"When (now) I'm Sixty Four"

Yesterday was my birthday, and what a glorious one it was too. I can remember Ringo singing "When I'm sixty Four" so clearly and thinking how ancient that was, so it's hard to quite believe I've arrived! 

In some ways I feel as if I've finally grown up but then again maybe not :-)

We had a lovely picnic in the beautiful Petworth Park and the sun was really kind to us.

I was showered with lots of very thoughtful presents and cards......

I seem to have a garden and doggy theme in the cards.....

This plaque was a totally unexpected gift from one of my grandsons, Alfie, who is 12 and made this at school. Isn't he gorgeous and as he's the summerhouse colours too so he will be living in the garden.

After overeating cake, scones and savoury goodies we went for a walk in the sun through the park.

It was a splendid day and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday, thanks to all my wonderful family. 

Swansea City:The Fall and Rise

I just wanted to share a proud moment with you.

Last night we watched a wonderful documentary on BBC Wales which is now showing here on iPlayer for the next five days, if you want to watch a truly inspirational program.

It tells the remarkable story of the journey of Swansea City football club from imminent closure to winning the League cup. It is a beautifully made documentary, and had me on the edge of my seat with  a lump in my throat (and I know nothing about football), but I found myself willing this courageous club on to win, despite all the setbacks.

Our son, Dan, edited the documentary and had previously filled us in with details of the way they worked the story telling. They paid so much attention to small details, which has paid off in full, it's an amazing achievement, very well done to all the team.

Too busy to retire

I've had a such a busy week I'm beginning to wonder how I had time to work, a familiar refrain I'm sure, but as you can imagine, with this slight upturn in the weather, there's been lots of activity on our allotment plots.

Not least the arrival of this beautiful bureau that my daughter Pru gave me as an early birthday present.

And look at these lovely compartments and a drawer.

Just perfect for that book I've always wanted to write.

So needless to say the race is on to wash the floor ( and get rid of all the remnants of chicken poo), can't have my beautiful bureau getting contaminated. Then there's the painting of the furniture.

Remember this, it was left by the previous tenant, now it's ready for new cushions.

And my daughter Nicola's old school desk on the left , and look what I found on the underneath. 

BTW the summerhouse hasn't got chickenpox, my DH said I had to paint each wood knot with a stain covering paint before I paint the walls. I thought it was one of those jokes when you send the apprentice to the shop to get a pound of rubber nails, apparently not....

And then there was another early birthday present from my DH, theses lovely plants and grit to make an alpine garden, another thing on my bucket list, it looks so beautiful.....

......sitting in front of our summerhouse in her new colours.

I had a lovely little visitor for a few hours on Thursday who kept me amused with lots of activity and cuddles, I can't wait for the next time I get to dog sit.

Weekend treat

I've just had a wonderful  weekend with my 3 daughters on a super girls get together, kindly hosted by Nicola.

As usual there was good food wine and conversation, and this is my foody contribution, made earlier with a special one for my DH, left home alone..... his is on the right by the way.

Quiche Lorraine

Rock buns, which when offered to my little grandson, he asked, do they have sand in them, well you would wouldn't you.

We had a great time attempting to crochet a small mouse with lessons from Hannah, and someone, you know who you are, said to the above little grandson that Nanny would have the mouse finished by morning.....

A somewhat ambitious task considering I don't crochet very well and by the time we'd demolished our lovely spread of goodies and wine I was certain the mouse would never be finished, and I would have failed him..... But Hannah and Pru battled on with the crochet and I finally sewed him together, voila! 

And someone was very pleased indeed.

And the mouse shared a hearty breakfast of a sandy rock bun.

After all that excitement we were up early and off to the car boot, where I got some amazing  bargains for our summerhouse.

Actually the slipper socks are for me..... I bought all these wonderful goodies for £3.0!

And these little treasures were ones I found in a charity shop a while back but never got round to post them.

Lastly I received a wonderful early birthday present from Pru which has now been installed in the summerhouse and I'll reveal all when I've got the photos, suffice to say I'm delighted. 

So thank you girls for such a lovely weekend and special thanks to Nicola for being the hostess with the mostest.

Home again with 'what ifs'

We  had a lovely last morning in Bury Port on BH Monday, it was a bright sunny day so we went for one last walk along the beach.

I got a few last shots of texture and pattern to see me through to the next trip.

I loved all the opposing patterns in this shot and as I didn't have time to sketch it in situ, it later became this, with an added shell doodle.

I tried to sketch it quickly as if I was there and capture the atmosphere of it.....

This burnt piece of driftwood had the most amazing patterns.

I don't know if I'm correct but there seems to be a lot of clinker type pieces on this side of the bay, maybe it's slag that's been used for sea defences, but whatever it is, it has these lovely colour variations in it.

And these lovely inspirational lines.

I've finally had time today to wash my shells and the piece of metal I collected.

I'm especially pleased with this and couldn't resist having a little play with the work I'm doing on Thread traveller 

All in all it was a lovely trip. 

Long walks and sea air

We've had a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend, good food, fresh air and sunshine, what more could you want.

We had a brilliant day with our friend Carrol in Bristol, a great lunch, bit of light shopping, much chat about gardens and families, all added up to a great day. We were so busy enjoying ourselves I forgot to take any pics, will do next time when you've revamped the garden, Carrol.

Then it was off to visit our son and family in Cardiff. Saturday's full English breakfast was followed up by a long walk to the other side of Cardiff to see their new house to be.

We passed through an enormous graveyard, with some lovely spring flowers.

And blossom, everything seems to be flowering at once.

And then it was off to the swings, for our grandson to have a lovely time.

Or not, don't think he's as impressed with the idea as Mum and Dad.

The walk was worth it as their new home looks fabulous, can't wait for them to move in.

Once again thanks to all of you for giving us such a lovley stay, more good food, wine and conversation.

We moved on today to Bury Port where we've had a beautiful sunny afernoon by the sea.

What a great place to chill out and have lunch and dinner with a view.

And of course I couldn't let the opportunity pass without taking some texture shots as well as collecting shells and ironwork (will reveal that when it's cleaned up).

Don't know where we'll be tomorrow, maybe back home or where the wind blows us........

On the road again

We're off to far flung places again, up to the wilds of Wales, but first a stop off at Portishead near Bristol to watch the sun go down.

And from this.....