5th - 11th November

A short post this week as the end of it got a little weird.

This week I have been

Watching - Rocky trying to adjust to wearing his cone. He had the snip last week.

I took him back to the vets today, all is healing well and he's allowed outside once again.

Celebrating - with a sparkler. G's sister's birthday is on 5th November. As you can tell from the photo this year was a special one for her. 
Family friend L (along with her son, daughter and son's girlfriend) created a wonderful two tiered bonfire cake and they also made this Guy and box of fireworks. Included were a set of mini sparklers, one for each guest at her celebratory birthday meal.

Trying - to look fierce with the help of these fangs. On November 8th 1847 Bram Stoker was born, so with the help of these photo booth props left over from Halloween we channeled our inner vampire.

Extraordinarily Grateful - to our wonderful NHS. 
When I woke up yesterday morning G told me he had been awake for a few hours with chest pains. What kind of pains I wanted to know. Not worrying pains he said. 26 years ago he had a viral infection which affected the pericardium and he said it felt similar. So he rang 101 for advise. They said because the pain had been there for a few hours they were sending an ambulance to check his heart. It arrived shortly afterwards and an ECG was done. The results were leaning towards another incidence of pericarditis but they took him to hospital so he could be thoroughly checked and the option of a heart attack ruled out. Thankfully after having various tests and seeing a cardiologist this was indeed the conclusion so 12 hours later I collected him from the hospital. He has some medication and needs to rest. 
Here's to a less dramatic week ahead.

Dance and Music

S's dance group had a mini performance slot at a local primary school's summer fayre on Saturday afternoon and she said she would be ok with me and G coming along to watch her.

It was lovely seeing S and getting a flavour of what she does each Friday at her street dance class.

Whilst there I took the opportunity of having a look around the school garden.

What is more colourful and cheery than a bicycle basket full of geraniums.

The other colourful feature which I really liked were these funky looking birdhouses.

Sunday saw us in Salisbury.

A little wander along by the river

before we settled ourselves in Lizzie Gardens 

for an afternoon of Music in the Park. It's the third year we've been going to these free concerts and it's such a lovely way to spend a sunny summer afternoon.

The band playing yesterday were Break Cover and they played a whole range of songs. We had stuff from Status Quo, The Kinks, ZZ Top, Steve Earle, Billy Idol and The Monkees. An extra reason for going along yesterday was for G to say hi to an old school friend who is one of the guitarists. He is the chap second from the right wearing a hat. They haven't seen each other since 1993.

And here we all are. I like this photo G took of us all as we sat chatting away.
Lovely family times.

Weekend round up

Back at the tail end of January S began going to street and hip hop dance lessons with her friend A.

A has been doing this for many years and has won lots of competitions and has many trophies. Another competition was held this last weekend and S asked a few weeks ago if she could go along to cheer on her friend.

She then decided that actually she would quite like to enter the competition herself.

As it was a late decision she had to enter as 'a solo' which of course meant she would be dancing on her own.

We were so proud of S, not only did she feel confident enough after a few short weeks of going to dance to want to take part in the competition she was also confident enough to do it on her own.

She could wear whatever she wanted and seeing it was her first competition we took her into town on Saturday morning to choose something new to wear.

I don't have any pictures to show as S didn't want us to go and watch, she said it would make her feel more nervous!

Although she wasn't placed S did have a tremendous time with her friends and she enjoyed the whole experience. 

After S had chosen her new trousers and top she and A hopped on a bus back home to practice some more whilst G and I stayed out as we had other things to do.

First off we grabbed some lunch and headed to the park to eat.

Absolutely loved the choice of plants and colour combination on display in this flower bed.

From there we made our way towards a part of town called Northam. G wanted to check out a vinyl record shop as this was en route to our next destination. Whilst he was inside I stayed out in the sun and watched the light glinting on Shoal, a huge metal fish sculpture by Tom Grimsey. 
It was sad to see only a handful of shops occupied in this part of town, it was once full of junk/antique/second hand book/shops. I know councils are strapped for cash but this part of town could be so much more vibrant.

G was extremely pleased to find a Yes LP to add to his collection.
We took the footpath over the train track which leads to St Mary's football stadium, home of the Saints. Saturday's match was being shown on TV and although kick off was still a few hours away it was already a busy place with people getting prepared, constantly in and out of huge outside broadcasting vehicles.

From there it was just a hop, skip and a jump to our final destination of Shamrock Quay. This was the venue for a Hampshire farmers market event. Live music and classic cars were also on offer but I failed miserably on the photo front and didn't manage to take any at all. Too busy sat in the sun enjoying the atmosphere and a cup of tea.

Sunday was a quiet one.
S was out dancing, T was out socialising and G was out working. 
I stayed in and did a lot of the housework jobs I normally do on a Monday as this Monday held something different.
I wish I could say it was something interesting.
Last year I had root canal treatment on one of my canine teeth.
Unfortunately it didn't work. It seems that this tooth has two canals, something which I have since learned is very unusual in a canine.
So a specialist was needed.
I did some research and found one in Salisbury and that's where I went Monday morning.

I had to walk past a branch of Debenhams and as I did I spied these enormous paper roses on display in the window, aren't they gorgeous.

Step one of the treatment was undertaken and I now need to go back next Monday for it be completed. I was in that dentist chair for about 75 minutes and I have to admit that when I returned home I could quite easily have snuggled down and joined Malcolm for a cat nap. I think the concern over the procedure and the accompanying nervousness made me feel tired once it was all over and I was home again.
Keep your fingers crossed for me next week!

Talent

We've been lucky enough to see some very talented people whilst at a couple of local art events recently.

If you can't get and see them in action then check out each link and enjoy a little of what they have to offer and what we've been enjoying.

First up is The Bullzini Family and their high wire act which is thoroughly captivating.

The girls from Sole Rebel Tap with a Spatterdash routine entertained the crowd and S was particularly taken with their shiny shorts.

The Edwardian Cricketers were hilarious and had the crowd laughing along with them in no time at all. Lots of audience participation was required, here you can see three members of the crowd picked out to be fielders and S's friend L was chosen to be the umpire. A role she readily accepted.

Maple Staplegun plucked three lucky men from the crowd to help her with her hula hoop act and kept the crowd laughing with her antics and her skill.

Last up is a lady with a beautifully melodic voice who goes by the name of Sticky Toffee Jazz. Salisbury council organise music in the park during the summer and it's the perfect way to while away a sunny Sunday afternoon.

First Booty

We've been in Salisbury today.

A belated Easter get together with G's family.

People being poorly and rubbish weather last weekend meant a date to see each other was arranged for this weekend instead.

It just so happens that the car boot in the field near my mother-in-law has started up again and so G suggested we went up an hour earlier than originally planned and give ourselves a little time to have a wander round and see what we could find.

That plan got a thumbs up from me.

Here are my buys from the first car boot of 2016 and in the order they were purchased.

First up is this big pasta serving dish.

As well as pasta I'm thinking it would be good to use for serving up garlic bread which is always a welcome addition to a pasta bake type meal.

Mine for 50p.

Here we have S wearing the jumper I bought her for £1.00. Animal print and fluffy two of her favourite things when it comes to clothing.

As if I don't have enough brooches already but I couldn't resist this polka dot bird. Another £1.00 purchase.

This item will go towards my sister's bundle of birthday gifts. Two brand new Cath K dusters for £1.00.

Final purchase and also £1.00 was an Avon room spritz in orange blossom, a fragrance we haven't tried as yet. I normally stock up on these for using in the bathroom when they are on offer in the catalogue at that price but I haven't bought any for a while and we are down to our last one so I was really pleased when S spotted this just as we were leaving.

Just a handful of things bought and a real mix of items they were too and to include a present, a jumper which made S happy and something useful I would need anyway was a good result all round I think.

Swaythling to Salisbury

We like the train to take the strain when it's time to go to Salisbury and visit G's family.

We can't travel directly from our local one so we usually drive down the road to Swaythling station. I like this Victorian station complete with it's little patch of garden at the front.

Last time we were there I noticed something new but didn't have my camera, I made sure I had it with me at the weekend though.

Swaythling was the site of the largest Remount Depot in World War I and this horse head and a plaque have been donated in remembrance of the 400,00 horses and mules which passed through the depot.

These horses attached to the perimeter fence are from an art project undertaken by a local secondary school.

Just to the left of the station is a plot of land which has been developed in recent years and named after a local artist - Eric Meadus Close. His drawing of the station is featured on this plaque and you can read more about him here if you wish, it's very informative. Apparently L.S Lowry was a fan of and I'm pleased to say our local art gallery owns some of his works.

Our reason for visiting Salisbury was to take G'S mum and her friend J out to lunch as it was her birthday this week. Very nice it was too and we spent a couple of cosy hours sat in the pub whilst the wind and rain lashed down outside. We had an hour or so to spare before the train and so made a quick dash to a couple of charity shops, passing this old house on the way.
G swears he'd never noticed it before. The plaque by the front door names it as 'The Old Forge.' 

G found a couple of Prog Rock CD's, S found a couple of books and I came home with this holly saucer. It was only 50p and I bought it with the intention of adding it to my sister's bundle of gifts but once home I decided I didn't actually want to part from it and so it's now sat on my mantelpiece.

p.s I may have been playing my Brian Setzer Christmas CD whilst typing this.

Beach Huts, Blooms and Barons

What a glorious weekend we've just had.

The sun shone and we made the most of it.

On Friday G had taken S to Salisbury to spend a couple of days with Grandma and Auntie D and so with S away and T busy volunteering at his charity shop G and I were free to go day tripping.

A plan was made and by 9.30 we were off on the train to Bournemouth.

The walk from Bournemouth station into town isn't, initially, the most picturesque, although the row of shops and businesses along Holdenhurst Road do have an air of faded grandeur about them.

Plus I was keen to starting using the new camera G had given me for my birthday so the first photo of the day is the last shop in the row. 

We wandered into and through the town taking a more meandering route towards the seafront

which is how we happened upon this beautiful mosaic on the corner of a road by the church above. On this site there once stood a guest house by the name of 'Muriel'. The mosaic is from an art work by Aubrey Beardsley who was once a resident at Muriel having been sent to the coast for his health.

We haven't been to Bournemouth for a while and it so it was the first time we've seen the zip wire. The launch tower is on the pier and you land of the beach zipping across the water, the view must be fabulous as you travel across.

On of the highlights of the day for me was seeing the Cath Kidston beach huts. I had seen them on Instagram and you can read more about them here. I was hoping we would be able to go and see them for real and now I have! These 3 weren't being used 

but the cloud and fish ones were so I thought it would be more polite to take a sideways on snap of the group of them.

As polka dots are such a favourite of mine I was so pleased this one was free as I was able to pose for a photo and have a CK beach hut all of my own for a very short while.

From Bournemouth we strolled along the front heading towards Boscombe and there were more beach huts. 
Would you prefer yours to be green

or blue

or a shade of purple?

I particularly liked this bluebell one.

G and I had expected the beach to have been packed out with holiday makers but whole sections of it were completely empty.
It was a perfect walk.

We were ready for lunch by then having walked up a bit of an appetite and stopped for something to eat before heading up into town through the Chine Gardens.
As G's brother lives in Boscombe he sent P a text to see if he was free and the 3 of us met a short time later for a cuppa and a chat.

To round off our day G went to visit the vinyl shop in Boscombe and whilst he did that I went to Oxfam and came out laden with some great finds. Then it was off to Pokesdown station where we were waved off by this bikini clad blonde.

G reckoned we had walked about 5 miles or over the course of the Saturday. 
Sunday was a little more sedate.
We had to go and collect S and as there was another music event in the park we all met up in Lizzy Gardens for a picnic lunch and listened to jazz and swing.

For the first time this summer we were plagued with wasps and to escape them I took my camera off with me for a short wander.

When I returned everyone was looking at this little fellow who had fallen out of the tree we were all gathered under and which was perfectly camouflaged on one of Grandma's picnic cushions.

As previously mentioned Salisbury is home to a Baron trail this summer and walking around discovering them is what kept S, Auntie D and Grandma entertained on Saturday. They found them all that day bar 3, so yesterday they went and found the final one in town which they had missed. The other two are a little way out of town but we hope to see them later on in September when all 25 are going to be displayed together by the Cathedral.

Auntie D has taken S's photo by each one and so I felt it was only right I had mine taken with one of them too.