We started the month on Easter Monday and April Fool’s Day with a meal in Langwathby with Tom’s family and the Millers (Tara’s family), and then shared Easter eggs at our house. We experienced an unpleasant smell, almost certainly Midnight. Doug and Ann dropped by to deliver the wine tasting paraphernalia prior to the forthcoming wine tasting evening; we invited them in for a drink and had a pleasant chat.

I went for a walk with David (three doors down) and Roger near Crosby Ravensworth where Cooper goes to school, while Annabel and Tara were out for a spa day.

On the first Friday of the month, I went out with the photography group to Brougham Castle, just a few miles away from here. A few days later I uploaded seven photos onto the photography group’s (private) Facebook page and received a quite a few ‘likes’ and positive comments.

One evening we invited Chris and Dorothy to join us for one of Janet’s takeaways – we had one each! After the meal Chris and I shared some of our insights living with Alzheimer’s.  The next morning, I realised I’d forgotten the bags and boxes but managed to get them out in time.

On the second Monday of the month, Sam arrived for a quick visit. It was so good to see him. He’s back in this country, partly to check on their house in Leconfield. It has been on the market for some time, but they still don’t have a buyer. One of the problems is that potential buyers are discouraged because a spring flows into the cellar. Sam’s task was to arrange for someone local to block the spring.

On another occasion David 3doorsdown invited me to join him and Roger for a visit to Shap Abbey, which proved to be very interesting. We had the place to ourselves for much of the time and were able to explore for quite a while.

Sam arrived for a quick visit. It was so good to see him. He’s back in this country, partly to check on their house in Leconfield. It has been on the market for some time, but they still don’t have a buyer. One of the problems is that potential buyers are discouraged because a spring flows into the cellar. Sam’s task was to arrange for someone local to block the spring.

Tom suggested a walk for us all at Lowther, which we duly did – nice to see Sam and Tom together. Afterwards we went to the pub in Bolton (Cumbria) for lunch. Unfortunately, although we had been booked in for 1:30, they managed to forget us, which meant that our table was unavailable. They apologised profusely and provided us with a round of drinks ‘on the house’. To be fair, the meal was good and kept us going for the rest of the day.

Sam and I went for a walk. He was intrigued by the extensive limestone pavements. Afterwards, we drove to Appleby, but it took a while to find somewhere to eat. Before leaving the town, we dropped into Pigneys, my favourite shop in Appleby, and discovered that they had been established two hundred years ago, though none of the original staff were working there! On the way back we noticed that there was snow on the top of the Pennines.

While Sam was away, we had a visit from Shirley, the wife of my best man who died sometime after our golden wedding anniversary. We enjoyed her company for the next few days. We took her out to Rheged for lunch, and to the village hall for a wine-tasting session in the evening. I had suggested a musical theme to prompt tasters to guess the type of wine and its origin. A song from ‘Grease’ for Greek wine and ‘Don’t Cry for me, Argentina’ for French wine! Overall, it went well, and people appreciated our efforts.

We took Shirley to see Tom and Tara’s house – but not for a meal, as they didn’t have a working kitchen. Goodness knows how they’re coping with that. From there, we all drove to Shap Wells to see red squirrels. Shirley really enjoyed watching them. In the evening, she treated us to a meal at the Black Swan at Culgaith and left the following day. And then Sam returned and stayed with us for a while. He needed to spend some of his time working on his website business, having virtual meetings with clients, and helping us out in a variety of ways, which we much appreciated.

Sam and Annabel went into the garage to clear up – the space was filled with packaging. I ‘coached’ the lawnmower out of the garage for its first sight of daylight since it was confined there since last autumn and proceeded to mow the grass in the green drive next to our house. Sam replaced the rather distressed washing rail with a spanking brand new one. I provided limited support when he needed an extra hand or two. I don’t think I could have managed it on my own. He then fixed an anchor in the garage to secure the bikes.

One morning, I noticed that there was something large on the doormat outside. Further investigation revealed that it was a dead rabbit. Not an everyday sort of rabbit, but a dead parrot, sorry rabbit. Even more bizarre was that a vital part of the rabbit was absent. You may have heard of headless chickens if you know what I mean! Sam went walking with Tom up Dufton Pike, while Annabel and I started to sort clothes and cases for our forthcoming cruise to Madeira and the Azores.

In the middle of the month, we started to pack our cases. Fortunately, on a boat, there isn’t a 20 kg limit on weight. During the day, Sam went out to meet an old university friend, then we all went to the pub for a meal that evening.

The second part of this blog will be published soon, and cover our holiday in Portugal, the Azores and Madeira.