A walk in the park!!!

I am sitting here looking at 2 tired but happy dogs.

We had to do a favour for my BIL in London so, on the way home we went to Windsor great park.

I love it there. If you want pretty you can go down to Virginia water's  or to Savil gardens and admire the plants. We would have done Virginia Waters today however, As the PGA was on at Wentworth we felt it was best to stick to the Windsor side.

If you squint really hard you can see the castle in the background!

We were careful with our speed!

(not 30 mph or 40 mph or even 35mph)

We walked round Russell's pond, which was blissfully quiet. We only saw 2 people the whole time we were there. The wildlife however, was in abundance.  Unfortunately we only had my camera so no amazing close ups. (more squinting required)

This is a Kite,

You can just see the fork in the tail. It was amazing to see it flying around! 

We also saw a buzzard and some Mandarin Ducks, both of which were to quick for me! 

We did see 2 Canada Geese and some gosling's...

The light was bad so there are no good arty prints today! This was quite nice though.

The star of the walk however was not the view's or the wildlife but the Spaniel! 

For those of you who do not know our Spaniel is Blind (and a bit stupid).

So he only very rarely gets allowed off the lead. As today was very quiet we did let him have a run. He loved it.

(look no strings)

We put him back on the lead after a gun shot sent him running in the wrong direction. He is very skittish. 

Well it was a good job we did as he managed to launch himself into the Pond! 

We rounded the corner and he fell into a ditch, luckily it was a dry ditch, so we hauled him out.  

we walked around the pond and on the way back he fell into the same ditch!!!!

 Once we were passed the pond we let him off the lead again for a short while. Now do you remember I mentioned there were only 2 other people there today, well the Spaniel took a liking to one of them. A strange woman walked past us and the spaniel followed her! well we managed to get him back put him back on the lead and the rest of the walk was pretty uneventful. 

Near to the car park was a heard of long horned cattle. I have a liking for cow's of all breeds. they are such lovely animal's.

 I grew up in a small village and the farm nearest to my house had a small herd of dairy and beef cattle. I used to love going over there. I would help with the milking and getting the cows in. I used to love watching the steers as they grew up and was heart broken when they went for beef. (did not stop me from eating beef) 

I have a strong affection for cattle. I take photo's at any opportunity. 

Sorry for the lack of Blogging I have been so busy since I went back to work. Well its a combo of work and tiredness!! We have another trip planned so I will put the camera battery on charge!!

6 months to go...

In 6 months time, I will be boarding a plane to Vietnam to cycle 400km for charity.

VV Scared at the mo, I nearly pulled out when the headaches were bad, now they are easing I am determined to do it! I do believe in making it hard for myself. While I was off I have not been exercising, eating the wrong food and generally undoing all the hard work that I had done.

So here we are 6 months to go and a lot of hard slog ahead.

Tomorrow I start back on the global corporate challenge.

The GCC lasts for 16 week's and you have to walk at least 10000 step's per day. You track your steps walked, miles cycled and distance swum. Every day for 16 weeks!!!

its such a good motivator, You are in a team of 7 and you compete, not just against other team's in your workplace but against other team's around the world. It helps that I am horribly competitive! Last year the team I was in came top of our organisation, This year I am a team captain and it is my job to set a good example to my team and to motivate them!!! today I was handing out pack's and demonstrating the pedometer's. I have a new pedometer and cyclometer and will put them on in the morning!

The great thing is being able to find new places to walk and cycle. its exciting and I will keep you all updated.

A complete workout.

I am sitting here completely and utterly shattered.

No I have not been for a session at the gym, we did another car boot sale today.

I know that a car boot sale does not normally tire people out However, we have now converted OD's room into a car boot storage room. We had ended up with bits and pieces in to many different places. So everything is on shelves and boxes so we can just load and unload the car. Still cant see why I am tired?

We live in an old house, which means no parking, parking is further up the road, so... boxes carried downstairs, loaded onto trolley, manoeuvred out of the door, taken 200yards up the road and loaded into car. repeat this 10 times. Go to car boot sale, sell some stuff, come home, unpack car, take boxes on trolley 200 yards, take into house take up the stairs, put in corner of room, repeat this 8 times!

Boot sale was a bit disappointing, cold, windy with intermittent rain shower's. Also was held in field full of cow pats!!! not ideal. However some more money for the charity.

Once home, started sorting and clearing cupboards to restock the boxes for the next car boot. This gave me the opportunity to to tidy up the china cabinet.

Sad I know but I love our china cabinet. Apart from the Polish ware its all vintage, some bought some inherited. This is all of our best china, our everyday china is portmerrion, ideal china for a family as if a plate get's dropped onto the slate floor its easy to buy 1 to replace and you do not have to buy a whole new dinner service as it will go on forever.

Yesterday I dent some time in the garden. The early Alium's are in bloom now. The shruberry is looking a bit wild! however I spent long enough attacking the shrub's at the top of the garden, these will get my attention this week.

Last week we went to the churchyard to lay some flower's. It was so pretty and peaceful.

Its now Sunday evening and we are all dog tired, I just need to get some room on the sofa......

Have a happy week. x.

What a week...

Have you ever had one of those day's, have you ever had one of those day's, where nothing goes right from morning to night, have you ever had one of those day's...........

Well I have had one of those week's. 

Saturday:

I forgot the pin number to the joint account. not once but 3 times and locked myself out of the account. Stood in the supermarket feeling a fool. Ironically I can remember LSP's pin number to the account. LSP is not so bothered that I do not have access to the joint account (funny that). 

Sunday:

 Car boot sale! hurrah.... Held on the first rainy weekend for a whole month. very few people there and having to dodge rain shower's. Also no shopping. the idea of having a car boot sale is to raise money for the charity and empty the junk from the loft. Not spend money and fill the house with more new old stuff. 

Monday:

 Mum's birthday anniversary, Children go away on a city break (I miss them when they are not here) and MIL is mugged. 

Tuesday:

 I cannot log into my computer not sure why? lots of time spent talking to IT, finally get it sorted. I was supposed to take in some paperwork to HR and left it at home........ very long day and get home tired. (and a bit grumpy)

Wednesday:

 Ok so I cant log into my PC again, same problem, again talk to IT and discover its my phone falling out with my computer, oh the wonder's of modern technology! Then I forget my password to log into one of the applications, have to phone another IT department to get them to reset that password! (it may sound like I am very forget full however, I need to remember 8 different codes and password's at work. log in codes, pin codes, unlock codes, door codes etc). 

Thursday:

 Charity Quiz night..... Have you ever planned a party and worried that no one will turn up? well this is what happened to us. Despite advertising it all over our work place only 1 team turned up (we were hoping for 20). So we brushed ourselves down and went to the pub! I was sat at the edge of a long table next to a step, apart from I did not see the step when I got up. It was one of those confusing moments when  I could not realise why my  right leg was not moving and then as I was tumbling through the air I realised about the step. I was very embarrassed especially as the barman came over to help me up! (I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me). Children return from trip to Paris and YD announces she is planning to go to north Africa for a month to volunteer at a museum and gallery cataloguing aftifacts and work's of local art. I could barely cope with the her being in Paris for 4 day's not Africa for a month I will crumble.   

Friday:

Woke up with sore leg and sore ankle from falling up the step! Also left my mobile phone at home so a whole day of no facebook or twitter (on my breaks of course) Feeling Sad and moody over last night. got stuck in the worlds longest traffic jam... I could have walked quicker that the traffic was moving and it went on for miles. So I arrived back in town hot and irritated! busy afternoon so I went to the shop for some retail therapy. All the time on the sofa without exercise mean's I have put all the weight back on again that I lost. There is nothing like 3 mirror's in a tiny cubicle to make you feel huge! then try putting on clothes that do not quite fit. There was I  trying to squeeze into a dress and  heard a ripping noise .........luckily it was only a few stitches not a seam... I did end up with a nice new top that hides the lump's and bump's. I then nipped into the supermarket and picked up a takeaway curry and a banoffee pie. 

So here I am, sat in front of EastEnders, lap top on my lap writing a blog about my miserable week.

This has been a week of misshapps but nothing to serious. I have my health, a partner who loves me, 2 great kids, 2 fab sister's, a lovely grandmother, my job, a nice home,  2 crazy but irreplaceable dogs, a mad gerbil, good friends, a rampant garden, lovely hobbies and a whole weekend ahead of me.  Thinking about all of the way's that I can make next week better. 

Have a Happy Weekend everyone. 

Highlights of Glasgow.

Just a few more pictures from our weekend in Glasgow!

If you ever get the chance...go its amazing!

Feeling Sad :(

Felling sad today..... today would have been my mum's 74th Birthday.  

Its horrid, because mother's day, her birthday and the anniversary of her death come in a short space of time. So I spend a few month's being perpetually miserable.

Both YD and OD have gone to France for a few day's. It is great for them to have a few day's in Paris, drawing, sketching, photographing and visiting galleries (they are both art students) great for them, miserable for me as I miss them.

 So I started this morning in a Sad mood. I encountered more sad during the day and to top off the day my MIL was mugged. How low can you get stealing the handbag of a woman in her 70's! Luckily she was not physically hurt but is shaken up......it makes me feel angry and sad. 

Apologies to anyone who is waiting for a package from me. I have been so busy...I will get round to it soon I promise. 

Last week was was very busy- hence the lack of blogging. 

So tonight I will drown my sorrow's with some ice cream and be back on top again tomorrow. 

Hen Weekend Part 2.

Wow, what a bad blogger I have been! I have been so tired this week I have been getting in from work, making dinner and flopping. My headaches are easier but still there every day! I live my life in sunglasses and a sunhat, but it gets me through the day and means I can work!

So the hen weekend! A Hen Party (for those who don't know) is a party for the bride to be before their wedding.  In America it is sometimes called a batchelorette  party.

Hen party's can be very different, for some it is the chance to get very drunk and silly, wear stupid outfits and be very rowdy. For other's it can be a tea party at home. The Hen party we went to was a nice and sedate (if not a bit decadent affair).

Here are the highlights from the first venue! The Corinthium club in Glasgow!

Absolutely amazing, place The Corinthium Club! This is only a small part of the place it was huge! Lovely cocktails, amazing interior and great staff!

We then went onto a lovely Italian called Amore!

(yes there were men at the hen)

(here is a hen in the middle of her flock) 

After the meal we strolled to an amazing club...

Then it was time for the hens to rest and head for bed.....

Can't wait till the wedding.....