Sitting pretty :-)

A waterside pub, two lovely relatives, a couple of drinks and then a walk back home along the river <3

Olympic shiny moment and Ollie the giant :-)

The Olympic torch came to the area today and a friends son was carrying it part of the way.

I picked up lovely Nephew and we headed into town. I parked out of town as I was slightly nervous of getting into town and finding it too busy to park.

We found out that wasn't the case and could probably have parked right near where we ended up standing!! Oh well, we got a bit of excersise walking in ;-)

Kevin's story is so inspirational and he truly deserved this moment to shine :-) 

Kevin's nomination story

Kev has Cerebral Palsy. At school in the 800 mtrs race he used to get lapped by his peers at the 200-300 
mtrs mark but he still finished the race. He always loved football but was never very good at it. 
He used to go to EVERY training session but when it came to picking a team Kev was always left on the subs
 bench & only got to play for 5 mins at the end if the team had a comfortable lead.

Kev is an absolute inspiration to everyone he meets. He has overcome adversity in the most positive way. 
He has gone from wearing splints on both legs till he was 7 yrs to doing a Psychology Degree and gaining 
the BPS prize in his 3rd year as while he was doing his dissertation he was also training for the 
London Marathon (which he completed in 4 hrs & 42 mins) & he was a student ambassador 
& he looked after a man in a wheelchair for 12 hours a week all in his 3rd year at uni.

He now works for People First as a Health Fascilitator encouraging adults with learning difficulties to 
have a fitter & more active lifestyle by assisting them with diet and fitness regimes. He got this job by
 thinking up the project then writing a funding bid where he got £300,000 from the
 BIG Lottery to fund a 4 year project.

He will always go that extra mile and nothing is too much trouble to him. He has just got engaged to Sarah
 & says he is now complete. He would be a very worthy candidate to carry the torch &
 he would be so honoured to be chosen.

Kevin and Sarah <3

Kev and his Brother and great buddie Ryan.

Kev and Milly.

Moment to Shine :-)

It was great to be a part of it and to support him and his family. 

We trecked back to the car and made our way home,  dropped Alex off and headed home to get some food before heading out again.

Alan had been due to work late and meet us in town but someone else did it for him and he got home in time to take us. I was so pleased I wouldn't have to drive again! I woke at 7.30 this morning with a migraine, took pills and went back to bed but it never really lifted . So tiredness, a lingering headache and the effect of the pills combined meant that my driving today has been diabolical! 

Alan drove and we had no problems getting into town and parking. 

I do get myself worked up unnecessarily about these things...

Whilst Milly and the drama group had a final rehearsal Alan and I hung around for a while then headed to the indoor venue the Solstice picnic had been moved too.

A stroll past the village hall and over the river.

Ollie the Giant arrives.

Ollie wanted to be a swimmer in the Olympics but was too big for the pool so had to consider other options. The group had collaborated in making the song and Ollie was carried using a harness that Geoff wore and sticks controlled by some of the group. The others sung and joined in doing the actions with Ollie :-) It was very entertaining :-)

The group then headed back to the Theater and Alan and I ambled back to meet them munching on some chips :-) 

Milly had been quite anxious this morning as she didn't know what the routine was but after the rehearsal she was much happier and enjoyed the whole experience :-)

The weather was also much better than forecast and we stayed dry on both outings :-) 

Cakes, Heifers, Olympic torch and soggy Solstice celebrations.

The week so far..

Monday...

A quiet day at home. I spent time in the morning doing a lot of Ebay wrapping so I could get over to the part time post office within the two hours or so it is in the village hall.  

Hammock time for Milly.

She is creating some wonderful stories after many, many months where she hasn't written one... Some are being recorded on the laptop, some are simply told to us. She has been leaving tasters of some of her stories as her facebook status. Drawing is also back on the agenda and she is spending time drawing the characters she writes about.

The hammock - snuggled under her duvet - is where her stories are formulated.

That night Milly and I watched My Sisters keeper on TV and cried buckets :-( 

We only caught the last hour or so and put it on our love film list to watch again.

Tuesday...

Was my meditation group meet up. 

We didn't meditate as one of the girls -  lol! we are all of an age but I still think of us as girls :-) - had to leave early and it never feels right with one of us missing. We had a good natter and - as is always the case - I came away feeling uplifted. I am so lucky to have this group in my life :-)

Mum had come to look after Milly and they made fairy cakes. We were going to visit a family friend and I had promised to take cake! 

After lunch and a chat with Mum I made a casserole to cook slowly in the oven so I wouldn't have to cook tea when we got in. 

We had a lovely visit with Hazel and caught up as it was a while since we had seen her. An added bonus was that her son had decided to sell his Buffy the Vampire Slayer videos and Alan had given Milly some of his birthday money so she could buy them :-)

She is now the proud owner of the whole Buffy series and the Angel series. Just have to find somewhere to store them - videos take up a lot of space :-)

Wednesday...

The plan today was to go swimming with friends. For various reasons they couldn't make it and it had to be cancelled although we were invited to go along to theirs for afternoon cream tea :-) 

So a slower start to the day for us which was actually welcome. I managed to clear some paperwork and get some jobs done before waking Milly - as requested - at 11.

I also made some Butterfly cakes to take with us.

It was lovely to See Maria, Jamie, Millie and Devan. 

M had had an eventful morning as a herd of young heifers had toppled the fence and came to investigate her garden! They were all milling around the fence -  temporarily repaired to keep them from visiting again ;-)) - and I couldn't resist taking a photo. This one was particularly interested in us ;-) 

After a couple of hours we headed into town. I am getting more used to driving Persephone but still struggle a little with the gears... 

Walked into Sainsbury and Milly spotted Amy and Molly so she abandoned me and went off round with them to do their shopping and we met up again at the tills :-)

Home for tea and then a discussion with Alan about the best way to get into town to see our friends son carry the torch tomorrow. I have an inability to visualise a route unless it is a road I travel regularly - to be honest I can have difficulty even if I do travel it regularly!  I am taking Alex and Milly in to see Kevin run with the torch. He has overcome so much and it will be great to support him. Still not sure where we will be parking or how close we will be able to get. Should be interesting! 

We should get home in time for a breather before setting off again as Milly goes to Drama. There are a number of things on in town tomorrow as The Cockermouth festival falls on the same day as the Olympic torch procession. There are bands and street performers. The plan is for them to perform amongst the crowd with a giant they have made with wood and plastic bottles. They have had little time to prepare as the group leader had a death in the family and only have a 20 minute rehearsal before they go out tomorrow so Milly is a little anxious..

Oh and it is forecast to pour down all day. 

That might just put a damper on the solstice picnic by the river we were hoping to attend.

 Let's hope they are proved wrong.

So yet another town that will be chocka block with the whole main st closed off....

Plenty of opportunity to test my driving and navigational skills :-) 

Instagram, friends on holiday and sleepover slip up....

I have been playing with Instagram and really enjoy creating different images. The one above was taken at Maryport Harbour where we had been sitting eating fish and chips with Liz, her Mum, and the kids who were on holiday here. Milly was acting coy and I love her pose. Unfortunately it is not as clear as the original and is not showing at it's best on here :-) 

These pictures are of the girls at a play park on the way to meet with Liz at a Butterfly farm to spend some time together before they went off with Milly to spend a night with them in the caravan.

The weather has been fine for most of the week and the girls have had three sleepovers at ours and one at the caravan so they have seen a lot of each other. Paddling in the sea, lots of bouncing on the trampoline, and lots of walking in the fresh air add up to a very pleasant, busy, but tiring week. 

The last sleepover last night was suggested by me.. I knew the girls would love to spend the night together and really wanted to provide that for them. The two nights they had spent here on Mon/Tues had gone well and giddiness wasn't overwhelming ;-)) However after 5 full on days together, late nights for them and me and an afternoon of swimming for us all, it proved to be a step too far :-( 

 Extreme fatigue and consequentially low tolerance to noise ( me) extremely giddy and noisy ( them )  temper ( me and Milly )  irrational threats ( me ) and tears ( Milly ) brought on due to exhaustion and anger at me - aided by a less than sympathetic response from Alan - meant a rather messy end to what had been a lovely week.

There has been a calm de - brief over fish and chips tonight and we have all accepted our part in the debacle and discussed ways it could have been handled better :-)  

A couple of relaxing days on the Agenda this weekend to recoup :-)) 

A...Amy...B...Beacon... SEA :-))

Holiday sleepover with Amy began with a trip to The Beacon Museum.

After our last couple of visits with Milly had wanted to take Alan so he could play the space invader game. As he was on holiday it was a perfect opportunity to take him :-)

A great day out and back home for a sleepover. 

As we were walking around the harbour they had decided they wanted to go to town so they could swim in the river... It was cold but they were confidant they would be ok to go in. Alan was taking  Beauty and Socks to the vets for their yearly jabs and the girls went in to town with him then wandered down to the river. They did actually go in but paddling proved to be enough so they returned home with Alan. 

Home for tea and then the usual giggles...

Then - much later - what has become a new tradition of eating freshly cooked baked potatoes by Milly for supper:-)

A Right Royal Tea Party ....

A little celebration..

My Sisters village were hosting a street Party and P&C had been involved in the planning and implementation .

There was a fancy dress Parade, sports and games in the top field, a take and share tea party, and later a Hog roast and a live band to top off the day....

I attempted to make another Victoria sponge to take for the tea party. I had no caster sugar and I used a granulated brown sugar... The cake didn't turn out well at all :-( I took it out thinking it was cooked but it was still raw in the middle so I put it back in and it did cook but was a horrid texture :-( So nothing to take to share at the tea party... Good job the village shop was open and some sausage rolls became my contribution... The cake will go into a trifle. Milly requested to try trifle- randomly - the other day :-) 

The weather was perfect and we had a good couple of hours watching the fancy dress parade and walking up to the field to see the games. There was an abundance of  food and lots of lovely cakes at the Tea party and my friend D ( who I haven't seen for ages ) was singing to entertain whilst we ate :-)  We managed to have a catch up chat which was lovely. 

Milly was flagging so we came home for a breather and then went back for the hog roast. She didn't feel up to watching the band as she was feeling shaky again ( it is taking a while to get over this bug she had ) back home now in my nightie about to crash out on the sofa :-)  

Side garden, solo driving and Snow white..

Side garden landscaping today...

I spent a lot of time holding the whirly gig ( rotary washing line ) in various positions to see where 

A... It would look best and not block the view.

B ... I could hang washing on it without it blowing into nearby bushes or trees

C....Alan was able to hammer the peg in around the many tree roots and large stones in the ground. 

After a lot of me dancing around with the line to find a spot and Alan then holding it so I could see what it looked like and two failed attempts to sink the metal stake to hold it in... We found the spot :-)

I then flitted between making baked potatoes for breakfast for Milly . hanging washing ( indoors as the position the line was in required some pruning to ensure the clothes weren't going to hit the shrubs ) juicing and the garden, laying out the plans for Alan to implement.. We work as a team I design and he does, it has served us well for over 30 years now :-) ,

Midday and it was time to get ready to head out in Persephone - solo again!

I was going to see Rezwana for a massage.

I left Milly drawing and Alan gardening. Milly was killing time before going to Amy's house for a couple of hours to help her with baking her cakes for sale..

I had a fairly uneventful drive ( phew ) and a fabulously relaxing massage. 

Back home and Alan had managed to do a great deal in the garden and he had also managed to fit the replacement trampoline cover on. I got an early tea ready for Milly. The girls had done the baking and then the two of them had gone along to the park and she came home dead on time to have her tea and then get ready to go out.

We all went to see Snow White and the huntsman as part of Alan's birthday celebrations. Fab film. Mixed opinions on Kirsten Stewart's performance but over all we all enjoyed it :-)

Not as planned....

Milly woke early and was downstairs by 10.30 eagerly awaiting a delivery from Ebay.  It was supposed to have been posted first class on the 28th.

She was very disappointed when the postie arrived minus said delivery :-( 

It was a new Monster High doll and she had been so looking forward to playing a game she had been creating. She handled her disappointment well though. I wrote an email to the seller but there isn't much else we can do except wait.

The rest of the day was spent drawing and Tv ( Milly) clearing bookcases and general tidying ( me).

As we had a big night out planned we both had a bath and washed our hair. We also tidied Milly's room so we could get a bed down for Amy. They were going to a theater production in town and Alan and I were going to take the opportunity to celebrate his birthday by having a meal out whilst they were there.

At 3.30 Alan came home as I was drying my hair. He was exhausted and decided to have a nap. I had to iron my dress if we were going out and still had tea to make for the girls...

I make these plans with good intentions because in my mind I so want to do things but the reality is that I am not good on an evening and the thought of being out til late tonight wasn't appealing .

As Alan crawled into bed I suggested we have a takeaway and watch a film together which Alan was happy to do :-) 

 Milly had been excited about going to the play but also nervous as she had had previous experiences where the play hadn't been her cup of tea and the thought of sitting for a couple of hours in that situation was worrying her. We chatted it through and she took her ipod so she could listen to music if she wasn't enjoying it. I asked her not to let her judgement of it spoil it for Amy though as she may enjoy it.

Alan took them and brought us back an Indian takeaway:-)

It was lucky we hadn't gone for the meal as the play finished sooner than we had thought and he went back for them at 8.30.

They went straight to Amy's to get her overnight stuff and I had to wait to hear all about the play.

Countryboy's struggle.

They had both enjoyed it immensely and were full of tales about it. However they were both feeling unwell - Milly still not fully clear of the bug and Amy had felt dizzy - so they had wisely decided not to have a sleepover. Instead of an overnight stay Amy is here til 11pm when Milly will walk her back round  to her house and they have planned things so they will spend time together tomorrow as well. Milly will help Amy baking for her cake stall at a car boot sale on Sunday to raise money for her school trip to Taiwan next year. Then on Sunday Milly is getting up at 7am to go with Alan to the car boot sale so she can support Amy and buy some cakes :-) 

Things haven't been as planned today but it all still worked into a very enjoyable day...

Last minute Birthday cake :-)

Alan's birthday today... He was at work so last night Milly displayed all his cards and presents on the island unit for him to find when he got up for work :-) 

I had to get up at 8 to wait for a delivery driver to drop off a new enclosure for the trampoline. The net had started to come apart at the seams but a quick call to Argos and they arranged for a replacement. Impressed with the service:-) 

I have had the dining room bookcases on my list of jobs to do for months. They need a sort out.. They actually need a good clear out but I haven't got the space to store the books/games we no longer need so it is better to keep them tidily on the bookcase and weed them out form there to sell or pass on to friends :-) 

I have put it off for so long and today - although I felt less like it than ever - I decided to tackle it by breaking it down instead of it being such a mammoth task. Initially I decided I would just start with one section....That worked and in the end I did one bookcase ;-)) Three more big ones to go but I will tackle them in the same way one step at a time :-)) 

We had an appointment with lovely Rezwana for Milly. This involved me driving us both without Alan guiding me Eeeeek....

My deep breathing and meditation technique came in handy and  I managed to keep a lid on my nerves.

It was jerky and a tad uncontrolled at times but we got there and back in one piece :-) 

Back home and we realised we hadn't got a cake for Alan! 

Cue online search for a simple Victoria sponge and the two of us whipped it up and had hoped to have it ready and cooled by the time he got home. He had left work early though and it was still in the oven when he arrived home!

Once it had cooled we added whipped cream and jam. We hadn't bought candles but Milly improvised with some from my 50th and three blue ones to make the 53 years for Alan ;-)  

It was delicious. 

Alan took the girls to Drama and I made us a meal - oven roast Salmon, noodles stir fried with ginger, garlic, sweetcorn and oven roast tomatoes then drizzled with sweet chili sauce - to eat when he returned.

I had a glass of wine which had an immediate effect and I felt quite squiffy ;-)

I have been on a juice detox - Jason Vale juice yourself slim - and have just started adding in evening meals. I have lost weight and enjoyed the juices and smoothies so I am going to continue taking it day by day and see how it goes. The main reason for me doing it is because the benefits to the symptoms of  M.E have been quite significant for some people who have changed their diet so I hope this turns out to be the case for me. Will keep you posted :-)

Illness, sunshine and driving lessons...

After a very frustrating time coping with a flu like bug ( Milly passed it on to me and Alan has also been suffering but has not had to be off work ) watching the sun shining out side we both managed to get out in it today! I had been out for a while yesterday and Milly had popped out but was still very tired and had little energy.

However today she was keen to go in the pool for a little while.

Alan had done some landscaping at the weekend and the pool was in place but needed filling and the area around it needs planting. 

We have had this pool three years now. The first year after a week the water went green and then the weather was never warm enough to bother filling it again.....

Last year I decided to order a cover and chlorine bobber. We had bought it from Argos but they didn't do a cover. It is 10 ft octagonal in shape and after trying a couple of covers that wouldn't fit I decided to buy one that was too big and cut it down to fit. It took AGES!!! After Alan and I spread it out on the lawn and folded it so we could cut a circle I used nylon thread and began to hem it and add tags on so we could use them to thread nylon string through to hook onto tent pegs. 

Evening after evening last spring I sat in the sun room surrounded by blue plastic sewing and sewing - having to take it easy as it would make my hands swell and the pain was intense if I over did it. 

Here it is in it's second year of use :-))

She sat in the pool whilst it filled. 

After a while though she was flagging and decided to head in and rest.

I made food and left her to watch TV and I went to lay in the Sun. I listened to a guided meditation and some music.On and off through the day she would come out and keep me company .

When she appeared so did two others :-))

We had a card to make for a special Birthday boy who is 53 on Thursday so where better to do it than in the sunshine.

Then back to the sofa for Milly and I spent a very pleasant hour Sunbathing :-)

Views from my spot :-) 

When Alan got home it was off to shop and a driving lesson for me! Oh my goodness how stressful is driving a manual car!!!  Raised voices, hot sun, and Milly who has decided she no longer likes Persephone as she is too small and makes her feel claustrophobic and sick:-(  She really doesn't like change and I think being ill didn't help. Hoping that when things are less stressful for me that she will settle and grow to love the car....

Another drive with Alan tomorrow and then I have an appointment to take Milly to on Thursday so it is solo driving then!