As things became a bit busy I decided not to publish anything for a while.  I completed all the Tuesday winter outdoor painting.  Great fun and look forward to the next session starting October.  As it finished we went to the mainland to see the family.  I stayed with Daniel and Perry went off for a couple of days to see Ann in Lincolnshire.  My stay involved going to Burford on the bus and Blenheim Palace on the bus.  Great.

Then we went on holiday for 6 weeks.  East Cowes to Yarmouth where we spent a couple of days, then on to Portland where we had five days.  As soon as all was well we left for Dartmouth following inshore passage around Portland Bill.   A week in Dartmouth where we met Dick and Judith then on to Salcombe, where we spent 10 days.  Great.  Henry got the hang of getting on and off the dinghy very quickly.  Better than I did.  We only had one misshap when we had strong winds for 36 hours.  Dingy (attached to Bloto) was upturned with outboard attached.  Took a bit of a struggle to get things in order but we managed it.  Only to discover that we had lost an oar.  However, when Perry took Henry ashore for his morning pee, a chappy had found the oar and gave it to Perry.

 It was lovely in Salcome, especially as we hadn't been there for about 30 odd years, when Daniel was a little chap.

 After that, went back to Dartmouth, where we stayed for just over 2 weeks, mainly due to weather.  Dick and Judith also came back to Dartmouth.  Then finally moved back to Portland - for 5 days.  Very hot.  Came straight back through Needles not stopping at Yarmouth this time.  Trip took 8 and a half hours, motorsailed all the way.  Unfortunately en route discovered a problem with the calorifier.  Sprung a leak.  Dumped the water.  

New calorifier is on order.  Weather is incredibly hot at the moment, so we won't be going anywhere for a few days, but when it is slightly cooler we will go back out and play in the Solent.  Henry was really good on the boat.  Seemed to just take it in his stride.  That has made it so much easier for planning any longer trips.  I did take a few photos but there all a bit the same, just of shorelines!  Howver, I did manage to do a watercolour sketch almost every day.  Most are a bit rubbishy, but at least I did it.

Will try very hard to get back into a fairly regular post.  These last couple of years have not been too easy.  Which is probably the case for everyone.

Take care.

 Not a lot has been happening.  Weather hasn't been condusive to doing a lot although I have been continuing to sketch outside with the group on Tuesdays.  It has been pretty cold though, so sometimes quite a challenge.  

We haven't been out on boat, but Perry has been continuing to do maintenance work.  Won't be long before we can go out.

Finished oil painting workshop.   Bit disappointed.  Not very motivating, although the group was nice.

Finally got approval from DVLA so we can get number plates for the van and start using it again.

Hopefully weather will start to improve soon and we can start coming out of hibernation (or what appears to be!). I am sure Henry will enjoy getting out into the sunshine just as we will.

Been a bit slow putting stuff on the blog.  We've had Christmas and New Year and hot and cold weather.  We went to mainland after Christmas to see the family, which was fun.  The rest of the time we stayed home or went down to the boat.

 Painted at Newtown and the Needles, for both we had pretty grim weather.

Newtown before it rained.

For some reason can't upload the other pictures.  Will have to check it out.

We've also taken Henry to the beach at Yaverland and he loved it.  Gamboled all over the place.  Will have to investigate the pictures for that as well.

Got a nasty cold at the moment.  Fortunately not the dreaded plague!  Take care.

 

 Two weekends have passed.  Henry has had his first birthday.  Celebrations with a new yellow ball.  Evening zoomy sessions now included chasing the ball up and down the stairs!  We sailed to Bursledon.  A bit cold but we all wrapped up well.

Bursledon looked lovely, as usual.

And guess who likes a little sip of beer!  That came as a surprise and had to move the glass quite a long way away.....

Very cold brisk sail back, but all was well.

I've been to Compton painting

Bitterly cold, but managed a few sketches.  Forgot to take photos of them!

Finished the oil painting session with Lee.  Disappointed in what I did, but hey, there's always another time.

Went to Newtown yesterday and more sketching.  Appear to have lost the photos of all that. I'm sure they are somewhere.  Next week could be Freshwater.

New coronavirus announced.  Just when we thought we were getting out of the mire! 

Make sure that you take care.

Again have been busy.  Vaccinations are up to date.  Been to see the family, painting and sailing.  Start with the painting.  Went to Quarr

The piglets at Quarr

Went to Causeway (Freshwater) bit cold and damp but managed a load of sketches. Then yesterday went to Yarmouth and managed to do a load of sketches there as well.  Weather was a bit brighter, and then got cold.
Two weekends ago we went to see the family.  Had a great time and watched Alice swim and then our final day was with them playing in Soft Play.  Watched a film with Alice.  She got on really well with Henry, although Beatrice was a bit nervous.  Can't put pictures on because Google manages to misinterpret some pictures of children.

Went sailing properly! to Gosport this weekend.  Henry loved it. 

Had the wind blowing in his hair and he was mesmerised by the moving water.  Not the best of dockings in Gosport but on Sunday morning we did a pretty sleek depart.  How come people only see the poor bits of arrivals and departures and none of the excellent ones?  Although wind was in the right direction for the return, we had no sun so it was pretty cold.  Wrapped Henry up but he was still a little cold.  On Monday we bought and offshort crew outfit for him (!) wind and waterproof and warm.  We will be trying that out this weekend if the weather stays as predicted.

 Been a bit busy. Painting, boat, vaccinations etc.  Painted at Osborne again, with Mike.  Although damp day we managed something.

couple of sketches.  Also sailing club on Friday, but too wet and windy so stayed inside and did sketching.  New painting course with Lee starts this Thursday.

Lots of fun with Henry.  (Doesn't work with double-barrelled name) and I think everyone in East Cowes knows about him or has now met him.  So many people just stop and cuddle him.  What a sweeetie.

Just chilling on the boat.

Introduction to the sea close up at the Esplanade.

Yep.  Met with approval.

Just checking that I was making the tea properly!

We're off to see the family very soon, so it will be lovely to see how he gets on with the girls - and vice versa.

 Things have really changed in the last few days.  Coping with the grief of losing Bertie has been awful and we made the decision to get another dog.  Made a search through the Kennel Club but none were available in the near future.  So made another search, carefully I might add.  A ten month old puppy came up and I contacted the owner.  There was a possibility.  However, just a few days later he confirmed that the sale could go ahead, but it clashed with our visit to France to collect the van. He agreed to hold the dog.

We were concerned about all the things we had to do in France and fortunately things went pretty smoothly.  We stayed with Paulette and Philppe and had a really good time.  Messed with the animals, went for good walks and ate too much.

Van passed it's MOT, filled up with cheap diesel, closed the bank account and Paulette and Philippe filled our van with fruit and veg.  We've been eating peaches ever since.  Fantastic.  The person who has moved into our old house appears to be rather unpleasant and having a quick look at the property, it looked like the local dump!  Good from our point of view because it definitely wiped out any problems of nostalgia, but not from Paulette's point of view!

Long drive to ferry port, but at least we did it in daylight and fortunately that we did, because we had problems at the port.  The form we had partially completed was incorrect - panic! However, a really kind port employee helped us sort it all out, even downloading the new document and arranging the covid tests online.  Took about 45 minutes!  On board as we couldn't get a cabin, we rolled out our sleeping bags, and for the second time in five days slept on the floor.  Not too good for old people.  We were dreading the arrival in Portsmouth and anticipated that we would miss the ferry to the Island.  Perry sailed through customsin the van and I followed shortly in the car.  Managed to get the ferry to the Island with time to spare.  

Got home and had about and hour and a half to get sorted before our trip to the mainland to pick up the puppy.  Had a bit of a problem finding the house.  Picked up the pup - really cute.  I think it was very difficult for the family to say goodbye, but I understand the dilema.

Back home all appears to be going well.  The dog did not respond to the name he had been given, I think because it was monosyllabic, so we added Henry to the name.  For a short while he was Henry-Jazz, but then we realised he responded quickly to just Henry.  So we have decided to stick with that name.

Henry appears to be very comfortable on the boat and seems to fall asleep easily with the movement.  He finds it no difficult getting in and out - almost as though he has always known what to do! No problems with walking.   He's got used to the feeding routing, and apart from a couple of accidents - life is good. We have started the engine and taken the awning off and he is ok with all that.  Next is to move the boat off the mooring........ hopefully in couple of days time.

I have also been painting.  Went to Osborne House with Mike and a couple of others on Tuesday.  Mainly because we didn't feel comfortable about going back inside to paint at Riverside.  So for the time being we will try and paint outside on Tuesdays.  I finished the course with Lee and have just a little bit of tidying up to do on the painting.  Will post later.  Was very difficult to restart painting after the last few months with Bertie and then the decision we had to make.

Perry has even gone back to do a bit of cycling.  

Take care everyone.