Last week was a roller coaster week…..again.  But it ended on a high :o)

Thursday was my birthday and I was whisked away by Himself for cocktails:

Birthday cake (I’d specifically requested a Marks and Spencer trifle and that was exactly what I got – complete with candle):

And He gave me a camera.  A real one.  Because that time in December when we got up at dawn to take photos of the sunrise, I only had my iPhone.  And that’s great, but I’m hoping a proper camera will be even better. (Although right now I’ve not got past the ‘auto’ setting as the dials and numbers scare me….).

And on Friday I finally, finally got the call that my solicitor had received the papers they needed to kick off the process of buying Pog Towers 2.  It’s been weeks of daily phone calls to get to this point and it’s only the start, I know, but at least it has started now :o)

After that, we had a bit of a wandering weekend including a night at Gorgeous Godson’s parent’s house.  In Pog style, I cooked – at my parents – then transported dinner down in the car.  Thanks Mary B.  Once again you did me proud and everyone survived to tell the tale (although Gorgeous Godson’s Mummy did cover herself well by telling me before we even arrived that she wasn’t very hungry….!)

Saturday and Sunday night we stayed at Sister 2 and her boyfriend’s.  Not only did we get snuffles from the gorgeous Bertie:

But our towels were folded into an elephant!

This caused me  problems as I obviously couldn’t unfold the elephant, but happily I’d taken our own towels, so elephant got to sit on the window seat and survey the garden, indefinitely.  We also got chocolates on our pillows.  It was like a posh hotel.  I’d quite like to do a write up on Trip Advisor, but I’m not sure it would go down well if people started turning up.  For the record though, not only do you get snuffles from a lovely old boxer, animal shaped towels and bedtime chocolates, you also get fruit and yogurt snacks and lunch of avocado, salmon and poached eggs – freshly laid by the chickens in the garden, no less.  It’s really rather special.  So should you find yourself on the back of beyond Bumpkinsville (because yes, it’s REALLY out of the way), and spot an elephant made of towels staring out of a window and chickens roaming in the garden, you might want to pop in… ;o)

And here are a couple of photos I took to practice using my new camera.  Thank you to all of you lovely people who made my birthday a whole weekend long.  It made me a very smiley Pog :o)