We went to Florence’s first birthday party in Leeds on Saturday,, held in a children’s “play zone”, similar to the one where Bess has held her birthday parties, although Florence chose a different one. Florence was the perfect hostess, with plenty of time to play, and lots of sandwiches and birthday cake, and of course “goody bags” (at least I think that there were goody bags – I didn’t get one). Keith joined us as the “Southern Contingent”, and I have to admit that Keith and I spent considerably more time talking about cycling and middle aged health than actually playing. Afterwards the Southern contingent was invited back to Claire’s for tea and cake. Keith was staying over – unfortunately I was working on Saturday night, and so we were clock watching.
Photos from the party are in Our Recent Photos.
On Sunday we joined our friends Hilly Lou and daughter Emily for a BBQ at their home in Stoney Stanton, and naturally the dogs were invited too, and consequently we had no choice but to make room for pudding by taking the dogs for a walk. The planned route was not a success – none of the stiles from the road had gaps large enough for our dogs, and there is no way we would lift all 42kg of Lesia. As a result we kept walking until we found a suitable footpath about a mile further on, which headed in the right direction, but most unusually led nowhere. The map confirmed this – we should have checked first. And so it was quite a large circuitous walk that eventually delivered to us back to our pudding, and since this photo was taken half way round, you’ll appreciate that it was also almost dark by the end of the walk. But we had definitely earned the cheesecake.
I was sort of on standby on Bank Holiday Monday – not for work, but for Matthew, who was car hunting. Problems with his current elderly vehicle made the purchase of a replacement urgent, and this weekend was dedicated to the task. If none had been found by Monday, I was going over to Bedford to assist, but he found one over the weekend, and so I was able to spend a more relaxed day with Chantal in the garden.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
