Festival Fun in the sun

Good afternoon

Oh what a day - I've spent it at the local hospital (26 miles away) in a department I'd never heard of and which took me ages to find this morning despite having a map! I've been injected with a bit of radioactive stuff and something else which the Doctor referred to as the drug of doom! Oh was he right - I got all the side effects and still feel like I've been on the cider!! Back tomorrow for more radioactive stuff and another scan - no drug of doom fortunately - I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemy! Luckily the effects are now wearing off and I don't think it will stop me from dancing tonight!! and yes it is at a pub!!

Anyhow, back to Sunday - a very warm and sometimes sunny day spent 20 minutes up the road at the now increasing popular Latitude Festival. I've been before - 5 years on the trot but missed last summer for a number of reasons. This year I went just for the day with my mate Dawn and it was utterly fab.

We had a lovely easy drive there - no big queues for the car parks and even the wristband exchange was speedy once it opened. Left home at 10am and by just before 11am we were sitting with coffee (her) and noodles (me) in the Comedy tent waiting for Marcus Briggstock and friends to put the world to rights.

We watched loads and wandered miles - the site was bone dry and very dusty - of if meant cider was needed - not to much but a pint at lunchtime was very welcome.

I didn't take too many pictures - I kept forgetting!! 

We did have a wander around the lake to see the sheep - something of a tradition for us;

 I love seeing these - especially in the weeks after the festival when they return to their normal grazing - must make people who don't know about the festival wonder why Suffolk sheep are orange, pink and green!!

When I've been to the festival with little son (he was just 8 on his first visit), he loved the children's area. Well this year it was even better - I bet some parents spent many hours in here - I was tempted to borrow a small child so I could join in too!

 Sandcastle sculptures

 Giant bees

Large colourful flowers - straight out of Tellytubby land!!

Oh I did wear my new dress but stupidly forgot to take a photo!

I am ever so hopeful that next year, Dawn & I might decide to go for the weekend together - if either of us win the lottery we would definitely go for the glamping option - we both rather fell in love with the Yurts and Bell Tents!! Failing that, I think I'd be happy in my little tent.

See you soon - I'm off on a giraffe hunt on Thursday with the boys and friends - must remember to not only take my camera but use it!!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Photo Scavenger Hunt - July

Good evening

Well here's something that never happened during my school days - I'm handing my homework in early! Due to impending hols, here's my efforts for this months scavenger hunt;

 Celebration - a pile of certificates and reports that the boys received at the end of term. Certificates celebrating achievements and reports that are both worth celebrating :)

Fields - normally holding sheep but for one month a year, this field is part of the Latitude Festival site - even on a very wet Saturday afternoon there are still plenty of hardy festival goers about waiting for the next act on stage.

 Flag - one of many around the main stage at the festival.

Flip flops - mine - abandoned in the garden on a sunny afternoon.

Something that makes me happy (not a person or animal) - these pebbles represent the seaside. I've lived near the coast since the age of 8 and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. I love the sea breezes we get when the weather is warm, walking along the beach on a blustery winters day and that special salty seaside smell.

Ice cream - a MrWhippy 99 - my favourite - eaten on the Prom at Southwold on a hot sunny day - bliss

A kite - not an easy one to capture on film. Taken at Aldeburgh on a less sunny day last weekend.

 Red, white & blue - one of my dresses (made by a friend). This was commented on when I posted about Latitude. Its not actually patchwork but fabric printed to look like it.  

 A seashell - Maggi Hamblings Scallop - on the beach between Aldeburgh & Thorpeness. It was a busy day and it took a while to get a shot without children in the way - can you see them hiding??

 A star - on my right wrist - a birthday pressie from my sisters a few years ago and No it didn't hurt.

 Strawberries - taken right at the beginning of the month at the PYO farm.

Stripes - MrVV's t-shirts hanging on the clothes horse awaiting ironing!!

Thank you Kathy for keeping my eyes open for another month. 

See you again later in the week.

xxx Vicki xxx

Fun in the mud!

Good evening :)

Well what a weekend - festival fun in the mud! 

This was the 5th time I've been to Latitude and the first time in really bad weather. However it was the first time I've been lucky enough to stay in a caravan too. So there was always somewhere warm and dry to sleep and a wonderful cooked breakfast (by my friend) each morning :)

We arrived mid morning on Friday and soon found a space to pitch up. Between the 4 of us, we soon had the caravan and awning sorted and the Pimms opened! After a quick lunch we headed off to the Arena - stopping at so many stalls/stands on the way. It seemed rude to say No to the nice man who was offering free shots of spirits at one of the bars!

We split into 2 groups - my friend & I headed over to a tiny stage to watch a set by Camille O'Sullivan - just 50 people and the most personal set I've ever watched. She was amazing :)

I've watched so many acts over the weekend - both stuff from my younger years - Adam Ant, OMD, Echo & the Bunnymen to more recent stuff - Bellowhead, Eels & Paloma Faith. I've surprised myself by actually enjoying a dance music act too - though the 2 pints of Pimms and smuggled into the Arena cider might have helped ;)

We walked miles - from our part of the campsite to the main stage was about 2 miles through thick mud - my legs today really ache but its been so worth it. I love the feeling you get when you see the Arena for the first time and of course the colourful sheep and flowery sign;

The Arena at night is stunning too - lots of coloured lights and just a fab atmosphere;

One downside - I now will never want to camp in a tent at a festival ever again - why would you after spending the weekend in a colourful, vintage caravan;

 Trust me - this way tidy! Amazing what you find when you tidy up - that's where the box of pizza went!!

I won't be late to bed tonight - once the boys are home I shall be snuggling up and catching up on my sleep. The day started rather early as we needed to be home so children could be taken to school. Up at 5am - off the site by 5.30 and home having breakfast by 7am!

See you soon

x x x Vicki x x x

A Happy Goodbye!

Evening from soggy Suffolk

I keep seeing pictures on other blogs of sunshine and blue skies - we've had none of that today. It was raining when I woke up and I think it finally stopped about 3.30pm.  Big son had sensibly arranged a lift to his placement today - apparently car pooling is an essential work skill ;)

I've been packing today - I'm off to the Latitude Festival tomorrow - if I was camping like normal I'd be in a panic about the rain and mud but fortunately I'm going with a friend in her caravan so we should have somewhere dry & warm to sleep at night. I've dusted down my wellies and they will probably spend most of this weekend on my feet.

 A first glimpse of the site for 2011 courtesy of the Latitude Festival website.

Tonight we've been to little son's school to their awards evening. It was lovely to see little son and so many of his friends get their awards and to hear what the teachers have to say about them. There were plenty of proud parents in the audience tonight. It was also the last time his school brass band will play together in its current format as the older boys are leaving to go to High School and  two of the teachers are moving schools as well. Quite sad really as they've really gelled as a group and are all great mates.

Little son was thrilled to get the Key Stage 3 award for Science and he's already planning which books to spend his prize voucher on. Here he is with his cup - needed to take a pic so one can be delivered to Great Grandma over the weekend - it can join the one she has from a few years ago of big son with a cup he won.

Right I'd best go and check my packing and perhaps spend time trying to find a weather forecast that isn't all doom and gloom for the weekend!

See you next week 

xxx Vicki xxx

Molliemakes winner and a tah-dah moment!

Good evening

I know you want to know who's name was first out of the hat for my spare copy of this lovely mag - but I'll make you read to the end of the post ;)

 

How was your weekend?? Ours was good. No brass engagements - just some exam practise for little son - he is almost there and the exam is 2 weeks away.  We managed lots of family time which was rather lovely. Yesterday the weather was pretty pants so no outside jobs could really be done. Big son asked MrVV nicely if we could head into Ipswich for a little while - he wanted to get a new game controller and also a pressie for a mates birthday later this week.  It would have been a shame to waste the opportunity for a little light shopping - little son needed a few bits (he is currently having a growth spurt) and I needed new pjs for a forthcoming camping trip.

This morning the sun was shining from about 4am and by 6am I was awake and ready to get up! It didn't help that the pollen count has been extremely high here this weekend and almost as soon as I awoke the sneezing started :( Least it gave me a couple of hours of peace before all the menfolk awoke.

I didn't waste the time I spent it finishing sewing up my crochet cushion and also taking some pics;

 The front - obviously

 Backed with this gorgeous vintage style fabric - I got this in a blog swap ages ago and wanted to save it for something special - just wish I could remember who sent it.

I've got 2 new projects on the go now - one I can't show you yet and one I can. The obvious thing for a new crocheter to make after a cushion is a blanket. After a rummage through my yarn stash I think I've settled on these colours. However one square isn't big enough - I think another 99 are needed - that should keep me busy over the summer.

Right the menfolk are settled in front of Messrs Clarkson, May & Hammond and I am happy with Glastonbury highlights online and a glass of red. Glastonbury is certainly putting me in the festival mood - in only 3 weeks time I get my annual festival fix at Latitude - can't wait.

I suppose I ought to put you all out of your misery. Sadly there can only be one winner - and that lucky lady is;

Fee - if you could let me have your address, I can get this posted out to you asap. Sorry to those who didn't win - but I can assure you its worth taking out a subscription to this mag if you can - its like lots of blogs but in paper form. I actually cancelled two long term mag subscriptions so I could have one for this.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

A new royal family.......

A wild nobility - we are the family

If you're a certain age you'll know those lyrics - otherwise you'll just think I've finally gone mad ;) My boys are the latter. The reason? Adam Ant has been announced as an act at this summers Latitude Festival - boy was I happy when I spotted that the other day!! The first record I ever bought was an Adam & the Ants single - think that was over 30 years ago!!

Well today was back to school for Little Son - not exactly happy about this when he left this morning but much happier when he came home a little while ago - thank goodness. Big son has enjoyed his final day of hols - looking after a cousin this morning and then an afternoon attached to his Wii - teenagers ;)

Back to my last post - I saw my sister yesterday - she loved her pressies - especially the ring :) As the weather stayed nice, we ended up over @ her partners house for a BBQ in the garden. He owns a very old mini-motorbike from his childhood - my little nephew loved this even though it wouldn't start;

Of course, he was thrilled that his oldest cousin (big son) was at the party and wouldn't leave him alone;

When I was in town this morning, I popped into the shop that stocks some of my makes - wanted to see if I'd sold much over the holiday period. Excellent news - I had and I left with a wad of cash and a request to get making. I'm struggling at the moment to find odd cups & saucers but one charity shop had a couple of small tea plates that will work fine with the car boot cups from the weekend;

I found another cottage tea plate too - not sure what I'm going to do with these - I suspect a new collection might be happening;

Lastly for today - I found a new swap involving one of my favourite subject matters - buttons - over here.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Knitting with (L)atitude

Afternoon from hot & muggy Suffolk.

Well what a weekend - so much to tell you that I could fill pages with lists of who we saw and of course lots of photos too. Those poor people who are my Facebook friends will have been able to see some pictures - however there are a few that were specially taken for my lovely blogging friends.

Little son & I had a great time - we've walked miles, seen so many acts and of course sampled all sorts of great festival food. We've also meet some lovely people both in the campsites & arenas and also bumped into friends that have moved away from the area too (that was quite a surprise!).

No visit to the festival would be complete without a walk around the lake to visit the rainbow coloured sheep;

Of course they are popular with everyone - including celebs dads and the Sheriff of Nottingham;

Now you can take a crafter anywhere and she'll find something to do. Imagine my delight when we found a Knitting/Crochet tent - the idea being you knitted/crocheted a square which will eventually be made into a blanket & used at another festival for people to sit on while they knit/crochet!!Of course I had to this;

The phrase if you can't beat them - join them sprung to mind when Little Son decided he'd have a go;

The first square was not bad and he was soon badgering me to let him use my needles & yarn to start another;

So another blanket has been started in the VV household or possibly a cushion cover - depends how long this new hobby lasts.

One of our favourite performers this weekend was Phil Jupitus and we knew he was staying on the site for most of the weekend and infact everyone seemed to have met him & had a photo taken. Well just as we'd given up hope and were heading back to the tent on Sunday night - we finally bumped into him. What a great man - genuine and friendly. So one happy small boy ends today's post;

Off to battle the laundry pile and make the most of the final days of peace before the holidays begin. I shall be blogging over the summer but probably more hit & miss than normal so don't worry if I seem to disappear - like Arnie - I will be back!!

PS - big son & MrVV had a very great lads weekend - a party, a huge cycle ride and plenty of meals out and fun - just a shame they forgot to take any photos!

xxx Vicki xxx

I'm going to London - to buy a Heat magazine.......

Actually I'm not but that 'ear-worm' has been in my head all week!!

I am actually off tomorrow with little son to the Latitude Festival just up the road from me in Henham :)

Packing has sort of started - heaps of stuff are on the floor of little sons room and lists have been written!!

This is my 4th year of going - for the past 2 years we've been accompanies by Country Girl & her daughter MissP - sadly this year due to other commitments they are not with us :(

Instead we've plans to meet up with other friends & family and to generally have a good time.

See you all next week

x x x Vicki x x x