Sal and Dave here....

for the weekend, they are hoping to head to France on Thursday.  Charlotte set up a blog so we can eventually keep up with their progress, but not for a few months as they are not taking the computer with them in this load as they have nowhere to put it and no phone or internet. 

I've got a whole tree full of these....

....waiting to be put in the freezer.

Chopped down the fennel ready to plant bulbs, it smelt wonderful and I laid it on the path, where I walk on it every time I go through the back gate.

Autumn is definately here.

Home again.......

...after our week in the wilds of Bristol where they don't have internet so I can update my blog.  Spent a lovely week with Sel and Pete with just Joe for company as dad had to come back to do.....????

We had loads of walks as we didn't have a car with us, went into town, shopped, had a meal out, cocktails in Harvey Nicks, drinks in the Star and Dove, gardened, read papers and books, did some stamping and colouring and one of us even had a fight with a black Labrador-no blood this time, thank goodness.

Dad came back at the weekend and we managed to do some more tree chopping and shredding. Deepa came with him and so they built some steps and a big gate to lock up the side entrance to the garden.  It goes without saying that we had a chinese on Sunday night.

My camera never even came out of my bag all week.  Now we are back at home wondering if Sara had a good birthday in New York.  I know she got our presents, eventually, after all that effort of wrapping them up small the postman still didn't leave them in her post box and so she still had to collect them from the Post Office-sorry.

Charlotte is home after her trip to Newcastle AND SHE HAS GOT HER TRAINING CONTRACT!!!!!!
   So she is off back to live in Newcastle for a bit longer and work in a garden shed.   She is looking out for a property to buy and so is still been a total blog hog, but she is poorly this afternoon-asleep on the settee, so I have managed to pinch the computer.

Making the most of this Indian summer.....

We were up early, packed the van and set off up towards Stoke for the weekend.  Stopped off to buy a picnic in Hednesford and then onto Cannock Chase.  Not as good as the forecast said but we still had a good walk into the hills -and then his usual sleep and cup of tea.  It was well after 5 by then and getting cooler, so dad decided he wanted to sleep in his own bed.  We ambled back through Rugeley and Lichfield, sat in Tesco's car park watching folk passing by and scoffing Chinese and got home about 9.

Sunday was much warmer and sunny, Darsh played around with the cars for a while and then we went up to the Beacon and walked down, away from the Beacon towards Walsall to a point called Beacon quarry.  It was all trees and pretty but after about 40 mins walk the path gradually petered out and we turned back.  It was very warm, uphill and Joe was tired, he was off his lead but too weary to enjoy it.  A large fox wandered slowly across the path and disappeared into the trees, Joe, very wisely, went to sniff where the fox came from, not where he had gone to.

A quiet spot on Cannock Chase

We drove into town tonight to fetch Ch. from the bus, sound as if she had a good time, but poor old Matt sounds as if he was really poorly, and we thought it was Darsh's driving making feel sick the other day!

Just look at my beautiful tree......

IT REALLY MUST BE AUTUMN.

   

 we might even find a fairy under here

Back at home with the washing......

Getting things sorted and put away, Ch and Matt have left, but there are bags and washing waiting to be sorted.  Joe hates all this coming and going.......

      .............and he is not friends with any of us.  He's going to lay in his basket and sulk, and "no" he will not look at the camera, "so you may as well leave me alone."

      It doesn't help that I took him to the vets this morning, it was only for his boosters, but he thought we were going to the park, and he got told off for eating Charlotte's undies, again.  So it hasn't been the best of doggy days and now Sel and Pete want us to go over for the weekend....

trying out the new links.....

Trying to download..... feeling more confident cos JandS ltd have showed me how to do it........
but will I be able to do it again in the morning when I have had a sleep?

We had Sunday lunch at the Raddison in Dublin...

...it was eat as much as you possibly could, and they did. Dad had to go back for a sleep, while Sara and I went to Avoca, my favourite Dublin shop and I bought absolutely nothing.... but it was good to have a look at.

At My favourite daughters house

I am soo pleased to be away from that stinker Charlotte and my other least favourite daughter selina. Sara is my favourite.

Now I understand why it isn't such a good idea that Sara knows my password, but there is no way I can change it, as it has taken me months to remember this one.

We finally got to Dublin after a 5 hour delay at the airport after our aircraft went on an unexpected detour to Poland. Darsh managed to change our flight so that we only had to sit in Birm. airport for 3 extra hours. We arrived just in time for roast pork. The new flat is really lovely, very central and with an extremely LOUD fire alarm. [a neighbour left a pan on her hob and went to work.]

Didn't take any pics of it, should have done, I'm sure Sara had tidied up especially and it doesn't normally look like that!

Spent time around the city, visited them at work, went for a chinese, wandered round the market, relaxed at home and enjoyed the nice weather!

Got back home again without any problems, and now Ch and M have gone for their break.

My birthday present from Joe.....

He bought me a duck, Selina tells me it took all his pocket money!

There's no way I can get my photos to download AGAIN. [but I can now, John has showed me a little trick.]

Goodness knows what this video is trying to do...or where it came from for that matter. Whose is it and how do I get rid of it?

We did get to the zoo...

It is largely a monkey zoo and we saw plenty of them too.  The chimps and gorillas were especially good, they had large cages and plenty of toys.  It was a bit cold and one orang utang had taken a bedsheet up to the top of her tree and wrapped herself in it, she looked like a bride with it all draped over her head.  Another one was laid inside a huge builders bag, sheltered from the wind, but able to watch people going by, they all had access to their warm dens but chose to go out in the cold.

Sunday- we went into the city, had a wander round,watched part of a fashion show for the "Style Birmingham" weekend, late lunch in Nandos.

Monday- shopped in Tamworth and eat as much as humanly possible at the carvery.

Tuesday- drove to Sel's in Bristol

Wednesday- my birthday.

     Blog spot have altered the way photos and videos are uploaded, I can't even get a picture to upload now, never mind a video!

     Good job we are going to Dublin tomorrow, I need another lesson from J&S ltd.
Oh !!!! got a video----now where have all my photos gone?