2022 Roundup

The first half of this year was memorable for our weekly sessions with a group called Dandelion Time, which helps children through various difficulties. There are animals to look after, meals to make, bread to bake and crafts to craft. It was all very enjoyable and a lot of fun.

Gradually my favourite time of the year arrived – late spring, early summer, when things are beginning to grow and the trees begin to develop green fuzz on their branches, and happy birds come winging back home to spend the summer with us. And what a scorching summer it was, too!

We tend not to take holidays these days, but had some really lovely days out. The first was when we rode on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch train to Dungeness on 25th June, to meet our lovely friends Sheila and Stephen. We hadn’t seen them for nine years, so it was lovely to see them again. We looked up at the lighthouse towering above us and decided to climb the 169 steps – and we made it! I’ve loved this lighthouse all my life.

I love the world map blouse that Sheila made herself! The views from the top are certainly worth the climb.

Three days later I had my bi-annual sight checkup and was told that I had the early stages of dry age-related macular degeneration, Not really what I wanted to hear, but was not surprised as my Dad had it too.

The next month we were invited to a garden party at Churchill College, Cambridge, where Richard obtained his degree. We stopped for lunch at the Arundel House Hotel:

and had a walk by the river

before going on to the College. It was so lovely being there again; we hadn’t seen it since July 2018.

Our daughter is growing up so quickly! She’s 14 now – here they are in 2018, and again in 2022:

And here she is chatting to Sir Winston, again in 2018 and 2022:

A shame I can’t put these photos side by side, but you see the idea. I hope to repeat these photos when we receive our next invitation. The architecture is on the brutal side but has its own charm, the sculptures really interesting and the grounds are beautiful. Here’s just one example of the sculptures – the College is worth a visit if you have the chance to visit Cambridge:

I won’t mention the five-hour journey to get home because the QE2 bridge was closed!

Our next excursion was to London with my workplace’s Sports Club, or Recreation Association as it is now, which I joined as a retired member. Because of Katy’s artistic nature we went to the National Gallery (there were no pigeons at all in Trafalgar Square?! So disappointing) to see my favourite Whistlejacket and as many other paintings as we could see

and then to the Tate Gallery. It was a long walk between the two but very well worth it. I hadn’t been to London for many years so it was lovely to see it all again, especially Father Thames, just rolling along.

Katy looking for sweets in the red bag which has accompanied us on various excursions all her life:

We looked for and photographed all the animals in the paintings – we probably missed a few, but here they are if you can see this: https://myalbum.com/album/WYPxhed3rtNgsc/

And then, as if that wasn’t enough excitement for one year, Katy and I went on another trip with the Recreation Association to Legoland. So if the picture below looks familiar, no I haven’t bought a drone with a camera on it; this is London made out of Lego. There are lots of different cities made out of Lego and they’re very well done.

The streets have moving vehicles on them and the waterways have boats chugging along. I’ve wanted to take Katy here for many years so this was a great day, as was the all-you-can-eat pizza and the scary but exhilarating ‘Mia’s pony ride’ in Heartlake City.

A couple of days ago we renewed our tickets for Leeds Castle, so went there to blow the cobwebs away – but I’ll put photos of that in another entry. I’ll leave you now, wishing you a very Happy New Year, and hoping that 2023 is good to you all. xx