19th Anniversary

Well, every one, we made it to our 19th Wedding Anniversary! It's been an interesting year in which we've spent some time apart (once we'd moved out of the Faversham house, Liz was at Diamond's, I was in the caravan or Hastings and then over here, house-hunting) and some time in very close proximity (the famous caravan). We've had all the stresses and strains of  being made redundant (me) and giving up a job which got seriously awful by the end (Liz), selling up and moving countries and the gutting and rebuilding a farmhouse in County Roscommon. Yet, here we still are, still madly in lurve with each other and nobody has been killed and buried under the patio. These two are our most recent pictures, taken by Sis-in-Law Pauline C (Mrs "Sparks") on the occasion of their recent visit down here to visit.

This was Sparks's first visit since the completion of the rebuild project way back in April and Mrs Sparks and son Brian (5)'s first ever. They therefore saw it with the garden reasonably well advanced and with the 'small holding' coming together quite well. Brian loves all that and had a whale of a time feeding sheep, chickens, rabbits and baby chicks, getting chased about by puppies and cuddling kittens. He was a very tired boy by the end of it and Mrs Sparks tells us he was 'in a coma' that evening, sleeping like a log.

We love these visits and a chance to show off the place and, in the case of Sparks, it has the added pleasure of knowing that he was the main king-pin in the build project, Project Manager and Main Builder, so most of what he's looking at, he put together with his own hands (helped, admittedly, by Liz and I and a few tradesmen) so, to a degree, we feel like we are being judged on how well we have looked after 'his house'!

Happy Anniversary!
Matt