A last sunny walk from Arlington Street, down Boylston to The Top of the Hub restaurant, 52 floors up The Prudential building with amazing views over Boston to have our last American lunch, to Barnes and Noble, such a brilliant bookshop (and where the lovely Mr S spotted Michael Gove – not one of our beautiful things!) then back up Newbury to our hotel by Boston Common and pick up the luggage ready to fly home overnight, catch the train from Paddington and home…….
1 As we drove up to Bristol to get the plane to Barcelona we followed a van which had the following message on it, written in the dust on the back, “Drink up your cider, Sally!” That amused us!
2 The sunset from the plane was beautiful.
3 Meeting Daniel and Ami in balmy Barcelona, hugs and grins all round!
1 A good friend from choir writes for Cornwall Today about lovely walks in Cornwall and she has just had a book published! I bought my copy this morning after the Suitcases rehearsal and Sue autographed it for me. Now we have to go on all the walks! That’s our next challenge.
Written by my friend from choir
2 The few wild strawberries were found by Jake and devoured!
One wild strawberry
3 It is delightful to see the children’s outdoor toys being enjoyed in the garden.
A pair of little legs
We have had the most beautiful day today! First we had a walk along the Flat Lode Trail to find a tin mine for Jake and this afternoon we went off to The Lost Gardens of Heligan to find the Giant and the Mud Maid.
I’m going to tell it through photos – enjoy! Click on the first one and then click the arrows on the right to get the whole story.
And now they’ve gone home and the house feels very quiet and empty!
1 Inspired by the beautiful photos of strawberries here http://dhphotosite.wordpress.com/ I went out to see how mine, grown in another old chimney pot, are doing.
Strawberries growing in an old chimney pot
Our first strawberry, just needs some sun
2 Rain until teatime today so first some soft play at Snappy’s in Portreath, with my first experience ever of bouncing in a bouncy castle! (Quite disorientating!) That was followed by rocket building this afternoon, one making an ‘ear splitting sound’ according to Jake.
Jake and his rockets
3 Tabitha had her first taste of real Cornish icecream and was determined to get every last lick.
Cornish ice-cream is the best!
Apologies to those of my readers who have liked and commented in the last few days and to whom I have not yet replied. I had forgotten how very time consuming having little ones around can be. It’s all I can manage at the moment to keep my blog going – so here is a big Thank You to you all and I’ll get back to you soon!
1 We spent the morning being entertained at the Falmouth Fish Festival, sampling some delicious Cornish produce and thoroughly enjoying Squashbox Theatre, stories, music and fish facts for children of all ages!
Jake sampling some fresh mackerel
Grumpie’s Pies where we bought some beautiful pies to bring home for lunch with salad
Cornish Oak Smoked Salt
Reflections of the masts in Falmouth Harbour
2 Our poppies get better and better. Just look at the creases on the petals of the open one, the veining on the nearly open one and the dew drops on the bud – so beautiful. Click on the photos to see that beautiful detail.
Poppy
3 It’s 19 years today since my beautiful Mum died. Her love and her wisdom are still what guide me. The Forget-me-nots in my garden for her and were in bloom in her gardens for as many years as I can remember.
For my Mum xx
1 The Grandchildren are with us! That’s beautiful! Lots of lovely conversations and laughs. We introduced Jake to The Heligan Giant today and will take him to visit next week.
The story of the Heligan Giant
2 Our garden is delighting us, so many beautiful blooms. Click on any image to enlarge and see the detail, especially the poppy bud.
Poppy
Hairy poppy bud
Geum
Climbing Rose
3 The red sky tonight was reflected on the windows over the road. Hopefully tomorrow will be another beautiful day.
Red sky at night, shepherds’ delight!
1. Left Dakar at 00.50am, into Lisbon on time but an eight hour delay at Lisbon – but you know me! That gave me hours of uninterrupted reading time! Nearly finished ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – an unforgettable and beautifully written story.
'Half of a Yellow Sun' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2. Lucy went through immigration ahead of us and by the time we were through, she had all the cases loaded onto a trolley. Brilliant.
3. We were so late back that the Grandbabies were both in bed but Mr Rice made us his signature Spaghetti Carbonara for supper, delicious!
1. After a hectic few days, some resting time. I love the multi-coloured water containers, not kettles as I first thought as they could not stand heat underneath. I’ve brought two home to use for watering window boxes etc!
Multi-coloured kettle
2. Meals are served in one very big dish for all to share. Should anyone arrive while the family are eating, they will always be invited to join in the meal. Senegalese hospitality is all-embracing.
Rice and beans with fried fish
3. We Skyped home to KJ and family and Jake said ‘ Bonjour’ to Ndeye Marie and ‘You are my cousin!” That was a beautiful moment that was appreciated by all.
1 The Gogos (Grannies) of Mapoch in South Africa do the most amazing beading which we discovered when voluntouring in the village. Today I have posted off 236 balls from roll-on deodorants collected from friends (Thank you all!) and 86 small plastic tubes to be made into beautiful beaded objects. Thanks again to P&H for the postage. See post of 9th January for photos.
2 The sun-trap patch at the end of the garden is now paved and looks lovely. Now comes the fun part, choosing what to plant in the wall…….
Paved sun-trap
3 Tonight’s singing session with Claire Ingleheart was a fabulous joyful affair!
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