Mum died this afternoon

Mum's health took a downturn yesterday and sadly she lost her last fight and died this afternoon. I was with her at the time and it hasn't really sunk in yet. As there is a lot to be sorted out now I probably won't blog for a couple of weeks. After that time I hope to beback up and running Mum would want me to continue sewing.

Good news at last!!!

Wonderful news, my elder son Marc and his partner Alix have decided to get married next summer and announced their engagement yesterday. We are so pleased and I'm sure they will be very happy they suit each other so well. Good news on the Mum front too - she is confounding the medics and is beginning to stay awake long enough to talk to us. In fact this morning she told me I needed my hair washed!! I'd just washed it as I was going to get it cut after I'd seen her but there is quite a lot of grey in it at the moment and it was very flat.

I have also done some sewing, not a lot but a start. I think my muse is returning. These cards are for July's 'feather' theme. I started to make windows thinking I'd write the addresses around the outside then thought better of it. I backed the windows with paper fabric and beaded the feathers.

Cindy's 'feather' card was the first of the set I received and she has chosen to depict the feather theme with an indian wind chime. I know there is a name for them but it alludes me at the moment I'm sure someone will remind me of it. It will probably come to me around 3 in the morning!!

Jennifer and Brigitte have both depicted feathers (as did I). Brigitte's card is machine embroidered and beaded. It's the last card Brigitte will make for the group as she is leaving us to do other things.

Jennifer's 'feather' card is not done justice by this photo. The background is red velvet and the feather is a black rook's feather painted with a red stripe. Jennifer has beaded the end and it looks really good when seen in 'real life'.

We've decided to have August off from making cards and will resume in September. Brigitte will be missed five was a good number to swap with and we hope eventually someone might like to join with us to replace Brigitte.

I still don't have a printer and I'm beginning to feel incapacitated by its loss. I've tried to find a wireless printer that also has a duplexer so I can do double sided printing. So far I haven't found anything suitable, I can find all in ones but I have a good scanner and can live without a copier and a fax. Guess I'll just have to get my nose to the grindstone again but I've just had a thought for a bag so I'm off to the sewing machine.

It seems like life is hitting hard at the moment

It's been a hard few days but the sad news is that Mum doesn't have much longer to live. She suddenly deteriorated just after my blog and since then I've spent most of the time at her bedside. We're not sure what happened, she was doing fine but the pain was getting much worse and her pain killers much stronger. There are two thoughts a) she's had some sort of mini stroke and b) which they believe more likely the tumour she had radiotherapy for last year has spread to her spine. Fractures have appeared that weren't there previously. Either way she is far too ill to go for further investigations and there is little that can be done but to keep her comfortable.

I will get back to blogging but at the moment my incentive to do anything more than hold Mum's had has gone. Hope you all understand but watch this space, I WILL be back.

I'm back but not yet up and running

I was kept in hospital longer than expected but thankfully everything went fine and there were no nasty surprises. Well apart from the fact that my Mum had a fall and ended up in the A&E Department so I spent my last day in hospital trailing up and down between the surgical ward and A&E. Luckily she is okay just a bit shaken and we were both discharged at the same time. I'm feeling sore and exhausted and don't have a lot of motivation at the moment. No stretching, lifting, carrying or holding things for any length of time, at least for the next week. So I guess I'll just have to think about sewing.

It's 6:30am and I'm beginning to feel hungry

And a bit nervous, the day has arrived at last. In an hour I'm going into hospital for my op. I've had nothing to eat since teatime yesterday so I'mblogging to take my mind off things.

Tuesday Keith and I went with the U3A Walkers trip to Bridlington. There were 26 of us altogether, 19 walking round Flamborough Head and the remaining 7 rebels decided to go into Bridlington and walk to Sewerby Hall along the coast path. It was a lovely ride over the moors but naturally as soon as we stopped to drop off the long walkers heavens opened. We smuggly sat on the coach while they donned waterproof trousers and jackets and waved them off.

We thought we'd stop for lunch before going on to Sewerby and found a rather nice fish and chip shop to do that. An hour and a half later and a couple of bottles of wine under our belts we set off walking (well it was a walkers trip we felt we had to do some walking). By this time the sun had come out and we were in a silly mood. It was a lovely stroll along the front (Sewerby Hall is just about where the lamp is pointing) When we got there there was a craft fair, better still. Four of us went into the house to view it, Amy Johnston memorabilia is on show there, and the other three went round the gardens. We caught the little train to bring us back into Bridlington, waving to all the people we passed. We thoroughly enjoyed our Walkers trip out but when we picked the others up they were very quiet, it had been wet, windy and they'd inadvertently cut the walk short by four and a half miles and had to wait an hour and a half to be picked up. They slept onthe way back, we laughed all the way home.

Better go now, will blog when I feel better.

Out and About

I've been trying to upload these photos for the past three days but Blogger wasn't having any of it. At last though I've managed. Over the past few weeks we have been so busy taking care of family matters that we haven't had much time to do much more than eat and sleep. This weekend though we've been out and about. On Sunday we went to Winderwath Hall and Acorn Bank with the U3A Garden Club. It was hot and the gardens were at their best. First call was at Winderwath Hall near Penrith. It's a private house with wonderful gardens owned by Jane Pollock. The garden is well know for rare alpine plants as well as trees and plants from South Africa.

The colours were really bright and cheerful in this part of the garden, red, white and blue, very patriotic.

Can't remember the name of this plant, there were three of them and this was the smallest. They take 13 years to flower then die!!!!

We picked up a couple of these Monk's Head plants several years back not knowing what they were. We were staying with some friends in a caravan park and their caravan was being moved from the old walled garden. The owners were putting in sewers or something when we say these bulbs just lying on the path. We asked what they were and the owner didn't know but said we could have them if we wanted them. We took them home and planted them in a border, they grew to over 6 feet!!! Gradually over the years they are increased in number and decreased in size, they were one of the victims of Keith's new shed but we did manage to save a couple of bulbs. Now I know what they are I'll probably take more care of them and they'll die off.!!

Our next stop was Acorn Bank, again near Penrith. This estabilishment is known for its herb gardens. The house itself has a chequered history and is in very poor repair, unfurnished and normally not open to the public. It started off as a religious house for the Knights Templars in 1228 then passed on their suppression in 1323 to the Knights of the Hospital of St John, an order of nursing monks. They held it until the dissolution of the monastries and then in 1543 it became the property of the Dalston family. The Dalstons refashioned it and put a new frontage on in the 1740's and most of the latter buildings are now either lost or incorporated into the building.

Such as the original staircase to the tower rooms. This became the servants staircase.

Acorn Bank with its 18th centurary frontage, the to floor windows on the right are painted on, this being the original stable block.

The day before, Saturday we went to the Woolfest in Cockermouth where I had a wonderful time drooling over all the colourful wool tops. I came away with a big basketful so I have no excuse now for not getting some felting done. On the way we stopped in the layby just outside of Eggleston for a view over Teesdale. We did not take buster with us as he really is not a good dog with sheep but he too drools over the wool tops and I had a great deal of difficulty keeping his head out of my bag when we returned home.

As you can see Buster has taken over the garden completely and is becoming spoiled. This is Julie who is only there to rub his tummy.

Buster at Gibson's cave in Teesdale, he wasn't too sure of the waterfall but loves to play in the water. He's determining whether or not to go in, he decided not to. We took him for a walk yesterday round one of the local nature reserves where there is a large duck pond. The ducks were quite unconcerned, they'd dealt with dogs before but he loved running in and out of the pond. On the way back to the car he decided to do what dogs do against clumps of weed and fell into a deep pool headfirst. His expressions was wonderful and we couldn't stop laughing, well until he shook himself all over us.