Wednesday 24 August

We had a lovely week in Holland last week. Crammed full of activities and in some ways very tiring, but as they say, a change is as good as a rest!
We managed a long bike ride (almost 30 miles!) with lots of sight-seeing along the way

Entrance to castle Doorwerth

Watching barges in the many sluices you find along the Rijn (spot the cat!)

The other side of the sluice gates

A little church - often not as richly decorated as in Britain

And funny little ferries to cross the river

Including a seagull hitching a lift!

This one only took bikes and pedestrians

We went for a long walk, with much protesting until we found this

where some paddling needed to be done of course

Lots of good food

Poffertjes!

The best cheese sandwich

Patat (chips) at the station

With the best mayonaise in the world, according to 12yo

Some retail therapy


And a very unusual activity



A few weeks before we went to Holland, mum discovered a 'pick your own bunch of flowers' garden. I didn't expect too much but it was actually a lovely place, all set out in semi-circular borders, with a pond in the middle, plus lots of seating areas. You get given a basket and a pair of scissors, pick what you like and then pay for your bunch of flowers. It had only been open a few weeks and they hope to offer tea and coffee next year - but as it was, it was a great place with lots of beautiful flowers.

And we did lots of tourist walks in the town where I grew up

Square with town hall and second tallest church spire in Holland

Before we knew it, it was time to go home again, and none of us really wanted to! Still, it was lovely spending time with mum (who had her last radiotherapy treatment while we were there, so we celebrated with coffee and cake), dad and seeing some friends too. Already counting the days till November!

Sunday 14 August

Having a well earned week off work with a few days in Holland with some of my favourite people.

Tuesday 2 August

It's been a little quiet around here. Not quiet as in nothing to do, but quiet as in silent. Last week on Saturday night I dropped 12yo and 9yo off with J. and the following Monday they set out to France to see their paternal grandmother, who recently moved there. They are travelling back again today and tomorrow morning I pick them up again.
As there was a computer available at work (I normally share a desk with a colleague who works part-time), I grabbed the chance of going to work all last week. I only work from home for the kids' sake and if they're not here, I'd rather be among people. It was great fun, I worked with someone who I hadn't worked with for months, I got to know several new faces, we ate far too much cake, we all worked hard, we went out for a celebratory milkshake and by Friday I was well and truly ready for the weekend.
The weekend was the usual flurry of doing chores (cleaning the car - yuck!) and things you've been looking forward to all week. It was no time at all before it was Monday and I was back home and back to working from home. And suddenly, out of nowhere, I really began to miss the kids. As in properly miss them, want them back NOW miss them. It's terribly quiet here, just Radio 4 and the two goldfish for company, the only mess around the house is the mess I make myself, nobody is arguing with each other, nobody is asking what we are going to do today. By this time tomorrow, I'll have them back with me and we will have been to the library and had a coffee in town. I am very proud that I haven't been bored a single second while they've been away, but now I'm ready to take up mothering duties again. 18 hours and counting.

Progress on the barn renovation. The grey you can see, is insulation. Windows are all in, so is the front door. Back doors are awaiting special hinges.


Yes that's me in my very unelegant cycling outfit cleaning windows in preparation of painting them.

Leaving presents for 9yo's teachers (washcloths with handcream). I now no longer have any children at primary school, which is a very odd feeling!

A beautiful stone porch to one of the many churches I discover during my weekend bike rides.

And this blur is B. going down the dry ski slope in Norwich. My camera doesn't cope well with lack of light which adds nicely to the impression of speed. He definitely was the fastest one there on Sunday night!

Monday 18 July

Who's a happy girl then?
Early birthday/Christmas present from B. I keep venturing further and further afield on the bike, but sometimes you have to go quite a long way to get to the starting point of a bike route. B. had offered to drive me there, but it'd mean cleaning out his van, driving me there, picking me up again. This is much easier, and has room for 4 bikes. Very user-friendly and put to use for the first time yesterday.
I do have a feeling he may just regret buying this - I disappear at 10 in the morning and come back just before I have to leave and pick up the kids - he's not going to see much of me at this rate ;-)

Wednesday 13 July

Having a terrible fit of the giggles...

Tuesday 12 July

Hellooooo! I know it's been a long time. Getting the blog up-to-date has been on my to-do list for weeks now, but it seems that the longer you leave it, the more you have to tell, the harder it seems to get back into it. I compose umpteen blog posts in my head, I take photos all the time, and none of them make it to the screen, let alone get published.

First of all, all's reasonably well with mum. She is waiting to hear when her radiotherapy will start (within the next few weeks), and they have recommended not going for chemotherapy because of her history with pancreatic cancer. Instead after the radiotherapy has finished she'll probably have a course of hormone treatment. Recovery from the last operation hasn't been plain sailing, it's just all little niggling things which aren't serious but annoying enough to affect your day-to-day life and make you feel as though recovery is slow. I'm hoping to go over later this summer, when the kids have finished school, just for a few days, so I can go with her to hospital - just for the company really.

I think I'll just post a few photos of the last few weeks as an update. So much has happened, we'd all be here forever if I wrote about it all!

On 3 July I took part in the Ladies Tractor Road Run again. I'd forgotten quite how much fun it is. The Friday before we had a last practice run and everything went wrong, prompting me to wail 'I can't do this!' But it was like a bad dress rehearsal and everything went fine on the day itself, and the tractor and I are now very good friends. I raised almost £200 which made me very proud - o and the page will stay open for another couple of weeks if you still want to donate! Thanks so much to all of you who sent a donation - it is much, much appreciated. And yes, I did wear this

but obviously not JUST that... ;-)

Another finished object:

This is a very late birthday present for 12yo (her birthday is in April). The cover turned out to be much bigger than anticipated and I finally ordered the right size cushion pad for her a few weeks ago. Yes, I think the colours are hideous too, but then I'm not 12! It now takes pride of place on her duvet cover with matching peace signs.

Over the past few weeks I seem to have acquired two new hobbies. The first one is cycling. I've always enjoyed cycling but since B. installed a new bike computer, I've really got back into it again and now try to do a fairly long distance every weekend (last weekend was 40 miles!) There is so much to explore in Norfolk, I'm discovering lots of little country churches, large country houses, small villages, small market towns. The big advantage is that it is all fairly flat!


And the other hobby is antique/vintage/second-hand items. A few weeks ago, 12yo dropped the mixing bowl I'd had since getting married. As it was a present from ex-MIL, I wasn't too bothered! Before getting a new one, I asked mum if she had one she wasn't using (mum loves antiques) and she gave me a lovely French one, very unusual in shape, obviously used, but I love it. And that started me off. Why buy things new when there are so many items you can buy used and that have a story? I'm trawling Freecycle and Ebay, rummaging around charity shops, visiting antique markets. I've not bought much yet but am definitely getting an idea of what I like and what I don't like, and learning to see potential in items you'd normally dismiss. I'm specially pleased with this, an old flour sieve:


And last but not least a couple of photos of these two bambini of mine who are growing up soooo fast
12yo who is getting taller every day - she doesn't like it when I say she might even become taller than me

and 9yo who has 8 more days left at primary school. He has had several visits to his new school already, he knows which house he is in and who his tutor is, 12yo comes home and tells him which teachers he will have, and he is so excited. And me? I'm proud of who they are, I love this age, but it will be very odd to leave the safe, familiar surroundings of the small village school behind. Time really does fly - it seems only last week that he was in my arms while dropping off his big sister at preschool - and it really does feel like the end of an era.

Wednesday 22 June

I'm still here - just trying to catch my breath after a few busy and turbulent weeks. I kept going on adrenaline I think and now it seems that things may calm down a little, the tiredness has hit me. I'm keeping going, but sleep a lot and wouldn't mind a week off. I'd rather save my holidays for when the kids break up though, so we can spend some time together.

Will write a longer post hopefully this weekend. In the meantime one thing I wanted to show and one thing I wanted to tell you about.
First a recently completed small project




I'm pretty certain their mum doesn't read this blog - and if she does, she is probably too busy right now to spend much time behind the computer! They're in the post on the way to the recipients anyway.
Other finished projects to follow soon!

And the one thing to tell you about is the 8th Ladies Tractor Road Run, which I'm taking part in next weekend. You can find more information here and my sponsorship page is here - please go and take a look. And if you're wondering at the comments from people who have donated: yes, I have crocheted a pink bikini and yes, I intend to wear it... ;-)

Last but not least I wanted to say thanks for all the messages of support. I may not have responded much or at all, and I haven't got around to reading many blogs lately, let alone leave comments, but I have read all the comments on here and I feel very grateful for all the support and well wishes. Thank you :-)
And with that, I'm off to bed!