WE WENT ON A LITTLE ADVENTURE!

The weather forecast was rain, rain all day!

But, could we disappoint two little girls and a baby in a pushchair and cancel our planned day out, to find the Gruffalo?

Oh no!

We packed the car with our waterproofs, picnic and children and defying all weather conditions we set off to Thorndon country park.

Fortunately the weather people got it wrong, it may have rained hard before we got there but the rain stayed away for the rest of the day.

There are lots of fallen trees to climb up and walk along!

Then after our picnic lunch we set off again in search of the Gruffalo!

Were we going in the right direction?

Oh yes, there he is!

We also found quite a lot of muddy puddles on our way!

It was a great fun day!

As you may know I do seem to be drawn to bright colours at the moment. However, oh my word, I think I'm pushing my own barriers with this choice of sock yarn.

As I'm knitting it up it just seems to be getting brighter and bolder. I do feel even the sun will have to wear it's "shades" when I venture out walking with these poking out of the top of my walking boots!

Hopefully they'll be finished in the week.

I'd like to thank everyone for your lovely comments for my mum and my last post, they're much appreciated.

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY MUM!

My mum was quite a fashion guru in her time!

(I just love that hat!)

She married dad!

And then I came along!

She wanted to celebrate her 90th birthday, quietly!

So we just bought her a couple of balloons!

And made her an album, filled it with lots of photos, new and old!

When she looked through it for the first time there were lots of oohs and aahs.

Some made her sad and lots made her laugh.

The photos on the front and back of the album were taken sometime in the 80's.

Would you believe my dad, even now, still has a full head of hair!

Yesterday, my family all came together to celebrate. We all sat out in the garden, (yes it was warm and dry here) enjoyed a bbq feast, followed by strawberries and cream and her great grandchildren helped her to blow out the candles on her 9 0 birthday cake.

Unfortunately we have no picture of the cake because whoever was holding the camera was on a wobble!

Tasted good though!

Today, we are having a quiet day ourselves.

I've crocheted my mandela wheel, which in the week will be posted to Lucy for Yarndale.

I have put the ties on this little bonnet which has been sitting on a chair waiting to be finished for about 2 weeks and looking at this photo i'm still not happy with the ties and they will be altered!

I've also finished this pair of socks which I shall be wearing with my walking boots on holiday in Austria.

(I wish I could find a better was of photographing socks, whatever I seem to do they always look quite strange!)

And what has my husband been doing while I've been busy?

Well, he is in the garage building this strong back which is part of the mold for making a stony lake canadian canoe.

See, I knew my garage would never have a car in it!

MOODY SKIES!

At 7am this morning there was a definite battle going on between the sun and the clouds.

As soon as the sun tried to push through the clouds, the clouds bunched up blocking its rays.

There was a stillness on the water and the air felt quite muggy.

The boats laid quietly on their shadows.

Whether a breeze picks up as the tide continues to make its way in remains to be seen.

It was certainly eerily calm this morning.

A knock at the door at the beginning of the week brought me a lovely and unexpected surprise.

A delivery of these beautiful flowers!

 Who sent them?

My grandchildren (and their grandad)!

For what reason?

For being their Granny!

Lovely!

WALKING IN THE SUNSHINE!

When I woke up this morning, the sun was bursting through the curtains. I ditched my idea of an early morning swim, dressed quickly and by 6.45am headed out of the front door, making a last minute decision to grab my sunglasses.

I definitely needed them but, even though the sun was so bright as I set off around the seawall my eyes were soon watering as the chilly breeze blew directly into my face.

Today I walked as far as these new beach huts.  They're not quite finished but I really love them. When Michael and I were 16 we used to come here with his family for a day out, they kept a boat here and Michael used to do a lot of water skiing. I remember that there used to be a couple of old victorian bathing huts on the beach, long gone now, but these new ones remind me of them.

I mentioned in my last post that I have been making a photo album for my mum's 90th birthday. Well,  I finished it yesterday, having gone through so many albums and boxes, from in the loft and out of the loft. Some I could remember and others that I had forgotten, it was a real roller coaster through her life.
I really enjoyed putting it all together but it did take such a long time and yesterday as I sat there previewing it with my morning coffee I was almost hesitant in pushing the send button just incase I'd made some silly error. In the end I'd previewed it so many times that once the decision had been made and I'd actually clicked to send it, a sigh of relief washed over me.
I think my mum will be really surprised and quite emotional when she sees it for the first time. I'll let you know!

The first pair of socks are knitting up lovely. The yarn is good to work with and the pattern that I'm using is the one which is printed on the yarn label. Hopefully I'll get this one finished tonight.

Enjoy the rest of the week, it could be sunny!

LOTS TO DO FOR THIS WEEKEND AND THE COMING WEEK

New yarn has been purchased for a couple of pairs of summery looking socks to wear with my walking shoes for my holiday. Why I bought it, I don't know, I've got sock yarn already in my stash but when I walked past the wool shop yesterday I spied these colourful yarns and couldn't resist.

The other week I purchased material to make this summer dress for both granddaughters. My friend Diane is showing me later this week how to put the zips in so this weekend I want to get them cut out and ready.

I've also purchased this material to make pyjama bottoms for my daughter. I shall be taking this along later in the week too!

In a couple of weeks time my mum celebrates her 90th birthday. My family said that it would be lovely to sort out some photos for an album for her. So I've been going through photos during the week and hopefully sometime over this weekend with Kate's help we will start to create the album.
It's amazing just how many photos we have stored in various folders and boxes and then after looking through all of those there's those stored on the computer to go through.

For some light relief from photo searching our grandchildren paid us a visit this afternoon and stayed for dinner. While I was cooking Charlotte printed off some masks she found on the computer, which once cut out and threaded with a little elastic kept two little girls happy. They were also very keen to take part in my photo shoot.

So now my family have been fed and have left to go home to bed, I'm now off to watch some tv (not eurovision!) and be creative with my new sock yarn. Hope you're enjoying your weekend?

WATCH OUT, BIRDS ABOUT!

I think quite a few of us recently have been commenting on spring. We've noticed how early some of the plants are showing and how vibrant some of the colours are.

 But are you like me?

Are you having problems with birds? 

Do you think they're in more of a frenzy than they normally are at this time of the year?

On Thursday my car had so much mess on it that it looked like it had chicken pox. I gave it a good wash and left it sparkling on the drive. On Friday morning I opened the front door, looked out and couldn't believe it, it was obvious the birds had taken part in a "poopathon" overnight because my car was completely covered in spots and splats, as was our kitchen window. I could tell Michael felt for me because he went out straightaway and cleaned it all off with the pressure washer, so that window and car were once again sparkling. I do wonder if silver is not a good colour for a car!

Then yesterday we were both in the garden when we looked up at one of the upstairs windows and couldn't believe it yet again. Rather than that saying about not being able to see the wood from the trees, well, we couldn't see the glass from the wotsits!

I have once had the misfortune of having a low flying seagull use my head as target practice, the memory of chipping it off my scull while washing my hair still remains with me. I'm therefore quite pleased that it's not been me that's been personally receiving their luck this week. 

On the knitting front, I've been trying to get on with a hat for baby Jack. It should have only taken a couple of evenings to make at the most but it's been ongoing for what seems like days. So hopefully next time I post I can show you the finished article. 

I have though managed to take a photo of the back of Charlotte's jacket to show you as promised. I do believe Drops have discontinued this muscat range but it was really nice yarn to work with and I really liked its range of colours.

I hope you're all enjoying this bank holiday weekend. Our guests have gone home and we're just having some quiet time here. Idyllic!