Toe update

As so many of our readers have been enquiring about the progress of Rog’s toe, I thought I’d put an update on the blog to save typing it over and over again!

The news is good, apparently.  The podiatrist removed the black dead bit on the end a couple of weeks ago.  Rog went back to to St Mary’s at Paddington last Wednesday and they were very pleased with it – it seems to be healing at long last.  The infection seems to have cleared up, and it looks very clean, although not very pretty. It will never be what it was, as there is a large chunk of flesh from the end which has completely gone now, but if it heals over it won’t be too bad.  

He has another appointment on Dec 1st, and they will measure progress then, and make a final decision as to whether to leave well alone, or to chop the top off.  So we are still playing a waiting game, but it sounds more promising now.

Watch this space.

A fabulous day…..

Yesterday the long awaited day arrived at last– our son Russ and his fiancé Nat’s wedding day!  We had the most fabulous day imaginable.  We are so proud of them both – Russ’s speech was funny and moving, and, breaking with tradition, Nat also made a speech.  She looked absolutely stunning, and we are so pleased to welcome her into the family.  Our two eldest granddaughters were bridesmaids and behaved impeccably, no mean feat for five and three and a half years old!  Even baby Elizabeth entertained the guests with an amazing bout of hiccups just before the ceremony started!  Nat’s small godsons were pageboys, and were also beautifully behaved.  The photos are just a few of the hundreds taken, we are awaiting the official photos very soon.

   Best Man Rob and Bridegroom Russ

Signing the Register

Me and Rog

With Russ’s ‘honourary’ godparents, Rick and Ann, and daughters Jenny and Karen (our goddaughter)

Karen with Elizabeth, with my 83 year old Mum in the background

The happy couple

Cutting the cake

The first dance

A meal with blogging friends

We went to the Old Plough in Braunston last night for a meal with boaty blog friends, Lesley and Joe (nb Caxton), Jill and Graham (nb Matilda Rose) and Derek and Dot (ex-nb Gypsy Rover, at the moment moving a very famous bloggers boat!!)  A great and noisy evening was had by all, we never stopped talking and laughing.  Thanks for inviting us Lesley, I haven’t had so much fun in ages.  We must do it again sometime.

  L-R  Jill, Joe, Lesley, Dot, Derek, Rog and Graham

Surprise visit…

Just as I was dishing up our evening meal last night the phone rang.  It was Joe and Lesley from nb Caxton –they were moored around the corner on the Northampton Arm and had come to see if we were in - they were at the Marina gate.  We knew they were in the area, but thought we had missed them.  They came bearing wine, so we had to let them in!!

We had a good old natter and catch up as it’s a while since we last met and had a look around Windsong.

While I was walking Cassie this morning, I met them again purely by chance, along with Jill and Graham on nb Matilda Rose. Lesley and Jill were on the towpath walking their dogs. I was on the way back, but turned around and accompanied them back a little way and we all had another good old natter.

Great to see you all, have a good winter and we’ll try and catch up with you next year.

An extra wedding in the family…

Seems like Russ and Nat’s wedding on 5th November isn’t the only one in the family this year.  Granddaughter Flo’s reception class at school are learning about weddings in Religious Studies, and they had a ‘pretend wedding’ this morning in the church, complete with vicar, bridesmaids, ushers, guests – the lot!!  Flo was the bride (might have known!!) 

The rings

The Bride and Groom

Great fun was had by all, and vast quantities of sausage rolls were consumed at the ‘reception’ afterwards

The Bride’s mother cried, and so did the Bride when she realized everyone was looking at her!

NB – I have deleted the original post with the un-cropped and un-blurred photos because Emma reminded me that I hadn’t got the permission of the other parents to publish photos of their children.  Sad world, isn’t it!

Objective achieved…

Yesterday morning we made the short hop from Stoke Bruerne to Blisworth Marina – through the Blisworth Tunnel and on to Gayton Junction where the marina is situated, arriving about midday.

Blisworth Marina

Gayton Junction looking down the Northampton Arm of the GU – just the other side of the bridge from the marina entrance

As marinas go, it’s one of the nicest we’ve been in – most of the boats are on leisure moorings and not lived on much of the time so it’s quite quiet.  There is a railway line and a main road close by, but don’t they bother us much.  Everyone we have spoken to is very friendly, and we are moored over on the far side, with a large bit of rough grass between us and the canal, good for Cassie.  I can’t say that the thought of living in a marina for the next few months fills me with enthusiasm, but we really need to get Rog’s toe sorted out and we need to be able to get to and from St Mary’s in Paddington easily by car, whatever the weather.  He also needs to rest his foot a lot to allow it to heal.

Mum lives only a 20 minute car journey away, so if and when we get a bit stir-crazy, we can de-camp to hers for a little while.

Russ is picking Rog up tomorrow and taking him back to Willowtree to collect the car, so at least we will be mobile.  We think we might try and have a day out somewhere we’ve never been once a week to keep the boredom at bay.

I will do the odd blog now and again when there is anything to blog about, but they won’t be very frequentso TTFN to all our readers!!

Strange night-time goings-on at Stoke Bruerne!…

We went for a curry last night at the Spice of Bruerne restaurant, and very good it was too.

Spice of Bruerne, right beside the top lock

As we let Cassie out for a last wee before bedtime last night we could see torches and hear voices and the rattling of a plastic tarpaulin in the nature reserve just over the other side of the fence from the towpath.  Very suspicious – it was pouring with rain and not the sort of night that nature lovers would camp out to watch the wildlife, also they were far too close to the path to have seen anything much anyway.  After watching for a while we shrugged and went to bed, although Rog said that sometime later her heard what sounded like a shot, or a firework going off.  This morning there was a blue plastic tarpaulin rolled up and tied into a neat bundle just by the gate into the reserve, but no sign of the owners.  Our guess is a vagrant or two, but why leave their tarpaulin behind?  It remains a mystery – we’ll see if it happens again tonight.

This morning, to escape the inevitable result of Rog eating curry last night that was permeating the boat, I took Cassie for along walk along the horse-path over Blisworth Tunnel.

Stoke Bruerne wharf

The entrance to Blisworth Tunnel from the horse-path

The bank giving way just short of the tunnel entrance