Congratulations …..

Yesterday was more WONDERFUL and MAGICAL than we could ever have imagined, VERY, VERY joyful in a Hello Magazine type way, but in real life,  it was also charged with ROBUST emotion……. we have much to tell you ….

…….but for now we will leave you with the poem that our nieces Emily and Daisy read out at the ceremony, hankies at the ready please …….

Monkey Love  by Edward Monkton

It was once custom that every monkey would carve for himself a wooden heart. And the heart that Love Monkey carved was the most beautiful of all. Its contours were soft and rounded, like an ancient pebble sculpted by the oceans. Its surface was smooth and shiny like liquid silk, and it shone as bright as a ruby in the desert sun.

“Take your hearts with you wherever you go,” said their teacher “Nurture them as a mother nurtures her new-born baby, for when you want to give of yourself fully, your heart is the only true gift you will have.”

That night, Love Monkey had a dream. He dreamt of a monkey whose smile lit up his soul like sunshine. He held out his heart to her, so radiant, so splendid and so new. She took him in her arms and he felt truly, perfectly, at peace.

When Love Monkey awoke he resolved that, from that day forward, he would search for his Dream Monkey until he could stand before her and give to her his perfect heart.

He travelled through deserts…and climbed over mountains. He trekked across forests…and sailed many oceans.

Love Monkey looked after his heart as best he could, but the storms that he endured on his travels chipped away at its surface and each new adventure reshaped it. By the time he arrived on the last distant shore, his heart was so changed by the patina of time that it barely resembled his old heart at all.

And then, he saw her. Standing before him, as radiant and as beautiful as the sunshine, was his Dream Monkey.

At first he could not speak.  But then, from somewhere deep inside himself, he found a voice. “I have travelled the world over to find you, and to give you my heart,” he said “But now that I am finally with you, I see how foolish I have been, you are so beautiful, so perfect and my heart that was once smooth, so bright and so new is now not something that I could even bring myself to show you,” and he turned to go.

“Let me see it,” said Dream Monkey.  She took his heart and held it up to the light “Nothing to me is more beautiful,  every fissure tells a story, every blemish makes you more real.  All my life I have been waiting for a heart like this; a heart that speaks the truth.”

“Come here,” she said. “I have something for you too.” In her hand was a tiny golden heart.  It was as worn and as scratched as Love Monkey’s own…and it was the most precious thing that he had ever seen.

Love Monkey put his arms around her and they held each other for a long, long time. “I shall treasure this heart for as long as I live,” said Dream Monkey, running her fingers over its ridged and dimpled surface.

Then they looked into each other’s eyes and, feeling the joy of truth in their souls for the first time, they began to laugh.

And often they sit together still, holding each other’s hearts in their warm hands, lifting them to the light…and laughing.

Soooooooooo Excited …. We Could Almost Spontaneously Combust At Any Minute ……..!

The Wedding of the Year ….  and much anticipated matrimonial nuptials of Tom the Scientist to the Lovely, Lovely, Lovely Laura are but 48 hours away …… and as such, last night we decided to have a small bijou stag night of our own to celebrate the conjugality's, all be it without the “stag”,  the aforementioned Tom the Scientist  ….. who,  as they say at all good award ceremonies,  unfortunately could not be with us due to his being greatly occupied with final bridegroomial duties of great import.

We decided to open a several bottles of lager, followed by a tot or two of Bailey’s (which we found in the garage) and a couple of antibiotic probiotic drinks to help adhere to our rigorous health regime, but the combination proved extremely potent ….. despite lining our stomachs beforehand with milk, as advised by our stag night handbook and a robust tea of two eggs, chips and beans, with bread and butter on the side  …..

We toasted the Bride, the Groom, the Bride and Groom, the Bridesmaids, both individually and as a group,  the Best Man, the Mother of the Bride, the Equally Lovely Denise and the Father of the Bride, the Ever Patient Ken, and then the Mother and Father of the Bride together, followed by toasts to the Mother of the Groom, our nieces, Daisy and Emily who are reading the poem, Lucy and Joe who are the witnesses ….. and Andy who would be watching from Heaven. By then we were feeling not a little woozy and woolly headed but decided to do it all over again (….. several times) just in case we had left someone important out, which would have been most rude and remiss!!!!

…………… And so this morning, and for the rest of the day we are taking it VERY easy and keeping all noise and movement of a robust type nature to a minimal!

Nigel Ponders on Matters Of A Pertinent Matrimonial Type Nature …..

…… as in …… how much spaghetti  confetti would it be permissible possible for Darrell and he to chuck throw shower the newly wedded couple with on Saturday as an expression their (his and Darrell’s) unbridled wedding joy without incurring that “certain” look from the aforementioned Lovely Laura …….

….. as it would be such a pity not to use all of the 10 x 1lb bulk bags of industrial strength confetti that they purchased in town,  due to their state of matrimonial excitement and flux the other day ……

…… I can only hope, for their sakes that The Lovely Laura, in the bloom of bridal joy will be too distracted to notice the more than ample sufficiency coming her’s and Tom’s way!

A Miracle In Our Midst

Something wonderful has happened in Andy’s tree …. the tree where we hang his special lantern …..

….. Darrell spotted it first ….

…. we have a dove and a nest …… AND a baby doveling, at this very special and poignant time….

Nigel is overflowing of awe and wonder …. and knows that he MUST NOT disturb our fledgling family and observe over obtrusively ….. Bless him, he now only tiptoes and whispers on the porch, all games of a wild, boyish, gay abandon type nature are now strictly curtailed for the time being!

We feel very blessed in a Nature Watch/Bill Oddie/Chris Packham type way that our doves have chosen our garden and especially Andy’s tree to start their new life…… it’s all very emotional.

The Most Romantic Wrapping Of Wedding Gifts For Tom And The Lovely Laura

We all have to agree that we each made a most excellent choice as far as our wedding presents for Tom and The Lovely Laura are concerned, the robust and vigorous debate, at times heated, was very well worth it!

And,  in our humble opinion,  it will take an awful lot for any of our fellow guests to top our most considered gifts.

However, their shape wasn’t too conducive to easy wrapping as we didn’t have a box to put them in, which would have made the task easier,  admittedly we cobbled it …. but with great aplomb, choosing a poignant heart design paper ….

….. and making our own mahoooooooosive heart shaped tag to match …. complete with faux stitching, which made us feel very Create and Craft!!!

We all signed the tag and then had to take a minute or two to compose ourselves as we all came over all emotional …. Tom and The Lovely Laura are REALLY getting married ……. it’s like the most wonderful fairytale in our lives EVER ………

Darrell Takes Up Meditation

Darrell spotted this poster in one of the village shops and decided that this might be a most excellent and beneficial pursuit/interest for him.  Although he is relatively healthy (thanks to our rigorous 5 a day regime) and generally very happy and almost always in buoyant mood … living with Nigel can at times be a little stressful …. so why not give medication meditation a try …… and off he trotted to the village hall to see what it was all about …..

He came back very chilled indeed,  telling us that from now on he was going to go with “his flow” and “feel his body parts” ……  in particular his heart and stomach …..

He then attempted to show us the techniques he had learnt ….

….. but as you can see he didn’t get very far …..

….. as he had come back very relaxed indeed!  What is he like?

A Good Luck Wedding Horseshoe For The Lovely Laura

As you can imagine it’s wedding gone mad Chez Castle Greysquirrel at the moment, and in these final days of pre-nup preparation we decided that the three of us really ought to get together and “create” a little something special and matrimonial to present to the Lovely Laura after she has been told she that she can “now kiss the groom” ….. and the wedding photos are being taken …..

….. and so after much debate, some heated,  we all finally agreed on making a lucky wedding horseshoe for The Lovely Laura …. we used an MFI horseshoe, some old mother of pearl buttons, some flat backed gem flowers and some really strong glue……

The result was most excellent and every bit as romantic as we had hoped ….. each button and gem flower placed by each of us in turn with precise precession, all very Create and Craft ….. perhaps there’s a job beside Dawn Bibby awaiting us. if they ever get to see our considered confection!As we crafted contentedly we all hummed a repertoire of our favourite wedding songs …. occasionally sniffing with manful emotion ……

We are so proud …..…..

We could almost be professionals …..!!!

Darrell - Metrotextual Man

With the long summer break Darrel hasn't been able to catch up with the Metro as often as he does when at work but somehow managed to get hold of a few back issues that spent a happy few hours devouring page by page.

He was particularly taken with an article about scientists unlocking the secrets to ageing …. hoping that any new breakthrough by any aforementioned scientist might possibly help save him a little of the small fortune he currently spends with the Avon Lady on moisturisers and anti aging creams!

And then underneath, was something even more interesting to him  …… an ad for fighting and inhibiting the growth of unwanted hair ……

….. Darrell is a martyr to his hirsute legs! I now fear that what Darrell may have potentially saved in not buying anti aging creams may now be taken up by the purchase of hair inhibiting products ….. I despair!!

Finish The Title ….

Fill my ……… erm …. welly?

Nigel’s Market Stall of Choice

Whenever we go to the market these days, Nigel’s first port of call is no longer the three 100g sweetie bags for £1 stall  …..
…… oh no, that’s a dim and distant memory …..

….. now he lingers and sighs mahoosively round the stall that sells workman’s work apparel, in particular the hi viz vest section which has aforementioned hi viz vests for every workman type situation …..

….. and now he has found out that he can have his own logo put on one there’s no doing with him …..!!!  I place the blame very firmly at the feet of The Lovely Alex and her mum!!!!!

Beam Me Up Scotty!

There is hardly as day that goes by without me putting my head in my hands in some sort of disbelief type situation ….. and yesterday was just another one of them ……

Nigel had decided to nip to the shops up the road for a change to squander spend some of his pocket money …. …..

….. and I knew by the look on his face and his rush to find Darrell,  his cohort on such occasions,  that his considered purchase hadn’t been a Milky Bar or Twix!

Oh no, it was, to wit, a lollipop, masquerading as a dummy of a most grotesque and nasty type nature …….

It goes without saying that Darrell was highly amused, enraptured and encouraging,  however I am afraid I tutted rather loudly, several times, in despair,  because I knew that there would be no doing with the pair of them for the rest of the afternoon,  at the very least!

Boys will be boys I know …….

…… but I wish that within the portals of Castle Greysquirrel it wasn’t quite so often!!!  WHAT ARE THEY LIKE?

Nigel Graduation Dreams

Nigel has been very much taken with the range of Graduation paraphernalia in the village gift shop ….. which in turn has further encouraged his interest in “big sums” and growing ambition to go in the “big hall” next summer, with a transparent pencil case to sit a GCSE ….

Darrell has been assisting him with his tutorage …. and this week they have mainly been doing expansion ……..

Oh dear …… I don’t think either of them has quite got the hang of it!

What are they like?

One Of Those Days …

I don’t know why ….. and it doesn’t happen very often ….

…. but I am not feeling my usual buoyant and robust Hello Magazine type self today …. 

Last Vegas Countdown …

When I announced,  at Christmas,  the wondrous news of our holiday of a lifetime holiday to Last Vegas,  Auntie Jan immediately went out and bought us a 2013 Last Vegas calendar…….

….. so that Nigel and Darrell would have the palpable and tangible daily excitement of crossing off the days, with dramatic and flamboyant gusto …..

…… and seeing our aforementioned holiday of a lifetime holiday draw ever nearer …. The days have certainly flown, going from numbers in their hundreds to days in their tens. When the days are finally in single numbers I just don’t know where any of us will be able to put ourselves, I fear that Darrell will be be permanently in the loo!

For reasons of a tight and stringent security type nature, we are not at liberty to reveal when we will actually be flying out  ….. indeed,  it would be a most foolhardy revelation

However … we can divulge that in our absence,  Castle Greysquirrel will indeed be fully occupied, due to our having the kitchen refurbished in our absence …. which is also very exciting ….. and probably worthy of a Hello Magazine photo shoot upon our return!

But in the meantime the crossing off,  not a little unlike Lord Sir Alan Sugar’ s search for a business partner continues ……