Ouch - my wallet

Well my teeth are finally fixed with 2 new crowns and looking good. My wallet isn't very happy though. It's feeling rather underweight and wondering where it's next meal is coming from. It may take it some time to get back to where it was last week :(

Please make cheques payable to "Parky's Crown Fund". All donations gratefully recived.

Many Thanks

Father's Day

I'm fast asleep, but then suddenly I'm disturbed by the bedroom door opening and the sound of girls voices. I look at the clock and it's 9.00 am. The girls voices are those of Hannah & Esther carrying a tray and on it is my breakfast - shredded wheat, toast & jam, fresh strawberries and a cafetiere of coffee and all beautifully presented. I sit up and enjoy.

It's now 1.00pm and we're all back from church. Esther kicks me out of the kitchen while she makes dinner. I know generally what it is as I went shopping to the market with Anita & Hannah yesterday. At the butchers I was asked what I wanted for Sunday lunch - I opted for a piece of rump steak, then we bought strawberries on the veg stall for pudding. Yum, yum the steak was cooked to perfection. Well done Esther!

However something else is going on, I'm still not allowed into the kitchen. All afternoon I've been barred - what is going on? It's now 6pm and time for a cuppa before church. I'm not really hungry as we had dinner quite late. Ah! at last I see whats been going on, with my cup a tea a piece of homemade caramel shortbread - mmm heaven.

Thanks girls for a wonderful Fathers' day - I love you both.

Ouch - my tooth

Yesterday one of my teeth broke while I was eating a cereal bar. It's snapped in two & the filling has fallen out. Tomorrow I visit the dentist to get it fixed. So wait for the next installment; 'Ouch - wallet'

This is my first mobile blog.

This is my first mobile blog. This is my dog ellie a border collie. She is 10 years old and still very lively.

Picnic in Bowland

Today we had a family day out in the Forest of Bowland. We stopped at one of our favourite picnic spots for lunch near to Dunsop Bridge - the centre of the Kingdom. Hannah enjoyed it so much she fell asleep, while Esther & Ellie played in the stream.

This is one of my favourite places in the UK. It's unspoilt, quiet, peaceful, a designated 'area of outstanding natural beauty' and only an hours gentle drive away. As a child I have many happy memories of paddling in the streams, building dams and generally having a fun in the water. Although I don't paddle or build dams anymore, it's great just to be out in the 'fresh' air sat in a deckchair reading a favourite book or magazine.

The stream was quite dry due to the lack of rain over the past few weeks. We also passed by some areas of hillside that had been on fire during the last few days (in fact last weekend, we could see large clouds of smoke rising from the Bowland fells as we drove along Shore Road on our way to Hesketh Bank).

Later in the afternoon we packed away our picnic & headed off to Dunsop Bridge for some delicious homemade ice cream. From there we made our way home via a stop in Clitheroe to check out a caravan site next to the River Ribble which looked pretty good, so may be we'll spend some time there in the future.