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Tuesday, 2 August 2016

DIARY OF GIRAFFES AND OLIVES BY FIONA CUMMINGS


Good day Bloggets. My morning started with cleaning our dog run, how wonderful. It was raining during the night too. Also came downstairs to not one dog but two… No, my Waggatail hasn’t given birth, that would be impossible, but Hub left the Little Fella today. Not sure why, perhaps because it was raining when he let him out so he would be a very wet dog in the taxi but I doubt it’s that, it could be Hub is busy all day in meetings so LF wouldn’t get much attention or it could be because he thought LF deserved a day off work. Sad thing is, LF would rather be at work no matter what than home with a Wagging one, though Wagga is delighted to have a play mate, only trouble, LF is sulking and right now won’t come out of bed. He has already been upstairs naughty one, looking for his Daddy. Goodness knows what he will be like when we are on holiday? I really hope we can find a good person to baby sit him. He has special needs though… LF, not Hub…. Though…. Em….. Haha, well, he doesn’t read my blogs so why not????

 

We know a lovely lady who has looked after LF before she was his boarder before Hub got him said she could have him, bless her heart but she already has two dogs. Then there is a man who said he can have him at nights and drop him off at the office during the day, gosh that will be odd for LF as he will again be looking for his Dad, but at least he will know the guys there and they are all lovely. Also Wagga will be in the office every day with her lovely aunty

 

Teen today is painting our garden fence. This should be fun. It’s our dog run. Well, let’s hope our dogs don’t end up looking like tigers with new stripes?

 

After cleaning the dog run, I moved all of the plant pots from around the fence. Sadly, found a shrub I bought a few months ago that I thought had been planted and now it’s looking very dead. It wasn’t cheap either. After moving five or six plant pots around the fence, I got so confused. I ended up among the pots found my way out then found a bucket I didn’t know was there full of water and tiles. Got out, smile, and went around to the second section of the fence and started again. Oh then I really got disoriented lost my broom and bucket, so had to leave the rest to Teen. I have a statue of a white lady out there but had to leave that to muscles too. 

 

So now Teen has his big paint brush, paint and sand paper.

And it’s raining.

Oh!

 

Have you had a holiday this year? Loads of people haven’t or aren’t going so if not, you are not alone. If you are thinking about it, how about some of these hotels?

 

If mountain biking, hiking, White washed little houses, olive trees beauty massages and cookery classes is your thing, and you love Italy as I do, then How about Masseria Cervarolo in Ostuni

 

 

 If a jolly with giraffes is your thing, why not look at Giraffe Manor in Nairobi Kenya? This place transports you to the 1930’s inside 140 acres of sanctuary and part resort, this manor offers ten rooms, full board and all kinds of animal dreams will come true.  

 

 

What is your perfect holiday? Well I am blessed I have travelled a lot in my life, with my ex Husband who of course was sighted, and my Now and forever hub and Son.

 

It’s totally different now for me going on a holiday, there is so much to think about. Last year there was a lot of pressure as we went with the girls, Hubs daughters as well as Teen. I wanted them to enjoy themselves so much, so for three months really worked hard spending hours looking for a perfect holiday. Well, for us it was perfect. All our kids together and we thought they had a good time. I hoped. Teen did and he is going back to the same place this year with us, only this time we are right on the beach, you open our back gate and there is our sand and ocean. Like last year, we have a pool only this year it’s much bigger. We are slightly further from the main part of the village but have a perfect house. It’s France a little fishing village with everything we need there within one mile. Little restaurants along the beach front and harbour as well as wonderful ice cream shops where by you can sit at the jetty on beautiful comfortable seats with cane coffee tables and hear the world going by whilst eating a choice of 100 different kinds of ice cream. There are some unique shops for gifts and even a fair ground for our kids we thought this would be great, a short taxi ride to horse riding and boat trips. Hub said this year he was going to do water sports with Teen, Hub and Teen had a great time in the Caribbean many years ago my word, teen was so happy I think this is the happiest I have ever seen him. The Caribbean wasn’t my cup of tea. Not as much as France is or Italy where we went some years ago. I adore Italy. Just the smells, food and people. Even the wine was pure nectar. Mind you France too has lovely wine, nothing at all like we buy in the UK. In Italy they openly admit that they keep the best and send the rubbish to other countries… Their wines are like juice, they don’t taste alcoholic, that is why I like them.

 

Then there was America oh that was by miles my best holiday because we went to stay with friends and their company was simply brilliant as was the locals we met at the church, even the church was so different. After a great service by Pastor Chuck who was a character larger than life, we had what they called a picnic. Delicious sandwich crisps like I have never tasted and homemade soup. Pastor chuck took Teen horse riding on his ranch. We visited Dollywood which I can so recommend. We stayed in a large wooden lodge with a wraparound balcony with a hot tub and views of the blue mountains. The park Dollywood was the best park I have ever been to. It was a real family time.

 

When you can’t see it is so difficult to go on holiday, even if we take our dogs, they don’t really work as they are only meant to do the routes they have been taught and the routes we know. Well this won’t be possible to arrange for just a holiday. So you could almost be anywhere in the world but won’t really get out of your hotel and as for staying in a house? Well how would you eat?  So we are lucky we have our Son to come with us and he gets a great holiday so he takes the opportunity to travel with us. But if not for him, we wouldn’t be going anywhere. Perhaps a hotel in the UK.

 

There are companies who arrange holidays for people who are blind and partially sighted, but to be honest their prices are shocking as we pay for a sighted guide that we have never met, and who is to say we will like the person but moreover, who is to say that they will actually  meet up with us? I have heard good and bad stories about these arrangements. Some are great all goes well other times, the people with sight difficulties go on the holiday and they are left as the people/person who has received their holiday doesn’t turn up. You may as well pay for a sighted friend to go on holiday with you. At least then you will have someone and you will get on with them.

 

The oddest thing is, we have beaches an hour’s drive from us forests not too far and woods, but Teen won’t company us there an yet abroad he has no issues. I don’t quite get that. So once a year, we walk on sand and feel the sun on our faces, once a year to do this isn’t enough, but I’m aware that it’s more than a lot of you get and I only wish I could give you all a holiday. I bet though during the year, you all go out more than I do?

Check out the links below, oh I love the Giraffe park. See what they do it made me smile.

  


 

 


 

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