Snow!

When we moved into our new house in Bedford last year, our lovely land-lords informed us that
                                                                  "it never snows in Stagsden"

OK, so Katie was disappointed, me too if I'm honest. Who doesn't love the snow?
I am pleased to say our neighbours were wrong!
Of course, this has meant the country has come to a standstill....but doesn't it look so pretty?

Happy Birthday Mam

Mam loved her Fancy-Dress costumes....all hand-mad of course!

Happy Birthday Mam.
My mam would have been 68 years old yesterday. She has been gone almost 10 years, so she was only just 59 when she died. So young.

I thought of you on your Birthday Mam. I have thought of you every single day since you left us.
I thought of you with fondness yesterday. on your Birthday. I remembered how you loved a party_any excuse to get dressed up in some hilarious fancy-dress outfit ; usually one you had made yourself from recycled clothes on your trusty old Singer sewing machine! You loved that old machine, and my childhood memories often play along to the sound-track of that Singer whirring away in the background. I would watch you in fascination as your foot pedalled away on the wrought iron pedal, the needle pounding precariously close to your fingers as the material whizzed with lightening speed through your fingers!

I wonder how we would have celebrated this birthday? I wonder how you would be with the grand-children you never met. I bet you would have them in fits of laughter with your antics! I feel so sad that you have missed so much of our children's lives and I am even sadder that I have missed having my mam around all these years,
I dearly want to believe I will see you again one day Mam. The thought that I might not, is heart-breaking. I can't get my head around it. So, just for now, I choose to believe in Heaven.

Happy New Year!

2013!
Dave, Katie and I saw the New Year in, just the three of us (four if you count Morkie Maisie!!)
We treated ourselves to delicious nibbles, copious wine, and Dave even had a Bacardi or two!
We counted down together as Big-Ben saw out the old year and hailed in the New and we watched the fabulous firework display in London, from the comfort of our sofa.

We are already a week into the New Year and it reminds me how quickly time moves on.

Things are still quiet on the HE front: our regular classes don't start up 'til later in January. That's not to say we haven't been busy though!
Piano lessons have resumed and I am really impressed at how Katie has thrown herself into her music_ next Christmas she will be playing us Carols!
Beth, Katie's piano teacher is lovely, and I am sure it's down to her being so encouraging that Katie is putting in so much effort and hard work. She practices two or three times a day and I must admit to loving the sound of the piano!

We plan to carry on HEing this year in the same fashion_ have fun, talk lots, read lots, visit some interesting places and.... we may just fit in the odd lesson here and there!