Someone once told me that the only good thing about February is that it is soon over…and I have to say I often feel that way too. Apart from it containing Geoff’s birthday and of course Valentine’s Day, February is a bit of a non-event usually, isn’t it? And it is often a cold non-event at that. Well, this month has been just that I’m afraid, with not a lot happening here apart for all our usual mundane stuff. I am crossing off the days now on the calendar until we set off for France…and hopefully a bit of sun and warmth!
So, what have we been up to this month then. We have continued with all our usual activities such as my craft group, Geoff’s pickleball sessions, and church activities. We managed to fit in a visit to our local theatre too to see a rather odd play…and some rather dubious acting! I was not entirely impressed by either! Geoff has also joined (half-heartedly!) a gardening group which has been started to try and improve our grounds here in the Mill complex where we live. The idea is to plant some flowers etc to try and put some colour and variety into the well-established grounds. So far one bed has been planted up and looks really nice. Geoff is enjoying the sessions but is also being sensible and not doing too much. It is a nice idea though and is enabling people to get to know each other a bit more too 
We had a very successful Café Church service which was on the theme of “love” and so it being just after Valentines Day we treated everyone to jammy dodgers (the biscuits with red hearts in the middle), chocolate and marshmallow hearts, red heart serviettes etc etc! They all went down very well especially the sweets which the Cubs ate with gusto! It so happened that that session fell on Geoff’s birthday so he was happy to receive a few extra little treats too! He had already opened most of his gifts earlier in the morning and was still recovering from receiving the delights of a new bug hotel and lovely bright mushroom ornament for the garden! We don’t do sensible presents any more as we prefer to go away for a night instead! It was nice though that after the busy church session we were able to spend the rest of the afternoon being spoiled at Hazel’s with a delicious lunch and a super Unicorn (specially requested by our granddaughter) birthday cake Safe to say Geoff had a lovely day
We have also continued to organise our U3A French Speaking sessions this month as usual. One of those sessions was a bit different though as we invited a former French teacher to speak to the group about one of his passions…the Garden festival at Chateau de Chaumont which he and his wife go to every year. It was a good session and everyone really enjoyed listening to his stories and looking at his photographs. Whilst the talk was going on it suddenly dawned to Geoff and I that we had actually been to that festival once…by sheer chance! We had been in the area and had seen it advertised and so decided to give it a go. We had found it very different to the garden and flower shows we had been to in the UK…and truthfully a bit strange with some very odd garden creations which we had thought were very bizarre! However now that our speaker had explained that there is a different theme each year…and that some of the themes are deliberately quirky…it all began to make a lot more sense! Maybe, one day we will revisit and understand a lot more than we did then!
We have continued to eat out a bit this month and also to meet up with friends for lunch or coffee too. Our venues this month have been the newly refurbished Muddy Duck in Caldbeck, the Metal Bridge near Gretna, and Crofton Hall where we met up with our friends from Whitley Bay as they drove home after a short break in the Lake District. Whenever we go to Crofton, I always find myself detouring into the lovely glass making studio next door to the café! On this occasion I spotted a beautiful suncatcher plaque of snowdrops hanging up. Now, I love snowdrops and have been revelling in the glorious displays of these lovely flowers in the last few weeks. It seems that this part of Cumbria is an ideal place for them to grow…and frankly they are everywhere and look fabulous. A very subtle hint was dropped into Geoff’s ear… and behold I have that said glass picture hanging on my door now
Thinking of snowdrops always reminds me of my dad who also loved them and spent many hours in his garden peering at the soil waiting for them to emerge…he had very little sight as he grew older. I have also mentioned him and the snowdrops in a little piece of writing I have done recently and will soon be sending off with a lot of sadness to a special commemoration of the church at East Boldon which was such a big part of my life for a very long time, and which is sadly to close in April due to lack of members making its continuance unviable. I am so sad about it…it holds so many memories for me, that church. I helped out in Sunday School, attended youth groups, got married there and we held both my parents’ funerals there. It has really hit me hard and has made me realise that nothing goes on forever. Unfortunately, we will be in France when this commemoration event will take place…hence the writing and I will send some photos too which will be displayed in the church hall.
We have had one trip away this month. Geoff is a member of the Cumbrian Cambridge alumni group and they had organised an event at Muncaster Castle which is on the NW coast of Cumbria. We decided to drive there and stay the night before the event…in the Coachman’s quarters of the castle…not the posh bit I hasten to add! The room was very nice and we enjoyed waking up in the morning and seeing a huge bird of prey flapping its immense wings in the Hawk and Owl centre next door from our bedroom window! We also really enjoyed the tour of the castle and lunch in the dining room before a very interesting talk given by the son of the owner, who is now the castle’s general manager. All in all, it was a really good visit and we were pleased we had gone and we would highly recommend a visit to the castle and its grounds.
We also had a great meet up with our son Matthew and the grandchildren this month at our usual place near Archers Café in Bolton le Sands. The kids love it there and they really enjoyed playing with Xena, who we borrowed for the day! It was really cold there though and so I was less than delighted to be having a picnic, which had been requested by Ethan and Hadley. Our plans to have a warm up coffee in the café afterwards were thwarted too, as it was heaving and the prospect of queueing outside for a long wait did not appeal. We had to try two other places in the vicinity before we actually found somewhere as they too were really busy. It did make us wonder about this so-called “cost of living crisis” which is supposed to be affecting people here in the UK. Judging by the fact that we couldn’t get a table in 2 large cafes…lots of folk there seem to have enough cash to be able to eat out!
And so…it’s goodbye to February and hello to a very hectic looking March judging by the entries on my calendar! I suspect with all the stuff we have planned that March will go by very quickly too…and then we will be off to St Aygulf before we know it! I hope I get time to finish the next blog post before we leave…fingers crossed!
A bientot mes amis