A free book for your Kindle

“Angie Brynner & Company” is free from 28th December to 1st January 2016 inclusive. This is the link. 

If you have a new Kindle and you’re interested in Chic lit, here’s an eBook for you. You can also take advantage of a free read by downloading the free app that enables you to read Kindle books on your tablet or Smartphone.

If you decide to take advantage of this offer, I’d be very interested to know what you think of my book. If you have the time please take a couple of minutes to review the book when you’ve finished reading.

Insecting times

Grumpy neighbour told neighbour at the back’s sister off because a pine tree that is in our garden has nests of Pine Processionary. Because of the mild weather the caterpillars are descending for the next stage of their life. Unfortunately their hairs are very irritating and at certain stages they can release their hairs into the air. This can be dangerous for animals and humans. Our neighbour’s wife was having problems after dealing with caterpillars in their garden. Mrs. neighbour at the back came to see me last night and explained the situation.

 I went round to the town hall (neighbor on the other side!) this morning to talk about what to do and by amazing coincidence there was a man there whose job it is to get rid of pests. The tree can be treated next September. This year is a bad year in the village for these caterpillars, so the town hall is probably going to do something about them too. I then went to explain what was happening to neighbor at the back’s sister and the wife of grumpy neighbour (fortunately). I will have to make sure nothing is growing near or over the wall that divides us, so hopefully the caterpillars will stay our side.

When I went to make a cup of tea this morning there was a European House Centipede in the sink. They go looking for water and can’t get back up the slippery sides of the sink. I dampened some kitchen roll and hung it over the side of the sink so that he could climb out, which he did. He then kindly dropped down onto the floor so that I could pop a Tupperware container over him, slide some cardboard underneath and let him go outside.

My charming absent minded husband went off to work with my keys (as well as his own). I didn’t realize before today how much I need my keys, especially for going in and out of the garage and opening our postbox.

Dom has been back to Poitiers to catch up with her contacts at the university and see her old buddies. We're picking her up from the station this evening as she’s coming to stay for a couple of nights and goes home on Sunday morning. We’re really looking forward to seeing her again.

Olivier will be home late in the day on Christmas Eve. We haven’t seen him since the summer.

Nose progress

It’s been a few weeks since the dermatologist dealt with the Actinic keratosis on my nose. It’s healed up very well, though I haven’t used any facial scrubs or strong products on my skin yet. I was pleased to discover a tinted BB cream with an SPF of 50 which I put on every morning and re-apply if I need to later in the day. It’s within the price range of what I normally pay for beauty products.

Next spring, I’ll be shopping for hats to shade my face from the sun.

You know

You know you're getting old when the TV actor who always reminded you of your granddad turns out to be younger than you....

There's a spider in the old barn

This morning I went into the garage to put the recycling bin away. The garage is an outbuilding, a barn, well over 100 years old made of local stone. I find it fascinating. Unfortunately when I moved the ordinary bin out of the way there was a huge, giant, enormous, big, enormous (did I say enormous?), big spider on the lid. I think that it was a Cardinal spider.

The French Wikipedia is more dramatic as it gives the maximum length of the spider, including legs, as up to 13 cm which is just over 5 inches! The English Wiki talks of body length only. Mine wasn’t that big. It’s fast too; speeds recorded up to 3.5 Km/h = 2.17 mph. As it happens it is harmless to humans (excepting heart attack when you see one up close).

In bad weather I hang the washing out in the garage – I really hope that the spider does not like fabric conditioner. This is what I wrote about the barn a few years ago: The barn

The tunnels mentioned in the story were built many hundreds of years ago and were a way of moving protestants to safety during the many religious conflicts.

Exciting times

I have finally published a book on Kindle!! It’s taken quite a while and challenged my knowledge of Word, but I got there in the end As from today you can buy Angie Brynner & Company from Amazon for your Kindle. Did you know that if you haven’t got a Kindle reader you can download an App for smartphones, or you can read using your tablet or computer?

Bumblebee update

Unfortunately I found this lying on the grass this morning:

I don't think that the cats would have done this.  I haven't seen any cats in the garden since the nest appeared as it's close to where they come in and out.  Looking online I have discovered that badgers enjoy a bit on honey and sometimes foxes.  I don't think that there are many foxes around here and badgers?  I've never heard talk of them.  I'll have to grab a passing farmer and ask them if there are badgers locally.

The gate into the garden is locked at night so I don't think a human would have done this.  Good news is that the bees are still going to and fro so there is some of the hidden nest left.

Insects

This last week has been interesting as far as nature is concerned. We’ve had a nest of red-tailed bumblebees in the garden in a wall behind the hedge this year. They are very beautiful and it’s been fascinating to see them coming and going. Rob and I have left them alone, especially after he was stung when he was mowing the lawn near to their nest. Can you imagine how the noise and vibration would seem to them?

This week he was stung again and his leg was quite swollen. I checked up online and that can happen and it’s ok. As it happens they are bees that do not die, they can use their stings over and over. I found this wonderful website all about bees. When the weather gets cool enough the male bee population will die, the old queen will die and the young queens have all ready flown away to make ready for their own colonies next year. I will be sad to see them disappear and feel privileged that they chose our garden.

A couple of mornings ago I found a European House Centipede on a kitchen work surface. These are insects I have a lot of time for as they are excellent hunters and rid the house of just about every insect you can think of. I find a clear Tupperware container and pop it over them and then carefully slide a thin piece of stout card underneath (careful not to trap their legs) and let them free outside.

The next one appeared when I was sat on the toilet and of course feet look like good shelter* on their level. I caught up with this one in the bedroom and popped him outside. We’ve had a very mild autumn so far and it looks as if it is going to end soon if I’m finding them indoors. If you do find one or two it’s an indication that you haven’t got any large infestations of other creepy crawlies in your home. If there is nothing for them to hunt they leave.

 *in 1902 an entomologist observed that they frightened the ladies when they headed for the shelter of their skirts

Nose Job

Jus over a week ago I had four little patches of Actinic Keratosis burnt/frozen off my nose. I knew that I had a little patch of something on my nose for some years, but never got round to doing anything about it.  It took less than 5 minutes which included the writing of a prescription for a product to help with healing.

 I’m just waiting for the scabs to fall off and that should be the end of it. I will be using sun cream more regularly from now on.

(Taken a few days ago) 

Not very in focus I know, but you get the idea.

It comes in threes - or is it fours?

Yesterday morning I had to use my card to buy some stamps at the post office. I reversed my pin number. I was sure that I had the right number; three times. Now waiting for new number so that I can start using my card again…

When I was waiting to catch the bus to the clinic for my leg injections, a car drove past at great speed and soaked me as it went through a big puddle. The driver in the car behind looked as shocked as I felt.

At the clinic I was told that the government is making cuts again and so my injections are to be considered as aesthetic. I won’t be refunded at all for the sessions. Last year it was my glucosamine that was considered ‘comfort’ medicine. Let’s hope that the Minister of Health doesn’t ever suffer from arthritis or restless legs.

This morning, just when I thought it was safe, I opened the bathroom cupboard and a new bottle of nail varnish hit the floor and spattered everywhere. I managed to clean it up without too much trouble. The bathroom smells of acetone now, even after I removed all traces to the bin outside and cleaned the floor afterwards. I learnt today that spilled nail varnish dries a lot faster that nail varnish applied to your fingernails.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

The big six-oh

My birthday has come round again, but this time I’m going up into a different decade. I’ve had lots of presents and fuss from my family and enjoyed the Happy Birthdays from my Facebook friends . It has been a good day so far.

I’ve been thinking what to say about this decade; We had “Life begins at forty” and I said myself “But it really gets going at 50”. “Sweet 60s”?!

I can still play air guitar with the best. So here, live and all the way from the Red Square in Moscow is Sir Paul McCartney and friends just to wish me – and anyone else in Blogland who has one today;

Happy Birthday!

Time passes so quickly when...

It’s just over a week since we got home from a visit to the UK. We had a great time, but it was very tiring as we now have Dom and J-M to visit too. They only live around an hour from Stansted but we took about three hours to get to their house. It was a very rainy night and the vital road to take us into Colchester was closed that very evening. Anyway we finally arrived and refreshed and were shown around their new home and it was time for bed. Dom was supposed to be working, but she had a heavy cold and spent the morning in bed so J-M showed us around their new home town; it’s a really lovely place.

Then we popped to see Christian and J. Unfortunately it was my turn to be ill. Stomach upset, but no pain. I spent half a day in bed. Fortunately It was a day when no great travels were scheduled.

Then we were off to visit our mothers. We had a lovely afternoon with Rob’s mother and took her out in the wheelchair and sat in the beautiful grounds of the care home; Christian came too, so she was especially pleased. My mum is fine though we didn't have much time to see her..

Very soon it was time to go back to Dom and J-M for the final evening. Why do holidays always go so quickly?

September

Well, what have I been up to.? Both Olivier and then Dom and J-M came to visit. Dom and J-M are now living in the UK and Dom has started work. She also went off to a conference in Malta at the beginning of the month. She said that the weather was very hot over there.

Olivier popped home for a weekend as there is a holiday mid-August. He seems to be happy and this year his sessions at university will be 4 weeks long alternated with work for 4 weeks.

Christian, who I’m unsuccessfully trying to call Chris, helped me to install Windows 10. He used team viewer to take over my computer. I’m used to Window’s 10 now – it’s not much different to Windows 7. Mahjong and Spider Solitaire aren’t there anymore. All my scores over the last 4 years have been lost. There is Spider Solitaire, but it’s not the same. I’ve managed to find the original Shanghai Dynasty Mahjong that I used to play. I need a bigger version nowadays so that I can see the pattern on the tiles.

All of a sudden the weather has turned Septemberish. We still have lovely sunny days, but with very cold mornings. The washing doesn’t dry in a couple of hours outside anymore.

 Some blue sky for you, taken in the last week of August. Even the leaves aren’t as green now…

Château on fire?

I thought that they were just marks on the postcard but it seems that something (smoke? ectoplasm?) is coming out of the window....

Catching up with the children

Olivier returned to his bank town just a week ago. He enjoyed two weeks holiday and the weather was good. We didn’t see too much of him as he was out with friends or in their swimming pools. What we did see was good, he’s got the first year of his Master’s degree under his belt and he enjoys where he’s working. He went to his first wedding this summer – yes, even his friends are starting to get married. He also showed me pictures of babies: two of his friends are now proud fathers.

 It doesn’t seem 5 minutes since I met up for an afternoon with two of my ex bank colleagues. We all had our first babies within a month of each other and managed to get together when they were around 6 months old. They were all 28 this year!

Dom and J-M are coming over to see us tomorrow. They will be moving to the UK in a week or so as Dom will be starting a post as lecturer at Essex University in September. They will be living near to Colchester and I’m really looking forward to exploring the banks of the River Colne, as I’ve already looked on Google Earth. We’ll be visiting them in September, as well as Christian & J.

An educational Friday this time

My appointment with the dermatologist was last Friday morning. I was having my many moles beauty spots checked but I was more nervous about finding the Doctor’s office at the clinic complex. It it opposite the vein Doctor that I see. I hadn’t noticed it before because the writing on the wall is so big, not easy to read close up.

 She checked me all over and all of my moles and beauty spots are fine. I had a mole removed from my back 25 years ago so she asked me questions about that when she saw the scar.

 She told me that I have some kind of infection of the hair follicles – which is why I lost my eyebrows several years ago. My hairline is slowly receding, so now I have a prescription for some gel to apply.

 When she asked me if I had any questions I asked her about a little piece of skin on my nose, which never seems to heal properly. It’s an Actinic Karatosis. I’ve wondered about it for several years. In October she will remove it using Cryotherapy. 

I was in the dermatologist’s surgery for less than 15 minutes, learnt a lot and was reassured about my beauty spots.

Another interesting Friday

One of Rob’s colleagues is married and his wife works at the Napoleon and African Museums on the Ile d’Aix. The Ile d’Aix is very small and no cars are allowed, especially in the summer months. The ferry ride is about 20 minutes from the mainland.

Last Friday saw us catching the ferry to pay a visit to our friends. They actually live in the south of Charente Maritime, but while she is working she lodges in a little house behind the African museum. The family passes their time between two homes. The Ile d’Aix is a wonderful island and their other home is in a small town where artists have taken over the old fishing huts and painted them bright colours. What amazing memories their 8 year old son will have when he grows up.

 The little house is situated in a large walled garden, well away from the public eye and I was fascinated to see this dovecote placed over a well in the grounds:

They had other visitors too and we all started off our visit with a walk around the island. It takes a couple of hours and the day was very, very hot. There’s plenty of shade and between the trees you can catch glimpses of little coves and azure blue sea. Out hostess is a good guide and she pointed out places of interest and told us about the island as we went round.

Lunch was eaten under the trees, which was lovely and delicious and I picked up some new cookery ideas.

After lunch we were taken around the Napoleon Museum. Napoleon slept in the house, which is now the museum, for one night on his way to exile. Unfortunately, I was suffering from too much sun so didn’t really appreciate the visit as much as I’d liked to. I had to go back to rest. Strange to say I visited the museum on a very hot day when I was expecting Christian nearly 30 years ago and was unwell. I’ll have to try to visit in winter!

 Rob and his colleague visited the African museum which was actually the one I wanted to visit as it contains the famous dodo that I got involved with on Wikipedia. The talk page has been cleared over the years but here’s the post I wrote on my postcard blog. I now know that the dodo is not a real stuffed dodo.


After a rest and a drink of water I was fine again. The ferry was pretty full on the way back to the mainland. It was a lovely day – but hot!

We survived!

Despite the hot weather and a very early start to the day.

Bordeaux was quite quiet and cool when we arrived at about 8.45 in the morning. It even rained a few drops when we stopped for a cup of coffee on the way to the auction house. We ate inside at lunch time as it was windy and that is always dangerous in the noonday sun.

The auction went really well and we managed to get some good postcards as well as keep cool. They handed out cups of water to everyone there. Some of the collectors are quite elderly and need reminding to drink.

I wasn’t looking forward to the wait at the station, but it went really well. This weekend is the start of two months holidays here, so I expected a lot more people to be around. It was a reasonable Friday evening there. We got a seat in the bar and looked at our postcards for an hour and then wondered around the station shops and listened to the piano being played. Rob bought me a handbag in the sales; it took me quite a while to choose one. He was patient – anything to kill time waiting for a train.

They were handing out free bottles of water at the station so we had one each which was good timing as our supply was running low. Our train set off ten minutes late which was fine as we expected the worse. Overhead electric cables were dangerously low because of the heat all over France. It wasn’t crowded either so we chose a good seat opposite each other to eat our picnic.

I slept so well on Friday night

Meltiinnnggggg

Trying to drink lots of water and keep cool.  It is hot enough to break previous records here.

Yesterday evening we went for what we thought would be a cooling walk.  We were met by a blast of hot air when we went outside and there has a hot breeze blowing.  Fortunately we have shutters which we keep closed all day with the windows open inside.  I feel like a mole shuffling around in the half light.

On Friday we have an auction in Bordeaux.  Bordeaux is often the hottest place in France.

Monday 17th June 1985

Was the day that we were married at the town hall in La Rochelle. 30 years means that it is our Pearl wedding anniversary. This is what I wrote on our 25th anniversary.

Going down to London town

The best day was our visit to London. Christian and J only live an hour from London by train so we played tourists.

We visited the Bank of England Museum. I chose that one as we had all worked in banks at some point in our lives. It was fascinating! We did go into the British Museum but didn’t stay long as there was so much to see we decided a visit would have to be planned in order to get the most from it.

We had lunch at Borough Market. Venison burgers to be exact and they are delicious! In the afternoon we visited Liberty of London and spent an agreeable hour or so just taking it all in. We could have spend an agreeable amount of money too, but we aren't that rich. We also stood outside Buckingham Palace and watched the WI filing in for a garden party.

My shadow outside Liberty of London

Before our train home we ate at an Italian restaurant which wasn’t too expensive and the food was great. I've written a revue for TripAdvisor.

I hadn’t been to London for about 30 years and was amazed by the lack of traffic. Where we went wasn’t too crowded and the underground was fine too. I slowed us down when there were lots of steps to go down but they weren’t too deep so I didn’t suffer too much.

Needless to say we all slept well after a day like that.

UK revisited

At the end of May we went off to the UK for a week. The weather was typically British for the whole of the time we were there, with the exception of the last day of which we spent mostly in the bowels of Stansted airport. Other than that we had a good week.

 I met my grandpuppy at last, who is the handsomest, best behaved young dog we have ever met.

Are you my Grandma?

 The main reason for our visit was to see M-I-L in her new home for the elderly. It’s in a beautiful old house with incredible grounds. She has a room which is not too small or too big and looks out onto part of the gardens. She looks better that we’ve seen her for two years at least. The food is good and varied and what we saw looks very tempting.

 We managed to get into Worcester and had lunch at the Cathedral. The special on that day was toasted bacon, brie and cranberry sandwich which was to die for. The exhibition of school’s art and crafts was up already in the cloisters (I thought that I would be too early to see it), so we looked at that too.

 The free bookshop is still near to the cathedral, so I had two of those and Rob chose three so we put in some money as we didn’t have any to exchange.

To be continued...

One of life's mysteries

A couple of weeks ago I had to pick up something that I’d ordered online. As our local shop was on holiday I went to the florists in the next village. There was quite a queue, mainly people picking up parcels – not buying flowers. I didn’t mind waiting amongst the flowers and the plants.

Then I realized, I couldn’t smell the scent of a single flower! Is it because they are grown in poly-tunnels or do they just sell flowers with no perfume nowadays?

Lodgers

Look what I found growing alongside my Aloe Vera plant!

Visitors

Dom and JM came to stay for the weekend and brought Holly, their cat with them. We haven’t seen them for a while so it was great to catch up on their news and see how they were. Dom is into making cakes so she made us chocolate chip oat cookies and two mustard cakes. One with ham and one with smoked tofu. It’s the first time I’ve tasted tofu and I like it. She also brought vegetarian sausages with her as we had hotdogs for lunch on Sunday before they left.

Holly wasn’t too happy about travelling, so she hid as soon as she arrived. She couldn’t go outside either as we live on the main road through the village – not an interesting visit for her at all. She is a lovely cat though and very well behaved – no jumping up on to the table or work surfaces in the kitchen. It was sad when they left, hopefully it won’t be long before they come again.

Sage from the garden

I'm pleased to say that when I cut it I was accompanied by more bees that I've seen for a long time.

In competition with myself

I decided that this year I would try to blog more than last year. The results so far are:

January; 1 less post than last year, February; 1 more post than last year, March; 5 more posts that last year! April; 2 more posts. May last year only had one post (where I met Holly the cat), so I’m already equal. On the whole I’m winning, but as they used to write on the school reports “Could do better.

Facebook is very good at mopping up spare time, so I’m pleased that I haven’t lost blogging altogether.

The end of another era

For the last 11 years (already?) I’ve had an annual appointment with the ‘wimmins’ doctor, who always put me in mind of the Swedish Chef from the Muppets. He’s such a nice man and so polite.

My last appointment with him was a week ago. All is well. He’s retiring very soon and will be replaced by a young woman ‘wimmins' doctor. I’ve never had one of those before, so I wonder how we will get on.

Sad News

If any of you remember Alan, now is the time to say goodbye.  If you've lost the link, send me an email using the link above the lime clock in the sidebar.

Bordeaux revisited

Yesterday was an auction day, so we set off for the station just before 5 o’clock in the morning. We had an excellent day. We managed to avoid the rain, we had a great lunch and we managed to get the cards we wanted for a good price.

We usually go to the same restaurant which has changed hands but is still as good.

The auction house

During our wait at the station in the evening, we listened to the piano music. It was beautiful; a medley of different types of music, which continued for all of the time we were within earshot.

The train wasn’t too crowded on the way home and armed with my Kindle, the time flew by. I slept so well last night.

One day we’ll stay over so that we can play the tourist. Bordeaux is such a beautiful city.

The Hermione

Is a replica of the frigate used by the General Lafayette in 1780 to reach America in order to fight against the English in the War of Independence. The replica has taken 17 years to build and is due to set off for the US in the next few weeks. The original apparently took less than a year! Over Easter it will be docked in La Rochelle.

As we had free tickets, Rob and I decided to visit the frigate this week. The first view of the three mast ship is amazing. The weather was wet and windy and we were warned that the deck could be slippery as we went aboard.

There are between 23 and 25 kilometers of rope, some natural and some synthetic, depending on the job it will be used for.

1000 pulleys

26 canons


We went below deck which was a bit crowded as a school group was being taken around. The stairs were very steep. Fortunately for me, there weren’t too many.

Masts and crow's nests are fascinating.

Some more views.

Back to the modern world.


There is a modern engine on the ship to confirm with the shipping laws of some countries. The Hermione will be visiting ports in the US from mid May and will arrive in New York for the 4th July.

Chicken Soup II

I left the soup in the fridge so that I could skim off the fat easily. Then I used a colander to drain the soup from the bits of chicken and vegetable (yes, I remembered to use a second saucepan so that I didn’t throw the stock down the drain). The chicken came away from the bones very easily. I whisked all the bits of veggies and chicken together in a blender and added the mixture to the stock. It was really good. Not as salty as I was expecting as I’m used to ready made soup. I have enough for today’s lunch and tomorrow. Rob will be home for lunch then and be able to have some too.

It’s not something that I would make if I had people round to eat, there is a lot of messy fiddling about in the middle stage. It’s a good way of using every tiny scrap of leftover chicken.

New grandpuppy

Christian and J have a new puppy. Isn’t he gorgeous? He’s a Jack Chi and very small. So now I have two grandchildren. We won’t be meeting him until the end of May.

Chicken soup

Today I decided to try making chicken soup. It’s supposed to be really good for you. I looked up several recipes online and as there were many differences in the vegetables to include I put what I had. I remembered I had parsley in the garden so I added that too. The smell takes me back to my Granny’s stew. I’ll have to get some pearl barley for next time.

I hope that it’s good  for my soul.

Sunsets, eclipses, tides...

Back in February I wrote about seeing an incredible sunset in the UK. It was on 7th February, I remember that because it was Christian’s birthday. Well a couple of weeks ago, exactly a month later on 7th March we were collecting a pizza one evening and again, there was an incredible sunset. The sky was on fire. I got my phone out and managed to get a couple of pics. The car one is wobbly because the road is so bumpy.

What a weekend we’re having. The start of spring, an eclipse and the highest tide of the century! Well, once every twenty years that is, but the media in this country are really boosting and boasting; Apparently the population of the world is gathered at the Mont Saint-Michel just to watch the sea come in this evening…

The weather is dull, grey, drizzly and cold

Giant Anemone

I don't understand what has happened here.  This flower is 45 centimetres tall while its siblings measure around 23 centimetres:

Some of the other anemones are tall, but not as tall and the petals are nowhere as big.

Into history

Recently one of our favourite cafés closed down. Le Duperré has been open under that name at least as long as we’ve been in La Rochelle – over 30 years. Its place was opposite the statue if Admiral Duperré and was the first café on the port as you turned left from the big clock tower.

Over the years it was our favourite place for breakfast with children or friends. If I had blood tests before eating in the morning, having breakfast at the Duperré was a treat (Photo of a breakfast there). We met up with J-M’s parents for the first time outside the Duperré – though we didn’t have a drink there on that day because it was full up. I met blogging friend Caroline and her partner there when they came to La Rochelle too.

Every morning before work, Rob would go for his cup of coffee. You might have seen him, with his black bushy beard, sat at a table outside looking at his phone of reading the newspaper.

It has reopened under a different name and the waiter is the same at least for the time being. Before long we’ll be saying;

“Do you remember when it used to be called Le Duperré, how long ago was that?”

Spring is in the air

It's so good to see the colours of the flowers at long last.

This little violet wedged itself in a crack on the well a couple of years ago.

Getting better and a bit of Spock

Is it really that long since I last blogged? My excuse is that I had flu, only mildly, as I was vaccinated in November. I think that my sinuses are troubling me now, but it seems to be getting better every day.

Rob and I were saddened by the news if Leonard Nimoy’s death. We all loved Spock, but did you know he could have chosen a role in Peyton Place instead? How the attitude towards Vulcans would have been different if that had been the case!

My cousin Paul wrote on Facebook that he burst into the Star Trek theme midway through his saw solo (yes he plays the saw too).  What a great tribute!  In 1975 I bought a copy of Leonard Nimoy's “Will I think of You?” a lovely book of photographs and a poem dedicated to his first wife. Here is a short extract as my tribute:

“…Only
When I die

And realize
That I am born again

For dying is

A beginning

And I
have died
thousands of times…”

Copyright © 1974 by Celestial Arts

Glory

This time last week we were still in the UK. MIL has had a stroke and we visited her in hospital several times. I stayed in the car on the last visit as my throat felt prickly and I was coughing (I now know why).

Winter Warmer, the soup was butter bean and garlic

We stayed with Christian and J a couple of nights and we went to the Cake Hole again for lunch. This time I had the Winter Warmer.

MIL planted this tree nearly 50 years ago.  It's a Red Maple and really beautiful

An Oak tree across the road

For the rest of the time we stayed at MIL’s house which was very strange as she was not there. It’s the first time we’ve been in the UK in winter in 30 years; I couldn’t get over how beautiful the trees are without leaves.

We saw an incredible sunset while driving back on evening, but by the time I’d got out of the car and run upstairs to take a picture it had almost gone.

When we were taking off on our way out to the UK I saw a Glory – a lovely name for a circular rainbow in the clouds. It was beautiful. I couldn’t get at my phone to take a pic.

New crowns

Before

My crowns dated from my late teens so that makes them 40 years old at least. Over the past three weeks my dentist has been working on them. They were very difficult to remove. It was pretty impressive having someone bashing at my teeth even though I knew that they weren’t real. We had the same performance with the temporary crowns, which were in for a week.

After

To my delight when she showed me the mould she asked me if I wanted them to be the same or straighter. I chose straighter and I’m really pleased with the results. They are well worth sitting with my mouth open for 2 ½ hours.

 Fortunately we have an excellent back up health insurance. Hopefully they won’t need replacing again for at least 40 years…

We have snow!

Very rare here.

These were taken as the sun was rising.  

MIL is very ill so we are off to the UK tomorrow.  Don't know how long for.  Now I have to pack.