Goodbye Shawn

You can get quite a lot done in a day if you put your mind to it. And today was one of those days. Mind you it was a case of "having to" get it done...I managed to completely wreck Mr Denton`s back tyre last night with a huge gash in it, so first job of the day was to put the spare wheel on and get to a tyre shop to buy a new one.

By which time the car dismantlers had arrived to take away Shawn the Panda(yes, Shawn with a "W")He was a great little car, I cant believe I got 4 growing children in him AND a dog AND a full cricket tea AND bikes on the back...anyway I took the 4 football wheel hub caps off and off to the scrapyard he went. Ah bless.I`ll miss him bacause he was my little "shed"...full of dog towels and dog balls and cricket stuff... and Postman Pat would leave parcels inside if nobody was home to receive them...Ah bless..GOODBYE SHAWN.



We just had time to cut the hedge and tidy up the weeds when.....



...a TON of gravel arrived. No time like the present eh? So armed with a plantpot each and a rake and an abundance of energy, Husb and I set about spreading it all over the drive, giving our abdominal muscles a good workout in the process.


Not bad eh?



So... a busy couple of days, as yesterday was spent catching up with the family in Coventry. And not just the family!!! We were sat in the pub waiting for our table when an old junior school friend and her family came in. Oh the excitement! Ive not seen her for 40 years but recognised her straight away(to her delight! "Haven`t I aged much then?") I had a little chuckle to myself when I played Stevie Winwood`s "Valerieeeeeeeeeeee" at keep fit this morning!


It was a great day because in addition to the meal being an absolute bargain...



.... Dad looked well, Brozie was gorgeous as usual, Sisil was great company (HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLS!) and...Richie Benski... "hasnt he growwwwwwwwnnn". And grown up! His choc chip and walnut cookies were quite delightful.

Mr + Mrs! Debbie nand Nigel.

After many years of living together, like about 15 to be exact,Debbie and Nigel finally tied the knot!The service was held in a lovely little chapel in Crewe-by-Farndon and their wedding was the first wedding to take place there this century.(Ah....I remember having to get a special licence for OUR wedding in the Chester College chapel)


The vicar was witty... he had us all laughing... so much so that the best man started to look worried.. its not often your main threat in the entertainment stakes comes from the clergy!



Their transport was a fabulous stretch beetle... magnificent and somehow very cute!



Debbie looked gorgeous, I`m still wondering whether she had her cycling shorts on underneath that lovely dress! As she is a keen triathlete(she persuaded Nigel to do a mini triathlon too)(brave boy) I made them a bread board as a keepsake.

more colouring!

I think I am addicted to colouring. I can honestly say I feel a bit lost when I haven`t got a picture on the go or any more orders to get started on.(Partly because I have no excuse not to do any housework)I even like the challenge of inventing different letters, although at the time, I did get a bit frustrated trying to think up 3 different A`s in this picture for Lorna`s new baby granddaughter NATASHA. The last time I coloured this name was 25 years ago for my neice...I probably did the 3 A`s the same as it was one of the first name plaques I made.It would be interesting to see how much the characters have changed over the years. I`m blogging it as a record... (and you never know,there may be more Natashas out there(in there?) waiting to be born)

Clever Anagrams

PUSB! "We were robbed!!" this weekend...I heard on good authority that the Sky Blues "played Wolves off the park for the first half" but as usual we didnt put away our chances... apparently in the second half both teams kept coliding with each other and tripping over in a bizarre display of ball missing.Just as well Phil and I didnt go then.

Not a lot of news so I`ll share with you some clever anagrams I found recently in an old work newsletter. Anyone know any more?

DORMITORY.........DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN......BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER......MOON STARER

DESPERATION......A ROPE ENDS IT!

THE EYES........THEY SEE!

THE MORSE CODE....HERE COME DOTS!

SLOT MACHINES...CASH LOST IN ME

ELECTION RESULTS...LIES-LET`S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS...ALAS! NO MORE Z`S

A DECIMAL POINT...I`M A DOT IN PLACE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO...TWELVE PLUS ONE

and finally(oh dear)
MOTHER IN LAW.....WOMAN HITLER
(Im not keen on mother in law jokes , husb and I having never had one)

An afternoon at Bangor-on-Dee Races.

It was "totepool day" at Bangor today, featuring the toteswinger handicap chase, so Husb and I headed out to our local National Hunt racecourse near Wrexham. It was a lovely afternoon..we had none of the rain that had evidently poured down in Chester and the mild weather attracted a very good crowd (the ladies wearing more dresses than I have ever seen at Bangor before).

Husb was very impressed with the grass, as a cricketer he notices things like the quality of grass(and I had to agree it was plush, very green and very dry).

So full of enthusiasm and armed with the day`s top tips, we headed off to place our bets. The first race, a handicap steeple chase, was won by Laoch Dubh. No luck there then.

The toteswinger handicap chase was won by Bill`s Echo (let me quote the programme notes "Will need to raise his game to trouble the judge today" hmmmm)We didnt back that horse either.

Khachaturian won the third but was very short odds so we hadn`t backed him, besides.. I wanted Quail to win having eaten a quail`s egg on our cruise!

We should have put our money on Breedsbreeze in the novices steeple chase but I was a little reluctant to back a horse in the colours of Aston Villa fanatic Jim Lewis (he`s a lovely chap but... Aston Villa???? PUSB! PUSB!)We weren`t surprised to see him win although it was only by a last minute "neck"!!

WHAT A BUZZ!! "WHAT A BUZZ" indeed! At last I was able to shriek... this beautiful horse won me £30 WUTWOOOOO! and it was staying in my pocket! "IT MATTERS MORE WHEN THERE`S MONEY ON IT"...it certainly does.

(Is the jockey a Sheffield Utd fan?)

It was a great afternoon and my winnings DID stay in my pocket because, on learning that 11th October 1844 was the birth date of HENRY HEINZ(the things you learn from a racing programme eh?)I had baked beans for tea.

SHE PASSED!!!!!

Yes! Yes! Yes! YIPPEE! WUTWOO! SHE DID IT! Drake passed her driving test!! The worrying thing is, she looks very comfortable and completely at home behind the wheel of Mr Denton..hmmm..I suppose I shall have to address that fact in the not too distant future! I`ll just let her do the PassPlus first...

Very well done Skeeni, you`ll have to have a little drive out to Prees Wem one day!

WEYHEY! Now look what she`s done. Nixen Pixen taught her how to knit while husb and I were cruising and once she got started she just didnt stop. With a little help from her boyfriend (YES Ian knitted a high percentage of it)she has knitted a magnificent blanket for a very special lady`s 80th birthday.Impressive or what?!! Fantastic!
(Hey there big sis, what dyu think?)

PUSB!!!!!!!

PUSB!! PUSB!! ("Let`s all sing together")

Oh my goodness the Sky Blues scored four!!!Not only did they score four, they climbed 8 places up the Championship table to 6th.Before the start of the game against Southampton, the City were 14th and a win would see us achieve Chris Coleman`s short term target of 15 points from 10 games, but the fact that we scored FOUR meant we were up to 6th due to goal difference. FOUR goals.....the perfect number for an aerobics instructor, we did 4 of everything at the Arena this morning!

It could have been 5..it could have been 6.. Doyler managed to put one over the bar from 10 yards and prior to that Lord Ward missed a penalty, generously given to us by referee Mike Jones who, incidently comes from Chester, in fact, from Christleton where Husb plays cricket.

PUSB!! PUSB!! Worthy of a blog.. we don`t score 4 very often!

Happy happenings.

Well I`ve had a good week.

Our night out at La Fattoria early in the week was great. We were celebrating Linz`s 50th...and it turned out to be an excellent choice of venue as we had fantastic service...14 different meals including me requesting no garlic on my broccoli(why would you fry broccoli with garlic???????)we all had a complimentary shot of the most delicious lemoncelo and Linz had the full birthday treatment of clangers, tambourines and rattles from every available waiter as they presented her with her celebratory cake.


On Wednesday my much awaited order of picture frames arrived so I was able to frame up BENJAMIN for one of my best friend`s grandson.

I received an email from Mark(Zimbabwe Mark!!!!) who has been reading my blog in the States!!! We were great mates for ages... it`s brilliant that we are now back in touch again.

And today I heard that Alan and Paul have won the "Chronicle`s Cheshire 2008 Year of the Garden Award" for their garden at The Rowans in Threapwood, near Malpas... what fabulous news! I`m so pleased for them. They have done an amazing job on their garden, transforming an acre of field into a landscape garden with statues, ponds and a vast array of brightly coloured plants and flowers.There is no need for the lads to go to the gym with all that digging!Well done chaps!