21 - 27 May 2012

Justine's birthday was eclipsed by two big events this week - Eurovision and Elizabeth's birthday party, which we finally found time to organise 8 weeks after her birthday. She received 2 Kiddy Contest CD's for her birthday and now spends hours in front of the mirror emulating the grating tones of pre-teens pretending to be pop stars. It's an anomoly to her that someone over 70 could be considered a pop idol and she innocently asked if Engelbert Humperdinck would still be alive when Eurovision took place at the end of the week.

14 - 20 May 2012

Justine is having a blooming nightmare. Responsible, by default, for the church flowers and bearing in mind that the Easter flowers cost about €500, she decided to go cheap and cheerful for Pentecost. She had already filled the trolley with bright bargain bucket blooms when a helpful friend warned that some sensitive souls could be affronted when flowers more commonly seen on a grave appeared in the church. That leaves Justine with few options since each individual grave is a microcosmic Chelsea Flower Show, with not a petal out of place. When a petal is out of place the flowers are banished to the bin - whence they find their way to the Peberdy balcony, and they would win a gold medal, in spite of and because of their beautiful flaws.

30 April - 6 May 2012

First communion time again. A big support team was on hand to encourage Elizabeth in her efforts to be pure and angelic. Nina, Helen, Jon, Ellie, Dominic and Rebecca all lent a hand, and Caspar lent his bed and set up camp very happily in a hammock on the balcony.