Opening of 'The Manor' & David's Birthday

Everything was packed ready for our return to our 'summer residence' All except my crafting stuff & new 'all in one printer' that I'd bought with my birthday money for finishing off cards with personalised inserts, rather than me having to take them home to finish them [in a big rush], then to take them back again next time we went; in the hope that whoever wanted them would also be at their caravan.
"There's no room for it in the car, it'll have to wait until next time" said my other half.
A bit selfish really in my opinion ... if he hadn't decided that he was going to spend his Birthday at the caravan then we wouldn't have to take 2 carrier bags full of his cards & presents.

It's horrible opening the caravan after winter [AFTER, HA!] You walk in, it's cold & clammy, there's dishes of salt in every room, some rock hard & crusty where they've dried in the sun & others with dead things floating in the salt water, mostly spiders, which I find sad because I like spiders, I try to shoo them all out when we're locking up at the end of the season; knowing they'll die if I don't.

First thing I do is demolish the teepee in the middle of the living room, [we have to put the table there & stack all the seating round it to prevent damp]. Then I clean the windows & put the net curtains up, lovely job, I've got a little piece of coloured cotton sewn on a top corner of each similarly sized net so I know which window it's for [theoretically], using all the colours of the rainbow only I forget every year which window to start at & which way round the caravan to go; all in all there are 11 nets!
Only then do we start bringing in the things we have to take home at the end of the season - tv, video, sky box, etc. That I suppose may have been another reason there was no room in the car for my important stuff.
Phew, time for a cuppa before starting on our bedroom [also wigwammed & salty]
Actually I've forgotten one thing, before I did any of the above; I had to feed the cat who then watched me do all the hard work. I'm definitely coming back as a cat in my next life!
David went shopping as he only gets in my way.


Anyway it's done for this year so I'll stop moaning about it. All I'll say now is that it was COLD & windy for 3 days, then it snowed. I LOVE snow, [which you can tell from some of the Christmas cards I make] but it didn't last, as soon as it stopped snowing it thawed & was gone.

I suppose I'd better mention David's cards at some point, he got some really lovely crafted [but bought] cards, obviously mine was hand made ...




... & Shannon made one for him, I think it's terrific for an eleven year old, she's been card making for a couple of years now & really enjoys it, also she thinks about the person she's making the card for so that it's just right for them. I may have mentioned her Grandad's love of horse racing a time or two.