Here endth

Another holiday :)) and, despite the weather, it has been a great few days of relaxation..

Woke this morning, thankful, that the caravan had remained secured in its location and that we hadn't been transported to another world during the gale last night :))  Nigel drove back to Colchester and had the screen on his iPhone repaired and was extremely pleased that it only cost him £40 - compared to the £120 - he had been quoted from other companies.  When he returned we made our way back to the Carvery for lunch, this time the outlook outside was entirely different with the waves crashing against the seawall and beach.  We decided, during lunch, that we would return home this afternoon rather than later this evening as orginally planned.

This winding country lane is my favourite part of the journey home and to the caravan - I love the way the trees bend over the road forming a tunnel. The yellow reflection is the freesia I saved yesterday from the battering it was receiving from the wind and rain.

So I am now home :))  I do so love going away and visiting other places and meeting new people BUT, equally, these days I enjoying coming home more :))  Karmen was pleased to see me and has followed me everywhere - Karl disappeared off to the gym and I soon fell into my old routine of cooking his dinner for him so that it will be ready for when he returns (as he's working this evening) and the first load of washing is in the machine.  Time to blog, catch up on the post and emails and then relax for the rest of the evening.

If you have read this post then I would be grateful if you could pray for Yvonne, Kenny and Isaiah - it doesn't matter that you do not know them personally. Yvonne and Kenny's eldest son (age 9) died at the beginning of the month and she has kindly invited me to the Celebration of Malachi's life and then burial service on the 28th June.  This morning Yvonne wrote these words on her facebook..

I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow

I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying every thing's okay

Remember them in your prayers - thank you.

Rain, Rain, Rain

It started to rain during the night and came down quite heavily - the noise on the roof of the caravan was actually quite soothing and sounded like nursery children playing with home made drums of yogurt pots and rice :))

I rescued my solitary freesia growing outside which had been battered by the rain and it's new home is now on the mantelpiece.

We decided to visit Colchester shopping centre when the rain had finally died down and, I have to admit, I found the experience rather an anti-climax especially after such a brilliant day at Beth Chatto Gardens and then Maldon. I am not a 'shopper' when the sun is out so why I thought I would enjoy the experience when the weather was so miserable? is beyond me!! We decided to come home and enjoy a cuppa in the warmth of the caravan.

Whilst enjoying our cuppa we listened to the truly inspirational speech given to both houses of Parliament by Aung San Suu Kyi - what an incredible lady. Her experiences during her life-time puts me to shame for whinging about the weather and Colchester Shopping centre.

The only purchase we made was bucket for £2.99 :) because Nigel has been desperate to clean the caravan and, whilst it was raining, this he did.  Now the photo is at an angle because I was leaning out of the bedroom window to catch him in action..

Colchester does have its good points - one of them being that my parents live there so, after we had our evening meal, we popped in for a cuppa and a chat.

We are now back at the caravan and it is extremely windy outside - so windy that the caravan does occasionally rock from side to side - so I am hoping that we are still here in one piece in the morning and not, like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, find ourselves blown into orbit!! or another land completely :)) ha-ha.

Maldon, Essex

Today we made our way to Maldon, which is a about 3/4hr drive from the caravan down long winding country roads - in fact you feel as though you're driving to the end of the earth :))

The weather was fabulous, the sky was blue (mostly) and I was surprised as to how many people had the same idea as us to visit Maldon!!  Thankfully, we found parking (the last space in the car park) before the coaches arrived and the multitude of pensioners who swarmed the coffee/tea/ice-cream/ shops and every available bench and seat.  Bless them all - so pleased that they had such wonderful weather for their trip.

My aim was to visit the church, which is St. Mary's Church and so, once we had had a stroll up and down the Maldon Promenade and ate our packed lunched on the green, I left Nigel to relax in his deckchair and I went for a wander..

Unfortunately, for me, the church had an event on so I couldn't go inside but that's good news for the church - good to see people using it :))  However, I would have liked to have gone in and lit a candle for so many people, that I know this month, who are mourning the loss of loved ones and also to lite a candle for my friend, Sharon, who will be ordained on the 1st July as a Church of England minister. So, instead, I wander around the grounds and thought of them all - I do love strolling church grave yards and cemeteries.

On the way back to meet Nigel, before our parking time ran out, I came across a maze with this stone erected in the middle of it - apparently it is called The Singing Stone!  Sorry I didn't have time to read the explanation as to why it was called the The Singing Stone - next time.  But as I turned around I thought this was a brilliant photo opportunity.

Nigel is watching the James Bond film on TV so I shall now go and sit in the bedroom with a cuppa and my book :))

The Beth Chatto Gardens

We decided that this holiday we wouldn't be out gallivanting all over the place, as we normally do and then need another holiday to recover, but would just choose two places that we wanted to visit and take it easy the rest of the time. 

I first choice was to visit The Beth Chatto Gardens and so off we set this morning - the gardens are only about four miles away from the caravan park and the weather was suburb.

The Beth Chatto Gardens began in 1960. From an overgrown wasteland with poor gravel soil and boggy hollows, it has been transformed into an informal garden harmonising with the surrounding countryside (taken from the front of the guide book)

We bought a season ticket for the year at £25 for two people, which is brilliant as I will certainly be visiting the gardens again and again when we are at the caravan - it will be interesting to see how it changes through the year.

Nigel enjoyed taking loads of photos in the hope that he managed to get a 'good one' for this year's photo competition at Barking Salvation Army.

The internet around the caravan is site is s-l-o-w so I cannot upload any more photos - I actually only had one more but it has been a good day.  Plus it was also just wonderful to have the time to write cards/letters to friends and family and post them all off *YAY*

Roll on Maldon tomorrow...

Holiday

We are fortunate to own a caravan , which is located only just over an hours drive from home.  The site and caravan were purposely chosen so that we could reach it easily on a day-off and it is also situated near my parents. We have had the caravan for a year now and this is our first full week's holiday in it!! although Nigel, more than me, does try to come down most Sunday evenings returning home Monday afternoon.  We have had other weeks booked in it but for varying reasons those holidays have had to be cancelled - so I am going to enjoy my first week here.

We started our holiday with a visit from my parents and my youngest brother and his family plus their new puppy called Frankie.  The photo is of my niece and Frankie.

The visit was to celebrate Nigel's birthday, which was yesterday :))  We did eventually manage to get him to smile whilst his firework candle blazed away :)) ha ha  Once everyone had left - us two oldies then went for a walk around the caravan site and were tucked up and a sleep by 10pm.

Today we went into Clacton - did a bit of shopping had lunch at the carvery and then went for a walk along the beach.  It was whilst having lunch that I received a text from a lady I know to say that her son had died and she was inviting me to a 'celebration' of his life and burial service.  Malachi was nine years old and had spent the last six months of his short life in Great Ormond Street Hospital with Leukaemia.  I was grateful for a quiet walk along an empty beach.

Whilst Nigel had a snoozed after mowing the lawn around our caravan, our next door neighbours and the lady's caravan across the way to us - followed by a cycle around the park and lake - I sat in my favourite chair and read my book -  'Listening for the soul' by Jean Stairs

Actually, I think his plan is to sleep for a couple of hours now in the hope that I will be in bed and reading by 10pm so that he can stay up and start watching the DVD set that my brother bought him for his birthday :)) 

Time now for a cuppa using the delightful mugs that we purchased in one of the charity shops this morning and then for a walk around the park and then the lake, where the posh caravans/people are!! I took this photo a few weeks ago..