Not a great deal has happened since I last wrote late last week, except that my bathroom is nearing completion!! The tiler was here Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and he has completed the walls. He did the floor on Saturday, and he has to come back to do the sealing on Saturday. The cabinet, towel warmer, towel rack, shelves, etc. are all up, but the toilet roll holder is on back order!! Naturally!! Also, the skirt for the tub has to be cut down, and the door to the bathroom is off and has to be cut down. It's a fire door. I didn't know many fires started in the bathroom, but then, what do I know about fires in the UK? Hopefully, all these things will be completed this week, but then again, this project has taken so long, I don't count on anything being done when they say it will. We shall see.

My back felt well enough for me to go back to work on Thursday. I made it through Thursday and Friday, and of course, I came home each day and rested it afterwards.

On Saturday, when the workers were here, I went round to Liz Kirby's home. Her husband, Richard, stepson Adam, Karen Whiteley and Mike Kendall had all gone to Royal Ascot for the races, and they were in the Royal Enclosure. The guys had rented their tuxes, Karen had purchased 2 hats as she wasn't sure she could get in the Royal Enclosure with the original one (she did - there are explicit rules for the Royal Enclosure: hats must have a brim, no bare shoulders, no bare midriffs, dresses must at least be to the knees, etc.). When I arrived at Liz's she said that Richard and Mike had just been seen on the telly. Naturally, I missed it. Royal Ascot will be here in York next year, as there will be expansion work going on at it's usual home. Therefore, all racing members here in York were offered 4 tickets to Ascot so they could see how things were done, etc. Liz and Richard had given Adam membership last year, and therefore, they were able to get the tickets for the event. From all reports, everyone had a good time, and they wound up not 5 feet from the Queen. Plus, they had winner, and that made it all the better.

I was off Saturday to Gareth and Peter's home in Thormanby for dinner Saturday night, and I'd been asked to make brownies for dessert. I'd taken them before, and everyone loved them. So once again I made brownies for 10 with my precious Texas pecans, and even those who said they don't normally eat desserts had to admit they loved them, and they ate it all!! There were two for each person, with a few extras for Peter and Gareth to enjoy. Peter served them with delicious ice cream made with Cornish Cream, and strawberries. Yummy!! We had a great evening, and around midnight, we all retired to bed.

Sunday dawned glorious, as it had rained quite a bit on Saturday, and in fact, the forecast had been for rain over the weekend. Peter, Gareth and Emily set off on a run, and Steve said he was going for a bike ride. I suggested to Gary that we go in the car to heckle them along the way, but we wound up being in charge of the bacon, sausages and black pudding, as the others eventually got up and got themselves sorted. The athletic ones returned, and we had a good English breakfast, then it was time for us to get ready for the community church picnic. Gareth has a butcher shop in Middlesborough and always donates the meat, and Peter was in charge of the bar. It was 2 houses down from theirs, and so around 12:45 the rest of us trooped down there. What lovely garden it was in!! Beautiful rolling lawn, beautiful plants, trees, etc. It was starting to get warm, and I took off my jacket (YES! How sweet it is to be able to wear a jacket and long sleeve pullover on June 20th!), as did many others, and eventually we had our sleeves pushed up, etc. The food and drink were delicious, and we were having a great time, when the dark clouds came over. It began to get chilly, and back came the jackets. Then the wind picked up, and it started to sprinkle. We all headed for cover, either under the gazebo, in the garage, or on the porch of the playhouse for the children. Then it hailed!!! YES! HAIL!! That ended, and the rain came. Not to be dampened, the bar remained open, the raffle was carried out, and then the rain let up a bit, and I made a dash for the car to drive back into town. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend, and so nice to be with such enjoyable people. And oh, how I DO NOT miss the heat and humidity!! I am truly enjoying this lovely weather. Why, I've not even had a fan on yet!!

So there you have it, another week here. Hope all is well with you all.

Love,

Denny