Zoo with Nino and Alana photoshoot

Thursday was a trip to the zoo with Nino. I bought an annual pass so we can go anytime. Nino loves the dinosaur trail. We took a little picnic and had a lovely couple of hours there. 

Today I took a few photos of Alana. She's growing so fast. Little cutie pie she is. 

Beach time with Nino

I'm going to try my best to write here at least once a week, so here goes. I took Nino to watch the Starlings last week and he was more interested in collecting shells. I parked the car on a side street and we got the tram to North pier. The conductress gave Nino his own ticket in a little folder which was so nice of her (he also got one on the way back  minus the folder) 

It was a lovely, mild evening but the sun had disappeared once we got there. We still enjoyed ourselves though. I love this time of year when there are almost no holidaymakers. I'm very grateful that people still like to visit Blackpool, but I do love the peace and quiet and having the beach almost to ourselves. Nino had fun collecting shells while I watched the starlings. They're really starting to build up now. More and more of them are coming in to roost. By the end of February there will be thousands of them, then by March they'll disappear again until about October. I took a few photos and a couple of videos of the evening.

I spent a lovely half an hour holding Alana just before taking Nino to the beach. She gave me the most beautiful smile. How did I get so lucky to have two such gorgeous Grandchildren when I thought I'd never have any? Love them both so much ♥

Today I crocheted Alana a little hat with some left over wool. I can't wait to see her in it. 

Whilst sorting through my boxes in the loft I came across a few poems that I wrote years ago. They're not brilliant, but I'm writing them all in a book to leave to my Grandchildren. I like to think they'll read them one day in the distant future and think of me :) I did have one published about 20 years ago in a book titled Out of This Word. It's called Son and it was about my brother's adoption. It was part fact/part fiction and I got top marks for it when I entered it for my English GCSE in later life..

'Till next time :) 

Nino Time

Today I spent the morning in the loft sorting more boxes out. I'm such a hoarder! I have cards from the births of my 3 kids up to their teens. Clothes, shoes and all sorts of things that I kept for them over the past 40 odd years. I'm putting them in plastic containers for them and when I'm gone they can do what they want with them. I just can't bear to part with their things after keeping them for so long. 

I had a little tea break and sat in my rocking chair for a few minutes looking out at my garden (my happy place). While I was there a pair of Blue Tits and a pair of Great Tits came to the feeder. They've been coming for a while now, and every so often both pairs check out the nest boxes. Looking hopeful for this year's nesting season. I managed to get a bit of video of both pairs. There's also a beautiful pair of Blackbirds coming every day, and I caught the male eating bits of an apple that I threw out yesterday. 

Mario came round with Nino for a couple of hours. Nino ended up staying so we played shops, then I took him on the tram to the pier to watch the starlings come in to roost. Not so many of them just yet, but soon there will be thousands of them. It was bitterly cold so we didn't stay long. He wanted to go on the comedy carpet, so I took a photo of him with my favourite Morecambe and Wise saying, Bring me Sunshine. It began to rain soon after I took the photo, so we got the tram back to my car then I took him home. He wanted to come back with me but it's hard work when I have Aniello poorly. At least the swelling in Aniello's knee has gone down and he's managing to walk now. He even came downstairs for the first time in 4 days. 

Love this photo of my little Ruby Roo lying by the radiator with the sun just lighting half of her face ♥

I'm now all cosy in bed writing this and I'm going to catch up on a fabulous series called Stay Close. It stars one of my favourite actors, James Nesbitt, and parts of it were filmed in Blackpool. It's really good so far. That's all for now...

Happy heavenly Birthday Mum

Today would have been my Mum's 88th birthday, but instead of celebrating we are without her. I have felt her loss so badly these past 7 months since Aniello was diagnosed with cancer. There have been so many times I've just wanted to have her arms around me telling me everything will be ok. I'm so sad she didn't get to meet our lovely little Grand daughter Alana. She'd have loved her as much as she loved Nino our Grandson. She probably would have given her a £2 coin every time she saw her too, as she did with Nino.

Aniello has been unable to walk for the past 4 days due to having a very swollen knee. I'm looking after him as best I can but it's hard. Just praying the latest medication works. I'm sure it must be a side effect of the chemo. I feel so sorry for him he's in a mess. 

I'm also trying to sort the loft out and get rid of a lot of useless stuff I've collected over the years.

Anyway today we had a visit from Kasia, Nino and Alana so I took the opportunity to take a few photos of Alana. I can't believe she'll be 6 weeks old tomorrow. Time is flying by! 

Hopefully on Sunday I'm going to do a proper little photoshoot with Nino and Alana together. That should be fun! 

Happy Birthday Mum ♥

Happy New Year 2022

 Happy New Year!

Today we had a lovely family meal. It was so nice having my kids all together, after Lella had to miss out on Christmas Day due to testing positive for Covid ( for the second time!) I got to cuddle Alana and play with Nino.

I spent a couple of hours doing a sweet little Beagle diamond painting. 

I got a couple of new Willow Tree figures for Christmas. The Grandmother one from my sister (made me cry because she knows how I longed to be a Nana) and the birds from the money my daughter Lella gave me. Love them. 

I've missed my Mum terribly over Christmas and had a cry for her last night. I'll be taking the tree down soon and I made a little bit of it just for her. 

Off now to see if there's anything worth watching on TV.

I'm going to try and write a little about each day for this year, Let's see how long it lasts!  ,

New Year's Eve 2021

Well here we are. It's the last couple of hours of 2021 and I'm sure most of us will be glad to see the back of it! Hoping and praying that 2022 is a better year for us all and that we finally defeat Covid. 

The one really wonderful thing to come out of this year is our precious little Grand daughter Alana Maria. Looking forward to watching her grow, and having more treasured days with our gorgeous Nino Aniello.

 It's been a very strange New Year's Eve for us. Aniello is in so much pain he hasn't even been dressed for 5 days. Our usual NYE with my lovely Brother and sister in law didn't happen because Aniello wasn't up to going. Here I lie in bed and I'm just about to watch a film called the Lost Daughter. I feel a bit like a lost daughter myself tonight. I'm missing my Mum terribly. It's a strange world without her in it. She was literally my rock and nothing is the same without her. 

We have the kids coming to dinner tomorrow so no doubt I'll be cheered up with them. I love my family.

Happy New Year to anyone who may be reading this.