Friday, Trip to Bude.

Up for a quiet morning at home except off out to pick up prescriptions and get milk.

Picked Sue and Lainie up after lunch from Stella's and set out for Bude. On arrival Parked by the Post Office and then Sue and I went off around the shops while Louise, Natalie and Lainie went to the beach.

Summerleaze Beach, Bude, so child friendly.

Such a lovely day

Now having some fun!

A nice ice lolly before meeting the "old fogies"

Sue and I went for a coffee after a walk in the Arabica that is owned by Donna who also worships at LCC.

 We set out for home after seeking out the Hotel that we used to stay in 24 years ago when holidaying there.

Evening spent watching, guess what? Harry Potter part 2, Chamber of Secrets!!

Thursday, Natalie's riding lesson on Prince!

Again all up by 0900 and a relaxing morning with showers until about 1115 when off to get cash and shopping, then St. Leonards Riding School.

Natalie hanging on to every word that Michaela is saying and to Prince!

Rise and fall in trot, doing well!

Nearing the end of the lesson and it seems that Natalie is a natural just like her mother!

Well I think it is true to say that Natalie took to horse riding like a duck to water. She listened very intently to Michaela and it seemed to be almost natural to follow each instruction when given. I think that it was a most enjoyable time......

Back home for lunch of sandwich and cream teas,

Of course being in Devon they had it the Devon way!

 Then a relax before going to town on a wild goose chase for impetigo on Natalie's leg that turned out to be a insect bite! Popped in to see Sue and Lainie while we were in town then home for curry for tea!

At the end of the day the final part of Harry Potter, The Deathly Hallows Part 2. The first time either Louise or Natalie have seen it

Wednesday, lunch for 6.

All up by 0900, yes even Natalie!
Stella and Lainie arrived about 1100 and then we were all gathered.
Sue had a very busy morning with the cooking doing pork and chicken, so of course it was also her wonderful home made stuffing and bread sauce!!! Lovely grub!

Such a hard working chef, thank you Sue, Mum, Nannie and Nanna Sue.

Louise and Natalie ready to get stuck in!

The same can be said for Stella and Lainie!

After lunch it was a quiet afternoon before tea and Stella, Lainie and Sue departed back to Stella's as she is working for the next 3 days but I think we all had a nice time.
The 3 of us that remained had a Harry Potter evening watching The Deathly Hallows part 1, part 2 this evening!

Our visit to Hayle.

Those on trip, myself, Sue, Louise and Natalie.

We set off about 0930 for Hayle and had a very uneventful trip arriving there at 1055. One of the main reasons for the visit was so that Louise could visit an old friend Gina and we arrived at her house around 1115 after a visit to the bank. Sue and I went in for coffee and I realized it was the first time that Sue had ever met Gina so it must be at least 20 years since I have seen her, the only real thing to have changed about her was her hair colour! It was 3 years since they had met up themselves.

Louise and Gina

Leaving Louise and Natalie at Gina's we went off to do the things we needed to do, such as ordering a dozen frozen pasties and Sue needed to go to the bank and then lunch was required. Sue and I went to a fish and chip shop, very expensive but nice, £19.80p.
After lunch we tried first to park near the beach at Gwithian which turned out to be a waste of time as no room so we then went off to look at the lighthouse where we were luckier. We found a very nice parking space where I could wander off and Sue could see all the area from the car as the pain in her knees were not good!

Gwithian lighthouse

One addition to the island, if you look carefully, is solar panels to the left of the lighthouse. It was quite a windy day and the birds seemed to be just hovering in the wind making it incredibly easy to photograph!

We stayed here until we really had to leave about 1615 as we then had to go and collect the pasties by 1700 and also have something to eat before going to collect Louise and Natalie.
We then went back to pick them up and make our way home. Lou was not hungry but Natalie was and so we stopped at McDonalds for a happy meal for her, then it was calling in at Tesco and the Co-op before arriving home about 1930. I think a good day was had by all?

Showing solar panels better

The visit of Louise and Natalie

Louise and Natalie are visiting from 26th August until 2nd September and I picked them up at Bodmin on Sunday evening, the coach driver dropped them about a quarter mile before the stop so had to go find them.
The journey was about 11 hours from door to door and must have been tiring as Lou was in bed at 2130....
Will be posting during the coming week events as they occur.
Nothing to report today except it has hardly stopped raining all day and we have had 0.93 inches (23mm in foreign) of rain in the last 24 hours!

Church news magazine

This is what I spend hours each month doing, editing a 4 page monthly news pamphlet of which this is the front page!

St Josephs School, Launceston

Church News

September 2012

Morning Worship: 10.30am

With Crèche and Children’s Church

Welcome to Launceston Community Church.

If you are new here or just visiting the area, please feel free to stay and have tea or coffee with us afterwards.

If you would like to know more about us, please speak to Mervyn or Henry.

Contact:  Mervyn and Rachel Bate 01566 781429 mervyn.rachel@talk21.com

Or

Henry and Ali Bailey 01288 381605  bailey61@tiscali.co.uk

Regular Meetings

Freedom in Christ Housegroup meets Mondays at Chris and Jayne Biddle’s Home, Spring Meadow, Roydon Rd. Launceston at 7:30pm

Thursday House Group meets at Mervyn and Rachel’s home, Splatt Farm, Tresmeer at 8:00pm

Ladies Fellowship: Wed 12^th Sept meeting at Di Cray’s home at 10:30am

 re:CHARGE Youth Night   Sunday 18^th Sept meeting at Trethorne Leisure Farm at 7pm. Soul Survivor sharing evening.

Young Adults meet twice a month, various evenings, see Cassandra Bosdet for Details.

September Guest Speakers

2^nd  September - Trudi Clements from Philippines/Plymouth

9^th September –  Chris and Nikki Uglow from Oriel Ministries  (L.E.D) will be speaking during the service about their Schools Work.

23^rd September - Aaron Chaudrary from County Durham

30^th September -  Nigel Williams (Anode) from Riviera Church, Torquay

Orchids, I love them!

Just a few pictures I took this evening of the orchids I have in flower at the moment,

3 in flower all of these are Moth Orchids (Phalaenopsis)

This one has 24 flowers and masses of buds

Soul Survivor, Trip Three, Just Call Me Tired! Also Plymouth.

Well 1100 on Tuesday the 21st it was off to pick up from the Bath and West Showground again but this time from the slightly older ones at Momentum!
I stopped at "On The Run" for my usual Costa coffee and then on to Cartgate for a lovely curry and rice for lunch.

I arrived at Momentum at around the arranged time of 1400. I also had an extra by the name of Seb to bring back with me, quite an individual character who wanted to stop for a burger on the way so we called at Route 303 which seemed to suit him.
Lucy and the others there gave me a Journal and pen and a card signed by them all there, which was unexpected and very nice. One thing that was strange was what Seb had added, I assume he expected no one to know West Indian slang (I presume the ones there did not) as he had called me a quite an insulting and obscene thing in the card! I, having never spoken to him before, do not understand why? Anyway I dropped him by the dry cleaners in town with no word of thanks and then went on to Splatt to drop the rest of my cargo before returning to Stella's to see Sue and Lainie and to get some well earned tea.

After tea it was then off to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth to pick up Stella who had been in for her final check and removal of the stent, and praise God for the first time in being admitted there everything went well and she came home with no after effects and went back to work today the 22nd!

Back to the Dentist AGAIN!!!!!

Well I thought that was it, see the post for the 4th August?
Slowly the pain got worse again until I had to phone the dentist to get it checked out as the pain had got so bad!
It appears that an infection under the tooth was not properly dealt with and some bone was exposed at the time of extraction. I am back on antibiotics and hoping that that will be the end of the matter, I am not alas holding my breath!!

Soul Survivor, trip two, Just call me rusty!

Set out at 1400 yesterday to go and pick up the ones that were delivered on Sunday, a lot more uneventful journey and arrived at 1615 and got the white pass £5.00 to see me through.
Most of the packing up was done in the dry, then when we were folding the last tent it started to rain and rain, then it rained some more hence the quip about calling me rusty!

The convoy ready to leave showing the church minibus on the left

We left about 2150 and had a very wet trip home with the wipers on the minibus packing up around Okehampton, arriving back at tesco about 0020 and getting home just about 0100.

Liz and family at Wadebridge

We had a day out today to Wadebridge to meet Elizabeth, Brendan, Alice and Emily Ricketts and of course Nina the dog.
We met them at Tesco as they did not know anywhere in the town itself. They then followed us into town where we had lovely coffee.

Liz, Emily, Alice and Brendan enjoying a drink

We then went on to have a wander around this lovely town before going to a Pub called The Falcon on the edge of town by Tesco for a lovely meal and saying farewell. A very enjoyable day all round.

Soul Survivor, trip one. Just call me rosy?

Had an early breakfast of bacon and mushroom roll, then off at 0840 to fill up with fuel and air before going to Splatt Farm for the trailer, (2 bulb change) then off to St. Josephs for the rest of the luggage etc. before setting off with Harry at about 1020.
Stopped for coffee at Costa "On the run" then only a small hold up with a broken down car just before Exeter. All went well until we got to Ham Hill and part way down it we hit a tail back, it took us about 30 minutes to get to the first turn off and we managed to get around it without much trouble and only 3 or 4 extra miles on the clock, Stopped for a snack on the outskirts of Ilminster and arrived at the Bath and West Showground about 1330.
Merv was already there and informed us that the mini bus was going to be some time as it was stuck in the traffic we had and NOT turned off as we did.
Well we got stuck into it and had a few tents up before they got there as Naomi and Stuart had arrived as well. By this time Harry had vanished without a word so we were short but at 1500ish when the mini bus got there things soon moved as "many hands make light work" don't they mum, ha ha!

A really sunny day (hint)

Well I eventually got away about 1610 and went back as far as Cartgate on the outskirts of Yeovil to eat. I had Cottage Pie and veg (£5.95) so just about got my 5 in for a change with the apple as well! Mind you I never ate the peas as they were like bullets. Would have liked them when I was a child because they would have been great with a big holed cow parsley as pea shooters.

My meal and now just a couple of photos to finish, these were taken by Naomi and myself.

Above is Amy and Josh at nosebag time. Picture taken by Naomi.


Left is Naomi and Merv getting hammered? Picture taken by me













So now why the "Call me rosy?"

Well if you had not guessed by the hints, it was a warmer day than I gave it credit for and failed to put on a hat or sunscreen so my head is extremely red!

Seeing the Family at Barnstaple

Those present: Glyn and Susan Cotterill. Sharon, Peter, Danielle, Alex, Sid and Joyce Howe.

Well Sue was not too well as on previous post so did not get away until after 1000 when she was feeling a little better...

Well straight to Crafty Devils and that perked her up no end ha ha!

We went from there straight into the town and went to find the eatery below, Sue in the meantime had started feeling considerably better!

Honeymoon Chinese Restaurant 

3, The Strand

Barnstaple

Devon       

EX31 1EU

Telephone: 01271 325 198 and 01271 329 800            

 "Buffet £6.50p per person"

What can I say about this place except WOW!!! if ever you are in Barnstaple and it is nosebag time you could certainly do far worse than visit the above at lunch time. They do a buffet, eat as much as you like for £6.50p a head and all I can say is that the variety and menu was fantastic and highly recommended by all 8 of us!

Seeing Danielle and Alex again after 3 long years was a bit of a shock as they had grown so much but were both such a pleasure to be around and a real credit to their parents!

Alex (10) and Danielle (15)

We also met Peter's parents Sid and Joyce who also were also good company. 

From there it was around town for a couple of things then back to their hotel for a drink and a natter before returning home.

Altogether a very enjoyable day especially as Sue by the afternoon was so much better, tired but better, hallelujah!

Disappointment?

Well what IS going on? 

I have been looking forward to this day for so long, seeing Sharon, Pete, Danielle and Alex and having a lovely meal with them.

Let me say from the offset that I know it is NOT Sue's fault, she cannot help being ill it just seems that every time I am really looking forward to something lately something happens to mar it!

It all started last evening when Sue and Stella went to the Ladies evening meal, all went well until they were leaving and Sue started to feel unwell. By the time they had gone to leave the car park Sue was vomiting and continued to do so for some time! It could not have been the food as Stella had exactly the same as Sue. Well to cut a long story short she has hardly been to bed all night and is not in the best of health this morning.

I will be going but it remains to be seen what is happening with Sue?

Also ole nick I am afraid as usual is on a loser, I will not let him get me down, he seems to be doing his best of late but as long as I realize that and do not let him he has lost!!!

Will update with the outcome later?

A Busy 2 weeks Coming up!

Well it is that time of year again when the young people from church go to the Bath and West Showground at Shepton Mallet for Soul Survivor and Momentum! Woohoo!

This is how the two weeks pan out for Sue and I, we do at least have one or two relaxing days but then there is the gardening and the chores?

Thurs 9th Kernow House for Glyn 1430, 1830 LCC ladies meeting meal at Bude for Sue and Stella, so Glyn is baby sitting Lainie.

Friday 10th Off to Barnstaple for the day, Shopping for Sue and then Meeting Sharon, Peter, Danielle, Alex and Peters parents for a meal as they are down for a wedding Saturday.

Saturday 11th, I think we will be resting for the day?

Sunday 12th, I have to empty the car out, fill up with Fuel and do the Oil, water and tyres and be at Splatt to pick up a trailer by 0930. Then back to meet with the rest at St. Josephs School for 1000 to go off to Soul Survivor, then take the day as it comes but at least I know the next stop is for a Costa coffee at "On the run" which will give others a chance to get there before me, easier to find where they are camping and easier to get away as well.

Monday 13th is a rest day, but as chores to be done here not very likely!

Tuesday 14th we are off to Wadebridge to meet Elizabeth and family for the day and this is another that depends on the weather so will take as it comes!

Wednesday 15th another chores day, or rest?

Thursday 16th off back up to Soul Survivor to pick up so a late night, will hope to be home by 0100?

Fri 17th and Sat 18th Recovery time and chores as early start tomorrow!

Sunday 19th to Tuesday 21st. Off Sunday at about 0630 as need to be in Holt (Wilts) by 1030 for church with Jennie and Mark. That is the only thing that as far as I know is arranged except that we are staying at Mikes in Coleford for 2 nights and I am picking up from Momentum on Tuesday afternoon (about 1430ish) then back home for a well earned rest, or more chores ha ha!!
Do not know yet whether this is going to be both of us or just me as that all depends on Stella and if she is working!

Will keep you updated as we go lol

Test Results, still waiting?

How long does it take to get results for tests? I have been waiting for a week now and still not back, how much longer???? Getting frustrated now!
Will have to do this more often as they have come back today and all clear so will have to look again?

Stella is going back perhaps?

The doctor has told Stella that she can go back to work on Monday 13th August provided she is phased back in slowly?

The End (tooth)

Well that is the end of the saga of the tooth! No pain, whoop!!!

Tooth is on the mend and Damned!

There is a real improvement on my tooth, or lack of it? The gum is still very sore as you would expect it to be but at least it is only discomfort this morning (a 3) whereas last evening it was real pain (a 8). Woke at 0500 with it but there again I was in bed just after 2130!

To All Men Out There (and sympathetic ladies)!

(If there is such a species as sympathetic woman?)



There is one thing that for many years has puzzled me? I may even have voiced it before and if I have I make no apology for doing so again....

I call it damned if you do and damned if you don't!

Why do the female of the species want you to tell them if you are ill? When you do one of 2 things occur, 1) they take very little or no notice! 2) they moan that you are always whinging on that you are ill! 

My answer to this in the past has been to keep quiet and not let on when there is something wrong with me, and guess what even that is wrong. I then get told "if you are taken ill how do you think I would feel not knowing that you were bad".

So what is the right thing to do?

So come on lets have some answers in the comments section please?

Finished off the day watching the Olympics and enjoying them with Sue, also put in some long long phone calls to a friend of mine who is in need of love, comfort and prayer. Will be doing lots of that for her.....

Goodbye tooth!

Well today is the day when at long last I will hopefully be getting rid of the troublesome lower back tooth on the left side, it has been giving me some stick on and off for some years now, so at long last it will be good riddance to bad rubbish!!!
I was not away too long and came back with one tooth less than I went with. Into the surgery on time (1120) and out inside 15 minutes, mind you he used so much anaesthetic I asked how many days he was planning it to stay numb? He said it would be needed as the roots were very long, when I saw it out I must admit to agreeing with him! It was apparently one of my wisdom teeth!
The dentist did say that there may be a little pain when the life came back into it, he was not kidding there either, I do not know which was worse, the toothache or the extraction? It has been giving me real gip all day since reawakening. So much so that I am now off to bed for an early night (2130) in the hope that there wil be a vast improvement by morning?!!! Watch this space?

New pup and kits, News from Dea?

Went over with Sue, Stella and Lainie to Splatt for coffee with Rachel and Mervyn this morning.

They have a new border collie pup just over 7 weeks old which is to be trained as a sheep dog, and some kits (young rabbits) of 2 weeks to keep everyone smiling, even in the rain!!

Denise rang me today with some news that gladdened my heart! Ring me for more as banned from putting it on here!