Nichola and Justin

Another sunny day, i have just finished a night shift and am ready for sleep, but before i do i thought i would post a photo of my birth daughter Nichola taken with her partner Justin. I recieved it by email this morning which was a lovely suprise.

Thought for today:-

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars".

Les Brown Author

My neglected blog

My lap top is as tired as i am today, i seem to be waiting an age to get onto what i am looking for. Its a week since i posted anything, its been a mixture of nights, fitting in our friends, a family 40th birthday party....Jaynes....after which libby came home with us until it was time for my night shift the following day. Then of course there's all the usual womanly work... when i have had the energy.....poor me ...lol. Tonight we are staying at my sisters...another late night followed by a night shift tomorrow and three thirteen hour days....friday, saturday and sunday!!!!

Yesterday when i woke from my night shift the sun was out and Vin was busy in the garden so between us we managed to do a lot of work..in fact it was late evening before we had realised how much time had passed. I took some photo's on my new phone to try it out,so i could post them ...the battery ran out.... and the photo's i have just discovered weren't saved..never mind time for plenty more.

Libby was pleased to see her flowers were still alive and pretty, i was pleased because it was the first thing she asked to look at when she woke.

I have recieved a letter from the SOS about child sponsorship, so i am quite excited about getting moving with that. Our friends from The Gambia stay in touch which is great, my sister has had Kalifa on her web cam...thats our next purchase...a cam with mouth piece...apparently asda has sold out...so maybe another search. Our first search was the Nintendo wii...it took a few months....but worth it, we have had great fun on the sports with our friends. Vin has paid a small amount to hold the keep fit part which comes out on friday.. he has to be there on the day to obtain it. Its a birthday present for me next week....no photo's will be posted of that.... lol.

I am so excited ....since i bought bright feather i have recieved a lot of mail telling me of similar items...today a leaflet and info arrived ... of a beautiful sculpted porcelain figure, she stands 32 inches high costumed in faux suede, with beads and feathers...includes a bow and quiver and is stood on a rock base...... I will post a picture of her as soon as she arrives the figure's called 'The Quest for Strength'.....couldn't resist and have got a special place waiting for her.

I have books crying out to be read....plus course work to continue....i feel very spoilt when i am able to sit and read a good book, but know if i do thats it!!!! Before we left for Gambia on the Saturday afternoon i thought i will start to read this particular book about two women in Afghanistan.... a nice thickish one.... i had plenty of jobs to do and family visiting for mothers day etc., so would only read a short bit, then i could finish it on holiday.....i finished reading it the next day after the mothers days visits.... lol I have a book at the side of me, a friend passed it on....based in 1960s Nigeria,on my book shelves a martin luther King novel and ww11 based stories i have been promising to read, then of course have bought several books on all types of gardening, birds and garden centres that would put a halt to everything lol.... so first things first is arranging a family get together of my children and their partners for a meal...thats such a task you cannot believe, Nichola lives in Nottingham and works till late fridays and of course the boys have various commitments as well as all their partners...then there's my shifts, they all keep asking when is it going to happen....lol.

So i have decided this May's France visit and holidays i will be staying at home and will meet up with Vin in June. We have both decided it makes sense so i can catch up. Especially as the garden needs constant work ready for the all day,'ten year celebration of Jades life' barbeque on the 23rd August.

Todays thought:-

"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you".

Mary Kay Ash Businesswoman

A fun weekend

As usual it was a very happy and emotional meeting of 'The gang'[original gang added to photo's] We met on friday, late afternoon.....to allow me some sleep from my night shifts.... and departed monday before lunch. Friday evening is always full of catch up stories both happy and sad...this time all happy...which was good. We book taxis to our booked destination and eat, drink and laugh throughout the evening. Saturday we usually visit something connected to WW11 or a museum that fits in with our time scale. Having visited places like Elvington, and last year Caphouse colliery we chose The Thackery museum at St James hospital Leeds. Our friends from the south find the north more than interesting!!!!!. Saturday evening they had their [and mine] first experience at the dogs!!!!. We took them to Kinsley Greyhound stadium, which turned out to be a lot of fun and all but two of us won a race. I was the first to win...£3.96 and thought my luck was in. We had filled in a tipster sheet for the following eleven races. The top tipster won £100.00 the bottom a tin of chocolates....i walked away with the chocolates. The resteraunt and food plus service was very good and i would recommend it for an enjoyable night out.

The boys stayed at ours, so on return to our house more fun was had with the nintendo wii and as you can imagine the weekend passed really quickly but was great fun. Above are a few photo's taken at the museum, the smells that made the visit more authentic made you relise how unpleasant and difficult life was before health became important/essential. If you are interested in the way we lived and how cures for disease and developments in surgery were devloped its well worth a visit. Children would learn a lot about how and why the body functions as it does.

Today's thought:-

"Mighty proud i am that i am able to have a spare bed for my fiends"

Samual Pepys Diarist.

Sun followed by snow

I start working seven night shifts from today. I have been catching up on all those jobs women enjoy!!!!! so i haven't been on my blog for a short while. Today i came across photos of our garden covered in snow over the easter weekend. Thats when i realised easter had been and gone while i have been busy working. My sons managed to fit in visits around my shifts which helped me through the weekend.

Apart from the usual chores we have had contact from our friends in the gambia. And contact from Richard regarding the lochnagar crater on the somme. There is a lot of safety work needed over there, to give peace of mind. Richard is a very thoughtful person with lots of useful knowledge to share, i always enjoy our conversations and then of course the get togethers on the Somme. We will be heading for the crater mid may,when the gardening posts should really start to take off along with ours at home.

My last night shift...ending friday morning...coincides with some very special friends arriving that tea time..Jules from Manchester, Martin from Wales, Yvonne from London and Tony and Jilly from Portsmouth. We met during a nine day trip of the Dambusters, [ww11 memorabilia] almost six years ago and we have remained loyal friends since, having shared some very special times together including two weddings. Unfortunatly there was one other person Bob who's unable to be with us in person,...Yvonnes lovely late husband... he managed to join us when we lived in Cornwall a short while after our holiday, but was then taken ill with a dense stroke. We still remember him especially when we get together. So my post weekend blogs will be full of new stuff from the weekend and a few memories. We refer to ourselves as The gang.... and can't wait to catch up. We are a mixture of ages we ranged from 70yrs young down to 35 when we first met...the 70 yr old being our liveliest and who loves to party with the rest of us....watch this space lol

Todays thought:-

"When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it".

W Clement Stone. Businessman.