Retirement Trip .....Cut short

Apologies for the absence but Peter and I have been away on our long planned for retirement trip.  In fact we should still be away but world events have cut our trip short.

On the 16 February we left the UK amidst a storm.  Our original plan was to travel to the airport by train but on the day due to high winds and flooding our trains were cancelled. Our youngest daughter kindly volunteered to drive us to Heathrow.  It was a hairy ride, the weather was horrible. The airport was in chaos due to cancelled flights and a computer system failure so it made for an interesting few hours.

Prior to our leaving for our trip we had been worried about the risks of going to Singapore - our 3 day stopover - but as the foreign office were still saying it was ok to travel we had no choice but to go; of course we could have rerouted but the alternatives weren't much better.  Anyway we had a great time in Singapore, it was so quiet mainly just western travelers as the bulk of their normal visitors come from China.  We were able to wander about and felt safe in the knowledge that everywhere was taking precautions against the coronavirus - temperature checking and hand sanitizer when ever you arrived back at the hotel or went in anywhere.

I think we did it justice in our 3 days, visiting the Gardens by the Bay, Raffles, Chinatown and a good walk around in general.  We did notice though that lots of the bars and restaurants were closed due to lack of visitors.

We were very impressed with Singapore (apart from the humidity - oh my hair), so clean and everywhere was a riot of colour from all the plants, it must cost a fortune for the upkeep of them all and a small army to keep them watered.

The next leg of our trip was New Zealand - arriving in Christchurch on the Friday and then picking up our camper van for 38 nights on the road.  To be honest Christchurch was a blur of jet lag and I can't tell you a whole lot about it!! In fact apart from getting some lunch and a quick walk round (its still looks like a building site due to the devastating earthquake in 2016) we went back to the hotel and slept and I only took these photos.

I'll leave you there for now and continue our journey on a series of posts.  I have 5 weeks to cover and nearly 2500 photos to go through.

Enjoying the slow times

Its been good to just kick back and take it easy over the past week or so.  A few walks, reading and knitting.  Just enjoying some quiet times.

The garden is waking up and we are enjoying some early spring colour.  The Hellebores are blooming

Clumps of tiny Tom Thumb daffodils

I also spotted some Anemones on bud and there are some Primroses too. New growth on the roses and clematis.  Peter ran the mower over the lawn last week as that has started to grow, though we did have a hefty frost this morning, so hopefully it wont do any damage.

My monthly crochet project - I achieved 15 for January, only 11 shown here.

I'm still working on my Ten Stitch blanket, each round takes so much longer now.  I printed off a pattern for a new shawl - Exoridum by Rebecca Picoult. I have some yarn in my stash that will be perfect, so there's a good chance this will get cast on before the blanket is finished!

I made Seville orange marmalade, I thought 2 kgs of oranges would be great until I was half way through cutting them up, guess that's why most recipes say "take a kilo of oranges"

We finished up the last of the Christmas cake at the weekend.  Its been a great lunch with some cheese. We are also going through the cupboards clearing up all those odds and ends that hang about.  There is a very stinky Camembert in the fridge that may well be past its best, but we will give it a try.  Dinner tonight is chili and nachos, the chili was in the freezer so an easy dinner,  Peter is currently making guacamole and salsa.  I have him well trained!

We are meeting friends for lunch tomorrow, dinner and babysitting on Friday.  Saturday I'm taking Jess and Rachel on our annual girly shopping trip and lunch for her up coming birthday - 6 can you believe she will be 6?  Time surely does fly, and with that I'll close.  Enjoy the rest of your week

Home again

Just back from another two week jaunt to France.  Unfortunately we were both under par and spent a lot of our time coughing. Even though we didn't feel brilliant I think we managed to achieve a fair bit.

Peter mainly worked with Tim on the gite, putting in the battening and wall supports ready for the upcoming plaster boarding.  Its really taking shape in there now.

Rebecca and I spent two days sorting and clearing the attic. We now have half of the attic stacked with condensed and labelled boxes, spare chairs and beds.  All Rebecca's vintage bone china and glassware is now in a cupboard that she can access easily, rather than scrabbling through boxes.

The other half of the attic has been transformed into a workroom and storage for her chandelier obsession -   where all the sewing and upholstering can be completed without it encroaching on family life.  A very satisfying couple of days.

photo credit - @chateaudelaruche

Peter and I spent a day having a bonfire, clearing out all the rubbish from the small barn and piles of branches leftover from our previous visit.  I love a good fire, though it didn't help the coughs much.

We worked in the garden, tidying the grass edges and creating a new border along the patio near the lake.  Sorted through all the Dahlia bulbs to check for rot. Planted shrubs. Generally had a good tidy round.

Snowdrops and catkins are popping out all over the place

The river is still in fast full flood at Le Boulay

I worked on my Ten stitch blanket

We went out for an acceptable curry, not easy to find in France. A trip round the brocantes, garden centres and homeware shops made a good diversion from daily chores and we got some good bargains.

Now its back home - unpacked, washing and ironing complete. The garden needs some attention, though I am happy to report that the camellia I planted out from a pot, which didn't flower last year, has flower buds on this year, not many but every one a bonus as I took the gamble on it.  Photos to follow as they open.

That's is for now, time to sort dinner - Thai green chicken curry and rice I'm thinking

Laid low

As mentioned in my last post we both had coughs.  Would you believe we still have.  I can't remember when I felt so awful.  Coughing that makes your head pound and your chest hurt.  We've done nothing but sit and read and in my case knit. 

On Wednesday we did walk round the block for 20 mins in the hopes that fresh air would make us feel better.  Nope just felt shattered when we got back.

Thursday I had a hair appointment and rather than cancel I went, sat coughing along with most others in there.  There's a lot of it about.  Friday we ventured to Tesco for supplies but that's all. 

Saturday we had the little ones overnight.  I feel ashamed to say they watched TV most of the time apart from helping with homework and they had the Lego and play dough out.  Mind you they both have coughs so I don't think they were too bothered.  But not our normal Granny and Pops sleepover.

We all had a rough night, I think we woke one another with the coughing and then these two came and visited at 5:15am....... it feels like a long day already.  Mummy collected them just before lunch and I've had a tidy round and now plan on putting my feet up with my knitting

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday xx

2020 - a new year a new decade

Happy new year to you all.  I hope that the first week of the new year is going well for you?

For us it has bought another cold (only just rid of my before Christmas one) but this has with it a hacking cough.  The only good thing is that we both have it at the same time so can sympathize with one another.  Neither of us can be bothered to cook so we are making do with cake and cheese and whatever is leftover around the house!!  Poor us.

I finished off the crochet granny blanket for Jess she was very happy with it

I cast on the Linus shawl, added 10 colours, then ripped it out.  Problem for me is that many of the Advent yarn colours whilst lovely in themselves just aren't really colours I would normally choose...

Started a new book ..... and finished it earlier this afternoon.   I honestly think this was such a sad, depressing book.  It follows Olive on her journey into old age and all the trials and tribulations that come with getting old.  Frankly I didn't need reminding of whats in store.  Thought provoking

Started and finished a cowl using 8 of the minis.  I held them doubled and took the linen stitch, new to me, from the Manic Panic cowl, choosing to make my cowl close fitting rather than loopy.  If I'm being truthful its that I couldn't face casting on 333 stitches for the smallest size

The rest of the minis are packed away.  I expect I'll use them for socks at some point

Today I sorted out some yarn to start on my monthly granny squares, but have zero motivation to start anything if I'm honest.

We did get out walking a few days earlier in the week before we really started to feel rubbish, getting in a 6.8, 4.9 and 4 miles respectively

That's me caught up for now...... oh before I forget I have to ask, did anyone catch the BBC1 Dracula drama?  If so what did you think? Nearly scared the pants off me, there was a lot of hiding behind my knitting!!  If you didn't, try and get it on catch up

Take care Sue