Where's the baby ticker gone??

The more observant blog-reader may have noticed that Hannah and Dan's baby ticker has disappeared from my blog.







Sophia Grace Durdin made her entry into the world at 5.30am on Thursday 17th December.Much joy and rejoicing all round and grateful thanks to God!

Buckland Abbey

The 18th December saw the final home-ed outing of the year. Phil,Julia and I went with the group to Buckland Abbey, near Plymouth. It was a lovely cold,clear day and the house is a very interesting place. There were people in costume around the place, including some who were very knowledgeable about sewing and knitting in tudor times. There was also a real roasted pig's head on the dining hall table!

Santa?

Now I know some americans put up their Christmas trees straight after Thanksgiving, but a visit from Santa? That's taking things a bit too far!!
In case you can't recognise the handsome hunk behind the white beard- its Phil trying out the suit for tonight's Christmas concert being given by the Britannia Royal Naval Volunteer Band.

Baby Shower

If you lok at the bottom of my blog you will see a ticker counting down the days until the arrival of Baby Durdin!
Hannah is now on maternity leave, and as they have just moved into a new house I went to spend a few days with Hannah- we weeded the garden, sorted out baby clothes and assembled the cot!
While I was there Hannah had her baby shower,organised by her friend Tora and held at Eastney church, these are some of the pictures.

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day in Dartmouth was a bright, sunny,windy day.
Phil and Lydia were parading as part of the new BRNC Volunteer Band, and Julia was carrying the Guide's standard. The music provided by the band really enhanced the parade and was well recieved.

Baptism

The reason for all the visitors was Lydia and Julia's baptismal service.
The churh was full with friends, family and visitors. We had a lovely service ,lead by Bruce our minister.Dan D. helped lead the singing with his guitar, and Phil assisted with the baptism.
A very special and memorable day for us all- especially Lydia and Julia.

Family Visiting

This week we exchanged Lydia for Grandma, then on Saturday Lydia returned with Brad(her boyfriend) and Hannah and husband Dan.Lovely to have the house full, lots of food and lots of laughter!

Bad Blogger!

Here I am again- the bad blogger! I think it took me a long time to recover from the drive to and from Killerton!
I can't believe October is nearly over, it has been a busy month.On the 6th we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary!
The following Sunday Phil and I travelled to Portsmouth for the annual Band Service Memorial Service, we took advantage of the trip to drop in on Hannah and Dan.Phil has been busy on the river and getting the new Naval Volunteer Band up and running.Lydia's boyfriend Brad came to visit for the evening,which involved us in a lot of driving!
Then it was half term!! Lydia had an extra day off,so we took a trip to Plymouth for clothes shopping.Then we collected Phil's mum from the airport at Exeter,she is staying with us for the whole of half term and will share in witnessing the very special event on Sunday 1st November when Lydia and Julia are baptised. Hannah and Dan, and Brad will be here too, so quite a houseful. My next post should include some pictures- watch this space!!

Killerton

Julia and I joined the home-ed group at Killerton House near Exeter( slightly stressful journey there!!). There is a costume exhibition permanently displayed at Killerton- and as you can see- items to try on!!




In the grounds is this 'Bear House', where one of the family kept a bear which they brought from Canada- as you do!!
Rather strangely there is a stained glass window in the bear house.

Near the 'Ice House' was this lovely tree fern.



And in a very drab looking chapel was some beautiful stained glass( Julia took this shot).

New Curtains

During the summer we had a swop around with bedroom and music-room/school-room. Phil and I now sleep upstairs( getting ready for when we can't manage the stairs- the bathroom is on the same floor as us now!). There is still some work to do on the room but this is the fabric I have bought for curtains- green on a cream background.

Butterfly

Julia spotted this butterfly basking on the window sill outside our living room. A beautiful creature! We have had some beautiful weather these last few weeks.




On Friday we visited Thurlestone beach with the home-ed group. We took the kayaks and paddled through the arch, then Phil and Julia swam through, quite an achievement.
None of us remembered our cameras! Thank you google images!

Sixth Form

Lydia is now into her second full week at Kingsbridge Community College sixth form. She has quite a long bus journey every day and lots of homework.She is doing Music, media studies,english literature and english language.
On a recent visit to Portsmouth she was able to catch up with her new friend, Brad, who she met at CYC.
Meanwhile Phil, Julia and myself went to the Southampton boat show, as well as joining with the folk at Eastney for Sunday morning service.Lovely to catch up with old friends and meet the new babies.
At the boat show we were able to replace my buoyancy aid and Phil's split paddles, which were in my kayak when it was stolen last month.

New Netbook!

As an early anniversary/christmas/whatever present Phil took advantage of an online offer and bought me an Acer Aspire netbook! Very sleek,small and white.Just what I needed to be able to get online in the lounge without having to use Phil's laptop!

Regatta and more

Regatta came and went with the usual mix of Guides rowing, visits to the street stalls and craft marquee, and fairground rides.
This years distraction was a very enjoyable visit to Greenway House with my sister-in-law Hazel. Well worth a visit especially if you like Agatha Christie.

Durdle Door( or is it Dor?)

On the final day of our trip to Dorset we drove to Lulworth Cove, parked in the carpark and then walked over the top to Durdle Door.
We had planned to put the kayaks in the water at lulworth for a final bit of paddling...never mind! Phil had an email from the police saying that they have a suspect, so you never know, I might see my Easky again- perhaps I can still swing it for a new buoyancy aid at the Boat Show in September!! We shall see.

FibreFest

This is most of the woolly loveliness that I brought home with me from 'Fibrefest' on saturday!
FibreFest took place at Coldharbour Mill not far from Exeter.The mill is a working museum which produces some lovely yarn, amongst other things. Phil took me there and then drove back to Exeter to meet Daniel and Crystal for a spot of kayaking with the girls. I had a lovely day and am very pleased with my purchases!

Rubbish Blogger!

When Phil started his blog I said,'you need to post regularly' and like the efficient person that he is- he does! Unlike me, who is a bit sporadic.
Lots has happened since I last posted.
Lydia and Julia have been to CYC at Strete.Phil and I went to Poole and lost a kayak- although I did paddle round Brownsea Island first.
Our Holiday club Showstoppers has started and most exciting of all- our braniac Lydia got 2 A*s and 1 A in her last batch of IGCSEs. Kingsbridge here she comes!!

New Bag finished!

I have been working on this bag for a while now. The fabric is from Ikea, the fleece and other bits from u-handbag.com, which is where I bought the pattern from.
It is finished just in time for our trip to Decoy country park.Praying for some Sun and no rain!!!

Visit to Coleton Fishacre

For the un-informed this house was the home of the D'Oyley Carte family( of Gilbert and Sullivan fame!).
The visit was with the Dart Valley home ed group. Julia and I enjoyed meeting new folks, and I braved the narrow Devon lanes in the van! The weather was mixed but we found a dry place to eat our lunch before the rain stopped in time for a walk. Lovely garden and fantastic views.

Hannah's visit

it was lovely to have Hannah staying for a week with us. it gave us the chance to catch up with all her news, plan Christmas visits and book a cottage for an Easter holiday with her, Dan and the baby!
We also went out in Jireh( see Phil's blog) and had a trip to Dartmoor and the river Dart at Dartmeet.As you can see from the pictures we had a great time.