News & Updates from Sue Way ~ Lily~Pickle Designs · Page 19

Today, our granddaughter Jessica received her GCSE results. Over the last few days, she experienced a mix of excitement and nervousness. However, there was no need to worry, as all her hard work and dedication paid off – she achieved fabulous grades in all her subjects.

This means she met the requirements to move on to the next stage of her education. She is eagerly looking forward to starting college next month. We are all incredibly proud of her, and she truly deserves it. Well done, Jess!

Last week, we took care of our daughters little rescue dog, Cookie. She has settled right in and is a bit of a princess. She rules over the boys and thinks they are silly when they play wrestle.

Since its been so hot, it was hard to get in any good walks, but one day we managed to take them all to the beach.

Cookie was so excited when she saw the sea and even got her little toes wet. She was trying to run after the boys into the water, then ran back when a wave came. It was so funny.

We took lots of pictures to share with the family when they got home, as even though they had a great holiday, they missed her a lot.

My mum sadly died a few weeks ago. She had dementia and was in a home, so we had already lost her bit by bit over the last few years.

The other day hubby and me met with my bother and sister and her husband at mums house to clear it out ready to sell.

I found it difficult to go in at first, very upsetting. But once we got started we all worked very well together. We found lots of lovely photos and memories, including this plate that I painted for mum and dads Ruby wedding anniversary.

I was only dabbling in ceramic painting, it was just another of my many crafting hobbies, but I really wanted to mark the occasion.

Mum and dad loved it and it had pride of place in thier display cabinet for many years.

At the end of last year my lovely next-door neighbour of nearly 12 years, sadly passed away. She was in her 90s and kept her home and garden beautiful. When her family cleared out her house, they offered me 2 of her matching plant pots.

I took them expecting to throw away the raggedy-looking plants and repot them with something new. But because of the shape of the pots, I couldnt get them out. So I gave them a good weed, turned over and added some new soil. As the summer progressed they started to look a bit healthier, so I gave them pride of place in front of the house.

Then last week, on the day my own mum sadly passed away, I noticed they had flowered. I wasnt expecting such a pretty flower to emerge. I have since found out the plants are Oleander and they are now even more special to me.

We finally had some hot days last weekend. So we made the most of it and took Billy and Sam to our favourite local beach. We went out nice and early before it got too hot. They couldnt wait to splash into the sea to cool off.

We threw stones for them to chase and Sam had a swim. The cool water looked so inviting that I was tempted to go for a paddle myself. We had a relaxing walk on the grass back to the car, looking at the houses and dreaming of living in one.

Then home for the boys to dry off in the shade.

Let us hope that we get a few more days like this.