Hi Brian,

Lovely to hear that the Club membership is on the up and that must be rewarding to everyone involved.

Have enjoyed having the family for company this week and despite the changeable weather managed to juggle our plans and still fit everything in (including my workshifts as usual) and a little rain never harmed anyone ha ha.

The 'free' begonia is a beauty and am very envious as this is one plant I rarely manage to have any luck with.  My lawn already showing signs of recovery so no doubt will be mowing again soon but for now just nice to see green shoots instead of straw!!

Hope your weekend has been pleasant and peaceful and am sure your youngest grandson will make up for missing you at the show but thinking up even more cheeky comments.You have to love them!

Regards to you all.  Jules

Hi Jules,

Am liking this weather better thank you. Hope your decoration will soon be finnished. Mrs B's begonia has even more blooms on it now and we have a second on just starting to flower now. pics attached.

Our show is approaching fast now. I suddenly realized our club chaiman has not exhibited with as as he doesnt sell his carvings. But I have asked him if he will take part in our exhibition. He also is a terrific wildlife photographer and has given several slide shows of his work to our club so have suggested he might like to bring these along as well as he does sell his photos. He is thinking about it and iis looking at his diary so keeping fingers crossed.

I am also on page 10 of another new story which I dreamed up the storyline for in bed the other night. 

I wish you and your family agreat weekend, Brian.

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Hi Brian,

Beautiful pictures of the plants.Not much colour in my garden now though the buddleia and fuschia have managed to withstand the dry conditions.  Think the heavy rain last Thursday was a boost.  I even mowed the lawn on Saturday and the weeding was so much easier with softened soil.  A pleasure to be able to be back out there.

Weekend was a good one as had my son and family over for lunch and the latest family edition turns 4 weeks today and his 2yr old sister seems to have grown in confidence with him.....so cute.

On Monday I had another trip into London, this time as a belated birthday treat from a good friend.  We did the Tower Bridge tour followed by walking the local 'sights' and then taken to St Katherines Dock (Marina) for lunch.  Such a lovely day out.

Hope your Club Chairman manages his diary so that he can see for himself how hard everyone works to bring their  exhibits together for the show next weekend. Even if he does not sell his creations I am sure it would make good viewing.  Hope everything goes well and the footfall is good. 

Decorating is going well and even with just the undercoats on there is a huge 'lightness' in the hall/stairs/landing now.The brunt of it should be done by the coming weekend and then can arrange for the new carpet to be laid.  Another project that will put a tick in the box ha ha.

Hope you and Mrs B are having a pleasant week and wish you all the best for the upcoming Show.  Regards to you all. Jules

Hi Jules,

I have had a busy week getting the last few things ready for the show. Most of us set up on the Friday evening but there are a couple I let set up on the Saturday morning as they have a distance to travel and the things they do dont take long to set up. Dissapiontingly our chairman couldnt make this weekend but our club secretary is coming up for the Saturday afternoon. He has to pay someone to be with his wife as she is not well. Am going to struggle to get everthing in my car as I have the display boards and 3 A-Frames as well. If the worst come to the worst I will take the A frames tommorow morning. No I will have a good laugh with the lads over the weekend. 

Have also been feeding my sons two cats as he is in Scotland. Have just bought my first lot of Kent Cobb Nuts. Also mowed front and back lawns and dug the front and back gardens.  

Probably wont be on site much until Tuesday. Will post some photos of peoples work. 

Have a great weekend and sending kind thoughts to you and your family, Brian

Hi Brian,

Well I hope your hard work has proved worthwhile and that you have been enjoying the company of your fellow exhibitors during this bank holiday craft event.  I bet you have been glad to be back inside though especially with the wind and rain yesterday.  Hopefully today slightly better weatherwise and hope visitor numbers will have been good.  Bet your new items have found new homes and it wont be long before you are considering what comes next.

Good to know that your favourite cobb nuts are being enjoyed again though it is a reminder that Autumn is approaching.  Where did that beautiful summer go?  A bit of sunshine this morning so I am going for a walk soon.  The gym is closed for a professional clean following a fire from a neighbouring property causing smoke damage and loss of electricity so having to find other things to keep me 'sane'!!

Thankfully the decorator has now finished and  another project will come to a close when the new carpet gets fitted later this week.  Just in time for family coming to stay next weekend as we celebrate my daughter in law's parents  joint 60th birthday BBQ (weather permitting), my sister in law's birthday  the following day and then a day of reflection for me on the Monday which would have been our 41st wedding anniversary.

Looking forward to seeing the photos from your weekend and  no doubt you will need time to 'slow down' and relax following a very busy time indeed.  Take care and regard to you and MrsB. Hope  your son and family have enjoyed their holiday in Scotland; a beautiful place.

Regards, Jules

Hi Jules, 

I hope you have a very good weekend with your family get to gether. Bet you have bben looking forward to it and seeing the grandchildren again.

My son comes back from Scotland today which mean we wont have to feed his two cats anymore. My next show is not until late December so have plenty of time to re-pleanish stock. Sold all my new elephants, cats and the sit up and beg mice. Plus I have a tinket box that has a walbut base but a differnt lid and I could have sold this several times over if it had a walnut lid. I have now found some walnut which will do for this so I will make a new lid for it.

Need to mow both lawns again today, Didnt the lawns green up quickly after that dry spell? Amazing how quickly nature recovers.Wont be long before I shall be buying my chestnuts again. This years has gone by so quickly, just dont know where it has gone.

When we have our next woodclub committee meeting, I am going to suggest we make a video with our club chairman and cluc secretary talking about the club and then interviewing some of our members who I hope will also demonstrate what they do . I want ywo versions, one running for about 30 minutes that we can play when we have exhibition and one which runs for about an hour so I can go round to local groups and play it to them to publicise our club. Think this could be a great recruitment tool. 

I hope you have a really enjoyable weekend with your family. Sending kind thoughts and best wishes your way and will think of you on Monday, Brian

Hi Jules thanks for your reply. 

So pleased you had an enjoyable weekend with your family. Bet it seems qiete now they have all gone home. Bet the time flew by as it does when ones enjoying one self.

Took Mrs B to a farm shop today and have re-plenished my stock of Kent Cobb Nuts. Plus we both enjoy the drive through country lanes. Have also got her a couple of Billy Fury C.D's as she like his singing. 

My son and family had a great time in Scotland and took some great photos. He even took one of a huge Scots Pine especially for me. Cat are now following them round  the house and wont let them out of their sight as if they are afraid they will go off and leave them again ha ha. 

Hope the extra days are not too busy and you can soon return to normal hours

Sending kind thoughts to you and your family. Brian.

Good morning Brian,

Trying to gear myself up for a busier working week (cannot call it enthusiasm ha ha) and have at least managed to get things back straight indoors so will be able to sit down when I get back home!  Tomorrow's full day will be made easier in the knowledge that Iam out to dinner with a friend afterwards and have another meal out next week when catching up with old friend so some highlights on the horizon. Have also been researching next year's Summer holiday so will have something to look forward to now that the house projects are more or less done (just need to solve the leaking gutter again).  My neighbour is replacing the whole length of his fence so currently giving me a 'new view' as he does this when he gets the time between work and with the evenings beginning to draw in, could take a while.

Glad your son had a good time on his holidays; it is a beautiful part of the country and have fond memories of our tours round up there.  Both my children also honeymooned in Scotland.

Good that you could stock up on the cobb nuts and enjoy the country drive too. Time of the year approaching was brought home to me when I popped into our local card shop only to see that they had already got their Christmas cards on view!!!! (and people were buying them!!!!!!!!!!!!).  Made sure I stocked up on necessary family birthday cards as the choice will obviously been less visible over the coming months.  Just another reminder that changes will also soon be occuring at my place of work too.

Have a pleasant week whilst the weather holds on.  Jules 

Good morning Jules.

Bet you will be off for you Sunday constitional shortly. Hope you enjoyed your meal out the other evening. Has you gym re-opened yet after the smoke damage? Also how is your mother keeping? Hope she is okay still.  

The hoover I have in my garage packed up so I took it apart and found the wire that leads to the carbon brush had broken. Its taken me three attempts to mend it as I am no good at soldering. But I persevered and it now working again. Its one that also can be used as a blower so I can clear all the fine dust out of my workshop. Make a lot of differnce. 

My dear wife wanted to get our granddaughter a cookery book for when she starts at the university shortly So I managed to find one for vegetarian students and Mrs B is very pleased with it. It has 200 recipies. Just hope our granddaughter likes it too.

Am now on page 25 of my new story, having had a break for a few days. I came to a part where I didnt know how to write what I wanted but have now overcome the problem and the story is  now coming together well. I have also been going through some of my earlier stories and have revised some of them as my writing has improved since I first started so just altering a few words here and there and its suprising what a differnce a few words can make. 

Nearly everyone of Mrs B's free begonias has grown and quite a few are now blooming. Best freebies we have ever had ha ha. Some have great big floweres while other have much smaller ones but it appears we were given quite a wide variety of them.

How many week is it you have to put in extra hours for? Hope it not too many. Anyway I hope you are having a good weekend, Sending kind thoughts to you and your family, Brain