Last week my Aunty Lizzie came to stay with my parents for a holiday, so on Saturday, Douglas and I took her out into town for the day. This gave Lizzie some time with us, and my parents some time without her.
Having visitors is lovely, and Lizzy really needed a break from her husband who needs a lot of care, but visitors also mean extra work, so we were happy to take the pressure off Ma & Pa for a day and let them do their own thing.
We did some housework, then I nipped into our local village on the hunt of some skirt fabric before catching the tram on to the local Tesco where Douglas picked me up.
Aunty Lizzie can walk, but not very far, so earlier in the week I booked a wheelchair at the shop mobility centre in town for her. I had booked a manual wheelchair, but when we got to the place, there were electric scooters (Granny scarers). After some tuition and some reassurance, Lizzie was soon zooming off in front of us into town!
We caught a glimpse in the distance of the World Naked Bike Ride (Sheffield division) taking place - cyclists strip off and cycle around to protest about global warming and use of cars etc then walked/rode into town, pausing at a fascinating shop full to the rafters of interesting skirts, dresses, hats, scarves and leather jackets etc. Lizzy and I both purchased a few items :-)
After lunch we went into the Millennium Gallery, a beautiful glorified greenhouse with art gallery attached.
We just had time for a trip into John Lewis, where I found about 4 different fabrics that will make lovely skirts! (I have narrowed the choice down now, having 2 skirts made) I have a friend who used to be a professional seamsress who will make them for me.
We drove Lizzy back to ours, we had a drink and chatted for a while, then the parents came back from their day out visiting a "garden open" .
She, and we had a really good day!
That evening we relaxed, and enjoyed what was left of our 11th Handfasting Anniversary.. Still together 11 years late.. not bad eh?
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Freegle at Chapeltown Fun Day
I spent most of the day at a park in Chapeltown today.
I am a moderator for our local Freelge group. Our aim is to keep things out of landfill, helping unwanted goods find new homes.
We had a lovely gazebo, a new strong table, and some new very posh banners (thanks to a successful funding bid) as you can see from the photo below, we filled up the table and the gazebo with loads of stuff ready for people to take away..totally free of charge!
Sadly, many people found the concept of "FREE" very hard to understand, and wanted to pay for the items they took. We had to explain again that FREEGLE means FREE and there is no charge for offering or requesting items from our site (or taking things from our gazebo) but if they wanted to, they could pop a donation into a bucket, then the money donated to the event charity ( A local Cancer Charity).
This is Tracy, one of our group owners.
The day was quite warm and very sunny, and we had a lovely time. We have met loads of new people, and we hope many of them will join our group!!
I am a moderator for our local Freelge group. Our aim is to keep things out of landfill, helping unwanted goods find new homes.
We had a lovely gazebo, a new strong table, and some new very posh banners (thanks to a successful funding bid) as you can see from the photo below, we filled up the table and the gazebo with loads of stuff ready for people to take away..totally free of charge!
Sadly, many people found the concept of "FREE" very hard to understand, and wanted to pay for the items they took. We had to explain again that FREEGLE means FREE and there is no charge for offering or requesting items from our site (or taking things from our gazebo) but if they wanted to, they could pop a donation into a bucket, then the money donated to the event charity ( A local Cancer Charity).
This is Tracy, one of our group owners.
The day was quite warm and very sunny, and we had a lovely time. We have met loads of new people, and we hope many of them will join our group!!
An evenings entertainment
We decided to introduce our beloved nephew and niece (now aged nearly 11) to the joys and delights of Gilbert and Sullivan. (The small one has just turned 6, and is too young for this type of evening outing. His time will come when hes older)
Several months ago, I found out Pirates of Penzance was coming to town, so I went onto YouTube and found some relevant clips to test Martha and Leos reaction to the music. Pirates went down very well, so dates were discussed, and plans put into action.
The day before the show, Martha hurt her leg, and was unable to walk on it. This could have an end to our plans of taking her with us, as our tickets were up in the balcony, but I phoned the theatre who very kindly swapped them for a seats in the stalls, so Martha could come, wheelchair and all.
The performance started at 7.45, but we had to be down in town early to swap the tickets, so we picked the kids up at 6, and were chauffeur driven into town by their dad (my not-so-little-anymore brother)
We swapped the tickets over, and went to a very nice Italian restaurant for tea.
If you have read this blog before, you may remember that these two rascals absolutely adore Spaghetti Carbonara, so you can imagine it didn't take them very long to choose what to eat! Douglas had the same, whilst I opted for a very nice vegetarian pizza.
Several months ago, I found out Pirates of Penzance was coming to town, so I went onto YouTube and found some relevant clips to test Martha and Leos reaction to the music. Pirates went down very well, so dates were discussed, and plans put into action.
The day before the show, Martha hurt her leg, and was unable to walk on it. This could have an end to our plans of taking her with us, as our tickets were up in the balcony, but I phoned the theatre who very kindly swapped them for a seats in the stalls, so Martha could come, wheelchair and all.
The performance started at 7.45, but we had to be down in town early to swap the tickets, so we picked the kids up at 6, and were chauffeur driven into town by their dad (my not-so-little-anymore brother)
We swapped the tickets over, and went to a very nice Italian restaurant for tea.
If you have read this blog before, you may remember that these two rascals absolutely adore Spaghetti Carbonara, so you can imagine it didn't take them very long to choose what to eat! Douglas had the same, whilst I opted for a very nice vegetarian pizza.
Smiles all round.
We read the synopsis out to Leo before the performance, but Martha said she had a pretty good idea of what it was all about, and wanted to work it out for herself.
All four of us enjoyed the production immensely - this photo was taken in the interval. You can see how close we were to the stage.. we could even see the eyeliner worn by the pirates!!
All four of us enjoyed the production immensely - this photo was taken in the interval. You can see how close we were to the stage.. we could even see the eyeliner worn by the pirates!!
The performance finished at about 10pm.. at least half an hour after normal bed time.. but as we waited for Thomas to pick us up again, both kids were absolutely full of beans.. Leo was bouncing around singing "With Cat Like Tread, upon our prey we steal" Martha, being in her wheelchair decided to sing "With Cat like wheels..." which we all thought was very funny!
We got to bed at about 11pm, very happy but very very tired!! We look forward to our next theatre trip with the kids, as this one was so much fun.
We got to bed at about 11pm, very happy but very very tired!! We look forward to our next theatre trip with the kids, as this one was so much fun.
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Our front garden
One of my colleagues at work told me her husband was setting up as a gardener - she told me this as she needed to get him a waste carriers licence (for taking any rubbish away), as I do this for people all day long as part of my job, I was able to sort her husband out with the required documents (having, of course taken the correct fee for work to bank!!)
I saw a photo of some work done by this chap, and was impressed at how much nicer the space looked after his attention, so we got him to come along and quote to tidy up our garden. The quote was very reasonable, so today the work commenced!
This is the "before" photo.. as you see, the garden is messy, and dosnt have an edge, and its all just slipping down and messing up the front of the house. Nasty!
After a hard days work, Michael and Sheila have transformed our garden into a picture of summer beauty. We are delighted!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh what a difference a day (and a lot of hard work) makes!
If you live in the Rotherham/Sheffield/Doncaster area, and your garden needs some TLC, drop me a line and I will put you in touch with the people who transformed ours :-) We are so happy!!
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