Where have the weeks gone? I was so full of good intentions of publishin monthly reports but I did not reckon with how many other things we were trying to fit into our lives.

Since Christmas we have been to a friend's wedding in the Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas in February - a story in itself that we will save for another day. We visited most of the hotels on the Strip, they are like Disneyland for adults!! I think The Venetian and The Wynn were my favourites but they were all pretty amazing and I have never seen so many slot machines and gaming tables in one place - it was mind blowing. We did manage a trip to the Grand Canyon which was the highlight of the week. We travelled by small plane, helicopter, boat and bus - so we saw this amazing spectacle from every angle.

Two days back from Las Vegas and we made a very quick visit to Stoke-on-Trent where my cousins had arranged a surprise birthday lunch for my Aunty Betty, who was celebrating her 80th Birthday - and was on extremely good form. It was a superb occasion and we were glad to have made the effort even though we were off to NC the next morning!

This was just to be a short visit over to North Cyprus (NC) to check on some of the final snagging on the bungalow and fit one or two items and do a little unpacking prior to our final move out there. We were overwhelmed by the size of the weeds that had grown in the spring sunshine. While we were wondering how to tackle it our local shepherd came down the lane with his flock, so we invited them in! Well, they ate some of the weeds, trampled on a few more and dropped smelly poo all over my nice new block paving! Nice idea - not to be repeated!! We finally solved the problem by employing two young men from a nearby garden centre and for £35 they cleared the lot beautifully, leaving us time to get on with other things.


Aunty B (left) 


Tackling the weeds!