A day at the office

Today was a big work day for me because I had organized an event with some clients from Cornwall.  I wouldn't normally take a photo of the event like this, but it felt special so I did.

Here is: Jorge, Duncan, Ali, Diane, me, Martin, Ellie, Adam and Ryan. 

Elderflowers everywhere

Today was a public holiday, and it was the perfect day to make a batch of elderflower fizz. We skipped making the annual batch last year but it seemed like a good idea to do this this year, so Tryfs and I did that together.  Meanwhile, it is also the "Elderflower Fields" music festival over at Pippingford Estate which is just over the forest from us, and Tryfs and his buddies did their annual trick of finding creative ways of sneaking in and pretending to be part of the festival crew.  

Anyway, it was kind of funny to make the annual batch of fizz together while Tryfs was relaying stories about the festival.

A Maisie Adventure

Last night and today we did some dog sitting for Maisie-the-dog Barker.  She is a sassy Spanish street dog with a fabulous tail, but she cannot be let off the leash so I was real careful taking her out for a walk in the forest this morning.  And when we got back to the house, I made sure that the fence was closed before letting her off the leash.  But as soon as I unclipped her leash, she trotted over to the corner of the yard and calmly, quickly climbed over the fence and trotted off into the wide world.  Yikes!  I tried to call her back in a calm but enthusiastic way, but she just glanced over her shoulder at me and kept running away.  Fortunately I had my phone on me, so I called Tryfan and woke him up (it was around 10:30am), and he very quickly put on his bathrobe and fish slippers and ran down Stone Quarry Road to go the back way onto the adjacent property.  Imagine the scene of this teenager running through the village in this get up! He climbed over fences and through bushes and managed to catch the cheeky little Maisie dog.  Such a relief to get her back onto the leash and safe at home.

Eurovision 2025

Tonight we went over to Leigh and Stuart's house for a Eurovision party and dinner.  Everyone had to come dressed up as a country, so I went as Austria and Rhodri went as France.  It was a really fun evening.

Lectures from the Garden Expert

Our tree-like bush out in the front has been looking quite unwell, so Sally came round and instructed Rhodri on what limbs to trim 

More cousins

Rhiannon and Tryfs have been having a good time in Cardiff by the looks of it!

Wales for the weekend

Rhiannon and Tryfan made their way to Cardiff for the weekend so they could see Nain and Taid and their cousins. 

Friday afternoon

I met Cat for a weekend kick off walk in Forest Row (rather than the usual Roebuck).  The fields and colors were just spectacular.  It was a little chilly, but felt so good to be out walking with my homegirl Cat and telling her all about our trip to Croatia.

Goodbye Croatia

It was sad to leave this morning, but we are both super grateful to have been able to spend these few days here.

 

Girls trip to Croatia - Day 3

Today was another amazing day.  I woke up early and enjoyed the early morning light swaddled in a blanket by the pool.  Once Rhiannon woke up, we had breakfast and then went back into Dubrovnik (by bus this time), and we went on a 3 hour kayaking trip!

Although the launching beach had a lot of people there, our group was only 3 kayaks - our guide and us and another couple

 

We stopped in a cave to go snorkeling and then paddled back over to the other side of the bay where there is an island.

 

 

When our tour ended we got changed into dry clothes and then took the cable car up to the top of the mountain and had lunch at the most perfect table overlooking the city!

 

After this, we took the bus back to Mlini and had a relaxing evening by the pool and then the amazing restaurant downstairs.

Girls trip to Croatia - Day 2

This morning I woke up quite early with that excited feeling that comes when you arrive in a place and there is just So Much Exploring To Do.  

I started with a dip in the crystal clear water at the beach below our place, where I was completely alone and it was heaven!  Then after going back to the pad, having breakfast and mobilising, Rhi and I took the water taxi from Mlini to the Old Town of Dubrovnik and walked the city walls.  It was such a stunning day. Just incredible.

We were pretty hungry after that, so we found a beautiful and delicious place to eat lunch.

And then we did walk around the downtown area for a bit, and we bought pinky rings, which was really sweet.  Then we decided to head back to the oasis which is Mlini, so we did that! And we blissed out at our pad by the pool and sea, watching the sunset and then heading down to our favorite little restaurant with Ivan.  Heavenly

We finished the night by watching movies in bed. Perfect!  

Girls trip to Croatia - Day 1

Finally this day has come and my baby girl and I flew from Gatwick to Dubrovnik, then took a taxi to our flat in Mlini.  We stayed in the most perfect beautiful amazing place.

We arrived early so left our bags and had some lunch at the most perfect little bistro which is across the road from our flat. We quickly made friends with Ivan, who was our waiter at this place. Its hard to relay how happy we were to have lunch and adult beverages to kick off  our few days of exploration in this place!

After lunch and checking into our flat, we went on a walk along the coastline towards Dubrovnik, and also to the little port of Mlini in the other direction. It is so incredibly beautiful here!

Belated Mother's Day

Today I went for a morning swim with my homies and then came home to find this wonderful surprise put on by my thoughtful and wonderful children.  

They had printed out photos from over the past 19 years and hung them from the ceiling along with pink balloons, and then we had a surprise lunch feast outside.  This was such an incredibly special treat and what a surprise!

Out and about on home turf

Rhi has been having some good times with Tryfs, Evie, Rhods, Annie and me. Well, not so much with me because we will be escaping to Croatia just me and her for a few days starting this weekend. But I am so very glad to see her smiling.