How time flies

I can't believe it is a year since my Great grand daughter , Rafaela was born ....Gosh!!!! that was a quick year . We had two parties for her as Granny Kate and Grandpa Ken were in Scotland, so we had another party on their return. As we are still having lovely sunny days we had barbecue's and sat outside until it was dark. On her actual birthday at Jo and Philip's house Rafaela walked right across the room, she had been almost walking for a while but to actually do it on her birthday was great!

It was, as always good to be with all the family and Mariana and Nelu ( who are family anyway!!) of course we all missed Amy as she is now at Bible College in Glasgow. It is good we have computers because we are in touch with her often and as she has a web. cam. I can see her and talk to her too. She seems to be settling in very well so I wish her all the very best and hope she enjoys it but works hard too. So Happy Birthday, La Multi Ani little Rafaela x x x x x x

Rafaela's first birthday

Pictures of Gabriel's First Birthday

Gabriel's first birthday

This is Gabriel , Irina and Viorel's little boy. He is a gorgeous little boy and very well behaved. It was his first birthday last Sunday so Amy and I went round to their apartment and took mini pizza, sausage rolls and I made a cake. It was very nice and we were made very welcome.

Irina and Viorel were on the streets for a lot of their lives but they got married and now have a little girl , Daniela and Gabriel. They have recently been given a new apartment from the town hall. The apartments are small but very nice and it is the best place they have ever had to live.

It will be our baby's first birthday on the 7th of Sept. Gosh!!! that was a quick year. Amy and I hope to be going to Johanna and Philip's for a barbecue so that will be nice. Kathy and Kenneth will still be in UK but can celebrate her birthday when they get back.

The pictures are of Gabriel and sister Daniela.

Lot's of new pictures !!!!!

Ooooops!!!!! Just found photo's from Easter and through to July. Just shows I have not been well ! We were as usual invited to Mariana's where we started by cracking the eggs together, the laugh was my egg would not break which caused fit's of laughter !!!

The meal as always was delicious, Mariana and Nelu are such good host's and it was nice for both families to be united at Easter.

The next main event was Johanna's and Daniela's birthday party at my apartment, It was hard work getting all the food ready but I had help from Amy and it is always worth it when everyone enjoys themselves. It was a dull day so we ate inside but as you will see ended up on the terresa !!!!!

Last Saturday it was the Dorabant's Festival, the village is right on the Romanian-Hungarian border and mainly ethnic Hungarian people live there. We went early only to find the festival did not start until 4pm so we went to the Strand where there is a swimming pool and Thermal pools, it was a scorching hot day so the place was packed. We had scrummy , hot sweet, fresh, corn on the cob Mmmmm!!! Then we managed ice creams, then to the festival and eventually Goulash. The Band were great and the dancers too all in National costumes. So a good day was had by all only to collapse into a cool bath and bed on their return.

my lovely grandchildren

My daughter doesn't get much time off but recently she and Kenneth have been making more of an effort. These photos were taken on a recent trip to Hunedoara castle, three hours from Arad.

July already!!!!!!

Sorry I have not written my blog. ..... I have had a lot of up's and downs in the last few months and have even cancelled a trip to UK again. High blood pressure etc. will not go into details. Any way I am feeling a lot better.

It is very hot again and bright sunshine and although I cannot go out when it is so hot I have lot's and lot's of pleasure looking at the garden, which is now looking very good. The Roses are lovely, they thrive here and the Geraniums without much attention. We went to a great garden centre and hope to go again soon, the prices were so reasonable and the people very helpful.

The family have all been wonderful and someone calls every day to see I am OK and take me to doctors, shopping etc.etc. Rosie and Yasmina are growing up fast and bring much pleasure to my life. One day about three weeks ago Amy brought them up and I suggested they they went off to the little park at the end of the estate, I gave them bottles of water and crisps and some biscuits and told them to have a picnic ....... Well !!!! they thought it was wonderful and only came back to go to the toilet, they were away two hours! The only thing is, now every time Yasmina comes .. she wants a picnic. It reminded me of when we were little , my sister and brother would go off to Hyde Park with bottles of water and jam sandwiches and stay all day and thought it was a real treat. Gosh!!! those were the days when such small things brought great pleasure and it was safe to let your children go to the park all day unsupervised. Ooooops! must be getting old I keep thinking in the past but at least I have some very happy memories.

Rafaela (Johanna's little one) is almost walking now she is a real cutie . She is a good baby and alway's laughing , she is never still and like all babies into everything. All the family are doing well and planning to visit everyone in UK in August, I don't know when I will be able to go yet as the doctor does not like the thought of me flying with very high BP. I am not at all upset I love my home here and I am very comfortable. I am planning to have four days away in Hungary with Helen when they go , it will be a change and it is not a long journey.

The Day Centre ( The Secret Garden ) is very busy these days, I go sometimes and love to see the progress they are making and how nice it all is now. If you go to the "vis de copil" site (click on address on my side panel) you will see all the activities they do now. At the top of this post you can see a lovely tableau made bythe children from paper flowers which they made themselves.

My friend Gloria has gone to live in Timisoara now but comes over once a week to meet me, usually at one of our new Malls, "The Atrium" where, much to our delight we have C&A. Yes it's great, we used to love it in Britain but they closed all the stores there. Then we go upstairs and have chinese or mexican food, can't be bad eh??? I miss Gloria a lot as she was only over in the village here 5 minutes walk away and we spent long summer afternoons together chatting and drinking tea. Still it is nice to see her most weeks.We never stop talking. Must close now and try to do a couple of job's but it is so hot. Good job I have the air conditioning !!!!!!!

The Spring has brought lovely sunshine and clear skies

April has been a lovely month with bright sunny days. Easter was very nice (as it alway's is here in Romania) and the old traditions still stand. We always get invited to Mariana and Nelu's house in Sanleani . She serves a wonderful spread starting with soup, then salad's and a hot meal and best of all her super cakes which are unbelievable and very scrummy. Before the meal starts we all have a glass of wine or visinata and the cracking of the eggs. It was a lovely day and as I had been quite poorly it was great to get out for a while.

My little fruit trees that were planted last year have blossomed and the fruit has set , so this year I should get a few cherries and plums. The Clematis Montana came into flower this week too , it is very pretty and a welcome site after winter. I have managed to get geraniums in my porch again and they are doing well , I had a change with window boxes and put in minature pansies , marigolds and margarites. I will get more plants to climb up the fences as soon as possible.Kathy has been very busy at the day centre and had quite a few visitors so I have to wait until she can take me .

I am at last feeling a lot better but unfortunatly could not go to Manchester for my planned visit this month. I had big problems with my leg and very high blood pressure but Dr. Bulboaca my GP is wonderful, she sent me for check ups, Diabetic , blood tests etc.etc. and changed my medication , giving me exta tablets for cardio vascular and I am now feeling much better.The medical care here is excellent , I have a friend in UK who has been waiting for weeks for an MRI scan when he could have had one here the next day.We also met a lady (well ! Amy did ) who came here from UK for extensive dental treatment , she said it was still less than half the price even with her air fares and a stay in a Hotel for a week. We are getting more and more people coming here for all kinds of medical teatment including plastic surgery, interesting eh???

I am hoping to go to the English conversation club tonight if only for a short while as I miss all my friends there, Romanian, German Italian and of course American and British , we laugh and say it's like United Nations !!!! Must try to rest a little now and then I will be able to go.

March already !!!!!!!

Hello!! I did not realise just how long it was since I updated my blog. time seems to fly and the older you get , the faster it goes.

Christmas was nice, we had Christmas eve at Mariana's in Sanleani ( the village where Kathy and family live), The family have ben invited there every year since first coming to live in Romania. We are all made very welcome and have a great evening with lovely traditional Romanian food.

Christmas day is always at Kathy's, with Mariana and her family all coming. Kenneth was very poorly with pneumonia and in bed, so it was down to Amy to cook dinner for 22 phew!!! but it was lovely and she did a terrific job, pretty much single handed! Kathy always invites people over the holiday who are away from home and their families and those who would not have a Christmas dinner other than with us.

I was to do Boxing day but Kathy decided it would be too much for me, as I haven't been all that well recently. I still wanted to "host" the day though so I cooked a meat and potato pie and chili con carne in advance and we took it all round to Kathy's. Everyone tucked in and really enjoyed the pie ( it was a change to have something different.)

The winter has been quite cold and lot's of snow but Britain seems to have had their share too this year. Now the spring is on it's way and I have buds on my little fruit trees I planted last spring and the Honeysuckle and clematis Montana are also in bud . It will soon be time to be thinking of doing the window boxes again , can't wait to see some flowers out there!!

My new great grandchild, baby Rafaela is doing well. She is almost 6 months old - how time flies! She has 2 teeth and is almost crawling now.
Irina, Viorel and the children, Daniela and baby Gabriel came too on Boxing day. Wee Gabriel is coming on a treat too he's two weeks older than Rafaela - I like this photo of them both.














I paid a visit to the day centre the other day, it was great to see children and parents who live on the streets or in literally hovels in the pooerest communities tucking into bowls of hot soup and bread.

Some of the children were busy in the quiet room making easter pictures etc. The centre is a real credit to Kathy and Kenneth, how wonderful to have somewhere to get food and warmth and showers and clean clothes for them all. Amy is now on the staff too (though at the moment without pay), I just wish all the people who help to fund this wonderful place could see it for themselves, they would certainly be pleased at the hands on care and love that helps these poor souls.

Well I will try to keep putting bits of news on for those who are good enough to follow my blog. Will put a few pictures on too .

Thanks for the shoe boxes from British children

Arad City Hall at Christmas


The children
loved the boxes
many thanks.










Saint Nocholas .

Trying to make time to do my Blog. again !!!!

Well folks I have finally made it to write my blog again. It has been an eventful few weeks to say the least. I went to Hyde for a three week visit to see my sister, brother and family and of course to see how my home town was doing.

The first thing that hit me as I got off the plane at Manchester was the damp, it just seemed to go right through me.I thought how different it is in Arad where we do not have very much rain and so therefore it is not as damp here.It was lovely to see everyone even though I got a bad chest infection and had to visit the Doctor but had some very nice times in between.I saw my friend Janet a few times and old shcool friends Maureen and Cynthia , we talked of the teenage years we spent together (good times) and how we went dancing and walking and of course getting up to mischief. We certainly had a lot of laughs and said how things have changed, ( must be getting old ha ha !!)

I had contemplated may be going back to live in the Hyde area as I had been getting home sick and intended looking at accommodation and asking some questions but as the time went on and the more I saw and heard about muggings, drugs, vandalism etc etc. I decided this would not be a good idea , I thought what a nice apartment I have and not much crime here , also how peaceful it is where I live and how lovely the people are and all the friends I have made. So I came back home with a different attitude and have really enjoyed being back in Romania which I can honestly say is now my home.

Today is Saint Nicholas (Sfantul Nicolae) day, last night the children would have polished their shoes and put them out on the window sill or outside the front door. If they have been good they would get small gifts from Saint Nicholas of fruit, sweets or candy sticks. Today people will take gifts to friends, children and those in need.

I called at Kathy's day centre on Tues. for an hour and spent an hour colouring in with the children, Kathy was busy giving out hot soup and bread which was much appreciated as the weather is turning cold. She was also giving the poor, clothes , boots and shoes so they were very happy they had dropped in. It is lovely now at the centre and very homely and as most of them have no homes probably the only home they have. How lucky I feel when I see them in such need , thank goodness there are folks like Kathy and Ken who care!!! Amy was home from University and was helping too and putting up decorations which the children had made themselves.So it looks very festive now.

Well Christmas is nearly here , the tree is up and looking good outside the town hall and little stalls all in the square selling mulled wine and lot's of goodies . Soon there will be the carol singers too on the boulevard , Christmas is always really nice here and definatly not as commercial. You get the real meaning of Christmas which is very nice. Must get some more preparations done now ready to celebrate the holiday so will go now and get moving.

Clinic Eva / Arad

I had to go back to see Doctor Patru at the Eva clinic as I was in a great deal of pain. I have had six treatments of electrosis and massage and infiltration and gosh!! I feel so much better. Doctor Patru is wonderful and so proffesional , she knows after one consultation exactly what you need and she is so kind to me as are all her staff.It is a pleasure to go there and the patients are also very kind and patient with me and include me in thier chats whilst we wait for treatment.

I would recommend anyone with problems of Sciatica , Herniated disc , Arthritis etc. to go here . Last year when I first attended the clinic I was so bad I could not walk and was in severe pain and discomfort but in four weeks of intensive care and treatment I was fine and cannot thank Doctor Eva Patru enough.

Thanks to all the staff at the clinic , I know I can always count on you all for help, I wish the care and treatment was so good in Britain !!!

Clinic Eva, Nr, 8 Octavian Goga, Arad, Romania.

Four Generations

There are four generations here. Great grandma, Granny, Mummy and Baby. We are all first babies and all girls. Rose, Kathryn, Johanna and Rafaela.

More of baby More

An assortment of photo's, some are of Johanna's last week of being preganant , Philip, Johanna and me having a nice meal before Rafaela was born ...













































...and more of my lovely Great Granddaughter - alone, with Johanna and me and then the four generations of us ... all first born girls!

Rafaela Alisa More

I would like to introduce you to my Great Granddaughter, Rafaela, Alisa. She was born on the 7th September, weighing 8lbs 6ounces.Johanna had a natural birth with no pain relief and had a pretty hard time of it but it was worth it. The baby girl is beautiful as you will see from the photo's and I am delighted . She is going home today and both Mother and baby are doing well . Philip is so pleased and glad it is all over as she was well over due and we were wondering if she would ever appear.


Thanks to everyone who sent messages of congratulations, and for the lovely gifts and flowers. I would like to say a personal thank you to Philip and Johanna for calling the baby Alisa after my mother Alice that was a lovely thing to do.

Waitng for Baby!!

Well we are on countdown now , Philip and I and of course Johanna. The baby is due on the 25th August but think he may come early. Johanna is well , she is tired now especially in this hot weather but she is bearing up well and never complains. I am so excited !!! I shall be Great Grandma Rose and Kathy's Great Grandma was Rose too which is rather nice. I am on standby waiting for a phone call so that I can go to the Hospital to be there for the birth.

I am so pleased for them as they now have internet, TV and landline phone in Dorabants now and the bathroom is finished , all in time for babies arrival. Their house in a lovely village will be a nice place to bring a little one up. They have baby chicks too , and they brought me fresh eggs last week that taste lovely.

I am still knitting and have quite a collection of nice clothes for the baby now. Johanna has got very organised and everthing is ready , her bag is packed too so we wait !!!!!

HOTEL CORVUS AQUA/ Oroshaza Hungary

Oroshaza

Yesterday I went with my friend Helen to Oroshaza, Hungary. It was very hot but in the car we had a breeze so was not too bad. We went to look at a Hotel there, I had seen it on the internet. We wanted to go to the Wellness centre there where there are Thermal pools, swimming pools and all kinds of treatments for Rhumatism etc. etc. or you can pamper yourself and have a pedicure, manicure or a hair do. It is in a lovely setting and you can just go to relax, if thats what you would like.

We arrived at the" Hotel Corvus Aqua", it looked really nice and has it's own lake. At reception we asked about special offers and decided on a three night stay with a lovely room and including breakfast and evening meal for £100 each this also included two passes to the spa and wellness centre which is right next door to the Hotel. We then had a superb lunch overlooking the lake - it was delicious! We then got talking to a very nice young lady, Erika who turned out to be one of the directors. She was absolutley charming with excellent English. I am sure we will enjoy our break there in the second week in August, the staff were great and very polite, they showed us the room and evrything is perfect and spotlessley clean. I would recommend this Hotel to anyone who wants a calm relaxing break. They also have conference rooms and cater for groups and children. If you would like to view the Hotel go to www.hotelcorvus.hu They have all kinds of special offers and are most helpful.

Assorted pictures

Just some pictures of my Geraniums etc etc !! They have done very well , but everything is growing quickly with all the sunshine.

The goats in the field across the road from me, some of Johanna's garden, barbecue at my place

Hot, Hot !!

Well at last I have found time to do my blog. and it is a little cooler today so I feel much better for that. It has been in the 90's F for weeks now and some day's reaching 100F which is far too hot for me but we must not complain as a lot of people in UK would love all this sunshine and no rain.

It was Kathy and Kenneth's silver wedding anniversary this month , gosh it just does not seem that long since we were all in Scotland to watch them get married and what a lovely day it was. We all went to the Hotel Arad on the Terrace for a lovely meal. Dave and Beryl were over ( they do spectacles for the poor people and the street kids) and their son Mark was here too doing all kinds of jobs to help . So they came too and Helen ( who helps with the charity) and another friend so there was quite a big sitting and we all had a very nice evening.On the Sunday Mariana (Kathy's best friend here) wanted to do something for the anniversary so we all went for a meal at her house in the village.

I have had to refuse alot of outings as I did not feel too well but some of it is because of the heat, I am getting more used to it now and do venture out a bit more on hot day's and the excercise is good for me any way. Hajni is back at work now and she passed all her exams so the pressure is off. Amy passed her exams too so will be joining Kenny in Timisoara to go to Uni. there in October. Johanna and Philips baby will soon be here now , I am really looking forward to being a Great Grandma. I wonder what it will be I would like a little boy as we have nearly all girls. Rosie came to stay with me for a weekend and we did all sorts of things togather. Some baking , gardening , cleaning and of course playing. Little Yasmina is growing up fast and is talking very well now , the two girls both have good english which I hope will stand them in good stead for the future.

Well having read this through it seems a bit boring but sorry folks it's just my life story really !!!! I have booked flights to go to UK in October to see my Sister , Brother and all the family so that will be nice and I got a really good price from Lufthansa because I booked early. I will include some pictures and sign off for now . Hope you all are well and have a nice day.