puddles right up to our muddles!

What a day this has been. The camera was in action, so the snaps will help to illustrate!

Soggy me in Donaghadee!

It's like being back in monsoon season - except this is Northern Ireland and it's supposed to be the height of the summer. 62mm of rain fell in twelve hours (about 2 1/2" for your non metric types). But did it put a dampner on the plans for today? Nope. Charlene's blog will fill you in on some bits and I'll fill you in on the others!

The churches in Donaghadee started their "festival of hope" today with a family fun day... uh... should that have been "family fairly flooded day"... but still fun-ish!

Mum, our long-time friend Maurice, Charlene, Philip and the girls!

Prettified princesses - though how could you improve on perfection!

Now the rain it just kept a coming... seeping everywhere... and as the afternoon wore on, there was rising damp from the ground up in both trouser legs, so there was nothing for it but home.... crafts and baking. Thank goodness Grace was having a sleepover!

Robo popped in, so Grace showed her how to make foil-foam stickers...

... with great results! Glad I brought the kit back from London.

But clearly it was all too much for Robo....you need to be young to have stamina!

...and Grace IS young, so it was baking next! Scones and pancakes...

Fantastic results from a pretty smart 7 year old!

So now everyone's in bed except me; the kitchen's tidied, the house is quiet, the rain is beating against the window and there's such a homely smell of just-baked bread. It's lovely having children about the place, even if they're only "on loan" - thanks Charlene and Philip. Though it takes the shine off it all a little bit to know that there are a lot of folk hovering near sandbags around the country, hoping their homes won't flood... or that the water damage won't look so bad in the light of day. Tonight, I'm grateful for so many things - including a dry home.