Road Trips with Milly: 2016

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new trip! Tra la ...

This is the most emotional and bitter sweet trip I'll probably ever take in Milly. It's time to try and find better care for Mum, in a nursing home in the UK - near to my sister Pat, if we can. Her Altzheimer's has reached a stage we are battling to cope with and, after nearly 10 years, sadly Alan and I are very burnt out. Mum loves traveling, and there's a rest night on the ferry, so hopefully she won't be over-tired with The Big Altzheimer's Monster likely to raise his nasty head.

Because it's such a difficult trip in so many ways, I've gone overboard in dickying Milly up to keep me cheerful and with a smile on my dial. I've gone quasi-bohemian with a touch of Gypsy ... and by the time the trip has ended, I may have even gone more OTT with her decor ... he he he.

What I forgot to photograph (maybe later) are the three paintings I want to take to a gallery in the UK. For safe packing and to save space, I hung them on the wall over my bed and am tickled with how nice they look. I've hidden the nasty visible white hooks and cords with scarves ... just to add to my Gypsy feel. It's also my little bit of Alan to take with me ... the biggest painting is of a bunch of Freesias he recently bought for me when I'd hit a bit of a low, to cheer me up. So the painting has lovely, caring, sentimental vibes. Just what the doctor ordered.

As you know, if you've read my travel blogs before, I always try to

take some flowers from the garden with me, stashing them in a glass

in the mug holder on the dashboard. As we're entering autumn, there

aren't any flowers for me to pick in our garden ... except for some lovely

red and pink geraniums in my studio flower garden ... but I'm leaving those

for Alan. Instead I've packed my larger-than-life artificial flowers from my

studio to act as cheerful smile-tools and probably still life subjects on the trip.

Oh, and a cloth an Iranian artist pal gave me, to drape over the seat back,

plus some brightly printed cushions (own designs!) and a warm rust-

coloured throw on the seat. I've packed a handful of bright scarves to

have fun with once I'm parked up, as well.

This is the business side of Milly ... paintings packed to take to the

Bushmills 1608 Gallery (in Bushmills, N Ireland, of course!) if I

can fit it in before I have to be home in the first week of December.

I'm so hoping to catch up with friends in Ireland, but will only know

a little later in the trip, depending on how things go with Mum.

Mum's mattress luckily fitted exactly on top of the bed in Milly.

Somehow we still have to fit her chair in last minute!

Once again, it's amazed me how much I can pack into this little three berth motorhome - although we only ever sleep two - grandgirls excepted. She's so well designed with comfortable living space for two and an easy-peasy size vehicle to drive, reversing and three-point turning included. Mind you, that could be the driver skill too, couldn't it? (Ha ha)

More later .....

My three weeks in the UK wasn't about traveling. It was all about being a Granny and a Mum. So this post is filled with the girls who make my heart sing. It's almost entirely pictorial (except where I get carried away with words) with the image descriptions telling the tales.

As usual I started my journey with flowers from home, tucked into

the car dashboard. This perky little bunch was picked entirely from
the pot plant garden in my studio.

This time I also took a generous armful of fresh hydrangeas ... not even

really to paint ... simply for their happy ambience. They stayed companionably
cheerful, being moved from motorhome table to tent, depending on how much
space I needed, for longer than two weeks. During traveling hours they sit
safe in their jug of water in the kitchen sink, padded and protected from falling
over with tea towels tucked around the base.

We've joined a "club" called Britstops where your membership
allows you to stay in the parking lots of pubs and farm shops
around the UK. There is no charge for this accommodation but
you are obliged to eat, drink or purchase from the business. This
particular stop is in Piddington.

Why this fella chose to park right next to me I just don't know ...
maybe he got a laugh from seeing his smart car next to my
precious Milly! Hmmmm, and I remember that field behind me
there ... they'd just spread the muck and the pong was quite
over-powering! I'm afraid I was a failed guest at this stop - I
was so tired that I fell asleep and slept right through dinnertime so
didn't get to spend any money there. Next time. Hopefully with Alan.

Holly (L) and Evie (R) happy as two little girls in a tent!

I arrived at the first campsite just two hours before Meghan (my daughter), Holly (9), Evie (7) and Maisie (2) did and was struggling to put up the rather large tent, next to Milly, on my own. Meghan helped me a little - but she ain't no camper! - so when she took the girls off for a walk in frustration after we failed to get the logical sides of our brains working to figure out what we were doing wrong, and why the tent had long ostrich back legs and short bunny front legs ... I collapsed on a stool and thought "This has to be such a simple solution it's just staring me in the face" and voila! I worked it out in seconds flat. I had the tent up a la solo by the time they got back. It's amazing what women can do on their own when they have to ... even with arthritic hands, ankles, knees and backs!

This is what Maisie thought of our tent attempts!

I laughed a few times on this trip ... I think nothing at all of traveling around on my own and doing all the heavy stuff that goes with it. I just slot into my "I can do anything" mindset, whittle away at whatever has to be done until it is done, forget that I must look like an animated abstract design of an insect when I find ways to get down to levels it hurts to do so, and then find acrobatic ways of levering myself up again! I am then amazed and amused at how many male egos are quite tangibly bruised (I can tell from the weird comments I am given) and how folk marvel at a single woman managing on her own ... it gives me both a kick and a giggle. I don't tell them about the time just Mum and I traveled around the deserted roads of Namibia back in 1996 in a two-seater diesel bakkie (what South Africans call a small farm-type van with an open back boot), where there can be 200 kms between fuel stations, and where the owners of the B&Bs we stayed in tended to peer into the back of the bakkie to see if we were hiding our men-folk in there! Yeah ... I could meet my Maker tomorrow and know that I've met a few challenges here and there. As the Jewish folk say: La Chaim! (To Life!)

Maisie, Holly and Evie all tucked up for the first of their two
nights in the tent. Accompanied by the inevitable iPad!

Of course we did the usual thing ... the Irish Faeries hiding letters on handmade paper and chocolates for the kids to find. A couple of friends popped around and luckily the Faeries had had forewarning so had letters and Kit Kats for them too. There were letters which Holly and Evie had to read out first so the new kids on the block, Grace and Molly, knew what to expect ...

Evie reading her letter from the Faeries

Finding Irish Faerie treasure

The Irish Faeries had left letters as well
as Kit Kats

At two years old this was Maisie's first real
Irish Faerie experience (above and below)

Meghan, tired Mum of three energetic angels!

And part of the Irish Faerie experience is that the Hummingbird drops off crumpets to be found and eaten for breakfast the next morning.

Holly found her bag of crumpets ... I think she's happy!

Next morning, Mum Meghan was still exhausted and needing more sleep, while three excited little bodies tucked in to crumpets smeared with marshmallow topping and French caramel sauce.

Meghan, wishing she was still asleep

Crumpet feast for breakfast ... more pics below ....

Holly in her leopard onesies.

Evie sneaking in fingerfulls of French caramel sauce.

Maisie's favourite appears to be the marshamallow topping.

I couldn't resist this one of Evie ... she's the drama queen of the family

I'm surprised the crumpets stayed put after these après le petit déjeuner

handstands and forward rolls

Lunchtime brought more delicious offerings where the girls

learnt more about their South African heritage and have now

started calling corn on the cob - mealies - just as it should be!

Their two nights was soon up and big Granny Hugs were shared as they waved me goodbye. We had spent a lovely day having fish and chips for lunch on the pier at a nearby seaside village. Sadly these days the only candy floss to be found was dispensed from a vending machine! We did it nevertheless. They went home to Hertfordshire and I stayed for the week in Suffolk at the Cliff House Holiday Park. Sadly the beach was way too rocky and sore-on-the-feet for beach walks, so we only ventured down there on one occasion. I had a productive week though, resting in the company of Little Cliff the campsite bunny and his pals, and doing a few ink studies and other crafty things.

As I headed out, I wandered through some lovely parts of Suffolk for a while, stopping off at a farm shop for birthday goodies for Meghan who was turning 36 the next day. These are only one group of the many beautiful Hollyhocks I saw on that drive.

The time came for me to brave the busy roads and head for a week at Henlow Bridge Lakes campsite on the outskirts of Bedford, and just ten minutes' drive from where Meghan and the girls live in Weston. Along the way, I stopped at a roadside pull-in next to a field of delicate pink/lilac poppies ... I never knew poppies were grown like that in the UK! Amazing. And what a good thing I did - not long after that I hit major accident traffic and sat in blistering heat in a static queue for an hour ... realising that if I hadn't made that roadside stop, it was quite likely I would have been too close for comfort to the accident in front of me!

Poppy field next to the freeway in the UK

Henlow Bridge Lakes is a lovely, well-organised, clean and extremely child-friendly campsite. I would recommend it any time. Here are a few shots of their lovely flowers ...

I had bought a chocolate cake, some Maltzeres, M&Ms and mint chocolate sticks for the girls to decorate a birthday cake for Meghan. They were joined by their cousin Summer and had loads of noisy fun making flower and heart patterns and writing Happy Birthday around the edge.

Evie, Summer and Holly

The Cake

Much to Evie's disappointment one day, our promised "Granny and Evie only day" to the Hitchin Lavender farm was delayed thanks to the electrics on Milly conking out and leaving me without headlights and flickers. However, I decided to stay another week, this time parking Milly outside their front door in a spare parking bay for the week, because I could see that Meghan, as a newly single mum, was totally exhausted and really needed some Mum-help.

Evie and I had a lovely day at the Lavender farm ... and from here on out this post is mainly pics of my day with Evie and my "Granny and Holly only day" sketching at a garden centre ...

Bees Granny! There are so many bees!

And our little sporty girl's day was complete with chocolate cake, a forbidden Coca Cola drink (which she left most of!! LOL) and ... the cherry on the top ... a climbing wall!

For Holly's day out, we chose to go sketching at a local garden centre in Letchworth where I ended up making contact with an art group with whom I intend to keep in touch. Holly has always loved sketching ... even without my encouragement ... and she filled a few pages with sketches of hens, a snail, trees, flowers and plant pots. A few shots of our budding artist and her subjects ...