I am letting time get away from me and doing little about it. Tomorrow (18th March) we will have been here a year, and what a year. I am glad we did it the way we did, but do so want the next year to be different. Better. We had lots to contend with, job wise, at school, at home and of course personally. They never complain, but we think that the kids have coped with all that has come their way brilliantly, not effortlessly, they have all had to work hard to adjust, but they seem content and positive about what is to come. I hope that this year John and I find things here that give us joy (apart from each other!) and make it feel more like home.
My feeling at this point of time is ' we made it' and this time next year I hope it is more like 'that was a great year'. Up to us really.
Monday, 17 March 2008
Monday, 4 February 2008
February in short?
We have been to Richmond, near the home of Kew gardens, a lovely town on the Thames River. Virginia Wolf once lived here, as do now, other well know writers, actors and musicians.
We spent the day with friends and took a walk along the Thames, which when out of the city itself, is a very lovely river. There are lots of small islands, boats, and of course birds, many ducks and geese to feed, herons, egrets, seagulls and naturally, pidgeons! (I really want to cook and eat a wood pidgeon one day...more on that later.)
John and I really enjoyed the company. We feel a bit at a loose end here in the UK. As beautiful as it is, we have not really found our feet yet. It has proved to be somewhat hard to make new friends, odd for a pair like us, who will talk to anyone! My volunteer work has at least given me the opportunity to meet more like-minded people, but John has been immersed in work and apart from the very welcome, enjoyable visits from old friends, it has been a bit flat socially.
John has however, found a choir to investigate, I am toying with a couple of local groups to join, or at least look over. (They will need to look over me in return too!). One is the local allotment group, another the local bee keeping group. It has always been a dream to keep bees. I will let you know how I get on. Keeping them now is not really possible, but maybe one day?
Other news is JOBS. I have a new one at a property management company. At the moment my days off from the garden centre are being spent at the new office with the two other women who make up the company. There is a lot to learn and it will be some time before it is under my belt, but so far it is interesting. I will really miss the garden centre. It has been wonderful. The days off during the week have been a big bonus too. Now the hours are a lot longer, the pay is better but there is some flexibility. My days at Standen are not yet over.
The girls had their grandmother here from Japan two weeks ago. She brought the sun with her and it has been shining since. It has also been extremely cold at night, but all over the countryside there are flowers blooming, birds and other wildlife are stirring and the days are getting longer.
Now it is half term and the girls are in Whitley Bay, John's home town with his parents, who have stepped into the grandparent role wonderfully. They spoil the girls, who love visits up north and who now have three new 'cousins'.
Between us, John, Adam and I have been painting and the living room is almost done. It may be that we never really get this house feeling the way we want to, but we are getting closer.
We spent the day with friends and took a walk along the Thames, which when out of the city itself, is a very lovely river. There are lots of small islands, boats, and of course birds, many ducks and geese to feed, herons, egrets, seagulls and naturally, pidgeons! (I really want to cook and eat a wood pidgeon one day...more on that later.)
John and I really enjoyed the company. We feel a bit at a loose end here in the UK. As beautiful as it is, we have not really found our feet yet. It has proved to be somewhat hard to make new friends, odd for a pair like us, who will talk to anyone! My volunteer work has at least given me the opportunity to meet more like-minded people, but John has been immersed in work and apart from the very welcome, enjoyable visits from old friends, it has been a bit flat socially.
John has however, found a choir to investigate, I am toying with a couple of local groups to join, or at least look over. (They will need to look over me in return too!). One is the local allotment group, another the local bee keeping group. It has always been a dream to keep bees. I will let you know how I get on. Keeping them now is not really possible, but maybe one day?
Other news is JOBS. I have a new one at a property management company. At the moment my days off from the garden centre are being spent at the new office with the two other women who make up the company. There is a lot to learn and it will be some time before it is under my belt, but so far it is interesting. I will really miss the garden centre. It has been wonderful. The days off during the week have been a big bonus too. Now the hours are a lot longer, the pay is better but there is some flexibility. My days at Standen are not yet over.
The girls had their grandmother here from Japan two weeks ago. She brought the sun with her and it has been shining since. It has also been extremely cold at night, but all over the countryside there are flowers blooming, birds and other wildlife are stirring and the days are getting longer.
Now it is half term and the girls are in Whitley Bay, John's home town with his parents, who have stepped into the grandparent role wonderfully. They spoil the girls, who love visits up north and who now have three new 'cousins'.
Between us, John, Adam and I have been painting and the living room is almost done. It may be that we never really get this house feeling the way we want to, but we are getting closer.
Monday, 28 January 2008
January
With only days to go it is hard to summarise all the events of this month.
John has adjusted well to the commute to London and we are considering having only one car...
Hannah celebrated her 13th with a party at home. Way too many girls, mobile phones, squealing and dubious music, but it was a hit all the same! We are aiming for a small intimate (quiet) gathering next year.
I have been busy job hunting and am still reasonably bouyant about the total lack of interest in my skills in this town.....it just all seems to take so long and that includes being told, 'no thanks'! John is the one who helps here. Lots of boosting. He is good at that.
The weather has been dismal. We both look at the garden all the time, but even after a dry weekend, it is too soggy to dig. Still, we have selected our potatoes for this year....very conservatively we have gone for Maris Piper.
Em and Adam are both well. Em is not playing in the orchestra this term as it clashes with netball....and she is thinking about moving on to clarinet after many years with the recorder.
Adam had his GCSE mock examinations with good results. It bodes well for the summer.
We have had the kitchen looked at for a major renovation to be done mid year. It will be costly and messy, but we think worth the effort.
The girls' obachan comes from Japan next month and we have all sent our wish lists. We now tune into the online TV news every morning and get all the updates. It is good for our Japanese.
John has adjusted well to the commute to London and we are considering having only one car...
Hannah celebrated her 13th with a party at home. Way too many girls, mobile phones, squealing and dubious music, but it was a hit all the same! We are aiming for a small intimate (quiet) gathering next year.
I have been busy job hunting and am still reasonably bouyant about the total lack of interest in my skills in this town.....it just all seems to take so long and that includes being told, 'no thanks'! John is the one who helps here. Lots of boosting. He is good at that.
The weather has been dismal. We both look at the garden all the time, but even after a dry weekend, it is too soggy to dig. Still, we have selected our potatoes for this year....very conservatively we have gone for Maris Piper.
Em and Adam are both well. Em is not playing in the orchestra this term as it clashes with netball....and she is thinking about moving on to clarinet after many years with the recorder.
Adam had his GCSE mock examinations with good results. It bodes well for the summer.
We have had the kitchen looked at for a major renovation to be done mid year. It will be costly and messy, but we think worth the effort.
The girls' obachan comes from Japan next month and we have all sent our wish lists. We now tune into the online TV news every morning and get all the updates. It is good for our Japanese.
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to one and all. The holiday is over, the Christmas decorations put away for another year and the children back at school! We celebrated in Whitley Bay, John's home town on the north east coast of England. A lovely place with long beaches to walk on and lots of countryside. It was a short trip. We drove up on Dec 30 and were back here on January 2, which is in fact, John's birthday. The few days away were spent walking, eating, drinking and talking to family and friends. The perfect holiday.
Back to reality and I am on the hunt for a new job. I love the garden centre, but it is not very viable financially. The weekends are not a problem for me, in fact the weekend is not a bad time to be working as we tend to be busy and time flies, but it makes it a bit harder to organise family life. As we are only ever all together at the weekend, I see a lot less of everyone.
So I will be peddling my CV around town and will let you know how I get on.
Back to reality and I am on the hunt for a new job. I love the garden centre, but it is not very viable financially. The weekends are not a problem for me, in fact the weekend is not a bad time to be working as we tend to be busy and time flies, but it makes it a bit harder to organise family life. As we are only ever all together at the weekend, I see a lot less of everyone.
So I will be peddling my CV around town and will let you know how I get on.
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Pussy cat bank
Bosley, our lovely big cat, has been fighting in the neighbourhood again. He has been off his food and has a nasty wound on his left foreleg. We had to take him to the vet today. The wound was washed and cleaned and he was treated with painkillers and antibiotics. I asked if we should insure him for the future, as pet insurance is quite common here. We were told, with his track record of fights, he would not be covered!! They advised we open a bank account in his name and put a little money aside each month to cover the cost of his next fight!! We may have to do that as today's bill was 84.00 pounds!
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
Season's Greetings
David, Emily, Hannah and me.
John, the girls and me.
(These photos were taken on the pier at Worthing today. We went out for a wet drive/walk. Nothing like the bracing sea air!)
John, the girls and me.
I want to wish all of you the very best for the holiday season, wherever you are and however you celebrate. May you all have a safe, healthy and happy 2008.
Liz
(These photos were taken on the pier at Worthing today. We went out for a wet drive/walk. Nothing like the bracing sea air!)
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Bathroom complete
The bathroom is finished at last and we are all loving the new power shower. Not to mention the streamlined look of the room itself. Pictures to follow. Now plans are afoot to start work on the kitchen (yippee) in the Spring.
We went to the Palace Theatre in London on Monday night to see Spamalot. This is a musical comedy that is so completely silly it is not really possible to explain, unless one is a die hard Monty Python fan. (Bristish humour). Adam, David, John and I had a really good chuckle though. Well worth the trip.
http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/
Finally got out to Standen today after weeks of being absent. The task was to start planting the 7,500 mainly hawthorne 「クラタエグス・モノギナ（ヒトツブサンザシ）」saplings that will become the hedge around a field. I then got a message from the school asking me to go and get Hannah who is ill. This is her third day off this week. Sadly, I had to pack up my wellies and spade, but was relieved to see her looking only a little pale and relatively upbeat. Another day of rest at least.
To make up for not getting to dig this morning, I uprooted a mahonia tree [ヒイラギナンテン]that John had cut down earlier this year. We are going to use the space for our vegetable patch. It won't be long before we have seed potatoes in at work, so I want some of those and some garlic and onions to start with!!
We went to the Palace Theatre in London on Monday night to see Spamalot. This is a musical comedy that is so completely silly it is not really possible to explain, unless one is a die hard Monty Python fan. (Bristish humour). Adam, David, John and I had a really good chuckle though. Well worth the trip.
http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/
Finally got out to Standen today after weeks of being absent. The task was to start planting the 7,500 mainly hawthorne 「クラタエグス・モノギナ（ヒトツブサンザシ）」saplings that will become the hedge around a field. I then got a message from the school asking me to go and get Hannah who is ill. This is her third day off this week. Sadly, I had to pack up my wellies and spade, but was relieved to see her looking only a little pale and relatively upbeat. Another day of rest at least.
To make up for not getting to dig this morning, I uprooted a mahonia tree [ヒイラギナンテン]that John had cut down earlier this year. We are going to use the space for our vegetable patch. It won't be long before we have seed potatoes in at work, so I want some of those and some garlic and onions to start with!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)