Category Archives: Swimming

All Things to do with the Boys Swimming Club, activities and adventures!

Pool Day – Our Open.

This is the pool we are at all day today!

Because our weather is so unpredictable the majority of our pools are indoor, which is great in winter but not in summer when it is baking outside! So much so I am taking three desk fans with us to try and keep us cool and Sue, who I will be with all day inputting the results, is bringing her fan too! I also have to take cushions for the seats. They are fine for a couple of hours but again for a whole day they really are not comfortable!! I am also taking lunch for us too because by the time they finish the morning session there is only about half an hour before the afternoon session starts! It will be a long day!

Eldest and Girlfriend have got a new puppy!!!! Coco is going to have a playmate when the new puppy has had all her injections. Her name is Honey and she is a Labrador and they have got her from someone they know who has the Mom and Dad. They visited a few weeks ago and she is ready to leave yesterday. I will let you have pictures when we visit tomorrow!

Happy Saturday Everyone.

Hugs & Love Susie, Coco & the Swimmers!

Coco’s Spa Day & Our Garden.

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Miss Coco has returned from her Spa Day and looks so much better, good job too as it is 27°C here today! She has had her summer Airecut. I know we are supposed to leave the Airedale legs long and fluffy but in this heat, no way!

Coco loves showing off for the camera.

I haven’t had chance to show you our garden and the summer pots. Here they are. I went for white and blue this year, although it is so sunny it has washed out the colours a little bit, will have to get some better pictures when the sun is setting.

Above is my little vegetable bed with tomato plants and carrots growing.

Even the blue of the sky is very pale as it is so warm

I have all the curtains closed, windows open and fans going at the moment. Tomorrow it is going to be warm again but thunderstorms are forecast. We are at the pool all day so that will be interesting. The last time we were at the pool and there was a thunderstorm it knocked all the power out for an hour!

Have a wonderful weekend you lovely lot.

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Tuesday!

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Treacle had a lovely day yesterday and she was very tired by the time we went to bed!!! We face timed Youngest when she opened her presents!!!

She had a new soft toy from Mungo & Maud, along with some of their organic biscuit bones and four tennis balls!!! She will get some more presents from Youngest when this is all over!!!

Waiting for a biscuit!

One thing I bought for my Jeep was a new carrier for the back seat. Treacle is having difficulty jumping into the back now and I can pick her up but she is not too happy with that. However she can still get into the back seat of my Jeep as it is lower so I bought this hanger (below). It is held in place by the headrests and handles so it is like a cradle but there is a mesh at the front between the two front seats so she can see us driving. We will give it a try and we are allowed out!!!!

Andrew & Simon

Girlfriend sent me the above picture the other day of Youngest with Simon! As you can see he is very keen on Youngest!!!

Our garden is changing by the day and as you can see is very green at the moment. I have put some seeds into my herb garden where the little pegs are and hopefully they will grow.

I have tried to grow some seeds for my pots for the summer but at the moment they have not appeared!! I think, when the garden centres are open again, I will get some plants for the pots for summer. I have bought some plants to put in where we have cleared some of the trees. I also want to take some cuttings when I can in the summer of our existing plants so we can plant some more.

We are due for some warm weather again later this week and then a few days of it being cool which does help the garden and I have been watering when it is very dry. We have a pond in an old Whiskey barrel which we have had since we moved into our home but it needs cleaning out. We don’t want to do this yet until we are able to get to the garden centre to buy some new plants for it and get a couple of gold fish. We did have one gold fish in there for years and he eventually passed with old age. He was a gold fish when he started but by the end was very white!!! We did have two originally but the one which was left was never happy with a companion so in the end we left him on his own!!!

That is the last project we have to do at home, as well as keeping everything neat and tidy in our home/garage/garden/cars!!!!! DH and Eldest did the attic at the weekend and they have made a fantastic job of it. Woe betide anyone who makes a mess of it, or the garage, or our home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are keeping our work ticking over but obviously things are slower than they were and it will be interesting to see how things shake out when we get back to whatever new normal we will be living when the Lockdown is lifted. I think, as we have orders and work which is just delayed, things will get back to where we were before we stopped but I think this time in the recession to come restaurants, cafes, cinemas etc are going to be the ones to find it hard whereas before they all seemed to still be okay whereas manufacturing suffered.

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Swimming is a particular conundrum. How do we get the swimmers back swimming but social distance them from each other? How do we manage the parents dropping off and picking up with social distancing in mind and then how do we cope with looking after the swimmers by the Committee whilst they are with us, ie more people needed for the welfare and yet we have to social distance too! I think we are going to have to wait and see how the schools deal with it before we can do anything. We have been told that there will be no competitions until the swimmers have been back and training for six weeks, but if we have to halve the swimmers times that will then mean twelve weeks and don’t get me started on the new risk assessments, which I will have to completely re-do!!!!! Also they are talking about competitions with no spectators which may work for F1 and football matches but I don’t think will work with swimming!!! Who knows!!!!!

I hope you are having a good Tuesday and will have a great week.

Stay Safe.

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

Christmas & Swimming & Halloween!

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The In-House Championships went very well and Youngest got two first and two seconds in his events with two PB’s, so he was really pleased and we are so proud of him. We didn’t get home as early as we had hoped but not too late to eat. The second Gala is at the beginning of November when we do it all over again but different distances!

Sunday DH had to go and help Eldest out as he had managed to pick up a flat tyre! So not so many extra house jobs got done but we did get some gardening done and we did manage to put a net over our little pond to stop the leaves getting into the water.

I made a start on the Christmas cakes, whilst DH was out, by weighing out all the fruit and dry ingredients and soaking them in the Brandy.

Covered to ensure “Long Neck” Treacle does not get any licks in!!!!!! Remember the Chocolate Log from last year?

As there was not a lot else I could do, I got my two favourite Christmas books down and with a mug of tea in hand, sat down to plan my other jobs!

Last night was the final Committee Meeting for me of the swimming club. Next is the AGM and then I have finished and I can honestly say I am not sorry!

At the farm they are busy getting ready for Halloween and during the half term school Holiday they are having a ScreamFest for 12 years and over and Youngest is quite keen to go! This car was at the entrance and was an amazing feature. Must get our decorations out or it will be Halloween before I know it!!!!

Hugs, Susie x

Swimming & Visiting & Sleeping!

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Saturday saw us at The Arc Leisure Centre, Matlock for our 42nd Swimming Open where we had a hundred odd swimmers and over 1400 swims during the day!!!!! DH was the MC for the day, I was in Event Control helping with the timing/speeding tickets and disqualifications!!!!! Youngest was swimming. We got there at 6.30am whilst it was still dark and very cold and set up. Although it seemed a long day it rushed by and we had some great swims and a great atmosphere. Youngest bettered four of his times and won two medals so really proud! This was his first event as Club Captain too.

We got home at 7.30pm and I had cooked dinner in the slow cooker so it was ready when we got home. Friday night DH had spent the evening setting up all the sound equipment for the Saturday, so by Sunday he and I were shattered. Youngest was tired with all his swimming.

Uncle John, whose 92 now, is in hospital with a bad chest and at 92 they take these things seriously. Unfortunately one of his daughters is away in Australia visiting family and his other daughter lives near London so DH went to visit him on Sunday morning. He is doing surprisingly well. Then he had to to into Nottingham to sort some other things out.

I, needless to say did not get any quilting done over the weekend at all and yesterday I was going to start and I was so tired that I knew that if I did start anything I would probably make a mistake, so yesterday became a rest day!!!!!

Today has been busy with work and I have yet another basket of ironing to do (I think they breed over night!!!!) so I am hoping tomorrow to do some quilting. We have to visit the Bank Manager tomorrow also for our annual review for the business, yuck!!!!

It is really cold here today, well cold for us!!! and in some areas it may go down to -15°C, it is forecast for -3°C here but Treacle has not moved out of her basket all day.

This is how she fell asleep with her toy!

She is definitely in her snuggly warm phase at the moment!!!!!

I hope you are having a warm snuggly Monday!!!!

Hugs, Susie x

I Feel Like I have been through Hurricane Gonzalo!

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It has been really bad this last week! We are coming up to the AGM for our swimming club and to put it bluntly because of some decisions which have been made this year, one section have decided to stage a coup. Unfortunately the only people who are going to suffer during and after this are the swimmers and certainly not the coup leaders and not us! It really makes me angry and what they haven’t realised is that there are far reaching consequences of this coup which they have either not thought of or don’t care about.

Yesterday, as I am Secretary until the AGM, I had to send out all the paperwork and it had taken me from 2.30pm in the afternoon until 2.00am to get everything sorted and sent out! DH was helping too and by the time we got into bed, we were exhausted! Then he had to get up again at 5.00am as he is away for the rest of the week on business!!!!

Treacle has been trying to help and cuddling up. In fact the other night she slept on our bed between us! She is going to be busy tomorrow as she is off to the beauty spa for a very much needed haircut and wash! I also need to wash all of her beds and her collar when she gets home!

Because of all of this chaos I have not had chance to do any quilting and that makes me sad! I need to sort out my stash draw as it is far too full and to try and find anything is impossible. I am going to have to re-think it and possibly get some new click boxes which can go under our bed. I also have not managed to get my Giveaway sorted either 🙁

Oh to add joy to today I have to go up to support our small pool swimmers and our young swim teacher whilst the main pool is closed and my two are not swimming! If it wasn’t for the swimmers , I would be throwing in the towel (and the towel rail too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

On a happy note I have begun my Christmas shopping and I have all the ingredients to make the three Christmas cakes and puddings I need to do this year!

64 Days to go!

I hope your day is better!

Hugs, Susie x

PS The weather today is because of Hurricane Gonzalo; very windy, very wet and Treacle hates going out as her ears blow around! She is funny!

Swimmers Swimming for Sport Relief

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It has been hectic again, that’s all I am going to say!!!!

However last Thursday was the Swimming Club’s Sport Relief evening (which is one of the reasons I have been really busy!) and we had the swimmers in the main pool doing a Fun Gala and the swimmers in the small pool doing a play session. They all had a great time, especially when they had to swim doing an egg and spoon race and another race where they had to get dressed whilst in the water! Here are a few pictures from the evening.

Getting ready

One of the staff from the local Sainsburys who started the evening off.

The Tombola and Cake Stall – the cakes were a huge success

Our Swimming Staff eating the cakes rather than working!

Swimmers swimming

Next heat?

It was a great evening and in three hours we managed to raise £405, well done Rascals.

Youngest swam in the Fun Gala and Eldest helped on poolside managing the swimmers, DH did the commentary and I generally helped where I was needed as Gail and I had organised the evening. We were all tired at the end but it was really fun to do rather than just swimming!

We also ended up have a late supper of fish and chips as DH and I had not had chance to eat beforehand. Fortunately the Boys had had dinner at lunchtime so they just had some chips!

We were busy over the weekend, which I will show you tomorrow.

Have a Merry Monday

Susie x

Tuesday Meanderings!

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I have had a day of running errands and this is one of the things I bought for the tombola for our Sport Relief evening on Thursday! Isn’t he cute? Treacle is very keen to have him!!!!!

I forgot to post pictures of my cushions which I finished a while ago now

Here are the fronts

and here are the backs. I love this material, it is really warm but I only had a small amount of it.

I have also been getting on with my quilt club challenge quilt and this is what I have done so far.

Don’t look at the mistakes!!!!

These will form part of a larger block when all completed, just love the lavender colours.

Now on stronger antibiotics so not feeling good at all!!!! Am going to bed early tonight and try and get rid of whatever it is as soon as possible!

Have a Thrilling Tuesday

Susie x

What A Few Weeks!

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It has felt like a wacky rollercoaster around our home for the last few weeks. Every time you get to the top you fall rapidly down the other side!

Youngest finally got rid of all the spots and itchy skin a week after breaking out and we think it was definitely a virus as he was left with a cold! He is feeling so much better now but really tired in the evenings. The first day back at school he came home white!!! However he is slowly getting back to normal and managed to swim at the Matlock Open on Saturday and got two PB’s and two medals so he was really pleased. He also went training yesterday one hour at the 50m pool and one hour at normal training! That was my fault as I got the timing wrong and he should have had two hours at the 50m pool! Never mind he enjoyed the two different sessions!!! At the end of his illness and when he was getting better, I started calling him Spotty McDougall! Now that’s a great name for a children’s book, don’t you think? When I have a spare five minutes I will get around to doing something!!!!!

Eldest went to see Girlfriend at the weekend who is all now moved in to her Uni accommodation and spent last week at Fresher’s Week, partying and getting registered! She now has Fresher’s flu which they all seem to have come down with! At first she thought it was a myth but no!!!! So at the moment she has no voice, which is not good for a Language Student!!!!! She is enjoying it though.

Eldest has decided that as his results were not good, he is going to spend this year doing two more courses and hoping to get better grades to be able to go to Uni next year. We have said great and that he must work at them and we will see what happens. Watch this space! He is happy with the decision so that is the main thing!

DH and I managed to get the two bathrooms in our house painted two weekends ago and this weekend we spent the time in the garden. The weather has been great over the last few weeks, a real Indian Summer, so all the plants are still growing and looking healthy, including the trees. Of course that has meant that the grass has still been growing like mad and DH thought he had finished mowing for the season but no such luck, although I think it is great!! He is away this week at an exhibition for three days and staying over so it will be quiet around here.

Youngest is pleased as he gets tomorrow off. The staff at the Senior School are striking for a day about pay, pensions and conditions so school is closed to Lower and Upper pupils but still open for the Sixth Form! I think I will take him to the cinema for his day off. We are extremely lucky that we work for ourselves, so I am able to do this but I feel sorry for all those parents who work for companies having to arrange extra childcare!

Because it has been so frantic over the last two weeks, I have fallen behind with jobs and the washing and ironing is multiplying so today, after work, will be a sort out!

Treacle is busy as always and she will be off to her hairdressers soon for a wash, cut and blow dry! In fact she costs more than me to get her hair done!!! But it is worth it afterwards as she looks soooo much better. She really is wooly at the moment.

Whilst Youngest was ill I did a little catch up on some of my favourite programmes and have to say I love Dance Moms! DH never believes me when I say how bad it can be when you get women together, either working or socially. Then throw in their children as well!!!!!!!!! I know they play up to the camera and it is all done for viewing figures, but its great!!! Also Masterchef Australia is back and am enjoying it although they have moved the show from Sydney to Melbourne now and I think it will take a little getting used to. Nothing stays the same!

I was reminded of that fact the other day when I was back in Nottingham and I drove past my old childhood home and my Grandparents old home! My old home had had a huge extension on the side completely changing the look of the place (not well done either [sniff]) and there was a huge extension going on the side of my Grandparents old house! I know things can’t stay the same forever but I am not very good with change and of course these houses no longer look like how I remember them. I think with all the changes that have been going on at home this year it really has made me think about changes, not good for me. So I am going to be like Scarlet O’Hara at the end of Gone with the Wind “after all, tomorrow is another day”.

I have, now don’t be amazed, been quilting!!!! But I can’t show you yet as the person it is for reads my blog, so it will be a little while before I can show you, sorry!

Must get on, even Treacle is demanding her place needs clearing of laundry!!!!