Thursday 29 July 2010

Two Days in Mersea

This week has seen Frank and I spending two days on Mersea Island.
Cloudy beach days are my favourite as I just wilt in the sun and burn fairly easily.
Tuesday was, as you can see, wonderfully cloudy. The island is well known for its seafood, oysters in particular, hence the shells glittering in the sand.
This didn't stop us from making a sandcastle and decorating it with shells and one of the many feathers Frank seems to be finding these days.
My friend Clare has a beach hut here and we met her and an old friend of hers along with his daughter (who are now based in Oregon) for lunch and beach fun.
For anyone not from the UK these huts are fairly typical English seaside beach huts.
All different, rather ramshackle and in some towns hugely expensive.


There is Frank with his new friend Eloise up on the deck.

And then yesterday saw us visiting a friend of mine from my Knit & Natter group and her dog. She lives just up the road from a great Pick Your Own farm, which Frank and I hit with a vengeance after our tea and muffins with Teresa.



Here comes the Master Picker!

Who does this when asked to "Smile, Frank!"
He looks like he's about to sneeze.

And here is the Master Quality Controller in action.
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Two lovely, lovely Summer days (aside from the hypo and consequent rebound that saw him at 25.1 and me in tears that such a great day can be almost stolen by THAT BASTARD DIABETES - ahem, excuse me - however, I rally these days rather well and dealt with it quickly)
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So, as I write Frank is spending his last ever day at pre-school (more about this in another post).
The house is filled with the smell of strawberry jam (we picked £12 of strawberries! Blimey!)
and I am contemplating my sewing machine, which seems to be calling me, much in the same way as ice-cream does from the freezer.
It's saying:: "Jules, you don't want to clear out the summerhouse, you want to sew something pretty...you'll NEVER have the time again 'cos Frank will ALWAYS be around and he can never let you get on with anything without being on your lap or shoving toys in your face/up your nose/down your top/in your ear ... forget the housework...come to me...you know you want to...
I can make you happy .. trust me ..."
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But I am strong.
Get thee behind me sewing machine!
Where have you been learning to speak like Ben & Jerry??
OK, I'm off to the summerhouse.
Might just pop via the freezer though ...

6 comments:

  1. Jules, you are so funny! I love reading your posts and imagine it in an English accent when I do. Glad you guys are having so much summer fun! Ice cream calls to me from the freezer too! It's a favorite for sure.

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  2. Hi Muffinmoon!
    I think it must be very hard to have a child with type 1. I'm a school nurse, so I understand the implications.

    Two of my favorite books for families with diabetes were written by people we know here a little bit (my husband taught the sons).

    Getting a Grip on Diabetes (written by the two boys--Spike and Bo Loy) and
    Real Life Parenting of Kids with Diabetes (written by Virginia Loy)

    They are an awesome family. The boys are adults now doing things like going to med school. Super smart. But what I love in particular is the mom's perspective in the second book. She's honest and down to earth and an awesome inspiring mom. My child doesn't even have diabetes but she is my parenting hero!

    I promised the boys we'd make cookies, so I must go now!

    Mary Beth

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  3. Sorry, didn't mean to make that sound like an advertisement! I just think the books are helpful.

    Thanks for your comment on my blog!

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  4. You totally made me laugh! What a wonderful summer you have had! I just got a brand spankin' new jar of homemade strawberry jam from my mother. Yum. I'm drooling just thinking about it!

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  5. You would totally thrive in the Pacific Northwest! Looks like you are having a lovely summer so far - minus d rearing its ugly head now and again...Glad to hear I am not the only one with a toddler who is always
    being on your lap or shoving toys in your face/up your nose/down your top/in your ear !!

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  6. Those little huts are fascinating!

    What exciting news for your son! I'll do my best to be inspiring. :-)

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