumour and it was benign. Well, the Vets carried out more tests and discovered that it is malignant but very slow-growing. It doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t hurt. I don’t feel as bad about going to the Vet now as I’ve been quite a lot recently. I met some nice children there the last time I went.

I had to keep going to the Vet because my bandage kept falling down. First I had a lovely, Christmassy red one, then a blue one, then a green one. I was very pleased when I didn’t have to wear a bandage any more because then I could go out for walks again. I can tell you, it’s not much fun being stuck in the house when the others go out.

It was lovely to go out again and it's always fun when Frankie comes with us.

On Christmas Day a heron visited us. The Humans think it was trying to find a way to reach the fish in the pond. It stayed for quite a while.

What else has happened? Oh, yes, there has been a new baby. He’s called Jack and he arrived on Marnie’s birthday. She’s twenty-five and he’s nought! So, Mrs Human went to stay with Bethan for a few days to help with Jack’s big brother, Charlie.

Jack, a few hours old

Brothers!

Gillian and Paul and Callum and Kat came to see us after Christmas. They didn’t bring their dogs, though, so we were a bit disappointed about that.  Roxy was ever so pleased ‘cos she really likes Callum.

I don’t think there’s anything else to report. 

Be good.

Hwyl fawr am nawr! (That’s Welsh for ‘Goodbye for now!’)

The photographer

Barry is usually to be found behind a camera whenever we have a family gathering or go out. This means that for most of their young lives our children, grandchildren and now our great grandchildren, were only able to recognise him if he had a camera in front of his face.

As the curator of the family archive, spending hours cataloguing the hundreds of photos Barry takes, it began to bother me that there were very few photos of him.

However, there are occasions on which it is possible to extract an image of him. The first one here is taken from an image caught in Callum's sunglasses on a recent sailing trip.

  The second is taken from Kat's sunglasses. Kat is Callum's girl-friend.

 Sometimes, though, he is the subject. iPhones can be very useful! Thank you, Callum.

Simulation

Simulation or ‘How to become a Pilot or a Racing/rally driver

RAF  GR4Tornados (image courtesy of RAF)

simulation

·         imitation of a situation or process.

·         the action of pretending; deception.

·         the production of a computer model of something, especially for the purpose of study.

Barry’s study is a testament to all things ‘gadgety’. Actually, it’s not just his study. Much of the rest of the house has been given over to electronics. In my dreams I have a beautiful home, with ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’. It’s never going to happen but as we keep telling ourselves, ‘It’s a home, not a show place.’ True, very true.

Of course, the animals don’t help, not that they’re untidy, just that they track in mud and shed fur/hair. They also rearrange the furniture. That is not a conscious thing. I wouldn’t like anyone to run away with the idea that working parties of cats and dogs stand together, paws to lips, musing whether the sofa would look better ‘there’ or ‘there’ and should we be on trend and have some ‘shabby chic’ to give the place a little more character? We have the shabby, all right, just not the chic and I don’t suppose it’s a trend any longer anyway.

However, I have gone off at a tangent and what I really wanted to talk about was simulation, hence the title. One of Barry’s friends, who used to fly Tornados, has a flight simulator and his son learnt to fly on it and is now, at 21, a fully-qualified crack pilot. Perhaps ‘crack’ is not the correct adjective. I shouldn’t imagine the use of ‘crack’ improves a pilot’s performance. Anyway, Barry has a rather sophisticated simulation set-up in his study. Frankie, who is 5 and obsessed with cars, loves to play Formula 1 and is developing useful skills. He and Barry share an enjoyable half hour or so most days travelling the world’s racing circuits.   I can hear the roar of the engines and Barry’s exhortations half a house away. One night, after Frankie had gone to bed, Barry decided to play at ‘driving’ himself and to his astonishment discovered that Frankie’s performance far outweighed his. Callum, 20, also likes spending time polishing his skills.

The flight simulator is a little trickier. I can barely achieve lift-off and my crashes are spectacular. It is fun to ‘see’ the world through the cockpit window and is as close as I will ever get to flying a plane. Apparently, airline pilots use simulators to refresh their memories of landing strips in various parts of the world, or to acquaint themselves with unfamiliar destinations. It is an amazing piece of technology, if slightly dizzying. There is talk of going into space . . .

 

RAF GR4 Tornado (image courtesy of RAF)

The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat, all-weather, day/night attack and reconnaissance aircraft. It has been in service with the RAF for more than 30 years, but a combination of major upgrade programmes and numerous continual enhancements has kept the aircraft amongst the forefront of all attack aircraft.

Still one of the very few aircraft in the world that is able to operate at low level, day or night and in poor weather, the Tornado is now equipped with a modern precision-guided weapons suite and world-class reconnaissance sensors such as the Reconnaissance Airborne Pod for Tornado (RAPTOR). The aircraft also carries the Litening III Advanced Targeting Pod, which is used in both attack and reconnaissance roles.

(From the Royal Air Force website https://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/tornado.cfm)

What's been happening?

What’s been happening?

(Clicking on the photos enlarges them - usually . . . )

The days and weeks and months pass so quickly and when I look back I can’t see that anything much has happened. So, what has been happening?

In February and August of 2016, after years of increasing immobility and pain, Barry had two knee replacements. The result is that he is taller and can do so much more now. He was a very good patient and did all his exercises assiduously. His physiotherapist was extremely good and got the measure of him very quickly, recognising his very competitive spirit, and warning advising him not to overdo things.

 In February last year, 2017, Susannah treated us to a trip to Tromsø in Norway to see the Northern Lights. If proof were needed of the success of Barry’s knee operations, it was provided by that holiday. We went out at night into the fjords to see the Lights and Barry stood for several hours, filming them. The next day we went out again, in the hope of seeing orcas and humpback whales, though the majority had left the area, and again Barry stood for several hours taking photographs. We saw a couple of orcas and one humpback.

Aurora Borealis, Tromso

In the summer, Susannah and I went to Lucca in Tuscany. She was going to a friend’s wedding and I was going to look after Frankie. However, Frankie didn’t come with us in the end. It was very hot!

Villa Cheli, Lucca, Tuscany

Italian wall lizard

In August, our eldest grandson, Callum, came to live with us. He is on a year’s work placement from university. It’s lovely to have a young man in the house and beneficial for Frankie to have another good male role model. We see a lot of his girl-friend, Kat, too.

Callum and Kat at the helm of Appaloosa. 

In September Frankie started full-time school. As he had been attending pre-school in the same school since he was three, the staff and facilities were familiar to him. However, quite naturally, he was a little anxious and wanted to know if there would be toilets there! The uniform was a challenge for him. No longer was it a case of pulling on a tee-shirt and trousers. Now he had to manage shirt buttons. I have watched my husband countless times as he strains and contorts to fasten the wretched top button. Although Frankie had practised fastening buttons before term started, he could not manage the top button and found it frustrating. In fact, the thought of undressing and dressing affected his enjoyment of school and there were several occasions when he said, ‘I don’t like swimming/PE/school.’ It passed, of course, and now he is proud that he can get undressed/dressed quicker than his peers. Like his grandfather, Frankie is very competitive.

First day of school - so many clothes!

 The watchword in our house is, ‘Practice makes perfect’ and so it proves with many things. Frankie asked me the other day why I could write so quickly and I told him it was because I’d had lots of practice.

We hosted Christmas 2017, the first time we’ve done that for several years. Bethan and Robert and Charlie came, with Lolly, of course. It was fun and we were so well-organised, unusually for us, that we could have eaten lunch at 11.30. Susannah, a dedicated vegetarian, was in charge of vegetables and I was responsible for cooking the meat. The thing that delayed us and made us laugh was part of the vegetarian element. The Brussels sprouts were not ready! Even so, we ate at 1.00 which was just as well as small children cannot wait long for food without becoming fretful.

Charlie and Frankie

On the animal front the Labradors keep us busy and make us go out. We may sometimes be reluctant but the rewards are many, not least seeing the joy of our dogs playing. We both use walking poles as the ground we cover is rough and full of ruts and roots and often extremely muddy.

Retrieving sticks

The cats are six in number. We have our three Ocicat brothers, who will be six this year. Susannah’s much loved and characterful Abyssinian, Cleopatra, known as Pats or Patricia, died in 2017. Susannah already had two Somali brothers (Somalis are long-haired Abyssinians) and now has a tiny, exquisite Abyssinian female, Zula, who was one year old on 1^st February. The cats adore the dogs, Bertie in particular, and you may be sure that if you are making a fuss of a dog you will soon be joined by one or more cats.

Zula

All the animals love Callum and pile onto and around him and also Kat. I think they respond positively to youth!

Callum with four dogs and two cats

So there you have it. We have done very little other than look after our family. We are older but not much wiser and still look to the future though with less optimism about our lovely country. Politicians of both main parties, at least those in the headlines, the ‘leaders’, prove their incompetence almost daily. MPs of all persuasions demand that more money should be thrown at whichever problem is causing the most unease at any time. That is not the answer but it impresses the voters . . . maybe. Plus ça change!