To Charlotte and the mill

Went to see Charlotte this morning to drop off a few things.  Grace woke up soon after I arrived.  She is so sweet.  I wish she did not have to suffer with the eczema - its not fair on such a little baby.  I pray that she will be healed of this horrible allegey very soon.

Went to the mill and had lunch with Mum and Susie in the garden as it is such a sunny day.  Susie made us a lovely salad with produce from the garden, followed by raspberries and strawberries - very nice.  Mum had arranged to go and see her cousin Margery, so Susie and I chatted in the garden and then went to see the vegetable garden.  Here is a photo of Susie with the vegetables!

and here is one in the greenhouse with courgettes, melons and cucumbers....

David came round and showed us Helen's new converted office in the garden and saw George as well.  Susie and I then had some tea followed by another trip round the vegetable garden.  I had to leave at about 4pm to miss the worst of the traffic, especially on the A12.

Thanks for a lovely day Susie.  See you soon.  xx

Trip on the river from Paper Mill Lock

The church organised a trip on the River Chelmer today.  About 40 of us met at Paper Mill Lock and boarded the Victoria.  Ploughman's lunch was provided and we spent the time chatting or standing on the bow in the sunshine watching the reeds at the side of the boat or the fish swimming in the river.  A very pleasant way to spend 3 hours.

A year on...

I've decided to start my blog up again.  Not quite sure why but i've been thinking about it off and on for a while.  Its been nearly a year since my last entry and a lot has happened.  After my operation in September 2011 followed by chemotherapy, I had to have another operation in May this year.  But thankfully no chemo at the moment!
Since my last blog entry, we have had a new addition to the family..... little Grace! Born on 11th January 2013 after a very long labour.  She is very beautiful and we are all in love with her.  She is such a cutey.  Charlotte and Scott are both such wonderful parents. Here is a photo of Grace with her mummy ....

We have been having such an eventful and enjoyable summer - especially since hearing that no chemothereapy was necessary!  The weather has really perked up and actually feels like proper summer at last.  I celebrated my 60th birthday with a BBQ for family and friends on 29th/30th June.

The weekend before Ian and I took the caravan out for its first outing.  We went to visit Lindy and Chris in Bath, going to see the sights of Wells, Wells Cathedral and a beautiful privately-owned garden. Here is a photo of Lindy and Ian by Wells Cathedral.......

On the second day we had a wondeful dinner with them at their home before returning to our caravan.  The next day off to Bamford (in Oxfordshire) for the Community of Aidan & Hilda's Annual Gathering.  We had a really good time there and it was great to meet so many new people.  Here are some photos of it....

What else have we been doing?  Oh yes, we went to visit a relative of Ian's who lives in High Wycombe.  They are related through their great, great grandfather.  Keith came over from NZ when he was a young man and spent the first few months living with Ian's parents until he got himself a job.  He is now married to Victoria and has two children, Georgian (shortly going to University) and James pictured here with Keith cutting the cake.  It was their birthdays (on the same day) the day we went to visit them.
 

On Saturday Ian and I ran a books and resources stall for Community of Aidan & Hilda at the Bradwell Pilgrimage, an annual event at the chapel at Bradwell-on-Sea.  The chapel was built in 640 by St Cedd who came down the coast in a boat with some monks from Holy Island to establish a monastry and on the request of the Saxon King, to evangelise the Saxons.  The chapel was built from the stones of an old Roman fort and still stands today.  Its a wonderful place in the middle of no-where on the estuary with wild flowers, the wind, the sky and the call of the birds.  Needless to say, the sun shone again for us.  Here is a photo of the chapel on the right with the marque (where we had our stall) on the left.

I also have met up with some friends that I knew at school.  Can you believe it.  I've not seen them for 43 years but we met up on Facebook and arranged to meet up in London for lunch.  It was so weird and yet so enjoyable.  Here is a photo of us at an Italian Restaurant in Paddington Street.  Alison Montague, Valerie Knight, Sue Hildrey and me!

Holy island

Spent two nights at the Open Gate on Holy Island whilst Ian stayed in the caravan. Here are some photos of the island which you can only get to at low tide.

On Saturday there were hundreds of people, when the tide comes in they all have to get off over the causeway otherwise the are stuck there for the night.

Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary.  Its hard to believe that 10 years have gone by so quickly and so much has happened in them.  We did not plan to do anything special but had a lovely day.  In fact probably the best day possible.  Daryl was here putting in our new kitchen and that seems to be going very well - should be finished by Tuesday/Wednesday next week.  The weather was lovely and sunny and Ian and I did some gardening.  We then went to a pub called The Sportsman for lunch in a village called Noughton, not far from here.  Then to B&Q to change a light fitting for the kitchen, then on the Witham for Ian to have his hair cut and then back home.  It was a lovely sunny evening so we sat outside reading our books taking up the rays.  In the evening we had salmon and salad - salmon cooked in the caravan as not kitchen facilities yet and watched a film on tv.  Just an ordinary day - but there was something special about it.  I  think it is because we love our life as it is in Great Totham and yesterday kind of celebrated it.  We are so lucky - God is looking after us.

Beekeeping

Went to see Stuart Baldwin in Wickham Bishops who is a beekeeper.  He talked to us about beekeeping and then showed us the room in the garage where he does the honey extracting.  He advised that the first priority is to go on a beekeeping course as there is a lot to know before you start.  Unfortunately these courses don't start until February next year.  Anyway in the meantime we can gather information in the form of monthly magazines etc.  Also Jean Syme who runs the Maldon and Chelmsford beekeeping groups has suggested that I ask Stuart if I can shadow him.  She will take a bee suit round to his house for me.  I also have a list of the various meetings in the Essex area which we can attend.  I think I am dragging Ian along on this one, but you never know, he might get interested!  We are looking into hives.  Some of them can be built from flat packs - Ian is very good at this sort of thing!

Went into Maldon this afternoon and bought Ian some anti-hayfever tablets as he is suffering quite a bit and sneezing a lot.  Its nice to go into Maldon and walk round the shops - its a nice town.

Back to church

I feel that we haven't been to church for a while but it was only one Sunday whilst we were in Dorset.  Anyway, it was nice to see everyone again.  We had the family praise service today.  This is held in the church hall and is children-orientated with more modern songs played by the band.  At first the congregation were not too sure about this service, preferring the traditional communion service in church.  But today there were a fair number of people (about 40) and  it was a lovely service.  Father Stuart preached - mainly to the children and mainly with 'audience participation'.  It was good and enjoyable.

Ian and I got home and had lunch and then, as the weather was nice and sunny, we decided to go to the Heavy Horses Show at the Museum of Power at Langford - just up the road from us.  It was a typical country affair with lots of dogs, horses, funfair and stalls.  Ian enjoyed the Museum of Power too.  Came home for a lovely cup of tea.

Have been watching Countryfile and the Antiques Roadshow on telly.  Had salmon with mushrooms and garlic, prawns and broccoli for dinner.  What a lovely day!