OUR NEW POND AND OTHER ADVENTURES!

We had quite a job trying to get out of our estate this morning to go to Church!  We realised the road would be closed for the Swindon Half Marathon, but thought we had left in plenty of time to miss the road closures, but sadly it was not to be.  

Instead of turning right where a lot of cars were waiting, we turned left and wended our way all round the long road, only to be confronted with another “Road Closed” sign at the other end.  Undeterred, we doubled back, as this is the only road into and out of the estate, but once again, we were thwarted.  So we had to play a waiting game and for a 5 minute journey, we spent 50 minutes in the car, but made it just before the service started.

It was led by “Special Friends Church” a group that meets at the Community Centre and is for adults with learning disabilities.  They are a lovely group and took part in the service very enthusiastically, with some of their helpers also in attendance.  

I then went round to Mum’s to prepare her lunch, as the carers have been quite late getting her meals, and then we watched Songs of Praise together, which she enjoyed.  She got up for the first time yesterday, and told me that she would use her walker to get out into the lounge to have her lunch today, which she did.  The way she was licking her lips, and judging by the amount of sauce all over her face, she obviously enjoyed the ribs in barbecue sauce, followed by a steamed jam pudding.

When I left her, nodding well after a good lunch, and confident that it wouldn’t be too long before she was asleep, Mr. HCB and I went out to the Water Garden at Hinton Parva where we wandered around choosing some plants for our new pond.  

Here is Mr. HCB, modelling once again, and he tells me that his fees are double for a Sunday and perhaps even treble, since he was on the Popular pages yesterday - so a special thank you to everyone who put him there! 

We are really pleased with the pond and hope that we soon see some wildlife in it and around it.  I am assured by a fellow Blipper that once we have some frogs in the pond, we shouldn’t see too many slugs!  Mr. Newman, the owner and his son, Ben, at the Water Garden, were very helpful and gave us some good advice, so I have no doubt we shall be going back there, if only to enjoy the wonderful gardens.  I also saw a wonderful derelict tree, so watch this space for the DS challenge.

We had a lot of rain in the night - in fact, it was a good thunderstorm - but the pond isn’t full yet.  However, Mr. HCB says he is loathe to put more water in, as we are due a lot more rain in the next few days.  Hope everyone has a great week - I will be going out as  much as possible, because our drive is being started tomorrow - and I think it is likely to be very noisy, wet and dirty!

“How often it is that a garden, 
     beautiful though it be, 
          will seem sad and dreary and 
               lacking in one of its most gracious features, 
                    if it has no water.”
Pierre Husson