The decorations are down!

Monday was my first day back at work after Christmas and New Year.  Unfortunately it was also an early start as I went in for 8am to get the meeting room set up for the Monday morning meeting.

 

Although town was very quiet at that time, there were a few vans parked up already and they were starting to take the street decorations down.

 

I only work part time, so I'm off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (for now - it may change).  Tuesday being the 6th January and 12 days after Christmas, it was time for me to take our Christmas tree down at home.

 I got the boxes out of the loft but before I took all the decorations off the tree I took a few photos.

 These little elves were in our crackers this year and you can have races with them - I decided they were worth keeping to use again next year ;)

 Last year I had a Holly Angel and this year it was the Red & Pearl Angel.  They're so pretty when they catch the light.

 This little reindeer from Claire is quite different and looked cheerful on the tree.

 This is one of my oldest ornaments.  He was bought when I went to Denmark & Sweden in 1984 and we went to a Christmas market.  As you can see he's lost his little poles but he still gets hung on the tree every year :)

 The tree looked so bare with all the ornaments off it.  Just the lights to take down.

 Packing it all away.

 

 

And totally unrelated - the clouds behind the houses looked beautiful as the sun started going down.  I was pleased that I was able to capture it before it changed again.



 

 

Are you all caught up with household chores, washing, etc. after Christmas?  I wish I could say I am but instead I'll say I'm still working on it! ;)

 

 

xx



A walk around Lindfield

As I mentioned in my previous post, we've all had a sickness/tummy bug over the festive season so on Sunday I felt I needed to get out the house and get some fresh air.  I drove down to Norma's (about 20 minutes from us) and we went out for a walk around Lindfield.  It didn't feel too bad as we started out but after walking for a while we realised it was actually quite nippy!  

 

Lindfield is a very pretty village in West Sussex and more importantly, it's fairly flat which is a big plus (as far as I'm concerned) as East Grinstead is quite hilly which ever direction you go in.  I'm not sure how long we walked for but we went through the residential area ...

 

 Still decorated for Christmas - lots going on here ;)

 Into the High Street where there were some lovely doors (and wreaths)

 We headed up towards the Church

 then spotted this path across the road, so crossed over

 which gave me a chance to take a photo of the church

  and then spotted these toadstools as we went up the path.

 Up round the back of the Church to see ...

 The Crooked House ;)

 We could hear the organ playing as we walked past the Church and round towards the main road again.

 I do have a thing about doors ;)

 Down through the village and out towards the pond and the Common.

 As soon as we neared the pond the ducks started swimming towards us hoping for food - unfortunately we didn't have any with us :/

 The little black and white "duck" in the middle was the only one like that.  The reason I say "duck" is because we're not sure if it is one or if it's something else.  If anyone knows I'd be interested to hear.

 So pretty!

 Looking back towards the village

before walking through the Common to get back to Norma's house (which is one of the cottages you can see on the other side of the Common). 

I felt so much better after the fresh air had blown the cobwebs away :) (and the coffee when we got back to the house was most welcome!)

xx

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Can you believe it's 2015 already - where did 2014 go?  We had a very low key New Year's Eve as we have had a tummy bug going round the family over the festive season.  However, Emily and I did reach midnight (although I fell asleep on the sofa earlier in the evening) and watched the fireworks from London and saw Big Ben chiming in the New Year.

 

 New Year's Day was also very low key (same reason as above) but I did finally get round to ordering our calendar for 2015. I started this in 2013 with photos of Alice from 2012 and it is becoming a yearly tradition though we now have photos of both Alice and Megan on each page.  I order one for myself, one for Claire, one for my Mum and one for the girls Nana.  These are calendars I won't be getting rid of as I love looking back at them and seeing how much they've grown.  This year, as I've now gone back to work, I ordered a little desk calendar for myself as well.

 Feeling a little bit better on the 2nd so we headed to Sainsbury's for a few bits of shopping and stopped for a Starbucks.

 I love this photo Norma captured of the girls - they were playing games on our iPhones ;)

 Before I got attacked by a dinosaur that is!

 And this photo really makes me laugh :)  Oh Megs!! You're so funny - that is a face we see quite regularly at the moment! 

 On the 3rd Claire and the girls came round to our house so that Claire could have a shower as hers broke down on New Years Day.  Aunty Em wasn't going to co-operate with photos so I carried on clicking away regardless - I like this one though Megan wasn't quite sure what was going on.

I also made a start on clearing some of the Christmas things away.  I haven't taken my tree down yet but feel that's okay as Mum always told us to put them up 12 days before Christmas and take them down 12 days after - which would be Tuesday.  Never mind the fact that I just haven't got round to it yet ;)

 This morning I was all set to make buttermilk pancakes for breakfast but when I went to get the ingredients we didn't have enough flour.  Fortunately, we have a corner shop less than a five minute walk from our house so I donned my coat and set off.  I hadn't realised how misty it was until I got outside!  I actually enjoyed the fresh air and came home feeling better for it.

After breakfast I headed down to Lindfield to go for a walk with Norma.  Chez took a photo of us just before we headed out the door.  Again, thoroughly enjoyed getting out in the fresh air and getting a bit of exercise.  If only East Grinstead was as flat and Lindfield is, I'd do a lot more walking ;)

I haven't shared the photos from our walk as I'm saving those for another day - that way I might getting you coming back to read this blog again :)

xx

Happy Birthday, Liz!

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Liz. 

 

We've known each other for nearly 27 years and have shared lots of ups and downs together. We've been pregnant and had our children within weeks/months of each other each time. Liz had Helen 4.5 months before I had Hugh, I had Claire 6 months before she had Richard and Henry was born 9 weeks before Emily. We've lived near each other (in South Africa and England) and far apart (Chicago and England) but no matter where we are, when we meet up we pick up where we left off. Our children are just the same and even though it can be years between seeing each other, they still hit it off when they get together.

 

So Liz, thank you for all the laughs, thank you for listening to me when I need someone to talk to, thank you for making us part of the family when we come to visit and most importantly, thank you for just being you! I hope you know how much we all love you and I wish we could still have been in Chicago to celebrate your birthday with you but know that we are thinking of you and wish you a fantastic birthday!

Love you :)

xx