Tuesday, June 07, 2011

End of the road

The football season has finished and Sunderland rallied to take 10th spot. Stadia across the country are now being used for other events.

Recently, the girls went to see 'Take That' with Robbie Williams at the Stadium of Light (Sunderland's ground), and me and the boys went to the 'Monster Jam' at Pride Park (Derby County's ground). We then all met up at our house for a family get-together and a walk along the river on the Sunday.



I tried and failed to upload a video of the monster jam. It was brilliant...and very loud.

The past two weeks have been hectic even though I'm officially unemployed. My work with Vodafone  finished last Tuesday, but I've been working hard with all the jobs around the house which are never finished.  I'm looking forward to having employment again so that I can have time to relax and paint:)

It's the end of the road for our rose arch...it's currently being supported with rope until reinforcements arrive.
An extra visit from Juli, Danny, Aimee Abs and Hollie meant a welcome break for me...Juli is inside trying to educate her grandma on using the controls of the armchair she's brought her (not an easy task) Annabelle and Hollie opted for me and the front garden seat while Danny and Aimee settled in front of the computer.

I've been busy building two brick pillars in the front garden to match the others so that the twisted fence panels can be fixed to them to straighten them out. I would prefer a brick wall, but I don't have enough old bricks...they are hard to find. Here they are all stained and straight...I just have the tops of the pillars to do. The gravel has just arrive so I'll be busy with the drive now.


I went into the loft to try and find my extension cable and work hat. I found neither, but came down with millions of old photographs to sort. It's so good to have a visual reminder of all the good times bringing up a family...I never photograph bad times although I do tend to capture our kids having a strop from time to time:)

Tomorrow I'll be off to Sunderland to attend the funeral of Uncle Ronnie who passed away while we were having our family walk along the river. No, he wasn't with us...he was back home in Sunderland at the time of our walk here in Newark.

Here I go again...regretting not spending more time with my uncle...the last one in the family. He was quite a character with a wicked sense of humour. I really should have found the time in this time-vanishing world of mine.

11 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about the loss of your uncle. It's always a shock to the system, even times when we know it's coming.

    The picture of the little girls on the bench in the middle of those gorgeous yellow flowers is just priceless. Look at the joy on their faces!

    Now you just have to tell me--what is a strop?

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  2. Ha! I should have guessed that some might not know what a strop is. We've had so many over the years...mostly with teenage children. A strop is attributed to a person with an attitude or mood that usually follows a telling off. One of ours is known for folding his arms, transferring his weight onto one leg and turning his face away with a defiant expression and a set jaw and feelings hard done by. No words are spoken and the expectation is that they will volunteer for nothing if it means helping you. They won't speak to you for at least a day and are likely to shut themselves in their room. Supper invariably sees the ice beginning to thaw. Sometimes it takes a lot longer depending on how aggrieved they feel.

    I miss them:)

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  3. I wonder that you ever had time to go to work!!

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  4. Those strops gave us quite a bit of entertainment, didn't they? I love the photo of Hollie and Annabelle too. It was good to see Juli, Chris and all the kids at Conference the other Sunday. Emmaleigh and Aimee were bubbling over.

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  5. What a lovely picture of your grand-daughters. Thanks for telling us what a strop is! I'm glad I learned a new word, which I am going to use..:) How come I couldn't find it on the net...oh yes, I did google it!
    How on earth do you pack 48 hours into your 24 hr day.....(it seems that way to me):))

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  6. So sorry about the loss of your uncle, Ken. You are also a very busy chap (do I sound English? I want to be a bit more sophisticated!)

    Your grand daughters are adorable!!!!

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  7. Glad you are keeping busy, but you must still give yourself 'time outs'! Lovely photo of the girls, and your garden looks prettily English!

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  8. Me too, Jean but I'm looking to get back to work for a break:)

    Hi Eileen
    Yes, we enjoyed their strops. Now their kids are wearing us out:)

    Hi Joy
    I really like the picture, too. I'm not surprised google provide a return...we're a weird lot. 48 into 24 is how it seems to me as well.

    Hi Kelly
    Bloke is north and chap is further south and definitely more refined. That makes you more sophisticated than me by a mile.

    Hi Vera
    I love the way you say time outs (plural). I'll take you up on it if you do too:)

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  9. ps, I posted a reply last night but funny things are happening with blogger at the moment. Thanks all for your comments.

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  10. Ken, you mentioned Pride park. My mam was talking about it, just the other day. When she was young, she and her sisters used to play football there. They had no idea it would one day become a huge stadium. She will be visiting her hometown next week, so she will be in your neck o' the woods. I'm sure she will attempt to make a visit there. She grew up in Allenton, then in Alvaston. One day, I hope to take my own family over there.

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  11. If you remember anything about the place, it'll be a trip to remember. Your mam will really enjoy it. I'll look out for her:)

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