This has been quite a week.  One reason for no blogging is that my hard drive was full so I couldn’t upload any photos and another is because I was too busy to sort the hard drive out and then blog.  Instead of trying to catch up with everything, I will just share with you the most significant events.

I was very sad to attend the funeral on Wednesday of Uncle Brian.  Technically Brian is my cousin once removed as he was my Mother’s cousin.  He was my Mother’s favourite cousin and as such she made a lot of effort to see him and his lovely wife Marion and consequently we have enjoyed many family get togethers over the years.

This was Brian and Marion with Katie at a bowling alley near Whitstable where we celebrated my other Aunty Marion’s 70th last year. Katie invited us all back to hers for lunch!

Brian and Marion were happily married for 60 years so our hearts go out to Marion, having to adjust to life with just memories of him. Most recently we saw Brian this summer at the birthday celebrations of my Uncle and Aunty in Lyme Regis. I am so glad we had that time together in August because that is how I will remember Brian. He was very sociable, he had a lovely sense of humour and enjoyed being with everyone, young and old.  We all enjoyed being with him too and will miss him and his lovely twinkly eyes and quiet and intelligent humour very much.

After all the sadness of the funeral service,  I went with my immediate family to Bere Farm near the village Lytchett Matravers in Dorset.  We had lunch at The Barn Cafe.  I had a toasted Brie and cranberry panini which was not a good diet choice but I did enjoy it.

It was pointed out to us during the funeral service, that Brian would not have wanted anyone to be sad.  Well, we were all very sad during the service but Brian would have enjoyed our lunch which was much more jolly.
After lunch we went for a wander in The Old Piggery Garden Centre which was next to the Barn Cafe and a lovely French antique furniture shop. This was one of the most charming garden centres I have ever been in. The old pig styes had been painted and each one became the setting for a little garden room. Interesting objects and lovely things for sale were all placed as if you were in someone’s garden rather than a garden centre. I wasn’t always sure what was for sale but that didn’t matter, I enjoyed pottering about. It was all the more enjoyable for having some of my lovely sisters and cousins with me.

I bought some lavender which I have since planted at home and will remember Brian by, each year when it flowers.

A much happier occasion this week was sharing Sally’s birthday present with her last Sunday.

We met up at The Delaunay on Aldwych for breakfast.  I started with a flat white and then enjoyed pancakes with maple syrup and bacon which were good but not as good as the ones we make at home. Their cake display was very pretty but it was too early for cake. Apparently it was also too early for champagne!  We had bought Sally tickets for the ballet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.  We were going to see Manon.  The performance began at 12:00 so we were there at 11:15 and fancied a glass of bubbles first but they do not serve alcohol until Midday.  Denied our fizz we explored the ROH instead. This is a mirrored wall with a glimpse in to the bar above. This spectacular glass wall is the view reflected in the previous picture.  It was a bright and sunny day which showed this building off in all its glory. It is absolutely stunning.Upstairs is an open sided balcony which was lovely in the sunshine.From there you can look down over Covent Garden. Time for the ballet to begin 🙂 We had great seats. The ballet was beautiful and it was in three acts so during the first interval we enjoyed our champagne.

The only sad part of our lovely day was that Michelle was ill and unable to come.  We did miss you Michelle but we had a very lovely stand in and I enjoyed sharing our special day with Lara. After the ballet we wandered outside in to Covent Garden. This suspended building has been receiving a lot of publicity recently so it was interesting to see it.I had a pizza for lunch at Rosso Pommodorro on Monmouth Street and ended the day with a glass of wine and a good chat at Scoff and Banter.  I enjoy celebrating friend’s birthdays and this was a particularly good celebration!  With particularly good friends.
Today I worked from home.  I had caught up with some of the local lovely ladies in our village pub last night where we gathered for wine and pizza.  It was good to catch up with them.

I would not have won any healthy eating or drinking awards this week so I made an effort today.  I began with a juice made from kale, cucumber, sugar snap peas, lime, orange and an apple.
I found this sachet in the cupboard and stirred it in to the juice as I think every vitamin and mineral counts when you are feeling run down and exhausted! I was peckish late morning but in meetings so I grabbed a quick snack of cashews, pecans, coconut flakes and dates. When I had time I cooked up some of my lovely home grown potatoes with stir fried onions, leeks, broccoli and pork.  Very tasty. Supper was a blackberry and banana smoothie with various super foods blended in with them.  Made just before the storms began when the power was on and off for several hours so we hunkered down on the sofa with candles to avoid complete darkness and watched tv when it was available.  It proved to be a good opportunity to clear down some of the pictures and documents clogging up my hard drive.

So this was quite the week.  Very happy and very sad.  I saw many of my favourite family and friends and visited some special places too.  I do hope next week is a bit more ordinary though.