Number 31

The Great Spotted Woodpecker visited the garden yesterday morning and takes the garden bird count up to 31.

I have not been able to get a shot of it yet but will post a photo when I do. This borrowed one will have to do for now.

My Jesus

A SPECIAL MESSAGE ... Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, but they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. I Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.

Holiday to Cornwall

Well we are back and refreshed after a great week at Splatt. The weather was very good to us and only rained during the day on Tuesday morning.

The people (Mervyn & Rachel) who own the barn conversion (ex pig sty) are very nice and welcoming. We had Sunday lunch with them after church and they are fast becoming firm friends.

Here is a couple of pics just to keep your attention! lol.

The top one is at Bedruthan Steps & Sue is at Crackington Haven.

This is a link to the farm where we stay and we have stayed at both Buttermilk and Shepherds rest with the rest of Sue's family.

http://www.splattfarm.co.uk/about-splatt-farm-holidays.htm

Dates for October, sorry its late

Birthdays
3rd Keaton is 14
4th Lisa (Glyns foster or 8th child as she is just like one of my own) is 24
7th Alice (Liz's Daughter) is 12
18th Wayne is the BIG 40
19th Ben (Richards son) is 19
19th Ashleigh (Richards Daughter) is 13
29th Nick (Lindy's partner)
31st Nathan is 35
31st Martyn is 33

Wedding Anniversary's
30th Lee & Lucy

If you know of any more please let me know?

Footnote. Do you realise it was 4 years ago on the 24th that Uncle Doug died?

I've Been Busy!

Bathroom before
& After!
They say while the mouse is away the cat will play so I thought we would have a new laminate floor in the bathroom as it has been fitted for nearly a year now and looked a real mess.
Sue found it a nice surprise on her return except she now has to decorate it and then I can fit the finishing trim and beading.
If the basin looks at an odd angle, it is because I used a fisheye lens to get more in the picture.

Dea & Amy's visit to Jersey

Emma & Mum (Denise)

Amy & Mum (Denise)
The 3 Girls together and it proves Emma still sticks her tongue out behind mums back! lol

(Posted with Emma's consent).

Nuthatch

This is our latest visitor to the garden feeders, a solitary nuthatch.

6 Years of birds at Trevethin

Isn't it amazing what a difference 6 years can make?

When we moved here just under 6 years ago we were lucky to see 3 different types of bird. We now have a garden bird list of 30 species.

We feed and water them all the year round and I am putting a picture on here of the feeders we use. Also I am putting a list of the birds and the most we have seen together at any one time.

21 House Sparrow
5 Greenfinch
8 Chaffinch
5 Starling
3 Blackbird
1 Wren
2 Magpie
2 Song Thrush
7 Great Tit
4 Blue Tit
2 Coal Tit
1 Sparrow Hawk
10 Goldfinch
5 Dunnock
1 Pied Wagtail
4 Brambling
3 Robin
2 Jackdaw
1 Crow
1 Rook
2 Blackcap
2 Jay
2 House Martin
2 Swallow
2 Bullfinch
7 Long tailed Tit
2 Siskin
3 Collard dove
2 Linnet
1 Nuthatch

We have seen many others around here including:- Green & Lesser spotted Woodpecker, Tawny Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Chiff Chaff, Goldcrest, Buzzard & Swift to name but a few.

September & summer (what summer)?

Well here we are at September the 1st and it seems spring has gone directly into autumn!

As to the allotment it is also a washout and it has been alot of hard work for very little return, (yet again). Last year was a very wet July and this year not only a wet August but also very cold. So far only 2 tomatoes in the greenhouse have ripened. We should have been picking and eating for at least the last 4 to 6 weeks. It is making us wonder if it is worth all the effort as we start 3 to 4 weeks behind anyhow due to the altitude.

Dates for September & they are many

Well it seems like it is going to be an expensive month for some of us!

Birthdays
4th Lennon (Gary's son) is 5
8th Alex (Sharon's step-son) is 8
8th Robyn (Wayne's daughter) is 17
9th Sharon is 41
12th Emma (Gary's wife) is over 21 again!
15th Debbie (Wayne's wife) is also over 21!
15th James (Sharon's son) is 17
24th Damon (Gary's son) is 16
25th Gary is 42 (if I remember correctly)
25th Lucy (Lee's wife) is not as old as Gary!

Wedding Anniversary's
27th Mark & Nicky's 11th (Sue's son)
30th Martyn & Sarah's
30th Glyn & Sue's 14th

If you know of any more please let me know?

Footnote from Mike
"I have to spend the day in hospital on 9th and 16th of Sept. for further tests on the old ticker".

Pray that all is well and goes well for Michael.

Love to all
Glyn

Fuel Shortage

Well I went to uncover my bike yesterday to go to work only to find some barstuard had taken it apart and robbed me of about £14 worth of petrol.

Apparently this seems to be a growing trend nationwide as the price of fuel increases according to the police and csi who came yesterday.

Still when I had time to look at it properly this morning it all went back together just fine and apart from a crack in a bit of plastic is perfectly rideable. They even left me the reserve (3 1/2 litres) to get to the nearest garage, bless them!

Glyn

St Fagans with Liz & Co

Emily, Liz & Alice.


L to R, Sue, Alice, Liz & Emily. (bodies not heads!) lol

We had a curtailed visit to to St Fagans with Liz, Alice & Emily last Friday, curtailed as it was wet in the morning so got there just in time for a picnic lunch.

You must think we are getting fed up with going there, but not so, as we still, after so many visits have not seen it all as it is so big. Also Sue & I not being so good on the pins as we were take so long between places and have to rest more. It is a good job there is no entry fee!

Denise & Andrew wedding anniversary

It Seems I owe Dea & Andy an apology as it was their wedding anniversary recently and I did not add it to the blog.

Alas I had forgotten. You see you have to tell me these thing as old age does not come alone and I am not telepathetic (telepathic) lol.

Happy 34th Wedding anniversary
Denise & Andrew!

News from Dea about Emma

Thought you would like to know that Emma is coming home from Jersey to the UK.

Emma has been accepted for an internship for worship leading at a Church in Cheltenham called Holy Trinity. http://trinitycheltenham.com/ They seem a big church with four main services a day, they get together as a church on the race course, as the church building is too small for all to meet together, personally I had never heard of them until Emma talked about them.

Emma has accommodation through word of mouth, Sue at church has a friend at Cheltenham church who told a friend who told a friend who told a friend resulting in a phone call that afternoon to offer accommodation. All she needs now is a part time job to support the 15 hour internment placement within the local community.

Emma is due to start there on 1st October, (which is two weeks after the others), due to her job not being completed until the end of September, she is coming across to join in with an inauguration service for it on 14th September so we thought we would join her with that, it's at 5pm.

edited by Glyn

Lindy is pregnant!

Well it looks like grandchild number 13 is on the way as we heard yesterday that Lindy is 12 weeks pregnant.

After the disappointment in April they are thrilled.

She had the scan yesterday and everything seems in order.

Congratulations to Lindy and Nick!

Get plenty of sleep while you can lol

Love to all
Glyn

Michael's holiday in Egypt

Mike & Camel

Mike & Wayne

Just to say I had a lovely holiday in Egypt, as I thought it was far to hot for me between 36 and 44 degrees.

We visited the sphinx and pyramids in Cairo and had lunch on the Nile. We also saw the gold of the Pharaohs and King Tut in the Egyptian museum, a fantastic place to visit.

We also went on a glass bottom boat to look at corals and fish some wonderful colours.

Day out at St Fagans (The Museum of Welsh Life)

I Did this!!!
Stella throwing a pot (and she never even had a tantrum)!


Stella & Lainie at Picnic site.


A Fly on wet hedge. Taken by Glyn.


Of coarse the inevitable bird, a male Tufted duck.

We have had a wonderful day out today at The Museum of Welsh Life.

Stella and Lainie are staying for a few days and we thought it would be nice to pay a visit here.

We all returned knackered but happy (that is excepting Lainie who still had plenty of go in her).

Here is just a few pictures to keep you all laughing!

By a very tired Glyn x

Dates to remember for July

Birthdays

5th Louisa is 26

7th Natalie (Louises Daughter) is 9

11th Philip is 57

12th Richard is 39

30th Joseph (Louises Son) is 15

31st Lainie (Stellas Daughter) is 4

Happy Birthday to ALL!!!!

Wedding Anniversary.

21st Nathan & Claires 1st wedding anniversary

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Does anyone know the year?

Does anyone know the year that this photo was taken?

I have guessed at 1944ish as dad is obviously still in the army which narrows it down to 1940 to 1946 when he was demobbed.

I guess he must have met mum around 1940 as they married in 1943.

So can anyone narrow it down any further?

Glyn

Ben (Richards son)

It is so nice to have contact with Ben again after all this time!

It has not been for the want of trying on my part but whenever I tried it was only to be thwarted at the last minute. Still that is all in the past and we can only look to the future now and hope to see and hear a lot more from him.

He is going to be moving to Milton Keynes on 8th September and spending some time with his father and hopefully getting a job in his chosen career as a chef.

God bless you all

Glyn

Is it June?

I put the heating on this morning!

Do you think it is June as the weather seems to be telling us otherwise.

Who speaks about global warming?

Foals & Birds

Pepsi & Foal.


Pippin & Foal.

This is 2 of the 3 foals (all fillies) that the Shetland ponies opposite us have had in the last few days.


Goldfinches on the thistle seed feeder.

We have up to 7 Goldfinches in our garden at any one time. They will even come in if we are sat outside or talking to people outside, they appear to have little fear of us.

Love to all

Glyn

Gary's Holiday

Just come back from 2 weeks in sunny Dubai, a brilliant holiday in a lovely country.

So nice in fact that I am now looking into retraining so that myself and my family can move out there as there are so many business oppitunities, also so fed up with this country falling apart at the seams.

Here are a few pics of that fortnight.

So if there is any advice that anybody can give (the family entrepeneur Rob) then it will be more than welcome.

Gary

Pics of the MK Lot

Sharon going to feed the Ducks
Sorry I missed you Pete!

Richard (sitting as usual)


Louise, Joe, Natalie & Andy

Milton Keynes visit

Sue & I are just back from the land of the roundabout and are pleased to report that all our children & grandchildren that live there are well.

We had a lovely time at Louise's on Saturday & Sunday then went on to Sharons today as she was away all weekend in Brighton. Richard came over twice so we had lovely times with him as well.

Sue & I have nearly become pro's at 10 pin bowling on the Wii!
The things we oldies get up to when we are away is surprising (even to us sometimes).

Very hot journey home as it was 28 deg. celcius in places.

Oscar has so far hardly said a word as we left him for 3 days by himself with Radio 2 and he is sulking!

I am having an early night as I am now knackered from driving all the way home into the Sun.

Will post a couple of pictures when I have sorted them.

Love to all & God Bless

Glyn

Glyn update

Hi all. The good news is I am going back to work on the 16th as blood sugar is a lot lower that it was. Doctor wants to make sure it is stable so would not let me back sooner!

We are off to MK at the weekend to see the 3

Love to all

Glyn

Stella's Iron

Stella's iron has packed up through lack of use? Not being one to overuse an iron she had the last one for 10 years. Stella would be the first one to admit that.

Alas it has gone to the great ironing board in the sky.

I felt therefore that I should post a picture of one to remind her what they look like.

Stella just so that you know THIS IS WHAT AN IRON LOOKS LIKE!

Boy am I desperate for news to post?!?

Love to all

Glyn

HELP HA HA!

Just as a Reminder that I am still waiting for all your news

Update on Glyn

Results of blood tests were not too good so Dr has upped 1 tablet to maximum and added in another to try and get it down. I am now taking 12 tablets a day at 5 different times of the day!
He says that it is only stalling for time and the inevitable will happen when I have to go onto insulin.

That will then unfortunately be the end of my HGV license and the end of my job. He hopes it will be enough to stave it off for 3 to 5 years but the next 2 weeks are critical.

A very worrying time for us both & not too nice a birthday present for Sue!

Please pray for us?

Love to all & God Bless

Glyn

Dates to remember for June

Birthdays

2nd Sarah will be over 21 (Martyns wife)

5th Brett will be 12 (Garys son)

6th Laila will be 3(Garys daughter)

Other things

26th Mike is off to Egypt where it is expected to be too bloody hot for him!
Enjoy it anyway Mike & you go with our love.

Glyn is not well

Well Sue has nagged me long and hard to get me to go to the doctors and so I went this morning!

The result is I now have at least 2 weeks off work while they get the medication for my diabetes sorted, also the tiredness and lethargy that I have been suffering from for the last 6 months or so. They are suggesting that it is possibly the ME that I had a problem with in the 80's returning after a virus I caught at the back end of last year.

Will keep you updated

Glyn

May

It is right what they say about May "Nere cast a clout till May is out". Even the heating which is set very low came on this morning!

Hope you are all well?

I have still not heard from Rob about his trip, no surprise there then lol.

Is No News Good News?

As I have heard nothing for the past week from anyone I can only presume everyone is well and enjoying life!

Sue has been away Helping to decorate Stella's flat.

Boy is it good to have her back!!!!!!!!!

Well God Bless everyone and have a great summer, which I understand is supposed to start on Tuesday? Ha ha.

Glyn

Reason for News blog?

As we are so good as families with sharing news (yes I am being sarcastic lol) I thought this might help in a small way with keeping everyone up together with news & events within this exceedingly large family.

SO KEEP IT COMING!!!

Feel free to leave a comment below as to your thoughts on this!

All news and photo's to my Yahoo address please.

Love to you all

Glyn

Passed

Well that is my driving assessment over for this year & unfortunately I passed again & that means I have to work for yet another year.

Sue has not had a good couple of days as she woke yesterday with some pain in her back. Went to the docs this morning and he gave her a week off work.
The things some people will do to get out of digging the allotment lol.

I am giving it a rest today but will be back up there before I go to work tomorrow as weather set fine (Mike).

Hope this finds everyone else well

God Bless

From Joe (Louises son)

Joe who badly needs that fringe cut lol!

Dates to Remember for May

Birthdays

20th Louise (Glyns daughter)

23rd Freya (Lees daughter) who will be 7

24th Sue (Glyns wife)

24th Elizabeth (Glyns daughter)

Just 1 Wedding anniversary

16th Wayne & Debbie who have been married for 5 years

If anyone knows of any more events please let me know?

Late Birthday for April

It is Sarah Janes Birthday on the 27th so heres wishing you all the best and hope you have a wonderful day?

Rob & SJ

Heard from Rob this morning and he is back from foreign climes (New Zealand).

He is going to send me details of his trip so watch this space!

Mind you it could take some time knowing Rob as we do, Ha Ha!

From Mike

Sue at halloween as the fun lover she was

Update on Syd From Sharon

Update on poor Syd.

He is still in lots and lots of pain and not a happy man right now, looks like they are going to operate on him either Tuesday (22/04) or if the right part has not come in by then it will be the Tuesday after that and the doctors are saying he should make a full recovery in time.

Syd and Joyce are hopefully moving closer to us so that we can look after them both, if not for good then just until Syd is fully recovered.

From Mike

me and grandaughter Libby in summer in Wales

Winter Returns

Sue & I have been planning all week what we were going to do on the allotment on our day off today.

We went shopping and froze! Then changed our minds and decided there were more important things to do at home.

The allotment can wait ha ha.

Any Ideas?

Stella is trying to look for her, Mark & Lindy's natural father, without much success!

He was last hear of in Canada.

Has anyone any ideas as we seem to keep coming to dead ends?

All we have is name, date & place of birth.

We also know that he became a naturalised Canadian in 1974/5

Any ideas to me or Stella please.

Glyn

News from Mike

It is Lee`s birthday on 21st of April.

Sue`s mum Bella is not very well at the moment after falling and breaking her hip seems to taking it out of her but she is 85 so a mention in your prayers would be nice.

I have a hospital appointment to try and sort my angina which is troubling me a lot at the moment.

As Mike Requests These things Are in our Prayers and keep us informed of progress please Mike

Update on Tony

Tony is now fit and well after his recent illness.

For Prayer

Sharon and Pete are in Brighton as Pete's Father Syd who is 73 has been taken into hospital with a bad back.

Lets pray for an early recovery.

Get well soon Syd

April Birthdays

Well as it is late in the month the only one that I know of is Andrew Ayling on the 13th.

OF COARSE YOU MAY KNOW DIFFERENTLY SO GET THEM INTO ME?

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW

Our Allotment

hello to all, this is just an update on the allotment. I would like to keep both and put some fruit bushes on the one. Must talk to Glyn about this and see what he thinks, have not seen much of him since i thought of the idea.
On the Tony saga, seems that he is not too ill after all. The doctor thought he had a slight case of bronchitis. Not so sure myself but we will see.
Still having some pain due to my arthritis, I am able to cope so-so at the moment.
This time it is posted by Sue

Worrying times

What with Lindy last week and now Sue's brother Tony appears to be quite ill. It apparently started last Friday with sickness and diarrhoea. He has not been able to keep anything down and has had virtually nothing to eat or, more worryingly, drink since then!
After much nagging from Sue he has the doctor coming out to see him today.

For updates watch this space!

Thankfully all the rest of the family seem to be in good health.

Update on digging.
Andy, a neighbour, came over last night to tell us that he is giving up his allotment! Would we like to take over his as it has a greenhouse, he also had a load of manure delivered last year that is waiting to be used.
Needless to say the answer is an unreserved YES. It is next to the one we have now so will not take much to move our stuff over.

Only 2 more day work then 5 off YIPPEE!!!!

Gods blessing on you all
Glyn

Digging

Well after waking up to a carpet of snow this morning lets hope that is the end of winter, I am not holding my breath on that one though.

I have 3 days work then I am off for 5 days so I will hopefully be able to get up on the allotment and get it up together to get some planting done. We are praying for it to be at least dry until then?

We understand from Stella that Lindy is on the mend but we have not heard from her so can only guess that she is?

Lets hope for a better week than last.

God Bless all.

Our Week

Well it is the end of a very hard week for us both and we are both physically and mentally exhausted.

Sue's Feet and knees are killing her, my hip is not faring (Yes that is Faring! without the T) much better.

Lindy has lost the baby she & Nick so desperately want and we are feeling so much for them!

So all in all it has been a shit week!