Every now and then, the campervan is taken for a run-out. Today it was taken to Archers Ice Cream Farm
www.archersjerseyicecream.com/ . There were snowdrops up the drive and daffodils are pushing through too. They also have a lovely jersey herd...
...and the youngest are always on show and happy to see you. They produce ice cream, cakes, milk and butter. They also have a coffee shop and so first things first.
As you can see the coffee comes with its own mini ice cream. The tubs of ice cream were taken home and quickly placed in the newly defrosted and cleaned out freezer. One of ginger and one of dark chocolate.
That's not really a summary of the last month, but I haven't done much else because I keep being a bit poorly. It started a few weeks ago with a sore throat and the sore throat has been the only constant. Sneezes, coughs, tonsilitis and sore neck have all had a turn and occasionally I feel alright and do something, only to fell poorly again soon after.
I missed my sister's 60th birhday party, but I had time to make her a collage of bits of her life.
Wasn't she cute?
Whilst waiting for the winter to move along we have also been waiting for the back roof to be re-built. It is now finished and waterproof. The scaffolding is still up until all the tidying up has been done but this time we had a window installed in the roof so that access is possible from the inside of the house via the loft.
Watching telly and knitting has been the sort of activity most suited to my poorly state.
Simple stuff such as a log cabin patchwork throw from the stash, using a pattern from here www.verypink.com . When I'm otherwise occupied, Tinker helps me choose the next colour by emptying the wool samples from the bag and spreading them out so that the juxtapositioning of the hues can be admired. She does this often, even when the bag is tied shut at the top.
And apart from all that I continue some attempts at the 5:2 diet. I have not lost more than a pound or two but it's fairly easy going. I haven't lost my appetite which is an indication that I'm not "very poorly". In the north of England "poorly" and variations of it are used by hospital spokespersons as official terms for descriptions of patients in bulletins. I have heard the victims of nasty car crashes described as "very poorly" on the news.
I'm well enough to shop and eat, specially after I tried some short-cut bottled curry sauce for chicken. Straight back to the pestle and mortar and grinding and chopping! DJ has cooked a lot too. Fortunately we shop locally for meat and so I don't reckon we have eaten much horse in the last few years but I'll always wonder about the ready made lasagne I've eaten over the years.
Cheer Gillian
DJ and I climbed into the back of a "surrey with a fringe on top".
And our driver led the party out into the dunes.
As you can see they were not far behind. The camels were smaller than the Oz variety, dear little tame dromedaries, which plodded quietly along behind their camel masters. Not so calm, was our horse, which bolted through the sand dunes at the touch of leather whip from our driver and veered to a halt with the surrey embedded in the soft sand at an angle of 45 degrees and us with our turbans askew at the same angle. 
We could have done with longer thoabs as we inspected the dunes and date palms on foot while we waited for the sunset. Always seem to be waiting for the sun!
And then we all came back to Sahara Douz hotel for Dinner and another day.
