28th April 2006. Went out for a walk along the Sixmilewater in Antrim. Never been here before. Lovely riverside walk. Went from there to Cranfield on Lough Neagh where there are the ruins of an old 12th century church beside the lough and a holy well, which is still visited apparently judging by the rags hanging on the bushes. (Apparently you dip a cloth in the water, rub the infected or injured area with the cloth and then hang the cloth on the trees. As the cloth decays, so the wound heals!) People emigrating to America in the last century used to swallow a stone from the well which was supposed to protect them from drowning. We found a geocache in the old grounds of the church.
Came home and Rick and Katie arrived for tea and we spent the evening together.

22nd April 2006.

Stayed overnight in Pearl & Archie's house in Newtownards. Friday was beautiful. Left about 6.30am and went for a walk in Killynether Woods. Glorious Spring day with a cloudless sky. Did a geocache before breakfast. Came back and had a cup of coffee and read a book in the garden before Lilian got up. Headed down to Rick & Katie's in Greyabey and went out geocaching with them for the day, ending up at Helen's Tower in Clandeboye. Had a picnic at the tower and then Rick and I played with the frisbee for a while. Ended up at the Clandeboye House Hotel for coffee. Came back and celebrated Archie's birthday with a super meal in Pearl's house. We bought him a pair of gaiters for walking in the hills. Got back home late. Really special day out!

EasterMonday we went to Ulster Folk musuem with Lilian's mum Winnie, and Rick & Katie. Lovely day and the place was absolutely bunged! We walked around a lot of the old cottages and buildings, rolled our Easter eggs and had a picnic and then went back to Greyabbey for a meal and to celebrate Lilian's birthday. Really super day out!

The Youth Fellowship went away for the Easter weekend. Saw them off on Friday night from the church and then went to the Good Friday service in Joymount Presbyterian.
The following morning Lilian and I went up to Ballyhome to see how they were getting on. We arrived at the same time as Pearl and Archie whom we had arranged to meet there. The YF were having a great time and May and Campbell were doing the catering. Stayed for about half an hour and had a cup of coffee with them but didn't want to mess their day up so we left with Pearl and Archie and went for a walk along Tor Head and the Grey Man's Pad. Introduced P & A to geocaching and Pearl found two of them. It was a nice dry day with great views of Scotland and Rathlin from along the cliff tops. Came back home with them down the coastal route and had forgotton just how scenic that road was. They stayed for for a meal with us in Carrickfergus and a night's craic.

Took off Good Friday and went up the Antrim Coast Road for a drive and a walk. Beautiful day. We placed a geocache outside Glenarm at the "Madman's Window" and had a picnic. Back in time for church, an excellent joint service in Joymount Presbyterian in Carrickfergus with about 600 people.

Celebrated Saint Pat's by avoiding the parades and heading for the hills!
Our son Rick and and his wife Katie went with us to the Mourne Mountains for the day.
We introduced them to the sport of geocaching and they found two caches.
Spring is late coming this year and there was snow in the hills and quite cold. However we had a great walk and a good day out.

Our New Year's Resolution was to try and take Friday as our day off and go out somewhere.

So come Friday we headed off

to Cairncastle and then up over Scawt Hill on a bright and clear but very windy day.

Interesting story regarding the little churchyard in Cairncastle. There is in the middle of the cemetry a Spanish Chestnute tree. The story goes that one of the sailors from the Spanish Armanda is buried here and he must have had some chestnusts from home in his pocket!

The following weekend Lilian and I went for a walk in the Mournes. Beautiful bright clear day and a glorious walk past Lough Shannagh and the "Stone Man". Found a geocache in the Deer's Meadow and Doan Mountain where we had our lunch.

The following Friday we went for a walk to Pierce's Castle, though it was cold and frosty. However things cleared up and we headed down to the Mass Rock at the Yellow River for and nice warm afternoon and evening. That's all for now.

Started off this year in Canada. One of our sons, David, lives in Medicine Hat, Alberta with his wife Stacey. They presented us with our first grandson, Caleb, on 11th January 2006 so we went over to see them. He's a great wee guy!

Had a great three of weeks in and around "The Hat".

Some of our friends out there, Troy and Pamela, loaned us their Jeep and we took off to the Rockies.

Dave & Stacey bought me ice skates for my birthday. So this old dog has started to learn new tricks!

A couple of years ago we had canoed on Lake Louise, now we skated on it!!

The First Blog of the Rest of your Life

Hi folks,
For some reason the Original Allen Family Blog appears to have been flushed down the cyberspace drain, and as having two "Original Allen Family Bloggs" defies the rules of logic, grammar and "blogspt.com" this is now "Lindsay & Lilian's Blog".

We'll try and keep this as up to date as we can allowing for the pressures of work. In the meantime I'll try and bring it up to date from the beginning of the year until now.

Thanks for dropping by.