Snapshots of Ely

A few reasons Ely has made it onto my list of favourite places...

{The cathedral.}
{The cathedral.}
{Horses in the middle of the city.}
{Blue letterbox.}
{Peacocks Tearoom.}

Cornwall Round-Up

We're heading off on holiday again this weekend so I decided it was time to round-up the last one. We spent a beautiful week on the gorgeous south coast of England.

{Deer park and gardens.}
{An old church.}
{A walk in the countryside.}

Celebrations

We've been kept occupied the last week with celebrations. T's PhD graduation on Thursday, at which my bag made its debut. We went to a lovely restaurant afterwards and spent the afternoon feeling full, sleepy and happy at his parents' home.

{Marching trumpeters on loan from the Queen for the graduation ceremonies.}
One of the girls I used to live with stayed the weekend which was wonderful, and we spent Saturday at Lulu's wedding, celebrating as she and her lovely new husband got married. The sun shone. Everyone smiled. We played with balloons and caught up with old friends. It was a very happy day.

{Clockwise from top left: Wedding feet, tables, bridesmaid's bouquet, cup of tea, name cards, roses in the courtyard.}

Catching Up

The weekend by the sea was just wonderful. It wasn't even a whole weekend, we drove down to Eastbourne on Friday evening. The weather had been sizzling all day, and even the evening as we sat and drank wine, ate dinner and caught up on the last few months of life the heat was still hanging heavily in the air. We got to bed late, and slept til about nine in the morning.

We were visiting E and B. E didn't quite live with me at university but it was close. We always say that she was our almost housemate. She and B got married just before last Christmas. E took us out on the South Downs in the morning for a walk along the cliffs, and then we all met up for a lunch in a pub garden. Then we carried on for another walk along the seafront with ice creams. B had to go, so the three of us wandered along at a leisurely pace before heading back to the flat.

We had dinner and watched Hancock, which if you haven't seen it is really quite funny and a good film. It appeals to boys and girls, and in my book that's a winner. We went home late Saturday, sunburned, tired and happy. The icing on the day was that we drove off into the sunset which was gorgeous and not too blinding for driving. Just perfect.

You may have noticed the lack of photos. I charged the camera battery and then left it at home at the last minute. It's been a long time since I was in a new (oh so pretty place) without my camera. On the one hand it was lovely - I just enjoyed the weekend in the moment, spending time relaxing. On the other hand - I'm a little sad not to have photos of the weekend, and to have missed the chance to take them - no shells, no sand, no waves, no windswept hair, no happy faces. I'll just have to look back on those things in my memory. Until the next time we visit them of course.

This week is busy. After the relaxed weekend (we stayed home on Sunday and listened to the church service online - I have to admit that the sunburn was a little painful!) this week is just go go go. Busy days and evenings, until Friday when we are taking another trip to spend the long weekend with my family. Can't wait!

Squishy, Nemo and the Big Blue

I met up with some school friends this weekend in London which was great. I'm so terrible at keeping in touch with people so to actually see these girls was fantastic. Although there were a couple of "have we not seen each other since your wedding" moments, it was actually Christmas 2008 the last time I saw some of them. Which is still way too long ago. But anyway, we caught up and it was fun. Five years since our school days. We ate way too much chinese food, giggled our way round the London Aquarium (looking out for the pretty and the weird fish), and then ate five donuts and a huge bag of candyfloss between us while reminiscing about sports day ice creams, Paris and reunions.

The cameras were out in full force in the aquarium so here are some of my favourite fishies...


The jellyfish tanks were lit up with pretty colour changing lights which really made them look lovely. Their movement is so smooth and elegant, they're quite hypnotic to watch...


The sting rays were fun to watch, they would come right to the edges of the tanks so you could see their mouths right under their bodies. I have no idea why this frog was in a sea life centre but his colours and pattern were so bright I couldn't resist including him. Also, he was tiny, about the size of a 50p coin. Assorted other creatures...

{Sting ray, hammerhead shark, fish and light, starfish, spiky fish, seahorse, frog, tank, ray.}
My favourite of all were the two green sea turtles swooping around the main tank. At one point they touched noses as if kissing, and then swished off again to carry on swimming...


They were hard subjects to take photos of - let alone the fact that they're fast, darting here and there, and a lot of the pretty fish are quite small, the lighting was also dim, and the sides of the tanks were sometimes scratched. But it was fun, and I was pleased to get a few good shots - this kind of thing is where being able to take two hundred photos is fantastic. You end up with maybe twenty you love but it is worth it in the end.

Birthday Round Up

We're relaxing today after a great weekend of celebrations and fun. We started on Friday with dinner with T's parents. I had made birthday cake, and cooked duck legs for dinner which were lovely. It was a new recipe but it's one we're already looking forward to having again, and it has gone in my book.

{Dinner table, flowers, banner, balloons and cards, wine, present opening, champagne, candles, cake.}
We saw friends on Saturday and went out for dinner for a joint birthday celebration - a lovely meal at a chinese restaurant. Then cake and a walk home in the rain which was more fun than it sounds. Sunday meant church, lunch with just the two of us and then more games and fun with our friends (and some holiday planning thrown in for good measure).

Today we are enjoying our extra day of weekend. The sun is working hard to break through the clouds. Here goes May...

Sunshine Saturday

Waffles for breakfast. A long walk.

{Huge mossy tree stump.}
{Bluebells and tree stump.}
{Bluebell stem.}
{Padlock on gate post.}
{Cherry tree blossom.}
{Twisty branch silohetted against the sky.}
{Flowers by the river.}
Back home for phone calls to family. Snuggling on the sofa all evening.

Four Days

We had a lovely weekend with my parents and sisters. The two extra days made it feel like a proper holiday - golf, tea, chocolate, church, Doctor Who, chats in our pyjamas, murder mysteries, computer games - and these highlights...

We had fun at home:

{Croissants and pain au chocolat, board games, birthday cake and craft.}
We walked around the garden:

{Flowers.}
We went out for a birthday lunch:

{Cheesecake, duck salad, creme brulee, fish and chips, sea view, lamb shank.}
We visited a ruined castle:

{Castle fun.}

A Christmas Weekend

Good friends. Mulled wine and mince pies. Walks. A pine tree hung with lights and shimmering decorations. Sitting on the floor to play games. Laughter and catching up. This all added up to a lovely weekend for us.


Aren't these word decorations (made by our lovely hostess) beautiful?


Christmas is on it's way...and I'm loving every day of the build up.

A Lovely Weekend II

We spent last weekend with my parents and sisters. It was lovely, two (and a bit) days full of catching up and laughter.

We visited a garden near them where I was able to take a few photos of gorgeous autumn-ness...


Someone asked recently how I get my photos arranged like this. I use Picasa which is a basic photo editing programme made by Google. You can download it free here. When the photos are in the programme, you can select certain ones to make into collages.


It was a totally chilled out weekend, and so nice to just sit and talk for ages. This weekend will be a whirlwind of activity - a Saturday of stag/hen days, followed by a wedding on Sunday.

To all my lovely American readers (and anyone else celebrating), Happy Thanksgiving!

A Lovely Day III

So last post I mentioned that my mum and sisters were coming up to visit for the day. It was lovely. We started with tea and these bisuits...


I found the recipe on the Lakeland website. It's like shortbread, but flavoured with almond extract and topped with flaked almonds. You make the dough into balls and flatten them with a fork - giving Almond Fork Biscuits. They're good. I got fifteen out of this recipe and they're almost all gone. They're easy and yummy - try them!

Anyway, moving on from the biscuits... After a while T came home and had lunch with us, which was lovely, and then after he'd gone back to work we spent the afternoon crafting and chattering.


It was so lovely to be able to spend the day with them.

Autumn Camping

This weekend was our home group's camping trip. It felt longer than a weekend somehow, maybe because we crammed so many different things into the weekend. I was so happy that it didn't rain. It was cold though, very cold. It's all about layers. And eating plenty. We definitely ate plenty. The only slight downside was that it took about half an hour to heat the water for tea and hot chocolate. But apart from that - the food was good...



Despite the cold, autumn is a lovely time of year for camping. Crunchy leaves and cool air. We were surrounded by beautiful autumn colour. Birds flying south, a grasshopper visitor and a butterfly. Nature is truly lovely.


It was a lovely weekend.



That said, I enjoyed my warm soft bed last night. And my cup of tea.

A Card, Some Rain, A Book.

We spent two really lovely days with my parents and sisters this weekend. We ate, played games, snuggled on the sofa and watched films. I even made some cards with Mum - I was especially pleased to make the last wedding card for our trio of upcoming weddings. The bride and groom are stylish and creative people and I was lacking in inspiration until I saw some lovely papers in Mum's supply. Once I had all the elements it still took ages to figure out a layout, but we had fun doing it and here's a little look at it.


Today it has been dripping rainy wetness all day. I loved it. It makes sitting on the sofa now feel even more warm and snug. New stripy socks also made me happy today.


I am reading Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. So far I like it, although I have a strange feeling that I've started it once before and didn't get very far. Just a hint of deja vu - but clearly this time it's gripping me more. I'm intrigued by the secrets and hidden past that the narrator is hinting at.

An Adventure!

We had a lovely weekend away in Sussex, a very perfect anniversary celebration! We got down there late on Friday night, after some slightly terrifying driving down narrow country lanes. We got there in time for dinner, which was amazing! I had fishcake, lamb and pannacotta - and T had risotto, duck and crumble. We could barely move by the end of the meal, so it was lovely only having to go upstairs afterwards.


On Saturday we walked along the river into Arundel, which has the prettiest fairytale castle ever. You can see it for miles off.


When we got there, we looked around some art and craft exhibitions and then looked around the castle gardens. It was so pretty - so I'm going to let the pictures show you...





{This one is my Day 12 photo}



The garden had these strange flower sculptures in one area...



We wandered around Arundel, looking in some antiques shops before we got to our favourite place - Crown Chocolates and Fudge. This tiny shop sold us two of the most delicious ice creams ever (lemon for me, maple walnut for T) and a big bag of fudge which we munched on as we walked back along the river.

We played croquet and other games back at the hotel before going to the "honesty bar" in the drawing room for beer and pimms. Our three course dinner was every bit as delicious as the night before - the steak I had was even better than Friday's lamb. I would go back just for the food.

We checked out on Sunday morning and then went for another walk along the river, and saw lots of wildlife. {This is Day 13's photo.}


As we were driving home we noticed a banner advertising...


a life sized lego house!

I'm making a mini book of the trip at the moment and I'm determined to finish it.

As for the photos from days 14 and 15 - I failed. I didn't take any on either day. I just didn't get around to it, I have no excuse. But I did get to spend Monday catching up with a friend from uni which was fantastic, and I went to a GTP meeting yesterday which is real, proper progress on the career front. But I didn't take any pictures. I will try to get back doing it.