11 April 2026

The End of the Week

 Eldest Daughter and the two Grandsons in Surrey were due on Tuesday for a three night stay. We were planning to get all the cousins together for a couple of trips out, to the seaside and RSPB Minsmere maybe.
She rang me Easter Sunday to say both boys had picked up tummy bugs. Oh Dear. The nearly 10 year old recovered in a day but the 4 year old wasn't so lucky. No chance of them travelling up on Tuesday after all.
Luckily YGS recovered and so they were able to come on Wednesday. We soon got the two Surrey boys  meeting up with their three Suffolk cousins in my bungalow = chaos.
 
Just one trip out, meeting up at Aldeburgh for a picnic, sailing boats on the boating pond, loading the beach stones into toy dumper trucks for the two youngest while the three eldest zoomed up and down a slope on two - much too small balance bikes - belonging to the two youngest - weird, but it kept them amused for ages.
Ice creams for all!  By chance they are sitting here in age order, Eldest Granddaughter is still taller than Eldest Grandson, but he's catching up.




After much too short a time they were off back to Surrey.

Now it will be a quiet weekend, car boot sales of course - weather permitting. Plus I must get the electric propagator onto the windowsill in the spare room and get some seeds started. 

And reading..............


Several people said they'd enjoyed reading 'The Eights' by Joanna Miller when it was in my library book photo and I did too. I'd  found details of it on a blog and a vlog and it had good reports.


It is the first book by this author and on a blog someone commented they hoped there was a sequel and it certainly sets itself up for more of the story.
Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1,000 year history, the world's most famous university has admitted female students.

This is the story of four women, all very different, who find themselves in adjoining rooms in their first weeks at university. It follows them through their first year, their secrets, fears and hopes for the future - just two years after the war which still casts a long shadow. 

 

Have a good weekend folks, I'll be back Monday 



 


27 comments:

  1. What lovely grandchildren they are. I am lagging behind, with one and an almost grandaughter ("I"). Hoping your car boot sales aren't rained off. How I would love to go to one again.

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    1. All I bought this morning was a cualiflower - otherwise a load of tat I've seen before!

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  2. How lovely to have all your grandchildren in one place ... and lined up in age order. Definitely a photo worth framing. ❤️

    It would be lovely to have my four grandchildren and four great grandchildren all together, just once. But they are scattered far and wide, with the girls being really unavailable for visits or meet ups.

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    1. We all took photos and only realised afterwards they were in age order!

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  3. A great photo, so lovely to see them all growing up and happy together

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    1. They get on really well- the two youngest are still into cars and dinosaurs and play well together and the three oldest also enjoy getting together

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  4. A very cute photo, and so glad they recovered relatively quickly. These tummy bugs can be awful. Thank you for the book. It is on my reading list now.

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    1. Daughter was a bit worried that youngest was getting a bit dehydrated but he'd perked up and was fine by Wednesday

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  5. I'd thought a sequel to The Eights would be good. It could be dismissed as 'just a novel', but it's also a really interesting insight into the education of women, at a time when many of them would not have men to marry and be having to forge careers as never before. A great-aunt of mine was a young teacher at this time, widowed by the war. Education of women (ie me!) was always a priority for her!!

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    1. It's amazing how the men didn't want women at universities , and the women had to work extra hard to fit in

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  6. A lovely photo. Our two middle grandchildren, the 7 year olds, the girl is much taller than the boy. I think they are often like that until they are older and then the boys catch up and overtake.

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    1. Another 6 inches and granddaughter will be as tall as me - and she isn't 10 yet!

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  7. A lovely photo of your grandchildren. Thanks for the book recommendation.
    Alison in Devon x

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    1. It was a good read about a period I knew nothing about

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  8. Lovely photo, glad you could see them despite earlier illness.
    Penny

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    1. We were so glad that the littlest got better in time for a stay, even if it was a day less than planned

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  9. Fun with the grands! Good to get them all outside to run around! So much energy when cousins get together! :)

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    1. They get so excited about meeting up - it's fun to see

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  10. That is a wonderful photo of your grandchildren. The visit provided a nice catch-up for everybody. Plus, the ice cream treat on a nice sunny day is perfect.
    Women and education carry a long hard history. Today, I hear there are more women at university than men.

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    1. Luckily the weather was good for the seaside trip.
      I was interesting to read of the early days of women in university, they had quite a battle to fit in

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  11. Nice to have all the grandchildren together, and good weather helped, too. I'm listening to The Eustace Diamonds at the moment and it keeps sending me to sleep!

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    1. I've never read any Trollope they don't appeal at all

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  12. Glad all the kids had fun together. I haven't heard of that book!

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    1. Good story and informative about women and university

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  13. What a cute bunch of grands!
    Your book recommendation lead me to look to see if it's available on Libby to read on my phone while I'm in Greece. I had to put it on hold. I'm assuming there will be times for me to read.

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  14. How nice that the grands/cousins could all get together. Cute.

    God bless.

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  15. Great photo! Looks like you had a lovely day for it. Glad you could all get together

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