This month has been a wonderful time with family visits and outings. Early August meant that my daughter, who lives in Germany, visited with her husband and daughter Lucy. We had a couple of days of catching up and a day at the seaside. My dogs were thrilled to see the sea again and learned a new game, that of jumping the waves as they came in. Digger has such short legs that he spent most of the time in the shallows where he could keep his head above the water, but he is a great swimmer so I didn't have any concerns for his safety.

I had booked a short coach holiday to York to see my middle son and his family - another two granddaughters - the youngest I hadn't seen. I spent the first day with them and we took a trip to Helmsley, a small market town outside York. I had also wanted to see Whitby Abbey and Harrowgate, both places I hadn't seen yet, but the first trip was taken up with a detour to Pickering and travel on a steam train which meant we only had 2 hours to see Whitby; and I decided to skip Harrowgate because of all the walking I'd done had made me exhausted. I found out it was the best decision because it was very cold in Harrowgate and most of the shops were closed, it being Sunday. What I did do, was to take the time to see Phil, Wendy and the poppets and visit a local craft warehouse - much fun - and have lunch in York.

Unfortunately for some, the coach wouldn't start for our trip home, so we had an extra morning in York whilst it was being mended, I spent it with Phil and Edith in the local park, then a leisurely stroll back to the hotel. We started out at 13:00 and it took me til 22:00 to get home, very tired of travelling. I wonder if I will ever go on holiday again?

This week I have Bert here, and we did say we would have a week's holiday and not do anything to the house...but...Bert is a person who cannot stay still for long, and after a couple of days, he talked me into preparing the walls in my workshop for boarding and skimming. This has meant scraping off old plaster and painting the bricks with a damp proofing paint much like bitumen, horrible stuff that sticks to anything it comes into contact. After two coats we are waiting for it to dry so we can put my tables back; hopefully before he goes on Friday.

Tomorrow I see the surgeon at the hospital to see whether my wrist has healed. I hope so because I have had so many people phone up and request waistcoats, that I really need it to be fully functional.