my pal Conor's Jacobite shield ... fab!

This is 10 year old Conor MacLeod's Jacobite shield ... all made by him with only a tiny bit of guidance from my dear husband ... isn't it great? Check out Conor's new blog on www.conormacleod-thereisonlyone.blogspot.com

about time too!

Having just written a very quick post for the 'vis de copil' (a child's dream) blog out of shame at having left it so long since updating, I then glanced at this one to see that it's been even longer since I updated it ... much longer! Shame on me and apologies to anyone daft enough to want to read my ramblings ... What can I say in my defense? Not a lot really, other that we really have been so busy that we are unaware of time passing. We were in the UK for a visit in late August/early September and then again in October to meet with our Scottish support group and trustees. I also was away for a conference sometime between then and Christmas and Kenneth was away doing eye testing in another city ... then Christmas was the usual blur of frantic activity with parties and shoebox gifts. I will make a New Year's resolution right now to update more regularly and to post more photos ... watch this space!

our 26th anniversary

Kenneth secretly planned a day off for us last Friday for our anniversary. We met in the morning and he gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers but when he shared his plan to go away for the day and told me that Amy was covering the day cente I said I already had a commitment. I had promised Irina that I would go to the handing over of the keys ceremony for the new social apartments. Kenneth came with us to that and then afterwards he had a phone call from the builder doing the work in the basement medical room - if we paid the money on Friday it would be cheaper as on Monday the "Value Added Tax" was going up from 19% to 25%! So that was the better part of the day gone, though we did manage to go for a coffee together and sit a while.

mummy, daddy and yasmina on the road

Recently we have been so tired that we have been struggling to keep going. Kenneth has been ill twice in the past year, last spring and early summer with vertigo (no don't laugh, it's very debilitating, nothing like the James Stewart film!) - he had slurred speech and couldn't walk properly. Then he was quite seriously ill again at Christmas and through January with flu, bronchitis and pneumonia ... so, finding ourselves with a week free of teams/visitors, we decided to take a wee break. We went to the travel agent and found a last minute holiday in Greece if we could drive ourselves there. So we did! We left the travel agent, went home, threw a few things together and set off.

After 24 hours of driving we arrived at the Atrium hotel in Greece and had a lovely few days of relaxation. Yasmina quickly made friends with everyone - they all thought she was adorable. All day long she played in the pool with her new German friend Ana-Lena and had a great time! She made frequent visits to the bar to ask for ice ... not juice, just ice! The barmaids, two from Romania and the other a local girl, all spoiled Yasmina!

We were very excited to be going to Greece and thought it would be wonderful to see some of the ancient ruins that we've always heard so much about. We made one trip to the early Christian church at Solonos (pictured), two trips to the nearest Lidl and a drive one evening to an old village, but sadly that was it. Too hot and too tired we spent the rest of the time swimming and lazing around (and playing darts!)

We met some lovely people from Germany, Russia, Poland, Australia, England and Romania, including a Romanian dentist who is working in the UK to pay for his new dental practice in Arad! His name is Teo and is very kindly offered his help in setting up out medical/dental room in the basement.

We drove home via Macedonia and Serbia, passing through some truly spectacular scenery and as we waited at the borders, we reminisced about the old days when Hungary and Romania were not in the EU and border crossings could take a long time! As you can see, Yamina was completely worn out from all the fwimmin in the fwimmin kool ...

a rare day out ... to Hunedoara castle

One lovely rainy day in April ... or was it May (the months just seem to run into each other and we feel as if it was only just Christmas!) we took an afternoon out as a family. At Philip's suggestion we went to Hunedoara castle, about three hours drive away. Vlad Tepes, the Romanian prince on whom the Dracula legend is based was once imprisoned in the castle! It poured with rain all the way there and our picnic lunch turned into a quick snack at the McDonalds in Deva (where Johanna bumped into one of her two best friends from university days!).

We arrived at the castle as it had just closed ... earlier than usual because it was a holy day! However, on plodding our way in convoy over the drawbridge, Yasmina and Rosie leading the way, the man on the gate took pity on us and let us in, and the rain finally stopped! It was breathtaking, as was this view from the castle!

The gift shop was amazing and not at all tacky ... filled with the most beautiful traditional crafts

and the courtyard of the castle would be hard to beat for it's aesthetic appearance!

Amy enjoyed posing in this lovely archway ... she'll kill me for including this photo, but serves her right, I say!

Johanna, Philip and Rafaela too ... sleeping soundly in the backpack (teach your daughter to appreciate history!)








Kenny and Yasmina ... huddled up against the cold!







Amy, Rosie and Yasmina and a fabulous stairway!

back at last!

Just quickly to say we're back! After much illness and computer and Internet problems, at last we're up and running again. I hope to update properly soon but in the meantime if you want to see photos of our new baby why not have a look at Johanna's blog ... www.morepjs.blogspot.com

Yasmina ... our little princess!

I was looking at photos of Yasmina and wondering at how much she has changed. Babies grow up so quickly! This photo is from a day out with Amy and her friends, isn't she gorgeous?

with Philip's dad

While looking through photos trying to decide what to put on the blog and came across a few taken in September last year while Philip's dad, Malcolm was staying with us for a few months. It's not great quality because I snapped it on my phone, but I like it. We took the circus arts team up to a mountain resort called Moneasa to perform for children with special needs at a camp there. I took Johanna, Philip and Malcolm with me so that Malcolm could have a day out and a change of scenery from the flat terrain of Arad. We went to the "Outlaws cabin" restaurant for some hot soup sitting next to the log fire ... lovely memories.

Rafaela's blessing

Last Sunday Johanna and Philip has Rafaela blessed in church. As usual with the crazy Clokes there was a wee mix up - the pastor had apparently mixed up the dates and waited in vain for them last week. He said this week's service was too full and could they wait til next week ... but Johanna said "no, not really ... my godmother already made the cake!"

After the service we had a light lunch at a well known local venue ... yes, ok it was the day centre! Just family and the godparents and Shaneka, our Peace Corps Volunteer. Johanna asked her dad to take another photo of the four generations, my mother, me, Johanna and Rafaela - all first babies and all girls, that has to be quite unusual, no?

as usual, no time to write!

Our lives are always so busy. I always think it's going to get easier and we'll have more time ... but it's never happened so far. While we were in the UK Irina and Viorel's baby boy, Gabriel was born - they are coping reasonably well with having two children, especially as wee Daniela just started school which she is loving. Since our return from the UK three weeks ago we have had a performing arts team - they were great, I'll post photos as soon as I get chance. Then we had the birth of Johanna and Philip's baby, obviously a major event in all our lives.

Last week we finally employed a full time social worker, Dana whose post is funded for the first year by "Humanity at Heart" a small charity in the south of England. We also have Angelica working with us as a general worker in the day centre, her job is funded jointly by PCF Romania Projects in Wolverhampton, UK and our Scottish Support Group based in Falkirk, Scotland. Our new Peace Corps volunteer, Shaneka brings our basic "stable" team to five with Kenneth and myself (hence I use the word stable loosely!). We have Irina and Lidia as regular volunteers -Irina didn't want to continue working full time but would like at some point to be taken on again as part time. Finally, three of the young folk from the streets volunteer on a less regular basis, but we are keen to encourage them and develop this aspect of the work.

These long hoped for additions mean that (at least in theory) we should be able to be freed up a little to do some of the other things which we have long struggled to find time for - more time for writing newsletters and reports and of course more time for sadly neglected family and friends!

oh no ... more clokes!

On Monday evening at 2045 Central European Time (GMT +3) baby Rafaela Alisa More finally deigned to enter the world. More than two weeks late and after a long labour (poor Philip really suffered!) Johanna finally gave birth as she had wanted, naturally and completely drug free. The photo above is literally just after birth once she'd been checked out by the paediatrician and the photo below was taken the next day when my mum came. My mum, myself, Johanna and now Rafaela are all firstborns and all girls, so it was quite a rare and special photo!

to the Uk and back & a nice photo of Scotland

We are just back from a trip to the UK. We drove overland as usual (me, Kenneth, Amy and Yasmina), but this time with our friends Lesley and Innes and their two children Conor and Rachael. The journey was good, the kids behaved really well and Conor and Rachael coped much better than their mum thought they would ... shame on you Lesley!

Our visit was quite a mixture of good and bad times. It was lovely to see friends and family (not that we saw much of family sadly ... need to do a separate trip I think) but we had a few problems to deal with which took a lot of our time. We were also not very well and on top of everything we received some very sad news, the 24 year old son of some very dear friends here in Arad died of cancer and an old friend was found in the river Clyde. We were deeply affected by both deaths and can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for the parents in both cases. Then as we travelled across Europe we heard of a colleagues death.

Coming back saw us, as usual plunged right into the thick of things ... our new Peace Corps volunteer arrived in our absence, a team of entertainers arrived the day after us and there was the usual catching up af all the things left undone in our absence. Then to top it all, more sad news - Philip's lovely dad Malcolm finally lost his years long batle with cancer - we'll miss him.

Amy stayed behind to help friends with their son after school, just until the end of the month. Kenny is hopping between Arad and Timisoara and doing the occasional gig DJ-ing. Johanna is now 9 months and 8 days pregnant ... watch this space!