Just Humans Being...

We've been looking at booking a holiday for January & although we'd love to visit Canada for a month, we've decided that we should stick to our plan for this year & stay in the UK. We've looked at house sitting which the 3 of us fancy doing, but we haven't come across anything suitable yet... What I did find a few days ago is an isolated cottage in Wales, it sounds perfect - in a forest, 2 miles from the main road, no TV, but it has a lovely big wood burning stove. We got very excited & contacted the owner who said that the cottage often gets cut off in January because of snow (even better in my opinion)! Then Sime starts getting all practical, with lots of "what ifs", anyway we saw the price & thought we'd have to leave it. Today, the owner has contacted us again & has decided to slash the price - which is brilliant! Isn't it? Well it was  until we spoke to Hugo about it... He says he'll probably find it really boring ...

Having time away from work is great & since Hugo is doing his circus class, it is a good excuse to get out & about. He's also doing a second day, but it's on one of our busiest days, so for the first time in his life - he's now travelling the 30 miles by train independently! We've not forced him into, he has just decided for himself - which is great! The only problem is that because he's so tall now, the rail staff are not believing that he's only 14 - so he's being asked to pay adult prices!   He is going to use his passport next time to make sure they give him the right ticket! Although we're loving having the opportunity to do whatever we want to do, we are also starting to feel quite redundant as parents... The girls grew up years ago & Hugo has been our baby for so long, but I'm really impressed with his mature attitude & I'm sure as soon as he can - he'll be off, not in a desperate way - but just in a spreading his wing...

Here are some of the photos from our trip to  The Lizard  on Tuesday.  The most southerly tip of mainland Britain...  St Winwaloe Church is on the beach near Gunwalloe. Weather beaten grave stones. An interesting graveyard addition! Inside the tiny church. The roof. The overgrown, but interesting graves... The Norwegian crew whose boat sank off the Cornish coast during the storms of Christmas 1915! A German pilot who was killed in action in 1941. One of the beaches in Church Cove... And the other one! The picturesque village of Gunwalloe.  And a very nice Cornish Cream Tea! We've had beautiful weather again today - perhaps we're finally going to have a proper Summer? That'd be nice - we may even dig the tents out & have a few days camping!!! Bye for now, Kay & Sime xx

What a difference a few days make... Wow, the extra Iron & Vitamin C are obviously just what I needed! For the first time in ages - I cooked dinner last night, made porridge this morning & have pottered about after work today. Without realising, Sime's been gradually propping me up, but now... I'm back & it feels great!!! Life is wonderful again. We are busy, which is ok now I'm not exhausted, but it does make us think more about what we really want to be doing...  At the moment, it is to own a small cafe - with room for second-hand books & instruments. This dream has been around for many years, but we both think it's going to come to us soon.  It just feels like something is about to happen!  We also want to be simplifying our life even more. At some point in the near future, Rose & Asa will be leaving us & then it will be just the three of us - do we stay in this large house, or do we move to a smaller place?  We want to have the op...

I've not been feeling right for a while... The last few days have especially been difficult & I'd started to convince myself that my thyroid was playing up again!  This morning I woke up & it just came to me - perhaps I'm anaemic... Pretty sure I'm right, so have bought Iron & Vitamin C supplements to give me a boost. I had anaemia with each pregnancy & I fixed it with  Spatone . Now I'm going through the menopause - it looks like it's caught up with me again! I bet there aren't many people who are happy to be anaemic!!! We've had the day off today & have spent a few hours on The Lizard in beautiful sunshine... Will post some photos soon! Kay :)

It's been another tiring trip. We are used to our fairly quiet little hamlet, so staying in a hotel on a busy main road has meant sleepless nights for the three of us... The hotel was hot & the beds were uncomfortable, but it was cheap & clean, so we're not grumbling really. We did have a lovely day in Bakewell with Bebe & relatives from Yorkshire. We'd forgotten how beautiful the Peak District is... The Roaches on the Staffordshire Moorlands Bleak Moorland And pretty Derbyshire countryside Staffordshire/Derbyshire border Green & stormy Bebe in the back of the car A Bakewell pub with Bebe's (& Sime's) cousins - who we haven't seen for over 10 years! Our cheese rarebit tart - was pretty awful... The incredible shrinking woman... River Wye in Bakewell, complete with carp... Ducks & ducklings In a world of her own... A lovely day & great to catch up with relatives On the way home... The guy on the quad bike used scare tact...

We've travelled over 300 miles today in torrential rain... We set off early to avoid the traffic, but the rain slowed us down. The journey has taken 7 hours & our first port of call was to see Bebe (Sime's Mum). She was diagnosed with vascular dementia last year & so far she has managed with daily visits from a care agency to continue living on her own. Today, we've been quite shocked at how she has deteriorated over the last 3 months & surprised that the care staff haven't contacted us... Her home is neglected, her rubbish has built up, her clothes unwashed & she looks totally bedraggled... We've got our work cut out over the next couple of days & how long do we let her carry on like this? Such difficult decisions... Sime full of concentration... Hugo sleeping in the back... Rain... My favourite car! A 40 year old Morris Minor Traveller. And an old Austin campervan... Brekkie stop... Sime's veggie fry-up... Finally in the hotel... ...