It's not every day he gets smoked salmon from Selfridges.....

    .....but it's not every day we celebrate a Royal Wedding.

     I just didn't want the hassle and trauma of a trip to London, so we stayed at home.   Watched the early bits on TV, in bed with a cup of tea, giggling at Anna across the road trying to fasten her bunting to her car-several times- before it stayed as she wanted it.
     Drove into town along near desserted streets to watch the actual ceremony on the big screen in Victoria Square.

     As the dress came into view, the guy in front dropped his full but open bottle of Champagne into the water! 
To make the day extra special we went to Selfridges for a treat  By this time I was freezing, as it was bright, but breezy stood at the top of the steps by the water. We sat in the champagne lounge sipping our champagne and watching as the royal couple drove back to the palace.  The TV picture there was far better than any in our house.  A wonderful young mama sat next to us was telling her toddler all about the princess and the Abbey and the prince.  He was so interested and eager to listen, we gave him our flags and he sat there waving them at the screen   

          We had afternoon tea and surprisingly there was so much we couldn't eat it all-hence a doggy bag!

     Our table was by the balcony and we watched over a very quiet Bullring.  As we left I suddenly thought of Sara, and couldn't resist this snap....

     We kept an eye on the time, and hurried down to the electrical department in order to watch the appearance on the balcony and the first kiss on the big posh TV down there.  Heading back to the car we paused in the square by the screen again, it was still cold and most folk had moved off by this time.

          We came home to watch the highlights again... and we can all guess what  Joe's highlight was...

                        ....Yep...that smoked salmon! [Just look at that tongue.]

Who would have thought ...

....that the horse chestnut flower is so pretty when you get close to it.  Normally they are too high up - you only see them in the distance, but this one, in the grounds of Sudeley Castle on Sunday, was growing on a branch so low I could get close enough to touch it.

On Easter Sunday, after we had packed and left the site we drove to a giant Flea Market in Malvern, by the time we got there the sun was bright and it was very hot.  We spent a good few hours nosing round the stalls and looking at all the treasures for sale.  Not too mention getting sunburnt! 

Charlotte got a huge patchwork quilt for £15, and she was fascinated by all the bottles the bottle man had dug out of various Victorian bottle dumps he had found.  She is going to ask Uncle Paul to show her his collection of bottles we found in an old dump in Theddlethorpe sand hills, years ago.  I wonder if he has still got them, I forgot to mention it on the phone when I spoke to him earlier this evening.

We finished off our afternoon with "an eat up everything" picnic, sat on the new, bit smelly, quilt by the back door of the caravan.  Joe managed to steal the chicken from under all our noses, and both Selina and I managed to spill wine on the "new" quilt.

After saying our goodbyes we headed back to our respective homes.  First home job was quilt in washing machine and unpack the van.  Quilt washed a treat and so Sel and I were forgiven for our clumsiness, but not so Joey for his thieving! 

All back at work today, but Darsh and I went to see some people he knew who have taken up a smallholding out on the Derbyshire border...... 

I shall never forget the look on Darsh's face when their enormous Aikeda dog [That is not how you spell it-the dictionary is upstairs] climbed onto the settee, pinned him down and gave his face a thoroughly good licking, this is the man who won't even pick our own dog up, let alone come into contact with his wet or smelly bits.  Priceless, but my camera was in the car, so, thank goodness, was my dog!!!!

Happy Easter....

We went to Tewksbury for the weekend.  Darsh, myself, Charlotte and Matt drove down in the camper van, and Selina and Pete, drove up in the Smart car and we met in the middle.  We 2 oldies slept in the luxury of the camper, while the youngsters suffered the 4 man tent.  The weather was absolutely brilliant, so there was an awful lot of....

      
      .....lazing in the sunshine, cos it was just too darned hot to move.  
In the evening, when it cooled off drastically, Selina plotted the next day....

    While someone else, really thought he was to tired to survive until the next day...

He hates camping with a vengance, and it's the only point he and Matt agree on!

Sunday was cooler, so we went for a tour in the Cotswolds....

Winchcombe.

Posing on the bridge at SudeleyCastle.

     And we finished the day of with a pub meal in Bourton-on-the-water....

What shall we have?

Noone is allowed to have the same thing, so that makes choosing very hard work.  Selina changed her mind about 6 times, poor old Pete was getting well sick of her!

No padding needed...

....Better not press the extra large button for this pic, large is plenty big enough!

Why are they carrying cushions in the centre of Clifton?...bet Sara knows...

Selina remembered to come prepared this time..

...Just look at the expression on her face, the video is brilliant, but until I get the hang of downloading it, it is stuck in my new camera

How about this one for confusing, Sara?

Told you we had been there before, This is Jane Manny Darsh and I playing in exactly the same spot in 1983!

The worrying bit is "Who held Selina while we went off to play?"

Yippee, it worked...

     ....Ok, so the quality may not be so good, but at least I can get my videos off the camera and on to the blog.  I've gone back to using my old camera, even though it's a hassle carrying two around...I've really missed posting videos.  Here's another one with too many chefs in the kitchen, just to prove that the last/following video was not just a fluke....



Hmm...how do I get my posts onto my blog in the order I WANT THEM, rather than how the BLOG wants them?  I want the furniture one here first, but the blog will only put this one here first...and that doesn't make sense.  Work it out for yourself, cos I can't do it.

Why are we going to Dublin in a couple of weeks?

Oh yes, that's why....Sara and John don't make us rescue furniture from skips in the middle of the night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN...

....not sure of the exact date, but think it was somewhere around this weekend.  Made you a cake...
          ...but with these 2 around it didn't last long....

     Have a good weekend, and speak to you soon xx.

John, have a good birthday, sorry I had to eat your cake...Darsh.

A whole week spent messing about with the motor-home.....

....Monday- lost the keys, by the time he found them, garage closed.
     Tuesday-drove the thing there, they couldn't find any record of it on the computer, forgot his phone, couldn't contact DVLA.
      Wednesday-couldn't find the log book, vehicle been off the road for 11 years, so goodness knows where the paper work is.   DVLA wanted £25 for a new log book.
           He was back in that filing cabinet like a ferret with his fur on fire.  Missing log book recovered in 10 minutes!  Garage closed.
      Thursday-spent whole day at garage, test done-failed of course.  Garage man off sick, can't do the work needed.... how about next week?   
      Darsh gone to temple!!!!

     Fortunately I can occupy myself, and have been gardening, sorting the loft and messing about with sewing machine and fabric.  Selina's birthday is looming and there is something I have wanted to make for ages.  It's done now, but I really should wait  before I can give it her.  We are going to see her this weekend and I want to take her presents with us, then they can stand on her mantlepiece until her birthday.   Torture for her, none of the girls can resist endless sniffing squeezing and rattling of any packages with their name on.

     I did say that I wasn't going to bother with the greenhouse this summer, as I hoped to spend summer out and about without worrying about my plants.  But then I went to Morrison's this week, and that plan went right out the window....

15 baby lettuces

    I've been to the garden centre this morning and bought 4 sacks of compost, this afternoon I got my propagator out and planted Basil, Corriander, mixed leaf and Rocket.  I've repotted my Begonias, Carnations and all my little lettuce, petunias and chillies.  Now it looks more like my greenhouse and I feel a lot happier for having done it.  Tomorrow I may go back to Morrison's for Tomatoes, Fushias and Geraniums.  At £2 a box it isn't worth buying seeds and clatting around with them on the window sills.... now... who can I get to water my garden while we are away in the summer.....

   Every time I set foot out of the door I am been watched.....Joe gets shouted at if he goes anywhere near the nest and the parent birds spot him.   I have just found another nest in a plant pot in the shed, so poor old Joe is banned from in there as well.   And it's all going to get worse, because these little things ...

     
          ....are just about ready to go for their first flights.

Walked our little leggies off today...

....Grandad and Anne once said that we should go to see Breedon On The Hill, and walk up to the church to see the views.   So today, 20 years later, we went.  Found Staunton Harold reservoir on the way...yes we were lost....but we parked and took a walk, there were so many cars and people we thought we might be missing something good.

    And we would have been if we hadn't stopped.  The walk just went on and on across the countryside along the water and through the trees and fields. It was glorious.

Eventually we turned back, not because we ran out of paths-just energy.  We could still see people in the far distance, so we knew there was plenty more to enjoy another day. 

Back at the van we had a picnic, and a sat out in the sun, couldn't believe how hot it was for April.

Carried onto Breedon, via Melbourne, would you believe?  No, not because we were so lost, but there actually is a little town in Derbyshire called "Melbourne".  Very pretty it is too, another place to have a good look at on a repeat trip.

Eventually found Breedon and parked the van at the bottom of the hill to walk up.  Big mistake, it was an awful long way up! However we found a plot of land for sale, a rather beautiful, if a bit of a big plot...

The church, and the graveyard were just so lovely, and the views down were special.  We could see aircraft coming into East Midlands airport, and we could hear the racing at Donnington Park, miles away.

    
     Inside the chuch is just as pretty as the outside. We looked around, listening to an irate dog, howling and whining, becauseI left him tidied up outside.  The church heating was on, and the flowers were scenting the whole church.  Spring was definately in the air!

     But then of course we had that long walk back down....

Used my mother's day present today...

.....My National Trust membership.  Went to Sudbury Hall to see the museum of Childhood.  Took the camper van, just in case we decided to stay out overnight. 

       Get your priorities right.... the first stop was a cream tea out in the sun, it was a glorious day....loads of families sat round having picnics on the grass....saw three swallows flying round the buildings, summer is here early.

            ....now someone needs a bigger shirt.....

    ....I was there too, not very often dad takes a picture of me......Moved on to Tutbury and stopped in the park .....for the usual kip....

                     ......both of them.....

                  ....that is until a woman walked past with THREE terriers.....and of course I guard my caravan...

                             ......Howzat...I can bark louder than you can snore....

               ....What did you just call me?....That wasn't very nice.....

      So we went for another walk along the banks of the river Dovey(?), by then it was cooling down so we decided to come home. We were only 20 odd miles from home anyway, stopped on the way to eat  a chinese in the car park of Tesco in Shenstone.