A perfect Summer's Evening

I was so happy yesterday. Mainly because my washing that got drenched on Sunday finally dried after being rewashed.

Is anyone else's moods effected by clothes drying? Hehe!

Maybe I'm being a little dramatic. Maybe the reason I was in such a fantastic mood was that I broke up from work yesterday and have 11 days off!!!!!! Today I am staying in and making sure the bags are packed and the house is clean and tidy (I hate coming back to a messy house). And tomorrow we are off on our summer holidays. I simply cannot wait!

We are being slightly adventurous this time. 445 miles up to Aberdeenshire.

One stop off in Richmond, North Yorkshire to say hi to my Granny and benefit from some quality time and a good fry up before the bulk of the journey. Then we will be staying with Craig's uncle in Huntley, Aberdeenshire which is near the coast and the Cairngorms. I have never, ever been to Scotland and I am sooooo excited! Hopefully this is the type of views we will be enjoying!

I will be taking a good book, some wine and lots of wool and hopefully knitting another scarf and continuing with my sample square blanket.

After five nights with Mark we will then travel to the Fringe Comedy Festival in Edinburgh where we have eight tickets to see comedians and lots of lovely tables in restaurants booked.

..... just a taster of where we are eating ... I know you will love this!!!!


The Moster Mash Cafe where everything comes with mash. And not just any mash, mash flavoured with strange and exotic flavours! Oh boy, I can't wait! It looks so kitch!

We are also going to go the The Witchery which is in front of Edinburgh Castle. Its a really famous restaurant and is in a beautiful building...go see for yourself. I can't wait to show you pictures when I get back!

       
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So back to my perfect summers evening.

I got back from my last day at work and spent some time with the chickens and cleaned them out so they have a nice fresh coop while we are away.

I then cut back my wild geraniums which were starting to look worse for wear and did a spot of weeding. The chickens love sorting them out and getting some vitamins from the greenery. I love this way of recycling. It gives me such a great sense of the economical use of stuff.

As I came back down the garden I turned back and realised how pretty it all looked.

I then started walking back to the house and saw a hot air balloon in the sky. I thought about who was in the basket and what the occasion was. Maybe a proposal!

Once Craig was back from his business trip in London I greeted him with a scrummy tea of salad, rice and enchiladas (I like cooking my man a good tea before we go away so he remembers how good he gets it at home with me!). I then told him to get his trainers on because the evening was too nice to stay in .... even for the Olympics!

We went to Cannock Chase. Which to us, is the most beautiful place on the planet. I took him to our favourite spot. A place where not many people go to, but lots of deer live. It's our special place. Craig was going to propose to me here on Christmas Day, well, that was until we got swine flu. He still proposed any way which actually was the sweetest thing ever. We were at our worst and very ill. It gave a good laugh during the speeches at out wedding!

So I won't give you the usual running commentary but I will just let you sit back and enjoy "Kate and Craig's Favourite Walk".

From now until when I get back ...... goodbye xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S. This is the road I want to live on. Everybody needs an aim!

Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly

We have been blessed with the most fantastic warm weather today. We had planned to gloss the bedroom but it has been mega quick due to the warm weather making the paint dry fast. So I have had unexpected time to play!

Plenty of hooking time, lots of fresh smelling washing to hang out, and lavender to harvest.

We have five huge lavender bushes in the front and back garden and I certainly wasn't going to pass on lots of free lovely scented bag fillings! I have been busy chopping them back (just before they turn) and then collecting all the lovely ripe, scented heads.

Its been the most glorious job and now they are resting and drying in the conservatory. The house is filled with the most glorious relaxing scent.

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,

When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen.

Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?

'Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.

So what more of an appropriate day to share some reason's to be cheerful. (Do join in! and let me know!).

Here is reason no 30 - take a look here to see for yourself how lucky I was!

And I dread to say that a lot of this has been consumer this weekend! Ooops!

And this next reason refers to realising that we had over forty eggs in the cupboard and despite giving lots to our mums they just seem to breed when we are at work!

So off I popped along the street with little egg gifts for the neighbours. I thought I would be out for a few minutes, but I must have been out for two hours, and had numerous cups of teas, and toured lots of living rooms! It was a really nice way to spend the evening. Rather Good Life I would say!

It looks like it was appreciated because I then received this ... how touching! A hen pin cushion!

And this week, Thursday's knitting class couldn't have come sooner. I was beat by the end of the week, and that treat on a Thursday really gives me one little extra burst of energy on the Friday. They must put something in the biscuits!

Isn't it easy to be cheerful on such a beautiful day!

And now I refer to Sunday dinner at Craig's Mums house today. Amongst all the partying for Laurence's birthday, regular vino consumption, house work and painting it was a welcome offer! Roast Beef, Yorkshire Puddings and hmmmm .... no washing up.

So, there you go! ..... even Mrs TT mouse looks happy sitting on in her new home.

Also I watched the end 30k of the Tour de France. We done Bradley Wiggins! What a race!



Now make sure you have a chilled and lovely sunday evening. I will be sipping some pimms in the garden and then watching the Tim Burton Alice in Woderland while doing some hookin'. Bliss!

Kate xxx

Blissful Saturday

Its official. The sunshine is out in Staffordshire. Craig is playing cricket and I am left to play house!


I woke up and immediately finished of adding my blog blanket squares before sending it off the the next lucky recipient.

My friend Nicky at our knitting class did a lovely purple square which matched Mum's. As it was a blog blanket I wanted it to have snippets from things I have blogged about. So I used wool left over from my happy birthday bunting and did the centre of the square using Tunisian Crochet technique.

Just to digress slightly;

Last night was my brother in laws birthday. It was his extra special 21st and it was the official grand revealing of the birthday bunting. Everyone loved it. Tonight we are going to an Indian Restaurant with all the family to celebrate.

Laurence is the most extra special 21 year old. He has Down's Syndrome and is the most special man in the world. Happy Birthday Bruv! He got spoilt rotten with a holiday on a cruise, an ipod and a Wii (he is moving into independent living this year sometime so he got very spoilt!). He is crazy mad about snakes and me and Craig brought him a B movie about a Boa and a Cobra who fight lots ..... hmmmm, horrible. However I can honestly say it was his favourite present. When anyone asks him what he got. he says the DVD .... and a cat!!?? He he!

Back to the sqaures;

Here are the three squares together ... a little bit of a strange combination at the moment, but once everyone adds their own colours and ideas I think it will be the most splendid techni-coloured dream blanket!

The second thing I couldn't wait to do was get in the garden. The front bed was very over grown with remnants of wild geraniums, wiry poppy stems and straggly forget me knots. I had a real good cut back. Then got a bucket of chicken poop and mixed it all in to the soil (let me add at this point, this does not make an attractive plot, but after a few days the soil is rich beyond belief).

I then scattered some Aqualegia and Poppy seeds with a little wish of hope for next year and turned the soil again.

Then I started planting. I put in four geraniums, six fucia's and four unlabelled plants that were getting sold of at Wilkinson's. I paid a grand total of 30 pence for them all and am absolutely certain that a few of them will take .... with a lot of TLC of course.

I also planted some freesia shoots that have been promising to break out for a few weeks and I felt they were finally strong enough to make it on their own in the big bad world of a garden bed.

Its looking pretty weird at the moment, with lots of cut back shoots, chicken poop and half dead plants .... but give me three of four weeks .... I'll surprise you!

In the mean time, here is a shot of how the garden is looking at the moment. The is the view from the kitchen window .... excuse the mess!



I spotted beautiful fat bumble been visited honey suckle flower to honey suckle flower. It looked like it was having a great time!

I have also cheered the place up a bit with a lovely Campanula in a tea cup on the conservatory coffee table,

and a vase of purple and yellow goodness out of the garden. There seriously is anything more satisfying that having fresh cut flowers in your house .... never mind from your own garden! Ahhh bliss!

Now I am going to enjoy a late lunch of sausage and onion sarnies (must be the lack of BBQs this year that makes me crave a hot dog!) and am going to crack on with my special Olympic themed project .... more on this Friday for when the Olympics start! Can't wait!

Kate xx

I will leave you with a collage of garden photos from this morning.

Antique's Emporium

As I sit here writing this post I am sipping the most glorious glass of Sauvignon Blanc and eking out every last memory of the most perfect day.

It is very rare that both Craig and I have a Saturday completely free with each other. Craig plays for a cricket team and most summer Saturday's are spent hanging around with friends waiting for his return ... and hoping he has won! But this summer has been different. The rain has cause water logged pitches, slippy grass and miserable weekends which has all contributed to the cancellation of many of Craig's games.

At times this is annoying because I have already made plans but today I had no plans and we woke up with that precious and luxurious feeling of ... "what do you fancy doing today?".

Usually we are commited to decorating, but next weekend we have planned to gloss the bedroom, so today seemed like the perfect day to do a little bit of what we fancy. We decided to do the chores early (shop, clean and hair cut) and then head of for a day in Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

Leek is the most wonderful day due to it being a market and antique town. Every where you go is antique shops full of stunning furniture and beautiful old trinkets. You could spend thousands and thousands and still want more. But today I invented the most fabulous game .... look at everything, but spend only £5.


That's right, I only took £5 spending money. And it was so fun.


So, it was onto the first antique shop of the day. The outside of the little stall displayed an array of vintage sides. A little weakness of my husbands. Even he would admit it. Our kitchen is full of signs and post cards that he has collected ... I will show you sometime!

The Lime Cordial one happened to catch his eye. Even the screws holding it to the wall didn't deter him from asking the shop keeper if he could buy it. The answer was no though. Not For Sale :(

We then got in the car and went onto to destination two. On the way Craig pulled over the car so I could take a photograph of this roof and the sky. I love the symmetry of the chimneys .... I love it more that there is four chimneys on one side, and three on the other .... a misbehaving kind of symmetry!

At the traffic lights was a sign for the place we were heading.

The Antiques Centre.

A huge disused textiles factory which has been converted into an emporium selling everything old.

It is literally room upon room, corridor upon corridor and stair case upon stair case of different showrooms.

I took hundreds of photos of objects that caught my eye but I have narrowed it down to my favourites.

A huge (and I emphasise huge) chandelier.

A lovely collectors item .... the Snap Dragon Fairy (mum .... this made me think of you!)

Another couple of ornate and simply gorgeous plates that caught my eye ..... the duck egg blue and gold one was priced at £30 so wayyyy out of my £5 price range!

I just loved the way all the light shades were displayed. Swaying in the cool breeze created by the open window. Twinkling in the intermittent sun rays.

 
Hello Fur Coat .... where have you been all of my life .............

 And a few more items which caught my eye.

 

So there was the trip to the Antiques Centre, and I bet you are all wondering what I purchased with my fiver.

This beautiful little rose candle holder. Look how sweet it looks on my dressing table among my perfume bottles. I am in simple love with it.

The we visited the market. They have kept all the jubilee bunting up for the Olympics and it looks so wonderful.

Craig (who was kindly doing tea tonight) collected some fresh fruit and veg.

I then found a soap stall and revelled in smelling each and every soap. Craig then let me choose one so he could save it for my birthday. I went for the blue one. It smelt like the most beautiful sun tan lotion ..... not my usual choice but I think it reflects my longing for a seaside holiday!

Seems like we could all do with a little bit of the soap right now, huh?

On our way home we stopped off at an open garden. Or should I say my dream garden!

They even had chickens!!!!! Look how cute these little chicks are. Look at first one. It has an Afro!

And these are my favourite hens. I am hoping to hatch some during spring next year. All I have to do is smile sweetly at Craig and fingers crossed he will let me!

I don't know what it is about them. I think I just love their plump bodies and plumes of feathers. Possibly I love the lack of visable chicken leg?? Hmmm!


Now for an evening of cheese, crackers, wine, knitting and crocheting.

Relaxed. Warm. Loved. And. Content.

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