Grandparents all get understandably anxious when anticipating their sons and daughters' visits especially when the grandchildren are coming too. "How can we make it perfect for them here this weekend, so that they'll keep on coming?", is their unspoken worry.
You can take this too far, though, can't you. Like the locally famous case of the Stansfields, who insist on showcasing a fresh, newly crafted, oak dining-table every time "the family" comes to visit. At least "old man Stansfield", as he's known in the lovely village of Nob End, not far from Lois and me here in Malvern, now makes each weekend's new table in advance, so that his carpentry work doesn't "cut into" the family's quality time together, which is a promising step forward, Lois and I think!
So, while not going to the trouble of making a new oak table for them like the Stansfields do, we still feel it's the least we can do to clear all our "office stuff" - papers, computer prints, files, dictionaries, memory sticks, and handbooks etc - off the beds that Sarah and the twins are going to be sleeping in.
20:00 The surprise heatwave continues into the evening, almost to the point where Lois and I consider opening a window, but in the end calmer heads prevail, and we decide not to, just in case we forget to close them again when we go to bed. Well we are in our late 70's you know - and there's no point in straining our failing memories too vigorously, is there haha!
Lois and I often think that fish tend to get a bad press, and they're often depicted looking a bit sour or bored, aren't they. So it's nice, for once, to see a painter who shows us the other side of the coin, because fish like to have fun too, just like us - it's just that painters and photographers etc choose not to dwell on that side of their lives, which is a pity.
It all goes back to happy memories of McKean's childhood, when he used to go out in a small rowing-boat from Troon Harbour to fish for mackerel with his friends.
McKean and his boyhood friends knew where the mackerel's mating grounds were, which was a bonus, because if they went out at the right time, each hook could potentially get two fish at a time, he recalls - a male and a female, as a kind of a "brace".
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
one of our "guest beds" in its everyday role
as overflow desk for our "office paperwork" etc
We're all heart haha !!!!
But if you too are old, like Lois and me, you'll appreciate that all this work takes its toll physically, at our age, what with tipping all those documents etc into a bag, carrying them along the landing, and dumping them on the floor of our own bedroom. And if you too are old, you'll also understand that it's nice, when all the preparations are finally done, for us to "recharge our batteries" by spending another Friday afternoon in bed, for a bit of "nap-time".
And, as a bonus, we can even throw all the blankets off us today, which is a bit of a novelty, to put it mildly! Are YOU feeling a bit hot and sticky today, like we are? You can't have failed to notice the current "heatwave" - when temperatures have been soaring in the last few days, from a chilly high of only 66F (19C) on Monday to a sultry high of 73F (23C) today.
Phew what a scorcher !!!!
Most people round here are finding the sudden heat a bit of a trial, with (needless to say) the exception of local eccentric, Martin Rivers, who's been "sounding off" again in the local press, and quite predictably saying the exact opposite of what everybody else is saying!
So, instead of opening a window, we cool down by watching a nice peaceful documentary all about a Scottish river, the Irvine in Ayrshire, from Paul Murton's latest series.
Seagulls are another case in point - they're often depicted in photographs and paintings as looking a bit selfish and grasping, for ever watching out for a child's carelessly dropped ice-cream cone, so that they can wolf it noisily down - you know the kind of thing.
Local artist Graham McKean however, the artist whom presenter Paul Murton interviews in his riverside art workshop tonight, is different from those run-of-the-mill painters. And he always encourages fish - and seagulls - to show their "happy side" when they're sitting for him, which is nice.
presenter Paul Murton (left) interviews local artist Graham McKean
in his waterside art studio on the banks of the River Irvine in Ayrshire
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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