It's Tennis Jim, but not as we know it

On Saturday, I took the kids into town to do a bit of shopping. As the weather was rather good (certainly the best we have had for over a month) we took our tennis stuff and had our first session of the year. As we were just getting our hands in, we played what we have called "Diddy Tennis". This involves trying to keep the ball in the half of the court closest to the net and just keeping the ball moving. I guess the result is more like Volleyball, where the ball gets tapped around a couple of times on one side of the net before being passed over the the other side. It is great fun and totally uncompetitive, which I like. When Clare and I get on the court, it is another matter...

A Day to DIY for (or tackling the "Honey Do List")

Well the day finally arrived and could be put off no longer. We were going to close off our porch! This has been planned for 7 years (since we first moved in) and the parts have slowly accumulated over the years, wood, hinges, doors, locks...

In recent weeks my wife (who is just so totally wonderful that words do not exist to do her justice) had been cutting the wood to size and making the joints. All we had to do was put the pieces together, like a flat packed piece of furniture. Sounds so easy doesn't it?

Well, to my amazement, it WAS that easy! Carpet Fairy (thanks James, I think I will be using that name from now on) had done a really great job and a few hours later we were applying a coat of varnish to our new front door. This is really great, as it effectively gives us an extra room, where we will be putting our second freezer. We were going to put the washing machine there too, but last night there were hints that Carpet Fairy would be taking it over as an art room, as it has great natural light for sketching and painting.

A great weekend for all of us - my only regret is that I underestimated how hot the sun was on Saturday, so my upper arms got totally fried. Even now, they are bright red and extremely painful, regardless of whatever creams I put on. Now I remember why I gave up trying to get tanned!