1974

Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary to my gorgeous husband.  I love you loads xxxx

Dont we look young? I know the years have passed and everytime I look in the mirror it confirms it, but inside I still feel like that giddy young girl of 18 who is head over heels in love with a wonderful man. Thank you fo 40 fabulous years and heres to the next 40. Cheers......xxxxxxxx

Nearly holibobs time :-)

Almost ready for the off, just one more sleep :-). Then its off to Paphos for 10 sunny days :-)

I started packing this morning after a mammoth ironing session.  We are only allowed 15kg of luggage and 5kg of hand luggage! The flippin clothes have been in and out and the cases on and off the scales until finally we settled on 14:8kg and 14:9kg you don't get many clothes for your weight,it must be my industrial strength underwear and swimming cozzy!  its a bit close to the mark and hubby has to take his shoes as hand luggage, which I dont think he needs or will wear but I no nothing....lol.  Lets hope the cases pass the check in desk ok or we will be wearing dark blue towels round our shoulders....  Not the first time I have seen that happen.

Now the spare room looks a tip again!

I am hoping the creases drop out or I will be ironing the bloody things again!!!

Better get up early just incase :-)  i also need to make a couple of sandwiches for on the plane, I don't mind buying a cuppa but draw the line at paying the outrageous prices for a dried up roll! 

I wonder if hubby will surprise me with half a bottle of chilled Champagne.....probably not, he knows I'd rather have a cup of tea  lol  we're all inclusive so will have to wait and have a glass of sparkling wine when we arrive at the hotel to toast our anniversary.

Better get on......

See you all when we get back.

Take care

Karen xxx

Mr and Mrs Tiggy and baby winkle

Meet the hedgehog family....aren't they cute.

I have 2 more made they just need stuffing.

They are so easy to knit, you can make 3 in one night.  

I have used King Cole Moments fluffy wool and oddments of pink and black double knitting, I think I will get at least 6 from the one ball.

I will be selling them for £1:50 each at our next craft stall.

Short and sweet tonight as I am sooo tired! 

Karen xxx

Southwell Folk Festival Street Dancing

Sorry I am a bit late with the photos from last weekend but its been a bit manic here this week and next week is looking the same...I will explain in a minute..

Last Saturday morning started with a thunder storm with a bit of lightening thrown in, not to worry we were tucked up safe and sound in our caravan bed.  We had planned to spend the day in Southwell watching the street dancing, this happens every year at Folk Festival time, I think its a way of spreading the word and getting the locals involved as well as bringing some extra income to the shops and the pubs! Let me tell you, there was many many pints of beer being drunk! all those thirsty dancers and musicians....hundreds of them!

 The Rattlejags from Retford, they battled on through the rain, playing the accordian under a plastic poncho!

In between showers the dancers danced their socks off and we stood and cheered

Clog Dancing

Rapper Dancing

Morris Dancing

Pouring with rain....defeated we all retreated to the pub for a large hot coffee!

After lunch of a bag of chips the sun came out and the dancing commenced.

                                                                          

                                                   Look at those hats, aren't they fabulous!

                                                                  Border Morris

Dancing through the gate into the Minster.

Shaking hands with the clergy and handing over the Southwell pence, an old custom dating back to the 12th century.  Money was collected from the nearby parishes and taken to Southwell to fund the new church we now know as Southwell Minster.

The dancers were well rewarded with bottles of ale :-)

The final dance of the day took place inside the Minster, prayers were said and we finished off by singing Lord of the Dance....it was absolutely wonderful!!

Sunday lunchtime and the sun was shining again so we walked into town from the campsite to the pub called The Final Whistle, a converted railway station, where there was more dancing and entertainment throughout the afternoon.

       These have been our favourite dancers for many years....The Witchmen...

Clog dancing

2 dodgy old fellas. Aka Andy and Phil...my hubby

We had a fabulous weekend with our friends and was a bit sad when it was time to pack up and go home.  No doubt we will be doing it all again next year!

At the beginning of my post I said it had been manic....well.... As its our 40th Wedding Anniversary on Sunday the 22nd we have decided to have a very special treat...we have booked a 10 day holiday to our favourite hotel in Cyprus.  We are flying out on sunday lunch time and should arrive in time to have a celebration glass or two of bubbly before the end of the evening.  Its been all systems go since Thursday night getting everything organised.  We have already checked in and printed out our boarding passes and return tickets, we will pick ip some Euros tomorrow, we dont need many as its all inclusive., no hidden extras and no credit card bills as everything has been paid for from our savings account :-)  We are shopping tomorrow for a few bits of new clothes and some sun creams.  

I would have been happy with a few days in the caravan but this will make our anniversary special. Thank you to my darling hubby for persuading me and for putting up with me for 40 years.

Have a lovely evening

Karen xxx

Its in the bag!

Finally got this Japanese Patchwork Bag finished, I made it a couple of weeks ago but it still needed the ties sewing on and the Suffolk Puffs.  It was hard to photograph because its so soft.

I'm really pleased with it, its the first time I have quilted, its not perfect but it will do, its a first for the Suffolk Puffs too, in fact they will be appearing on the bag I have been making today :-)

Shall I leave the back plain or should I make some more puffs, they would have to be in the light fabric as all the other has gone, it was only a scrap piece.

With the ties undone.  You could tie it at the top if you wanted, it has a popper in the middle to keep it together.

The hardest part was stitching the handles on and getting them level!  I think I will make a couple more ready for the stall later in the year. I will have to decide on a price, they are fully lined and made from good quality fabric.....any suggestions? :-) please..

                                     ...........................

After an early start in the garden....flippin weeds!!  And a quick tidy round the house I felt the urge to sew, so out came the machine. I have started another bag which I will take to Thimbles on friday to finish off, then after a quick tea of sausage and mash I started knitting pink fluffy hedgehogs :-). They need stitching up, stuffing and then hopefully they will pose for a photo.

Hubby finished cleaning the caravan this morning so its ready for the off again....probably mid week, just need to look for a cheap site. I will post the photos from last weekend tomorrow, its a nightmare sorting them out!  1 camera, 2 iphones and 2 ipads!! Lesson learnt....just use the camera!!

Time for a cuppa then bedtime and reading..

Take care

Karen xxx

Home again!

Home again after a couple of days break in the caravan, just need to sort the photos and I will show and tell :-)

Today I called in at Sainsbobs and look what I found

I haven't managed to get any for ages...I think word got round! At £1.10 for 670gm its excellent value. I think this lot is the best I have ever had.

All sorted out now and in portions of 2 all safely tucked up in the freezer.

All nice thick rashers..about  half an inch thick...just right.

They worked out at 20p each....bargain!

Dinner tonight, bacon steak, new potatoes, green beans ( frozen last year from the garden) mushrooms and with a little squirt of honey and mustard dressing it was gorgeous!

Also our first 3 strawberries from the garden,

I knew I had bought the cream for something :-)

Delicious, picked and eaten in a couple of minutes!

This afternoon after the thunder storm I planted the leeks, onions, peas and runner beans in the garden and potted on some more cucumber plants and sowed red lettuce, slowly we are catching up.

I hope you didn't get caught out in the rain today.

Back tomorrow

Karen xxx

Up and away!

Thank you all for your lovely comments yesterday. X 

Today had been a much better day. We got up this morning and threw some clothes and food into the caravan and headed down the A 1 towards. Nottingham. It's Folk Festival weekend in Southwell. We don't have tickets for the full festival but the fringe is free. There will be dancing in the town and music sessions in the pubs. The weather forecast is carp for Saturday but you never know it might change. Our friends will be arriving tomorrow so hopefully it will be a jolly weekend. Back home Sunday. 

Have a lovely weekend

Take care

Karen xxx

Warts and all.

Miserable rainy day, didnt sleep too well last night then woke up early so still tired...not the best start to the day :-(

Jobs achieved today......zilch!

Bread like a brick!

Mooched around all morning until time for s sarnie...only egg mayo left on offer.

Afternoon power nap :-) feeling better..

5:15pm whats for dinner....shruggy shoulders...

Lets raid the freezer see what we can find....really need to go shopping....can't be bothered!

This will have to do..

Followed by this..

Gorgeous yogurt from Lidl.

Tasty......yummy....delish...

Even had leftovers

Potato and veggies squidged together and made into patties. We will have these tomorrow with some basics cooking bacon ' chops'  and baked beans....sorted....  With soup and a lump of brickett aka bread for lunch,  there is no need to shop tomorrow either.... :-)

 Hope tomorrow is a more structured day.

Time for a cuppa

Take care

Karen xxx

All is well in the garden

We have been working in the garden again and its starting to look much better, everything is growing really well. Its much more manageable now we have made this bed smaller.

The new grass has grown and is blending in nicely.

The lupins have been excellent, I did a bit of dead heading  yesterday and filled the wheelbarrow with lupin heads! 

This is taken from the other side, it shows the new grass better and also the branch on the tree is bent over creating a natural archway.

It has been lovely to sit out this afternoon, we were treated to an overhead visit of the Vulcan doing its training flights before the air show season, its stationed at Doncaster Airport which is close us :-) we live at the end of the runway!

The raised beds at the bottom of the garden have had a big tidy up and are planted with strawberries, lettuce, french beans and there are onions and leeks to go into the end one. In the pots are more strawberries and chives.  Its not much, but it is fun and however small we still get some tasty morsels.

Everything in the greenhouse is romping away, the tomatoes have flowers on and the geraniums are ready to go out.

The courgette plants are like triffids but the cucumber plant is a bit weedy, it has one cucumber on it I took the other off, we will see how it goes, I have some tiny seedlings in a pot just incase.  The lettuce have been pricked out they are Salad Bowl variety, I always do too many so I have swaps with friends :-)

Runner bean plants to go into the garden near the conservatory and more geraniums to find homes for and 3 lupins for my son.

The green lady is definitely working hard and making the garden fertile, she is sheltered from the sun by this climbing hydranger whose flower heads smell divine.

Wish I had smelly vision!

Not really the weather for stew and dumplings but I had defrosted the meat to have yesterday and didnt get round to cooking it so it had to go into the slow cooker today, we didnt have any spuds so hubby asked for dumplings.

Served in a dish with a squirt of mint sauce, it was lovely, with fruit and yogurt to follow......I'm stuffed!!

Its been a lovely day today.....housework tomorrow?  ....Maybe...

Hope you are having a nice relaxing evening.

Karen xxx