My folks are here for the long weekend, which is thrilling me greatly and equally exciting is that my little Sis is only a few miles away, at Alan and Dee’s place and she’ll be up with her family to see our new home on Monday. (Well, assuming that she’s feeling better that is. She’s proper poorly today and is in bed apparently. Poor Jan – get well soon.

When my folks arrived yesterday, the rain was lashing down, we were well in the clouds and the weather was altogether filthy. I was desperately praying to the god of sunshine for some better weather today but it wasn’t to be – it’s equally filthy today! I was so looking forward to them seeing some scenery (it’s all been totally shrouded in fog and wet since they arrived and was in that state for their entire visit last time so it’s imagination only that’s their impression of the place).

I’ve not been able to muster up any scenery so I’ve been trying to impress them with other things and I am pleased to report I’ve succeeded in that. We decided to pop over to the Duchy of Cornwall nursery and it met expectations with 450 different varieties of fuchsia available for sale, including 130 hardy varieties. We were so engrossed that one of the staff had to come and ask us to leave because the whole afternoon had slipped past without us noticing.

Even though I’m a cantankerous old sod who won’t do anything I’m told, I did decide to take up DMs suggestion of this shot for my pic today, mostly because it symbolises my folks’ visit so perfectly – it’s their waterproof coats (they are firmly of the view now that it’s not possible to stray out of the house here without one), hanging on the hooks by our front door. I like the ‘his and hers’ feel and the light coming in from the front door.

We’re disappointed tonight that our dinner party in town is only half of its planned size (because Jan, Simon, Alan and Dee are not coming) but I hope that it will be a good night nonetheless……

Last year, I was cursing my ineptitude and looking forward to coming home.