Beanies first trip in Tallulah - Friday 6th February.

MILEAGE 15280 - 15312 -TOTAL = 32 MILES. 

As most of you know, January ended up being a very sad month for us.  Our beautiful Loulou died peacefully at home on Sunday the 18th of January. We were distraught.  Little did we know that in the early hours of the morning it was to become even worse.

There was a fire at Dawsmere kennels where we do volunteer work for Three Counties Dog Rescue.  Three of the dogs died.  Daisy, Teal and Dave were all inside the main building where the fire broke out.  The rescue lost everything.

In the days that followed we were in a daze.  I spent the week at the kennels along with the other volunteers doing what we could.  During that awful week both Simon and I came to the same conclusion; we couldn't bare our empty house and so on Friday 23rd of January our Beanie boy came home to live with us.   You can read more about him in my main blog.

Friday 6th of February was a big day for Beanie.  It was his first trip out in Tallulah. This is him the very first time he ever went inside.

 

 

His first ride was just a short trip to Stamford as we had to take him to the Vet for a check up. He was, as always, a very good boy at the Vet.  Good boy in Tallulah as well.  We took his bed with us and after removing the table he is able to travel in his bed behind the drivers seat.

 Here he is trying out the driving position with his Dad.

 In this one he is looking out for Simon who had gone back in the Vets to pay.

 Daddy is taking too long and I am fed up waiting so I'll have a lie down!

Once we were done at the Vet we had a walk around Stamford market and followed that by lunch in the grounds of Burghley House.

 After lunch we took Beanie for a short walk in the Burghley grounds.

 He knows Dad has a pocket full of biscuits!

 

 

 Look at that face!

 

 

 

We were really pleased with how well behaved he was in Tallulah.  He seemed to be quite happy.  So much so that we decided we should all have our first ever night away this same weekend.

Jilly

Tallulah's 1st outing of 2015

Sunday 11th January 2015
MILEAGE 15201 - 15280 -TOTAL = 79 MILES. 

It is 6 weeks since Tallulah last had a trip out so on Sunday we decided that despite the weather we really should take her for a little ride.

The weather was very cold and very windy but at least it wasn't raining.

We decided to go to Lyveden new Bield which is a National Trust property near Oundle.  We have been there probably half a dozen times over the  years and of course it is also the place where Coralie and John held their wedding reception in 2008.

Lyveden New Bield is an unfinished Elizabethan summer  house.  It dates from around 1604 and was built for Sir Thomas Tresham.  However, after years of religious persecution, Sir Tresham died in 1605 with most of his wealth depleted. His son Francis inherited the estate but sadly it was never to be finished as later that same year Francis, along with his cousins, became involved in the gunpowder plot and as the saying goes..... the rest is history!

You can find out more here: Lyveden New Bield.

http://www.britainexplorer.com/feature-articles/item/153-curse-of-the-treshams

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyveden_New_Bield

This is Tallulah in the car park.  We had a cuppa and some lunch before heading out.

As it turned out it was so bitterly cold that we had a quick walk around the house and headed back to the comfort and warmth of Tallulah.  We will be back at some point I am sure.

 As you can see I was cold!  What else can you see?

 

 

 

I thought you might also enjoy seeing a couple of old photos from Coralie's wedding.

 

These were taken in the evening at Coralie and John's wedding.  The lighting was all done by John and it looked absolutely beautiful.

 

 

Jilly

Our 35th wedding Anniversary.

Monday 1st  December

Mileage Start 15078 - End  =

35 years ago today was the very best day of my life.  I married my best friend.  Like most long marriages there have been ups, downs and lots of ordinariness in between but we have survived to tell the tale!

As it was Simon's day off we decided that a little trip out in Tallulah was in order.  I was feeling quite down in the morning as the only cards we got were the ones that we sent each other.  Nobody else acknowledged the day, not even our children.  I know that shouldn't matter but it did.

I was very sad too that the one person who would never have forgotten is no longer here.  My Dad. For 34 years we always had a card from my Mum and Dad.  Even through the years when Mum was in the hospital and Dad was so busy and preoccupied, he never once forgot.

Anyway, we decided to go to Hunstanton to look for more sea glass.  Hunstanton  is just a little bit further around the coast from Heacham where we found some sea glass a few weeks back.

It was a really cold and windy day but we had the best time.  We parked  at the far side of Hunstanton on the road above the cliffs.  We walked down through the gardens onto the sea front and then spent several hours walking right the way along the beach to the other end.  

Found this Union Jack on the beach.

SELFIES!

All the time we were scanning the sand around our feet for the elusive sea glass.  We didn't have any luck to begin with but then Simon found a few pieces.  While we were walking, we talked again about the fact that nobody had remembered our day. I said to Simon how hard I was finding it with no card from Dad and that he never forgot.  As I was speaking a little glint of glass caught my eye down in the sand.  I bent to pick it up and as it slid free of the sand I saw that it was little heart.

My Dad had not missed the day after all.  He had not forgotten. He sent me his heart.

I know to many of you that will all sound very fanciful. You believe what you will.  You will never convince me otherwise.   My Dad sent that heart to me in that moment to let me know that everything is ok and that he loves me.

We continued our walk along the beach and did find several more pieces of glass but not much. By the time we returned to Tallulah the sun was going down so we drove home.

It was a lovely day and although Tallulah has now been resting for over a month I am hoping that the winter weather will soon allow us to have our first trip of 2015.

Heacham Beach

Monday 17th November

Mileage Start 14956 - End 15078 = 122 miles.

So Simon's day off had rolled round again and it was time to take Tallulah on a trip.  We chose to go to the beach at Snettisham in Norfolk.  It was a cold day but quite bright and I particularly wanted to go to the coast as I wanted to see if I could find any sea glass.

I have become interested in sea glass after seeing the beautiful jewelry that can be made with it.  There are some really clever sellers on Etsy who make absolutely beautiful stuff.   As you know, I am hoping to try out different crafts and I would like to try my hand at this.  First things first though; you can't make sea glass jewelry without some sea glass!

We initially drove to Snettisham which is the nearest beach to us.  We have been there many, many times over the years with the children as it was the nearest beach when we lived in Peterborough too.  It's about 60 odd miles so not exactly close but makes a good day trip.

What we hadn't remembered (or maybe it wasn't always there)  is that there is a height barrier for the beach car park at Snettisham.  Poor Tallulah was denied entry.  

As there wasn't anywhere else to park up we (or rather Simon) reversed up the road past several vehicles and then executed a neat three point turn so that we could head on to the next beach down the road which is Heacham. 

Heacham beach has a lot of shells and our children always called it the shell beach.  That name has stuck.  Fortunately there are no barriers and we were able to park easily.  There was pretty much nobody else there except a few dog walkers and 2 old guys with metal detectors.  I often wonder what they actually find?  Seems a bit of an odd hobby to me but then we were there to scour the beach for sea glass which I guess  some people would find equally odd!

It was really cold as there was quite a wind but there were lovely big blue skies; at least for a short while anyway!  This part of the British coast has wonderful light which I think is to do with the big wide expanses of beach and the wide uninterrupted skies.

 Look at the long shadows.

 

 

 

Simon scanning the shoreline.

 

SEA GLASS!

 

 

We spent several hours walking along the beach with our eyes cast down until finally we had to give up as the sun was beginning to go down. 

As you can see from the photos we had some success.  Not much but some! It is a start. 

Jilly