Gardens

Malcolm is very pleased that his veg patch is showing signs of growth. He has been busy cutting the grass between the showers and my pots are picking up now that the sun is coming out again. Aaron's veggies in England are much more advanced than ours as he was more organised with his planting. Aaron and Anna have also acquired a fish tank, Amelia is getting rid of hers, a shame we couldn't post the fish. The bird has flown or been eaten, sad as I quite liked having it around.The good thing is though little birds have started to use the bird feeder at last.

Joseph any dream will do

We have all been watching Joseph on T.V. Amelia used to work with Seamus in London and just the comment that we were glad he lost his coat will do. We have all been keeping our fingers crossed for
Lee Mead who was at theatre workshop with Aaron and we all got very excited on Saturday when they showed a photo of Lee with Aaron on. Emilie is allowed to stay up to watch the first half of the show and has been promised that if Lee wins she can go to England to see the show. I had a video and dvd of the musical so gave her a copy which she loves.

Storm

We had the most amazing thunderstorm. Malcolm caught some of it on video so I will have to learn how to put video on the blog help anyone? There was a mud slide down Abigail's road at 2am so they were out in the street watching the clean up, unfortunately their camera wasn't working so we went round in the morning with ours but it was all cleared up just a few people cleaning the pavement. As you can see I have found out how to load videos so watch out I might add the karaoke one to the Christmas blog......

Happy Birthday Oli

It's Oli's 25th birthday today and we are all very proud of him and what he has achieved. Do take a look at his blog, link at the bottom of the page. Malcolm has been digging out the plots for the vegetables at Abigail's we have beans and peas salad and root veg on the way if the birds don't eat them first. I planted a row of box by the children's shed and a clematis by the fence. Julia and Andrew came for a few days and stayed with Abigail & Romain.

D. I. Y.

We have had a busy week. Malcolm finished building Amelia's unit he started a few weeks ago. Ikea didn't have the legs or the drawer fronts. I sorted out the children's play room and toy cupboard and labeled all the boxes. George the tortoise had woken up early from hibernation and had been living in the toy cupboard so it had been difficult to tidy up. Funny the children still like to play with the old toys..................

BBQ

You can tell Malcolm is feeling much better he has got the BBQ out. We even had the paddling pool for the kids much to the amusement of the neighbours well it was only 25c. Birdie watched from the safety of the roof . We had just packed away when the thunderstorm started. Perfect.

Birdies

Aaron & Ann bought me a bird feeder for my birthday last August but so far no birds have been interested. While Frank and Christine where here a pied wagtail came into the garden our first little bird. A magpie and two crows who use the bird bath were all we had had previously. Now we have a racing/homing pigeon he arrived on Wednesday very tired so we fed him for a couple of days and when he didn't fly off I checked his ring number. Romain kindly phoned his owner in Germany who doesn't want him back and said to keep him so at least until he gets eaten by a cat or a hawk we have a pigeon called birdie.

Joyeux Anniversaire

After breakfast we went to the shopping centre to stock up with goodies for Frank & Christine to take home. Then it was off for a trip down the Moselle valley for lunch and as it was Christine's birthday and she had never visited Germany we did a quick pop over a bridge and into Deutchland. Back home for a siesta then out to the city for dinner. Most places we know are closed on a Monday but we had been recommended the Goethe Stuff an Alsace restaurant and we had a lovely meal and Champagne.

An English B B Q

Sunday we had a catch up and chill out time. Frank went to the local church and then to the English shop with Malcolm to get the Sunday papers always a treat. After lunch we sat on the terrace and enjoyed some sunshine and the company of good friends. Then it was off to Clemancy for a BBQ. The last time Frank & Christine had seen Abigail & Romain's house it was just a shell so Emilie and Frankie showed them around. By the time the food was cooking the rain poured down and it had to be finished indoors. Of course by the time we had eaten the sun came out again..........

City Tours

After a leisurely breakfast we drove to the city and strolled around the flea market Casemates and the Cathedral where we were lucky enough to catch the last few minuets of a service to remember the people who had suffered in the second world war. The weather was much cooler than it was in April but the rain stayed away. At the Expo centre there was an international wine festival and of course we couldn't leave without ordering some Burgundy. Then it was home for dinner chez Phillips.

Friends reunited

Abigail is still off school so we all went to the do it yourself store to buy some wood so that Malcolm could make a tunnel entrance for the kids to access the train. On the way back Frankie was sick in the car and we had to stop at our apartment to clean him up. He wore one of my tee shirts which he thought was cool. On Friday Frank & Christine came to stay for a few days and we had dinner at the Beerhause.

I can hear the grass grow

I can hear the grass grow. well almost, you can certainly see it grow at Abigail's. The gardeners said after 3 weeks the kids could play on it and we were sceptical but I think they are right. Hopefully the climbing frame will arrive soon too. Frankie helped to plant some fruit trees at the bottom of the garden. We had a quiet week, you might have guessed that Malcolm has not been well for a few weeks but he is much better now I must say. Amelia came for brunch on Sunday (Don't look at Malcolm plate Avril) and we enjoyed the last of the sunshine. It looks set to rain for the next few days.

May Day

My heart always sinks when I turn the calendar over to May. Hayley's birthday again. The years just rush by this is the year she was going to have her babies because she said I would be too old to look after them if she left it any longer ( always was a cheeky girl). We had a BBQ at Abigail's Amelia came over too. we were all a bit subdued. When Malcolm and I got home we drank a birthday toast to her as usual.