So late last night I received a text message from our lovely friend Simon Rogers which brought more than one tear to my eye. Simon took part in a 100K run along the Roseland Peninsula and coastal path in Cornwall raising money for the Mount Edgcumbe Hospice in Cornwall in memory of his late father. This is known as the RAT run and if Simon was fit enough (when we last saw him he was nursing an injury) he promised that as he passed through East Portholland he would stop at our family memorial bench and pay his respects to my Dad who lived there with his parents and siblings until he moved up to Yeovil to serve an apprenticeship at Westland Helicopters. Simon used to live in Gorran Haven which is practically next door to East Portholland and then ended up living in Emba with his lovely wife Melanie behind Mum and Dad - it is a small world.
To be honest we really did not expect him to break his run to do this but he did and he sat where we could see the plaque in memory of my Dad and then the heart in memory of my brother in law Richard. It was very moving to receive these pictures and you can see from the picture on the right the sort of terrain and views he had (when it was daylight). My Dad grew up in the tiny hamlet you can see right in the distance and it is where we used to holiday as a family in my childhood - I don't think I ever really appreciated the beauty of that hidden little cove and the handful of houses clinging to the hill side, I don't know if I will ever get back to that place again but I hope one day I will so that I can see the bench for myself. In September a new plaque will be added in memory of my Uncle Doug (Dad's brother) whose ashes will be scattered there - he will have come home to rest after living in Canada for about 50 years. He will be in good company.
On a lighter note we decided to take mum out for lunch today - it has been exceptionally hot this weekend and with having Nicky and Mark to stay I wasn't really in a position to have sorted out Sunday Lunch.
So Nicky and Mark shot off after breakfast for their golf and mum arrived shortly afterwards looking none the worse for having thrown a boiling hot cup of black tea over her the day before. I had her swimming costume all ready and we spent a very pleasant half an hour or so cooling down in the pool which we now know has a thermometer which is reading low - not that it makes much difference because the temperature is the temperature but psychologically it helps to know what it might be.
We decided to take her out for a ride along the coast to Argaka and to Coast Taverna for a change. You can see from the photographs that the sky was cloudless and the sea the most amazing colour with stripes of vivid blue, turquoise and aqua-marine and when we parked up there was a bit of a breeze coming off of the sea.
It was really nice for someone else to be doing the cooking today and it felt a little bit like being a tourist down by the sea. We noticed a new (to us) taverna on the beach side of the road which looked interesting so we may well try that one in due course.
We returned home to a bit of light banter and our regular game of Rummikub which I was winning all the way until I got hammered with a 'smiley' tile and a penalty of 50 points on top of my unlaid tiles.
John's sister, family and friends arrive on Wednesday so it will be a different routine for us this week - we plan to pop down and see Mum on Tuesday for lunch - it is going to be a hectic few weeks for us because this is the most popular time for us to have visitors - we end up chasing our tails trying to make sure we get to see everyone but to be fair on John he really wants to spend as much time as possible with his family and rightly so.
To be honest we really did not expect him to break his run to do this but he did and he sat where we could see the plaque in memory of my Dad and then the heart in memory of my brother in law Richard. It was very moving to receive these pictures and you can see from the picture on the right the sort of terrain and views he had (when it was daylight). My Dad grew up in the tiny hamlet you can see right in the distance and it is where we used to holiday as a family in my childhood - I don't think I ever really appreciated the beauty of that hidden little cove and the handful of houses clinging to the hill side, I don't know if I will ever get back to that place again but I hope one day I will so that I can see the bench for myself. In September a new plaque will be added in memory of my Uncle Doug (Dad's brother) whose ashes will be scattered there - he will have come home to rest after living in Canada for about 50 years. He will be in good company.
On a lighter note we decided to take mum out for lunch today - it has been exceptionally hot this weekend and with having Nicky and Mark to stay I wasn't really in a position to have sorted out Sunday Lunch.So Nicky and Mark shot off after breakfast for their golf and mum arrived shortly afterwards looking none the worse for having thrown a boiling hot cup of black tea over her the day before. I had her swimming costume all ready and we spent a very pleasant half an hour or so cooling down in the pool which we now know has a thermometer which is reading low - not that it makes much difference because the temperature is the temperature but psychologically it helps to know what it might be.
We decided to take her out for a ride along the coast to Argaka and to Coast Taverna for a change. You can see from the photographs that the sky was cloudless and the sea the most amazing colour with stripes of vivid blue, turquoise and aqua-marine and when we parked up there was a bit of a breeze coming off of the sea.It was really nice for someone else to be doing the cooking today and it felt a little bit like being a tourist down by the sea. We noticed a new (to us) taverna on the beach side of the road which looked interesting so we may well try that one in due course.
We returned home to a bit of light banter and our regular game of Rummikub which I was winning all the way until I got hammered with a 'smiley' tile and a penalty of 50 points on top of my unlaid tiles.
John's sister, family and friends arrive on Wednesday so it will be a different routine for us this week - we plan to pop down and see Mum on Tuesday for lunch - it is going to be a hectic few weeks for us because this is the most popular time for us to have visitors - we end up chasing our tails trying to make sure we get to see everyone but to be fair on John he really wants to spend as much time as possible with his family and rightly so.
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