Visiting family...

I was up early this morning as I had arranged to go to Keinton Mandeville to see my godmother Janet, her partner Alan, friends Jane and John and my uncle Ivor and aunty Margaret.  It was to be a day of eating as lunch was at Janet's and evening meal at Jane's.

Hazel was having some "her" time as she had booked to have her hair and eyelashes done in readiness for the wedding so was more than happy that I was going off.

The drive to Keinton is a nice one and the countryside is looking lush and green.  My godmother has been really quite poorly recently and although she is 84 like mum she is normally so very active so this has knocked the stuffing out of her and she gets more than a little emotional when she sees me.

I arrived at 10.00am as planned to catch up and have a coffee - we were joined by Jane and John and then we all had lunch together which was lovely but had me worried because I knew that Jane would put on a right old spread in the evening and recently I have only been having one main meal a day!

After our lunch I took a walk down through the village - as a schoolgirl I used to be able to name the occupants of every house on the way.  I never appreciated quite what a lovely place the village was although to be fair it has changed quite a bit in the intervening 40-odd years and there have been some new additions and some of the older buildings updated.  Above is Sir Henry Irving's birthplace - one of the few claims to fame Keinton Mandeville can boast:

Sir Henry Irving, original name John Henry Brodribb, (born Feb. 6, 1838, Keinton Mandeville, Somerset, Eng.—died Oct. 13, 1905, Bradford, Yorkshire), one of the most famous of English actors, the first of his profession to be knighted (1895) for services to the stage.

I saw one person that I knew as I was walking and that was Trevor who is my godmother's son-in-law!  He looked a little surprised to suddenly see me back in the village!

I was walking down to my aunty Margaret and uncle Ivor's bungalow.  Uncle Ivor was so pleased that I had made the effort to go and see them.  He will unbelievably be 90 next week and my aunt will be 90 later in the year - she has been very unwell of late but has subsequently rallied, I think she suffered a stroke about 15 years ago which left her badly affected and uncle Ivor has cared for her ever since.  They are inseparable and devoted to one another and my uncle is a real inspiration.

My cousin Julie came along too - it was great to see her and catch up on the progress of the Penstemon she gave me last year which has survived but not, as yet, flowered!

I returned to aunty Janet's walking past a beautiful house that used to be the home of Mrs Hill.  In those days you couldn't see the house because the front garden was a jungle - you can see where some massive tree has been removed.  I met Mrs Hill when I was about 10 after I found her hearing aid on the footpath and handed it in and Mrs Hill wanted to thank me for being honest.  I remember that she always kept chocolate in her old fashioned pantry and I also remember her giving me two hard backed books - Born Free and Living Free which I treasured for many years.

I was back just in time for our meal at Jane and John's - it was a joint effort on their part and it was absolutely lovely - it was very kind of them to entertain us all.

Somewhat concerned about negotiating my way home in the dark in Clio I reluctantly made my way back to Yeovil before it got too late.

It was fine driving back but the new road system is a bit of a challenge and makes the route to Hazel's a little unfamiliar.  Haze was in bed when I got home, in bed but still awake so we could catch up on the days' events.

Not much news on Aunty Joyce today save for the fact that she has now had a biopsy.