Rock Buns!!!!!

Straight from the oven, 10 minutes to make 10 minutes to bake, OH!! that rhymes!!!

At Last!!!

Well at last I made it back to do my Blog. Thanks to everyone who have sent messages to me about my Blog. It was a always a long hot summer and to my delight my little bit of garden did very well. The Geraniums as usual were , and still are lovely, I had a good crop of tomatoes some cherries and some figs .

My Sister, Brother and Sister in law came to see me which was great and Bill came back to help with the charity. He has been busy helping ever since raising money and sending lot's of parcels of clothing etc. which also others have helped to pay for. He is coming again next week to do some repairs at the day centre ( The Secret Garden) and probably lot's more.

I went to Manchester for 3 weeks in September and had a lovely time, I saw almost all of my family there and after the first week began to feel physically much better and have continued to feel better since I got back. It was great to go shopping in all the "POUND" shops ha ha !!! and eat "Greggs Pasties sitting on a market stall watching the world go by. and it was nice and warm whilst I was there.

Bill is staying here with me so I am busy getting ready for his arrival, lot's of meals cooked and in the freezer and all done and dusted , as they say.

Well I have just finished a batch of my "Rock Buns" which all the family seem to enjoy and varied them again, this time I have put cinnamon, cherries and sultanas in so I shall await the verdict.

Will get ready now for my visit from Yasmina, Rosie and Kathy , (Yasmina had to take a red apple today to nursery to make fruit salad Mmmmm!!!

Bill's Visit!!

Decorating Easter eggs from the Handicraft Box!
My brother Bill came again on the 3rd of May. He came to see me in February with his wife Angie and my sister Betty as I had been too ill to go to see them , they came here. Bill had not been before and really enjoyed his stay but was also very impressed by the work Kate and Kenneth were doing with the poor people and street kids. He went home and started fund raising for "Vis de Copil", everyone wanted to help . He sent large boxes of clothes and handicrafts for the day centre (" The Secret Garden") by courier. It was very much appreciated by all , he also sent photo's of the children which asap. will be on the walls at the day centre. He certainly has been wonderful and of course his lovely wife Angie who is marvelous with the children.

So many, many thanks Bill. On this visit he did jobs at the day centre and at Kate and Kenneth's home which really needed doing and Kenneth has so much to do he does not get the time to do. Then to top it all he made the whole family a great meal and Caribbean pasties , Mmmmmm!!!!!!! delicious!

Thanks for coming Bill thanks for all your help and time and money spent of course and most of all it was great to see you.

The Royal Wedding

My friend Helen came to mine at 10.45 so that we could watch the wedding togeter. What a lovely day, was so proud to be British ( even though I love living in Romania).I t was truly a perfect day and as my Dad was a Grenadier Guard I loved to see them in all their finery.

I think the Bride looked radiant, lovely the dress and seeing the Abbey annd all the thousands of people that turned out onto the streets of London plus the millions that watched on TV all over the world made it a happy day amidst all the troubles.

Good luck William and Catherine may you have a happy life together.

Alba Iulia

A lot more to come, but I have to go for now. Hope you enjoy

the pictures and that it gives you an idea how beautiful

Romania is.

Fairytale Weekend!!

HUNEDOARA

CASTLE

ROMANIA


Wow!! I thought I was on the set in a Harry Potter film.

Isn't it magnificent??


Kathy , Abby, Yasmina and myself decided to have a weekend break and so that Abby (our volunteer for 3 months) could see a little more of Romania and for me of course. We started off Friday mid day with a picnic packed for stops on the way. Our destination to be Alba Iulia (the old capital of Romania before Bucharest. As we were going through Lipova I we stopped to go into the Catholic Cathedral there which is beautiful and I really thought I would never visit again. I managed to climb the steps and go inside and I was so pleased to be in this wonderful place again where I can honestly say I feel God's presence. We had a wee picnic outside after before we set off again.

The countryside was so lovely with all the blossom trees out and lambs in the fields at play. Got to Alba Iulia about 8pm and booked in at The Astoria Hotel (just outside the city). The Hotel was very nice and we had evening meal then relaxed before bed. In the morning the scenery from our window was rolling hillsides and more sheep and lambs with the shepherd. The water features were super with giant carp , little streams and waterfalls. After breakfast we made for the Cetate (citadel) my goodness it was a site to be seen. More steps but well worth it. Soldiers dressed in the uniform of the old epoch patrolled. I will put some photo's on the next post and you will see how it was.

I am so glad we went and as we have now found out there are a lot of the sites we did not see , so we hope to go back and see more.

Surprise!!!

Well I am going back to February now , It has been so busy also bad coughs and colds ( which is usually the case in Winter yeah?) I just have not got round to writing my blog but here goes.

Kathy had suggested we should all go for a meal in Timisoara to celebrate Her birthday , mine and Kenny's and for Jo and Philip as they missed Christmas with us, Abby too (a volunteer from UK . So although I did not really feel like going I thought I should make the effort.Decided to get a little dressed up for the occasion as we had booked the "Casa cu Flori" ( house of flowers) which is a lovely restaurant in Tmisoara. Jo and Philip came for me and off we went, nearing Timisoara we turned off towards the airport ", what we doing" ?, I said and Jo said oh! we are just giving Hilary and John (friends of ours who live here too) a lift to town centre. We all met up at the airport , had a coffee whilst we waited for landing. I went to the cash machine and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said "can I have some cash too ?" I turned and there was my Sister , Betty , I think I screamed with delight and shock ! then saw Angie and then my brother Bill!! Wow what a SURPRISE !!! as I had been in hospital and quite poorly they wanted to come and see me.

It was quite pleasant weather for my visitors and Bill and Angie walked all over Arad seeing the sites and also got very involved with the work Kathy and Kenneth are doing here with the poor people and street kids. They have been wonderful, sending boxes of Handicrafts, clothes and being good disciples getting churches and people they know , friends and family all rallying round . How lovely and my thanks go out to all who are helping it is much appreciated. Betty enjoyed being with me and we took things a little slower but it was so lovely to have them here with me. Bill is coming again in May so that's the story so far with Lot's more to come and I hope it does not take me so long to do my blog now , I must keep up to date.

Just a few Christmas pictures!

New Year Party!!!

Well New year at my apartment was a great success. The curry was great and Kenneth made fresh chapatti's , we had lime pickle, mango chutney rice and poppadoms yum!!! Alina (Kenny's girlfriend ))made lovely cakes and of course we had some champagne.

We had great fun with the exploding streamers and confetti , the children oh yes!! and the adults ha ha !! and blowers too , the main thing was we had Lot's of laughs and Lot's of fun , so a good time was had by all. Hope all who read and follow my blog had a good day too and let's hope we all have a good 2011 with good health and Lot's of love and peace in the world.

New Years Day !!

Well what a funny year 2010 was for me anyway!! I was booked to go to Hyde in April to stay with my sister and husband and to visit my brother and his wife and friends but alas I had to cancel . My blood pressure was sky high and my leg very swollen. I booked then to go in late October but no go BP still not good for flying. Then in October I was admitted to hospital and had an operation (will not go into details) came out a week later and the Herniated discs in my spine must had got badly disturbed . The pain in my back, hip , leg and foot was so bad I could not walk. The family rallied round and got me a wheel chair so at least I could go out. I eventually decided to go back to the Clinic Eva as Doctor Patru once before had got me out of pain and walking again. I had Acupuncture and infiltration for 10days (the clinic was closing then for Christmas). The good news is with the treatment , pain killers and anti inflammatory etc I feel much, much better. As I reflect on my year I stop to think that there are thousands of people in the world so much worse and I feel thankful I have a good family to look after me , a warm home to live in and food and all I need to be comfortable.

Many thanks to everyone that sent kind messages, came to visit me and for all the prayers said for me.

On a brighter note I did however have a nice Christmas. We all went to Mariana and Nelu's for Christmas eve and had a lovely time as always. Christmas day was at my daughter Kathy and Kenneth and I helped a little with Amy to make a delicious spread. Boxing day I made meat and potato pies and we took them to Kathy's and had another very nice day. Today they are coming here to me but there is only 6 as Amy has gone back to Glasgow and Johanna and Philip are still in Australia, it will sound funny but we are having curry and rice and all the trimmings, chutneys, lime pickle etc. etc.

I hope I have not bored you with my tale of woe but I do sincerely wish you all a very, very Happy New Year and most important a Healthy one.!!!!!!!

2010

what a funny year