England bound!

 Flights went well, I laughed, hand over mouth so that others couldn't here my chortling, all the way to Singapore watching 'Ted Lasso!  The 2 hour stop over gave me time for a cuppa before a wander around - got to get the legs moving!

I think I managed about 3 hours sleep before 'The Bee Gees story' and 'Welcome to Wrexham' kept me occupied for the rest of the journey from Singapore. I was soon on my way to Paddington station and managed to be on the train to Worcester within 10 minutes of arriving there. Another 2 hours and I was greeted by my sister, Jake.

We headed to the centre of Worcester arriving at Mark and Sparks in time for a cuppa and bacon butty! I managed to help the English economy with some purchases! 

Arriving at Jakes place a swim was in order! It was very refreshing! Mind you not long after the grey clouds appeared and down came the rain! I think my arrival broke the drought. Usually the grass in the garden is lush and soft to walk on this yellow brittle straw like stuff was not! 

I think I managed to stay awake until about 8:30 and was so happy to go to bed.

During our weekly chats Jake would tell me that she'd basically given up with the garden, lack of rain meant nothing was really growing. With this in mind I had visions of barren earth. I could not believe what I saw - you've heard of the 'Day of the Triffids'  well here it was like tomato and pumpkins were taking over the earth!!! They are everywhere! I will admit a couple of trees have died but the pear trees are full of fruit and don't mention how many raspberries there are! 

 This is what we picked yesterday! I could hardly lift the basket and I do strength traing twice a week! I was on cutting duties - the freezer will be full of tomato soup/sauce before we leave!

Homeward bound

 Sad day today leaving Justin and family. At the moment I'm relaxing in a hotel in Atlanta. Flights tomorrow - Atlanta to LA and 4 hours later LA to Sydney.

What's been happening in the last couple of weeks?:

* Heat, heat and more heat - 41.6 yesterday!

* Storms, some torrential and some 5 minutes of rain raising the humidity.

* Animal interactions - feeding, watering and collecting eggs from family chickens.

   Squirrels playing chicken with the car.

   A deer bounding along the road.

   Local horses and cattle passing the end of the fence daily.

   Rooster, the dog, constantly leaving the door open and letting the heat in.

* Swimming, swimming and more swimming - my hair might have a slight green

   tinge!

* An hour in a pinball machine place - l was rubbish!

*A couple of hours at the bowling alley - I won the first game and then went

  downhill!

* Continued our drawing sessions - Ben finds it hard to sit still!

*Watching Ivy at her riding lessons.

* Football/ soccer all the time!! I was even asked if I was in Atlanta for the big match 

  tomorrow!

To get a photo with Ivy and Benny I had to tell them that I wanted it to see how much they grow between now and next year! Benny refused to smile! I think Ivy might be as tall as me by next year!

Don't think I'm looking forward to really cool weather!

Trying to cope with the heat!

Driving back from dinner the other night at 7:15pm we passed a temperature sign 103F (39.4C!). It has been 36C, in the shade most days but today it has dropped a little and there's been rain for the first time. The temperature is now 24C so feels cold!

This  week Benny is at a Golf 'camp's in the morning and Ivy is at the Barn helping younger kids with the horses. Some afternoons the kids are with friends or at the other grandparents. We watched Ivy ride on Saturday.

Afternoons  involve the pool. One of their games is that one person swims with their eyes closed and the have to find us in the pool - Justin is usually 'it' although Ivy is good at the closed eyes swimming!
 

I enjoy the early mornings when everyone leaves for their activities. It gives me a chance to be outside with my cuppa catching up with all the news. We watch the football/soccer usually from lunchtime. Unfortunately we didn't see the Aussie game because it didn't start until midnight on our side of the USA. There is a big build up about the USA/AUS game - it starts at lunchtime on Friday.

I thought I might have got away without a swim today but no! We spent nearly an hour playing different games unfortunately one involved me being grabbed by the leg and dunked - shouldn't have bothered washing my hair!!

We have continued with our daily drawing of each person's idea. 

Meeting the family

 I think the temperature has almost been rising a degree a day. The mornings are lovely as I sit outside with my cuppa listening to all the birds singing and watching the hawks swinging the thermals.

Justin set up a bedroom for me in what was his office. He took out the carpet and put in new flooring, painted and added bedroom furniture. It's very comfortable. it does get hot by the evening so the AC and fan run all night.

I was lucky that Rooster - the dog - recognised me and he has accepted me being there.

Ivy and Benny have certainly grown and changed since last year!

Ivy was going to ride at a show on Saturday but her pony had a sore leg and couldn't compete but she and Lauren went as supporters. Benny and I spent time in the pool.

This week Ivy is at horse camp - she helps out with younger kids and also has her chance to ride. Meanwhile Benny is at soccer camp - I'm just watching them going through their warm ups.

I took over watercolour pencils and little art books so each afternoon we sit together and draw and paint. Ivy and Benny are enjoying it - we take turns deciding what to draw.

I think Ivy was tired and emotional when drawing yesterday. 

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

There has been jumping and diving competitions after dinner which is very entertaining. I think both Ivy and Benny could be hurdlers!

I watched Benny at soccer camp this morning - 3 hours in the heat - but all the kids, of various ages seemed to enjoy it. Benny and l spent a large part of the afternoon in the pool. I'm having trouble trying to think of games to play in the pool - they are keeping me on my toes!!!

Ivy has been to horse camp and is now at a friend's place so I'm 'chillaxing'.

It's a long day to the USA!

 Our flight from Sydney left 2 hours late because of a technical issue. On arrival at Dallas we were stuck on the tarmac waiting for an off airport engineer from British airways  to move their A380 out of it's  slot. Dallas doesn't have too many spaces for the ' big bird'. The wait meant more minutes ticking down for my onward flight!

Finally we were able to deplane and head to border control. Easiest it's ever been -  "fingers, thumb, fingers, thumb" were the only words spoken to me before I was waved on!

Next was the wait for the bags. By the time I claimed mine I knew I was going to miss my connection! It was then an hour in a line  before a new flight could be booked. Initially I was booked to Atlanta on the 9pm flight but opted to also be on 'stand by' for the 7:30 flight.

With only 3-4 hours sleep on the flight from Sydney I was seriously flagging and I still had a couple of hours to wait before trying for the  stand by flight. I think I might have nodded off for a short time as I waited!! Hope I didn't snore! I almost begged the check in staff to get me onto the early flight. I would have jumped up with glee when my name was called but didn't have the energy! Atlanta is an hour ahead of Dallas and with a 2 hour flight it was nearly midnight before I arrived at my hotel!

My first stop was the shower - who designs the shower layout in hotels. I was blasted in the face with freezing cold water just turning the shower on. The clock clicked over to 0:00 as I was about to get into bed but there was a problem - where was the switch to turn the bedside lights off?!! Flicking all switches didn't work, checking behind the pillows revealed nothing! I didn't want to look stupid calling down to reception - that was getting close though - wh   friends. They wer e straight in the pool but I stayed on the side watching the mayhem unfold! 

Ivy and Benny are so much taller but luckily Benny is still shorter than me! 

We had a good catch up between the three of us. They remembered a few years ago when we made a video of us acting different parts and want to do an updated version!

I managed to stay awake until about 8:30 pm and then I was gone until 7 am today!.

Back to UK

 We arrived very early into a blustery cold Copenhagen where we were to spend 2 days.

We did the hop on/off bus. First stop was the Little Mermaid and a walk along the waterfront. We promised ourselves a Danish pastry whilst we're here. The cafe we chose didn't have a large selection but it was warm and pleasant. As soon as we left the cafe a lady cycling by pointed to her right, shouting  out, "That's the best place for a danish!" She was pointing further down the road from 'our' cafe. The bakery is emblazoned in our minds now.!

Our wanderings took us to the  Museum of Danish Resistance. We spent more than 2 hours there as it was so interesting with lots of interactive displays. 

Tuesday

Back on the bus. Saw the  'changing of the guard'  but not 'our' Mary at the palace. The guardsmen looked quite young. 

We found yesterday's  cyclist recommended  cafe and overdosed slightly on Danish pastries!

My sister thought it would be very funny to compare my size to the tallest man outside the Guiness World records museum.

Lots of walking on cobblestones is very tiring so it was feet up late afternoon. 

We left Copenhagen at 8pm.  It was  2 days at sea until we reached Southampton today, Friday.

We had a great time with good food, mostly great entertainment and fabulous weather. Unfortunately the UK was cold, wer and grey! 

I head back 'down under' on Tuesday.

It's been a great cruise visiting 5 countries. There have been plenty of varied activities and entertainment plus we have been so lucky with the weather!

Now arrived Copenhagen.

 Yesterday, Friday, we were still in Talinn (realised it was spelt with double nn!) as the ship had stayed overnight here. Luckily I was dressed when opening the curtains as another ship was alongside! 

Once again we 'hopped ' on the bus but only to the first stop. We were searching for the 'KGB Prison' - this was included in the ticket for the Museum of Occupation. Following the map through the Old Town along streets of interestingly designed houses, we came across an attractive grey building.

 Unfortunately the facade hid the horror of the KGB cells! The Estonian people were expected to tell the KGB about anyone family, friend or foe who were against the 'regime'. They were quickly picked up and thrown in the cells, waiting to be interrogated. The people of Eastonia are fully behind Ukraine.

We did a lot of walking  - the cobblestone streets make for weary legs! 

We set off late evening for Visby - on  a one of the islands of Sweden called Gotland - arriving around 8am. Another ship was in port. Imagine our surprise when we disembarked to find hundreds of Hells Angels leaving the German ship. They were actually on a Heavy Metal cruise and dressed accordingly!

We walked into the centre of Visby, cobbled streets again! It's a beautiful place  and is a World Heritage site. Its history dates back to medieval times. It has cute little houses. At one house the doorway was so low that even I would have needed to duck to enter. 

A food festival was in the town square. I stopped at a table to sample a truffle dish only for the lady to give me a run down on how many truffles were found in Australia - who knew?

Visby is very unusual in the fact that it has ruins of 12 churches. The building of churches here started in 11th century. These ruins are remnants of magnificent structures.

We left Visby about 5pm just as a Heavy Metal group started up - we were  all urging the captain to 'back out' quickly!

Today, Sunday, is a sea day - we are heading to Copenhagen. I went to a talk about DNA and the law - interesting.

The morning was spent playing table tennis quoits (I mastered that!) swimming in two different pools and time in the hot tub! Needles to say, after reading a couple of pages of my book, I nodded off.