Sunshine stops play

The amazing weather we've been having has definitely been affecting my online ramblings. Once the sun comes out I can't bear to be inside, so many hours have been spent in my garden reading, relaxing or down by the beach taking the dog for a walk, and enjoying the sea breezes. I hope we're in for a good summer this year, there's been so many let downs over the last few years.

I've been making slow progress on the mosaic for by my front door, as I've only been doing it early in the morning and late at nite, when it's been cooler. I'm quite pleased with it so far ....did I really say that lol !! But the weathers due to cool down a bit this week, so maybe I'll get a bit more done to it this coming week.

When I got back from my oldest daughters this time, I was feeling a bit odd. My heart seemed to be pounding much more than it usually does. I put up with it for a few days waiting for it to disappear but it didn't, so I thought it'd probably be a good idea to get down the docs asap, although I did feel a bit of a fraud as i wasn't actually in any pain, it was more of a feeling inside me. After taking my blood pressure 3 times (which was way too high), he listened to my heart and pronounced that my heart was beating more times than it should be. So now I've got to have a barrage of blood tests, and ecg, a chest x ray and also have my asthma checked out. I find this kind of thing very daunting as I hate doctors and hospitals even more, but I suppose it has to be done. So time will tell whats going on, the doc was 90% sure his diagnosis was accurate and this kind of thing is usually caused by one of three things, caffeine (I only drink decaf tea)alcohol (I don't drink) or stress ...well I guess its stress then lol. But the doc assured me I wasn't going to pop my clogs, so I was pleased about that, I've still got plenty of things I'd like to do with my life yet !!!

Best made plans and all that !!

We were due a visit from friend Coral, her mate Steve, and her son Deckie on Saturday due to arrive in two vans. Everything started well and I was due to go sea fishing with them on Saturday night.... that was about the last thing that went to plan !! After meeting Steve for the first time, we got on really well especially after I realised very quickly Steve was a cheeky scouser, with a sense of humour that matched mine perefectly and there was loads of banter flying back and forth lol. As Steve was a dab hand at DIY, I thought I might as well ask his advice about my bed !! When we first moved here I bought a lovely mexican pine bed, very comfortable ...however because I'm so tall I can't stretch out in it properly, because it had a foot board at the end. This has been a real bug bear for me and try as we might, every idea me and my daughter came up with seemed very complicated so we never got round to doing it. Within minutes Steve came up with an excellent idea, went to his van and got his power tools and within half an hour had it all sorted out !!!

PLAN A ...... was for us to take both vans and go up to the other end of the island, to fish off a popular fishing spot called the Breakwater. Steve and Deckie shot off first with me and Coral bringing up the rear more slowly in her camper van which she also happens to live in. We hadn't even got out of our village before I realised that Corals van wasn't very well at all !! But Coral being Coral decided to plod on anyways. We got about 1/3 rd of the way up the island going up a hill when the cab of the van started filling up with smoke and we were losing power fast. Now I'm a pretty unflappable, laid back type of person usually, but even I started to get more than a bit alarmed at this point. I suggested to Coral that smoke might mean fire, and that maybe it might be a good idea to stop straight away !! It was then that Coral told me her handbrake wasn't any good ...so stopping on hill might not be a very good idea, plus she had no hazard lights, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea. With my heart in my mouth, clutching my bag and a camera ready to make a quick exit incase any flames followed the smoke we struggled up the hill. Once at the top, in the distance we could see a lay by, Coral was convinced we could make there by coasting down the road ..... we DID much to my surprise. With much relief we pulled into the lay by and Coral turned off the engine ( oh yes ..I forgot to mention her alternator was also bust so once the engine was off there was no chance of turning it on again without a jump start lol.

PLAN B ..... ring Steve and get him to come back and help. The only flaw in this plan was that Coral had left her mobile at my house, and even though I had my phone I didn't have Steve's number seeing as I'd only just met him lol. A quick text to my daughter who was at home, asking her to use Corals phone to ring Steve and tell him what had happened and where we were, seemed like a logical idea, but Steve's phone went on to answer phone. So we were sent Steve's number to carry on trying to get hold of him. It was only much later that Steve told me he always kept his phone off, as he was having some hassles off an ex girlfriend lol. We sent a text hoping against hope that he might turn his phone on and get our SOS message. By pure good luck he turned it on and came to hopefully rescue us. Once our knights in a shining van arrived, it became a bit obvious that Corals van wasn't going to go anywhere quickly as the clutch had gone !!

It was decided that it might be good idea for my daughter Jenny to come and pick me up and take me home again, as there was no point in all 4 of us spending the nite in lay by. Oh did I mention that Corals side door on the van doesn't lock, so it couldn't be secured ?? By the time my daughter arrived, the kettle had been put on and we were having tea and cake with music blasting. As we were having such a laugh, it was decided that maybe we should leave my daughters car behind, all pile into Steve's van and go off to a beach at the top of the island and for some fire spinning to go on. Once we got there, Steve decided he might as well do some beach casting, while the others did their thing. After a few hours, with more tea, biscuits and crackers with cheese, it was time to go back to the lay by and for me and my daughter to come back home.

PLAN C Sunday arrived and it was decided that the best plan of action was for Coral to join the AA, and then on Monday we would see how much our regular mechanic would charge and also Corals mechanic who specialised in working on Renault Master vans, who was back in Oswestry.

No doubt there will more to follow in this little saga ...I shall update you as it carries lol. But for now, here's some photo's of the fire poi and fire staff antics, and a picture of Steve after one of my Sunday dinners...I shall take great pleasure in embarrassing him on Facebook with this photo lol.

A staff burn out, for those not familiar with fire spinning. A staff is a long metal bar with wicks soaked in paraffin on each end, and a burn out is when someone gets rid of the surplus paraffin.



A cage of fire



Close up of one end of the fire staff



Coral doing fire poi.



Steve after devouring one of my Sunday dinners lol.

Home Sweet Home

After a long fairly slow drive back from the Midlands we're home again !! My pc is now rejuvenated with a much bigger hard drive and loads more memory thanks to my son Ben and friend Martin. Just need to get the home phone sorted out now, then I'm going to get on at BT as we've got a stupidly low download speed here. Martin also managed to fix my camera for me too while we were visiting, I felt really lost without the telephoto lens, it was like part of me was missing lol.

The weather wasn't very kind to us while we were visiting, it was either raining or too windy sit out in my daughters garden, which was very disappointing. I was praying that it'd be raining here at home too, so my seedlings didn't suffer. From the look of the garden there hasn't been much rain here though, but my seedlings survived thank goodness. The damp weather made the arthritis in my joints hurt too, and I really missed all the little things round here that makes, my life so much easier.

Being back home again was slightly spoiled, as when I got back the phone bill was on the mat. This has scuppered my plans to go back down to the Midlands for Birmingham Gay Pride in a couple of weeks. But I can't work miracles and only have so much money to go round for bills etc.

I'm looking forward to getting on with the mosaic I'm going to do for outside the front door. I've been longing to get back to this since I went to my daughters, but as she has a very lively 3 yr old around, there was no way I could take anything to get on with lol. But now I can get stuck into it again, although we're expecting visitors ourselves this weekend.

No photo's this time as my camera was out of action.

Quiet times and off again soon

It's been pretty quiet in my world since the last post. But I've been busy none the less, the good weather meant we spent quite a lot of time in the garden, and I've managed to sow some veggie seeds, albeit in pots rather than the actual garden, which is too small. So hopefully some time soon I should see a couple of courgette plants rear their heads, some french beans ( which might be planted against the new fence ) some carrots and finally some spring onions. I also did 5 small pots of flowers, but I'm dammed if I can remember what kind they were now lol. Outside my kitchen window there's a long ago redundant coal bunker, but the bunker itself has become a storage spot for things that don't mind getting damp, and the top of it has become my nursery garden. It's packed with pots and seed trays of all different sorts of flowers, ready to be planted out when they get big enough.

Last Saturday we went off to Benllech car boot, still a bit early in the season for it to be packed with car booters, but I got 3 books and 4 vest tops for the summer anyway. Sunday saw us at Mona car boot, and this was pretty quiet too considering it was bank holiday, the only thing I bought there was a pile of big pots for the garden for £3.

We're off on our travels again on Thurs, down to my daughters in Bromsgrove again. Her hubby wants my other daughter to give him a hand doing a couple of driving jobs. While we're there, it'll off to see my son Ben and our friends Martin and Mandy. Martins going to put some more memory in our pc's and do something else with them ( which I can't remember lol ) and is also going to reformat them both, as they are both running at a snails pace !! Saturday I'm going off to spend some time with my friend on his barge again, as luckily he's still in the area. Also they'll probably be some visits to other friends in our old home town of Leamington Spa, I think one of them wants my daughter to do a tattoo for them. Talking of tattoo's I've been trying to design a tattoo for my hand, I've drawn two so far and they'll probably be lots more drawings yet before I'm finally satisfied with it lol.

Photo's today are of some lovely macro shots my daughter took in the garden.

First a pretty odd looking wasp which had a beak like a duck lol.



Next a poppy past it's best, but which I found very attractive still.



A pretty but rather tatty moth lol, I seem to enjoy things that aren't picture perfect don't I lol.



Finally one of many bee's that are enjoying our bluebells.