Blogging isn’t coming easily to my fingertips at present, I’m not sure why. But I’ll catch up with all of you soon and, perhaps, get my verve back together too.
The first thing to tell you about is that chicks have hatched. It was quite dicey, in fact – actually, I do know why I didn’t blog on Thursday; we had four chicks, but three of them had to be helped out of their shells and we were very doubtful whether any of them would survive, and I didn’t want to leave that sort of cliffhanger. As it turned out, the strongest one slipped out from mum in the night and was too chilled to save. The other two are fine and thriving, as is the first one. They are very tiny, because that’s their breed but they seem to be able to avoid clodhopping foster mum, who is very devoted.
The next thing is, it’s now less than four weeks to the Blog Party. I’ve had some replies already, but I’d like to start getting more idea of who’s coming, please. As ever, you don’t need to be a past or present blogger, there are no rules. Rules aren’t in the spirit of the thing. Just meeting, having lunch (absolutely all dietary needs are taken in our stride, from allergies to preferences to requirements, just let me know) and getting to know each other is all we aim to do. I lay tables (lots of tables) so I do like to know the number, even if it’s just a day or two in advance – if you’ve already said you’re coming (or not), of course you don’t need to tell us again. If anyone would like to offer a salad or pudding it would be gladly received (please let me know, I’ll obsessively over-cater otherwise) and if you’d like to stay for a night or more, you’re welcome. We have four spare rooms, one is taken and another booked but not confirmed – again, let us know. After the spare rooms are full, there’s a sofa, place for a camp bed and room for tents. If you haven’t visited, we’re smack on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, half an hour from Norwich or the coast.
What has always been most fun is that people who’ve met here have later gone on to be friends and met up elsewhere. And, from our point of view, it’s where Tim and I met: at the second blog party. We’d become blog friends and he drove all 160 miles here, bringing another blog friend who lived near him but whom neither of us had met before and, though we saw each other only a couple of times more in the next few years, we would never have met otherwise. I know that other couples have met through blogging or otherwise on the internet (two of my children met their wife on the internet) and that’s one reason why, with or without blogging mojo, it’s dear to my heart.
If you prefer not to put a comment saying you’ll be away from home, a Facebook message or an email will be fine. Hope to see you, we look forward to it. There are new faces every year – which is brilliant – and old friends come along too and will see yet more changes around here.
Tim and Zed xx