Graduation Day.....

Am very proud of my niece Amy. In fact, I'm proud of all my nieces - Kirsty, Emma, Kim  &  Jacqui - just in case any of them ever read this! Last week was graduation day for Amy as she left Liverpool with a 2.1 BA Hons in History. The sky duly emptied as I arrived at Lime Street and didn't stop until long after I had left for home. There were flash floods in Liverpool - unbelievable. However, the weather failed to dampen a wonderful day.

We had a lovely meal afterwards in the Everyman Bistro. I had the Greek lamb stew which was delicious. Didn't have time for dessert though so will have to go back another time. Haven't been to the Everyman since I went to see Stephen Sharkey's  - The May Queen. Anyhow, the day soon ended and I found myself back on the train to Stafford.

So where are we? Well.... the plan was to move to Cumbria by August and we are still very much focused on that. Just waiting for the final bits of paperwork to slot onto place and then we are off. The house is half empty as some of our stuff is already in Alston. The rest is boxed up and ready to go. We are literally just waiting for a date and then we will be off. There is no panic though as we have let the house from October so we can hang on longer if we need to. Its exciting now as we are able to start to make plans about what we want to do with the house. Mark is even making hopeful sounding mutterings about an AGA but we will wait and see. Am looking for a reconditioned one but even they are expensive so will have to wait. Perhaps by my next post we will have moved.....who knows?

Beware of the Sheep

Sat with a mug of tea last night and made a plan for the week ahead and a plan of what needs to be moved out of each room. We are trying to break the move into two sizeable chunks instead of one great overwhelming move and have been lucky enough to be able to arrange a lock up to store all the things that we have already packed. We are planning a quick trip to Alston on Wednesday to drop stuff off and will stay over night. There is a little holiday let that we thought looked nice that just happens to be next door to our new house! It is just for two which is perfect!

We are planning on catching up with some friends for coffee and having another quick look at Orchard House to do some measurements etc. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to sort things out just with Mark and without having to entertain the children whilst we do it!

Mark has designed some 'New Address" cards based on a design by icon-art. I have a card they created that someone sent me with a sheep on and it really made me smile.

This is the original and below is Marks version:

I love this! I think I will get it printed in black & white though.

This is a photo of one of the Harrison sheep from Alston that Mark took a couple of years ago. No doubt the poor creature has since been despatched and roasted but I have fond memories of that particular holiday and I am really pleased withe new address cards. Now I just have to get them printed in time for our 'Open House' in a couple of weeks time.