Oh Come, all ye Faithful.

Now where was I? Ah yes, about to follow instructions from the lovely Donna on how to put a slide show on my Blog. Huh. That was nearly two weeks ago. I just turned on my computer, and it just turned itself off! So I have been absent again, and it took a while to get back on-line. My lovely Computer Man, Dan, came and shook his head, examined the patient, and took the bloody thing away. However, it wasn't terminal :-) (thankfully, because I haven't got everything backed up - of course); he managed to replace the power unit (?), and he also stopped the groaning it used to do whenever I turned my computer on! What a little genius he is. So here I am with a practically silent computer that is working again - and I now have to get my head around doing those pictures again. That's next, after I have caught up a bit. And we have to back everything up now too. Dan and I have promised to do that sometime soon - let's hope my dear old computer doesn't decide to die on me between now and then.

Son has been both helpful and thoughtful. He thinks my old computer is a "piece of sh**e" but nevertheless he put a message out on Facebook, asking if anyone has a PC they don't want. He admitted it was "for me mam", and said he didn't want any Mac questions from his mates, because we have had that conversation already. All his friends (and probably most of mine too) have now got Macs rather than PCs, and I don't know why I'm still resisting it really. It's just that I'm used to my PC and not sure I want to learn a whole new set of computer "rules". Anyway, we'll see what turns up. I'm pretty sure I'll have to replace this one soon, whatever..

Grandson has been having a jolly time, and has been making us all laugh, as usual. His teacher told Daughter about his latest joke last week, at her Parents' Evening: apparently they were doing a little exercise in class about shortening names, and she asked the children if anyone could think of how their name might be shortened. Grandson's hand shot up, so she said "OK William (that's his name!) how do you think we could shorten your name?" His immediate response was "Mario" - which made her laugh so much she was practically crying. Of course, he loves Super Mario on his DS game, so that was probably where it came from. Priceless! So from now on, he'll probably be Mario for short! His lovely teacher is leaving the school at the end of this term to be a head teacher at another Primary School. She will be sorely missed, and she said that she will miss William because he makes her laugh every day! What a wonderful gift that is.

I have been up to London this week, to the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, which was great. I hadn't been for a couple of years, and I only did it this year because I wanted to go and see Son, and he couldn't make a space in his busy day until later in the afternoon. It was a blessing in disguise, because I had a lovely lunch in the Royal Academy restaurant, and then had a couple of hours walking round the Exhibition. I particularly love the smaller pictures - these are often quite inexpensive (though not as cheap as they used to be - I can remember when you could buy a small print for £10 or £20), and so feel very accessible. They are hung in the Large Weston Room and the Small Weston Room and are mostly small pictures and prints, some of them available in quite large print runs. Though the minimum price is now around £100. I guess that's still not bad for a piece of original art, and it is wonderful to see how many people of all ages, from students to grandparents, come to look at the pictures and sculptures on display. I particularly loved some large collages which were to my mind the most original works in the whole exhibition; there were four examples of these enormous postcard collages by an artist called David Mach R.A. At £25,000 each, they're also among the more expensive items on show. But they are truly wonderful - if you have a chance, do go and see them, and if you're too far away try looking on the Royal Academy website www.royalacademy.org.uk

That's about it for now - thanks to all you Bloggers who have remained faithful and kept on wondering where I was - lost in computer never-land, that's what. I'll be back tomorrow and have another go at those blooming photos - not that I want to tempt providence...