In a few days time we are expecting a visit by the lady from whom we rent the house. Although she and her husband are now living in Australia they are over here for a family wedding and have asked if they can drop by to collect some papers from the loft.

Frankly we shall be very glad to see her if only to sort out the smell which is still pervading the top floor, perhaps a dead rat.....perhaps.....something else.......as I mentioned in an earlier blog the jury is out.

I want the house to be tidy and spotless when she arrives and to this end I am constantly chivvying my untidy duo of menfolk to pick up their disguarded togs, Amazon packaging and so forth.......it is like pushing a tractor up a steep hill.

Thankfully there are only three days to go before the visit,I'm sure my patience will stand no more!!

Happily on Saturday our cleaner comes to give the house a sparkle. She does the stuff which my disability renders it impossible for me to do myself. She is wonderful, very thorough, jolly and very pretty indeed. Some times she brings her son to help her and he really knows his stuff.

We have become good friends in the few short months that we have been here ,going out together to local events and chatting over coffee when her busy schedule allows. I always bake a special cake or some cookies when she comes and she in turn brings pancakes filled with cream and fruit.

Missing my old friends as I do it is a comfort to find someone so sweet and kind. We hit it off at once and now our families are quite close,they have also introduced us to lots of other people. This is such a friendly village that we feel quite at home already, we are so lucky to have found this lovely place.

No baking today with all the cleaning going on but I did manage to make lasagne for dinner which I served with garlic bread and salad, my son was delighted.

Pa now has a work room in which to build his model railway,it has taken a while to fit it out but now all is ready and he can begin,I have seldom seen him so happy as he has been while moving his bits and pieces in to his new workshop.

Late last night, after the trick or treaters had gone a sudden and violent squall blew up,for half an hour it raged about the house with the noise of an express train and the rain fell in torrents.

Although the tall trees at the bottom of the garden lashed about wildly and the sound of rain beating on the conservatory roof was almost frightening,yet all was calm and cosy within. Out little cat Moth, asleep before the fire, lifted her head in surprise before stretching luxuriously and returning to her blissful slumbers.

I sometimes feel as if I am on a long holiday in a beautiful place only this time we don't have to leave to go home,that though still gives me a shiver of pure joy whenever it comes to mind.