Well it was a funny old summer.  Very hot, very dry – the grass shrivelling to nothing, and our garden looking very sad.  I popped into the lake in Chiswick House to cool down on the hot days, but everyone kept complaining about that, something about being ‘whiffy’… all too personal if you ask me!

Still, autumn is just about upon us and the recent rain and cooler weather has bucked the grass up no end.  Perfect for BBQ lunches and for Miller’s Ark, who visited us yesterday.
 
Here I am with a baby goat.  He seemed friendly enough – but we kept our distance.  The residents were braver and got in closer.

​We had a lovely afternoon, and the rose beds benefited from what they left behind….

​Trudie and I have had a marvellous time over this Platinum Jubilee.  There was a full programme of events at St Mary’s – with all our favourite activities: BBQs, afternoon teas, the summer sale with its food stalls, home-made ice creams – just the sort of things we love to hoover up from the lawn, when they are accidently dropped…

We always love meeting our old friends at the Summer Sale, and how nice to be able to have it again after a 2 year hiatus.  Despite gloomy weather predictions the rain stopped at noon, and by 2pm it was gloriously sunny and warm.  In fact we were lucky over all four days, rain did not get in the way of any of our activities.
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We send our heartiest good wishes to Her Majesty on this her Platinum Jubilee.  God Save the Queen!

Our good friends at Sherry's arrived on Valentine's Day with a BIG bag of goodies for me, Trudi and Elia.  We were thrilled.  It's not often that we get treats like that. 😋🧡

Being well brought up, we naturally penned a little note to say thank you.  

Sr Jennifer was so taken with the cover, that these notelets are now available from Reception, at a princely sum of 30p. Buy now to avoid disappointment! ​

Hello all our friends. 
 
We do hope you all had a very happy Christmas.  We certainly did here at St Mary’s, as you can see from our photo, we joined in the festivities as best we could
 
We -  Trudi, Elia and I  - would like to thank everyone for all the presents.  Sr Jennifer says she won’t have to buy us any treats for months!!

We have been walking in the park as usual in the early mornings, not so many friends around at that time, I suppose some have gone away.  The after lunch walks are more friendly, lots of children like to stop and talk to us.  Trudi is in her buggy some of the way now.  I like to talk because they usually say ‘how handsome’ I am!! Well, I know everyone loves me.
 
Banjo, our gardener, caught me the other day for a bath ☹, I know it has to happen but honestly I could do without it – still, I looked quite clean for Christmas, and apparently I smelt better (cheek!).
 
We are hoping we might get away for a break during the spring, as it quite hard work being on duty all day every day, but sometimes we sneak off and have a sleep on the sofa.
 
Hope you all had a lovely time and we wish you a very Happy New Year!

Well that was rather a wash out of a summer – a few nice days here and there – but generally dull weather-wise.
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However, we have done our best to keep everyone cheery in the gloomy days, and we have enjoyed walks in Chiswick House grounds, BBQs in the garden, the summer Sale – and when it’s a sunny day we always help everyone with tea in the garden, after all, it’s not good for the squirrels to be eating the leftover cake, and we need to save them from themselves.

Now that our mini-lockdown has finished, we’ve been out for long walks again in Richmond Park, I think we’ve got a little out of shape during the past 18 months, as when we got home, all we could do was sleep…..