Hogan plus Vowles

Velia, and the children, Grace & Jack, arrived at Gatwick yesterday morning just before 7 am and today started their holiday in England. We decided to go to the Pink Pig Organic Farm to see the animals, have a ploughman's lunch, a tractor ride, and buy a range of good food to enjoy. The pictures tell the story!

1 hour 3 minutes 48 seconds to complete the MDS Nordion 10 kilometres in the Ottawa Race Weekend. Here she is after the run with family and friends looking great and so she should - it's a great result! We are all very proud of the effort.

She is no Dame Kelly Holmes OBE but Mrs. V.Williams [Velia] makes us just as proud. Her brothers may not say it but believe me they are really proud too. We all wish her every success on her run tomorrow. Lots of love too...........

This day, 20th May 2000, Velia and Al got married in Ottawa so today we celebrate that lovely event - we did enjoy it so much. We wondered how to mark that day and came up with the idea of blogging the recipe for the wedding cake - it was a success and it was quite a story - Tina made the cake in Shetland, and carried it on the plane to Ottawa via Schipol and Detroit! So what better way than to give the recipe to everyone who would want enjoy a really good cake and think of nice things like a lovely wedding, a happy couple, and people sharing the good things in life. So here it is..................... TINA'S 1973 CHRISTMAS CAKE 8 ozs, currants, 1 lb. sultanas, 8 ozs. chopped raisins, 6 ozs. cherries, 6 ozs. peel, 2 ozs. chopped almonds, rind of one lemon, 10 ozs. plain flour, 1 level teaspoon baking powder,1 level teaspoon mixed spice,1 level teaspoon cinnamon,1 level teaspoon ground nutmeg,pinch of salt, 10 ozs. butter, 5 eggs, 10 ozs. brown sugar, 3 level desert spoons treacle, 2

Happy Birthday Velia, we love you very much and wish you lots of happiness throughout the coming year. I wondered what picture to put in this blog and hit upon this one with your Mum, Nan and Pomp having a picnic. It shows the family who have loved you dearly and celebrated your birthday when you were a little girl. I'm there too taking the photograph of course! Now you have Al, Grace, and Jack to love you and celebrate with you. I guess being loved is being happy. So Happy Birthday!

Recently Velia & Al were downtown Ottawa, near the market, with Jack and Grace. There was a man with an absolutely gorgeous red motobike; it was a bike, we will assume, something like this Honda FireBlade. Jack was entranced as any little boy would be! The man noticed Jack's fixation and asked if he would like to sit astride the machine. Is the Pope Catholic? Jack was one happy boy. Somewhere in Ottawa is one really nice guy and Tina and I hope that he is blessed and that life smiles on him.

I hate and despise bullies. I know, and remember, what it is to be bullied. At one time in my life like all children I went through a puny stage in my growth plus I was different - I had real ginger hair, a different accent, and I called my father "Daddy" etc. Sometime between the age of 10 and 11 years of age [unbeknown to myself] I filled out and became quite big for my age. It would be about a year before this photo was taken with my brother, Keith. Well one early summer weekend Mum & Dad took us to Clevedon, in Somerset, in real sunny weather and I got sunburnt on my shoulders. On Monday, back at school, one of the bullies realised that I had very painful shoulders and took it upon himself to rub my shoulders and increase that hurt and distress. Big mistake! the worm turned! I pivoted around and threw the perfect right hook with my hip rotating and shoulder following. The punch caught the bully on the ear and propelled him so hard that he broke the school desk from t