Todays Joys

Today has been a very good day. Started this morning with a nice lie-in, and a leisurely shower. Cup of tea, pair of biccies and scrambled eggs. Did a lot of cleaning and tidying (and enjoyed it- weird) wandered into town.. found a coat to LUST after.. didn't photograph it, but I will next time I get a chance. I may never own it though. £199. Ouch.

I made tiffin tonight, recipe courtesy of Attic24, which is setting in the fridge now.. ready to go to work with me tomorrow. I tried to make a Jumble Crumble - crumble made with whatever fruit is lying about. It tasted fabulous, but the fruit was much wetter than I realised, and the crumble topping sank under the juice. More of a slop than a crumble. :(

However, it contained plums of two colours, nectarine, greengages and damsons. Was delish.

Snowdrop Valley

This is another post from the past.. I'm bored, y'see. This is from Snowdrop Valley on Exmoor (Wheddon Cross, I think). It was back in early February. There were little bits of snow blowing round in the wind, so it really was cold.. hence the stylish hats. Couldn't find my glubs anywhere though. Had very cold hands that day. After our very nice walk (you can see Dad, and a little of me here) we went to the village hall where we had some very welcome hot vegetable soup, and I bought a jar of chutney (pear and walnut) from the WI there. The flowers were beautiful, and prolific. Am definitely going back this year.

Show & Tell!

Before I write my proper post.. have very important news.. JOULES AUTUMN/WINTER COLLECTION IS OUT!!! The excitement cannot be contained! I want so much of it, and I can't afford it. NOOO!! Have a look.. it's on my links list. Just don't buy what I want and make it sell out, or I may have to kill you.

Anyhow.. this is supposed to be the show and tell from the last few days, including St Ives. Sorry I havn't posted, have had a slightly hectic few days. Anyhoo.. These are (some of) my fabulous recent purchases. From St Ives, the spotty paper napkins, and spotty cake cases to match. I also bought a very nice navy blue skirt in Joules, which I can't show you, as I'm wearing it. It is very lovely indeed, it's quite full and spinning round while wearing it provides endless entertainment. I'm easy to please. :)

Next purchases were the cake cooling rack (havn't had one for over a year.. the old one got left in the garden and went very manky), and the pretty new red pie/cooking/serving dishes. These also match the new napkins, and the tablecloth I made a while back.. I'll show you that one another time. Finally, there's my new napkins.. proper fabric ones. They are gorgeous. Would you like to see the print?

Gorgeous, no? I love the bee's. These came from the National Trust shop at Montacute House in Somerset, which is where we spent part of today. We went to Tintinhull garden first, which was pretty, but small. They had some lovely lemon drizzle cake there. Then we travelled 5 minutes along the road to Montacute. We didn't spend any time in the house there, but had a lovely wander around the garden, and a drink in the tea-room there as well. Was very pleasant indeed. No cake though. One was enough.

On the way out through the gift shop I was accosted by the napkins. A tube of Cath Kidston rose-scented hand cream very nearly came home with me, but assurances of a future purchase meant I was able to leave without. I also Officially Began My Christmas Shopping today. I would say what I bought, but if the intended recipient (Mum) reads this, it will spoil the surprise. It's only a little stocking filler, but that's not the point.

Other news from the last few days.. did I mention I'm trying to learn to crochet? Trying is definitely the operative word.. I'm not doing overly well. I think I have chain stitch and DC under the belt OK, but I'm trying to move ahead too quickly. I really want to succeed at a Granny Square, but am failing muchly. As soon as I succeed, posting will occur.

Today we went to.. St Ives!

It started (far t'wirly) at 7am, when the alarm went off. Skies were grey, and miserable.. not holding much hope for weather. By the time we got on the coach at 8.20am it was much brighter and looking hopeful for good weather. We were off! Driving southwards on the M5, then the A30, until we got to Jamaica Inn. Here, we stopped for tea; a Cornish cream tea, actually. When in Rome..

The building of the Jamaica Inn is beautiful. Some lovely stained glass, and lots of beams with pretty china. The service was (in my opinion) less impressive. A tad cafeteria-esque with a long bank of pre-cooked food. The fried eggs looked vile. Our cream tea however was quite impressive.. Homebaked scones, Roddas clotted cream and a decent strawberry jam. Mmmm.. We were there for about an hour, then back on the road to St Ives.. it was possibly the longest, most tortuous route to St Ives known to man. We passed the turning, went down into Penzance, along to St Just, and then back into St Ives via the coast road. I can understand why.. that stretch of coast road is GORGEOUS.. recommend it to anyone in that part of the world. However, it's not a wide road, and going down there in a 49 seater coach, meeting tractors and double decker buses coming the other way was.. interesting. But amusing at times. Anyhow.. into St Ives.. yay! Off coach (be back at 4.45) s-t-r-e-t-c-h legs, and de-numb the bum. Bums get very numb after four hours on a coach, let me tell you!

Into the town.. get dropped off by local bus service (is quite a walk from the coach park).. where on earth are we? Don't know St Ives well. I've only been there once before today, but I do remember.. yep, there's Subway where we had a mediocre coffee last year. Excellent, a navigation point! Find Joules - first priority - nearly walked past it. Thanks go to Mum for pointing it out.. it's strange, normally it has a magnetic attraction. Don't know how I missed it! I bought a nice something, but that can wait til 'Show & Tell' post in a little while.

From there, wander around aimlessly - which is the main point of the day - until we find Cath Kidston.. *drool*. I was so indecisive in there, I came out with nothing :( but I think I've found Mums birthday/christmas present. I'll show you the rest later. One thing - I've managed to obtain a negative strap mark. Most strap marks are a white bit in the red/brown. Mine is the other way around. I have a perfect red line where my bra strap was when I suncreamed my shoulders! Oopsie. We had a lovely paddle in the harbour, tooties looking all clean and pink, as you can see. I have many photos of our feets. I'll post again in a while with my 'Show & Tell'. Right now I've got fish & chips to eat in the back garden, and shooting stars to watch for.

Nope, this picture wasn't taken today. It's from Lulworth Cove, and was taken back in.. April I think? But I love the photo, and I don't have one from today so I'll share it with you now.

Today work has been rather busy. Everything is moving around, and I mean EVERYTHING. Looks rather fab where it's been done, but it's made for a rather hectic day. I'm currently drinking a cup of tea, and munching hobnobs. Then I'll go and change out of uniform and go to rehearsal. Oh, yeah, havn't mentioned that before have I? I'm currently rehearsing for a song & dance show called 'Mayors Musical Extravaganza' that the Mayor has asked us to do. Is going quite well.

Lastly, I'm very excited, coz tomorrow I'm going to St Ives for a day! Me and Mum are taking a coach trip down there.. and I'm going to Joules, and Cath Kidston, and it's going to be brilliant and WOO!! :D

Byesies.

Hi all,

Once again, I went out to pick the sweetpeas. And once again, I found wildlife. Today, it was a caterpillar. I think Norbert suits him, so Norbert he shall be.

Next item of note.. my fingers are green. They got a little dyed while cleaning the art easel at work. Some delightful child (or ten) had scribbled all over it in felt pen. Cleaning it was effective, but messy.

Finally, having been inspired by other peoples fabulous creations of fabulousness I am learning to crochet! It's not going overly well. I've more or less got the hang of chain stitch, but am struggling with double crochet. Any hints or tips would be greatfully appreciated!

Hello Chaps (and Chapesses). I do so like it when Monday's over. Although to be fair, it has been quite a nice Monday. I bought myself a nice magazine and a coffee and I sat in Sainsburys cafe for about and hour and a half. For those who don't know I can't drive, and I work about 9 miles away from home. Some days I don't start until 11.30, but my lift still drops me off at about 8.30, leaving me with quite a bit of time to kill. I spend a LOT of time in sainsburys cafe on these days. It was a good coffee today (large latte, as it happens) with shortbread biscuits. I think it's one of the first times I've bought Country Homes.. I buy Country Living every month, but it's not out until next week, and I needed something. This looked inspiring, as indeed it was. I particularly liked the feature on Cottage Style - very heavy on the roses. Once again, I need to aquire a house of my own. Don't think The Parents would approve if I filled the house with any more clutter than it already has!

After enjoying the coffee and biscuits, I took myself across to Homebase, specifically the Laura Ashley department. I was determined to treat myself on some small scale.. and I did. I bought a Box File to keep my CL magazines in. It's very pretty. I'll show you sometime, once I've had a chance to photograph it.. preferably once my bedroom is good and tidy as well. (That'll be the day!) I also aquired a catalogue, which is thoroughly drool worthy, and I've chosen my Christmas present. For anyone interested it's http://www.lauraashley.com/Casual-Dining/RED-CERAMIC-3-TIER-CAKESTAND/invt/3438564

Pretty Please??