[blink] afk - Away From Keyboard. That's really old, I thought everyone knew it...

We've had a great day. The trains all ran to time so we made all the connections (though it was a bit of a rush at Newton Abbott). It's been bright and hot all day. The hotel was fantastic, the champagne punch extremely nice, the wine good, the food delicious (home-made cream of mushroom soup, choice of roast pork or lamb - we went for the pork - with all the trimmings, then trifle or fresh fruit salad - apple, orange, pineapple, red and white grapes, raspberries, melon and kiwi fruit, lovely!). We sat on the terrace while everyone arrived: there were cooing doves and roses in bloom, all very pleasant. The pic is a photo of the Queen's Telegram congratulating them on their anniversary. (I did try to take a photo of the words inside but the damned digicam card was full...)


Afterwards we all moved next door for the dance... It's at times like this that I remember how much I used to enjoy it. Wish I could persuade Ken to learn. The sequence dancing in particular looked such fun: there were some dances I didn't recognise (including what m-i-l tells me is called the Balmoral Blues, which is very pretty).
Kai was very good, but he'd had cream, and sugar, and a chocolate mint, and the sugar rush hit fairly soon, so I took him over the road to the beach for an hour

A small stream is culverted under the road, and comes out half way down the seawall, where it makes a veritable waterfall and cuts a broad, shallow 'river delta' through the sand on its way to the sea a few yards away. Kai had great fun breaking down the banks/digging ditches/building dams: in fact he created a whole new channel, only a hand's-span wide at first and a little trickle, but after a few minutes it had widened and deepened. Like watching earth-shaping in miniature! It was wonderfully peaceful: there weren't many people there (though there were a couple of dogs. Eating seaweed. Yes, really. But only the yellowy-brown variety...).
After the dance had finished, we had sandwiches and cake back at Ken's folks' place (and wished Ken's brother Arfs and his wife Chrissie happy 25^th Anniversary) but we couldn't stay long, unfortunately. Nevertheless it was a happy occasion, and good to see everyone again.
Mum Taylor gave all the women one of these lovely little 'moonstone and diamond' brooches (bigger than life size, here) - beautiful things, and not too pretty-pretty even for me. I need to find somewhere to have it on display though, since I don't often wear things that can take brooches...
The trip back was a little noisy but OK. Everything in the house was fine, and needless to say the animals were pleased to have us back. And I took advantage of the computer being off all day to clean/dust inside it before booting up, as it's been running hot the last few days. Erk. Couldn't actually see the fan for gunk, and large areas of the guts were indistinguishable under the dust. It's a lot better now!
Taking tonight off - I'm tired and think I've caught the sun on my arms and shoulders from the beach, feels a little uncomfortable. I have a heavy shopping day tomorrow: found out on Tuesday that my butcher is shut for two weeks from the 13^th and my freezer is practically empty. (I did try to stock up yesterday but forgot he closes early on a Wednesday...) Hope he actually still has things in stock! Need to get to The Range, too, and pick up some more paint for the new airing cupboard door (our carpenter has been ill so the door's not hung yet - probably just as well since I haven't finished painting!)
Busy Friday. Oh joy.