A snowy Easter day in the mountains

Today we went on a family walk up in Snowdonia, up to Cwm Eigiau and had lunch at Llyn Melynllyn, then walked over to Llyn Dulyn . Since it was actually Easter day, I brought some chocolate eggs and hid them along the way in a few different sections of the trail. 

It was a longish day but felt really great to be out in the hills.

Easter weekend in Wales

We drove up to Llandudno straight after the Easter church service with the school yesterday. It took us 8 hours but we go there eventually. This morning the kids got to spend some time playing with their cousins Leusa, Rhyddid and Brython. They are a little wild...

Meanwhile, Rhodri and I went into town and did a little bit of random wandering around, and then later we all went for a family walk before dinner

It is so beautiful in this part of the world and I'm really glad to be here.

LOL

Every month we get the Parish magazine delivered to our house which features adverts, announcements, and little stories from around the Parish. This month there was an interview with some of the bellringers of the village, and reading it out loud at the dinner table made Rhodri and I laugh so much. We were especially thinking of my Dad, who would have found this article hysterical and who probably would have been laughing so hard as he read it out loud that he would not have been able to breathe!

It is so nice to stumble upon little morsels of daily life that remind me of dear old Dad and bring back the vivid sound of his laughter to my memory.

The Beast from the East

... that is the name of the storm that came through a few weeks ago which left snow in its wake and closed the schools while I was in Houston. But now this storm came through and was called the "Mini-beast from the East". It still left snow in its wake but this time we were all at home. In fact, it was a big day for rugby with 3 matches on over the course of the afternoon. In the morning we had the first village market of the season, but the snow put people off so it wasn't a huge success. Rhiannon and I still went down, though, and we bought a few items in order to show support for the poor vendors who were standing in the cold shivering and trying to sell their stuff!
Later in the afternoon, Grace came over to hang out with Rhiannon while I pottered around the house. The rest of the day was quite enjoyable, though, since we got to just cuddle together in our cozy house and watch the conclusion of the Six Nations rugby tournament on telly. Ireland won, and Wales came in 2nd place and England played terribly which is always cause for a secret celebration in our house!

Mothers Day

Today was British 'Mothering Sunday' and the boys were at a rugby festival a couple of hours drive away all day. We still had a bit of a celebration in the morning before they left. And although Rhi and I were still tending to our injuries and thus keeping a low profile, we did manage to go for an outing with Anne Marie and Will since her other boys were also at the rugby festival.  Here is the sweet card that Rhiannon made for me...

 Here we are at the Ditchling Garden Center having lunch...

 The kids and Rhodri made a nice dinner so I didn't have to cook, and they also made me a cake. I have a very thoughtful family :-)

Injured ladies

It's been a tough couple of days. I woke up on Thursday morning with a pain in my neck, and as the day wore on it felt worse rather than better. When I woke up yesterday morning, I couldn't move! It was awful and painful, and I couldn't do anything but fortunately Rhodri took care of me. 

I went to the local GP and they established that it was something muscular rather than a trapped nerve, so prescribed some muscle relaxants. Then we paid a visit to Graham at the osteo clinic and he did some massage. I felt better after this but really was confined to reclining positions most of the day yesterday and today. Between my neck and Rhiannon's hand, we were not much help around the house but Rhodri and Tryfan did an excellent job of tending to our needs and wishes.

Great homecoming

My flight landed at 7:00 am and I was home around 9:30, which is pretty good considering I landed at Heathrow. Everyone was still in their jammies and getting ready for breakfast when I arrived. There was still some snow on the ground in places and Tryfan was talking about going sledding by the Cat Centre, when I received a text from my colleague Chris who happened to be planning a trip to the Cat Centre today also! I've been wanting to meet his wife and to have him meet Rhodri, and it ended up being this perfect afternoon of being together outside in the fresh air, going to the pub for lunch, then coming home and hanging out altogether for a couple of hours.

I just wish they lived a bit closer because it was really fun to hang out with them.

Houston trip

Meanwhile, I've been in Houston this week! It has been a good trip from a work standpoint. Its always good to be able to meet people in person that I normally ever speak to by phone. We went out for dinner one night and all piled into my [economy] rental car.

Lisa, Sara and Anastasia

 The next day while I was waiting at an intersection, I saw one of those sign-twirlers!

Now it is Friday afternoon and I'm at the airport waiting to fly back to London. Soooo glad this week is over and I can go home and see my family at last.

Hand surgery

Today was another busy day with school closed due to snow and Rhiannon scheduled for hand surgery starting at 7:30 am.  Sounds like Rhodri, Tryfan and Rhiannon just did what they had to do and they spent nearly the whole day at the East Grinstead Peanut Gallery (medical ward for kids). By all accounts it sounds like they were very well cared for and had nothing but good things to say about the staff and the experience itself.

Rhiannon had broken two bones in her 3rd metatarsil on her left hand (i.e. some of the small bones inside her 'ring finger' part of the hand had broken), and she needed surgery to put some kind of wire in there to help it grow back together. She woke up really grumpy because she wanted to have a white cast that people could sign their names on, but apparently they don't really do that anymore for this type of injury. She did get a cool purple foam sling to help protect the arm. Anyway, she will get lots of special treatment from Rhods and Tryfan I'm sure, and I can't wait to get home this weekend!

Snow day in the hood

... and what a crazy day this ended up being! Fortunately, it went as well as it possibly could have, given all the unusual things going on. First of all, Tuesday morning it started snowing and schools immediately announced they were going to be closed for the day. Normally this is great news! But today, I was in Houston and Rhodri had to fly to Dublin, Rhiannon had just broken her hand and now both kids were off school. Thank goodness for friends!

Emma ended up looking after her two plus our two all day and most of the evening while Rhodri flew to Dublin for a meeting and then was also able to fly back. While nearly all other flights to the UK were canceled on this day, most flights in/out of Gatwick were fine because Gatwick airport had invested in snow removal equipment several years ago after a couple of snowy winters (2010-2011).

Simon, Rhiannon, Charles, Margo, Emma, Sophie, Oscar and Tryfs out in the snow

I was monitoring the situation via text with Rhodri and Emma, but it was awful to not be able to help!
Looks like they were able to have some fun though. And most importantly, it all went according to plan with Rhods picking up the kids from Emma and getting home around 10:30pm.

Bad news on a Monday!

I made it to Houston last night and then this morning at breakfast I got a text from Rhodri which said that Rhiannon had broken her hand at school!

I can't believe she is smiling in this picture. Poor thing. But she is a tough girl..

She will need to have surgery on Wednesday, and Rhodri is supposed to fly to Dublin tomorrow for the day, and its supposed to snow(!!) and all this crazy stuff that I am not home for.  Boo

Weekend on Peaks Island

We got the news that Aunt Carol passed away last Monday (Feb 12th) and it was nice that my Mom and Aunt Kim could be there for some of her final days and to keep Jackie company. Since I needed to go to Houston for a week at the end of Feb anyway, I ended up being able to detour for a few days to Maine on my way.
I flew London to Boston on Thurs Feb 22nd, then got right onto the Concord Coach Lines bus up to Portland, then a quick taxi to the ferry terminal, then the 5:35pm ferry to Peaks Island where I was met by Val who drove me to Jackie's house! A very smooth journey indeed. 

Jackie and I had a quiet but special weekend together. We just talked and hung out, and went for the occasional drive around the island or to pick up bits and pieces from Hannigan's market. I got to meet some of the characters that have been a big part of her & Carol's life - Val and Macey primarily. And although it is late February, the weather was quite mild and beautiful.

 The morning I left it was starting to snow, and Macey gave me a lift to the 10:00am ferry so I could be met by dear Kara on the Portland side, then driven to the airport for my 12:25 flight. That flight ended up being delayed by 2 hours which meant I missed my connection in Detroit and had to be rebooked onto another flight, but I got to Houston eventually!

The Long Man of Wilmington

We went on a nice family pub walk today. We parked at the Plough and Harrow pub near Litlington and then set off on a 5 km circuit walk to see the Long Man.

 Then we arrived back to the car and the pub in perfect time to sit for our 3:30 reservation for lunch/dinner. It was a really cozy pub with excellent food, and felt really great to be there after our good hike.

 The whole point of the hike was to go back the "Long Man of Wilmington", but of course when you are walking on the ridge above it or even the paths next to it. you don't really see the Long Man very well! Here is a photo from the car as we were passing on our drive home.

Garden work

Today was a rather glorious day, and we gently worked in the back garden. Sam came over for a little bit, too, and Rhodri showed the three how to use certain tools in a proper way. They were building some shelves for the shed, and it all went fairly well.

In the meantime, I decided to rake. It felt good to be outside in the cool fresh air, but was a bit difficult to not overdo it!

Last night we went to see 'Black Panther' in the cinema, and that was pretty good actually. Afterwards we had dinner at the Cinema restaurant across the road.

 Later in the day, the troops cleaned out the footwell of the BMW where poor little Alfie had barfed his meal up the day he came to us last week. Fair play to the kids for putting on brave faces and cleaning it up.

Half term

We had fairly low key half term. No grand adventures, no travel, no out of town visitors, nuthin. In fact, after Rhodri arrived back home on Monday, I started feeling really crappy and ended up staying in bed for all of Tuesday and Wednesday. But the kids had some fun with a few of their friends, and actually we also ended up dog-sitting all week.

The kids made forts and relaxed, and generally took it easy. They are reaally great kids, I have to say. So easy going and undemanding. We are really lucky to have them!

Aunt Carol

A couple of weeks ago, Aunt Carol moved into hospice in Portland, Maine near her and Jackie's home on Peaks Island. This is a sad time for everyone as we prepare to say goodbye. She has been so dearly loved and admired by so many people around the world in the communities she has been a part of.  Now, today, we got word that she has passed away.
Here are some photos that Mom and Kim scanned and shared.

In our own stomping grounds

Today was a stunning day to wake up to.
Tryfan went for a bike ride with Blythe to the Cat Center while I went to pick up Rhiannon from her sleep over, then we all went for a walk with the Mills family. The ol' Ashdown Forest is not very photogenic, but we had a gorgeous time out together - boys walking together, girls walking together, and Mamas walking together with dog running amongst the 3 pairs of us.

We finished off at our house for cups of tea and then called it a day.

Start of half term

We had kind of a funny start to half term yesterday. Normally there is Friday Football at Cumnor House School, but since Rhodri is away and Gordon is busy with other stuff, it ended up being cancelled. But since the main mode of communication right now seems to be Facebook and not all of us do Facebook, Cat and Bruno didn't get the message. Poor Bruno ended up running nearly all the way home in the dark and cold, and Cat happened to see him on her way to our house! Poor thing. Anyway, they both came in and had some dinner and drinks and we got the half term off to a good start.

Our real fun happened today when all 5 of us went to Crawley to go shopping, then I took Rhiannon to a birthday sleepover, then reunited with Cat and the boys to watch a football (soccer) match: Crawley Town vs Grimsby. This was Tryfan's first live football game ever and the first I'd been to in this country. It was very exciting! It was also very cold - 3 degrees C (37 F) and sleeting rain and wind!

It was a pretty exciting game and Crawley ended up winning 3-0. I think we will be back to watch another game later in the season - hopefully on a slightly less miserable day. Tryfan ended up buying a warm-up jacket with the Crawley Town Red Devils logo on it which I think he will be wearing a lot in future weeks and months.

After the game, we went bowling and then out to dinner at Chiquito's, a Mexican restaurant. These two were being super annoying and obnoxious boys, but we let them get away with it since they don't get out much and were having the Best Day Ever! 

Eventually we left the restaurant and I drove us all home. 

The annual trip

Right now Rhodri is on his annual trip to Norway/ Sweden to go assist in the Arctic Training and Expedition course with Petter. He left yesterday and will be back next Monday. Hope he has a good trip! In the mean time, I am holding down the fort by doing the school runs and working from home. Fine by me!

Crazy Czech family

Over the past year, we have gotten to know a family from Prague when they moved nearby and their son Tomas started playing rugby on Tryfan's team in Haywards Heath.

Martine, Tomas, Ema and Lukasz

Then when Rhodri and I went to visit Prague last year, we were kindly provided a city tour by Lukasz the dad. Now they are heading back to Prague. They had to be out of their house by Jan 31st but needed to stay in the area until Feb 9th, so they have been staying with various friends and driving around with all their possessions in their van. They stayed with us last night and we had a really nice evening with them. We said goodbye this morning, but I'm sure we will see them again.

What makes them crazy (in a good way) is the fact that they just up and moved to England (picking a spot on the map and committing to a house to rent without having ever seen it) without knowing anyone here, purely so that their kids could learn English. Martine was/is a lawyer back in Prague but of course couldn't practice that in England so she just did volunteer work in a charity shop while Lukasz traveled back and forth. Anyway, we had some good times with them and I'm sure we will reunite one of these days soon.

Old friends visit

We had a lovely surprise visit from Nev and Ana, Nev being an old friend of mine from back in the old days of doing marine electromagnetic work offshore on various research ships. Nev and I worked together a couple of times back around 2000-2002 and have kept in touch ever since. Now he lives in Oslo with his lovely fiance Ana, and they were touring Britain for a long weekend and stayed with us last night before flying back today. We had a really nice evening catching up with them. We are always happy when people call in to visit us!

The blur of January

After we laid Bentley to rest, we had a few weeks of difficult adjustment and plain ol' hard work in all of our respective lives. Work has been really busy for Rhodri and also really busy for me, and Tryfan has been struggling a little bit with his teacher, while Rhiannon has been working hard to keep up with all of her homework.

The weekends in January were spent doing projects around the house and outside in the yard - things we have been talking about doing for ages but just hadn't actually done. So it has felt good to actually get those things done: painting the base boards and walls in the entry way with a fresh coat of paint so we could hang up the long-awaited coat rack; cleaning out closets; raking the leaves off the 'campground' part of our back garden; and finally hiring a skip (aka 'dumpster') so we could fill it with the random bit of junk and rubbish that were too big to go in the roadside bin. 

Yes, the kids complained heartily and yes there were bribes of hot chocolate, sweets, and even money in order to get them to put in a good effort on above chores.  But it is awfully nice to come inside to a warm cozy house after working hard on a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon!  The one thing we didn't do a lot of was photography during the hard work. They really were not very photographic events so instead I am putting photos of the beautiful coat rack finally installed above the radiator in the entry hall.

Goodbye Bentley

Bentley riding a boat in Mexico in 2005

Today was a truly, deeply sad day for us in the Lewis family as we said goodbye to our dearest Bentley after 15 years. He was nearly 16 years old, which is "good innings" for a dog his size, and he was healthy and happy until the very end.

After picking Bentley up from the kennel on Sunday (Dec 31st) at noon, and having him all happy and wiggly and bouncy like his normal self, we got home and he went downhill very rapidly. The kennel people had said that he had a dodgy tummy with loose stools the past couple of days, but that is sort of normal for Bents so we didn't think much.

But then on New Years Day he just laid around, drank a lot of water, and wasn't interested in buttered toast (which was his favorite). By late afternoon he couldn't walk properly and he kept trembling / shivering for no apparent reason. We just snuggled with him and let him sleep wherever he wanted, and kept trying to get him to eat something. This morning we took him to Alex the vet in Forest Row, and Alex took one look and said that his time had come. There was no question and there were no options. We took our time saying goodbye to him, holding him and cuddling him close, and I stayed with him in my arms until after his last breath had gone. He went quickly and calmly, without resistance. But it was so, so sad. The four of us spent the rest of the day grieving and sharing memories about him.

We were truly grateful that we could all be there to give him the best send off a dog could have. This was a special day in that regard, since it was the one day of grace between the holiday period and back to work/school which starts tomorrow. Bentley definitely knew how much we loved him, and he also had a bit of a reputation due to all of his adventures and close calls with danger (some called him "Bentley Nine-Lives"). He was a pretty special dog and he stole the hearts of a lot of people over the years who will be sad to be reading this. But we buried him in the back garden in front of his favorite hole in the hedge. This is the hole he would always sneak through to get to the wider world of other people's backyards. Now he has gone through the "hedge of life", but we can visit him whenever we want, and that is a nice thought.  We are really going to miss him.
RIP, dear Bents. You were a great friend to me and to all of us.
Hope you can go keep Grandpa "Meat Guy" Carl company up in heaven.