My FRIEND LEIGH

Good afternoon every one,The picture above is of my friend Leigh ,who lives in the Rhondda Valleys in South Wales ,we often chat on IM ,I know alot of you already know him ,but he feels  as though no one is reading his journal ,so I'm reintroducing him to J-Land ,I have mislaid my fan ,the one I put on my journal the day before yesterday,Well if you care to go over to Leighs journal ,you will see he has borrowed it to cool his pet Lion down ! ;>)http://journals.aol.co.uk/edwardssoapy/LeighsWorld/

Leigh is one plucky young man ,with Cerebral Palsy,which is not curable,there are three classifications ,and Leigh has Ataxia,which affects his hips and legs he used to get around in his 'lecy' wheel ,now he is mobile with the aid of one stick ,he finds it hard to do things like do up buckles and shoe laces ,and writes slowly ,but none of this stands in the way of the range of things Leigh gets up too ,see from the picture he is sailing ,and I understand he makes a mean lasagne ,His motto is 'Dont judge a book by its cover ' Well leigh mate your cover is blown !....We dont  !all we judge you by is what you are telling us on your journal ,which is always an interesting read ,colourful and newsy .I know Leigh has some exciting news to share ,Iam so pleased for you mate and havent forgotten to put those hints on you know what into an E-Mail for you ,Leigh is my buddy sometimes he calls me 'Aunty Jan' ,another time I'm his 'Granny Jan ' but most of all he's my friend ,so please give him a visit ,and tell him I asked you to call.....With love  and    Jan xx

Still no Rain!

 

Yet another hot day ! Some rain and storms had been forecast for Thursday ,but said the weather man,there may be some gaps ,I can only assume we live in a gap! because the rain passed us by yet again ,Maurice said they had a downpour in Peterborough ,last night ,but nothing here in our gap ! I watered the garden last evening and that will need to be my job when I have finished this entry.

Quite an exciting morning ,first the postman delivered my postcard from Linda in Washington ...a picture of Tacoma Washington ,the old train depot,Union Station,and the Tacoma Dome with Mt Rainier towering in the distance ,Thankyou Linda ,this is fun ,and also the chair I ordered,on line on Monday arrived ,it is green to match the room ,not quite as green as it looks in the picture ,it tucks away under the desk when computer not in use ,is comfortable,and much neater .Well when Maurice comes home tomorrow morning he will be off for six days ,so we will be going out some of that time .I will of course let you know..Well it cant be put off any longer I must stop now and water the garden ! Have a restful night everyone ,with love 

                Jan xx                 

The hottest day

 

Another lovely Gazebo ,and look at the sparkling  stream doesnt it look cool ,Donna made this lovely graphic I wish I was there. Dont you ?Well as I told you I went to see Jean yesterday ,and we had a lovely day together .As you will imagine alot of nattering was done !

I caught the bus to Peterborough ,and took a couple of pictures ,from the bus window as you will see this weather is perfect for getting in the harvest ,I got to P'boro had a short wait untill the bus took me to her house ,she came to meet me because I had rung her from the bus ,We sat in the garden with lovely drinks ,we decided coffee was what we wanted ,We then got brave and went for a walk ,to the shopping precinct near where she lives ,we managed to find some bargains ,and then Pete picked us up ,so we didnt have to walk back .

By this time Maurice had finished work,and was at Jeans house where ,yes ,she did feed us ,we had a delicious salad and then trifle which believe me was yummy ,After tea ,we went into the garden again where the men were planning a fishing trip,Jean and I naturally continued to chat/gossip/natter as Sisters do  ,until it was time for Maurice and I to go home ,Maurice is now at work ,he's on nights for two, then off for six days ,he is taking some much needed holiday .

I am sure by now you all know that today has been the hottest July day since records began ,I hope you are coping with the temperatures ,Have a good cool?evening everyone ,and hope you manage to sleep....with love

                Jan xx

Mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun !

Jeannette (travels sent me this picture) and the above pictures are the real Scooby .....Who, is not enjoying this heat wave at all ,hence the saying dog days! He is lieing in the hall hoping to get a draught ,except there isnt one,there is a fan on and that is creating a bit of breeze,hes certainly not in the sun  ,I have bought some door beads too ,as the flys even are slow and lazy ,and they just stroll over you as you sit and type UGH .The pictures above are not taken in the midday sun as Maurices colour suggests,and any way he's an Irish man so I dont know whether the above title applys lol ....And what do mad English women do ?well you know I'm whappy ! so before the sun comes round to the lounge window ,door beads up, fan blowing ,I have done my ironing! yes all of it ,and dont you have alot this weather ,keep changeing dont we ?Lots of skirts and tee shirts ! and the lovely crisp white work shirts look so much better on hangers after ironing ,than folded up in the basket waiting, Oh I am a hero ! Sorry to go on ,but I feel so good about it lol .Actually I am going to see Jean tomorrow to spend the afternoon with her ,then Maurice will come after work and then if we are lucky they will feed us lol ...so I am in effect clearing the decks before I have a day out, So folks ,I will save you anymore of my waffling ,have a good day and keep cool 

                        Jan xxxx   

The Ship of the Fens

This is the only view I had ,had of Ely Cathedral from the train from Peterborough to Cambridge ,so  imagine my delight when Maurice suggested we go to Ely on Thursday last . We set off on a dull day that really threatened rain ,in the event it never did and the sun came out to welcome us ,as did a very full car park !we drove round a couple of times ,and then managed to park ,we walk over to an  adjoining old peoples compex,where they were selling books to raise money for the Air Ambulance ,we had a browse and were told fill a bag for fifty pence Wow ,well we managed to select a few ?Maurice gave them a fiver ,and took the books back to the car ,we walked on still in the versility of the old folks Bungalows,and was greeted with the four Bungalows you see in the first picture ,just ablaze with colour,What a fantastic first impresion ,some one told us ,the lady in the first bungalow is over eighty ,what a gardener !

Ely Cathedral began as a monastery in AD 673 founded by St Etheldreda.
The Danes destroyed it and Abbot Simeon rebuilt it in 1081.
The central tower fell in 1322.
Alan of Walsingham rebuilt it in the design of the Octagon. The story of Ely Cathedral begins in Saxon Times with the life of its founder, St. Etheldreda.

Etheldreda, a Saxon princess, was born in AD630 at Exning near Newmarket.

Etheldreda knew that God had called her to the religious life. For political reasons she was forced to marry twice, but keeping her vocation in mind, she maintained her virginity which was highly prized in early Christian times. Her first husband gave her the Island of Ely.

I looked up ,this informatiom  on the net ,for you .Well as you will imagine,we had a lovely day ,We finished the day with fish and chips ,I do hope you enjoy the entry ,as you know I tried to doall this yesterday ,but never mind it looks as though today I have been lucky...Have a Blessed Sunday everyone with love from       

 

Third time lucky !

Good afternoon every one ,this is not the entry I had planned for today, However here goes AGAIN !!    Maurice went off to work at five thirty this morning, by six o clock I knew I wasnt going to get off to sleep again so up I got ,I made my self a coffee ,and settled down to read my alerts for your entrys,I saw Kate was on line so I chatted to her via MSN  for a while ,she said Sam had ,had a great time but was absolutely worn out so thats a good indication he'd enjoyed himself ...On Thursday Maurice and I went to Ely ,and had a really lovely day ,we went to visit the Cathedral there I took lots of pictures,

 

Well I  started the entry ,as you do ,Found an opening graphic etc ,I clicked to add pictures ,selected about sixty I suppose ,,they started to load and got stuck on twelve !!,no way was it going to budge ! Ugh ! made myself another cup of coffee,had a ciggy..as you do ! and started again ...I added the opening graphic put in the title and mood ?added my pictures,looking good ,I added the subtitles ,and guess what the whole lot cut out on me again !! Afew Anglo Saxon Expletives were used ........

I now  set off to the town ,with trusty trolley ,and ,bought lots of lovely farm fresh fruit and veg from the market stall  the one redeeming factor of the day ,I have bought a French Lavendar I have been seaching for ,called Papallion,from the plant and flower stall ,called in at Somerfields ,then the bakers and the postoffice ,and home ,with a full trolley load ,I had stripped the bed before I left so I pegged out the washing ,before vacuaming everywhere and then washing all the laminate flooring ,and skirting boards,I'd like to say AOL did me a favour ,I'm sure I worked better because I was cross , but it  is soul destroying  when you do a long entry and lose it ,to say nothing of the time it takes ....

I did take time out to sit with my book and a sandwich in the sun ,see top picture .I will however try again tomorrow ,with the Ely pictures ,So as Maurice will soon be home I will stop now and prepare some dinner ,Have  Lovely Saturday Evening Everyone

With Love and       Jan xx

Happy Birthday Sam

Happy Birthday ,to my second youngest Grandson, Samuel James ,Who is eleven today ,he has been away since Wednesday on an activity holiday with his school ,at a place called Kingswood near Norwich ,so his Mum ,my daughter Kate will be pleased to see her 'baby 'home again for his Birthday .Of course he will be disgusted to have me call him that ! He wouldnt even let her go to school to wave him off ,He is off to his secondry school in September ,has already been for a look and likes what he sees,his big brother Matt is already there and a couple of cousins which is reasuring ,Sam you will remember is the one who enjoys fishing  ,and likes to go off with Maurice for the day ,he did very well ,when he went last time caught a really big fish .He hates having his picture taken so we are lucky to have these recent ones .Sam is very much his own man ,he hates a fuss,so I'm not sure how hes going to react to this birthday greeting from his Gran ,but since I've done it for the others I could hardly leave him out ,Have a lovely day Fellow and we'll see you soon   With love to everyone xxx

                             Thank you Donna for my sig today