Happy Birthday Pixen and Cubba!

With twin 1 in Darlington and twin 2 in London it was impossible to spend the day with both birthday children so the plan was to go up to Darlington this weekend and London next. I had cancelled my evening spin on Friday night on acccount of doing the catering for dear Harry's funeral (which went very well, he would have been made up to see so many faces at the cricket club) and so we travelled up Friday evening. On Saturday after presents, we took the train to Newcastle



where we did a bit of culture first at the Laing Art Gallery (which included lunch)

then a little retail therapy where I bought myself a coat


even though it wasn't MY birthday and then back to JoeRigatoni's for pizza via the steel pans who were playing under the Charles Earl Grey Memorial.




Fabulous day and lovely to see the Nixen Pixen looking so well and happy.

Alberto Giacometti

L'Homme Qui Marche 1 is the name given to the bronze cast sculptures by swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti in 1961. We are big fans of his emaciated bronze figures but little did we know how famous they were to become when we visited the Foundation Maeght whilst on holiday in France. We were in good humour that day,

having watched Chris fall into one of the fountains...

and continued to have a giggle when we saw the third edition of the cast of L'Homme Qui Marche 1 in the grounds of the Foundation Maeght.



This week, on Feb 3rd, the second edition of the cast of the sculpture became the most expensive work of art sold at auction fetching a price of just over £65million. The piece is described by Giacometti as "a humble image of an ordinary man" (though anyone with this much money to spend is not exactly ordinary!!)



Great to know we were having fun with a record breaker!

Mates!

Having a laugh at lottie's 18th

DIAMOND HARRY

I didn't even know we had fuse wire in the house, let alone what to do with it, but Husb managed to fix it without too much trouble...(how do men know these things??????) However, he banned any further use of the tumble dryer. (I resurrected it recently after 20 years of sitting idle in the shed so I shouldn't have been surprised it was a bit dodgy and I won't miss it..... just thought I'd get all the washing out of the way for Husb's birthday...)

I had to do aqua after being let down by my cover but Husb had phonecalls and a visitor (hi Sharon) while I was out so I was home again before he knew it and we were able to go out for pizza before coming home for the sweet but light carrot cake.

Our day was saddened though by the death of our cricket club scorer Harry at the age of 80. He was such a character. He loved his cricket. He loved his cricket TEA. He LOVED his horse racing.(Always backed favourites) He will be sadly missed. In his memory I had my weekend £2 bet (OK I had £4 this week) on DIAMOND HARRY in the 2.20 at Haydock who romped home with lengths to spare. It was his first time over hurdles but started out as the odds-on favourite (hence my £4) (and Harry would have backed it too) and surely one to watch at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Rest in Peace Harry, I'll miss you.

Blue moon!!!!

Happy birthday to yooooo! Nice scarf! Nice result for the blue side of Manchester in the week! Nice Top Gear book! Nice photo. Nice brother. Hope he had a nice birthday!!!

Happy birthday m'dear!

The carrot cake awaits.

However. . . . . So does a little electrical job. In my attempt to impress my man-about-the-house by tidying up and tumbledrying the socks and adorning the lounge with fresh flowers . . . I've managed to blow a fuse.(I'm not bad at fixing hot water heaters but I'm not great with fuses)(so not the best birthday gift to come home to). I'm making a cup of tea in a saucepan at the mo....Just as well I bought 6 slices of cake . . . . . . .

New Year Rezzies

All the bikes sold out despite the snow. More dedication. Everyone looking keen to shed some seasonal pounds.