Today I shall be Mainly...

[Tizer]

Some of my relatives were supposed to travel from Somerset to Blackburn today for a special event his evening but you won't be surprised to hear that they've had to cancel the trip. We already had bad weather yesterday and it will continue through the weekend. Wind average speeds of up to 58 mph predicted here - and this part of the country is known for its mild weather!

[Sue]

Hope it isn't too wet for the cemetery Sue!

It was dreadful, boggy, blowing a gale but nice to see the planted tete a tete daffodils in flower. The ground was so wet I stuck the rose stems in the ground, to try and get them to last a bit longer. The stems went in very easily.

[Marilyn]

A quiet day for us. I have a jigsaw on the go (a difficult one!), which I bought from the markets last weekend for £2.
It means I am right here next to the dogs bed, yet my mind is occupied. She is doing really well. My son “face-timed” her last night and he could see immediately that she is in great spirits ( every time he spoke directly to her I got covered in licks).
She still supervises all of my cooking too. A happy old dog.
I’m hoping to brush her later and get her looking better as she still has that “just been bothered by the vet” look.

[Stanley]

"A happy old dog."
I like that phrase!
Have decided I have to screw myself down to the writing. Mustn't let the lethargy get the upper hand!!

[Marilyn]

This happy old dog can NOT die on my watch. I so need to hand her back or son will be devastated. So far, we are on an excellent trajectory. She is the best she can be.
( sigh of relief)
I brushed her gently today and washed her face. She loved the attention.

[Stanley]

Good!
I have had a good start to the day, an early walk and an article written for the paper. Now I need to do some reading for the next two or three....

[Sue]

All good here, if rather wet. Neighbouring towns may not have been so lucky. More heavy rain forecast. A day of writing and sewing I think. I spent the evening yesterday writing my inconclusive chapter on my grandfather. . I now have several chapters of my book ‘in the bag’ as they say

[Stanley]

It will all sort itself out Sue. Your brain is working on it in the background.
I have further improved the shining hour by mopping the vinyl in the kitchen with hot disinfectant. Old fashioned I know but that's my style and I feel better for doing it. Breakfast now and then second sleep.....

[PanBiker]

Jack and Jemma round for tea. I slow cooked a ham joint yesterday so we are doing pea and ham soup with dumplings. I will bake as well, a garlic tear and share loaf and anything spare from that as a small plait or cob.

[Stanley]

Never heard of 'tear and share' before, very descriptive!
I shall be avoiding the wind and writing, I got on done yesterday, I need about six articles so thinking cap is on!

[Marilyn]

I’m about a third of the way through my jigsaw ( basically...I’ve done the easy bits ).
One week to go of my dying dog supervision. She is doing well. A week is a long time, but this dog has bright eyes, would knock you down for food, and bladder/bowels are working normally. A canny wee lassie. We can make it.
It was hilarious tonight when I fed her. A pea rolled out of her dish and rolled under a concrete pot plant. She would not let it rest ( that is MY pea!)...so I had to get down on my hands and knees with a teaspoon and coax reluctant pea out. We (she) are happy now.

[Sue]

It will all sort itself out Sue. Your brain is working on it in the background.
I have further improved the shining hour by mopping the vinyl in the kitchen with hot disinfectant. Old fashioned I know but that's my style and I feel better for doing it. Breakfast now and then second sleep.....

I think my brain has been working on it for over 20 years now, and not much further forward. I found my notes last night from our last visit to Greenwich and the National archives and the only addition seems to be three more names to our tentative list of ships he may have sailed on. Otherwise the notes we made and the follow up questions are more or less the same a d still remain unanswered.

Perhaps swimming this morning, then a trip to Sainsburys. I bought three. pairs of new jeans last week. The pair I tried on are a perfect fit, one of the matching pairs I took off the rail are far too small, the other is perfect. Three you may ask, well I needed some for France too

Writing this afternoon and art this evening.

[Stanley]

Don't lose heart Sue, things can pop up from nowhere, you know that better than I do!
I wrote and finished one article and sent it off. Then I wrote the bulk of another and will be finishing that tomorrow.
Onward and upwards!

[Sue]

I have nearly finished my chapter on my grandfather, i shall of course be leaving it with questions rather than answers.

Today is the U3A lunch. This evening pilates and yoga.

[Stanley]

It's always like that Sue. You never reach the final solution, only your best assessment.
I have sent another article off and started a third. They are difficult ones, not simply out of my head, too much detail to remember so I am having to read everything up. I'm satisfied with progress so far!

[Sue]

It's always like that Sue. You never reach the final solution, only your best assessment.
I have sent another article off and started a third. They are difficult ones, not simply out of my head, too much detail to remember so I am having to read everything up. I'm satisfied with progress so far!

I know the feeling. I know my Widdup ancestry inside out and backwards but remembering the details to write has involved numerous searches into past research, books and online. I feel quite exhausted after just a few pages of writing. But it is coming together. Some of the chapters I still have to write need detailed searching, others are just cut and paste from things I have already written. Amazingly I have sold two more copies this year of the book I wrote for my Dad in 2010 about his Maylard family.

[Stanley]

Exactly Sue. I shall finish the third article this morning. Every few years I get a small cheque from Lulu, my books sell steadily.... (Just looked on Bookfinder and secondhand copies are priced as high as £770 due to the strange way the world of rare secondhand books works.)

[Tizer]

In most cases the books aren't rare, it's just the sellers trying it on. They know there are plenty of gullible people out there who don't look more carefully to see the real prices - or have so much money they don't care about the price.

[Sue]

In most cases the books aren't rare, it's just the sellers trying it on. They know there are plenty of gullible people out there who don't look more carefully to see the real prices - or have so much money they don't care about the price.

yes I have noticed that

[Stanley]

They could always come straight to the source!
Aiming for another article and of course listening to In Our Time at 9AM!

[Sue]

Claire a d Erin are coming over this morning as it is half term. This afternoon I shall go to the U3A general meeting as there is a talk I want to hear on Mary Queen of Scots. Yoga this evening.

I finished my chapter on my grandfather yesterday and started one about Widdup moor. A bit of scene setting on the origin of the name and my family.

[Stanley]

The lecture I shall be attending is at 9AM when Melvyn and his guests will be looking at The Valladolid debate. Yes I had to look it up and found THIS. Sounds interesting as usual.
Thanks to my reading over the last few days I had a bull morning today. I have written and sent three articles and this takes me well into April so I can relax for a while. The shed might benefit!

[Stanley]

Shopping day today, not aiming at the shed, too much going on.

[Big Kev]

Had a nice walk, in this glorious weather, to Colne Medical Centre for my annual retinal screening, thank goodness for wet weather gear. I cleaned the raindrops from my glasses when I got back and it hasn't made any difference to my vision, hopefully the effects of the Tropicamide drops will wear off sooner than the recommended 6 hours

[Stanley]

Those eye-drops are killers and despite all they say I reckon they are bad for you. I shall have my screening done at Bontoft's with my annual glaucoma and eye test on Monday. I declined going all the way to Colne.....
As for what I'll be doing today, I'll see how I feel!