Friends round

Today was the last day of August, and we had a bit of spontaneity with the Denslow fam swinging round. We thought it would just be Gordie and Anne Marie, but they all showed up and it was fun to be with them (as always).  We didn't do anything in particular, but it was just a normal and enjoyable evening.  Nice to see off the month with our friends round.

Crawley Town at Brighton Hove

Cat and I took the train from Lewes to the Brighton stadium to see Crawley Town football club plan Brighton Hove Albion.  We had amazing seats and it was an excellent game.  Crawley (who we were rooting for) lost 4-0 but the score did not reflect how well they played.  It was a really exciting game but as you can see from the score, the opposition ran away with it in the end.  Before the game started, Cat and I had the most delicious hot savoury pies from Piglet's Pantry https://www.pigletspantry.co.uk/pies/ We were so impressed!

Anyway, it was fun to be out on the town on a Tuesday night with my friend.

My birthday wind flower

 Anne Marie and Emma gave this gorgeous wind flower sculpture to me for my birthday last year and finally I set it up in the garden.  I love it so much.

Jason's party

Our friends Susie and Jason had a big party last night and we had a really fun time there with lots of dancing and laughter, and incredible food!

Wowo wildflowers

Tryfs is continuing his summer job at Wowo Campsite on an occasional basis.  He seems to really enjoy working here actually, even if the specific duties he is often doing are not-too-fun.  But they have this amazing wildflower meadow near the reception area, and it is in full summer bloom now.

Ann is here

I feel so lucky to have Ann as my boss at work.  She is just so wonderful and inspiring, I am thrilled that she flew all the way over here to help launch our new UK based geothermal team.  She is staying nearby and I thought it was quite funny the way the sign is all wonky here.

New Driver in the family!

 She did it! Got her California Driver's License on her first try!  Now she needs a car...

Beaches, mountains and flowers

It is just so gorgeous up here!  What a luxury to be able to walk to the beach, walk to the top of the Vardre, and walk into the middle of the town all from Nain & Taid's beautiful home.  

There was a gorgeous evening that Tryfan accompanied me on a sunset walk to the golf course, which was really nice too.

Rhodri and Tryfan are out doing a private mountain climbing course in Snowdonia, so I have been working from the house and taking breaks over these days to go for walks.  

Cwmorthin walk

 We went on a really cool hike today up a valley and across to a peak I'd never been to.

I got to try out my new Gregory backpack, which I am so happy about!

Our girl in Michigan

 Meanwhile, our girl is over in Michigan visiting Drew for his birthday.  This was a nice surprise for him that Drew's parents organized with Rhiannon.  So cute :)

Up in North Wales for a week

 We drove up to Llandudno yesterday and had a lovely welcoming dinner with Nain and Taid.

Then today Tryfan, Rhods and I went for a walk with Annie and stopped through Deganwy town for a coffee and food.

The hanging baskets at Deganwy Quay hotel were particularly fabulous!

I'm really inspired by these baskets and I want to be able to put one together like this at our house someday... maybe next year.  It is so beautiful up here, but it is really weird to come here without our girl Rhiannon.

A full day in Sussex

Today Leigh and I went for a lovely swim down at Tide Mills, and as we were walking back to the car a group of 4 barefoot men were gingerly picking their way over the stones in their speedos. Such a funny sight!

The flowers in the ruins of the old Tide Mills village were beautiful

Then later in the day I went for a long walk cross country with Sharon because she needed to join her family at a tractor rally. It was quite something to see, all these different tractors and diggers 'playing around' in several fields. 

Good times!

Gladioli

I have a perennial batch of dark magenta gladioli that pop up every year.  I always think of my dear old Dad up in heaven.  He loved these kind of flowers from what I remember, and he would have approved of this lovely selection of flowers from our garden.

Sharon's bathroom sign

 This made me laugh tonight when we went over for dinner at Sharon and Trevor's house!

Seeing out July

 Today was the last day of the month, and I was glad to have the chance to see it out properly by going for a 'wine walk' with Naomi and Heather.  We haven't done this for awhile and it was a gorgeous evening for it.  We didn't go too far but enough to feel tired at the end of it.

Garden this year

 It is a pretty sad state of affairs here in the veg patch/ greenhouse area.  Since we really have not had much summer at all, things are not really growing! At least the plants that one wants to have growing are not doing well. Too many slugs :-(

Neighborly visit

We were invited this evening to come for a little soiree at Sonia & Chris's house nearby.  It was great because we never hang out with them, and Naresh and Corinne were there too! We had a fun little evening.  In fact, we had such a laugh hanging out i the little pallet lounge where we used a leafblower to stoke the fire which was struggling with the wet wood. 

Locko and Caro

This past week has been really special because we had our very old and long lost friends Caroline and Locko come stay with us!  They were on their way home from sailing in the Caribbean, and we had such a brilliant couple of days with them. You can see that they brought the lovely weather with them! We went on a couple of nice walks, did some wine tasting at Bluebell Vineyard, and went out to dinner at the Coach & Horses. 

Just Annie

I took this when Suzi and I were out for the walk and I really like the colors and patterns in the sky and land, and also on Annie Dog herself! Sometimes its hard to get a photo that shows her colors. 

Suzi comes to visit!

My dear friend from UCSB rowing days, Suzi, and I have been talking about her coming to visit for such a long time.  We did manage to cross paths back in Feb 2020 when she and her family drove up to Santa Barbara to see us when we were there, but she had never been here.  So we hatched a plan for her to detour on her way to Germany this summer and she arrived Friday!  It was so awesome to see her this weekend.  We started with what has become "the usual" Friday Fizz & Crisps at the Roebuck pub where I have been meeting Cat and Emma B after work on Fridays.  It was actually lovely weather for once, so we sat outside.

Although on Saturday we had Ian and Angela's wedding, on Sunday Suzi and I managed to go for a gorgeous walk at the top of Firle beacon.

It wasn't super warm, but the sky and the lighting was spectacular.  What a treat to share the day with Suzi.  I'm so grateful that she came to see me.