Sheep's poo

I thought that title might get you interested. It was Cliff's birthday yesterday and he received a birthday card from Naomi which was made from sheep's poo by a company in Wales. If you are interested in learning more, their web address is: http://www.CreativePaperWales.co.uk. I was particularly interested in the post cards.

And a note for Mary Jane: I just found this quote from Homer Simpson: 'Kill my boss. Do I dare live out the American Dream?'

Some Pictures from our visit to Naomi and James

Cliff, Naomi and James on the Gower Penninsula just outside Swansea.

Naomi and James's new house in Swansea.

Back at School

I have just finished my first three days back at school. I've been feeling so good over the holidays that I thought working full time would be a breeze. Not so, I discovered and I suppose that's understandable. Over the summer, I have been able to have a rest, sleep even, whenever I overdid it a bit. This is not the case at school and so, by the second day, I had to go to my room and have a nap because I was worn out by 9:30. I paced myself better after that and felt better on Friday.

School is as mad as ever! The new teachers must be on melt down by now. I know I am. Every year the admin team overloads people, every year we complain, and every year they promise not to do it again. So much for learning from history!

I'm back to writing my novel after coming to the decision that I needed to move to 3rd person narrative. (Have I already mentioned this? If so, sorry.) I'm not sure where any of this will take me since the original idea was to write the blog of a character involved in a murder.

It's going to be wet, windy and horrible (words of the weather man just now) so I should be able to get some work done on 'Greatly Improved by Death' (working title) instead of being in the garden (where I really need to be as well).

I joined a health club with Emma this week. She wants to work in the gym on various painful looking machines. I am going to swim to start with, take some lessons to improve my front crawl, do a swim exercise class and a Pilates class. I have stomach muscle issues after last years operation. Later I may wander into the gym to investigate the machines. We've been twice this week since joining and have swum both times. There's a wonderful Jacuzzi in the pool area where we spent some time after our lengths. I did manage 20 lengths yesterday but I was exhausted at the end. Hopefully my endurance will increase. I'm hoping to go again today for a while.

Home from Travels

We've been home from our travels for two weeks now and I've had some time to digest and muse on various aspects of the trip. The beginning was into uncharted territory. Neither of us had been on an ocean liner in years (over 30 come to think of it) and though I had visited New York, I hadn't been there since the 60's. Cliff had never been there. Both the ship and New York were a revelation. The ship was more luxurious than I expected and there was so much to do that we were often torn between activities. And everyone was happy - the crew and the passengers. The food...oh the food was wonderful and there was so much of it and available nearly all day. New York was so alive. I had not expected to like it more than London or Paris but I did. Now admittedly, we were only there for two days but it was enough to make me sure that I had to go back. What New York has over the other two cities for me is the people. They are so...I'm not sure of the adjective...so alive (to go back to one already used). I'll have to think on this and write more.

More pictures from the trip!

Cliff's nephews Andrew (on top) and Geoff (on the bottom).

Soon we'll be home!

It's hard to believe that this holiday is nearly over! I've looked forward to it for so long. I am excited about going home because I have so many things that I want to get going on. That must be the sign of a good holiday. You're refreshed and inspired to go in new directions.

It has been an interesting visit to Canada, one that I will have to go home and ponder. Canada is both the country I left and not. I suppose that is to be expected. However, I'm not sure about how I feel about the changes. Again, I will have to think a while about them.

Cliff is very relaxed and much more positive about life. What a relief! Emma has plans for him to work on some bluegrass tunes with her when he gets back. I hope that he decides to do that since it would be good for both of them.

I have lots of pictures to post when I get back to England so I will sign off here and return on the weekend.

The Back Forty

Hi all! Sorry that you haven't heard from me in a while but I have been up in Marmora and haven't really had the time to spend on the Internet. It's rather nice, in fact, being away from the computer. We are having a wonderful time here and the weather has been good. It has rained and it has been hot but that is to be expected. It has also been cold. However, best of all, we haven't encountered too many mosquitoes. I have read one wonderful book, The Shadow of the Wind, and am reading another, 'The Athenian Murders'. I encourage you to read both!

More another day!