It is Christmas 🎄 Eve

Last year we went on a cruise and very good it was to. Good weather in the main down in the Canaries, superb entertainment every night, spectacular decorations all over the ship and excellent food.
This year we are home!
All seems a bit flat somehow especially as the boys are too old for Santa Claus but thank goodness Phoebe still believes in the magic. We saw her this afternoon and she looked exhausted, worn out with excitement I guess. Mike had to carry her in from the car and lay her on the sofa, spark out!
As I have been far from well this year we decided to go to a pub for Christmas lunch, en famille, and we are booked into The Drum in Cockington. Nice and handy for Emma and, if the weather is kind, somewhere for Phoebe to ride her new bike which is currently on Santa sleigh.
See photo 1.

We are on the early sitting at 12 so we should be home, in front of the fire with our feet up by 5. Emma and the kids are going on to Sarah's for tea

Boxing Day we are having lunch at the Orestone with Mary & Bob from North Carolina.
Set above the cliffs, over looking the sea at Maidencombe, Torquay it is a beautiful old manor house.
See photo 2
Back here after for nibbles and drinks and hopefully we will be joined by Emma and Co.
i am writing this, with great difficulty, on my iPad as the text is hidden by the keyboard!
So, I will finish this little missive and go cook our dinner. Plain, basic stuff tonight before all the richness to come. omelettes.
JJ

Blogging with my iPad

Umm, not easy but the old adage .. Try, try, try again seems rather appropriate.
I have to say I LOVE my iPad, it is so quick, light to carry, versatile, in fact, absolutely brilliant.
There are restrictions the biggest being no Flash preventing you from viewing many things on Utube but, apart from  that, I have discovered that I can do my Arty Crafty  stuff on here with the aid of a couple of programmes.
It is very different from using my laptop but enjoyable none the less.
Here are a couple of things I have done , certainly not masterpieces but very satisfying.
Right, let me see if I can upload them 😍
O dear, I have just downloaded the Blogger App, another large learning curve. Now what?
There is a picture icon which has allowed me to load some pictures but they are tiny at the bottom of the ' page'.
Guess I will hit the 'Publish' button and see what happens.
Here goes .........

Some Recent Arty Stuff

I belong to a forum and often draw banners for current events which are shown at the top of the Clubhouse page.

Here are some from this year, working backwards

I have also done some collages of the kids, two for Emma and one for Mike for Fathers Day  and had them put on canvas..

Blessed with such lovely grand children.

JJ

Sent from JJ's Ipad💐 Mary has left a new comment on your post "OLLI": AAAH! I remember how he was all those years, growing from a cutie pie to this handsome guy! The years fly by so fast and our grandbabies suddenly appear to be adults just like us, quite scary!!!! Jasmin is the same and we don't even get to see her much - life for her is busy now she has a boyfriend, grandparents seem to be near the bottom of the list! Tell Olli hello from us - hope to see him and the others when home. Love and hugs - Mary Mary, I deleted comment by mistake so posting here instead. Xxxx

OLLI

Where have the years gone?

 

PROM NIGHT

WHERE HAVE THOSE 16 YEARS GONE? OUR BLOND BLUE EYED BABY HAS BECOME A HANDSOME YOUNG MAN.

Our Garden

One of the reasons we decided to move was that our garden was far too large and needed a lot of upkeep. A smaller garden will be lovely, we thought, just enough for a bit of colour and some where to sit when it eventually stops raining but what a mess we inherited.

Above and below you can see the broken down fence , the untidy shrubs and the rotten decking.

But, we do have a sea view

 

The front steps were dangerously steep so they were turned around -

The finished result

That was in March – fast forward to May The new patio and new summer house / shed.

The potting area table made by our good friend Paul.

The gold fish pond

Fishes thriving in their home made from a water tank normally found in the roof.

Some Little gems found amongst the weeds some stunning roses

I also discovered two peonies, one right behind the shed. The photos are on the iPad so will have to post them later.

JJ

NEXT DAY WE AGAIN WOKE TO BLUE SKIES

The men were racing their remote control boats on an enormous lake.

We parked the car near the harbour and had a lovely mooch around in the sunshine.

We drooled over the Gin palaces being built across the water – this will do nicely

Then after getting caught up in an horrendous traffic jam we ended up having lunch al fresco at Boscombe.

As I was chief photographer I did not get to eat!

Then we walked along the prom where many people were sun bathing and some brave souls in the sea

Some very swish property has been built on the front and some slightly more utilitarian but colourful.

Mike and the others walked up the hill to get the car, I sat and waited here and discovered I had lost my cardigan! Grr!

When I got in the car and said I had lost my cardigan – Lynne, the energetic one amongst us jumped out and ran back along the prom. She found it in a heap covered in sand.

When I looked at my photos -

I could SEE IT! Next to the kids bikes where I photographed them.

Another lovely day with lovely friends in lovely weather. Great.

JJ