Hip to be square

I am slowly plugging away at my granny squares for the Big 70s Blanket. It is half term and the kids have been exhausted, so I have been able to steal plenty of secret hooky moments.

I also have my finished Chevron Lace Cardi

to show you- when I can get a decent photo of it!

X

New toy

I have a new phone! I have very little idea what I am doing, so this is
a (very dull) trial run.

Sadly this is the most exciting thing to happen to me this week!...x

Beachiness and bad barbecues

Hello! It has been a busy busy week for us, and I have only just had time to sit down and write about last weekend.

We had some friends over with their scrummy baby and took a Sunday trip to the beach. Let's have a barbie, we said, the weather's been great, we said, let's eat up the last of the wagyu beef on the beach, we said.

Well, we had an hour on the beach. The four of us adults spent half that time wrestling with an oversize wind break, which we eventually realised we could not use because it would not stand up in the soft sand. The bears climbed the rocks, underneath the big sign saying 'DANGER, DO NOT CLIMB ROCKS'. The adults sat on the blankets and drank coffee. The kids dug sand near the blankets. The sand ended up in the coffee. The coffee crunched.

We stoically ordered W to light the barbie. A beach warden poked his head over the sea wall and said we could not have the barbie on the beach, we had to go up onto the grass above. Which proved useful because that way W (down to his last match) met the Polish man with the parafin who lit the barbie for us while nearly losing his eyebrows. (Don't try this at home folks!)

With both our husbands being important with a barbecue, My friend and I were left with:

4 children on foot
1 baby in a large buggy
4 blankets
2 bags of clothes
1 enormous bag of buckets and spades
1 bag of shoes
1 cool bag full of posh beef
2 picnic bags
1 VERY large hamper

-to carry back up to the picnic area. We managed it- needs must, and the weather had started to turn and we were hungry.

Sometime later W slapped several chunks of wagyu beef down infront of us. Mmmmm. Really good. The treatiest of beef. We savoured it. For about three minutes. Then it got Windy. The baby started crying. Custard cut himself with a butter knife. Miss T started a mantra of 'Me freeeeezing'. We wrapped her in a blanket. Then the plates blew away. Then W said: Ooh, if you look over there you can see the rain. It'll be here in about eight minutes.

It was there in seven.

W and our friends scooped up all five kids and ran for the cars. I played donkey and carried the luggage. I got wet.

Do you know, we had A Great Day! Loads of fun, truly unforgettable...for whatever reasons!

Hope you had a great weekend too, whatever you were doing...x

Recent yumminess

Hello folks!

I have just downloaded my camera and found a couple of pics of Dinners We've Had. Two stand out for me- one, a meal enjoyed with good friends, much wine, bad music and a 70s vibe. It finished with a slice of homemade black forest gateau. Thin swiss roll sponge, bitter chocolate mousse, sweet cream and a tin of cheap and cheerful cherry pie filling. So. Good:

The other was a meal W made for me one night after work. Tuna steak, courgettes, new potatoes and hot tomato salsa. It arrived accompanied by the words (Quite pointedly, I seem to remember): Look, I love you so much I actually found fish in the shape of a heart.

So there- I am loved...x

New old toys

Hello! Hope you have had a happy start to your week. I am back at work, so the fun stuff has stopped rather (though I did manage a blustery bike ride this morning, with Miss T sat behind me shouting 'Mam, Me co-o-o-o-ld! Mam!' repeatedly). Anyway, here is a post I wrote a week or so ago and then forgot about. A sweet memory from my childhood:

When I was really small I had this game...

I had forgotten all about it until today...

Toot found their old box of Flounders lying around and thought the wild bears would like it...

I don't know about them...

I LOVE it!

Have a great week...x

Lovely Lion

My smallest nephew has his first birthday this week so I made him this:

This is the Sleepy Lion by Irene Strange. It took me AGES to make because the mane was so fiddly. In the end I did a major nine hour stint, followed by three hours the next night and got it finished. I am REALLY pleased with the result- I just hope my scrumptious nephew likes him.

*****

Unrelated:

Today W, Miss T and I went on another bike ride- twenty miles! Along to the nature reserve, then back the other way, aaall the way to the other end of the seafront, stopping on the way for a ginger beer and a packet of peanuts at the pub. Hurrah!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend...x

In the saddle

Today W, Miss T and I had a Big Bike Ride. The big three were in school, the sun was shining, so we hopped on our bikes and headed down to the seafront for breakfast:

Oh yes!

This was my view:

We rode the entire length of the seafront (about five and a half miles) to get to here:

A lovely bit of beach that we don't normally visit as it's a bit of a pig in the car. I had forgotten how beautiful it is.

Miss T fell head first off the ramp and put her teeth through her lip- much blood and many tears ensued. But, my brave girl was calmed down with the promise of an ice cream.

The fence goes out for really long way into the estuary. I think it is the remains of the one they built in the war to stop the U-boats coming up the Thames.

I got some really daft tan lines on my feet, due to the overly technical strapwork on my sandals.

Altogether we cycled about twelve and a half miles today, and I am feeling pretty pleased with myself, because I did it with a small person on the back of my bike too. Though I did run out of steam half way up the hill to get back home. I got off and pushed for a (short) way. The shame!

We have been doing some Ooh-I-wish-I-lived-here local sightseeing too:

The house on the right here has an orangery. I want an orangery! No simple conservatory will do now- there needs to be an orangery in my future!

The world from a bike- wonderful. Such a great morning! x