Little Mary Dunbar does dishes on her holiday. She's our kitchen elf and we love her for it.
In the lower photo, we're in front of the Aga (stove) in Gill's kitchen. We're playing with my new toy, a digital camera bought especially so that I might feed the blog with photos :-). The self-timer works well as you can see.

GILL AND SAM RIDE AGAIN!
This is Gill on her scooter, a wonderful contraption that allows her to terrorize the pedestrians and motorists of Somerton as she careens around town getting up to no good. If you look closely, you'll see little Sam at her feet. He loves riding on the scooter ... he's her accomplice.

NEPHEW VISITS
My nephew is here with us. He arrived on the same day as Jessica and has been managing quite well with all these women around. He and I attended the memorial service of Tanya, his great-niece, in Bristol yesterday. Tanya died at age 27 of breast cancer. The memorial was an excellent tribute to her short life and was held at a picturesque country estate on a beautifully sunny day. Although it was a sad event, I think her parents and brother were pleased with their efforts to have her remembered in such a positive way.
By the way, my nephew is twee.

JESSICA ARRIVES - This is Jessica on her arrival, jetlagged and weary from her long flight. Little Mary Dunbar and I picked her up at Cardiff airport on May 4th ... that's two days ago already!!
Jessica, Mary and I will be going to Newcastle to visit Kate and Sean in their new digs. We leave tomorrow and return on Saturday - minus Jessica who will stay on with Kate and Sean in Newcastle. She's going to do a work placement in physiotherapy at a local hospital in Newcastle and then tootle on to Ireland with Kate and Sean. So far, she's adapting very well to life with the 'Geries' and seems to not mind hanging out with the old fogies. We're actually pretty wild and irreverend at times ... and not at all well behaved ... especially when we get into our antics with Chaos League. But that's a story for another day as Hammy Hampster would have said.

LITTLE MARY DUNBAR VISITS SOMERTON
Yes, my friend Little Mary is here in Somerton and Gill and I are enjoying her visit. So far, she has met some friends, walked around Somerton, had a pub lunch, been invited to tea at Nicky and John Baulkwill's, and walked around neighbouring Langport. Here, you see her with her newest trainee, Sam. She's very good at teaching him to behave properly as she broaches no arguments. If she stays at Linden Lea long enough, he will be the best trained puppy in Somerton!
In the evenings, Gill, Mary, and I like to sit around the computer and try to master Chaos League, a wicked new (to us) computer game. It requires a lot of strategic moves and helps us develop our sense of logic ... while providing us with hours of good clean fun.

I thought I would 'ramble on' about my daily routine - if you can call it that!
Sam, the puppy, is my first concern in the morning ... mainly because he makes sure he is. He starts barking at about 6:30 and so I roll out of bed sometime around then and come down to let him out of his pen. He HATES the pen and lets us know. However, the alternative of finding a huge mess motivates us (me, at least) to keep him contained for now. Also, if we ever take him with us to stay at someone else's house, he'll have his own sleeping space. Both he and Gill are sceptical about the value of the crate.
So, I get up (most days) at around 6:45, let the dog out, and then have a cup of tea or coffee. Then there's breakfast, a long dog walk in and around Somerton, coffee at about 11, lunch at about 1, tea at around 4, dinner at around 7. Between all these meals and breaks, I try to go to the library, to the shops, on another long walk. catch up with e-mails and correspondence. The day goes so quickly that I wonder how I ever had time to do any of those things when I was working!
I seem to be at the post office quite a bit. Sounds like I keep up with my correspondence, eh? Wrong. But I do try to write a note here and there in reply to letters and cards I've received.
It's about a 7-minute walk into the centre of town from Gill's - such a pleasant walk too as most of the buildings are very old (and very beautiful). The sidewalk is normal in places, extremely narrow in others, and non-existent in a couple of spots. There are cars parked on both sides of the road which itself is very narrow. How they don't get smashed is beyond me. But they don't. It's like they're double parked because the road is so very narrow. I wish I had lived here before the time of cars. It must have been so quaint.
Gill and I just finished watching Part 1, volumes 1 and 2 (12 hours' worth) of a romantic saga called Poldark. It was excellent and we have more to look forward to. I have to order them in at the library and will wait now until I return from London before ordering the next part. The process takes about two weeks.
I guess I had better go and get dressed as it's breakfast time and time to walk Sam. Have a nice day!

Dear's Brownies

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour.
Ice with chocolate icing when cool.
Yum, yum!