I have had a hectic few days (again…).  In the past couple of weeks the kitchen and the dining room have been decorated. This  involved emptying the dining room and returning everything to it’s place before visitors arrived to stay over the weekend.  It was almost back in one piece before they arrived on Saturday, but not quite!

There was a busy itinerary whilst my visitors were with me;  Attingham Park, evening dinner at Mum’s, Daniels mill (I remembered my camera this time), Dudmaston Hall, Much Wenlock and a Sunday evening meal out.  On the morning of their departure (Monday) my visitors got up unexpectedly early leaving me feeling rather spaced out.  Their early departure did however leave me with plenty of time to get ready for my afternoon ‘bloggy meet up’.

Ginnie (from Vision & Verb) and Astrid were visiting the UK and had arranged a meet up with friends who blog at Shutterchance.  You might recall I met them both at the Black Country Museum last year.  This year they had arranged the meet up at Blists Hill museum, which is not far from Ironbridge.  It was so lovely to see them both (and the other shutterchancers) again.  We all had a fun afternoon together exploring Blists Hill, chatting and getting to know each other better.  Oh! I nearly forgot, we all took lots of photos too

I booked today off to relax, but…

The day was taken up washing glasses and ornaments before returning them to the dining room.  I moved some furniture around too, to make better use of the room.  I am pleased with the result

I invite you to join me over at Vision and Verb where I talk about meeting up with Ginnie and some Black Country history.

Follow the links to see photographs from the meet-up:

A Spoon Full of Medicine by Astrid

The Whole Gang by brianaw

Birthday Cake for Chris

The Shutterchancers by Ginnie

A Fine Day out by Les

Olde Worlde by Tadpole

Lens Envy by Penny

Street Games by Richard

Group Shot by Tracy

Shutterchance Day Out by Yellow Bear

My weekend has been rather hectic but a lot of fun.

On Saturday night I attended a small birthday gathering to celebrate the 14th birthday party of the daughter of one of my friends.  On arriving at the small village where they live I noticed several men in fluorescent jackets  standing around on street corners.  They had large signs next to them stating in big black letters; Council Worker.  Then I noticed a lorry that was parked up by the side of the road.  On it was a small penguin wiggling about.  Realisation dawned that the carnival must have taken place during the day.  I was almost correct in that thought, the carnival was in fact going to take place that evening.  You have to love the quirkiness of rural villages and  I began to regret not taking my camera along.  But as I watched the sunset fade into dusk before the carnival procession started I didn’t feel so bad about that, it was now too dark for photographs.

The floats were all excellent and the carnival parade was a good start for a birthday get together.  After the procession had finished we returned to the house for a buffet, wine and a large slice of birthday cake that had been made by one of the other guests.  Luckily, after such a lot of cake, the Wii emerged (as it tends to do on these occasions).  When we all finally left for the evening I was told that my Wii bowling was awesome…

Sunday morning arrived rather too quickly because I had an earlier start than is usual in order to visit the Black Country Museum.  A few days ago I had noticed that Ginnie, from Vision and Verb, was coming to England for a few days and had arranged a meet up with friends  who blog at Shutterchance.  The Black Country  Museum, where the meet up was to take place, isn’t too far away from where I live.  I had left her a comment to say I would try and meet up with her there.

The weather started off quite grey and mizzley but turned to glorious sunshine in the afternoon.  After a slight mix up with the exact meeting place I managed to find Ginnie, Astrid and the Shutterchancers, none of whom I had met previously.  It was lovely to meet  Ginnie,  Astrid and the other Shutterchancers and to spend a couple of enjoyable hours exploring the museum together and especially nice to meet up with a blog friend and get to know each other in person.

That was everything that was planned for the weekend until my brother phoned at the last minute, hoping to meet up on Sunday.  So following the museum visit, we had a family get together which involved food and wine in a local pub.  Another good time was had by all.