Category: this site

Hello there! My goodness, but time has flown by, and look at all that has happened, and is still happening! I won’t bore you with the details of all that we went through – I am sure ( and know )some of you went through far worse than we did. Enough to say that since I last typed on here we have gained a daughter-in-law, a new kitchen, and new friends. Oh, and a new dog! The last one might not have been the best idea I have ever had, but as time goes by you will learn why!

The most tricky thing I have had to deal with is getting back on here!!!! Technology brings out the worst in my language skills, and Hubby has learned to retreat out of my study….oh, yes, thats another new thing! I have turned one of our bedrooms into my study, or ‘Mum’s Playroom’, as Son calls it. Thanks, tho technically right – I do like to play in here – perhaps Workspace might be kinder? No? Ok, so I don’t get paid for what I do in here….wait, I’m getting side tracked!

Back to getting back on here. The site is still not right as it hasn’t been upgraded for ages, and now wont upgrade automatically…I don’t have the right PHP (?) to allow the new upgrade to come automatically…and I sure don’t have the technical skills to do it manually! Whilst the World has suffered hugely since 2018, so have my tech abilities, and the ability for tech sites to write in non-tech lingo!!!

The question I need to answer is how to transfer my site to the new upgraded one, with out losing content. I have backed up. Everything else is up to date, including my Jetpack (anyone else seeing an aged cartoon image of a space family there?). I am going to have to get the answers up on my iPad ( I don’t want to waste paper printing it out), and follow them very carefully, and slowly…oh, I feel old! Where is a teenager when you need one? On second thoughts, Ill wait for Son and DIL to come to stay and see if they can make sense of it all.

Yes, I am learning to ask for help. Believe me, that is a big step! Luckily, since we last communicated I have met some amazing folk in this village with many different skills, and I’m sure someone somewhere will know what to do.

So, lets see if this will Publish. Then Step One will be complete, and I can go and get some Spring air outside…though I notice the sun has gone in whilst I have been “playing” up here.

Chat soon, Lx

I can’t believe that this has been and gone already! Did you see any of it on TV? Here is my Old Man doing his bit as a referee, and loving every minute, even in the rain. Well, he is a true golfer, so a bit of wet weather doesn’t really bother him…his groupie, on the other hand, ( me!) prefers to spend her time in the warmth and splendour of the R&A tent that we are allowed in. Of course, I did follow Him around, dodging through the crowds and trying to be in sight as much as possible without distracting him from his duties. This can be quite a challenge for those of us who are “upwardly challenged”…one drunk chap told me even dwarves are taller than me – oh the intellectual chat around the course!

I had, as usual, a fab week being entertained by the R&A, both before the competition started ( visiting Falkland Palace and Balgove Larder for lunch), and during, enjoying meeting up again with other wives from all over the world.

We were put up in the halls of residence by the R&A, in Agnes Blackadder Hall for us – she was the first female graduate of St.Andrews. It brought back some strange memories of uni life – tho we never had a double bed ( I’m sure they have got smaller!) nor an en suite! Such luxury…yes, I know, I’m so old! Breakfast in the refectory showed Hubby what he had missed by going to Oxford, both food-wise, and rubbing shoulders with your fellows first thing in the morning… Putting makeup on first thing is more difficult without my lenses in, I must remember that!

Each evening we were offered a three course meal with the guests of the R&A in the Old Course Hotel. This is a chance to meet the other referees, wives, and those involved behind the scenes in this amazing event. A couple of nights saw us skip off into St.Andrews for pizza and time together, which was lovely.

Lots of walking meant my impression of a pregnant woman started to recede, and wearing waterproofs allowed me to sweat off a few lbs put on the night before…I’m going to admit to at least one 99 ice cream too…well, it had to be done!

Sadly we had to miss the final day thanks to a holiday booked in Italy and the awful weather that delayed play. We left St.Andrews at 4am to fly back to Gatwick, swap suitcases and clothes, and then fly off to Pizza to help Hubby relax on the second week of his summer holidays. The final was very exciting as we caught up on our iPads, and we will have to plan next year’s holiday very carefully as the 2016 Open is at Troon in Scotland again…fingers crossed for a sunnier one.

I can’t believe that a whole week has gone by and I haven’t had time to tell you how my charity tea went!

I managed to get the tea towels printed through the help of a fab chap in Folkstone and dashed over there on Tuesday afternoon to collect them. Nobby had done us proud and produced fantastic big towels with the logo just as I’d wanted it!
I spent the whole of Wednesday getting the garden and furniture ready for the great day. I discovered where all the cushions had been hidden -by me, of course, but things get moved by others! That’s my excuse anyway! I finished off some cakes, making more as I panicked incase we didn’t have enough…my friend Sandra came with her cakes and told me not to make any more! ( I didn’t listen and she was right! She has more experience of these things!)
Some of the committee popped round at tea time with more cakes, and we sat on my swing and enjoyed the glorious sunshine, whilst I kept spotting things I wish I’d done!

Thursday dawned with fantastic weather!…well, let’s face it, with my Mother and Daughter nagging him God didn’t stand a chance on the weather front! My darling friends popped round to help and I had a ‘mild’ headless chicken moment when I couldn’t remember how to make icing for the cakes….yes, I know now how simple butter icing is, but I didn’t then cos of panic, OK?! Sandra came to the rescue with her vast experience of doing cricket teas and whipped up all we needed!
The farmer had very sweetly mowed the opposite verge under the trees for people to park, and all the signs were up with directions…

I was so grateful to the loads of friends and others who came to the tea party, spent money and enjoyed my terrace…I saw old friends I hadn’t seen for ages, met new ones visiting from overseas, heard stories of loss and recovery which made me want to hug everyone, and cry at the same time. My fantastic friends took over serving teas and cake so I could chat to people, and made the whole thing a huge success!

We raised just over £700 for Teenage Cancer Trust, and I am so proud, and happy that my first charity do here was a success. It taught me to have a go again, and what wonderful friends I have…though I know that already!

I think Ally had a great time too, watching us from wherever she is, knowing that through our fun we are helping to build special units so that other teenagers won’t have to go through the hell of hospital wards as she did, and will be surrounded by others in the same predicament.

So thank you those who came, those who donated, and those of you reading this who will go to the Teenage Cancer Website to learn more from this site, and perhaps will help us.
Thank you.