I will start with Week 35 which I wrote last week and then managed to delete when I went to publish it!
Firstly here are two lovely memories from my last week in London. On the Friday my son and his wife went with Chris and I to the Tower of London. We saw many interesting things there, but I really wanted to see the poppies and here they are.
This main display depicts a wounded soldier bleeding out in a trail of red poppies across the grass. There were smaller displays elsewhere in the grounds and altogether there were 30,000 ceramic poppies.
On the Monday, I took myself off to London Bridge to visit Southwick Cathedral, to see the display of 'Peace doves'. This was thousands of paper doves each one carrying a message of hope, love, peace, dreams, written by cathedral members, visitors and children's groups. With subdued lighting and gentle organ music in the background, it was very beautiful.
On Tuesday evening our son Tom arrived with a biggish car and the next morning we loaded it up with all the things we had brought with us, and quite a few more that we had aquired since. This is the back seat, and the boot was equally well stuffed. There was just room for me to sit on the other side.
The journey through London was slow with multiple speed limits and road works, but we finally got to the motor way which was at least moving steadily. Deciding to stop at a motorway mall for a drink we pulled in to the parking lot, but because I had been sat in the same position for some time, my feet were a bit numb and I managed to take a tumble just at the entrance. Passers by were very kind offering packets of tissues and wipes, and then Chris and Tom hauled me to my feet and got me to the nearest seating area which happened to be in Costa coffee. Again the Costa staff and M&S first aiders were great. They cleaned me up and put a temporay dressing on my head, and after ice/packs and free bottles of water and cups of tea, they directed us to the nearest A&E where an hour or so later I emerged with steristrip stitches and glue, and a neater dressing, plus a developing black eye, but at least we were on our way again. Talk about arriving in style!
Soon we were in Oswestry and the next day we picked up the keys to our new house. Several family members came to welcome us on our first day, and we has a lovely time catching up with one another.
Our boxes arrived from storage on Saturday so we could rummage through for items we needed straight away. Since then it has been a blur of shopping for essentials, chairs, fridge, wardrobes etc, and sitting here waiting for them to be delivered. Our boys have been wonderful, from moving boxes and depositing some in the cellar, carrying the heavy items up to the top of the house, and taking several loads of cardboard and plastic to the tip.
This is the mantle shelf in the main room. Tom bought me the sunflowers on our first day here and they have stayed looking beautiful for three weeks. I had no idea they make such good cut flowers.
We are now feeling quite settled with the sitting room and bedroom both finished, plus Chris' office and my craft room nearly there. The internet is now installed after a coupe of false starts, and everything seems to be running smoothly.
The dining room which will be our new kitchen is almost empty, (apart from the fridge), and we have agreed a design and chosen colours for floor, walls and cupboards. The tiny room, supposedly the kitchen, will be a utility area but for now I have a sink, my Ninja foodie and a microwave, plus a kettle and toaster of course, and between them I seem to have managed to produce reasonable meals. The builder has said he would try to do the work before Christmas but couldn't promise because he is very busy.
And now for this week,
The garden cannot be our priority yet but we did spend some time out there this morning just tidying it a bit. Chris has cut back the brambles that are trying to take over, and we will continue to work on them. I pulled up lots of weed seed heads, and trimmed the shrubs to keep the path clear. We did find some hidden gems among the mess, a little winter cyclaen is flowering and this blue ground cover companula is everywhere, growing out of the walls, between the steps and anywhere else it can finda space.
We have some heather which my dad loved so I just trimmed that for now, and there are several varieties of fuschia that look very healthy.
I expect you had the same high winds as we did on Tuesday. We noticed that the park gates across the road from us were closed and we soon saw why. A huge branch had fallen from a tree just inside the railings. It took the groundsmen all morning to saw it into manageable pieces and take it away.
The next day the gates were open again and I walked across to the shops, and I noticed a big white and brown bird that I hadn't seen there before. I walked closer and thought "If I wasn't in Oswestry, I would think that is a seagull". So I took photos and put them into Google lens and sure enough it came up with a definite identity of a herring gull. So the poor thing had been blown a long way off course to get this far inland, but I haven't seen it since, so I guess it found its way home.
We saw a notice on the park gates a week or two ago saying the gates would be closed for "Tree work" so this morning we weren't surprised to hear a chain saw in action. I said to Chris that they seemed to be taking a lot of branches from one tree, and by this afternoon they had felled the whole tree. There are plenty more trees in the park but it is still sad to see one go, but I presume it was in a dangerous condition. Even with their heavy machinery it has taken them all day to move it, and last time I looked they were still cutting the trunk into huge slices. I hope they get used to make something nice.
Goodness I have rambled on all afternoon so I think I had better stop now. Ben is about to ring me for our weekly chat anyway.
I was surprised to find that there was no link for today and reading back a few posts I found Annieis taking a much needed break as she is very busy with her sewing business. Unfortunately the lady who was going to take over for a while has not been able to install Linky so far, so I will try to add a link to my post in comments. If I don't manage to do it right, feel free to look for me in 'search' . I'd like to keep in touch if I can.
Well done to anyone who has stayed with me to the end. It will be a lot shorten after this!