The joys of having Ann and Jon up north

Peter's sister Ann and her husband Jon are Northeners at last! So on this lovely Indian summer's day, we made the most of that and went over to Derbyshire to spend the day with them. The added bonus is that they live in the same village as our friends Phil & Liz. So we went to Phil & Liz's church and then out for lunch together. As an extra added bonus, Peter's sister Judith and her boyfriend Dan-the-man tootled across on Dan's motorbike and joined us as well.

After having fared sumptuously, Tom decided to have a power nap. This usually means trouble because it often means he's growing and that's going to cost me yet another pair of jeans. I need not have feared though as his nap was soon interrupted by his adoring cousins, Hannah and Ella.

It was lovely to bask in the sunshine with family and friends. I had thought we'd put our sunglasses away until the spring....

After lunch we strolled along the canal just round the corner from Ann and Jon's new home. Most lovely!

I was bitterly regretting wearing black and wearing my boots!

Unlike my summery sisters-in-law...

Some of us clearly fared all too sumptuously because sitting in Ann and Jon's garden afterwards, the garden chair holding Phil suddenly gave up the ghost and collapsed.
Ann and Jon are wondering if they've moved into the set of the Truman show or Stepford Wives since there are children all around but you hardly ever see them and never hear them. It's so quiet that you feel everyone is listening to you all the time. I love my tranquility but I can see what they mean.

"Good morning, good afternoon and good evening!"

It reminded me of a school trip I went on in Belgium where there were no people anywhere. Then every now and then they'd pop up for a fleeting glance. We started to refer to them as the pop up Belgians.