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Ok so I had started this blog 5 weeks ago and thought it was about time I finished it (and change bits that are now out of date!) So apologies for the delay between blogs. I have been a bit busy though with entertaining visitors (well that's my excuse anyway.)
I had previously started writing one about our previous tips we have been on whilst here, but I then realised that there were a few, so am still deciding whether to bore you with those or not! 😊
Thought I'd better put in a picture of the house, as I realised that I hadn't uploaded one yet.
Well things are still plodding on here, weather was turning out very nicely, a couple of weeks ago it got to about 35ºC but then cooled down to about 28ºC, but this week is has taken a turn for the worst and yesterday there were storms and the lowest recorded this time of year in the Central Valley for a 100 years!!! Great! Apparently it's very unseasonal for it to rain like it has this time of year! Have looked at the forecast though and looks like it will improve again
Almond Blossom
One of the many Almond orchards in Modesto (she says keeping everything crossed!)
Garden furniture has been bought though and was being used loads and most importantly the BBQ has been put to good use, Ok so we are cheating a little as it is a gas BBQ, but it's cooking outside, so who cares! We are hoping to get a lot more good use out of it very soon 😊
The weather has also bought a change in our garden, we now have cherries ripening on 3 trees! what we think are apricots ripening (i'll confirm if they are or not in a later blog, once they are ripened) We have another fruit growing on a tree, but have absolutely no idea what that could be, so that will be a surprise.
The many Almond trees in Modesto were looking lovely in spring with all their blossom in full bloom, that has now all gone and apparently Modesto is due to have a record harvest this year.
We have also had a variation of birds in our garden, we had two doves nesting in our garden right outside our back door, but they seem to have abandoned their nest 😞 I blame the cats!
As well
as seeing hummingbirds, Scrub Jays and American Robins in our gardens we have also seen on a few occasions 2 hawks flying over our garden!!! pretty amazing.
We have been on a few trips since the last blog, nothing quite so big though!
In March we went over to the Bay Area and went up to Mt Tamalpais, luckliy we didn't have to walk all the way to the top, only the very last part. The views over the bay were amazing, though a little hazy. We then headed into the City to Twin Peaks and got a much closer and great view of the City. It's definitely worth venturing out of the city to look back over it all.
In late March we headed back into the city to meet up with Martins' cousin Paula and her friend Ben. It was really nice to catch up with Paula, we had a lovely day having lunch, chatting and sightseeing.
At the beginning of April we visited Lodi to visit some of the vineyards and do a bit of wine tasting, lucky me, it was Martins turn to drive 😊 There were some very nice vineyards and some
TD&E visit to CA
Tonia, David and Elizabeth at Monterey very nice wines! (yes I can remember them, just!)
Then our visitors started arriving. We had the nicest surprise in mid April, we got confirmation that Tonia, David and Elizabeth were booked on flights to come to see us a few days later, this was amazing news, as it was always a possibility that they may come out to visit, I never wanted to get my hopes up in case it couldn't happen so I was over the moon to see them come through immigration.
They arrived on 18th April and left on 5th May. We had a wonderful time and it was so good to see Elizabeth as she has grown so much since I last saw her in January.
We now have Martins Dad here with us, he arrived on 8th May. Then my Parents arrive on 25th May, so we will be doing lots of trips out to show them the delights of the central valley and surrounding area. It's nice to be out and about seeing the sights and they never get boring 😊
We went to watch baseball in San Francisco a few weeks ago, it was my first live game, it
AT&T BaseballGround
View from within SF AT&T Baseball ground was the SF Giants vs the Colorado Rockies. The stadium is incredible, you can walk all the way round it with whatever ticket you have and get great views out over the bay. luckily it was too cold as it was an evening game, the atmosphere is incredible and made even better by the fact the SF giants won 😊
Martin is doing well at work and seems to have settled in very well and is liked by all, so that is great. I'm busy trying to do my photography course, it's a lot harder thank I thought it would be, but is keeping my brain active and am so far getting good results in my assignments. Is quite hard to motivate myself as it is a lot of theory work and not the most exciting of subjects to read! But keep pushing myself as I know it will be worth it and at least I'll be able to say I've been doing something in my time not being allowed to work.
Martin is still busy with his running and it paid off at the weekend as he took part in the Bay to Breakers 12k race. It's
Bay to Breakers race
View of the Bay to Breakers racers! a race that starts on the bay side of San Francisco, near the ferry building and ends the other side of the city by the ocean. This year they had around 50,000 participants. Am very proud to say he finished it in 1hr 5mins, in the top 3,200!
Well it's now less than 5 months till the wedding! ekkkk! This is also keeping me busy organising things, which isn't the easiest to do from 5000 miles away, but thankfully I have my 'wedding planners' in the UK 😊 We are looking forward to it though, will be a great chance to see everyone and have a good party! Of course we are also looking forward to becoming Mr & Mrs 😱
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