Thanks to all of you who sent birthday wishes to John for his birthday. He is officially a pensioner and has great delight in checking his bank account every second Tuesday to hear the balance has increased by the pension deposit. It puts a real smile on his face!!!
Barbara Hills birthday was 6 days later so John Hill and I arranged a surprise meal for them at a restaurant that had been recommended. It was called Loves, that being the surname of the owners and we chose the tasting menu at the chefs table which was located in the kitchen.
The food was absolutely delicious and the chef was very good at personally explaining some of his techniques. He had a passion for flavour and understood the chemistry of cooking so was really able to maximise flavour from his cooking methods. We had about 7 courses in all, and although they seemed quite small, we came out positively hurting. His wife Claire was in charge of front of house and had a superb knowledge and appreciation of wine. She poured me the most beautiful French white that equalled my favourite Chardonnay. I am tasting it still as I write this. John and Barbara were very impressed by our surprise.
Veronica, one of our lovely neighbours here gave John Jamie Oliver's British cookbook and he had made a couple of delicious recipes from it. Lucky me!!
We have had a couple of dinner parties here for local folk which have been good fun. It is really lovely to do something normal like that, and we're invited to a barbecue one afternoon by a lovely couple Colin and Anita who live in the village here. It was such a gorgeous day and we whiled away the afternoon sitting under the umbrella enjoying the warmth of the day, good wine - and plenty of it - and lots of laughs. The afternoon terminated about 8.00 pm!!!
The weather has become more settled and slightly warmer so not only are the people recovering, so are the gardens. We have been very busy in between all the social stuff and the property is looking quite lovely.
Susie has had me draw up plans of each garden and label the plants so she can learn the botanical names herself and be able to identify some plans also. It has been a bit of a process and I have had to go into garden centres with fists full of examples of greenery to help get some things identified. They have giant lonicera shrubs here that I have never seen before.
We had a busy weekend in late August with her entire family staying for the Bank Holiday weekend. (I thought bank holidays were fictitious things on the monopoly board). It was her eldest sons birthday so everyone came to celebrate and like all families enjoy the rare occurrence of all being together at once.
Susie is doing a refurbish and change around in her London home so we have had a delivery of spare furniture to store and find new homes for here.
It necessitated a major clean out of one of her storage sheds which was full of beds, bases, ten years of spiders, cobwebs and rat droppings. It was a good job to complete and we were having a bonfire in her paddock so could burn all the stuff that has been chewed or damaged. John was in his element being a pyromaniac.
I am still enjoying my Zumba classes. Our instructor is keen to get a n class going in the nearby Village of Warmington. They had there annual fete last Sunday so she asked us Knightcote girls if we would do a demonstration at the fete. It went very well and a few spectators joined in impromtually, so I guess that means she will manage new class. The fete was such fun and we treated ourselves to the best pimms I have ever tasted afterwards. They had a table in the hall displaying the usual fruits, veges, flowers apple pies etc, and the funniest table was the misshapen vegetable collection. You can just imagine the "Jake the Peg" style carrots etc. We did giggle - especially aft the pimms!!
I have been trying to convince Moira, another neighbour, that she would love Zumba, and she lives right next door to the hall so only has to go through her hedge to get there. She has said absolutely not until she came along on Sunday to watch us and was supposed to be in charge of looking after the handbags on the sideline. Well the moment the music started she just could not help herself and is a total convert.
John managed to find another painting he liked of a scene in Hastings so had to purchase it.
So for those of you who have not made it to a Zumba class yet, try it. It is such a fun way to exercise.
Will sign out for now - look forward to some comments from you
Sue and John
Location:Birmingham
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