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.}

25 Years

Today in my parents' silver wedding anniversary. Twenty five years of marriage! Congratulations Mum and Dad!

{The card we will be giving them today.}

Birthday Weekend Photos

A little late but here they are...

{A walk in the woods.}
{The beautiful garden.}
{A barbeque.}


It was a perfect way to spend my birthday weekend.

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.}

Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my Dad's 50th birthday today, and although we're not with him, we'll be celebrating at the weekend. (Oh, and although he's 50 - he was still being mistaken for my "older brother" at our wedding a year and a half ago. Not bad, Dad!)

I just wanted to tell you how great he is. When I was five he read me The Hobbit as a bedtime story for months and months. And he did all the voices. My sense of humour comes straight from him. He makes fantastic cups of tea, and he has inspired me to invest time and energy in plants and gardening. He grew these:

Flowers from the garden.
Between them, he and Mum have given me a wonderful example of being best friends in a marriage. They taught me about God, and always made me feel good about my achievements. He taught me to ride a bike, to swim, and took me hiking (or riding his motorbike) up hills to watch the sunrise.

Up a hill, watching the sunrise.
Happy Birthday, Dad. You're awesome. Love you, see you soon.

Comings, Goings and Changes

New things are starting everywhere I look, friends are having babies, getting engaged and moving house. One (relatively new) friend left to go home to Italy today, which meant a joyously tearful and laughter filled goodbye lunch at work. Afterwards, as I walked up the hill to my other work, I started thinking about comings and goings and new beginnings (timely, as Easter is just around the corner).

Spring is well and truly arriving around here, and is sweeping winter into yesterday. We had days too warm and sunny to even carry a coat, which tricked me in to not taking a coat to work today - cue grey clouds and heavy downpour. The daffodils are blooming and the bulbs by our front door are growing fast.


This year feels like the beginning of so many things - we may buy our own home, I will be starting a new course, and my sister will be starting university. At the moment there is a lot of uncertainty, especially for her - not knowing where she will be spending the next few years. I remember that feeling. If you're anything like me (and she is), you like to think ahead, prepare yourself and plan - and right now, she's only able to do that in the broadest way. It's a time to both cling to what you have, savouring the moments, and also to take a deep breath to step out into the next stage. She'll do fine. It's in these times of unsteadiness, where everything in the world feels flimsy and out of reach, that we learn to depend on God the most.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens" Ecclesiastes 3 v.1

New Year Holiday Memories

It was so great to see my half of our family. We saw (almost) every aunt, uncle, grandparent and cousin I have which was quite an achievement and a testament to my Mum's fantastic organisational and hosting skills. We played games, talked and laughed and ate lots of cakes. On New Years Eve it was just the six of us, and in a break with family tradition (maybe to become a new tradition as it was so much fun) we stayed up, made colourful cocktails and gave it a bit of sparkle with some indoor fireworks. A perfect way to start 2010!

Holiday Memories

Christmas for us started with T's grandma's chocolate birthday cake...


Then snow fell...


So we made a snowman, threw snowballs, stamped out a heart, made a snow angel and played frisbee with the frozen water from the bird bath. We drank hot tea, snuggled by the log fire, decorated the tree, iced a cake, played games, did crosswords, ate plenty, gave presents and went to church.


It was a Christmas of firsts for me - first turkey, first time away from my family, first snowy Christmas, first martini, first flaming pudding with coins in. This new part of my family have different traditions, different routines, and it was fun finding out a little about how T's childhood Christmasses would have gone.

We also went for a walk and ended up at this beautiful frozen lake, it was magical...


New Year round up coming up soon...

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 Happy List

~ A weekend with my parents and sisters starting tonight. ~

~ Wearing boots and jeans. ~

~ Lunchtime walks and eating outside, even when it's cold. ~

~ Christmas shopping and planning. ~


~ Black and white. ~

Away in Conwy

{This weekend we're going to a wedding. But I've been totally slack this week and not shared my photos from last weekend of pretty Welsh countryside. So here you go...}

Last Friday T's mum picked us up at lunchtime and we began the journey up to Conwy in North Wales. We were celebrating his grandma's 80th birthday, and the whole family were gathering for the weekend. By the time we got there it was dark and raining.


We had a meal together, and then went to bed. In the morning we woke to beautiful views of the countryside - hills, sheep, valleys. Gorgeous.


Breakfast in the conservatory, and then we headed off to look round Conwy. We visited the castle...




The view from the castle walls over the bay was beautiful...


So we went down into the town for a closer look...




{Clockwise from top left - seagull, lights in the high street, a tiny geocache, a bizarre tree}

We don't really know what the tree was about - I'm guessing it had been a harvest celebration. It was decorated with fruit and pasta. It was very strange but I kind of liked its quirkyness. We split up for shopping and T and I walked back to the inn. It was only a few miles and the views were beautiful.



We spent the evening in dinner and merriment until too tired to continue the party.


And on Sunday we came home for an evening of snuggling up on the sofa.

Autumn Goals Update

1) Add all my favourite summer photos to the digital photo frame.

2) Take a photo every day of September and post it here. I'm not nearly disciplined enough to do Project365 but I might just manage a month.

3) Make something new in the bread maker machine.

4) Sew the pretty new buttons onto my winter coat.

5) Finish the wedding scrapbook. Start honeymoon ones or put the photos in an album at least. I have put the honeymoon photos in an album! And I've started putting our wedding cards into an album.


6) Send surprise post to three people. I did this! And it was so much fun. Here are three of my parcels ready to go. And I also sent some extras. It was lovely to surprise people.


7) An arty project.

8) A blog redesign.

Last night we went to a play called Origins and Lemons. It was a very lighthearted take on Genesis chapters 1-11. It was nice to do something different in the evening. And tonight we're off to London to go on the London Eye - something different again!

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.

Round Up, Roll On

Following on from my last couple of posts, this weekend was full of happiness. It was ram packed with friends, games, food and fun. We had some friends staying over, we caught up with others, we planned a holiday, we got excited about weddings. We talked craft, food, games and life. All good things.

On Sunday afternoon we went over to T's parents to put up, clean and dry out the tents they'd lent us for our camping trip. We stayed for games and dinner - delicious roast! On the way home, T pointed out that we hadn't eaten a meal alone all weekend. Dinner last night was special in its ordinariness - we snuggled up on the sofa with our bowls of chicken rice.

This week I am excited about:

New challenges

Seeing Mum and my sisters

Fun things in the mail

I have just started reading Beijing Coma by Ma Jian. I'm not very far into it but so far it's pretty good. I know almost nothing about modern chinese history so I think it will teach me a lot. Has anyone else read it?


On with the week!

My Evening

T and I spend most of our evenings together. It doesn't often happen that one of us goes out somewhere alone. Last night, he had one of the sporadically organised boys nights. I think they're supposed to be once a month, but seeing as it's boy organised, planned and run...it becomes a little less regular.

He left at about 7.30pm and once I'd cooked dinner I curled up on the sofa to watch the second part of the latest BBC adaptation of Emma. Ahh, a sofa, blankets and a period drama. What more could a girl want?

When that had finished I began making blueberry muffins from this recipe. I'd seen on sale blueberries in the supermarket earlier in the week, and was reminded of the delicious raspberry muffins we were served for breakfast on our anniversary weekend away.


I had to try. And this is how they came out...


I'd have liked if they'd risen a little more, but we tried them this morning and they were good. I'm definitely excited about the muffins-for-breakfast idea.

I also put our honeymoon photos in to an album last night - T went shopping and came back with these. I will put our wedding cards into the black one when I get some more time.


Finally I rounded off the night with a call to my sisters. I only got to talk to one of them in the end but it was so lovely to catch up with her.

Now I'm off to fly solo at Besom for the day. This weekend brings a camping trip with friends. Hopefully it won't rain all weekend and I'll have some photos to share next week. Have a lovely weekend!

Life in Colour

Besom has a day of prayer today. I spent extra time there on Friday afternoon setting up for it, and loved being creative with the different areas of the hut. I have to head over there in about half an hour. As it's a late start today I decided to use my extra time productively by doing some cleaning. I'm on a bit of a clearing, tidying, re-organising kick at the moment. I'm hoping to repaint some drawers this month, and I cleared some messy paper filing trays this weekend.

My lovely Besom boss also brought five of her ballgowns over for me to try on as I'd mentioned a fancy wedding we're going to in November. I had a lovely dressing up session in the evening.

We went to visit T's parents on Saturday and I swapped Human Traces for Beijing Coma by Ma Jian. (I liked hearing some of your reading thoughts last post. You're obviously better at seeing books through than I am!) We went for a lovely autumny walk in the woods and enjoyed the colours...

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.

Goodbye September

Wow. Tomorrow is October. September went by really quickly, I didn't really notice that happening. That means a month until we start doing Christmas hampers at Besom. A month until our next wedding season starts. Three months until next year. Let's not even think about that one.

So - one month into the Autumn challenge...here's a recap and an update:

1) Add all my favourite summer photos to the digital photo frame. This one is done, and I love seeing them interspersed with the wedding, graduation and birthdays of last year.

2) Take a photo every day of September and post it here. I'm not nearly disciplined enough to do Project365 but I might just manage a month. Well I missed some days (mainly due to unprecedented levels of illness) but September is almost over and I will post a photo collage on Friday. I'm quite pleased with some of the photos but it was harder than I thought it would be.

Day 29:


Day 30:


3) Make something new in the bread maker machine. Oops. I'm pretty sure I haven't done this.

4) Sew these pretty new buttons onto my winter coat.
I definitely haven't done this although I did get the coat dry cleaned in preparation.

5) Finish the wedding scrapbook. Start honeymoon ones or put the photos in an album at least. Again, not nearly done - I don't think I even got out the scrapbook this month. I got distracted with our anniversary weekend book.

6) Send surprise post to three people. Nope, this one is hidden away in my craft drawer.

7) An arty project that I have in my head. It may fall at the first post when I remember that I am not good at painting. We'll see. I got further than I thought I would with this. It's not quite finished but it has progressed.

I'm also adding another goal - number 8) A redesign of my little site. T started helping me the other night so hopefully this one shouldn't take too much longer.

We finished watching Season 4 of Lost this week and I am still loving that ending. Can't wait until the next season comes out - the first time I have ever pre-ordered anything on Amazon. Our home group has moved to Wednesday night as of this evening, and this weekend we have a visit to my parents and sisters planned. Good times.

Nostalgia and Something Pretty

I stumbled across The Jumblies by Edward Lear the other day. This poem reminds me of my mum - I remember her reciting bits of it, and reading it to me when I was younger.

I

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, 'You'll all be drowned!'
They called aloud, 'Our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig!
In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


II

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they sailed so fast,
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast;
And every one said, who saw them go,
'O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,
And happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a Sieve to sail so fast!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


III

The water it soon came in, it did,
The water it soon came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet
In a pinky paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a pin.
And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,
And each of them said, 'How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
While round in our Sieve we spin!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


IV

And all night long they sailed away;
And when the sun went down,
They whistled and warbled a moony song
To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,
In the shade of the mountains brown.
'O Timballo! How happy we are,
When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar,
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
In the shade of the mountains brown!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


V

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
To a land all covered with trees,
And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
And a hive of silvery Bees.
And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
And no end of Stilton Cheese.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


VI

And in twenty years they all came back,
In twenty years or more,
And every one said, 'How tall they've grown!
For they've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,
And the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
And they drank their health, and gave them a feast
Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;
And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

I also came across these beauties the other day. They're made by an artist called Anastassia Elias. They must take so much time and carefully cutting.

{Market}


{Grandmother}