Helloooo Mummy!

I went to lunch with Sue yesterday, who said was feeling a bit hot.

A SNAKE, SOME PAINT, IT IS ALL RATHER IFFY!

At our house, we experienced all manner of wildlife at some point.  Thankfully, unlike last year we were not infested with mice again.  We had one lone mouse, and I soon took care of him.  SNAP!

I was delighted to find that this year we had rabbits. This is the first time I have seen rabbits in our garden, though I did once see a large hare.  Every morning, I would look out the window, to see if they were in the garden.  Now I may come to regret liking the bunnies, but they are so cute looking, and appear more scared of me than I am of them (which really takes some doing!).

The electrician found a small dead bat behind one of the exterior lights.  Hum, I didn't know we had bats around.  Owls yes, but bats?

Once again, we had a snake visitor, only this time we saw him, and it wasn't just the empty skin!  The builders told us where they had seen it, and sure enough, THE EVENING BEFORE HE RETURNED TO THAILAND, LEAVING ME ALL ALONE, Alan spotted the snake.  You can just see him (I obviously took this with a long lens!) hiding in the undergrowth (er the snake, not Alan).  I also spotted him on another occasion.  Alan looked him up when he got back to Thailand, and said it was a non poisonous variety.  Of course Alan knows all about these things!

Second Day - Canyonlands Trip:

The next morning we entered the Park from the south entrance which took us through the Abajo mountains and down into the lower canyons and an area known as the Needles.   This entrance is about an hour south of Moab, but as we had stayed south of Monticello that evening, we didn't have to travel far to start our journey.

You're Never Safe From The Rayboulds!

You can run, you can hide, you can even relocate yourself for a few weeks, to a different continent, but you just can't escape The Rayboulds!

Our friends, the Chalmers family, have a house reasonably near ours in France.  As it was the first time we were all in France at the same time for very many years, we spent Easter together.

How exciting it was to see them in their French house, which we had not previously visited.  They live in a small village, near Cahors, in the Lot.

On Easter Sunday, we had an Easter egg hunt.  Well, the children had one and they let me join in.  Oh stop it!  Do you honestly think I was going to sit there and watch, when there was free chocolate to be found?

Here I am with Sam Hannah and Ben, all of us clutching our bowls, though as there was only a small bowl left for me, you can see that I was none too happy!

Canyon Lands National Park

Roger and I decided to head down to Moab again this past weekend and explore some old familiar territory as well as some new locations.  It takes about 4 1/2 hours to get there from our home in Farmington, so starting out about 7:00 a.m. gets us there by noon, given a break or two.  Beautiful weather and over the two days temperatures ranged between low 60's to low 80's.  We couldn't have asked for anything better. 

England's Peak District

Have you missed me on the blog?  Er, I can't hear you?  If you wondered what had happened to my posts, I had technical problems (boring beyond belief).  Not to fear though, I think I am back!

I came back last week, a week early from my European holiday.  Let's just say that it was cold, I wasn't prepared for the cold (am I ever?) and the time was mostly spent doing chores.  Now does that sound like a holiday?

We spent a week in England, taking Alan's parents to the Peak District, which is located in central and northern England.

We rented part of this ex-vicarage, a beautiful stone house.  Behind the house is a farm and to the left of the picture, you can just see the roofline of the church.

What Keeps Me Busy:

Two days a week we have soccer games.  Tuesday evening it's Ethan's turn and Saturday morning we are off to watch Ingrid.  We take the folding chairs (and treats for the kids) and settle in for a fun time of cheering for everyone.