Flying by Friday

A little excitement to end a dull week, this morning I was supposed to be potting on some plants as it was such a lovely sunny day I didn't want to be indoors. Hubby wanted to take advantage of the good weather and go flying, as he was short of a victim  passenger I did my once a year trip with him.  Now its not because I'm scared of flying or anything like that, it just isn't my thing and I would much rather just sit and watch and wait from the club house or just stay at home and get on with MY things!  but I like to give him my support and show I am enthusiastic for him.  He is a great pilot and wouldn't do anything to scare me but I think it best to leave the boys to their toys.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

This is the club Cessna Golf - Bravo-Sierra-Delta-Oscar.

Far too many knobs and dials for my liking, I just tuck my feet up and keep away from the steering thing lol

Concentration............

 This was just setting off from the airfield, you can see the river trent in the distance and the straight line of the motorway.  It was really murky up at 2000 feet so the visibility isn't as good as at ground level.

 A wind farm in the distance, these are popping up all over the countryside nowadays.

 We could have picked a better day for flying over the Humber Bridge, not a great photograph sorry.

 This ones a bit better, a sideways view.

 You can see the road leading up to the bridge and the toll booths across the road.

On our way back to the airfield, you can see all the fields full of bright yellow Rape, it looks like a very colourful patchwork quilt.  Ooops you can see the reflection in the window of the flight plan, clip board.

Whose flying now?

On the straight and level and just time for a photograph, not brilliant I know but its a bit restricting in the cockpit and my arms aren't really long enough to hold the camera properly but you get the idea!  The whole trip only took about 40 minutes which is quite long enough for me :-) All that's left to do now is tuck into a nice lunch in the cafe, we sat outside in the sunshine and had a gorgeous sandwich and shared a bowl of chips plus two cups of tea, an inexpensive treat to finish off our little adventure.  

Another exciting day tomorrow.... A family get together for a BBQ, more about that later.

Enjoy your weekend

Quiet Days

What do you do on a Bank Holiday weekend when the sun is beating down on you... rest.... no not here, we decided to make a start on the mamoth task of hedge cutting!! We did the bit behind the white bench and round the back of the shed and caravan on Sunday (sorry no pics) and this long side on Monday, by the time we had been to the tip we were absolutely knackered!

Hubby put a line down first then we use an old tarpaulin type sheet to collect the spoil, its so much easier than trying to pick it up off the grass.  We managed to fill one of those huge builders sand bags and 20 compost bags with clippings.  We were so tired when we finished, but I have to admit its looking better.

We were hoping to have had the bottom of the garden section done by now, but the weather has beaten us and today its rained most of the day and its so cold.  Ahh well there is always another day, the fairies aren't going to come and do it ... more's the pity

Yesterday I baked, after a request from son 1 to make Cherry Cake and daughter in law for a Date & Walnut.  I had the oven on for a Roast Chicken and some roasted veggies so they all went in together to maximise the cost of fuel.

The recipes are on the top page.

I also needed a mans card pretty quick yesterday so I used my Silhouette die cutting machine and made this quickie, as soon as the glue was dry it was parceled up and taken along with a nice bottle of wine.  I'm sure he was more interested in the wine than the card!

While the machine was plugged in I made this quickie one too, using a sentiments topper with a lace flower and paper rose bud, it went together in no time at all.  I think I will make a few more of these sorts of cards in different colours.

Today I have made a casserole for my Son and daughter in law and a white loaf, DIL has just had a little key hole op and was feeling a bit groggy so I thought this would help out, no cooking for them.  I was amazed she was allowed home after only a few hours, no hanging around to get better at our hospital!!  My grandaughter, nearly 10, had made a corned beef pie with some bought pastry  and some chocolate cookies for afters, mostly by herself, just a little supervision with the oven, she is a brilliant little cook and I'm so proud of her. And by the way she did all the washing up and cleaned the worktops when she had finished!

With nothing much on TV tonight it looks like a cuppa and my book, looks like hubby is dozing off already lol

Thank you for popping by

Hope tomorrow is more exciting :-)

Love

Concert, Green Lady & Spanish Sunshine

On Saturday evening we went to a lovely concert at the Ropery Hall in Barton on Humber, right at the side of the Humber Bridge, the artist's were the amazing Sam Carter supported by The Young Un's.  Sam Carter is a brilliant guitarist and an excellent song writer, he is one of the up and coming acts of the folk world and he is so young! It was the first time I had seen him perform live and it won't be the last.  The Young Un's are from the North East and sing mostly acapella, lots of sea shanties and chorus songs so you can join in and have a good old rousing sing song, their banter is also quite infectious and they have you laughing at the silliest of things.  A brilliant night all round.

I thought you might like this one, its called Dreams are made of Money the guy on fiddle is Sam Sweeney

Another picture of my Green Lady for Lynne at  Textile Treasury, who is going to use her for a Lino Print.  How fab is that!!

and lastly my Spanish Sunshine, she hangs in my conservatory bringing warmth and sunshine, I carried her all the way home from a holiday in Majorca many years ago, its amazing she survived

Hope you have all enjoyed your bank holiday weekend and have enjoyed the warm sunshine, I thinks thats all about to change this week and we are back to the weather we know so well.... wind and rain!!

Thank you for popping by

Love

Time to enjoy the garden

Firstly, a huge big Yorkshire Welcome to my new followers and visitors, thank you for popping by and reading my chunterings xx

We have just had 2 beautiful days here in Yorkshire and because my garden is quite sheltered its been hot.  I do enjoy working in the garden but I have to say I am a fair weather gardener so with the rubbish and wild weather we have had lately things were starting to get a bit out of hand.

 My lovely Green Lady, enjoying a moment in the dappled shade.

 This is nettle corner, try as I do I never get rid of the nettles from this patch, they just seem to want to take over, well... tough.. armed with two layers of gloves and a  fork, a couple of hours later they were gone!

Trouble now is there are quite a few bare patches, we haven't spent any money on the garden yet this year so I might buy a couple perennials.

 This bit of border needs weeding too, I started it but have yet to finish the last bit.

 The Dicentra, its so pretty and very delicate, I broke a piece off from the root while weeding so I have potted it up and hopefully it will grow.

The border round the bird bath is starting to fill up nicely, this had big shrubs in until 2 years ago and we decided to take it all out and fill it with perennials, the trouble with this is its empty during the winter months now the rabbits have eaten all the bulbs!

 The tomatoes are growing really well and have put a good spurt on with the warm weather, the runner and dwarf beans are popping up daily and this morning the cucumber seeds which I thought were dormant have popped up :-)

Grannies bonnets are always lovely in the garden.

As are the lupins... very cottage garden, even thought I live in a modern bungalow lol

And last of all the bird scarer.. oops... the hubby.. serenading himself... giving me a bit of peace.

I hope you have enjoyed your garden this weekend.

Thank you for popping by

Frugal Pastrami

Last week shopping included a pack of Pastrami from Aldi, we hadn't had any for ages and it was delicious.  So, whilst taking something back to Dunelm yesterday I called in at the big Iceland next door to see if they had anything for a quick sandwich, I found this in the cooked meats fridge, it looked nice so I bought it.

 You get 450grams for £1.75  it looks like the scraggy slices they can't put into the posher packets but absolutely perfect for sandwiches and at that price I wasn't disappointed, I have popped some into the freezer to go on a pizza for next week.

 It was really delicious and lovely and fresh, I will certainly buy it again and have no worries about recommending it to you all.

 We had some on homemade bread for lunch with a mug of hot Spicy tomato and butternut squash soup, just the thing for a wild wet and windy day like today.

Sainsburys 120gm = £3.29

Of course this one is delicious too and has lovely neat slices, but I know which one I like best :-)

 My menu plan for this week has been a bit mixed up, they are never set in stone but usually work out right in the end.  For some reason we didn't have the planned pizza on the right day and the Basics mozzarella (44p) needed to be used so on Tuesday night I made these pepperoni pizzas we had one for tea with salad and the other for lunch the next day.  You can't beat homemade pizza!!

Wednesday night we had the famous Bacon Chops with new potatoes and baked beans, a nice quick tea.

Last night it was Pasta Bolognaise from the batch I made at the beginning of the month, served with a sprinkle of Lidl Parmigiano and a crunchy salad.

Yesterday was shopping day and armed with a strict list and 30 minute trolley dash not stopping to browse! we came in at £29.17 in total.  We could do with some more eggs and potatoes but could possibly do without.

With 6 no spend days again this week and the frugal meals we have had its been another excellent week.  Pity I can't say the same about the appalling weather!!

Thank you for popping by

Karen xxx

Die Cutting Machines for Papercrafting

Frugal in Suffolk...  I found a few links for you to have a look at regarding die cutting machines :-)

Silhouette electronic die cutting machine.

Cricut (uses cartridges)

Cuttlebug  Hand Operated uses metal dies

Big Shot   Hand operated uses metal dies

Grand Calibur


There are also lots of tutorials and demo's on You tube for each of these machines.

At the moment I own and use on a regular basis a Silhouette  machine and a Cuttlebug.

Have a browse and see what you think.

Lazy Monday

This morning I got out of bed with full intentions of getting at least one outside job done.  After tea and toast the postman came, we have always said that Caravanning and National Trusting went together so when these arrived at the same time, the kettle just had to go on while we both had a read. Out came the calendar and diaries and we planned a couple of trips away.  We should have been away last week but it was sooo cold, brrrr ... we decided to stay at home, that's the beauty of being retired... no time restrictions :-)  Trouble is sometimes where jobs are concerned, there is always tomorrow!!

 With not much else happening and the freezing cold and damp weather I decided to get on with a few more makes for Willow's Craft n Baking stall in June.

 I had a box of Post it notes in the cupboard so I made a few Post it note holders  and decorated them up a bit, they will be popped into a cellophane bag and labelled.

 In the Cross stitch stash I had this piece of Binca, (6 count Aida), so I made these Needle Cases, they have felt insert, I will press them slightly and bag and label them. I remember making some just like these 50 years ago, gosh where did that time go?

 These little notebooks started life as bright yellow pads from Wilko, we spent a bit of time making a cutting file for the front of the pad, then I undid all of the coils, added the new front page and decorated them, the retractable pencils with a rubber end also came from Wilko. I will make some more of these but with boys in mind, these make great party bag gifts as all kids like a notepad and pen and it just so happens that the day after the Fayre the kids are going to Hathersage for a week with school... maybe I had better make plenty!

  I have been making some little stretchy bracelets but they're not finished yet.

We just need to decide the price and get them marked up.

Photo taken through the window, sorry for the poor quality.

These two little squirrels have been keeping us entertained with their chase me chase me playing, up and down the wall and running up and down the garden flipping over and trying to catch each others tails.... so funny :-)

Yesterday was spent in the company of our good friends of 40 years... yes unfortunately I am that old! They came over mid afternoon and we had tea and biscuits and lots of chatting until dinner was ready, then a nice bottle of wine and more chatting.  We eventually retired back to the conservatory until about 9pm, we had plenty of catching up to do as we hadn't seen each other for about 3 weeks!!  

The menu plan went by the wayside yesterday and I cooked Hot and Spicy Beef, new potatoes and steamed and roasted veggies and then Apple and Rhubarb crumble and Ice Cream for dessert with plenty left overs. As always on a Monday it was poppity ping Ding! lol 

The outside jobs can wait until tomorrow...... maybe

Take care

Be Prepared!

I saw this on Facebook and just had to share with you.

Bluebells, Plants, Pans and Craft

In and out those dusty damp Bluebells... they seem to be popping up around the garden and looking lovely.  I love to see the bluebells they are so pretty and delicate and the colour is gorgeous.

 I managed a couple of hours in the greenhouse this morning potting on stuff including these strawberry plants I'm rescuing from the veggie plot, the larger plants are a bit droopy tonight but I'm sure in a couple of days they will have perked up.

 These are some I did last week and they ar outside the greenhouse door, they look really healthy so hopefully we will get a few strawberrries later in the summer.

 The Tomato plants are coming on a treat and the chives also rescued from the garden have lots of flower buds on.  I have potted on some courgette plants and set runner and dwarf beans.

We had torrential rain with thunder earlier this afternoon, so that should help the garden along, everything is so dry at the moment.

 After lunch a trip to Dunelm was in order to buy a couple of new pans for the caravan, the ones I have been using are a bit tatty and battered, they have been in use for 20 years so I don't feel frivolous at buying new ones. At £7.99 & £4.99 not the best quality but adequate and non stick.

 Then a bit of crafting, I've been playing with some text files for my diecutter and thought these would go towards Willows stall stash, they hardly cost anything to make, just a few sheets of pearly card and a few gems, I might make a few boxes tomorrow.

Chicken Ding for dinner tonight and it was just as nice as last nights. We seem to be in the habit again of having a Sunday roast and then Monday Ding, it does make an easy day with no cooking.  I hope its fine in the morning as there is a bit of washing to do and the Tuesday tickle, a quick hoover and flick of the duster.

Thank you for popping by I always appreciate your little visits.