Sunday Snaps....

Dear bloggy friends,

I'm afraid that things still aren't too good here from a health wise point of view, but I thought I had better get together some Sunday Snaps for you, otherwise you will think that I've disappeared from the face of the earth!!  Hope you enjoy them.

I took Ruby to ballet yesterday morning, as mummy and daddy went to watch Eli at Little Dragons, as it was a grading session, and he was presented with his orange belt.

The next two  photos I took when the little ones were here yesterday afternoon.

Little Alfred had his operation early last week as soon as the family arrived back from France.  It was to be a very delicate operation, so it was wonderful to know that it had all gone well and, after three days, he was allowed back home again, although he has to take things easy for the next six weeks.  

 I'm delighted to say that Kelly was well enough to go to the wedding last Saturday.  Emma said that it was a beautiful, magical day, but very emotional as well.  It had been really miserable in the morning, but at  1 p.m. the sun came out and they were able to waft around the grounds of the beautiful setting which is Langdon Court.  So everything really came together for everyone.

This next photo is of my granddaughter number 1, with son in law number 1 and Kelly.

Here is Kelly with the girlies!

I thought you might like the sign on the back of the bride and groom's chairs!

 Here are Emma and Eleanor.  As Emma gave the bride away, the colour of her dress had to co-ordinate with the cream of the bride's dress.

Finally, the bride and groom!

Apparently, the day before the wedding, one of the bridegroom's sons, said that he would like to say something at the wedding.  Now they didn't have a clue what he was going to say and, as he was a typical fifteen year old lad, they were a little apprehensive.  The following is what he read out.  Emma said that there wasn't a dry eye in the house.  

There are poems about Mothers and poems about Dads.

Some poems make you laugh and some poems make you sad.

There are poems about birthdays and poems just for lovers,

But there are very few poems that are about a Stepmother.

She is portrayed as evil, a devil, a shrew,

With agendas aplenty and morals quite few.

There are many more names and none of them stellar,

If you want a long list of them, ask Cinderella.

She's a gold digger, a home-wrecker, really quite harried,

But that doesn't describe who my father just married.

He married a woman as warm as the sun,

Who has opened her heart to most everyone.

She is generous and kind and sweeter than sweet.

With a smile and a kind word to all that she meets.

When first I met her, I was a teen, oh so smart,

With the world at my feet and tongue sharp as a dart.

She saw through my facade and made me her friend,

And I knew then she'd be there through thick and through thin.

Stepmother's a harsh word and the French have another,

Its 'Belle Mere', and translated means Beautiful Mother.

So I say to you, my Belle Mere, my beautiful mum,

Please know that I love you, you're my very best chum.

We've all been so lucky to have you in our life,

My Dad got it right when he made you his wife.

I think you can probably imagine just how happy this made the happy couple!

Take care until we see each other again.

Only Me! ......

Hi everyone.  Well, how are you all then?  I hope I haven't missed too much from being absent for much of this week.  

Many of you might know that the family have been here from France for this past week.  The wonderful weather we had last week seems to have disappeared unfortunately, and it's been pretty rainy all this week here in Devon (now there's a surprise!).

It's not actually raining as I type this, but it's pretty chilly out there, in quite a stiff breeze.  We're going on a boat trip from Plymouth Hoe this evening, so I guess we will be wrapping up pretty warm!

We're also hoping for sun tomorrow, as  Emma's good friend is getting married, and (I think I mentioned  this before), Emma is giving the bride away - quite an honour I think.  This is the friend, you might remember, that had her Hen Night back in March, so that Kelly could go on.  We honestly never expected Kelly to be here for the wedding, but she is going to go, providing it is one of her good days.  I do pray that it will be so.  Apparently, she said to Emma in the week that she just wanted to see Jude get married - almost as if she has been holding on for that :(  She really has been SO brave, with all that she has had to go through.  The Consultant told her a few days ago, that she should have three more months.  

To be honest, I've also been pretty quiet because I'm not feeling on top form at the moment.  Most of you will know the problems I have been having with my skin, and the dreadful irritation over the past year.  Whilst I was on the Steroids, I was absolutely hyper and rushing around like a mad thing, feeling SO Good!  However, you cannot stay on those for ever, and, just this week, I have been to the Hospital and I am now on Azathioprine.  Apparently, the side effects can be quite bad, and I have to go up to the Hospital every week so that they can keep their eye on things, and I also have to have a blood test done every week.

I was so busy worrying about the more serious side-effects, that I just didn't give a thought to another side effect, and, that is, desperate tiredness! I read the leaflet this morning, and this is definitely mentioned.  As soon as I sit down, I have literally been dropping off to sleep, and I am still sleeping through the night.  I guess I will have to mention this when I go up again next week, as it could be quite dangerous, especially when I'm driving.  My friend was talking to me the other day, and I just dropped off! LOL!! I tried to explain that I wasn't really bored by her conversation!!!

It was daughter number 2's second wedding anniversary on Tuesday.  I still look back on that day as being absolutely perfect.  The weather behaved, we had a wonderful Marquee in the garden, and everyone was just wafting around drinking Pims and enjoying a good old Devon Cream Tea!

Well, I hope that I will start to visit you all again next week (the family go home on Sunday) .  Until then, I'm sending (((HUGS))) your way my friends.

Oh, I thought I would just mention about little Alfred.  We are dosing him up twice a day, and it seems to be controlling things at the moment.  The top Vet phoned here a few days ago to say that they think they CAN carry out an operation, so that will be the next step once he gets back home again.  Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my last post.  It brings it home to me once again (not that I really needed reminding) that our blogging community really is so loyal and supportive, whether we have good news or bad news, and I, for one, certainly appreciate you all.

Poor Sir Alfred ....

Hallo everyone.  I know that I have been missing from my post here in blogland, but the weather has been so utterly glorious here in Devon for this past week, that I'm afraid I've been taking advantage of it, rather than sitting by the computer for long periods of time!!

Some of you might remember the terrible summer we had over here last year, when we just had torrential rain right the way through the summer months really, so this really is such a blessing, and lifts the spirits and the soul!

So I hope you will forgive me if I haven't been over to see you.  In fact, I think I will probably be absent for a while over these summer months.  I'm sure you will all still be with me when I do call in to see you again!

I have some bad news about poor little Alfred.  He's only just over two years old, and we've always joked that he's a lazy little thing, and has literally, sometimes, had to be lifted out the door to go for a walk.  I've always said to Emma that I wouldn't get much exercise looking after him!

Anyway, over the past six months or so, he's sort of gone into spasms every so often, and you can see that he is in a lot of discomfort during those times.  In fact, the last couple of times he's been over with us, they have had to take him to see the local Vet.

Unfortunately, these past couple of weeks, it has got worse, so Emma took him to the Clinique Veterinaire where they live in France, and he had to have an MRI Scan.  They discovered that he has a problem with his back, so they sent the results off to a Specialist to see if it will be possible to operate, or whether there might be something else they could do.  The worst scenario is that he could end up paralysed, so we're praying that something can be done :(  Poor little sausage - he's such a good little thing too.  But, as I say, he's never been the most lively of pups, so perhaps this is something that has always been there.  He looks really sorry for himself here, doesn't he?

I've just seen on facebook this morning, that he's taken a turn for the worse, and he is now on morphine.  I hate to think of him suffering like that.

They are due to drive over here tomorrow for the week, as one of Emma's best friends is getting married next Saturday and, in fact, Emma is giving the bride away, as this friend lost her father some years ago.  Please pray for little Alfred - he is such a little sweetheart!

Thank you my friends.

This Is Just So True! ....

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 1940's,  1950's and 1960's .

 CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930'2, 1940's,  1950's and 1960's 

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank Sherry while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos...

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, bread and dripping, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer. 

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. 

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nandos. 

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00 pm and didn't open on a Sunday, somehow we didn't starve to death! 

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. 

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers and Bubble Gum.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter, milk from the cow, and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! 

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. 
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were OK. 

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes!  We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY,

no video/DVD films, or colour TV,
no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at EASTER TIME time....

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! 

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet because we didn't need to keep up with the Jones's!

Not everyone made the rugby/football/cricket/netball team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on
MERIT.

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and throw the blackboard rubber at us if they thought we weren't concentrating..

. We can string sentences together and spell and have proper conversations because of a good, solid three R's education.
Our parents would tell us to ask a stranger to help us cross the road. 

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora', 'Blade' 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL !

Well, I wonder how many of you can relate to the above. I can remember doing so many of these things, including go-carting, making mud-pies, oh all of it really! 

It didn't seem to do us any harm, did it?! Hope your week ahead is filled with good things my friends.