And on to Taunton

After we left Cardiff we went straight to Taunton in Somerset for a camping/motorthome holiday with DD2 and 4 of her children.


Setting up DD2's enormous tent.


One hour later, all done and ready for the wine.

We had a brilliant holiday doing lots of things we’d wanted to do, but not really had the time, or the inclination, as you don’t when the children have grown up.

We went on a lovely Steam railway trip from Crowcombe Heathfield station, which was about a mile from our campsite to Minehead. It took about an hour and was a lovely nostalgic trip for me, as I used to go to school on steam train, and wave to the drivers as the train passed the end of my garden.


The walk to the station was OK but there were some very tired legs on the way back and not just mine.


Here comes the train at last.


All aboard!!!


Posing for the camera.

It was quite a cold day on the beach but the children had a great time even if Mum was feeling the cold a bit, after loosing all that weight.




But the children didn't notice.

I was also lucky enough to get to see Face to Face, an exhibition of textile pieces by Stitch Textile Artists a group that my tutor Sian Martin formed in 1999, which was being held in Taunton. The work was very inspiring and as a distance learning student it was lovely to meet my tutor in person and have a good chat.


Sian's piece, which I believe was inspired by the birth of her granddaughter.


Music Hall Veronica Broadley


I don't know the artist, but I was drawn to this piece as I had worked with a face recently on my course and this reminded and inspired me.



We only had one day where the weather was really overcast, and it would have to be the day we decided to visit Dunster castle, which sits on the top of a very high hill, and I think that day the wind was probably coming straight off the Arctic Tundra. Still, the children enjoyed doing the NT quiz and playing the historic games that were on show for the day.



On a couple of the really warm days we had lovely BBQ’s on the camp site and had toasted marshmallows and strawberries dipped in chocolate, something I could definitely get used to.

Another real treat was organised for us by our DD when she took out a 3 day membership for the site gym, which had a wonderful spa, sauna and steam room, very welcome at the end of a day’s busy sightseeing and walking.





We found a great local small seaside resort where there was a craft shop that was supplied by several local makers and had wonderful knitted goods and children’s dresses, so of course we had to have nice long visit there while Granddad looked after the children, as you can see above they had a great time.

We also had a wonderful lunch there too, all home cooked to order.



On our last day we went back to Minehead as our DD was determined to have proper fish and chips, as she hadn’t had any for over a year. We had a lovely day on the beach and all came back tired but happy.



And while we were there I made a few sketches for my coursework and you can see what they were for here if you're interested.





It was a great holiday and lovely to spend quality time with our DD and her children, thank you to all of you for making it such a special trip.

Family holidays

We've been so busy since my last post, I feel as if I've barely been home.
We left home the day after my last post on 9th April and have been holidaying with our children almost ever since.

We went to Cardiff to visit our son and his wife on the Saturday morning and had a lovely chilled out weekend. We went to a new gallery that we hadn't been to before and as you can see I started my chilling out straight away.



As we were leaving I noticed these amazing figures on the next door building which happened to be a Chinese Christian church.





After having a lovely lunch, followed up by some retail therapy, which is always enjoyable in Cardiff, we took a stroll back through the park where everyone was enjoying the Spring sunshine at last.



In the evening we all went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D, which was brilliant and of course I had to get the pic of us all wearing the Michael Caine glasses.



On Sunday morning it was time to pay our usual visit to Crafts in the Bay where I had to buy my copy of Embroidery and some hand dyed silks.





But not before a delicious coffee and cake of course.



So a belated thanks to our lovely hosts as usual and we're already looking forward to them coming to visit us in July.

After leaving Cardiff we went to Taunton to start a weeks camping/motorhoming with DD2 and her children, next post.

Proud Mum and Dad

The weekend before last our DD2 made us very proud when, following in her dad's footsteps, she ran her first 10k race in out local FC woodlands.
And this was her post on Facebook a few hours later
"Race results online! I came in at 53.02 - 27th out of 248 women who finished the 10K. Ecstatic with that for my first run :)))))"



We couldn't be more proud of her as this is the culmination of a long haul since January 2009 to loose weight and get herself fit. She has now lost over 7 stone and is achieving amazing results in her weight lifting routines, and general fitness regime.

What an achievement, well done Hannah.



Needless to say the waiting got a bit boring for the younger members of the family who came to give Mum some support.

Thought you might like to see how I spend my weekends, supporting my DH, well sometimes!



But it was worth it, he had 3 like this one.

".........because Nanny misses Bently"

Out of the mouths of babes......

My DD's and I had our belated coffee morning on Thursday and they gave me their lovely Mother's Day presents. I was extremely touched when my DD2 told me that when she went to buy my card her youngest DD, who's just turned 4 said she must buy me this lovely card, "because Nanny misses Bently", how's that for sensativity. And what a thoughtful present, just right for all the trips we can now make in our third age. I love those flamingos.

My DD1 bought me a beautiful early morning tea cup from the V&A designer collection, inspired by William Morris wallpaper, and of course my favourite chocs, all presented in this delightful bag.



And DD 3 bought me a lovely breakfast of Earl Grey tea and toasted tea cake and jam, what a lucky Mummy I am.

We do miss our lovely old dog it's true, and at the moment with our trips out we seem to see nothing but dog walkers, but I think in our hearts we both know that we have to give it time before we commit to another family member to care for, but it doesn't make the hole any smaller.

For now though I think I have plenty of things to keep me busy and our trips to the seaside have been wonderfully inspiring for my new course.

Here's a few more inspiration pics from our travels.



You can see where I took this here



And this is what they look like in closeup, definitely one for the texture file.

Mother's away

I wasn't home for Mother's Day this year, instead I was chilling out at , yes you've guessed, at the "Seaside". Well where better to do some creative research.
However, the bush telegraph must have done it's job and I received these gorgeous flowers and divine little chocs yesterday from my DS.





I shall be off for coffee my DD's on Thursday so I think I've got the best of all worlds.

We went to Littlehampton, which for those of you who don't know it, is on the South coast and is about an hour's drive from us.
My quest for beech inspiration proved fruitful , with these super beech huts all laid out in charming crescents.



And how about this for some mad beech sculpture, it's a cafe!!



I was trying to capture the rhythm of the waves going in and out, but this was the best I could do, still it's a nice pattern shot.



And here's a fish recipe for you, I thought this was pretty clever, there were at least 2 others with different recipes.



We were finally treated to this wonderful sunset before we went home.



And before that I had the chance for some sketching, so not a bad day, all in all.



For those of you who were kind enough to say you'd be interested in following my progress on the diploma, I've put up my first post here.

I'm gradually finding my old routines again and want to get back into regular contributions on the blog scene, so please be patient as I try to find moments in this new regime to surf around and comment on your blogs, in the meantime thanks to all those who've stayed with me and commented on my erratic posts, it's much appreciated.

News and catching up

Thank you to all who sent my OH birthday wishes, it was much appreciated.

We've been incredibly busy getting used to our new life in semiretirement, my OH only works one day a week now, so we've been enjoying the novelty of going out mid week as well as the w/e, so not much time for 'at home' creative stuff. Still I'm sure we'll calm down when we get used to it and the novelty's worn off.

We had a lovely w\e in Kent a couple of weeks ago and took one of our Grandsons along too, so here's a few pics of us enjoying retirement.


I just loved the colours of these beech huts, which have now become quite significant, as I'll explain later.


Our grandson fishing for clams, and nearly getting a soaking.


Us enjoying a quiet w/e at Bognor


And a bit of beech sculpture


The end of a very happy day

And now to a bit of creative stuff. It was DD1's birthday last month and she said she wanted something handmade, so after much thought I decided to make a jewellery roll for her w/e's away, thanks to Kathy's great instructions.





It was quite a hit, so I think there'll be a few more in the pipeline as well as one for me.

And finally to the Big News, I've signed up to do my C&G Diploma embroidery with Sian Martin at her online textile school, Distant Stitch. I've just received my first module where I've been asked to choose a theme for the duration of the course and have decided on 'the seaside'. I'm really excited to be working from my own inspirational source this time. I've set up a separate blog which I'll link to so you can follow my progress if you want to.
I can't wait to have something to blog about.