SO MUCH TO DO

It has been a very busy time of late but at last the new snug is finished. I spent a couple of days being very tired. When I woke in the mornings it took a few moments to realise that we didn't have to get up in time for the tradesmen and builders.

But we did get up and have been out and about visiting interesting things and places. The old pumping station at Ryhope near Sunderland was open and in the grounds was a classic car show. DJ's favourite was this old Rover. I liked them all.

A couple of weeks later we went to Locomotion, the overflow of the National Railway museum in York which is full, and rode on one of the old replicas of The Rocket. Lots of old engines were out and about being polished and stoked up. Black smoke and steam everywhere and "blokes-who-love-steamtrains" were in heaven.

The first load of carpet for the snug was flawed and had to go back. The next load was too short. My fault. I had omitted the doorway when I measured up. Fortunately the carpet layer was very adept with a piece of oak trim and it all looks lovely. we moved the furniture back in the next day and have sat in it ever since. Tigger has spent some time in here with us but is still treating her bed which is on the settee in the sitting room as her default bed. She is in there now, probably wondering where we are.

Not far away from us, is Washington Hall. It is the old home of the family from whom George Washington was directly descended. It is now a museum with wonderful gardens. This is the most amazing hedge I have ever seen and is in their front garden.

The kitchen is laid out with everything there would have been in earlier times!

The house looks over some wonderful gardens, orchards, apiary, kitchen gardens and ponds.

The tadpoles abounded but the bees had all died and the hives were empty. They died of malnutrition because the harsh winter reduced their food supply drastically. Some new Italian ones have been ordered.

Another outing took us to Whorlton. A small, attractive village on the banks of the Tees which has a suspension bridge. There was a walk along the banks which had been outlined in the local paper but the midges were bad and so we shall return another day.

The fine spring has been very dry in this area and the river levels are low. But the Tees still has enough water to keep the waterfalls spilling over in places.

While all this has been going on, my computer has been sick and has been behaving in irrational and irritating ways. I was unable to blog because it was so disobedient. The local computer techie took it away to work on. It needed a new battery in a place that had been glued down! and other events such as a power surge may have upset it and its timing and desire to perform.

It's back. Quite a few quid later but worthy of a gold medal for performance. Photos which I thought I had lost are back where I expected to find them and stuff like that.

The comfort of having the laptop on my knees in front of me as I watch some cooking programme on TV and smell some real cooking happening in the kitchen is wonderful. DJ has set up the new TV and it gets everything in super sight and sound.

Time to sit back and relax for a while.

Cheers Gillian.