We have been back in England for six weeks now and I am normally getting upset, packing and buying last minute things for the trip back to NZ! Not this time.
Getting used to the idea of staying put is a hard thing for both of us, a bit of a shock to me and a great hardship for Derek. But here we are staying with my sister and brother in law who are putting up with us until we sell the flat and move or go to live back in the flat. That's all getting complicated and I won't go in to any detail about that!
So England, Dorset primarily, is still beautiful but we still don't like the fact that it is so busy here and the weather for summer is so unpredictable and bad. We really have had lots of rain this summer!
Still we have managed to get out and about and have enjoyed some great days out. Spending time with our family is just a great pleasure; Mum is doing fine as is Derek's dad Gordon and it has been good to spend time with both of them.
Phoebe is a delight and I love to spend time with her. We have walked, talked, swam, sewn, played cards and shared lots of precious moments with each other and this time I don't have to wrap all these memories up in a 'special place' to have later but can just carry on as normal once more. Does that make sense? I know what I mean cos I'm staying here and these precious times are going to be continuous with her.
Dorset is still a very special place even when it's full of people; the children's school holiday seems to have gone very quickly though.
We have also spent time with our new addition to the family Evie who is my great niece and is just gorgeous.
She is growing and changing quickly and Benj and Jess are justifiably proud of her. Also her cousin is very enamoured of her and loves to spend time with her.
We have also had Dax Becky's dog for lots of days out and walks which in itself has been beneficial to all of us and great fun too. He is such a friendly dog and a great character so spending time with him is no hardship at all.
We have had some lovely days out, spending time outside is always good. We had a day out in Poole Harbour curtesy of a friend of my bro-in-law who owns a boat hire company. Julie was having Evie so Mike, Derek, Phoebe and I went over to Hamworthy to meet lovely Esther and her daughter who showed us the ropes before we got on to the water.
As luck would have it the weather was perfect, beautiful blue skies, warm sun and calm water so perfect conditions for a day pootling round the islands. It really is a stunning place - going out from Hamworthy and under the 'new' bridge passed to RNLI building and Poole harbour front is so different from the water.
Phoebe thought life on the sea was wonderful; we spent five hours out there and she even had a go at steering, thank you 'Gruncle Michael'.
We even moored up and went for a G&T at the pub/restaurant at the mouth of the harbour!
So all in all another successful day out, don't you just love it when everything goes to plan for a change!
We had other days out that were just as nice just not as adventurous. A very long walk from Poole Park to Poole Quay via Baiter on another sunny day with Phoebe and Dax. Derek played Crazy Golf with Phoebe too which she loved.
We had a blowy day out over to Highcliffe then on to Barton-on-sea with Phoebe. So much of the cliff face has fallen down so that your now can't walk too close to the cliff edge and the beach there is certainly different deom the glorious sands of Bournemouth and Poole beaches but it is still a nice place to go,anywhere by the sea is still a treat.
The Dorset Chilli Festival was another good venue. This is our third year in a row and I think it gets better each year. There is so much to try and the Birds of Prey show is good to watch with the children joining in too. The setting is stunning too.
So much happened this summer in Dorset but I have decided to close this blog off now as I am spending so much time 'looking back' and I want to start looking forward a bit more now with just a few indulgent dips in to our past.
And I haven't even touched on being in Canada yet. We had a great ten days with Deb and family and James and family. It was so good to spend time there with our grandchildren and get to know them all over again. We went to some gorgeous places and the weather was very kind to us.
It was very hot so we spent a lot of time by whatever water we could find (I have lots of 'proper' photos on my camera but am not taking them off until I get my desktop computer so all these photos are still coming off my phone so I have limited photos too!)
Hopefully now it won't be so difficult to get to see all our grandchildren and family so when we have settled down in our new chosen place of Wimborne, got all our stuff over from NZ and got Christmas under our belts as well as sorting out work for both Derek and I, we can then take a breath and make some plans.
So this chapter is closing off, our travelling will be more local now. No jetting off to islands or dashing around wild and isolated beauty spots - we will have to put up with the gorgeous beaches and rural idyll that is England, not a bad compromise really!
TTFN xx