Alive and well and living on Merseyside

Yes, I'm still alive and well and living on Merseyside. I'm not quite sure why but life just seems far too busy to be blogging at the moment. So what have I been doing? Answer - I haven't a clue - perhaps you can tell me!

Ten days ago Jo and I went into North Wales to look at Kingswod Colomendy where she is holding a residential weekend for her students.

We stopped off for lunch in Mold. I'm not sure what these masks represent but Theatre Clwyd is just up the road a mile or so.

The Meet 'n' Eat is highly recommended!

We had a coffee at Loggerhgeads on the way back. Don't you just love these loo signs!

I've got hundreds of photos of the garden needing sorting. I don't really know where to start so I'll settle for a Petunia in a hanging basket for the moment.

No, these aren't out of the garden - they're incredibly realistic artifical flowers that Jo got from Helen and Ian for her birthday.

Chicken of the Woods

Chicken of the Woods is the name of this rather large toadstool we found on 2nd May. I'm not sure which has since become rarer - the toadstool or the sunshine!

Happy Monday - OK it's Sunday but what the heck!

Some Office Notices

Meek R.I.P.

Sadly we lost our second cat a couple of weeks ago and are now catless. Meek died peacefully in his sleep at home after being ill again for a few days.

Meek was fifteen and had been born with FIV which he had got from his mother. In theory he had a life expectancy of five or six years maximum and eighteen months ago he had a brief spell of being poorly and the vet was convinced he wouldn't survive.  He recovered and so all in all he did pretty well!

He is sorely missed.

May 4th 1942

Edith Velmans, a 17 year old Dutch Jewish girl, wrote in her diary:-
"We're all wearing our yellow stars. I can't stop laughing,. I can't help it. It's such a hoot, this star business. You hear the most ridiculous stories, and the jokes are making the rounds faster than the rumours. The people wearing the stars are greeted warmly by strangers, people take of their hats to you in the street, make all sorts of comments like "Keep your chin up" - it's wonderful. Today apparently even a German soldier greeted Father. I had sewn mine on my scarf, you are not suppsed to, but I'll just wait until someone says something about it. Everybody was incredibly nice at the Distribution Office. Someone said to me, "Why don't you take that silly thing off? Throw it away!" It really is a hoot."
(Edith Velman later hid with a Christian family and survived the War.