The Race

I walk home along a back alley. Today a squirrel raced me all the way. He won.

Clifton

I work in Clifton. It's a lovely part of Bristol. The streets are tree-lined. (Unfortunately they are car-lined too.) I like to go and explore at lunchtime. Today I walked across the suspension bridge. It was designed by Brunel who never lived to see it finished. It's 200 years this year since he was born and there are loads of celebratory events. Yesterday a baby was born on the bridge!
Here are my photos - I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot.

Long Weekend

Lytham St. Annes.
We've just had a long weekend, so R and I headed up north to visit his sister and brother. They have 3 kids each. His sisters are all teenagers (well, G is 12). His brother's are all under 4. They all have interesting personalities, but are all lovely kids. G likes to do creative things, so we went to Lytham St. Annes on Saturday to paint pottery. R came with us and planned to go for a walk. We ended up with G painting a pencil pot, me doing a piggy bank and R actually painted a tile. He painted windsurfers, but he doesn't normally do creative things, so we were very impressed. Can't wait to get them back (they've gone off to be fired).
We had a lovely day with the little kids on Sunday. They are pretty full on, especially D who decided to make coffee from plant pot dirt and pee on the floor. Very hard to keep a straight face when he's being told off.
We spent our bank holiday helping R's sister strip wallpaper. I like doing that sort of thing, but I think R was bored.

Our Flat

Our flat is nice apart from the fact you can hear upstairs moving around. Our stuff hasn't arrived from NZ yet, so we're camping out. Here is R in our living room and our airbed bedroom.

New Forest

R and I took my parents out for a drive in the New Forest on Saturday. I had it in mind to visit Burley as I'd been camping there when I was a Guide. The drive through the forest was lovely. It is such a tranquil place. The ponies really do run wild. I snapped these just outside a tea shop in Burley. We stopped for a cuppa in the garden of the tea shop. The next people in forgot to shut the gate. The large pony came in and nicked the sugar from the bowl on the table next to us. It was a bit surreal. I couldn't get my brain around a pony in the tea garden. Glad he didn't fancy my teacake!
Burley was a bit of a disappointment. It was full of shops selling trinkets and ornaments and absolute rubbish. There seems to be some link with witchcraft. I'd never heard of witches in the forest - probably just a gimmick.
Still, Mum and Dad enjoyed the trip.

What's new?

Hello dear friends,
I have created this blog so I can keep in touch with all the lovely people I have sadly had to leave on the other side of the world.
First of all, for Wanda and Flipper, my show and tell is below.















I don't have all my card making gear yet, so these aren't too flash. Still, it's nice to start crafting again.
R and I are living in a nice (if noisy) flat in W-o-T. I have been at work for 2.5 weeks. Rob starts a week on Tuesday. He's looking forward to it as he's been a bit bored.
My job is odd. No-one really seems to chat to each other. There are mainly men in the office, but there are 5 other women. Not one of them has spoken to me yet. Ah, England!
I have 2 screens on my computer. It's very handy when multi tasking.
I love being back amongst family. Didn't realise I'd missed out on so much. I still miss NZ and all the friends I have there.