Trees

Yesterday was on eof those lovely little family days I would like to package up and keep.
Which is why blogging is so great because it means I can record it all.
G and T stayed home in the morning whilst S and I went to a little Christmas fayre. She made a Father Christmas tree decoration, we bought a Father Christmas figure to stand by our front door and S got to have a little chat with Father Christmas too! He was such a lovely Santa and S was very keen to tell him that she also had a brother called T and he was 10 as she didn't want him forgotten!

Then in the afteroon we all went to another local church to visit their annual Christmas tree festival.
Local groups each choose a Christmas carol and decorate the theme along that theme.
These were a few of our favourite decorations.

The church was also decked out with lots of winter greenery, such a welcoming atmosphere inside and we lit 3 candles, shed a tear or two and left full of a variety of emotions.

Our destination was just along the road to Telegraph Woods. We've never been to these before and will definitely return. As well as the remains of an Iron Age fort, which we didn't discover this time, just past the entrance to the Woods is the remains of an Armada beacon in the form of a perfectly circular bank.

As we walked in S took in the open space and shouted 'I love it here, cpme on T let's run!' Those words gave my heart have a little leap of happiness. S approaches things with such vigour and excitement, it makes me so very happy that we made our family the way we did. Such a different life for them and for us too.

The floor was a carpet of leaves, perfect for running and scrunching through.

'Strike a pose' I said and that's what I got!

No idea if this little pine cone had been placed inside this tree truk or whether it has fallen there, but it caught my eye just the same.

Very obligingly this tree trunk has grown in such a way to frame this view so nicely. Our walk was nearly complete when we reached this gate, which was just as well as by then we were all thinking about cakes and hot chocolate back home.

We emerged from the woods at Hampshire Cricket Club and vowed we would be there at least once next season and hoped the weather would be much warmer!

Treasure

It might not look much, but to me it's priceless.
I made this when I was at playschool which makes it about 38 years old!
My mum's been having a bit of a clear out and wondered if I would like to have it in my home. I leapt at the chance because I do love it so.

Frosty

Looking at the weather forecast for the week there's going to be a few frosty mornings ahead of us.
My latest Christmas decoration purchase (from a charity shop, of course) should be feeling right at home with the freezing temperatures.

Thrifty Thursday

Such colourful crochety cosiness.
A huge new blanket for the dining room sofa.
I found it right at the start of my shift at the charity shop yesterday and it was mine for £1.50.

And nestled on it today I enjoyed a cup of tea from my new susie watson mug. Bought from the Country Living fair last week.

How lucky I am to have such beautiful things in my home.

Roses are yellow

Look what my lovely husband bought home for me tonight.

I'm such a lucky girl.

Colours of November

November has been a bit grey recently.

G had to work today and after bumbling around indoors for a while me, T and S took ourselves off to the park for an hour this afternoon and we found a bit of colour.

Lots of red berries on these trees



and different shades of autumn to be seen on these.

A spot of silly leaf behaviour

I was in need of a bit of a quiet day today as yesterday was a long, busy and very enjoyable one.

I went to the Country Living Christmas fair!!!!!!!

It was my first visit there for about 5 years and it was totally fabulous.

No time to take photos of the wares on offer as it was heaving with people and we were just too busy, but I managed this one as I sat with the bags of purchases whilst my friend went off to collect something she had paid for earlier in the day.

I did also manage to snap a couple of photos of the interior of the Christmas cabin. Many, many treasures on display. I'm in love with the robin.

simple things

One of my favourite shops in Salisbury is the india shop.
Lots of lovely things to browse and buy and they have a fair trade policy which is an added bonus.
I bought a little gift for my mum and it was popped into one of these paper bags made from magazine pages.





This afternoon I unfolded the glued down folds to see how it was done. My brain doesn't work well enough to work it out otherwise despite it being a very simple thing to make!



I'm in love with it's simplicity and quickness and have made 3 torn from pages of a Christmas magazine.

Simple things make me happy.

Rememberance Day

Wear your poppy with pride.

Me, not the jigsaw

My Cat Likes to Sleep in Boxes

mind the gap

S was thrilled this weekend to lose her first tooth and get a visit from the tooth fairy.
I think the fairy will be back quite soon as one of the other front teeth is very wobbly too.

G and I spent a very lovely few hours wandering around Salisbury town centre on Saturday. Lunch out and few Christmas presents later we wandered back to his mum's by taking the route next to the river.
Gorgeous autumnal colours greeted us as we went.

Sunday wasn't quite the day we planned.

The CBBC wildlife show Live and Dangerous was being filmed in town and as it's one of T's and G's favourites we thought we'd go and see what was going on. Unfortunately not a lot was the answer. We've been to a few events in the park organised in partnership with BBC and they've been really well done. This was event took up a tiny corner of the park and was woefully inadequate for the amount of people who turned up. Apparently people were queuing in the park at 9.15am and the event wasn't due to start until 10. Chatting to a lady in the queue for free activity packs she said she had spoken to some of the organisers who admitted that they were completely underprepared for how popular these events were going to be. They have had others and they have more to come. If you are going to one in the future get there early!

i spy

Actually I'm not the spy. That job title goes to T.
In Year 6 they hav been reading Strombreaker.
Possibly the most apt choice for T. He loves anything to do with spys and gadgets. He has enjoyed the book and watching the movie.
Here he is wearing his spy glasses (they have mirrors at the side so you can see behind you) posing for his MI6 ID card. Not sure how many spys smile on their cards, but they won't all have such a cute dimple.
Thank you Sue for that amazing present a few Christmas' back of the spy belt and gadget. It's probably one of his most played with things of all time and he wore it to school yesterday for their Stormbreaker dress down day.




Spending a couple of hours over 2 evenings G and I completed this lovely jigsaw of shopping days gone by. We know how to live it up!






Yesterday when I came home from work I had a parcel waiting for me. This contained a couple of purchases from LissyLou's shop poppyanddaisys

I am totally in love with my little fabric bird and hopefully S will love this little hair clip just as much.

Thirfty Thursday

No idea when I'll use these cocktail forks, maybe I'll have to start having cocktail parties! Just couldn't resist the colourful lushness of them.

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

Max, my sister's dog. Spoilt rotten, but who could resist such a handsome face?

half term

We had a good week off together and kept ourselves busy meeting up with family and friends, dodging the wet weather with some success.
Some of the things we did included feeding the ducks and swans


Swinging from poles

and swinging in big swings.

A trip to the country park

for the annual Halloween trail.

A spot of seasonal thrifty shopping.

Of course the excitement which was building up all week culminated on Sunday when the pumpkins were carved, the costumes were put on and the front of the house decorated with al things spooky.

I'm not sure how many trick or treat callers we had, but we did run out of sweets. I reckon we must have had nearly 60.

What with it being half term coupled with my normal lack of organisation I am way behind with reading blogs.

I'm really trying to make better use of my time so I can do the things that need to be done and still have time for the stuff I would like to do. I know I've whined about this in the past but it something I want to get to grips with. Fingers crossed.