Year: 2024

Our Red Hatters lunch. Today held at Grove Ferry. The owner came out to chat to us, because we are ‘ Kent Lavender Ladies’ and informed us that there used to be a lavender farm on the site of the pub., many years ago.  …..

“Did you know?
Lavender was once grown commercially in this
area and its oils distilled at Grove Ferry. The
quality of the lavender water was praised by
the actress Ellen Terry.”

Well, every day is a school day! The landlord then wanted to take a photo of us all for his promotions!

A nice lunch with good company.

Thought for the Day – “Time doesn’t take away from friendship, nor does separation.” ~Tennessee Williams

 

Lou, Rhys, Oscar and Josie came for lunch. Mal brought a huge squash from the allotment which he was going to roast along with everything else. We had meat and salmon, so a lot going on in the kitchen, along with starters and desserts.

A long story short, Mal cut the squash and continued on to his finger. Blood was everywhere in the kitchen and I was trying to get him to go to the bathroom as it was pouring everywhere  while he wanted to check the roast potatoes.  Needless to say we gave up with the squash and I tried to bind up the finger which continued to bleed heavily. I had visions of the hospital but eventually after the third tight dressing and a plastic finger covering, it seemed contained! I just about sorted Mal, cleaning everywhere and had lunch ready when Rhys and co arrived.

We had a lovely afternoon.

We had lunch outside then we all walked the dogs around Sandwich and ended up in The Crispin Inn when it started to rain. Our next door neighbour works in there and welcomed us in, obviously they are dog friendly.

Thought for the Day –  “The family is one of nature’s masterpieces”

A day out in Canterbury with the Kent Lavender Ladies. We were all arriving by different buses (parking is horrendous & expensive in Canterbury) so we decided to meet in Spoons. I was the first one there. Penny’s bus got held up, as they always do somewhere because of the continuing road works.  We had our lunch and then walked round to the theatre to see “Now That’s What I Call Music.” We were in the circle to one side (cheap seats!)and it seemed the whole of the first half was on the side of the stage so that we could n’t see it.

Thank goodness we hadn’t paid £80 a ticket as it was awful. In the interval we all just looked at each other and made comments, some of the show out of tune, music not in time etc etc. So, we left!!! We decided we could have more fun somewhere else.

We walked past “My Cafe”, having never been in there, we decided to give it a try and pleased we did. The waitress was really lovely and we all ended up having tea and pancakes, justified by the fact we didn’t have desert after lunch! Such a nice place, we will have to go back.

In spite of the show, we really enjoyed our day out.

Thought for the Day – “Friends offer free therapy.”

Wingham Orchards with Ellie for our walk, it looks as though there will be a bumper apple harvest this year.

We dropped Ellie off at home and then went to Wingham Wildlife.

In the evening we watched the Race Across the Road final, interspersed with Spurs game. They only just won!

Thought for the Day – “When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Another morning at Kearsney, such greedy swans!

Another beautiful day so we headed to St Mildred’s Bay for Trev’s goldie meet up. There were 12 goldies there today, some very crazy ones. The coastguard rescue, a sight we see far too often, was circling very low above us.

After about half an hour we could see Ellie flagging a little, well she is 12 and a half and sometimes she starts to show her age.  At the moment we have her on double Yumove, hoping that will help.

Spurs v Arsenal in the afternoon. Oh dear Arsenal won, I will hear about it tomorrow as Jack supports them!

I then cooked a meal which I used to cook a lot in Cyprus, Lamb Khoresh and have to say I was shocked at the butchers when I discovered the diced lamb was £28 per kilo…..ouch!  But it is delicious.

Thought for the Day – “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” ~ Og Mandino

Another beautiful day, so off to Kearsney Abbey. Ellie so loves going in the stream (and rolling in the mud afterwards but we’ll forget about that bit!)

We had a coffee in the cafe while Ellie dried off a bit in the sun.

In the afternoon it was football. Luton (won) followed by Hammers , a draw by the skin of their teeth!

Of course Strictly in the evening……must be heading for Christmas!

Thought for the Day – “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” ~ Paulo Coelho