The flowers that bloom in the spring tra- la.-la.....

Any minute now it will be March and the masses of daffodils and Spring flowers blooming around Dumbrells Court will be legit and not like guests who turn up too early for a party and I can properly enjoy them.
At the Village Choir practice on Sunday we started on hits from The Sound of Music, so we old fogies were belting out `We are fifteen, going on sixteen`and the` Hills are Alive` etc also old Fred Astaire songs from Top Hat.      We are doing another concert soon.  Ditchling is a social whirl as I have said before.
We had a  good French film too in the Village Hall: The Untouchable about a quadriplegic and his very unconventional ex convict carer.It was funny and uplifting. One to watch out for.
At the Infants yesterday, we did puppets: Poor old Guy Fawkes again,  He comes up every year.  They could choose any character from the historical account, but I noticed that the boys did sinister bloodthirsty looking individuals with swords and helmets and horrid expressions, and the girls drew smiley faces and chose lacy collars with jewels and bows   I had a lovely afternoon as I like messing about with glue.
I went to Hertfordshire to visit brother P   I took B.Wiggins and we went on the train, which he very much enjoys as everybody makes a fuss of him. I had a good time too and luxuriated in morning tea in bed and delicious meals cooked by him in spite of his having a dreadful cold which miraculously I have not caught We are making plans for a trip to France in May. I do not think we have had a holiday together since we were children.    

Stormy Weather...

I will try not to write about the rain and the wind and the mud. Just to say that I am sitting indoors watching four wet squirrels outside my window. Their lovely tails are like bits of wet string and they look unhappy.
B.Wiggins is wanting to get me out there but when I take him, he changes his mind as he hates both getting wet and the bath which inevitably follows.  He`s twigged that one now.
At the Infants this week, we did science experiments about sound waves. I learn more and more there. But on the way home the wind was so strong, blowing up from the sea that I could hardly keep upright and had to cling to the railings in a most pathetic way.
I saw a good film in the village called Captain Phillips about Somali pirates with wonderful Kevin Spacey in it.  It was very thought provoking. The pirates had such a tough hard life, you could see why they did it and I felt quite sorry for them.
I am doing the Museum Tales writing course again at the Brighton Museum. We were all in the Egyptian section this week. It made me think of my forward funeral planning, which is going ahead. Those Pharaoes really went to town on elaborate preparations for their funerals and the afterlife what with Shabtis which were little servants and all their Grave Goods.  Our teacher on the course is very good so I spend a lot of time doing my homework each week.
I am finding my new computer a sore trial. It is very jumpy and sensitive and at the slightest touch it goes haywire and writes things in the wrong places.   I spends hours doing simple emails and attachments., and as for the printer, words fail me. I long to find a Dumbrellite who is a computer expert so I had one on tap as I did in Meeting House days. There may be some whizz kids among the bungalows but it is difficult to find out.

Blow Blow thou Winter Wind......

I thought I was going to take off as I walked along to the Infants today, the wind was so blusterous.  The children were all hyped up as they always are when it is windy and also they had been cooped up because of the rain. But we settled down to a bit of glinka work, I remember doing that even when I was at school, sewing in and out round a bit of material with holes in it. which needs frequent rethreading of needles.
There has been a gap in this blog because my laptop got ill and died. What a calamity  It is like losing a limb and having to learn a whole new way of doing things.  And then the printer wouldn`t co operate and make friends so I couldn`t print my Guardian crossword every day let alone the Quaker clerk`s stuff which needed doing. So I have been in a right state.
Last week I went to Winchester and also to London. On Monday, grandson M cut my hair as part of his assessment. He is a classical studies graduate but he is very happy learning to be a hair stylist at a posh salon in Winchester so I had a proper hairdo, a rare occurence and a real treat.    Then I went to London on Friday and stayed with grand daughter M who showed me how to do difficult things on my new computer.I am a lucky woman to have all this help.
Daughter J, gg Tiger, Bradley Wiggins, Jumble and I all drove up on Friday night and stayed at M`s flat in Hackney in one of those tall Victorian houses   I always feel at home in that part of London, I know it well.There is a spooky castle near Finsbury Park that once was a pumping station, but has now been turned into a climbing wall centre.   So M`s boyfriend and Tiger had a good time climbing up the turrets inside while the rest of us sat on sofas reading the Saturday Guardian.   Everyone climbing looked so keen and healthy.  And they even allowed B.Wiggins and Jumble in there.
I am very worried about all the poor people in Somerset who are flooded. Having been in a flood myself with sister J up near Newcastle last year, I know how awful it is to have smelly muddy water swirling around your knees.