Sorry for the radio silence over the last month, it has been a bit of a roller-coaster!  June is always a busy month anyway but this year it seemed to go mad.  May is our business  year end so I have to do a lot of work to close the previous year off and get the new year up and running.   We have had swimming competitions for both myself and DH which has been busy and next week we have an SGM meeting which is to discuss and vote on the future of the Club and how we move forward and as you can imagine this has created a lot more paperwork, emails etc. 

 I continued with my Spring Cleaning, although we were in the first month of summer, with help from DH doing Eldest’s garage.  I had not done it for two years due to waiting for my Hip Op and it definitely needed doing.  We were quite grimy when we had finished but it did look better.

I have been keeping up with our work and Eldest’s work which is one good thing, although I have not had any opportunity to do any quilting.  Although I have been reading in between work, home jobs and everything else.

Last week was HOT, no way to describe how hot it actually was.  It hit 37°C in parts of the UK and 34°C here in Derbyshire and 29°C in our den where Coco and I spend our days!!!  I got up very early every day and worked in the morning and then gave up by lunch and sat outside until it got too warm and then our sitting room which is at the front of our home and a little cooler.  Our homes in the UK are not built/set up for this type of weather.  We are so used to keeping the heat in during the cold months so in this heat our homes get hot and then we cannot cool them and of course we do not have air conditioning!  It is a cool 23°C this week but getting warm again next.  Of course people in the UK are never happy unless we are discussing or moaning about the weather, it is a National pastime!!!  

We have also been dealing with some other things which I won’t go into here but it has been, along with everything else, a lot.  

One of the nice things I did in June, Jayne and I went out for Afternoon Tea for our Birthdays.  We went to The Cavendish Hotel at Baslow, https://cavendishhotelbaslow.co.uk/, Derbyshire where Jayne and I go for our Christmas celebrations too.   The above is The Gallery Restaurant at The Cavendish and Jayne and I sat at the table in the window.  The Afternoon Tea was lovely

It was a Big Birthday for Jayne (!)  The sandwiches and sausage rolls were lovely and the cakes, well as you can see wonderful.  We had a glass of champagne to celebrate Jayne and then moved to tea.  

We also had Partner’s Birthday three days after Jayne’s and five days before mine!  I told you it was busy. 

In fact I was thoroughly spoilt for my Birthday with dinner, again at The Cavendish, on the Friday with DH.  The dinner was lovely and as it is June it was sunny and warm when we got there and slowly moved to dusk and then full dark.  The last picture is Chatsworth in the distance all lit up for the evening.  

On my Birthday I went out for lunch with Eldest and crew to The Hug & Heave, https://www.thehugandheave.co.uk/  in Ashbourne.  This is owned by one of the Firefighters and family in Eldest’s Station and it is run entirely by them too.  The food is excellent and it is very cosy inside even though it was a very warm day.  Then in the evening we had to go to Matlock pool to set up an event that DH was commentating at on the Sunday.

Sunday I got to see Youngest & crew which was great and we got to sit outside for lunch as it was lovely and warm again.  DH was doing the event and getting very warm as you can imagine in spectator area of the swimming pool.  It was also Father’s Day and DH had some lovely gifts and I gave him this:

A large pork pie from Fortnum & Mason, a link to his family past and it was very good.  I will be ordering one for Christmas.

Coco was taken for a Spa day and I am so pleased I got her clipped before the hot weather last week.  However DH mowed the lawn one weekend and that evening Coco did nothing but sneeze and scratch at her back, neck and anywhere else she could reach!!!  Off to the Vets she went and apparently this is a common thing for dogs this year, it appears that there is a lot more pollen this year than normal and lots of dogs who have not been affected previously have got a canine hay-fever!  As we had taken her in straight away she was not too bad but has now got tablets, which did work straight away and stopped her scratching.  

On the way to the Vets in Daddy’s truck!  

When we were on our way to the swimming pool on my Birthday we called in at home to just put something into the garage and did not need to go into our home.  Someone was not happy and this is the face that appeared at the dining room window:

She pokes her head through the curtains, which are drawn to keep it cool in the house, and looks out!!!!  Little monkey! 

Sunday was the start of Carnival in the village, the above picture was from  2015, but it is as always a frantic week.  Monday was The Dog Show and Junior Football.  

Top picture is DH and The Carnival Queen for this year, Erin, at The Dog Show and The Best in Show winner was Gentleman Jack, an Airedale!  Monday evening was also Junior Football and last night it was the turn of The Senior Football teams.  Tuesday evening is also the walking Treasure Hunt around the village.  It started with rain but cleared up quickly for all those attending. 

Tonight it is the annual Duck Race in Bottle Brook which runs through our village.  DH is, as always, commentating and Eldest is helping, although this year Youngest cannot.

These are My Boys from last year. 

It is always a manic week.  This coming Sunday is supposed to be a day off but we have to go to Eldest’s work for me to do all the paperwork and we have some home jobs to get done too because next week is going to be even busier. 

Monday DH is going to a work colleague’s funeral.  We have known him for a long time and he had had some medical issues and sadly passed away two weeks ago.  In the evening we have the SGM meeting for Swimming which we are doing over Teams which will help as emotions are running high on this subject.  Tuesday will be another busy day and I will be thinking about a very good friend who has to visit the hospital for some assessments.  Wednesday I have to go and get a chocolate cake for the swimming Head Coach as it is  his 30th Birthday a week on Sunday so the Club want to present him with a cake and card etc but I have to take it up on Wednesday to swimming as DH and I may not make it to the presentation which is happening on Thursday evening as we are out all day on Thursday at a wedding!  We are hoping to get there as the wedding is during the day.  Friday DH and The Boys are going down to Goodwood as it is The Festival of Speed weekend and they are there on the Saturday!  I will be going over to see Partner and Little Man on the Saturday evening.  Of course at the present moment I am still car-less as Eldest still has mine as his is currently being fixed and we are both hoping it will be done by next week.

So that rounds off next week as well.  I think the following week I will need Monday off to recover!!!!

Wimbledon started on Monday and I have been enjoying watching the tennis although I do not know many of the players names this year!  This coming Sunday is also the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone in the UK so again very busy weekend.

I hope you have enjoyed this catch up of the last month and I will get around to doing a catchup on Susie’s Book Club Friday too at the end of the week.  Happy Wednesday you lovely lot.

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx