Sleeping with the Laundry

Jade has reinstated an old habit.

Here she is as puppy in the same basket.

Seems like old habits do die hard.

Old Friends and Favourite Places

I've just had a weekend away, staying with an old friend and her husband and their dog, Ginger.

My friend is old in more ways than one. She is my age and we are both well into our twilight years. But we first met at Torquay Girls' Grammar School when we were in our teens, so we really are old friends. I only have one friend who is older in that sense of the word - someone I met at primary school age - and they are also known to each other and whenever I see one of them, she asks after the other.

So here is the story of the weekend. I left Jade with my family, who were having their own friends to stay and were pleased that my bedroom would be free. I let the train take the strain and after about an hour's journey, was met at the other end by my friend, who ferried us on to her home in the country. She and her husband have been there for a lot of years. The house is one that is carved out of the estate of a 'big house', and the garden is surrounded by mature trees which shield them from all the individual new homes that have been built around them. Neighbours are not often evident and it seems to me like a peaceful haven. I always relax straight away when I get there.

Another bonus is the saluki-like greyhound they acquired from a greyhound rescue centre, who is the most laid back dog ever. Yesterday we took her for a walk around Bishops Waltham, which is a delightful little nearby town, where everyone greets you with a smile and a comment about the dog or the weather or some such.

The day before we left her with her master and took ourselves off to Mottisfont Abbey, which is a favourite haunt of mine that I have written about before in this blog. This time it was showing an art exhibition of paintings of trees which included some pictures by a friend of my friend. Of course we also had to go and see the walled garden, which was still a delight although it was way past the time for the olde English roses to bloom. There was colour outside the walls though. Here are some pics I took of the flowers and foliage.

Router Problem Indoors, Sunshine Outside

After being without the internet on my laptop for nearly two weeks, I finally have  a new BrightBox courtesy of EE, and I can post again. Yippee. My faithful Belkin was working hard to connect everything, but couldn't get me internet access so it has been consigned to the stationery drawer, where it will probably languish for a while before exiting for an unmentionable future. It was touch and go with the BrightBox when I got it set up, but when I turned everything on yesterday, we quickly got connected.

Everyone is pleased, but granddaughter jumped for joy that she can get Youtube on her i-pad and can play on the Xbox with friends from the London area.

We've had some good weather recently, and a lovely walk on Sandbanks beach on Sunday while the lamb roastie was cooking. The dogs loved it, as they do most of the off road walks we have around here. Here they are both waiting patiently by the front door for their humans to be ready.

Now we are a two dog household one of the problems is that when Rafi gets excited, Jade joins in and they both chased a local cat in the garden recently, after which Jade's limp has returned with a vengeance. The vet says she must still have moderate exercise so she still come for walks with us, but we can't go too far and she musn't run much, not that she wants to.

Another Lovely Dog Walk at Badbury Rings

We took the dogs on a recce to Badbury Rings this morning. Jules goes horse riding nearby one day a week, but she rides alone and wanted to learn her way around a bit on foot. We did some exploring, which I love to do, following the bridleways. Didn't meet any horses and riders - just a few walkers like ourselves.

It's a lovely place. I went there with George in June last year and wrote about it here. Of course it was a little bitter sweet remembering that. This time we went through the gate at the far end and followed little paths until we could see the farm where the horse Jules rides lives.

Then we turned to do a loop that took us back into another entrance to the Badbury Rings enclosure and along the outside of the outer ring of the hill fort to the car park. We walked for nearly an hour which is a bit longer than I've been doing lately, but I really enjoyed it.

The dogs had a great time too. Unfortunately, Jade found an area of sheep droppings to roll in so she had to g in the shower before the indignity of the hair dryer and then getting well wrapped up for her kip.

Water in the House but the Carnival Show Goes on

I've been on my own for three days as the family have all gone to London for the weekend - it's bank holiday and time for the Notting Hill Carnival.

The pic is of one of the amazing floats in last year's carnival and was taken by David Sedlecký

I expect the girls back later today. The weekend has been good for me. I've found out how much more I can do after being spoilt so much following my operation, so they will come back to find all their laundry washed and pressed. I've also driven the dogs out to the start of some great walks, although they are still a bit shorter than I used to do. And it has all been paced with rests in between and decent meals.

I had a shock one night last week though. Woke up at 4 am to hear water dripping. It was coming from a corner of the boiler cupboard which is in my lovely new bedroom in the garage conversion. Fortunately it was dripping into the waste bin and not on the new carpet. I got a bowl underneath it and put a tea towel in to muffle the sound, but lay in bed listening and waiting until morning when I could call the builder to check it out. We'd had some torrential rain in the night but it  did stop in the early hours and eventually so did the drip. When the builder returned my call I told him it was not so urgent and he came this morning to investigate. He found some loose brickwork below the flat roof and a choked gutter, cleared out the gutter and will return later in the week to redo the bricks. Should do the trick, as another £100 bites the dust. (Note to self - check if home insurers will cough up). I'm still luckier than my dog groomer though, whose house was in 10 inches of water after a storm earlier in the year, and is still not properly dried out.

Eryn is a Water Babe

Stage 1 is Over

Here I am again. The bad penny is back.

Two weeks ago, my dear daughter and gorgeous granddaughter moved in with me. The following Friday I had my right kidney and its tumour removed. The Monday after that I came home. It's amazing what can be done with keyhole surgery these days, and how you can recover quickly. I now await decisions on the next stages of my cancer treatment.

My sleeping quarters have been moved downstairs to the garage conversion with its en-suite. Couldn't be more convenient. My girl is looking after me and being a real mother hen. Wednesday afternoon saw me sitting outside a Boscombe beach hut to celebrate my son's birthday and watch all the beach fun.

But this weekend I'm having some quiet time while the family are out with friends. This is what Eryn got up to yesterday afternoon while I was snoozing at home.

https://video-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xft1/v/t42.1790-2/11834426_10207506275238886_1453504712_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjQ4NCwicmxhIjo1MTJ9&rl=484&vabr=269&oh=8347f9be349a78af3b4b6bd8bae32e7c&oe=55D09394

Sorry I don't know how to make this live on the blog. It's worth a look if the link works or you can copy the url which I got from Facebook. Eryn is wearing the red jacket and the other flyer is her friend who is visiting us.