Me Myself and I

Crimble has come and gone......and it was fab. Good people, good food, good times. Keith was a star, much playing and fussing and only a couple of wee accidents. We took the in-laws for Sunday lunch at the newly restored Delapre Abbey. This is a fabulous place for a wander and some good food in the Orangery restaurant. The actual Abbey has a long and mixed history, with many different styles of architecture, dependant on the owners' whims at the time, plus the building "fashion" of the era. Not quite the same as popping to B&Q for a couple of rolls of wallpaper, more like knocking down the front of your house and "Georgian-ing" it up! Definitely one of Northampton's' finest buildings, thankfully the council didn't get their wish to flatten it last century!   Husband has taken to his sick bed with man-flu. He may just pull through, so it's me and the dog eating chocolate and listening to the news- Drunk Tanks? really? I despair.  Gardening i...

What a busy month! Husband away to the states for a week, Hospital appt. Dog walking, Snow, Xmas gift knitting......and relax! Probably not that busy if you work, have little kids etc, but busy enough for me.  I am now the proud owner of a hearing aid. Joy. Not. I have resisted for several years, but the polite nodding when I haven't heard a word, and the constant asking to repeat things was getting ridiculous. As usual the NHS was splendid, efficient friendly and kind staff, working in drab, cramped conditions. I will not climb onto my spending cuts soapbox as I've jumped up and down on it so many times, it's liable to collapse!  Keith is growing at a pace, he has reached the *ahem* shagging stage of puppyhood. The cushions are taking a beating. Oh dear. He gets a glazed look in his eyes, and then it's libido central. I think a little removal of dog danglies may be on the cards.  We had a lot (for us) of snow, which was great for about an hour. I took Keith for h...

Well it rained at home but not in splendid Yorkshire where we have had a short break. Beautiful Richmond enchants me every time we visit, I would love to live there. Sunny but cold every day and lots of walking with... Keith. Yep pup has landed and is settling in nicely. He is almost toilet trained and is a furry bundle of fun and paws. Mostly dirty paws. He has been to  three different puppy classes on different days of the week and behaved amazingly well at all of them. His standard class behaviour is; arrive, sniff every other dog, have a wag at the humans, then lay down and have a snooze! He's very chilled.   Now he has proper training classes with his breeder who breeds working gundogs, these have more, ahem, varied results. Admittedly the classes are held in a field in the country, so the smells must be amazing for a dog, so onwards and upwards we go.  The husband and moi are eating differently, Micheal Mosleys Blood sugar diet, and both feel fitter...

Strange times around the homestead, we are dogless for the first time in 30+ years. Budge left us a few weeks ago and the house is like a morgue. Even though he was old and slept a lot, I miss him dreadfully. He was a good boy x  We have been on a trip to Antwerp and it was bloody fantastic! Loads to do and see, clean streets, good coffee, Belgian fries with mayonnaise and lots, HUGE lots of water. We stayed in the port area close to the splendid Old Town and walked for miles. Just me and him, can't wait to go back.  While we were there himself completed a bucket list item..... the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. It was unplanned we just bought some dodgy tickets on spec (cue bloke in cafe!) and zoomed off to Spa. The area is incredibly beautiful, up and down and very wooded. We walked up the north face of Everest (well it Felt like it)  to find a vantage point. The race was... racey and the roar of the engines was immense. I've been to Silverstone many times as it...

No reason for the title, just the Van Halen song of the same name as my current earworm. Strange things earworms, quite often they consist of a song you don't even like, Why is that?  Life trundles on in the Shire, The husband is replumbing the radiators, replacing knackered copper pipes with plastic. We had a new boiler fitted and the old pipes turned into an irrigation system! not good. It's a good job he's a practical chap as well as being super intelligent and incredibly kind. At the moment he's in Europe somewhere with work. He travels a lot and  I miss him, but not as much as the dog does. The mutt sulks as soon as he spots a suitcase!   Talking of travel, we had a little jaunt to  France. Rouen to be precise, very quaint and well worth a visit. The channel tunnel was it's usual slightly smelly and very hot self, but I do love it and all it stands for. When we cooperate stuff gets done.   The garden is looking good, I have a new rose "Jude the Obscure...

Crikey what a lazy moo I am, if this blog was alive it would have been taken into care for its own safety. Life trundles on though. Good things have happened, the youngest daughter and her other half have bought a house, and my amazing mum-in-law has worked her way back to fitness after her unpleasant time in hospital. My dad has lost tons of weight and changed his diet after his heart attack, I am so proud of him.     In the crap news, we are a dog down. The sprollie became horribly vicious and uncontrollable. After looking at rehoming options (none) and talking to a kind and wise vet, we had him euthanised. It still hurts like hell to think of him, but my husband has a scar to prove  we had no choice. I had a bash at antidepressant reduction which was pure hell. All doctor supervised and approved, but I think the reduction was too big (50%) to be a success. I am now on a much smaller reduction, on my own terms. It is very hard but just about do-able. ...