Photo Scavenger Hunt - August

Good afternoon

Here we are again - another month has passed by very quickly. Quite an eventful too. Here are my efforts for this month in the order they were taken - as usual there's some artistic licence used for a few!!

Something Ancient - I don't you can get much older than Stonehenge - we stopped here on way down to Dorset.

Boat - on the beach at Sidmouth

Mountain - of washing from the holiday!

 Bread - homemade bread rolls

 Something Bizarre - a scooter riding OAP - dressed as a Nun complete with blacked up face - just part of the local carnival parade! The theme was Movies and this lady was Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act.

 Funfair - proper old fashioned fun, Gallopers.

 Market - the seafront carnival market at Aldeburgh Carnival - it gets bigger & bigger each year.

 Street food - no carnival would be complete without a cone of hot chips with plenty of vinegar.

 A Fountain - actually a fountain pen - a 21st birthday pressie from an old boss.

 Sport - big sons badminton raquet & case.

 Fabric - my scraps drawer - one day I want to use these to make a hexy quilt.

 Picnic - every meal at the moment is a sofa picnic!!

I've seen the list for September and look forward to seeing how I can improvise those from the comfort of my sofa!! 

Off to see how others have done this month.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Pretty in purple

Good Evening

Thanks for all the lovely comments including the cheeky ones on my last post :)

I promise never to can-can again. I will be honest there hadn't even been much booze involved and there won't be any for a long while now.

I was back at the hospital first thing for a checkup and plaster change. I managed to have the nurses laughing when I had to confess how I'd done this - apparently I shall now be top of their silly ways to injure yourself list!

Anyhow a nice new lighter cast has been fitted and it will be on until 24th October with a few modifications booked in too - roll on 2 weeks time when I get a thingy fitted so I can finally put my foot down and try to walk again. I opted for purple - it matches the shoe I'm wearing at the moment and the boot I'll wear if the weather goes colder.

Apart from that and a few visits that's all I've achieved today. MrVV & the boys are getting to grips with domestic stuff and are doing great jobs as nursemaids.

Tomorrow I hope to get some crochet done and I need to finish a birthday pressie for a S&B group friend.

Off to see what lovely things everyone has done this weekend.

BTW - Liz, I won't be at the Greenpeace Fair this weekend and Claire, I won't make Henham Steam Rally either - gutted on both accounts :(

xxx Vicki xxx

Whoops!

Evening

Well this certainly isn't what I planned (a) for the bank holiday weekend and (b) for my 300th post!

The school reunion last night was brilliant - 4 1/2 hours of great fun, chat and catching up. Then after one record and a dance - Bad Manners Can-Can, disaster! A ping in my left calf and searing pain. After a restless night and a chat with NHS Direct, a trip to A&E was made. One torn Achilles Tendon - one temporary cast - a pair of crutches and enforced sofa rest!

Back tomorrow for a proper coloured cast - apparently I have a huge choice of colours - boys are wondering if flowery is an option!!

Heyho - let this be a lesson - middle-aged women and the can-can don't mix!!

xxx Vicki xxx

Another crafty catch-up

Good evening

Blimey another weekend is almost upon us - not quite sure where this week has gone.

Apart from all the usual domestic stuff, I've had time to do quite a bit of crafting;

 One raggy for an order. She is heading off to the USA with some other dolls I made earlier in the year. A last minute extra when the recipients found out they were expecting another baby!

 Another raggy for a special friends 40th birthday - she was handed over at S&B last night and was an instant hit.

 The giant granny square blanket has grown - currently lap blanket sized - a few more rounds and it will be big enough to snuggle under during the cooler months whilst crafting/reading in the evenings.

 Another 10 squares have been added to my other blanket too - this one is slower as there are so many ends to sew in on each square.

Whilst cooking dinner the other night, I glanced out of the kitchen window and saw a strange sight on the summer house roof;

A flock/gaggle/gang of juvenile pheasants! Shame they later took off again - I had a plan that involved fattening them up for Christmas dinner!

Lastly for this evening - whilst ordering some things for little son from Amazon, I made the mistake of having a quick browse in the suggestions for me list - I'd seen this book on a few other blogs and was tempted as the price was just too cheap;

I'm a few chapters in and its definitely a keeper - I might share it with friends but its one that won't be passed on to the charity shops.

Have a good bank holiday weekend - am hoping the weather is kind - it would be lovely to go somewhere as a family - probably Southwold. I still have a few Scavenger Hunt pictures to find too.

xxx Vicki xxx

Roll out the barrels

Good evening

Did you have a good weekend?? It was a good one here - mostly sunny with only one downpour on Saturday evening. Saturday was spent mainly outside in the garden catching up on weeding and tidying. Though I did sneak off for a couple of hours in the morning to meet up with some school friends. We are having a 25 year reunion next weekend and this was a chance to catch up with a small group for a natter & coffee before hand. Lovely to see some friends I've not seen for over 20 years but thanks to the wonder of facebook we're all getting back into contact with each other again.

The big event is next weekend - a party for approx 100 of us - all except 2 will have turned 41 and if we last till after midnight then even those will reach that milestone.

I was woken on Sunday morning by sunbeams peaking around the curtains - rather than have a lie in, I got up - rather nice to have an hour to myself before all the menfolk woke up. A chance to have a cup of tea in the garden and listen to the world wake up.

Once all the family were awake and the essential jobs done, MrVV & I headed out for the afternoon. We headed a short way north to the village of Westleton - Barrel Fair time again - definately not something to be missed.

 Barrel waiting to be rolled up and down the green.

 The first race of the afternoon - a 'grudge' match between to the two village pubs.

 Of course it wouldn't be a village fete without Morris Dancers.

 Or their band of musicians.

We had a lovely afternoon - sitting in the sunshine, drinking cider (me), eating a tasty lunch (both of us), listening to music and of course watching the dancers.

I realised this morning that we've only 2 weeks of school holidays left - there's still a few things we need to buy - any tips on the slowing down of the rate of growth for teenage male feet would be greatly appreciated ;)

I've been busy crafting again over the past week or so - more crochet and some sewing but I've show you all of that next time - I've just remembered I need to call my Mum!!

xxx Vicki xxx

Free & Frugal

Good morning :)

Hope the sun is shining where you are - its a gorgeous day here. Just despatched the boys to a sisters for a day of light gardening :) Lovely and peaceful here now! Just the sound of MrVV tapping away on his keyboard and Ken Bruce chatting away in the background.

When we visited my Grandma earlier this week, we left with a huge pile of lovely free food - blackberries from her drive (collecting these each week towards jam making), plums from her orchard and eggs from a friend of hers;

I think next week when we go, the pears & apples should be ready for picking too - thinking crumbles and apple/blackberry jam time - hurrah :)

Within our (quite large) family, we've operated our own version of freecycle for years - if we've something we no longer need whether its furniture, clothes or toys - things are offered to other family members first. Some items are on their 3rd or 4th owners now - there's one bookcase that's appeared in so many houses over the years - it was 2nd hand when my parents bought it 35 years ago!  Well for months now we've needed a replacement wardrobe for little son - his was a cheapie we bought for big sons bedroom when he was a baby - its moved house twice and really had seen better days. The trouble with wanting a replacement was, we don't like having to go furniture shopping - most of our house is furnished with samples/seconds from MrVV's business but sadly he no longer sells wardrobes :(. Well good old MIL came to the rescue - she decided that she no longer needs a spare bedroom so a sturdy pine wardrobe was spare to a good home - ours! With the addition of a shelf upcycled from the old one - it now should last little son into adulthood :)

 

Heavily influenced by my Grandparents, I've always been one to be frugal - I don't like waste especially food. I think hearing all the stories of wartime rationing and how everything got used has stuck in my mind. So when there's only 2 of you for lunch and the fridge turns up 1/2 a head of broccoli, an onion and few potatoes then its time to make the first soup of the season and very scrummy it was too;

 

Right the washing machine has finished - time to hang things outside in the sunshine and then head off into town to do a post run.

Have a great weekend folks - hope you get some sunshine and you're able to get out and about.

See you next week

xxx Vicki xxx

Carnival Time

Good afternoon

Just a quickish post to let you know I've not vanished off the face of the earth! Instead I've been rather busy with family life and also crafting.  However yesterday afternoon was it was time to brave the crowds and head for the first time in a few years to the Carnival in Aldeburgh. Rumour is it that's it was going to be the last one and I decided that I really should go along and support this event. The fact the sun was shining also helped that decision. Just Little Son & I - Big Son was doing the car parking with his Explorer troop and MrVV was busy as ever in his office.

 Streets lined with bunting

 One of my nieces & her Grandparents as Alice in Wonderland and the White Rabbit (her Grandma was a Johnny Depp style Mad Hatter) - they did well and got 2nd prize in their class.

It wouldn't be Carnival without the Suffolk School of Samba.

Of course I took loads more photos but many of them might be appearing later in the month as part of the August Photo Scavenger Hunt ;) A lovely afternoon and it was fab to bump into friends and have a natter. There's another great local event this weekend - the Barrel Fair @ Westleton and I'm hoping that the weather is kind as MrVV & I are planning on spending the afternoon there.

Its been a while since I've taken part in any blog swaps (with the exception of the ongoing Birthday Swap - another parcel to post for this weekend ;) ). I spotted this one earlier and it seems simple enough - its over at Blueberry Heart - go have a look and see if its your sort of thing too;

Right off to have a good blog reading session, think about tonight's dinner and also attach some limbs to a Raggy that is supposed to be in her new home this weekend!!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Hooky goodness

Good evening

Finally today I've finished cleaning the camping gear and getting the boys to help put it away. We probably won't be needing our big tent again till next summer - there's a chance of an overnight camp with friends in a few weeks but that only requires the small tents. Despite the best attempts of the british summer I've got the holiday washing all done too. 

One of the best bits about camping is the time I have to do things I enjoy - last summer it was knitting and this year it was crochet. I managed to get loads more squares done for my blanket and once we were home I was able to add them to the ones already finished - 30 sewn together so far with another 10 hopefully by the end of this week;

Hopefully by the time its winter, all 100 squares will be done and I'll be snuggly and warm in the evenings :)

Whilst we were away I made a start on another blanket too - this time a giant granny square in cotton;

As you can see there's a long way to go on this one. Am stuck for a few days though as I've run out of the green and was gutted to find the shop in town no longer has it. Luckily I've found some online so hopefully I'll have a choice of projects again by the weekend!!

Just before we went away I treated myself to some colourful hooks - I'd seen these on another blog and though they'd be a nice treat for a new crocheter;

That's really all for today folks. Looking forward to the rest of the week - I've got sisters coming on several days for coffee & catch-ups and  a party at the weekend. The boys seem to be keeping themselves busy over the hols - disappearing out for hours on their bikes and also keeping our local cinema in business.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Crochet hooks via ebay from here;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150630834302&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT 

The Not So Wild West

Good morning :) from slightly soggy Suffolk.

Am up early as my 2 brass players have headed out for a long day at the races. They are playing for the Royal British Legion Race Day at Newmarket. It seems to involve an earlyish start and a car load of clothes, instruments and music.

Anyhow, you might have noticed I've been missing for a while - the reason. Summer holidays time - back to Devon & Dorset again.

We enjoyed our stay last year so much, we booked back into the same campsite so we could visit some places we liked lots again and also visit some places we'd not had time to see last year at all. Even this year with 7 days we didn't quite get to everywhere we wanted too so shall be looking for a campsite in East Dorset for next summer!! 

Right - photos - are you sitting comfortably?? then I'll begin;

 Our home for 7 days - 6 of which were lovely and sunny - the last night and the morning of packing up were not. It was very wet - no pics though of us packing up whilst wearing jimjams, crocs and raincoats!!

One of the main reasons for heading back to that area was the Folk West at Sidmouth - we visited several times - watching buskers, street magicians and lots & lots of Morris Dancers;

These pirate ones were my favourite - how they didn't get their swords tangled up I'll never know.

When it all got too much for some - we just headed to the park for a rest;

We spent Saturday in Bridport and West Bay.  We loved the market in Bridport - a proper one with a great mix of stalls. Lovely things were bought for dinner and I had a good look round the vintage/2nd hand stalls too - find a lovely vintage style tin. West Bay is a lovely place - a great mix of traditional and modern;

 Seagulls which were more than happy to pose for pictures ;)

 I love the wavy edges of this cliff face.

Of course boys can only cope with folky stuff if other days out are more to their tastes. We headed to the Haynes Motor Museum where there were plenty of shiny red cars for them to look at. I found a comfy sofa and might have had 40 winks!! It didn't take them long to find some hi-tech amusement;

Twas rather worrying that our driver was so bad at these games! He spent most of the time crashing and bouncing off the barriers!!

A trip to the West Country wouldn't be complete without a cream tea - I prefer to put my cream on first but I know others think it should be jam first;

For the boys one of the best bits about the campsite was the swimming pool - they spent many hours in there messing about with new friends. For me the best bit was the free range chickens who acted as a mobile tidying unit - no crumb spent long on the ground. This year they seemed to bring their friend - mobile alarm clock with them - quite funny how he seemed to appear outside out tent at 9am each morning to make sure the boys were awake!!

A lovely week - apart from the packing up bit. The journey home was a long one due to the rain - in fact it was too much for some - they dozed off on a pile of pillows & towels;

I'll leave you now with one last picture - the perfect Devon sunset;

  

See you soon - I have some crochet blanket progress to show you.

xxx Vicki xxx