Saturday 30 June 2012

Photo 30: a friend


My little pooch Alfie is a little cutie but I do wish that he didn't bark!

Friday 29 June 2012

Photo 29: soft


I know you can't tell what it is from the photo - I was trying to capture the softness of my new dressing gown.  A wonderfully velvety, polka-dot one from M&S.  I love that time of night when I put it on and get comfy and cosy in front of the TV! 

Thursday 28 June 2012

Photo 28: on the shelf


My kitchen shelf - where I make my morning cuppa 
and check the calendar for the day/week ahead.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Photo 27: bathroom

 

If truth be told - I couldn't bring myself to take a photograph of my bathroom.  It's in desperate need of a make-over.  The paint has been purchased and a new bathroom cabinet is waiting in the garage for it's shabby chic treatment.  My bathroom is what they call a 'work in progress'.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Photo 26: where you shop

 
 
If truth be told - this is where I do a lot of my shopping!

Monday 25 June 2012

Photo 25: something cute


A cute little Cath Kidston knitted teddy that I bought as a present but couldn't bring myself to give it away!

Sunday 24 June 2012

Photo 24: on your mind


What's on my mind at the moment?  Well, where do I start?  My mind is always buzzing with things.

It's my turn to host the next Book Club meeting and chose the next book.  I am constantly adding to my collection of books that I would like to read but the collection is growing faster than I can read so I always have a large stock pile!  

Saturday 23 June 2012

Photo 23: movement


Sonny and Alfie playing ball in the back garden.

Friday 22 June 2012

Photo 22: from a high angle


The amazingly huge carp in the pond at our local garden centre.

Thursday 21 June 2012

Photo 21: where I slept


This is where I slept after returning home from Manchester. 


MrG and I went to see his all time favourite band - Pearl Jam.


I have to agree that they were absolutely amazing and Eddie Vedder as gorgeous and talented as ever!

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Photo 20: favourite photo you've ever taken


This is my all time favourite photo I have ever taken.  I treasure it.  I always have it with me - I carry it in my handbag.  It makes me smile.  I remember just how I felt at the time - full of joy and happiness.  My beautiful little baby daughter.  I dreamt of having a daughter dressed in pure white broderie anglais and here she was!

This photo was taken in 1997 - my little MissG will be 15 in a few weeks time.  Oh how time flies!

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Photo 19: imperfect


Do you have a favourite mug?  Do you have one that is always your first choice to make a brew in?

Well this has been my favourite mug.  I love the shape and I love the polka dots.  Perfect.

Alas, my favourite mug is no more.  My favourite mug is now imperfect.  The handle has cracked and I no longer trust it to hold my cup of tea.

My favourite mug has now been demoted.  It now has a new role in life.  It now sits on my desk and is my favourite pen pot!


Monday 18 June 2012

Photo 18: something we don't know about you




A couple of years ago I started tracing my family tree and managed to trace parts of it back to the 1790's.  I found the census forms really interesting as they list everyone living in the house and what their occupation was at the time.  Sometimes ten or more people lived at the same address.

I mainly did my research online but also spent some time at the records office at Carlisle - the staff there were really helpful and gave advice on where to look and which leads to follow.

I managed to put my Mum and her sister in touch with a cousin they hadn't seen for over thirty years as Ancestry.co.uk show you links with other people that have the same branches to their tree.   

I wasn't keen on history at school but found this fascinating.  Obviously relating historical events to family members makes it more interesting. 

My Dad and Aunt were born in the 1930's and my Mum in the 1940's so they have been able to tell me about their childhood. My Dad was only 5 when he was sent away to live with his Grandparents in the Cumbrian countryside as it was thought too dangerous to live in the city during the war.

My Aunt was playing with friends in fields near their home when a plane swooped down really low and dropped a package.  My Aunt was frightened and thought it could be a bomb so stayed well clear but a couple of her friends were intrigued and on closer inspection saw that the package was moving - when they opened it up it was a puppy.  One of the girls took it home and her parents allowed her to keep it so the children played with it throughout their childhood - they named the puppy D-Day!

I wish I had started my search when my Grandparents were alive because I would have loved to ask them about their childhood.  My Grandparents were born between 1905 and 1910 so lived through many tough times.

I'd love to have the time to copy lots of family photos to put in with my records too.  I have been given some really old photographs like the one above.  The young girl on the left is my great Grandma - she was born in 1889!
 


Sunday 17 June 2012

Photo 17: in my bag



It's Fathers Day so MrG got to chose our activities for today.  We started the day with a breakfast of poached eggs and toast followed by present opening.

We then headed off to Preston to MrG's all time favourite shop.  I was really good and played the dutiful wife.  I walked around this shop for over half an hour and even took some photographs!




We finished the day of nicely with a treat in the garden centre cafe on the way home.




Saturday 16 June 2012

Photo 16: out and about




Surprise, surprise.  It's raining, it's pouring.  Again!

MissG and I donned out rain coats and headed out and about.

We went to Ulverston today.  The statue above is of Laurel and Hardy - Stan Laurel came from Ulverston, you know?   

Ulverston is only a half hour drive from our house but I have never been into the town before.  I'm sure it's a lovely little town on a nice day but today the rain was so heavy that we sat in the car for 10 minutes deliberating - should we brave the rain or not?

We did brave it and went to 'Crafts, Collectables and Cupcakes' in the town hall.  I bought a glass perfume bottle and two framed butterflies ( I plan to reframe them to go on my living room wall).

We then headed to Grange-over-Sands where we sat in a cosy cafe to warm us through - we had a really tasty lunch.

We walked though the park (in the rain)

There's a super little garden centre at Grange so I bought a couple of climbing hydrangea for my back garden.

Friday 15 June 2012

Photo 15: yellow



I have never noticed as many buttercups as we have this year.  Even with the lack of sun we have great swathes of them through the hedgerows, along grassy verges and fields full of them.  It's lovely to see the glow of sunny yellow.

Thursday 14 June 2012

Photo 14: time




Where does the time go?  When I'm at work I make plans (in my head) to do all sorts when I get home but then the evening flies by and I only get through a small fraction of them.  Sometimes I  think there's not enough hours in the day.

I have plans to decorate much of our house.  The kitchen, hall, staircase and bathroom are all in need of a freshen up.  The woodwork throughout the house could also do with a lick of paint.

At this time of the year the garden usually takes up a bit of time but the weather hasn't been great so I'm afraid it's a bit neglected.  I keep saying to myself that the next sunny day will be spent putting it in order.  I have planted some geraniums and sweetpeas but they won't flower until the sun shines!

Isn't it time for the sun to shine?  Please!

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Photo 13: art



My first attempt at making a picture using felt.

Monday 11 June 2012

Photo 11: door



The doors of my summerhouse.

How inviting it looks!

I strip all the soft furnishings out and store them in my loft over the winter so I love to get it all out and freshly laundered ready to enjoy our summer - if it ever comes. 

I love to go out and sit there, a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other.  Rest and relaxation - just what the doctor ordered!

Sunday 10 June 2012

Photo 10: best bit of my weekend



I know there were other highlights to my weekend but after all the palaver it was a relief to finally take delivery of my new table and chairs.  Delivered at 8.30 on Sunday morning - just as promised!

Was it worth all the palaver?

Oh yes.  Lovely solid 'shabby chic'-ed table and chairs.  The sanding, painting, rubbing down and waxing work already done by someone else - phew!

Saturday 9 June 2012

Photo 9: my view today


 

I didn't go out today so this is the view from my hall window! 

I patiently waited in for the delivery of my new kitchen table and chairs.

I patiently waited last Wednesday too!  I then got an email to say that the chap was 'stuck' in London - he had gone down to join in the Jubilee celebrations and he was unable to get out because the traffic was so heavy and there were so many road closures and diversions.

Today I got an email to say that he would be here at 1pm at the latest.  Then I got an email today to say that they were running 4 hours behind as the rain was so heavy they were having difficulty getting furniture into the van without getting it marked by the rain.  Then I got an email to say they would put it on the van when the weather brightened up and they would deliver first thing tomorrow!  8am on a Sunday morning - no lie in for me then!

I hope it's worth it.



Thursday 7 June 2012

Photo 7: drink



There is no drink finer than a cup of tea.  I don't think I could get through the day without a steady flow of tea.  

About five years ago I gave up drinking black coffee as part of a detox and I have never been able to drink it again.  Although I love the smell of coffee I don't like the taste.  I gave up chocolate, tomatoes and bread on the detox too but I'm afraid it didn't have the same effect and I still eat far too much chocolate!

Tea and chocolate - my daily necessities!

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Photo 6: hat



This photo doesn't do my hat justice (it's a lovely black wool beret) but check out my iPhone cover - I love it!


Tuesday 5 June 2012

Photo 5: sign



No lottery win for us this weekend so we'll have to put our plans for the detached house in the country, the luxury cruise and new cars on hold for a while longer!

It's the end of our extra long 'Jubilee' holiday weekend so it's back to work tomorrow.  We have had a lovely relaxing break and MrG actually took the whole weekend off so it made it extra special.


The weather wasn't great but we did manage to have a BBQ last night and it was warm enough for us to sit out on the patio to eat it - I didn't need a fleece blanket round my legs this time!

Only three more days until next weekend!

Monday 4 June 2012

Photo 4: close-up



Doesn't this fruit tart look absolutely scrummy?

Sunday 3 June 2012

Photo 3: on my plate



Today I made a batch of fairy cakes for the Jubilee celebrations. 

Today I also...

1.  Had a nice long lie in bed.  I didn't get up until I heard the dog bark to let me know it was time for him to go out for wee-wees!

2.  Had a bacon and mushroom sandwich in toasted bread and a mug of tea made for brunch by MrG.

3.  Had a trip to the local Antiques Centre with MrG to look for a chair for my Craft Room.  I didn't find a chair but I didn't come home empty handed.  We bought a dressing table mirror, an enamel tea-pot and four enamel mugs.

4.  Had a lovely text message from my friend Ginny while wandering around the Antique Centre.

5.  Had a trip to the local DIY store to buy bark and geraniums for our garden and paint for our kitchen.

6.  Had a quick wiz round the supermarket for some ingredients for the fairy cakes.

7.  Had a mishmash evening meal - lots of random food put together to make an odd but thoroughly tasty dinner.  Kind of like a hot buffet all on one plate - I should have taken a photo of that too!

8.  Had a lovely long chat to my sister - making plans to get together later in the week.

9.  Had a lovely long soak in the bath while reading a magazine.

10.  Had a poorly daughter - Miss G has a very sore throat and is feeling fed up as it's a school holiday this week and she should be having fun!

It's now close to midnight so I'm off to bed.  Night night x


Saturday 2 June 2012

Photo 2: empty



I have gone a bit crazy on ebay over the last couple of weeks (as mentioned in a previous post) and as a result my piggy bank is empty!

I bought a new (to me) filing cabinet for my Craft Room - I'm trying to get all my craft things organised now that I have my new Craft Room.  There are so many lovely stylish craft rooms on Google images and I'm sure it helps to be creative if you're in creative surroundings.  I have a new workbench, a new carpet and some funky coloured box files.  I'm slowly but surely getting sorted.

I bought a new (to me) 'shabby chic' dining table and chairs - I'm hoping to take delivery of it on Wednesday.

I bought a new arch for the garden - an extra wide one so that I can put my table and chairs under it in the corner of my garden.

I bought three tubes of red, white and blue sprinkles to decorate my iced buns for our Jubilee celebrations.

I bought a new book - our next Book Club read is Rough Music by Patrick Gale.  The next meeting is going to be at my house and I have to chose the next book.  Have you read anything that you can recommend?

Now that my piggy bank is empty I will try not to even 'look' on ebay for a while as I don't want to be tempted!  There's always something isn't there?

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend.

L x



Friday 1 June 2012

Photo 1: morning

I have decided to take on the June Photo Challenge to try to encourage me to take more photographs.  I often have things to write about but don't have accompanying photos to brighten up my posts.


It used to be that I didn't always have my camera with me so there was many a missed opportunity, but now that I have my super-duper iPhone I really have no excuse not to capture each and every special moment.

I am going to try my very bestest to complete this challenge.

Day 1.  Photo 1.


A photo of my 'Morning' cuppa.  First one of the day - at 7.15 this morning.  Mmm...lovely.