Out to lunch.

There are two family birthdays in October and on Saturday we started the weekend well by eating cake! We went round to our daughter's house where The Boy and his birthday Daddy were still in their dressing gowns. It didn't stop them from blowing out the candles and having cream cake for breakfast. Of course we had to help them!

On Sunday we drove to the New Forest to have lunch at Rhinefield House. It is a rather magnificent pile that started life as a Tudor hunting lodge but is now a very popular place for celebratory events such as weddings, one of which was taking place in the beamed hall while we were there.

Here we are walking in ready for the meal, having had only a light breakfast!

After a very tasty traditional lunch we were ready to stroll about the garden.

The Boy dived into the maze and could not be seen. Grandad was sent in to find him. Comic cuts. The Boy appeared but where was Grandad?

The sun shining but the shadows long when we set off for home. We'd had a lovely day out.

Conkers

It is certainly autumnal now, damp, misty weather. The Boy has been rummaging about in the garden collecting conkers. They are very plentiful this year, he came into the kitchen with a heap of them. I don't think that they will ever be strung and played with, they are just lovely objects, especially when newly emerging from their casing. I think his pleasure is merely in finding them.

My brother used to play conkers in the '40's and ;59;s, post war Britain not being awash with too many children's toys. I was the feeble little sister who found it a rather brutal game, the conker could give you a nasty knock on the knuckles!

My illustrations of children always seem to have a '40's and '59's vibe; shorts, fall-down socks and scruffy shoes! And the girls in dresses, it was before the jeans era.

Book group weekend

Last weekend we drove to the area where we had lived for over half a century to attend our book group, FAB, (Food And Books.) We miss our friends of long standing, our histories known, the usual jokes, the easy companionship. We always meet up over a meal, the hosts provide the main part of the menu and the rest of us bring whatever else is required. We always sit down to a delicious spread! The person who has put forward the book gives the introduction to it. It is always interesting when the presenter is an enthusiast of the novel in question but sometimes when I hear the introduction I think I must have read a different book! We stayed overnight with friends whose garden wall is also the sea wall to the Bristol Channel. I am forever gawping out of their windows at the wonderful light and at the passage of boats large nd small traveling up and down the channel. We had a lovely time.

Both Steve and Janet are artists and their environment greatly influences their work. One of Steve's paintings hanging above the fireplace.