A day off, just us two

It's been a tough week and this next one will be tough also.  This morning I sat with a cup of coffee and looked out over the back garden and pondered how best to spend the day, feeling generally glum but not wanting to waste the day!  Rhods came and sat with me, and suggested that we get out of the house to go for a walk at Firle Beacon with Annie, so we did just that. It was a rainy forecast, but as we looked out to the South Downs we could see that it wasn't raining yet. 

So off we went.  It felt so good to be out in the fresh air with the grand sweeping views over the coastline from the top of the South Downs.

Afterwards we called into Middle Farm and sampled some of the ciders in the Cidery before purchasing one of them and having a little snacktime in the tent outside.

We should keep having these little outings. Its so nice to do something different!

Tryfs goes to Norway

Lucky Tryfan was invited to join his friend Orin for a week in Oslo.  He did all the packing for his week on his own, and we laughed when we saw that he had only packed his stuff into half of the suitcase.  I guess he didn't notice that there are two sides to pack into?  Anyway, it was pretty funny. 

From the few pictures that we were sent of the week, it looks like they are having a pretty great time - sailing in the fjord, swimming, hiking, and who knows what else!  They are there from July 24-31.

He did get to see his godfather Michel for a nice hike and a swim.  I love this photo of the two of them!

Sally's party and a rainy next day

We went over to our friend Sally's house last night.  She was having a party and she never has parties!  Rhods and I rode bikes there even though it was a cocktail party.  I just had my dress tucked up into my riding trousers, and it was fun to ride bikes together with Rhods. No photos of the event, sadly, but we both had a good time and made it home intact also.  Today is a rainy Saturday, which is the perfect sort of day for taking it easy and getting things done round the house.  Love it.

Dad and daughter

We've had a lot of quiet moments recently and it feels good to just be able to live through these moments.  Its also nice that Annie dog lends a good doggie vibe to the house. She is pretty good at being chilled out.

We've had several different dining table lamps, but its time for another change.  The string-and-candy-wrapper lampshade I made a few years ago is past its prime.  Rhi and Rhods did the installation and it looks pretty good.

Meanwhile we are waiting to find out if Rhiannon will be able to go back to Prin to start her senior year there or if another scenario is in store for her.  She has an appointment on Monday July 24th that will hopefully provide some insight into what is next.  In the meantime, we wait. 

Gabbs was here

 Cousin Gabriel came to stay with us for a long weekend, and it was so wonderful to have him here! What was great was that each one of us got to spend quality time with him, and having that 5th person in the household really defused some of the cranky dynamics that have been with us over the past few weeks.  I collected him from Gatwick Bus stop on Friday afternoon and brought him home, then we had all kinds of things going on over the weekend, then I took him back to the Gatwick bus stop this morning just before noon. It all worked out really well.

It has been tough not having a common area to hang out in, but we have been able to use other parts of the house and property... on Saturday night, Gabbs and Tryfan and two other friends had dinner here and then walked down the lane to a party at the Denslow's house.  We made them sit Japanese style on the floor and use the weights bench as a dining table. That was funny!  

So then they all went to this party and apparently everyone loved Gabbs' south Wales accent. 

Then the next day Rhiannon, Gabbs and Tryfan went into Brighton for the day and apparently had a blast just being out together.

I have also really enjoyed getting to hear about his life as I've driven him to/ from the Gatwick bus station. He is just an all around great person and its so awesome that he is related to us!  Cousins are fun :-) 

The pepper shaker

 We have had the same paper shaker since we lived in Norway that I had bought from Rimi the little grocery store across the street from the Bleikeraasen house.  The label faded off awhile ago, but i love it because you can refill it and the lid is also a grinder.  It is not pretty, but it just works really well. 

Sadly, I discovered that Rhodri had put it into the recycling bin by mistake this week.  But he is such a sweet husband that he got his toxic chemical gloves and went digging for it.

My turn to paint

 I'm pitching in to the downstairs overhaul too.

Downstairs is a disaster zone

Yikes.  This whole repairing and repainting thing has definitely taken over the downstairs.

The end of football season (finally)

Today was the end of season football awards. It was a very sparse turn out but at least it was here at the Jubilee Green so we didn't have to walk far! And it turned out to be a decent afternoon, so that was fine also.

Afterwards we went down to the Denslow's to debrief and had a laugh as they started making plans for the teenage party which will take place next week at their house.

Poor Emma

.. she fell yesterday and broke her collar bone, and today is her birthday!  Hopefully she will let people look after her for once.  

Teenage parties

Tryfan is now at the age where he and his friends are going to parties at various people's houses (not ours yet, thankfully!).  Here he is in the middle with Orin on the left and Harrison on the right.  The theme was "neon".  I got to pick them up afterwards and they all stayed the night here (plus another friend at the last minute).  A new era for sure.

Girls out

 Rhi and I wanted to see Aggie and Leigh, and we had a tough time figuring out what to do exactly, but we settled on at least meeting for a swift beverage at The Sloop. 

Ls & Ls (& Fs) on Chief's Day

Today was Chief's Day, which means that I'm thinking of my dear old Dad and what would have been his 74th birthday today. My siblings and Mom and I always do little things on this day in our own personal way that Dad would have appreciated or laughed at. So it was this night that Rhodri and I went over to the Lawrence's house for a dinner party. It had been a really hot day actually, but by the time we got there it was just warm and lovely rather than baking hot. We sat in their back garden and listened to great music, and then the Filskows came over and we had this great dinner together.  It was a great relief to be out of our bombsite house and being guests at someone else's house! And the Lawrences are amazing hosts - they really set the standards for hospitality, great food and drinks, and entertaining stories about their adventures.  No photos from this day, just an overflowing heart thinking about my dear sweet Dad up in heaven and sharing memories with neighbor friends.

Tryfan's work experience

This week was Tryfan's work experience week for school, which means that instead of going to school, he went to work the week at a local business.  Tryfs arranged this several months ago, and he was really excited about it (also nervous).  The company that agreed to let Tryfan work with them is the local firm called Cowan Architects (https://cowan-architects.co.uk/).  

It turned out to be a great week for him, as he was given a project on Monday morning and then expected to deliver the results at the end of Friday.  And so he got to ask questions and learn software and apply his own thinking and creativity to the project, which he found really fun and interesting.  This photo was on Monday morning.

Destruction in the house

We had a pipe burst upstairs which sent waterfalls through the ceiling light fixtures in the living room.  Ooops!  This was pretty major destruction and we had to call an emergency plumber, which then led to several weeks of reparation in the downstairs (as we would find out later).  

Since we needed to get all the furniture out of the TV part of the lounge so that the ceiling could be replaced and repainted, and then the walls also repainted, we figured we might as well do the rest of the open space too.  And while we were repainting everything, we figured we might as well sand and refinish the wood floor.  Soooo.... yeah.  But that was all to come later.

Austrian adventure - Day 4

This morning we had a lovely buffet breakfast and then headed out to decide spontaneously how best to spend the whole day before catching our flight late this night.  First we drove to Hallstatt to walk around this scenic town (which apparently is the inspiration for the fictional Arendelle in the Disney movie Frozen).  It was a bit rainy and filled with Chinese tourists.  We found that there a Chinese replica of this town! https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-18327751

We saw a couple who had just gotten married having a photo shoot.

Then we headed to EuroThermo warm water swimming complex and spent a few hours there. BLISS!

We found a place for a very late lunch nearby in Bad Ischl

Then we said goodbye to Chris and hung around the airport until our flight

In fact, we ate at the world's only airport brewery, here in Munich https://www.munich-airport.com/the-worldwide-first-airport-brewery-1270540.  Eventually we got into Gatwick and had a bit of a funny ride with an Uber driver that we talked into dropping us each off at our respective homes.  Nice to be home though after this great adventure!

Austrian adventure part 3

After our epic day yesterday, we had an even epiccer day today!  It started out very wet and socked in, but ever so dramatic! 

It was actually really amazing to be in the high scree slopes crossing snow fields beneath these towering giant cliffs.  And you can see we are all smiling!

Eventually the sun came out as we got towards the end of our circuit hike.

We were all pretty tired by this point though, smiles not quite so enthusiastic! 

We made it back to the car (it was the only car left in the parking lot) and drove 8 miles to the hotel we had booked.  Though it took a long time to get checked in, we made it to our rooms to quickly shower up before dinner. Result! Such satisfaction to complete an epic journey like this and relax...