Christmas 2011

The lunch

 A pair of Santa boots

 A mini Santa boot from NZ

 This year's Advent Calendar

Calke Abbey (by night)

After shopping and despite the weather turning a bit nasty

we headed for Calke Abbey

where according the the N.T. website

we could visit part of the house

and enjoy the illuminated walk from the house to the church

 One of our party was disappointed that all the lights on the path were white

 But there were nice touches here and there

 and a little story unfolding

'til we reached the church, which was open and decorated

Kedleston Hall

The presence of sheep on the approaches gave us a scare as one of the possible culprits of Jacqui's present incarceration is a sheep tic

 Our approach did not afford a proper view of the Hall itself

 We did get to see the reindeer but we gave up on 'Father Christmas' as the queue was too long :-)

 Beside the Hall there is a church which was also open and by chance the low winter sun was illuminating the crib scene

 The church is no longer used to hold services

 What do you 'see' in this tree - is there a person?

 Detail from Christmas tree decoration

Moving...

Admin 1, M.2.14

I won't get any pity for having to move my office to another building after 36 years...

...because someone else in the family is about to move house!

Birthday Cake

(with thanks to Robin's phone)

Birthday lunch

Both Doris and Roger have birthdays in the coming week but,for Roger,

much of next weekend is spoken for and 'someone' is just about to go on holiday in Egypt,

so the traditional birthday celebration lunch was held in a familiar venue today.

Kerraped

Everything associated with this recovery seems to take ages.

We had to wait weeks before the nurses got round to writing the prescription.

Then we had to wait for delivery because it was a special item.

Then when they came the one for the left foot was not big enough.

So we had to get another prescription...

...but finally

 The Kerraped boots are available for use

The wearer has just come home from doing data projection for the Remembrance Day Service at church

Charnwood water

Now the clocks have gone back and the evening comes more quickly it is even more important to make the most of good weather, so as the sun was shining brightly we paid a quick visit to Charnwood water

 Jacqui was a bit nervous stepping out with her bandaged leg as I had been too quick to draw attention to the two rats I saw down at the water line.

 But we headed off down the waterside path and soon found a bench to soak up the rays for twenty minutes

Donington le Heath Manor House

The weather was forecast to be bad at the weekend and Friday was expected to be nice so we decided to get out of the house on Friday afternoon. Jacqui was given the task of finding a suitable destination - usual rules: nearby, chance to be outside, wheelchair friendly, free if possible, cafe, etc.

 So we ended up at this little place which was very pleasant in the unusually warm late October sunshine

Accidental Sunflower

Nana found this sunflower growing in one of her front tubs and looked after it and it grew into a monster. When it dies she has promised me the head for my 'bird garden'.

Getting out of the house...

Jacqui has been confined indoors since the beginning of August. Her third outing and first non-hospital related outing was to go and see possible venues for R&R's wedding and reception. To see some pictures, click here.

Bunny Church

I was invited to take my guitar to Bunny Church to support a service being run by the CMA. The church is the "largest in South Nottinghamshire".

 See the yellow scooter? - it and its owner are allowed to be members of CMA. You can see my guitar and amp just beyond.

 I tried playing along to the organ - but it was soooooo slow.

Shower boot

If you have been following the story of Jacqui's recovery

you will have heard the part that a "shower boot" played

- well in case you have not seen one before - here it is

it is called Limbo

And now, for no particular reason,

other than they are much more beautiful to look at,

a couple of slightly more unusual butterflies from our garden

the Comma (so-called because it has a bright white comma shape on the underside of its wings)

and the Speckled Wood

Gardening

In the picture below you can see a tidied up 'bird' garden with some new planting and some tubs 'borrowed' from the front of the house

Here you can see the rest of the new planting and also some of the slabs left over from the refurbishment of the front drive being used to provide a wheelchair 'ramp' to get mum into the house through the back door when she came out of hospital

Get well soon...

Here are some of the flowers, cards & presents that mum has received from well wishers. 

(Not pictured are: cards lost from the first ward she was in at LRI. 

Also not pictured: drinks, maltesers, grapes, scones and cakes)

Underview

Some of you will be all too familiar with our main concern at the moment 

that is getting Jacqui's foot healed.

But the sun was so inviting this afternoon

that I stepped out for a few minutes

with camera

into the garden

hoping to find something to photograph.

And here is one of the photos I took...

Can you see what is is yet?

I like this picture because I think you can see the feeding tube 

(OK it must have a proper name but I don't know or can't think what it is)

[You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it]

So here is the reveal...

... a small tortoiseshell butterfly

And on to Aldeburgh

Our first walkabout in Aldeburgh took in the lifeboat station

(The lifeboat is now launched off a crawler tractor base but my first memories of Aldeburgh go back to the time when it was launched down a slipway and later hawled out of the water across tarred planks where the ones that were finished with behind had to be dragged round to the front)

Amazingly the model yacht pond is still there

And the centre piece Moot Hall is still in fine condition

We stayed at the White Lion Hotel with a sea facing room...

...from which we could watch the early morning catch being landed...

...and gutted and sold to eager buyers (and the seagulls queued up to be fed the "guts")