An Update

As you may remember a month ago today I published this post. It's details of a Memory Walk that me, my brother and sisters were going to do to raise money for Alzheimer's.

Well.....we did it!

Last week I decorated a card to pin to the back of my t-shirt.

Then on Sunday morning we all met up ready for the big walk, we were also joined by my niece, Elsie.

The weather was overcast but dry and warm enough for us not to need coats, perfect walking weather.

There was a great atmosphere at the start with music playing, games for the children and a memory tree.

We set off at just after 11:00 along with hundreds of other walkers.

The first 5k of the walk was vertical! The views, and the charity, made it all worthwhile.

At the halfway point we had a couple of cheerleaders in the form of my friend Sarah and her hubby Chris so we managed to get a picture.

Then it was time for the descent, this was the part I found the hardest and I would much rather have carried on uphill! At last there was just one mile left to go.

And then we saw the finish line.

We'd done it!

Our mum, family and friends were there to meet us and to snap us crossing the line.

We started together and we finished together, then we headed to the bar!

Cheers dad!

It was a great day spent with a great family doing it all in the memory of a great man.

We walked 10k in 2 hours and between us we raised over £1000 for the charity!

Me and my family would like to thank every single person who donated to this great cause.  There's still time to donate if you want to, just click the Just Giving link at the top of the page.

I decided to do this walk months ago and I was delighted that my brothers and sisters wanted to join me.  I also decided that I wanted to do the Pier to Pier swim in Bournemouth next year and they've decided to join me for that too!  In fact they said it would be nice for us to do a challenge every year for charity which will be fantastic.

Thank you again for all of your support
Jo xx

Woohoo!

"I know I'll cry when I see them" I warned Paul, and I did!

 "Do you think they 'woohoo' when they do it?" I asked him. "I doubt it" he said.

"I'll 'woohoo' for them then." And I did. Did I care that I was surrounded  by 404,000 people? Nah,  I did it anyway, I woohoo'd until I was hoarse, with tears running down my cheeks!

Who were you woohooing for and blubbering about you might ask, well they'll be here in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

The one and only RED ARROWS!!!  I really love them and I do get emotional when I see them because you just don't see them every day do you?

At the weekend I was lucky enough to be at the FABULOUS 6th annual Bournemouth Airshow and I can't tell you how fantastic it was.

 

The Royal Navy, along with hundreds of pleasure boats formed a semi circle around the bay.

The sun was shining and there was hardly a ripple on the sea.

The beach was packed and I had found the perfect spot on the cliff to watch the Red Arrows!

I had my camera and Paul had my phone but the sun was shinning so brightly that we couldn't see the screens on the phone and camera so we didn't know what we were taking pictures of!

Paul was worried that he hadn't got any pictures for me and I told him that, in all honesty, my phone was probably telling him there wasn't enough memory,  and it was! He did get some good shots though and, with the help of Instagram I turned this shot:

In to this:

I was happy with that, I'd got the Arrows forming an arrow!

I got a few shots that I was really delighted with.

There was just enough room for this pilot to manoeuvre through the gap!

Slightly too low but there was a woman standing in front of me and I didn't want to get a shot of the back of her head :)

Sometimes I just got the coloured smoke.

But I did manage to get them with the coloured smoke too!

I love this shot:

And being on the cliff I was well lined up for this one:

And then this one:

After the Red Arrows had finished their turn we wandered down to the memorial sculpture put in place in the memory of Flt Lt Jon Egging who unfortunately lost his life at the festival in 2011.

So very emotional.

After that we headed to Frieda's to fill our faces!

Before heading back to the beach to wander around looking at all the stalls, of which there were plenty!

As the sun headed down

The pyrotechnic display started

Three men joint together leaping out of a plane with fireworks strapped to them!

Before separating and landing safely on the beach.  Just prior to this their colleague cut his parachute away and carried out a long free fall before deploying his second chute and landing safely.  Now while this was a breathtaking feat I only watched him with one eye, the other eye was on where that first parachute was going to land and I was already imagining the sort of quilt I would make from it :) It landed in the sea so my hopes and dreams were burst like a bubble!

We walked along the beach enjoying the bright lights and loud screams from the fairs that had been set up:

And then headed back up the cliff for the firework display where my "woohoo" was replaced by "ooh, aaww, glitzy"!.

I used my phone for these and love how you can see the sea reflecting the light.

But I had my camera right next to it to get these

First time off of auto and on the firework setting!

The fireworks were set off to music

With the very last ones being set off to a tune I had been humming all day, in made my night!

Now Paul lives less than half a mile from the beach but this is how many miles we clocked up on the day:

I must have burnt off all of those calories I ate at Freida's!

On Sunday we headed back to the beach for the final displays.

The Royal Navy closed the festival with an 8 gun salute and I had my final treat of the weekend:

I can't tell you how amazing the Air Festival was, you've never seen an airshow until you've seen it carried out over the sea, but I can tell you it's on from the 28th to the 31st August next year and I will be there for all 4 days.  Maybe I'll bump in to you?

I hope you had an amazing weekend too.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Precious Bowls

Unbelievably another month has passed and it's time for Story Telling Sunday over at Sian's!

This month, following on from this post, I'm sharing a lovely little bowl I have and the memories it holds.

My dad's favourite place on earth was Le Pouliguen in France. We had many, many fabulous holidays there as a family, made so many friends, joined in with all the local customs and traditions and, sometimes, it's a place I miss so much that I have tears in my eyes. 

I often saw these little bowls in the shop when we visited and the last time my parents holidayed there, half way through my dad's illness, they brought me one back. 

Not quite with my name on but close enough!

And it's beautifully decorated inside. 

I use it all the time and it never fails to remind me of happy times in beautiful surroundings. 

Head over to Sian's to join in and tell us about your precious. 

Hope you've had a great weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by 

Jo xx