A Cold Late Spring / F.D.Roosevelt & his First Ladies / Retirement

The central heating has been going on & off this spring. Most of March brought cold easterlies from the continent keeping temperatures well below their seasonal norms. Snowdrops bravely flowered for weeks while the daffodils cowered in leaf - even now we have some daffodils still in bloom

& this was when our young chickens arrived...

Books advised us not to name our chickens but needless to say we did! We toyed with British Isles legendary queens & heroines but after a visit from our US friends, Alex & Lucy, we settled on American First Ladies;

Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Barbara Bush, Michelle Obama, 

Nancy Regan & Eleanor Roosevelt.

Here is Eleanor in the snow,

More Eleanor news to follow...

From Michelle's first egg

to a Helter Skelter of mixed eggs!

Meanwhile Fritz & Mitsy kept on top of paper work & Orla was back jumping with Clare

On the 2nd April Colin finally hung up his stethoscope & closed the gas circuit, along with his colleague Anne

Work!

Anne & Colin

A lovely pressie from a nursing colleague

Some days are rather special...

En fin - me with my gal - Sunday, 17th February.
Special thanks to Alex, Winnie, Cath & all at Crackenthorpe Stud.

" Miss Polly had a dolly ..."

Diane asked if I would visit her reception classes to talk about being a doctor, as part of their curriculum topic 'People Who Help Us'. So how could I refuse? It's been a while since I was visiting in school. The wonder of innocent and sometimes vulnerable children never ceases to delight & bring a lump to the throat...

 

We had a selection of teddies, dollies, dogs, dinosaurs, monkeys, aliens & Peppa Pigs to attend to!

" Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick.
So she phoned for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick.
The doctor came with his bag and his hat,
And knocked at the door with a rat-a-tat-tat.

He looked at the dolly and shook his head,
And said "Miss Polly put her straight to bed.
He wrote a paper for a pill, pill, pill.
I'll be back in the morning with the bill, bill, bill."

All very pre- NHS or the private sector!

London, It's London ....

Surely no need for a caption!

We're just back from a visit to the busy capital! Actually it was Colin's swan song re anaesthetic conferences & I just tagged along. I'm not sure when we'll be back in central London so I decided I needed to soak up some culture:

     

A sample of Georgian, Victorian & Edwardian frills & bows in the V & A (Victoria & Albert) Museum, South Kensington.

The hats were gorgeous.
            

 And of course boys will be boys:

Has the eagle landed?

 

This is really is Stephenson's Rocket.

Wiki says: "Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in 1829 at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson & Co in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
It was built for, and won, the Rainhill Trials held by the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1829 to choose the best design to power the railway.
Though the Rocket was not the first steam locomotive, it was the first to bring together several innovations to produce the most advanced locomotive of its day."

If you look very carefully you can see The Shard as a slither

The Boys on Duty

Even for this view I'm glad my office isn't opposite this

Looking towards Kendal

Our journey home was delayed by a couple of hours due to snow but it was already snowy in Cumbria

.

Here's to Health & Happiness in 2013 ...

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days o' lang syne? Chorus
For auld lang syne, my Dear
For auld lang syne
We'll tak a cup o kindness yet
For auld lang syne ... And there's a hand, my trusty feire
And gie's a hand o' thine
And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught
For auld lang syne
    

 

& it's strange how there' always time for ...

Poor old Orla, I'm sure she's saying,
"do I really have to? Oh mind my head and this is embarrassing!"

 

It's been a busy, damp but real family Christmas ...

Only two days left of 2012!

The weather has been mild but damp (Met Office officially confirmed that 2012 is the wetest on record). Nicky & I were laid up with Montesuma's Carlisle's revenge; whilst Jamie has been busy juggling his pizza delivery job (for coins) with his three week work experience at BBC Radio Cumbria (which he's really enjoying) Despite this we've had a lots of precious family time together, after mad last minute preparations...

Coco keeping his beady eyes on proceedings ...

 

why does wrapping paper have it's own mind?

Frantic cake icing - almond & royal

But we got there...

 & dinner was more or less on time...