gryllosblog   Gryllo's (aka Ian Lewis') blog. All things to do with travel, wildlife especially birds, history, architecture and anything else that interests me.

June 2009 Lytchett Minster churchyard. L-R:  my niece Miriam, Amber and Kara (Margaret’s granddaughters) and my niece Jennifer.

We visited my brother Simon in Derby before going to the Birdfair last weekend. Miriam (L), now 18 ,has left school with three very good A levels and is taking a gap year to work with a Christian community in Watford before going to University next year to study theology.  Jennifer (R) has left school at 16 and will be attending Derby College to study child care and development.

Amber has left school at 17 and is now living with Anita and John in Essex. She has been working in a local boatyard and they fixed it for her to help crew a 90ft, three mast schooner that was sailing from Oban to Gloucester then on to Falmouth. Amber arranged the travel by public transport from Essex to Oban via London and Glasgow within a single day, all by herself. The yacht apparently will be used in a Disney  film and she is staying on to work as a film extra.  (photo  by Janis Dreosti)

Janis visited Amber on the yacht last weekend. She was so impressed with her daughter’s progress that she did a handstand on the deck.

Amber and Janis in Gloucester.

Kara, 15, does her GCSE exams next June. She continues her Taekwondo activities and has recently been selected to trial for the British Junior Squad. She is making lots of trips to Manchester for intensive training. If she is accepted she will represent the country in future contests and is dreaming of competing in the 2020 Olympics! (photo by Janis Dreosti)

Kara in training. Kara’s travel  is being sponsored by Wicked Coatings . See her blog http://karabts.wordpress.com/kara-jonsson-taekwondo/ (photo by Janis Dreosti)

I didn’t know joints could bend like that! (photo by Janis Dreosti)