Thank You.

Dear Friends and Followers.

A huge Thank You for your messages on the blog and across Facebook and Twitter concerning the sad death of our darling boat cat Marmite.

We are still coming to terms with losing her in such a tragic way and still expect Marmite to come running into the back cabin in the mornings and jumping on us both. I personally miss our sheet wars every morning, which always made us laugh.
Paddy seems none the wiser that she has gone, which is either down to his old age, or he just does not care one way or the other. I am thinking it is his age and a touch of Dementia going on, as he is getting that way. Anyway we have not ruled out the prospect of having another cat at some point, but not for a while.

Mike thank you for you words of encouragement to keep blogging. I am going to do so for now, because it will channel my thoughts and energy, whilst I get over losing Marmite. So be prepared for a few rants, but also a lot of laughs. I

I will begin with what has gone on for the past couple of days. As we all know the weather has been hot, hot, hot. There was a time when I could of spent my days lying out in the sun, but not these days. Of course we know it is not good for us these days, but I just cannot sit out these days, I find it way to hot. I have gotten myself a tan this year, doing it responsibly of course. Even using a factor 50 sun cream, I have a tan which makes me look less pale.  So ok with this heat, I have tended to do everything early doors and then spend the hot period of the day relaxing doing something inside the boat. Yesterday (Wednesday), we decided to walk into town. I needed to get my hair trimmed. The last time I had it done was when we were in Gloucester and that was two months ago. Hair trimmed and other things sorted out, we decided on the walk home to head into Leamington-Spa to do the food shopping, because the weather report for Thursday was going to be very hot. We got home, collected out shopping trolleys and caught the bus into Leamington-Spa. I needed to go to Wilko's to buy some paint brushes, varnish and white spirit, which of course means one thing, I would be wheelding a paint brush again on the boat. We went to EE and changed our Wifi device for an updated one and had lunch at our favourite Chinese buffet. After a filling lunch, we walked it off, by walking to Aldi, where we did our weekly shop. Now normally Keith would do this on his own on a Thursday using he bus pass, but he had my help on Wednesday. By the time we got home and I unpacked the shopping, we were both very hot and worn out.
There was no time for me to sit own, because I had a meeting in our Arms office about something exciting, which I will talk about more once it is official, so watch this space on that.
With Wednesday ending on such a good note and with me sleeping like a log, I woke this morning at 7.15 am, got up and made us a much needed first cuppa of the day. The TV in the bed 'ole went on to check the news and weather. It was as forecast going to be hot, so first job of the day in the cool was to walk his Lordship Paddy. These days his walks get slower and slower. Paddy has not been coping well with the weather and he is definitely showing his 14 years of age. With him walked and fed. We had our breakfast and then the work began with the paint brushes I bought on Wednesday. But first for the rubbing down of the back cabin doors and the galley doors on starboard side, or to me the pontoon side of the boat. There was a time I used to rub things down by hand, but having a small sander means I can get it done quicker and easier. Rubbing down accomplished, I varnished the back cabin doors first, because they needed to dry, so we could shut them at bedtime. The galley doors would remain open overnight with the perspex in place to keep the flies out. With the heat of the day, both dried in no time anyway, so there is a bonus to this heatwave. The downside to the heatwave is I cannot paint the metalwork, because the brush just drags and it would look a total mess, so the roof and touching up will have to wait for a cooler period. Varishing done, lunch eaten and Paddy walked, I got on with finishing another crochet blanket.

This is the second blanket I have done in the Hydrangea pattern from Attic 24 website. I have to say that I did not actually follow the pattern. I am useless at following patterns, so a friend very kindly taught me the stitch, whilst we were in Stratford-upon-Avon after the boat festival. I then did read the pattern and it all made more sense, so I will be trying other patterns off of that wonderful blog.

This is their first blanket I made with the same pattern. I have made them both for a friend who is expecting a baby, but because we do not know the sex of the baby, I made one of each. Yes I know clever thinking on my part.

Today has been a good day. Tomorrow will see me wheelding a paint brush again.

Pop back soon xxx