Jai Ne Pas Manger Escargot!

Years ago when Elena went to Middle School, she went on a trip to France. I think she managed to bring 3 or 4 photos back with her. I tried my best to get some others from school, but even handing out a CD to one of the Mum's didn't help. So I resigned myself to having no photos of the event until today :O) Through the wonders of Facebook I give you Elena, in France, with Chocolate & Snails!!!

Whether the Weather be fine!!

Whether the weather be fine
Whether the weather be not
We must weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.
I've just copied this off Eleanor's Blog ~ thank you Eleanor :O)
Isn't it a great little poem :O)

I bet you can't guess what the weather's doing again :O)
Let me show you ...
Hell, it's coming down in bucket loads ~ Yuk!!! BUT am I bothered?? No, not today because there is sunshine at the end of it :O) My 'little sugar buttie', my 'sweetie pie honey bunch' is coming home after 5 days in France and I can't wait to smoother her in kisses and give her the biggest cuddles ever {grin}. It's been really quiet without her. Not that she's noisy or anything. Even Gemma & Lisa have commented on how strange it's been since she went away. She's due back at 7:15pm and I hope they're late because I have to work until 8pm tonight. Andrew will pick her up but I just want to be there instead of being stuck at work.

Edited to say the sun's come out ~ wow!! Can you believe it's the same day ???

Liquid Sunshine :O)

It's raining here this afternoon and believe it or not, I don't mind :O) It's watering the plants so the flowers will grow ~ how about that for positive thinking!!I hope it isn't raining where Elena is. She's taken a waterproof coat but it's much better doing outdoor stuff when it's dry :O) The itinerary today says ... Morning: Visit to historical town of Montreuil and interview and language studies ... Afternoon: Aqualud Watersports Complex ... Evening: Disco ('Le Doral' in Le Torquet). Then tomorrow she'll be on her way back home hopefully full of stories about her adventures :O)

How lucky am I

I am feeling so happy this morning. I've just received a parcel from one of my lovely friends Aubrey. She lives on the other side of the Atlantic but the Internet and Her Space:My Space has enabled us to be friends. Each morning on HSMS a word is given to us and we have to produce a photograph, it's great fun and very addictive. All the people who play along have all become great friends leaving comments on each others blog about the photos they take. A few weeks ago the word was purse and Aubrey took a beautiful photo of one of her handbags. It was the most gorgeous bag I've seen and told her jokingly, if she was ever to throw it out, please could she throw it my way :O) Well, bless her heart, she took me literally and sent it me. Isn't that the best thing ever. It makes the bag more special because I know she has done it out of the kindness of her heart ~ wow. Thank you soooo much Aubrey, I love it {grin}.
Well, I wonder what my sweetie pie's doing in France today, the itinery says Morning: Visit to Market at Berck Plage and interview and language activities. Afternoon: Bagatelle Theme Park Evening: Beach games. Wow, they're packing a lot in aren't they :O)

Au revoir mes ami !!

Elena's big day has arrived, she's off to France to stay at La Peupleraie :O) This is she outside this morning at 5:15 eating her breakfast. She was soooooo excited :O) This is a photo of the front of our house taken by Elena :O) We had to be at school for 6:00 as the coach was picking them up at 6:10. This is a sneaky photo of them on the coach ~ lol!!Andrew & I came back home and went back to bed for an hour. Andrew got up and went to work. I got up and went to Trisha's house for a cuppa. They have booked Languard Manor for their youngest daughter's wedding ~ Emma. Went to work this afternoon 3-8pm, it was hectic because it was changeover day. Had pork chops & veggies for tea and that's it. We're a bit tired now so going to bed early. It's really strange without Elena. I hope she's having a great time.

One more sleep

LOL! We count down in sleeps at our house :O) It's one more sleep until Elena goes to France. She is so excited but at the same time she keeps telling me how much she is going to miss me :O) Yesterday she told me about one of her best friends Emma. Apparently, her mum has given her a photo and told Emma every time she looks at it it's her Mum giving her a hug. This is Elena hinting big time ;O) So, last night I rustled a little something up in PowerPoint, I can't say what yet as Elena reads this blog sometimes. To be honest, she is going to be so busy I doubt she'll have time to miss me but it is a big thing for a 12 year old. (I went to France when I was 14 and stayed with an exchange student for 3 weeks. I loved it but I remember being homesick sometimes.) I will see her tomorrow as we have to be at school at 6:10 am and I will see her again on Friday when we pick her up, so it's only going to be 3 days we are parted. I'm not worried at all, a couple of years ago she went on school camp and she adored every minute so I know she is going to love this!!
Edited to say: OK, she's finally gone to bed (21:45) and she has to be up at 5:15 tomorrow! She is sooo excited bless her heart. This is the LO I made for her. I've printed it off and hidden it in her suitcase :O)
Hope she likes it :O)

Gazebo & Seaview

Oooeerr, it's been so hot today, we've put the gazebo up :O) I love this hot weather!!! The plan for today was to get up, take Elena to drama and go to Seaview to walk around the 'Waterfowl Gardens'. Yep, we got up, but we were a bit late so by the time I had sorted out all the washing it was time for Elena to go to drama. I can't go anywhere unless I've had breakfast ;O) so Andrew took Elena and I had breakfast :O) I was just making a drink of juice to take with us when my Mum & Dad arrived. They bought some Euros for Elena and was surprised she wasn't at home. They actually asked if she was still in bed!! I'm trying to look on the positive side but wouldn't you think they would know that every Saturday morning since Christmas Elena has gone to drama from 10am - 1pm. I am grateful that they bought Elena some spending money but I would rather they were interested in what she was doing :O( Well that's all I'm going to say on the matter!! So we managed to set off at something past 12 and parked up in Seaview. We walked round the path of the wildfowl gardens which took all of 10 minutes ~ LOL!! We thought it was really big but it wasn't. This was the start (and the finish) ...Not sure where the water is ?It was good though, we went in the bird hide which is a first for us. Walked a bit further and found the water :O)Found this weird looking plant with flowers & berries. Looks like a tomato/potato plant. We wondered if it was deadly nightshade ~ ooooo!!And that was that :O) So we decided to visit the end of the 'Sunshine Trail'. A few weeks ago we walked from Newport to Sandown and right at the end of the walk was a bit of a nature reserve. We were so tired at the time, we didn't bother to explore it. So we drove back to Sandown, parked in the works car park and walked to the nature reserve. It was really muddy underfoot obviously ~ doh ~ it's wetland!!! How daft are we!! We had gone in flip flops too. Andrew & I somehow got parted, I think it was my fault as I was following this electric blue dragonfly trying my hardest to take a photo but it just wouldn't keep still. I came to this pond and there were a few more flying about all over the place but they were just not having any of it :O) They were magnificent ~ oh well. I couldn't see Andrew anywhere but I could hear him ~ no wonder!! We walked up along the side of the caravan site where I work and round by the rugby club. We were chatting so much I forgot to take any more photos apart from these sycamore keys that Andrew spotted. All in all a bit of a disastrous day ~ ROFL. Not really, we still enjoyed each others company :O) After lunch we started packing Elena's case, I managed to get everything in it too including 2 towels, a pair of trainers, a pair of disco shoes, all her clothes and a washbag!! AND it's the smallest case we have :O) Just hope she can get it all back in for the journey home ~ lol!!Andrew put the Gazebo up outside. Liam's working 10 - 6pm today so Lisa's revising for her next exam, sat outside with her bikini on and cooling off in the pool from time to time :O) Yep, she's got tonnes of factor 15 all over her :O)
Had a roast beef salad outside for tea with Gemma too :O) Liam was so hot when he got home from work he cooled off in the pool and messed about with Lisa for a while :O) We laughed and giggled through most of the food especaially at Lisa who stuck the squirty cream lid to her chin pretending it was a beard ;O) This afternoon it was 33 oC on the thermometer ~ paradise I tell ya!! By twenty to eight it was still 25 oC Last but not least my 3191 photo today ~ my gorgeous sqiffy diffy pegs :O) Just got to tell you this. I learnt something new yesterday. We were looking on the OS map when I came across lots of 'TUMULI'. The word's written in an Old English type font so I looked it up and it means ~ ancient burial ground!! Didn't know that. Lisa taught me something new today too. Carrots used to be white!!! I kid you not, they were all white until a King who had the last name Orange wanted a vegetable that was orange in colour. So through selective breeding or whatever you call it, they produced an orange carrot!!! How cool is that. That just about somes me up, he, he ~ full of useless information :O)