Happy Birthday Tom!

Our baby boy is 21 today. 

 It seems no time at all since we held him in our arms like this at a few hours old....

... and we've watched with pride as he's grown into a wonderful young man.

We celebrated at the end of July as he's off travelling round France with his girlfriend, and we're looking forward to meeting up with them in Chamonix in a few weeks time. 

Happy Easter!

We're having a special family day here on the P.P.

It's not just Easter for us,  as we have a birthday to celebrate and some sad memories to deal with too.

I've spent a lot of time baking cakes.

 I seem to be working my way through Mary Berry's cake collections. 

I'm particularly thrilled with my Simnel Cake. I've never made one before, so I hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Hope you're all having a lovely Easter time wherever you are, and whatever you're doing.

I'm taking a break ....

My lovely father-in-law died on Saturday.

He went to bed on Friday, and just didn't wake up.
A perfect end for him, but terribly shocking for everyone who loved him.
We didn't get a chance to say goodbye.
Just six weeks ago we were all happily celebrating his 80th birthday. 

I'm taking a break from blogging for a while, my heart isn't in it right now.

xxx

A Very Special Birthday!

Sending very special birthday wishes to my lovely Father-in-law who is 80 today!

Here he is showing us all a few moves at his birthday bash at the weekend!

It was a wonderful family occasion, full of love and laughs, and fun and food!

Happy Birthday Mike!

(My daughter has just added a post too .... here)

The first week in January....

We've had a week of ups and downs here on the P.P. 

It's all been a bit emotional at times.

On Monday we headed out to Snowdonia on our last day before term began. It was freezing, but we saw some spectacular views over the mountains from a tiny winding road .... (with no passing places) ..... when we met this thing trundling along

Poor Mr B. had to reverse for about a quarter of a mile before we found somewhere to pull out of the way. I would have cried if I'd been driving!

Second day back at school, and we had booked a pantomime to help chase away the January blues .... Can you guess which one? 

The children loved it and joined in all the shouty bits very loudly .... good fun!

Do other student sons have rooms like this? 

The lovely boy has to get this lot sorted before he goes back to uni at the weekend. 

It's stressing me out!!!!

On Thursday my consultant at the hospital advised that I start a different course of medication. 

I've had nine weeks without taking anything, and it's been lovely. I began to feel like 'me' again. 

The 'me' from 18 months ago.

We'll have to see how I get on with this next lot! 

Meanwhile, my lovely girl has been sent to London for 5 months for her job.

She's in a house an hour away from the office, and doesn't know a soul.

She's finding it all a bit overwhelming and very tiring, and we've had weepy phone calls all week.

It's been heartbreaking!

So I decided to get a cheap day return and took the train down to meet up with her on Saturday. 

We had a lovely day and I'm sure she's going to be just fine when she finds her feet.

We were up early again today to get the 'boy' back to Manchester where he was catching a coach to take him all the way to to Aberdeen ... a nine hour journey. 

I was a bit emotional this morning as he left.

Thankfully, he's just phoned now to say that he's arrived. 

It doesn't get any easier being a mum ... no matter how old your children are!

My 2010

January's cold winter sun heralds the New Year.

Little did we know what a momentous year 2010 would prove to be for our family ...

We spent February half term in Italy ... Here is Mr. B. stepping out in Pompeii.

The coldest spring in years meant that there were no daffodils in our garden at the end of March.

The weather had much improved by the Easter holidays,

and we spent a glorious few days in the Lake District.

I had a lovely weekend in May with our daughter in the North East ....

then just days later, I was diagnosed with breast cancer ...

In June our house resembled a florists ...

so many wonderful good wishes sent after my operation.

At the end of July we were able to manage a short break in the Lakes before the radiotherapy started over the summer.

Five long hard weeks of radiotherapy took its toll on us all, but we tried to make the best of things and on good days we got out and about ... like this day in Portmerion in North Wales.

I spent most of September asleep, I think ... it just passed me by in a blur.

We did have a weekend away in the caravan, but I remember being desperately tired.

By October I was recovered enough to enjoy a week in Turkey with my daughter ...

 a lovely week of rest and recuperation, warm sunshine and good company.

At the end of November I had started a few sessions back at work ...

and we had a weekend at the Christmas Market in Bath.

Time is a great healer ...

on Christmas Eve I was able to complete a short walk in the mountains ... very slowly ... but I did it!

The year has been dominated by my illness ... it was hugely emotional at times ~ but it hasn't been all bad.
It's given me time to think ... time to take stock of my life so far...

In 2010 I learned a lot about myself ...
I learned that our family was strong enough to cope with what was thrown at us and we became much closer as a result ... we've learned to make more time for each other.
I learned that you can be truly happy in the most awful times if you are surrounded by the people who love you.
I learned that it is the people in your life matter more than anything else .... things aren't important
I also learned that there are some people who, sadly, will let you down ... they are the people you don't need in your new life.
I learned that things I used to stress about don't matter at all ... particularly my job.
I learned that I need to pace myself. I don't go rushing around like I did before ... slow and steady wins the day! If I'm tired I will take a rest!
I learned that it will take a long time to get over my illness ... physically I am fine now ... but I'm not fully recovered emotionally ... I  still have wobbly days ...tears can flow easily... but that's O.K... we're getting used to it!!! (These days it's usually happy things that set me off!)
I learned that no matter how bad things are, there is always someone worse off than you ... remembering this makes you more positive about your own situation.

Above all, I've learned that you only get one go at this life and you have to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way. And if an opportunity doesn't just pop up? Then make one!!!

You think you know these things already ... but it takes something drastic to make you really see things clearly.

Roll on 2011! A new year, a second chance at life ... no plans ~ we'll just take it as it comes!

This is my ....

My daughter has been doing this over on her blog for a few weeks now following Red Boots. A theme is picked every week and you are invited to write a post about it ... in any shape or form. Other people are invited to join in and leave their posts on the linky at the bottom. Then all the posts about that theme are in one place for everyone to share.

I thought it was such a lovely idea, I thought I would start one up in our corner of Blogworld. They all do theirs on a Tuesday, but I 'll do mine on Wednesdays instead. I've added a linky at the bottom of the post ... I hope it works! Please feel free to join in.

The first theme is: Family

This is a rare photograph of my whole family: my parents, one aunty, one brother, one sister and their partners, three nieces and of course, my husband and two children. The occasion was my parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary five years ago. The day was perfect in every way.
It's not very often our family can all be in the same place at the same time, and this is the only photo we have of everyone together.
It's funny looking back at how little the adults have changed ... a few more wrinkles and grey hairs maybe ... but the children have changed enormously. My son is now 18 and 6 foot tall, and my sister's baby is a six year old school girl!

I just wish someone had told me I had my sunglasses on!

Next week's theme is: Home

It's not the same ...

I love hallowe'en, but when your children are all grown it's no fun any more. 

I bought the tiniest pumpkin for old times sake, and got out the old lantern ...

but it doesn't really work without your children dressing up, ducking for apples and visiting selected neighbours with their friends.

We don't have any littlies near us now, so it will be a very quiet evening watching the wonderful

Downton Abbey on TV.

When I was a child Hallowe'en was so exciting, even though we didn't have any of the wild and wonderful things you can buy in the shops these days. I didn't see a real pumpkin till I was grown up .... we always carved a huge turnip and put a candle in it. There was none of this trick or treating either! We dressed up in my mum's old clothes and made hats from cardboard ... and we did duck apple in a baby bath and tried to bite apples on strings. It didn't cost us much at all and it was so much fun!

I finally managed to see my poor dad today. He's been suffering from shingles for a few weeks and I've been banned from visiting because my immune system has been compromised with the treatment I had over the summer. Hopefully he's over the worst now, so I think the danger has passed.
At 77, he's really had a miserable time! He's really suffered, and is still in pain, although not as bad as it was.
He's lost so much weight as he hasn't felt like eating. My mum can't cope with that ... it's her self appointed role in life to make sure everybody has plenty to eat!!!
It's not like my dad to go 'down' with anything ... he's usually so cheerful and funny, but he's not himself at all. He looks like a shadow of his former self. My mum is not herself either, worrying about him .... and I'm worrying about the pair of them!!!

Such is life!

The Story of the Field ...

Once upon a time, long ago, a man and his wife wanted to live somewhere quiet and peaceful, and they searched and they searched until they found a little bungalow....

Behind their house was a farmer's field ... sometimes it grew potatoes ... sometimes it grew stinky cabbages or sprouts ... sometimes nothing grew ... it was just left when the farmer was too busy to bother about it.

Time passed and the man and his wife had two lovely children and they didn't didn't worry too much about  the field ... they were far too busy .... until one day. .. as they were driving home they saw a notice on the field:

Oh my goodness, the man and the woman said, and so did all their neighbours, what will happen to our lovely view? What will happen to our peace and quiet? ... what on earth shall we do? Then a wise man from down the road came up with a plan - why don't we all buy the field ourselves! So the man and the woman and all their neighbours had to beg for pennies from their bank managers, and they went along to the auction and managed to buy the field for a lot more pennies than they were expecting to pay!

On the day the documents were signed a rainbow magically appeared in the sky and they were all very happy. It was a good sign.

Now the hard work began. The farmer had neglected the field for a long time and the neighbours had to hire a tractor to cut the long grass ...

... all the children watched from a safe distance

... the men and women toiled in the field for many weeks, cutting back the undergrowth and brambles ... until the day finally came to have a big celebration .... with a huge bonfire, and good things to eat and drink!

... the children played in the field all summer long and they all lived happily ever after!

That was 16 years ago when our children were 7 and 2 .... and we share the one and half acres with five other families. It is protected Green Belt land, so no-one could ever build houses on it, but we saved it from other forms of development. (The field behind the houses opposite us now has  flood lit stables).

Our children all  had the most charmed of childhoods ... free to roam in very safe surroundings. One family installed a swing at the far end, one of the grandads built the best den in the far corner, another father put up goalposts and we had a climbing frame. They hid in ditches and got very dirty. They learned about nature ... my son and his little partner in crime went through a phase of bringing us a series of dead things that fascinated them. Ugh!

We have badgers in the lane behind the field and there are always foxes around. As we are very close to the River Dee, which is a paradise for bird watchers, we have a steadily changing stream of winged visitors who stop off on their long migration journeys.

We've had birthday parties in the field, with team games and bouncy castles ... we  celebrated the Millennium together with all our families and had the most amazing firework display ... we've gathered again to celebrate the field's 10th birthday .... and we even had a wonderful party in the field for my parents' Golden Wedding

A few of us still gather round a bonfire on warm balmy evenings, with a glass of wine, watching bats circling above our heads.

We could live the Good Life and be self sufficient, but none of us have the time to do that at the moment, apart from one neighbour who is retired. He grows veg and keeps bees, and sells his honey locally. One or two people tried keeping hens in the early days, but Mr Fox won in the end! It was too heartbreaking for words.We all planted some apple trees which are incredibly prolific ... we are considering investing in a cider press for next year.

Sadly, some of the neighbours have felt the need to put up fences ... which is against our early principles, and the field is so maintained now the wildness has gone. It almost looks like a park.

But it still gives us the most wonderful view from our windows and affords us the peace and tranquility we were searching for all those years ago, when we first bought this house.... and Inca loves to run in the field as fast as she can on her way to her 'walkies'.

And the field gang?

They've all outgrown the games of their childhood. They now range in age from 17 to 27, two live and work away from home, one has travelled for a year in New Zealand, one works as a trainee engineer, and two are ready for university, one is still at school in. Year 13. I'm sure they will  remember the field all their lives!