Where we met...................

http://west.coker.net/

This is the village where Lloyd and I grew up.....West Coker in the Southwest of England. It was a tiny little village when we lived there...we played tennis in the road because there were so few cars.......we walked the few miles to school and back each daywith no sidewalks for most of the way.......the picture in the top left corner of the home page shows the telephone box outside of th post office (run by my friends Grandma) and the butchers.......we would buy tubs of bubbles in the post office and penny candies (sweets) from the butchers.........opposite this 'square' was Corbetts....a little grocery store run by another friends Grandparents....we would buy bags of chips (crisps) for school and cream cakes as a treat! Across the traffic lights there was a tiny doorway in the row of terraced cottages and in there was a little room with a counter and a bell.....you would ring the bell and this little old lady named Iris would come out to the counter and sell sweets (candies) from jars.....pineapple chunks, cola cubes, gobstoppers, sherbert lemons, rainbow sugar, coconut mushrooms...............

The shops were half way between home and school......

The Twine works in the village were famous for making rope...they even made the ropes and sails for HMS Victory...........Nelsons flagship...............

The 'Old Schoolroom' that is mentioned in the history page was where we would have 'Jumble sales' a kind of fundraising yard sale.......and we also had 'youth club' there every week where we played fooseball and danced to Duran Duran lol! I remember my best fried Tasha had her birthday party there and we all had to dress up like Madonna......

West Coker dates back from 1309!!!!

I grew up in Font Lane....Lloyd grew up in the road behind mine....Halves Lane....next door to my best friend Tasha.

It was a great place to grow up :) I was really sad when my parents moved to the next village. I wanted to stay in West Coker....not move to East Coker! It seemed like we were moving so far!

Natures colours.................

We pass these trees on our way into town and they always catch my eye....the colours are just beautiful in the sunlight...........I do love trees! Trees with hoar frost, branches weighed down with snow, trees in the rain, the sounds of trees in the wind, blossoms.....and of course the gorgeous Fall colours..............

Lake view...............

We ran out to get some gas in the tanks for the mower, chainsaw and quadbikes etc just now and took the opportunity to drive home via the range roads....the colours of the trees are stunning already.................

hip barn..............

This is the barn that Lloyd loves.......its along the highway from us. We even went and knocked on the door of the house to ask who had built the house .....hoping for a referral.....but alas, it was built in the 60's by the ladys Father and only looks new because it has a new roof and has been painted......its gorgeous though.....this is the size we want too and the upstairs will hopefully be my studio and also accommodation for guests to stay in.........

That is of course the plan if we stay here.........................who knows..............

We were doing 100km down the highway when I took this picture so its not great lol.

Chicken pays a visit........

This poor chicken has a bad foot...so yesterday we quarantined her and bandaged up the foot.......we washed it all out and used antiseptic and she is now on her own in a little temporary coop in the workshop until she heals............we brought her into the kitchen to bathe the foot and bandage it and then we gave her water and food on the floor...she was hiding from the other chickens in the coop so we aren't sure if she had much food and water yesterday.....she seems to be doing well today anyway.....

A walk through the words........................

Once we finish thinning out the woods we will have wonderful little shaded pathways through there with little arches created by the trees.........its starting to come together.................

Collecting firewood.........

Once the trees were cut up the logs wer put in the trailer ready to go up to the workshop and be stored dry ready for fires this winter.....we have so much fun around th efire pit each winter roasting marshmallows, watching the stars......chatting..............

Hard at work

Everyone helped out this morning in the woods to clear some of the old trees and the logs that Lloyd was cutting down...............it was obviously hot work as Lloyd hung his short on a tree.......it rained all morning so the wood was quite damp and smelled musty........

Favourite lyrics from a favourite movie............

Slow down, you crazy child
and take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile
it's all right, you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize,..Vienna waits for you?
And you know that when the truth is told
that you can get what you want or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get half through
Why don't you realize,. Vienna waits for you
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Swingin' through the trees.........................

Abigail enjoying the tree swing.....the branch actually broke a few months back and now its too low for the others to use but Abigail still enjoys it.....hopefully once the woods are thinned out we can find a new tree to hang the swing from.........

Teenagers, hormones and meltdowns........

Its hard to be a teenager.....Chris is such a great kid but he struggles right now with mood swings and tantrums.....he is the hardest work right now because you ust don't know how he will react to ANYTHING................

Lloyd has been thinning out the woods....they are badly overgrown and all the tees are tall thin and straggly....fighting each other for daylight and nutrients.......so Lloyd is cutting down quite a few of them to give the rest room to breathe and grow..............Laurence is helping to cut them down, learning to use the chain saw and the pruners and chop up the logs and everything......Chris was helping this morning (not by choice) and then had a melt down, started crying and saying that it all goes against his beliefs....basically he thinks it is wrong to cut down trees.................I arrived on the scene just as the tears started and tried to explain that we also love trees and know how important they are...which is why we are thinning the words.....because trees aren't healthy when they grow THAT crowded and how they are all fighting for light...and that cutting some down actually is GOOD for the woods.......and that in nature there would be forest fires regularly........and I tried to explain about controlled burns etc in Provincial parks...for the good of the forest.

So anyway...it ended up quite good because he is now going to study forest management and understand our reasoning...so hopefully next time he has a melt down it will be over something he understands................

I have no problem with him standing up for animal rights or conservational issues so long as he is making a knowledgable stand and not an ignorant one. Like the animal rights issues and vegetarianism......I made him study both sides of the argument before making a choice re PETA........he needs to know about propoganda and bias.

It was hard not to laugh a little though at the fact he was crying over us cutting down the trees......yet he will LOVE all the fires we have with the logs all winter long roasting marshmallows and making hot chocolate!

Moving on....................

We have been mulling over a lot of choices lately.......and one of these choices is moving away.......as much as we love our home here, Alberta is becoming something that we don't want......until justa few months ago we loved it here but things here are changing VERY fast.....90,000 a year are moving here because of the boom and everywhere is getting so busy........the roads, the line ups in the stores...the crowds at festivals......busy busy busy...one of the things we 'escaped' from when we left the UK. The materialism here is unreal......everything is about money and buying STUFF and it makes me sad that yet again my children are growing up in a materialistic community........even friends who say they want a relaxed lifestyle and want to slow things down for their children seem to be constantly pushing them into more and more activities and class situatuons.......this is so NOT what we wnat but its hard not to get sucked into it..........you kind of get left behind in the rush and I sooooo want my children to be children and not pressured or pushed into subjects or classes or spend half their lives in the truck running from class to class....surely even school is better than that. I just don't see the point.

Thank goodness for certain people who are in my life who think like us and don't bow down to the pressures and totally understand the way we are (you know who you are I hope!) and don't judge..................

So anyway.........we are looking at properties elsewhere.......and we will probably end up putting in a new kitchen and bathrooms here and tidying up the land and then selling and getting the hell out of here..............

I'm so sad because when we moved here it was a wonderful place to be...so laid back and slow compared to the UK.......no rush hour, no line ups, no crowds but the last year things have changed so much and its just getting worse.......yesterday we were in town and the traffic was awful mid morning Saturday....I remember when we first moved here that the roads would be empty until at least lunchtime on Saturdays............

I have a feeling we won't be here for more than a year or two....hopefully.......

Strolling with Sam...........

Finally after being here almost a year we got around to removing the Edmonton Journal box!

Sams furry friend

On our stroll last night Sam found a caterpillar on the driveway and sat for a while looking at it and prodding it...gently thankfully...the caterpillar lives to face another day ;) although it doesn't look like it in these pictures lol!

Goodbye to friends......

Some friends of ours came over yesterday.....for the last time - as next week they leave to go home to Newfoundland to live........they are sad to go but want to be closer to family....although there is a chance they will come back.......

The children had fun on the trampoline, meeting our chickens...and collecting LOTS of eggs

We wish you all the best for the future Chad, Robin and family!

The woods...............

Lloyd spent yesterday afternoon chopping down trees in the front wood to thin the wood out and allow the stronger trees to grow more....we walked down last evening to see how much he had done and to admire all the Fall colours that are starting to show........we didn't live here last year at this time so its wonderful to watch the seasons change somewhere so familiar to us now........