June, July and August are pretty hectic months in the Merchant-Locke household. A melange of birthdays, family and summer events, school holidays....the list goes on. Time has not stood still for a while, not for us anyway. Added to that, the totally unexpected but very welcome summer that we are having, we seem to be dedicating more of our time to "fun" tasks as opposed to all those sat on our "necessary" list. A guaranteed summer is not one we are used to in this country so this year we have all been taken by surprise. The ice-cream van man is very happy, blow-up garden pools are out of stock and pic-nics are springing up everywhere. It really is lovely weather and long may it continue.
I thought I would share with you some of the things that we have been up to over the summer, not just to off-set the guilt of not writing much but also because we have been lucky enough to make some lovely memories. I love scrap-booking and although I don't have the time that I would wish to dedicate to it, I am always aware of precious memories, trinkets, moments that I could squirrel away, even if just in my virtual scrapbook.
The St Peters Hospice Midnight Walk. This is myself Tracy Bisp and Selina Bracey in all our finery about to take part in the annual sponsored walk which raises valuable funds for the hospice. Our dear friend, Wendy passed away recently and was cared for by the hospice in her last weeks. It is such an amazing cause but also a brilliant night of fun (and aching legs). I was lucky enough to have Selina's company all the way and we spent the whole night talking, laughing and sharing. A few tears were even shed but it is a memory that I will always cherish. Brilliant night with brilliant people for a brilliant lady.
Sleep tight Wendy.
This is me and my amazing mum at the Westonbirt Arboretum. We spent a gorgeous summer's evening with a pic-nic watching Boyzone with my brother and sister-in-law. At the time, mum had not long had a major operation on her foot and unfortunately was in a wheelchair. Not that that stopped her!
The boys looking very dapper.
This is Oswald/Thor (the name hasn't yet been confirmed). At the moment he is a new house resident (much to my dog's disgust) while my step-daughter is away on holiday.
Currently deflated and hanging on the washing line, this is our pool. We succumbed to summer madness and we too bought a blow up pool. £60 well spent. We have only been in it a few times as the cleaning process is hard work but we are now more prepared and have spent a fortune on all the correct cleaning products. Hopefully this will avoid any more fluorescent algae from also joining us. One small problem, we can't seem to disassociate being in the pool from drinking. Drinking bubbly. It has become a costly and time consuming hobby.
This is how the Merchant-Lockes do a small summer lunch.
This little fella is the newest baby in the family. My stepson and girlfriend are the proud owners of this beautiful little Pug (his name escapes me but it is something uber-cool from Lord of the Rings). He is adorable and was centre of attention at Tom's 21st BBQ last weekend.
I love this photo.
John and I at Tom's birthday BBQ. That red dress is quickly becoming one of my favourite ever charity shop purchases. And John is looking very handsome in his new birthday t-shirt from Tom. Bought at one of the Formula One races that he attended recently with work. What a job!
This is John with little Miss Annabel Quarterman. Christening number 2 is this Sunday and yes, the fascinator will be out, no doubt annoying more people behind me.
He is so wonderful with kids, I fall a little bit more in love with him every time I see him with a baby (if that's possible).
The lovely Miss Harriet Davolls - proud new mum.
This is me, attempting to channel my inner Kate Middleton with a "fascinating" (as one of the guests put it). We recently attended the christening of a friends little boy (seen below) and I have been dying for an excuse to buy one. I probably annoyed everyone in the church that sat behind me but hey. You must dress accordingly for a date with the Lord!
De-robed after the ceremony being happily passed from one guest to the next. A very cute little Hugo.
So there you have it. A snapshot in the life of me and la famille. Some lovely memories "banked" in my scrapbook of life. Some events that we don't have photo's of unfortunately include a lovely evening with our friends Steve and Ellen who live not far from us. We were invited to a dinner party to meet some visiting French friends of theirs and we had a truly lovely evening (culminating a water pistol fight on the streets at midnight). Another event was last night, the leaving do of my Boss where I got to meet all the new girls that will soon be my new Wallis family as I take on the challenge of a new role in a couple of weeks.
It's been a lovely couple of months and we still have more events to look forward to. I hope you are having a very happy summer, whatever you are doing.
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