Dawn over the mountains this morning was as beautiful as every other here.
Today we leave for the airport and will be at home on Friday afternoon! We have been in Africa!
This morning we left the Drakensburg Hotel for a journey of a couple of hours to The Cavern where we spend our last five nights in these hills, walking and bird watching. Before we left we bought a beautiful basket that Rose had made.
On the journey, we liked these trees on the skyline.
We hope you have had a wonderful birthday, Ti.
A delightful day was had by all, half the family going into Truro for shopping and we, with LiveWire T, going into Redruth, enjoying the Welly Dogs, going to Home Ground coffee shop for a treat, playing in the park, chopping the tomatoes for the guacamole for supper and finally learning how to do French knitting.
We were given Daffodils before Christmas and they are still beautiful.
Two of our LiveWires arrived tonight. I found the little Christmas stirrers for their drinks.
I was at the hospital this evening for an MRI on my ankles- the lovely young people were working all evening – and outside the block were a Christmas tree and some charming reindeer.
A really heavy frost lay on the ground as we went to Blickling House for a walk and the grass, leaves and fungi had beautiful frosty patterns on them.
I also caught the sun shining through a fallen leaf.
When we were in the garden centre yesterday, B spent her pocket money on some 3D glasses that made all fairy lights appear to have little snowmen around them. It amused us all that my camera was able to look through the glasses and catch the little men in a photo.
It’s a five hour train journey from Cornwall to the metropolis and we love every minute, watching the world go by, reading the paper and our novels. Here is a glimpse from the train of our glorious green countryside.
Tomorrow we fly to Portugal for a walking holiday, four nights in Porto and five nights in Lisbon. The sunset from our hotel room was quite dramatic.
We love walking to school with the children. Some of the best conversations are had on these journeys. It is also lovely to see them striding out with such confidence.
Down one of the lanes to school we spotted strange creatures in the trees over a fence.
T had art club after school today so it was J’s turn for a treat at the lovely French cafe we like to frequent when in North Finchley, Joie de Vie.
What a scorcher, as they say! We don’t get heat quite like London heat in the far South West of the U.K where we live. We have melted the day away here! We all found respite in the coolth of the park where the children played, we all enjoyed ice creams and I enjoyed the scent of the roses and the sunlight through the Copper Beech leaves.
Supper was roast chicken and a delicious mix of salads including Sweet Potato Salad presented beautifully in one of Nicky Stephenson’s gorgeous pots.
On our walk this afternoon, J, LiveWire2, was on a mission to find beautiful things for me. First was this tiny feather which he held very carefully so that it didn’t blow away.
Next he spotted a clump of daisies in the sunshine.
Later, playing in the garden, T, LiveWire3, crawled under the Ceanothus to retrieve the ball and came out with tiny blue blossoms in her hair.