A Perfect Fit

It was emotional chez Towers, when the tea cosy Nigel had bought as a treasured memento from JellyPickleJam was out of the wash, dry and ready to try on our best vintage teapot 

It had been well used, but that, for us, was all very much part of the magic of our many memories.

How many times, we wondered, had we been served with it when we've shared the odd pot or two of Rosy Lee at said JPJ over the years?

Needless to say, it was the most perfect fit .........

....... guaranteed to keep our customary afternoon refreshment piping hot for many a year to come, as well as become the stuff of many a family legend...... over scones, Swiss roll, iced fancies and the odd sausage roll .......

........ the little fella had "dun gud" and chosen well, very, very, very well indeed!

Sad Goodbyes And Fond Memories .

Sadly, one of our very most favourite ports of call for lunch in Evesham, especially when our beloved niece and nephew were in tow, JellyPicklesJam has now closed, allowing the owner, Lisa, to move on to exciting pastures new.

..... however, with the prospect of being able to buy a memento or two from said teashop, it would have been rude not to say a last, fond farewell to a place we've all loved and visited from when Iris was just a few months old.  A place filled with magic, with it's bird cages, circus top draped ceiling, individual, vintage cups, saucers, plates and teapots, decoupaged tables and chairs, a comfy sofa for nattering and knitting on and quirky bits and pieces filling the walls.  

So, armed with a card and a few "thank you" trinkets for all those happy memories, Nigel popped in for one last, lingering time .......

....... in the hope of being able to find one of Lisa's handknitted tea cosies, one, fingers crossed, he would recognise as having kept warm one of our many pots of tea during the years.

I am happy to report that he did (now in the wash, pictures later).  There were also so many other familiar and beautiful things that have also played parts in our visits, and, believe me, Nigel would have bought them all, but he had to be sensible.

  ....... he was sure they would find new homes with many of Lisa's other loyal customers, but it was emotional ......

..... especially when reading the menu board for the very last time, something we'd all pondered and mused upon over the years.  Iris always asked for a sausage roll with salad and a coke,  Bertie a dinosaur shaped jam sandwich, with crudities and crisps and a chocolate milkshake, while we varied our choice, once even partaking in a glorious, celebratory afternoon tea for one of Darrell's birthdays!

Then, it was time for one, final heartfelt hug and a last thank you for soooooooooooooooooo many wonderful memories, even a visit to the loo, down the rainbow stairs, was magical for the little ones, with its Alice In Wonderland theme. Nigel also promised to keep in touch, via Facebook, so that Lisa could continue to watch I and B grow up.  There were chocolate gifts too.

It is indeed the end of an era, the teashop now has new owners, we will pop in and no doubt review and who knows, perhaps it'll become just as beloved as JPJ xxxxxxx.

Forever In Our Hearts

Snowdrops were always Granny Shelia's very most favourite flowers, every year we would always buy her small bunches or flowering pots of bulbs, especially around her birthday. 

And now they are starting to bloom again .......

...... leaving us in no doubt that she is and will always be constantly in our hearts and watching over us wherever she may be.  We feel her kind, guiding hand in everything we do,  we miss her soooooooo much.

More Hedgehog Graffiti To Come?

Nigel was passing "our bridge" yesterday afternoon and thought it looked as if there had been a few more artistic developments there within underneath.

So, it would have been rude not to take a close look. It wasn't much ........

...... a bit of "colouring in" of an aerosol type nature, to what had already been started a few weeks before ........

...... plus, a very possible new incarnation of yet another hedgehog, all be it one with a very droopy nose and in what looked like to be in somewhat of a hurry, in Nigel's growing graffiti expert opinion.

An undoubted work in progress, to be followed closely!

However, "the tag", Nigel mused, currently leaves an awful lot to be desired, so, it will be interesting to see if our resident, local graffitist can bring it back from the precipice of indecipherest disaster!

February Ticks

We're half way through February and we've already got a few ticks on our Bucket List Calendar.  This being the month of love, there's quite a few suggestions of a romantic, loving and fun type nature for us all to embrace here at The Towers.

We got one everso slightly wrong, as we read it as take a picture "of" a loved one, when it really read "with", but as you know pedantic isn't a word rich in our familial vocabulary, we're too easy going! 

So, Darrell took a picture of me .......

..... I took a picture of Nigel .........

...... Nigel took a picture of Alice .......

..... and finally Alice took a picture of Darrell.  What are we like?

We have also bought flowers for ourselves, Darrell and I have learned to say "I love you" in Spanish "Te amo" as it seemed the easiest and watching a romantic comedy with a mahooooosive box of chocolates is certainly be on the cards before the month is through.  Oh, happy and glorious February days, with still more to come!

A Very Special Day For All Of Us

As you know, we left Valentine's Day for Alice to Nigel, at his own very insistent behest .......

......... and boy, did the boy dun gud, because what he'd put forward to Darrell and I was that as Alice had become such a mahoooooosive part of our lives for almost a year now.......

......... with so many wonderful adventures in the bag, the best Valentines gift we could give was to ask her if she'd like to move in with us on a permanent basis, as she really does feel one of us and, to be honest, we could never be without her.

Let's just say that when she opened our card with the invitation in over morning coffee this morning, it got emotional, very, very emotional, especially when the answer was a resounding and unequivocal "YES" .........

We knew that the arrangement was already alright with Kata, as we'd taken the liberty of asking her in advance if it would be OK with her, as soon as Nigel came up with the idea.  Naturally, she said, she would miss Alice unbelievably, as she was such a treasure, but she always knew that it was only a matter of time before she moved with us, after seeing how inseparable and at one we had all become, and well, Alice would only be moving across the hallway! So later today, once we've composed ourselves, Alice is going to pack her bags and then we'll carry them and her over the threshold, as it were.

And to mark the day, there were a few presents too ......... 

........ the obligatory and celebratory Alice type hair slides, and three brooches that just screamed Alice!!!  The heart she decided, very stylishly, to wear on her sleeve.

Quelle fashionista!

What a WONDERFUL inaugural day of new beginnings .......... we hope your Valentines Day is just as eventful and loving!  Happy, happy days! 

Quite A Surprise For Nigel

The pavement at the far end of our road was closed this morning when Nigel nipped into town, but he'll admit, at the time, to not giving much thought to said closure .......

..... however, on his return, he was greeted by a stark and very different vista.

Where before afforded much abundant branch and twiggage ........

...... was now bereft of anything of a vaguely spreading type nature ..........

 ....... only a line of thin, decimated trunks with a little, scattered bark around the bottom was evidence of their very recent plethora of profuseness!  It was, Nigel exclaimed, when he got in, an awful lot of bareness to take in.

 

In his absence, he said, the trees had received a very robust and unabashed pollarding! No place for any sort of springtime nest building, no haven of shade and respite from the hot sun on the summer school run. Watching nature come full circle might take a few years, but you know Nigel will be taking a very keen interest in any hopeful and eventual buddage ...... of any kind!  So watch this space!

Festive Flyers And Treats

Having trusted Nigel with most of our plans for our first ever Valentine's Day with the ever fragrant Alice .....

..... I couldn't help perusing the pages of the Valentine's edition of the latest Lldl magazine ........ 

....... especially as Nigel had already told us that he really hadn't got much idea as to what possible comestibles to serve on the 14th, apart, of course, eating them!

Last year, if I recall correctly, Darrell served a particularly delicious dish of heart shaped gnocchi, but never an advocate of doing the same old, same old, I've suggested, perhaps, that he might try something with pasta hearts (with tomato and beetroot) in a piquant sauce, ...... as yet to be decided. 

Followed by, hopefully, special edition Bridget Jones Gu cheescakes with President squirty cream and a tub of heart shaped fruit jellies and bag of marshmallow hearts to share during our evenings televisual viewing (again, as of yet to be decided).

Of course, the final decision for all this rests firmly with Darrell, seeing as he'll be the one doing all the preparation and cooking, but trust me ......... I've put a very good argument forward for it's implementation!  What am I like?

Well, while there was us thinking that spring was just on the very cusp of being sprung, when Nigel and the ever fragrant Alice were greeted by a very unexpected environ as they made their way to listen to their beloved readers in school this morning.

Everything was shrouded in a heavy, cold, all encompassing, white, foggy mist .....

..... with the marina and all its moorings barely visible from our side of the river. 

But, although it all very romantic and magical in theory ..........

....... to be honest, their ears, noses, toes and fingers told quite a different story, which had Alice doubling, neigh tripling, up on the lip slave and sharing with Nigel to help prevent any uncomfortable and unsightly lip chaffing later.

As for the gaggle of geese gathering on the water, how must their poor, little webbed toes be feeling in all that freezing water?

If geese do in fact suffer from chilblains, these must all have been prime candidates for this painful, digital affliction, Alice and Nigel mused later!

According to Nigel the hedgerows along their walk looked as if they had all been dusted by a mahoooooosive sieve of icing sugar and the air felt heavy and unusually eerily muted. 

Even the catkins took on a completely different, frosted, appearance against the pure white background, like tiny, emergent, baby stalactites.

And, it goes without saying that the spiders of Evesham, no doubt seeking shelter, were not to be found wanting in the making of their ethereal, woven miracles ...... in all manner of surprising places.

Nigel and Alice both confessed to getting to school after the bell had been rung, but they has both been held spellbound by all that they had seen. Mornings like this are few and far between, so who could blame them for stealing some extra time to embrace it and share companionable awe and wonder, just for a little while at least.

N.B. late notes were not required!