Beach Hut Views

Top storey beach huts at Branksome Chine have the best views. And they are safe for dogs and children too. A little bit of paradise on a sunny winter day.

The Tree is Up

For about ten years I have grown a little Christmas tree in a pot in the garden. We brought it indoors in the pot each December. This year I reluctantly agreed to let it go because it was no longer happy in the pot and I don't have a place for it in the garden. I was sad to see it go, but it has made room for one that comes in a box and will be broken down and packed away when the time comes. It is taller and slimmer, and has its own built in lights, so it is easier to put up (hoping the lights still work next year). And it fits nicely into this corner. Now that we have it decorated I quite like it.

Winter Sun and Wind

It was bitterly cold with a bracing wind at the beach this morning. Heading into the wind really took your breath away. It was bliss to turn around and walk back. But the sun shone from a bright blue sky and everything was beautiful. the dogs appreciated it too.

Storms and Office Clearing

Outside the storms have been raging and now we have the calm after the storm.

Indoors I have finally hung up my commissioned writing boots. I say finally because I think this time it is. A couple of years ago I did it but went back to it after a few months.

So  now I am working on dismantling my home office and decluttering the space. It's a bit of a nightmare to see just how much I've hung onto in case it became useful. The local community are benefitting though, as I'm using the PooleFreecycle group to advertise what I no longer want and am prepared to give away.

A few days ago 3 boxes of files, envelopes, paper and miscellaneous items were collected by a start up from Swanage. Now there's another lot on offer, inluding one of my two office chairs. I hope all that goes as quickly.

Yesterday I went out to lunch with my daughter and good friend and we ate at The Green Man in Wimborne - a cheap, cheerful and cosy traditional pub with a lovely log fire. Tomorrow, if I feel up to it, I am out for lunch again, with my singing group. We are all going for fish and chips.

So it will be a couple of days before I can get back to the office clearing.

The Kitchen in Poole Park

I took this picture nearly 4 years ago but the view is still more or less the same. Sorry about the focus which is not as clear as it should be because it is an enlarged cropped area of a wider landscape.

It shows the restaurant, now called The Kitchen, on the shore of the lake in Poole Park. It's where some well loved, visiting friends waited for me to meet them after an appointment in the large building in the background, Poole Hospital. That was on Tuesday, a very cold day this week. But we had a pleasant time together over the couple of days they stayed locally before heading back to their own pad near Eastbourne.

Another happy interlude.

Another Holiday

I've been away for nearly two weeks. Torquay again - and for the last five nights was in a sweet little cottage with views to die for. We were in the last but one on the left in the terrace - blue fronted.

The field in front of it is called Daddyhole Plain and it reaches to the edge of a cliff with a car park that used to be my dad's favourite viewing point. Here's why.

That was looking to the right. And in the opposite direction:

News not too Good

Saw my consultant last week following scans and got some bad news. The chemo tablets have stopped working and my tumours are growing. There's one more type I can try. If they don't help there's nothing else and it will all be over soon. I must make the most of the life I have left.

Meanwhile I am living in a beautiful place and going out to the beach is soothing whatever the weather.