Re-e-wind (Crowd say Bo Selecta!) Part 1

Pretty clever title eh? Same punchy wit as before you’ll be pleased to see. Well anyway, clearly I haven’t bothered my shirt to write a blog for 18 months but there you are, that’s life.

There’s not a chance that I’m going to fill you in on the FULL last 18 months so you can have a re-think on that one… no, what I’ll do is wee summary and then I’ll pick up next week’s blog as if nothing ever happened… I’ll be like, “what 18 month gap?”… and I’ll hit the ground running so to speak.

So what happened for the rest of 2009 – yer dyin’ to know I can tell!

March 09 – Nana P turns 50 and we hit Pompey for Easter

Well my wee Mammy turned 50 not long after my last post and Gail made a pure spankin’ cake for it (as usual!). My Dad took her to Whistler in Canada for a skiing holiday and wee Teri managed to slam herself into the ground and do her knee ligaments in just a few days into the holiday- nae luck Mum – but they had a tremendous time anyway and Gail summarised the trip in a birthday cake:

Noice!

We went to Pompey for Easter and lost some money at the horses at Newbury while Betty got her face painted so every cloud…, went to the ‘Forces Boxing Championships’ at the naval base – it was decked out like the Shankhill Road but then we were in deepest darkest Eng-er-land – great night though (!), and generally had a 1st class time as usual: Bethany playing buses with Granny Suse:

April 09 – not much

Somebody cleared out a drawer somewhere and…

Hahahahahahaaha! circa 1988

May 09 – Celebration of Francis Anthony Patterson

Songs and stories with my wee sis Louise and my wee girl Bethany

We lost my Granpa Tony Patterson in May 2009, an amazing man and a true hero in my life. My Granpa taught me many lessons in life which still ring in my ears most days and I can still hear his voice as clear as a bell. Not least of his lessons to me was in the art of argument, he was the Grand Sensei of the Patterson Dojo, and I one of many able pupils. My very last conversation with him was an argument about the drainage qualities of astro-turf believe it or not, an argument which finished with us disagreeing to agree to disagree… as most arguments do! He lost his sight in 2004 and this altered his spirit irrevocably and forced a proud and able man to become fully dependant upon my ever loving grandmother Margaret. My tremendous admiration for him only strengthened through this time as he held his faith throughout and also his wit and story-telling especially for visits from friends and family so as to appear as perfectly normal. Anyway his absence still pains me greatly to this day and I hope that wherever he is now he is proud of me and my family.

To celebrate with a good argument as Patterson's only can...Trivs!

June 09 – Midges and Father’s Day Breakfast

Built a TINY garden and a MASSIVE garden in Stewarton for 2 of the nicest, most hospitable families we have come across in our travels; the Penney/Halls and the Wardrops. The midges at the Wardrop job were so mental we literally had to chuck our tools down and run in to the van and home more than once!! This is me trying to escape the plague of midges on a HOT June afternoon: