Lucy's mum

She is such a photogenic cat, I couldn't resist sharing this picture. Lucy's mum and brother were very curious when we held a wake for her in their garden, but they didn't seem to mind too much. In fact, her mum Xeni was behaving beautifully for the camera. Lucy was almost identical except short haired, and a little plumper (that's the polite version). The house is so empty without her....

Picture catalogue

As we were so busy packing up to go travelling last year, we missed a whole batch of pictures and stories from other places we'd been, so I thought I might do a little retrospective travelog! Places we really think you ought to visit! Well, our favourites anyway!

First up, Barcelona. I'd read all about Gaudi in my architectural history books but nothing can compare to actually seeing it in the flesh. We didn't make it inside the Sagrada Familia, the queue was miles long! But we did manage to get a tour of his Casa Mila La Pidrera with the most amazing roof and chimney structures.

In celebration of Lucy...23/3/1997-3/4/2009

After a short but incurable illness, we reluctantly said goodbye yesterday to the last of our three cats. Lucy was 12 years old, chosen by Emma when she was a toddler, and has enjoyed her last year as an "only cat" after being a late addition to our two boys, Stan and Ollie. We had a wake for her today and she is buried in the family plot in Alan & Dorothy's garden - they threw her a lovely lunch in their fab new kitchen, and Alan had prepared her a white granite headstone. We are all very sad and lonely, with only Bill the dragon for a pet for now. This is the first time in 18 years we have been cat-less...

We raise a glass again for our beloved friend, minx and bed-hogger - cheers Lucy, we will miss you...

Spring at Waddesdon Manor

Glorious sunshine, 15 degrees of warmth, what better excuse to get out to a National Trust property this weekend. An old favourite, Waddesdon Manor, was well worth the trip today as the flowers made it look stunning. Just look at these beautiful colours...

First day of Spring!

Ah, yes, the first day of Spring is finally here. After 3 winters (our own fault!) we are desperate for some sunshine and this weekend it was glorious! All the windows open, out for a nice long walk, bliss... and we booked our next holiday so something to look forward to. We've booked a week in Cornwall at the end of May, overlooking St Michael's Mount...

For now, though, back to Spring!

Where did that month go?

I logged on tonight and realised it's been a whole month since I updated - where did that go??? Well, to be honest, this has been my first month of being a manager in my team and I've been horrendously busy at work - so the last thing I've wanted to do when I got home was to log onto the computer again! Things are settling down a bit now, the team is back up to full strength since we recruited two new guys, and hopefully after a gap in resource I'll have caught up with myself again by the end of the week...

In the meantime the end of Winter has been and gone, we've had Shrove Tuesday and St Patrick's Day, and the first signs of Spring are here...Hawthorn bushes are now in blossom although the trees are still bare, and we have glorious displays of colour with daffodils, primroses, snowdrops and hyacinths all in bloom at the same time. A real treat - we had a pair of buzzards circling up on a thermal at the end of our garden at the weekend....truly awesome!

Snow day 21

So with no let up with the arctic conditions and several days housebound we were all relieved to hear of a snow plough in the next village Stoke Hammond. (you've probably heard all councills have run out of road salt)...And so it was yesterday the whole village turned out to celebrate our freedom from the freezing conditions (A lorry full of salt)! Aha, school tomorrow at last !! Rumour has it that half term is to be cancelled because of the 'impromtu' half term the bad weather has inflicted on us. How we wish for some warm weather... Surely somewhere it is hot and humid.........or just hot ?