Easter Sunday morning going down .......

PJ was home for Easter which was the good news.
I would not have been able to manage without our girlies this past week.  DDC has come to the hospital with me, DDN's partner has fetched me over to the hospital and DDN has done my shopping and brought us home from the hospital.  
I have raised two treasures.  
Thank you so much girls.

The hospital visits have been a 'bit' traumatic - one has to know Heartlands Hospital to appreciate it - with all the walking.
 My drawn in line may not be very visible on this map but it's the best I can do at the moment.  From the entrance we had to walk round to and ascend on  the escalators then along to the corridor past the yellow wards.  The blue circle is what is commonly known as 'the dolphins' and most directions have these in them somewhere!  At the dolphins we turn right, then left and along another corridor to the lifts.  Up two floors and then along another corridor onto the ward and PJ was in the end bay ..... takes me 15mins....... that's twice a day ....
I was alright the first two days but really struggled on the third day.  On the fourth day, I needed to stop and before I had reached the dolphins I could go no further ..... a voice at my left elbow asked where I was going and then told me it was a 'hell've walk' so I had better hop in!  I turned round and it was a Porter with a wheel chair .... I told him he was an Angel from God.  He took me right up to PJ's bed, which was quite a shock for him!
PJ came out that day so there is no more walking marathons for me, my breathing is much easier and my knee rejoices!!  lol
The hospital staff were marvellous, friendly and fun, even the doctors!
PJ has to go back for a few more tests but we have Easter together which is good..... except .... 

We were woken up on Easter Sunday morning to the sound of drumming ..... I kid you not .... drums..... loud ....
Outside our next door neighbour's a band had gathered and was practising .... for the wedding up the road, just past the red van, we assumed.....
Eventually they moved off and then stood outside the house banging and blowing away.
When it was time for the groom to leave they preceded the cars stopping on our driveway to play very loudly while the wedding party drove past.  Very colourful.  Very joyous.  Very non-Christian on our Holy Day......


We had a lovely lamb meal, provided by our SILR and that was followed by a chocolate bunny or two ...... thank you for thinking of us and thanks to DDC for bringing both the lamb, vegetables and chocolate.

Mothering Sunday 2017

Thought you might like to see the flowers I received for Mothering Sunday.

I had a lovely lot this year... both girls brought a lovely selection which I had great pleasure in arranging.

There were pink, yellow and white chrysanths, roses, lilies and various greenery.
I ended up with these beauties ......


Here I selected the pink and white chrysanths with a background of some bright blue flowers- names unknown.

The roses from two bouquets and zinnias from another two formed this arrangement.

Having run out of Oasis blocks I had to place the rest of the flowers in vases.

I only have one decent vase - blue glass with gold trim, I think it was PJ's mother's vase.

The second vase was a 'silly' present from DDN many years ago, which 'surfaced' just before Christmas.  It is a flat pack vase - honest, that's the name on the bag -  and it opened out into a very tall vase - perfect for today's flowers.

Postal Delivery!

This is an unbelievable story!  

It happened though, honestly!

We took delivery today of two extremely large boxes, very unexpected but accepted anyhow as a delivery was expected .... just not a large box ..... or two...


You can see how large the box is - the top is level with my shoulders!!

Each box is stuffed full of paper and as we pulled out all this paper  ....

..... we found that the paper was only 12 inches wide and there was miles of it!   

That's what it seemed like anyway!





Here are the contents of the first box..........
..... yes! we were a bit astounded as well.

In these days of saving on packaging ....

...  the cardboard is a very good quality, we are hoping to recycle if we can .............

.... and here is the other box ........

nuf sed!!!

Great New Venue for an AGM

Vintage Trains Society held its AGM today at a new venue. Previous meetings were held at the venue next door to the site but today's meeting was held across the road.


This venue is on the main Warwick Road and accessible by road, rail and bus and this ease of access showed in the number of people who attended.  


The building is pre-war and, as well as being opposite the railway works, is well known in the area which is typical for a former industrial area of a big City; lots of villa type houses, small industrial units, empty sites and cosmopolitan living.  
OK.  
It's run down a bit!  lol



The hired room was on the first floor, accessible by stairs and lift, and was laid out for the meeting in theatre formation with the buffet set in a separate side area.  


There was tea and coffee waiting for us with one of the members kindly playing 'Mother'!
The room was large and additional space on the left made the room appear very wide.  
The meeting started with the normal routine listed on the Agenda and then there was a break in the proceedings for lunch.  

My Plate

PJ's Plate

The buffet was superb, more then ample for the number of people who attended with a great variety of food.


After we re-convened, members of the public were allowed in to attend a presentation, given by Michael Whitehouse, on the vision for Vintage Trains and its associated businesses.  So very interesting, with lots of questions and answers afterwards.  
I can only say that if this vision is fulfilled, Steam Trains at Tyseley has a wonderful future.

Visiting a garden centre

We travelled out to Mappleborough Green to visit one of the garden centres which sold miniature creations.  We wanted to have a look at what was available to make a Fairy Garden in a corner DDC's large garden.  Little Soldier went to sleep on the way so we were able to have a good wander round while he slept in the pushchair, we were amazed at how much this nursery has changed.  
Our first visit there was many years ago, possibly back in 2011, and it was a rather boring nursery, lots of plants but the site itself was very tired.  On our next visit, it appeared that the Nursery was being improved, maybe as a landscaping centre.  On our next visit we were looking for Raspberry Canes so it was a quick pop in and look around but I did notice the Miniature World stand, so here we were again.
There is a very good parking area, lots of room for getting a child out of the car and into a pushchair, then under a sheltered entrance.  These was plenty of room to wander in between the product stands so we had a good browse round.  PJ asked a member of staff about the weather vanes, we have been looking for a suitable one for the top of the Chicken Ranch, and he went off found a really beautiful one.  We are so pleased to find one at last!
At the entrance there had been a sign announcing the restaurant open so after all this browsing we decided we would stop for a coffee and cake moment.  DDC had a 'double take' at the cake counter when she found out that she could have a bowl of fresh fruit instead of a slice of cake!!!  How thoughtful is that??  We were shocked to think that the restaurant has thought of so much.

As we made our way to a table, Little Soldier woke up and after a drink wanted out of the pushchair.  We obliged and showed him the small play area ..... I say play but this was a very thoughtfully laid out area with lots of wall activities.


He soon came out to run around but then something outside the large double doors caught his eye ........
I told him we couldn't go outside as the doors were shut cos it was raining ..... off he went back to the play centre.
As we walked back to the car we found that there were several outlet shops to browse around but we didn't stop this time - a reason to come back perhaps!
We were very impressed with how this centre is working now ..... the staff were pleasant and helpful, the good was good, the products laid out so well.
We are looking forward to going back again in the Springtime.

2017 +1

Good Morning.

It Is Time To Jump Out Of Bed,

Brush Your Teeth,

Eat Your Breakfast And

Get Ready To Grab

All The Opportunities

That Will Come Your Way.

Happy First Good Morning of 2017

25th December 2016

Come, let us adore Him.

Paris comments ....

I just wanted to add a few thoughts on our visit to Paris.

I know that there has been a lot of media reports about the smog in Paris but I have to admit, at the time, I didn't notice it much.  When Ranger1's wife M started to cough 'because of the pollution' I was very shocked.  I am asthmatic - recently diagnosed - and it had not affected me very much if at all.  It was certainly easier to breathe in Paris than in the London Underground!!!

The traffic changes on the roads - even numbers one day and then odd number another day - did make a difference!  It was sooo much easier to get around and at the Arc de Triomphe, I was most surprised to find so little traffic, no horns sounding, which made the visit so much pleasanter.

I did find it quite annoying that the transport was free for one of our days - very nice for the Parisians, very nice for the government - but b*****y annoying for us who had paid for a travel pass!!!!

The food was still so very good - when they didn't realise that you were English!  One thing you can be sure of is the good quality food in Paris ... all of France has good food and it makes a visit across the channel so much more enjoyable.

Christmas is a coming, Christmas is a coming .........

Many of the presents are in the 'Christmas' Box, wrapping papers and labels are close by, and the cards ...?
 I ran out of time so had to resort to bought cards, very tasteful ones if I do say so myself!   I managed to put aside a couple of days - the weekend actually - and wrote all my posting cards. I wrote my little letters of news, enveloped and stamped them ready for the post.
The sentiment stamp on the back was a find in John Lewis.  It is a very round, beechwood handled stamp, fits in the hand very nicely, thank you, and has directional markings at the base and on the handle. 
I wanted to make some crafted cards for the members of CRUNCH and just happened to have all the Christmas 'stuff' on the desk.  I decided that for quickness I would recycle some of my saved card fronts:  
I die cut some of the fronts, punched the edges of some, decoupaged a couple, even found some stitched ones in the box.  
I cut some of the papers from a paper pad, which I bought from The Works some time ago, to use as backing papers on the folded cards.  I used the same cards for all so that once I measured the papers, they would fit all the cards.
I am very pleased with the results and may even create a few more .... while the Christmas 'stuff' is open!!   lol