Ricardo & Joey go boating?

On Saturday we had a few burly friends around for a fairly traumatic event...taking the roof down to the boat. Yes we have a boat 'Roxane' (named after Richard's daughter). She's been a dream for a long time and is having to be finished off to a much lesser extent than either of us would have liked and sold. She is a beauty and one of the reasons I fell in love with Richard was because he was the kind of adventuresome dreamer that had such a boat. She is a 27 foot long symphony in steel, a highly unusual small size for a boat with a steel hull. Called an Akerboom and built in Holland she's a coastal cruiser so not quite ocean going but more than just a river boat. She lies at a place called Isleham on the fens in Cambridgeshire.
I have never even sailed in her. It was always hard to get the time to work on her as Saturdays were the only days we could and only the fine ones at that, which meant half the year (at least) was out because of the weather.
Here are aforementioned burly lads helping to load the roof onto our friend, 'Bladesies' truck.
and here taking down the old ply wood bits that held up the old tarpaulin...
Richard struggled manfully on but was clearly exhausted by such emotionally charged stuff. Having to ask other people to help him with this has been a hugely humbling experience.
At last the roof was up but still needs to be set in place properly.
Checking out the work that's still to be done...
here's a picture from a while ago of Ricardo of the rippling muscles. He's rebuilt the whole 'Super structure' (top part of boat for us landlubbers) immaculately.
and lined the interior so beautifully...
We couldn't have done what we did today though without the help of wonderful, wonderful friends who are willing and happy to give up their time to help. Thank you Jon-boy, Pauly, Bladesy, and Gary.

Ricardo the Magificent sings "La Mer"

Big wide world

We went to Cley-next-the-sea on the weekend and had the most wonderful rest. I wasn't sure whether I was doing the right thing: cutting us off from support with no mobile phone coverage but it was the best thing we could possibly have done. At first it was just Cheeky monkey and me going for long walks at ungodly hours in the mornings. A bit sad and lonely but....
...it was so beautiful and peaceful and quiet out there on the marshes...except for all those NOISY BIRDS

Ricardo benefitted hugely from the salty air and lots of rest...
We even managed to get out and about a bit, with Clarry & Yusuf to the Wiveton Café and I had enough make-up on to not look too knackered
Cheeky monkey even got to play some Yarnuff.
The architecture at Cley is lovely and I was dreaming of a Georgian house by the sea...

and the gardens were so beautiful with roses just starting and Columbines everywhere...
On the way home we dropped in at a favourite garden of mine at East Ruston


Unbelievably beautiful.
Check out the size of this peony.

Soldiering on

Hello lovelies. Just so you don't think we've dropped off the edge of the planet after the last bit of extra horrible news; we are still here and still soldiering on.My friend Caryll has gone on a holiday so I'm needing a morning walking buddy. Ricardo was happy to oblige. So his Buns-o-Steel are staying nice & steely.
We are heading to North Norfolk this weekend to a lovely B&B that some friends have organised for us to go and stay at. Check it OUT I can't wait. It has been so hectic and so hard to sleep for worry that I'm hoping we can relax a bit once we get there.

Must pack the Superman outfits as my freind Jenny sent this lovely email this morning...

"Just wanted to send you both love and let you know that I'm praying for a miracle for you both. And why not? After all you've already shared so many miracles. The miracle of finding each other in a world of 6.6 billion people. The miracle of being truly content with each other, without the need for heaps of material stuff to insulate you against life. The miracle of sharing stuff and enjoing the world together. The miracle of inspiring old cynics like me to believe that blissfull, true love and contentment is possible over the age of 30! I know that you'll make the most of the time you have, because that's what you do anyway. Keep wearing the superman outfits and dancing!"

Best of times and worst of times

I've been trying to compose this post for quite a while now as you can see by how long it is since I last posted. Usually I keep this blog for good things happening in my life but alas I need it now for something bad that's been happening now for a few months. If you would rather not read my bad news then stop right here.
I think I can summarise by telling you about my birthday yesterday. Friday, the 21st. Ricardo has been in hospital for 3 weeks now with the mystery illness that I spoke about in my last post where we visited the Royal School of Needlework. So my birthday had to be spent away from him, my favourite buddy. Still it was a lovely day. It started with my usual walk with my friend Caryll in the woods near here with her two doggies.

Calm, peaceful and magical.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It felt strange somehow to be warm first thing in the morning.
Next came breakfast with my darlings Clarissa and Zebedee and Yusuf the 'King-of-eggs-Benedict'. Here we are sitting in the sun next to the veggie patch. Another calm, warm special moment.
Then it was off to Banham zoo which is just down the road from us but I've never been before. My friend Lisa and I wandered about in the sunshine with Zebbie, the perfect accompaniment for zoo visiting. Although isn't it always the way that animals are always asleep in a distant and camouflaged state when you're trying to point them out to a small child. There was one very, very sweet moment however when we came across a family of black gibbons all asleep and spooned together in the sun right up close to the viewing window. The tiny baby woke up and climbed up as close as it could get to Zebbie and they touched hands with only glass between. Clarrissa had given me the MOST beautiful dress and accessories for my birthday and Lisa and I looked quite glamorous in comparison to the usual run of the mill zoo visitors in fat shorts and beetle back packs.
Zebbie wore his 'Easy Tiger' T-shirt and the man driving the tiger train really wanted one.
Then it was time to visit my darling in hospital. Here he is looking suave in his PJ's.
That was when the bad news came, the worst of times so far. The consultant came to talk to us, pulled the curtain round us and sat trying to pull himself together to give us the bad news. He closed his eyes as he told us so as not to cry. Richard has cancer in his liver and has up to 2 years left, depending on how healthy we can keep him. There is no cure nor chance of transplant nor use of chemo to halt it's march. One of the gorgeous nurses came after the consultant and got us cups of tea in china cups & saucers. I can't speak highly enough of how we were both treated during this nightmare of not knowing. The nurses all gave more than we expected including hugs whenever things got bad and were the most caring and wonderful bunch you could ever wish for.
On our way home from the hospital we spied a couple of balloons about to take off. Something about them (along with fireworks and brass bands) always makes me cry and so finally they did the trick and I sobbed and sobbed as I watched them sail off.
I've brought him home now and the awful business of telling everyone begins as we try and console all our friends and family scattered across the globe.
The only thing that smooths out my terror and anxiety at the moment is reading and re-reading Gerald Durrell's book 'My family and other animals'. Here's an excerpt for you to calm and sooth you after my awful news.
"The sea lifted smooth blue muscles of wave as it stirred in the dawn light, and the foam of our wake spread gently behind us like a white peacock's tail, glinting with bubbles. The sky was pale and stained with yellow on the Eastern horizon.
Ahead lay a chocolate-brown smudge of land, huddled in mist, with a frill of foam at its base. This was Corfu and we strained our eyes to make out the exact shapes of the mountains, to discover valleys, peaks, ravines, and beaches, but it remained a silhouette. Then suddenly the sun shifted over the horizon, and the sky turned the smooth enamelled blue of a jay's eye. The endless, meticulous curves of the sea flamed for an instant and then changed to deep royal purple flecked with green. The mist lifted in quick, lithe ribbons, and before us lay the island, the mountains as though sleeping beneath a crumpled blanket of brown, the folds stained with the green of olive-groves. Along the shore curved beaches as white as tusks among tottering cities of brilliant gold, red,and white rocks. Rounding the cape, we left the mountains, and the island sloped gently down, blurred with the silver and green iridescence of olives, with here and there an admonishing finger of black cypress against the sky. The shallow sea in the bays was butterfly blue, and even above the sound of the ship's engine we could hear, faintly ringing from the shore like a chorus of tiny voices, the shrill, triumphant cries of the cicadas."

Pinning ones hopes to needlework

At our house lately, it's been all work, sleep and no play.
Ricardo the Magnificent has been poorly with a mystery illness that seems to be resisting diagnosis. It has us both quietly and inwardly worried and outwardly falsely cheerful. Yesterday, there was no falseness to our cheerfulness. My friend Louise had arrived from Australia via Paris and was making a tour of the Royal College of needlework at Hampton Court Palace. We didn't need any excuse to join her there for the tour.
It was THE most glorious day. Old Blighty had turned on a rare gem and all the blossom and flowers had come out to meet us.
We had a picnic in the "Wilderness garden" (in inverted commas because there is no such thing as wilderness at Hampton Court).
We had just missed the daffodils but the tulips were incredible and the smell of Wallflowers was just like Chanel no 5 .
Louise and Ricardo bonded as I knew they would.
Louise is a fabulous textile artist and you must see her work here and here she also has a wicked sense of humour. Which meant that I couldn't look at her as we stood in the main room of the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) and listened to the volunteer talk about the history of the RSN. Endlessly talk about the history of the RSN. It seemed like we stood there for hours while she dutifully followed her notes about who had been the patron when. At one stage I asked Ricardo in hushed tones if he was alright and did he need to sit down. He said 'I'm fine I'm just fighting the hugest yawn attack'. She rambled on and on and my mind sped out the window as it used to do at school, but instead of gum trees and kookaburras this is what I saw.
".....and in 1887 the RSN moved to blah. blah, blah....... who had one daughter, oh no I think it was actually two.....blah blah" It seems like the RSN is desperate for money and if I had some I would give it to them if only to give their volunteers some training in 'Creating interest in your monologues'. Still we had a wonderful time afterwards rolling on the immaculate lawn and doing impressions of our poor unwitting volunteer.

Get thee hence to Doctor Karl

The bestest part of my job is being able to listen to the radio ALL DAY. Now that we have a wifi connection, I can scan the whole worlds radio stations and listen to all my favourite Australian shows in the workroom. My absolute all time favourite is Dr Karl on Triple J broadcasting from Sydney. Yesterday, I was like an alcoholic in a bar listening to just one more, just one more. The show had me laughing out loud with it's incredible range of questions, from.... " How do ants know when it's going to rain?" and "How many times can a mosquito bite you?" to "Can you break your penis?". Here's the link, go there now if you can. See you later I'm off upstairs to stitch & laugh.

Cushion giveaway

Hello all my dear blog buddies and I hope you had a happy Easter.
I know I haven't been here for ages but I've been busy setting up a cushion fan sight over at that succubus of time.... Facebook. There is a cushion giveaway there that finishes on Thursday the 8th of April at 2pm. So come on down. It's been my complete obsesson and every time a new fan arrives I do a little dance.

P.S. these cushions are my newbies made from the orange Obi that you see below in the previous post