My oldest friend I am still in touch with is Sue McGookin nee Orsler-we met at our all girl school in the late 60's and have remained friends over the years. Sue recently lost her dear mother Eileen, who was like a second mum to me during my teenage years, and often Sue's mum and dad Bill, got us out of many a scrape...like the night we we in police cells at Bow Street (unlocked and for our own safety I hasten to add!) We had missed our last train from Charing Cross and met a nice 'bobby' in Trafalgar Square who took us back to Bow Street until Eileen and Bill could pick us up. The night, or early hours as it was then, got even more hilarious as on our way home in Bills mini van, with me and Sue in the back, we got stopped by police who were on the look out for a Bonnie and Clyde couple who had been on a robbing spree! I dont think Eileen and Bill were very impressed with us that night.....
Sue has always been an artist and is currently painting dog portraits, a genre in which she is incredibly talented.  Sue painted my German Shepherd Max(from a photo taken by my son- in -law Luke posted before on this blog)- Max's portrait now hangs proudly on my sitting room wall, and dear Eileen wouldnt let me pay for Sue's expenses and paid for it herself. Thank you dear Eileen, I will never forget you xxx

I have found another talented dog artist, non other than Kim Sears, Andy Murray's girlfriend.(Everyone knows that Andy is my favourite tennis player, so I wont go on about Wimbledon here!) Her blog, http://kimsears.com/wp/ shows some of her amazing work. I would love a portrait of my dear departed Stimpy, but dont think my meagre income would amount to a Kim Sears work, or even my dear Sue McGookin alas!

I found this post as a draft and obviously forgot to post it..... wasnt this april birthday, must have been last april, as Damon will be 40 on Saturday.


I just found this on my laptop which i obviously had meant to post on my birthday, 6th April, and for some reason I didnt (If I remember rightly I spent hours looking through old photos and records)
Last week was my birthday and I spent a pretty nice day with my son Damon, in the garden and at home, nothing special, but all the same a lovely day. We got around to talking about when I die, what would he like from the home, and he said the antique gramophone (I have two, one a family piece and another left to me by a neighbour) Damon amused me by saying he could use both for some retro dj scratching and conversation then got around to records. I decided to clear said gramophone out to get Damon some old records out and then discovered some lovely pics of my boy when he was young (now almost 39) and then found my favourite photo of me aged almost 16, taken 3 weeks before my birthday on Euston tube station by my friend Sue (we had obviously been to some gig or the other) I thought I had lost the photo a few years back and was very pleased to find it on my birthday, my day brightened up :)

Been rather sad these last few weeks, as my ginger tom Stimpy passed away. He had never been ill until January when when developed fluid on his lungs and was never really the same again. He died on June the 4th and was almost 18 years old, so he had a good life. He loved everybody and everybody loved him-he was the most affectionate of my cats and never failed to win strangers hearts.  I buried him under my hammock so I can sit with him- it was one of the last places he laid in the garden to shelter from the sun. Miss you my dear little fella xxx
 He did love a cushion to lay his dear head on.....
 or to snuggle up to a tiger.......
 or lay on his favourite chair............
 In Barbies four poster bed......dont know how he got in there, but he didnt want to get out!
 in the bathroom basin when he was just a kitten
 playing football in the garden
 his other favourite position, legs all akimbo..........
 yes, he did love that basin...........
 and mummys bed........
and Kate's bed too, hugging the toy that was meant for my first grandson Dallas!

Well its been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened. My dear old dad, now 82, has Alzheimers and it must be one of  the saddest diseases.
 But there has also been good news.... my beautiful daughter Kate has given me the most wonderful gift of a beautiful grandson, Dallas Jayden Driver, born on the 21st January at 9.22 am weighing 8lb 4oz.


(so did grandparents and poor daddy Luke) although that is all now forgotten, and we all have the most wondrous addition to our families. Kate was a beauty pregnant and is an even more beautiful mother






Kate and Luke moved out to their own home after 8 days spent in hospital with Dallas
It is a bit lonely here without them, but they are only 15 minutes or so away on the bus so I get a chance to visit when my son Damon 'baby sits' his grandad for me. And they all come to dinner once a week, so we all get to meet up together. Damon also has had some good news this week, he was offered a brand new build apartment and it is absolutely lovely, he deserves it after putting up with his upstairs neighbours dog urine staining his kitchen ceiling for the last few years (environmental health were useless!) This last year or so has been very depressing with my father going gradually downhill and I got myself into a state not knowing whether I wanted to carry on with life, but our lovely bundle of joy Dallas has given us all great hope for the future.
So when my babies are happy, then their mama is happy, and now I cant wait for a wonderful spring and summer.