DEAR DIARY

It turns out that I'm hopeless at this. Just to jog my memory:

working for National Trust as holiday cottage caretaker, had a meningioma diagnosed and operated on April '09. Moved house twice. Tegen at Tregye doing foundation course,Meraud - AS at Treviglas.Marmite a boy! Polo passed away. now on facebook.read alot of books and not just teenage fiction. done several tapestries, making tilda garden angel. am now tawny owl at local brownie pack.having fun and enjoying life

On the Market

We have finally got the cottage on the housing market and wait to see how long it takes. We have spent quite a lot of time looking at areas we might like and the usual house porn on the net. The girls are looking forward to searching for a new home as soon as possible but Mike and I like this one.

Mike has just had his left shoulder xrayed as he has had a lot of pain with it since we moved. he may need an op. or just a steroid jag.

I have just been contacted by a lady in Guiding here and hope to have some sort of role before long. I have missed that involvement and particularly my friends in Shropshire Guiding.

January 2008

New Year's eve we spent at the Windswept Cafe having a very good meal entertained by songwriter Tom Dale who sports a bowler hat and fob watch. Tegen stayed at home with friends,less said about that the better.
House was decorated inside and out by the lovely Diane Jobes during the last week of Jan and first of Feb. She did a proper job and i think we got on well.We finally feel that we are a credit to the village and no longer an eyesore. We bought a sweet table and chairs for the courtyard(in the sale of course)and I tidied up and planted the remaining bulbs in containers.
The picture of Tegen is by one of her friends for their photography course

Well it would seem that I am useless at keeping up any sort of diary so here is my second attempt. Lots of things happened at the end of 2007 including the death of Sarah whose children I childminded and whose husband Graham has always been close to my husband in that blokish way. We travelled back for the funeral and discovered a mutual friend was also a friend of Sarah's and I never knew. We had the new window put in at the cottage and the sash windows replaced by the lovely guys from Perran windows. My new car arrived! gorgeous Fiat Panda dynamic skydome in Mambo yellow. Mum had a fall in her house but made a good recovery and seems none the worse.

Marmite - our new pig

She's a fast mover and very cute. Polo has become a little mumsy!

R.I.P. Toffee

Tuesday 25th tragedy strikes. Toffee, Meraud's pretty guinea pig is dead. She went from quite well in the morning but a bit quiet to collapse in the afternoon. Our neighbour who is medically qualified thought that she might have had a stroke. we tried to warm the pig up with a hot water bottle and Meraud decided that veterinary advice was needed. I felt very anxious as I had to pick up Tegen from her bus stop and didn't know where the vet's surgery was but my lovely neighbours were very reassuring and made a cup of tea for me and offered to take girl and pig to the hospital. Of course there wasn't a lot they could do but give a muscle relaxant and a painkiller. Toffee died at about 8.10pm. She was tucked up in a towel over a hot water bottle next to Tegen, who was using her new laptop to do her english homework. Tegen noticed Toffee seemed to be trying to get up, Meraud went over and said to me that Toffee had made a funny noise but then she was very still and her eyes went glassy and we knew she had gone. Next minute Dad has to be txted and the neighbour's daughter and much sobbing goes on. Neighbour duly appears and we discuss funeral arrangements - difficult as we only have a patio here. However there is a border at the end of the courtyard and we decide to find a spot there.
Next day we do the deed. Meraud comes back from school and decorates it and plants 2 miniature pansies. A replacement is considered as Polo may be lonely on her own. I do some research on the web and find the Omlet site very helpful on this topic. (I still fantasise about keeping chickens). Thursday, Mike returns and we all go the Goonhavern to the pet shop and fall for a little sandy coloured job that we hope is also a girl.
Introductions seem to go well but I still worry about gender and eventually have to web it. You would not believe the graphic images of guinea pig bottoms there are on the web ! and I am very grateful for them and believe that we have indeed got 2 girly pigs. After some thought pig is named Marmite. Friday, all seems to be well on the pig front and much relief is felt, by me at least. I am left with the dogs this weekend as family goes back to Whitchurch. Meraud has invitation to Goape party and Tegen to stay with friends. Mike has found a very nice B&B on a farm nearby. Hope he remembers to bring back things from neighbour's garden.

We've been here almost a month!

Seems like ages since I last wrote anything - mainly because internet access has been difficult. Firstly there was no room to put the computer until our furniture arrived from Whitchurch. The guys loaded the store beautifully but communication had let us down and I wasn't present as planned to make sure that the things we needed were accessible. So Mike and I had to dig almost everything out to get to the sofa and desk and all the other bits and bobs necessary to life. This resulted in a trapped nerve in his shoulder and a lot of pain over the next few days.( Eventually cured by lifting a large bag of compost into the back of the car for me.) Squeezing into Penty Gwyn has been a struggle - it was alright for holidays but to bring everything and try and have the same things around you as before has proved very difficult , especially for the girls.
They are getting on as well as usual sharing a room but if I wasn't available to tidy up a bit for them then blood would be shed. We thought there would be plenty of room in the store but as fast as we take something out we seem to put something else in!

I have been enjoying some lovely walks with the dogs - Crantock headland and beach, Metha Wood, Newlyn Downs, it is wonderful to have such choices. The weather has been good too, just a few showers. We went to watch the zapcat racing at Watergate Beach last sunday.it was very exciting in the biggish surf. one of the pilots was thrown out of his boat like some kind of human canonball and fortunately seems to have been merely shaken up. I have since found some videos on You Tube showing zapcats in action.Definitely going back 12/13 October to watch the final.
Daughters seem to have made friends at school and college and seem happier now. They are going back to Whitchurch this weekend as Meraud has been invited to a Goape birthday party and can't miss an opportunity like that. I just hope they come back happily and can settle again.

Have got a doctor, joined the library and still feel a bit lonely but I'm coping.