just taken Sara and John back to the airport.....

      ......we have had a lovely weekend, even though we didn't leave the house!  We ate, chatted, opened presents and just generally spent time together.  Sara and John went out in town on Saturday night and that gave Sara the chance to catch up with all her old school friends.

     John showed me how to put my oldest photographs onto " My borrowed laptop" without having to download them all, so I can put them on my blog, via MBL, even when dad is using the home computer (as long as he is on the internet)  Does that make any sense to anyone else, cos it doesn't to me!
      However does it work?

Selina and Sara at the bullring Aug 06?

                           ......YES, at least for today, whilst I remember how to do it. But maybe not in the morning...

None of these today....

      ...... No blue skies or sunshine, so we won't see any Northern lights tonight with all this wet cloud hanging around.

     This dreary weather makes you feel like a chocolate swamp man on a cruise ship.  I wish I could hibernate until spring when we can get the caravan out again.
       So we are reduced to hanging around and enjoying hot chocolate for a few more weeks yet...

Enjoying the coffee bars of Brugge.

Although I suppose there is always a basket of ironing to tackle, a smelly dog who needs a bath, and a middle daughter who is coming home at the weekend

         ....Yippee, we can open those Christmas presents at last....

Rain..rain..rain..

Joe looking hopefully out of the conservatory window, but that is as far as he will go until that wet stuff stops falling-I think he must have a bladder the size of a bucket-he will wait until it stops.

     My lillies have finally opened, I bought them on Monday to remember that it would have been my Dad's birthday.  He would have been 80!

   It says so in my Mum's birthday book, girls that is her writing, I don't know if you would recognise it, or even if you have ever seen it before.

Making the most....

       ....of this beautiful if very cold weather.  Went to the garden centre the other day, and their bulbs were 75% off.  So 3 packets of very late spring bulbs and a few pots later....

....we managed to spend a very pleasant hour or so messing around in the garden and greenhouse....

     .....he fancied digging out the compost bin....always a few mice (and once even a rat) hiding in there! 

   

 I moved pots, swept and tidied and planted up little Violas...

...he checked the staging and my gloves for any hidden mouse, I knew there wasn't any, because I had left the lid off the peanut jar and if there was any mice in my greenhose there would be no nuts in that jar...

This morning we went for a walk in the park. When Darsh comes along I prefer to go to parts of the park I don't feel safe enough to walk in on my own.  Today we went into the wild pony parts, and although we didn't see any ponies we walked down to the waters edge...

.....he was mega-keen to go a bit further...

...but now it's dad who has got the poorly knee and was keen to spot a distant bench.  Though if the truth be known, he wanted to borrow my knee support, and I had said it was too small for him, so he was determined to wear it, even if it did cut off his circulation to his feet.  By the time we got home he was bursting to get the thing off, he had got wrinkles round his knee and admitted that it was so tight that it had made it difficult for him to tie his shoelaces!  But at least he had proved that he could get it on-his knees must be slimmer than mine after all...

   

Am laid in bed, and have been for quite some time....

   ....  Darsh has gone to London to put his brother on the plane and the dog is ...somewhere.  It is a freezing cold night and the warmest place is bed.  So here I am with Charlotte's laptop on my knee, reading other people's blogs, because I can!  Obviously no pictures tonight, although the camera is up here too.  But I just can't figure out how to do them yet on this laptop......I am not going anywhere near the sub-zero conservatory tonight (thats where our other computer resides- the one that will do my pictures on a good day.)
      Have been watching the sinking of that cruise liner today in total horror.  How anyone managed to get out of the boat in total darkness, when it was tipping onto it's side and with so many people in a panic around them.... it's just too horrible to imagine.  We sailed from that same port ourselves, in a similiar sized boat, only 2 months ago.  And to think that there may still be up to 40 people still missing out there.... 

Perhaps the exercise wasn't so good for us after all....

    .....following our walk earlier on this week, Darsh woke up the next morning with a stiff knee and has moaned limped ever since and Joe has got a swollen red eye that I am bathing and treating with antibiotics!  That will teach us to stop at home.

   Took Joe with us to Wolverhampton when we went to collect Mejar and family.  They are desparate to have a dog and wanted to see how it would feel to have a dog around the place.  Joe behaved perfectly, for once, and enjoyed been the centre of attention.

     Back home and we went for supper at Simon's.  Got dressed up and wore my tops that Charlotte bought me for Christmas, not that you can see them on this lousy photograph...

     Today I am having a quiet day at home as they have all gone off to Sheffield for the graduation.
Am enjoying having Charlotte's laptop as we have managed to buy a new lead for it and it seems to be working perfectly, give me time, I'm sure I can soon fix that. 

Went for our first walk of 2012 in the park today....

...it was a glorious sunny day and Darsh decided to come with us...

I was happy to see a blue sky and to get out in the fresh air...

...the dog was definately happy to sniff in the wet mud......

...and Darsh was definately happy to be able to carry on talking rubbish to idiots while still getting some exercise!

By the way Pete looks like you left your super sexy sunglasses in the back of my car, hope you haven't been looking for them.   Also Dad has lost his favourite Green waxed gloves, have you found them anywhere?  Charlotte did we leave them at your house?

Twelth night...

    ...and all our trimmings are back in the loft...

             .... well all except one....and I didn't even see him take it...
                              Before...

....and after...

 Thanks Joe, you wouldn't believe the mess 1 small dog could make with 1 dried flowerhead. 

He ripped it to bits, chewed it and then rolled in it, it was absolutely everywhere when I came down this morning, from the front room window sill, all up the stairs and in his bed.

Now everywhere looks so bare, but not tidy yet, I still have a huge pile of ironing to tackle, not to mention those 4 bags of clothes and stuff the girls turned out of their wardrobes last week, that all needs to go to the charity shop!

Happy New Year....

.....We're home again after a long weekend with Charlotte and Matt in Newcastle.  It was cold, but not as cold as on previous visits and Charlotte's flat is cosy anyway, not ice-y cold like her student house. 

     Also celebrated Darsh's birthday, with a meal at the "Treehouse" in Alnwick.  Yes it really was a tree house- in a tree reached by ladders and bridges...

My inside photos are very blurry and don't do the place any favours, but it was very pretty with lots of fairy lights, candles and a log fire.  The food was pretty good too!

 Back at Charlotte's, Selina and Pete enjoyed the new 3D telly. (They had flown up to join us on Friday evening after work.)

Charlotte has painted her big wall bright purple, and treated herself to a metal floor lamp in the sales.  It cast patterns up along the wall and ceiling, making the room feel cosy and warm, now she needs new sofas and centre lights1  The joy of home ownership...

Matt got a mixer, cookery book and cakestand for Christmas, so he made afternoon tea and we scoffed the lot, no problem whatsoever...

Home again now, everyone back to work today.  The house is very cold after been empty for nearly a week.  I am catching up on jobs and need to take the trimmings down before the weekend.  Darsh is looking forward to his brother coming next week.