March(ing) into April

Another year another birthday for Sue. Sybil, Joy and Geoff joined us for lunch, unfortunately Glyn and Sue couldn’t make it all the way from Spain. As you can see the weather was super. I took advantage of Sybil’s expertise in the garden and was looking for lots of tips. She wasn’t impressed when I said I chucked buckets of water on the plants to water them. The good news is (6.4.12) that there is no hosepipe ban in our area.
 The BIG surprise of Sue’s birthday was the arrival of her brother Neil. It was lovely to see him and he stayed for lunch and most of the afternoon.

Shortly afterwards Sue’s sister Pam came to stay for an evening. They went off walking at Mudeford and locally. As you can see the weather was most unseasonal – as I write this there is frost outside.
   

I think Pam has a soft spot for VW’s

We started a new hobby recently which I can’t mention in social media, it’s part of the terms and conditions, (email me if you are desperate to know). It’s a bit like geocaching and involves being out and about in the forest. Here we are , testing our skills, on another lovely day in the forest. I suppose you have guessed by now that we don’t go out in bad weather.

The forest at its best.

Geocaching close to Pennington Marshes, Lymington.

We started doing a circuit with Andy and Maggie last year and have just got around to completing the last 6 geocaches.
Shortly after this photo was taken I took the wrong route to get back and ended up in somebody's garden (it was very large). There was someone to ask for directions and instead of sending us back they lead us through the garden to the road we should have been on. That was a better experience than being seen off by someone with a shotgun in hand (that has happened to me). We always say that geocaching takes you to places you wouldn’t normally go – even if by accident and dodgy map reading.

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At last we have come to the end of the latest planned improvements. The plasterer/electrician has completed the ceilings and down lighters . I painted both ceilings, which took 3 coats and 3 days to do.

Oldie Photo – 1999 Christmas in Gran Canaria

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Our next door neighbour, Ian, sadly died after a long illness.
His funeral was at Bournemouth Crematorium and was well attended by relatives, friends and neighbours.