Bits & Bobs & Alloy Dinks.....

It's been a very quiet week after the intense goings-on in the lead-up to the party.

I have played host to Auntie Alice up until last Sunday when she went off to my cousins in Stockton.

On Sunday this week, she will be coming back to Darlington to board the train back to Benfleet in Essex. I may see her before she goes but not sure.

I have to say I have been a little deflated since the party and decided that it was time to tick off some of my little jobs which had been on the back burner for a while.

Hence the two swans finally received a sparkly coat of white Hammerite paint to cover their rusty wings. Now, they are back in situ on the front lawn, looking very swish.

One of my u3a ladies asked me a while ago if I would be prepared to do a little crafting with her Down's son and his housemate.

So, last Saturday I went off to meet Steven and Fiona and their carers to do some

crafting. As I didn't know their skill level, I took some 5D diamond painting along. It was a great two-hour session and both of them completed coasters. Here is Steven proudly showing off his finished coaster. I will be there again next month for more crafting.

Right, I have had my new mini since the 29th of March. I have to say she is my pride and joy, so you can imagine my dismay when, in the week of the party, I curbed one of the front alloy wheels. It was on Cleveland Avenue as I had to make a quick manoeuvre to get out of the way of a post office van coming through the chicane the opposite way, in the middle of the road and without any hint of slowing down. As I had had the forethought to take out alloy wheel insurance when I bought the mini it wasn't such a drama getting it fixed. So on the 1st of May, a guy turned up and repaired the wheel on my front driveway.

My crafting u3a ladies are still coming once a month and enjoying every minute of the sessions. This time we were making jewellery out of peg springs and pompom plant coasters.

Finally this week, Auntie Alice bought me some beautiful silk and artificial foliage flowers to adorn my shetland cow Daisy which Ben and Sarah bought me for my birthday. I arranged the single flowers into a pot of cement and jobs a good one.