29th October - 4th November

This week I have been

Enjoying - the flame red colour of the leaves on the trees. There is a line of half a dozen of these trees in the car park near my place of work and they are a delight to see.

Loving - the fact our bathroom is another stage nearer completion. The lino was laid on Tuesday which means it's an awful lot warmer in there now. I really love the differing shades of grey and silver.

Having the floor down also meant that the new to us piece of furniture which has been sat in the dining room for the past couple of weeks could be put into place.
We found this pine child's size wardrobe on Gumtree for £35. The seller very kindly agreed to deliver to us for an extra £5. G painted it a shade called Stormy Blue and it's now home to our towels, bathroom cleaning products, loo roll and other odds and ends. Perfect.

Celebrating -Halloween with friends. This year we invited our friends G and M over with their two children J and G. S was in charge of helping them dish out the sweets to our treat or treat callers. It was a slow start to the evening but in the end I think we had somewhere between 70 and 80. 
S made these gruesome looking eyeballs for us all to eat

and whilst she did those I used a tube of black icing to paint faces onto marshmallows which I took in to work so we could have a sweet treat there too.

Trying - out a couple of new recipes for breakfast time. During the week it's always two Weetabix but come the weekend I want to have something a bit different. With G on the Slimming World regime I have been looking at ideas on various websites and baked oats is a firm favourite. I made these on Saturday morning, they are flavoured with lemon fat free Greek yogurt. I served them with a blob of jam and natural flavoured Greek yogurt. Warm from the oven they were lovely.

Then on Sunday I made this jammy dodger french toast inspired by sarah_sw_recipes on Instagram. I didn't put in enough cinnamon so I know to increase that the next time I do these. This really filled me up.

Going - out in our, new to us, car.
Yes we are car owners once again. I detest the whole looking for cars thing. Both G and I have zero knowledge when it comes to cars. We have been half heartedly looking for a few weeks but the time had come to make more of an effort. 
The result is that we are now KA owners.
We are in the incredibly lucky position of not needing a car to get us to work. With it just being the three of us these days we now don't need a larger family size car.
Most of the things we need to do can be accomplished (with a bit of forward planning) on foot, with public transport and online shopping, so it is a bit of a luxury having a car sat outside for the convenience of being able to pop out and get us from A to B when we need to do just that.
Considering all of these things we wanted to buy something small and cheap to run and fingers crossed this will fit the bill just nicely.

24th September - 14th October

I've not been around much as things have been busy plus S was off school for one day not well, G had a birthday and then I managed to catch a bug which had been doing the rounds at work.

So from the past few weeks I have been 

Wearing - brooches to go along with the theme of the day. 

There was the Coca-Cola can for Crush a Can Day

and this strawberry for Strawberry Cream Pie Day.

Reading - the next book from the Maisie Dobbs series. This is the one I have enjoyed least so far. I have the next couple on my book shelf and the later ones are on my Christmas wish list. G is aware!

Enjoying - messing about with a fake felt beard for Lumberjack Day

My mum and sisters were coming over and so I asked them to wear their best check shirt and we each had our photo taken whilst modelling the beard.

A few days before hand it had been Elephant Appreciation Day so we went out in the garden and played the Elephant Game. 

Watching - talented people at the theatre. My birthday present to my friend T was tickets to see Women In Power. It's a new production, a collaboration by some very well known women and we were thoroughly entertained by the fabulous cast who acted, sung, played instruments and danced non stop for 90 minutes. 
The second trip was with G and some friends to see Austentatious. Each night the performance is different as each performance is improvised by the cast. They had us in stitches and I would thoroughly recommend going to see them if you ever get the chance.

Loving - that Rocky is settling in so well and finding his own favourite places. This was where he liked to settle down a few weeks ago. Lately he has made the top of the freezer his own, he likes to keep and eye on us and he is quite close to where we store his food!

Buying - little china treats from TK Maxx. I went in to look at the Halloween offerings and was very restrained and just bought one little bowl. 
Just the right size for chocolate based treats.
I was unable to resist adding to my mug collection with this slightly wibbly wobbly one. With the stars and Joy decoration it does have a festive flavour but, I will admit now that it hasn't been stashed away to be used later, it's been used daily since purchase as a little Joy everyday is a good thing I think.

Doing - a jigsaw. I found this one whilst having a tidy up. I think it was one of G's stocking filler gifts.

It's made up of 250 pieces and so G and I raced through it in no time at all and it's now sat in a bag ready for the charity shop.

The theme is sweets from the 1970s and although there were lots of things we recognised there were also quite a few we didn't.

Visiting - an exhibition named We March On all about the history of Southampton Football Club. I'm not footie fan but I still found it all very interesting. The Saints are G' team and so we went to see this on his birthday.

Wondering - if this is really what I look like? To mark World Egg Day a plan was hatched(!) between me and my colleagues that we would each decorate an egg in our likeness. Due to being unwell last week I completely forgot about it until a colleague sent me a picture of hers the night before we were due to take them in. I was feeling tired and not at all in the crafting mood but felt like I should make the effort. I'm glad I did, we all had a giggle and it made our Friday a quite eggscellent day.

1st-9th September

This week I have been 

Reading - a Lidl magazine which was posted through the door. Liking the look of these cookie based bats for Halloween.

Cooking - a couple of new things. This turkey chilli was a huge hit and will definitely be made again. G has joined Slimming World and has lost 5lb in his first week. I'm in the process of working out weekly menu plans.

Feeling - proud and anxious on S's first day of the new academic year.

That first morning S was up before me and had a big smile on her face.

She wasn't quite as happy to be called out of bed the rest of the week!

Due to the problems she has had over the past year I was feeling more than a little anxious as the week progressed but I'm thrilled to say all went well.

Drinking - tea from my new teapot and cup.

T rang me on his way home from work. He is back working for a charity and is busy driving to different shops covering for staff holidays in other local branches.

He said he had bought me something he thought I would like. 

'I think you'll like it, it's a bit odd, but I think it's your kind of thing,' he said.

I like it very much and was really very touched that he thought of buying it for me.

Wondering - if it's too early to add the pumpkins to the mantle along with the toadstools.

Loving - my bargain Emma Bridgewater bat mug. Found in a local sale for 50p.

Watching - Strictly Come Dancing to see who got paired up with who and how they all performed in that first team dance. 

Visiting - a windmill for Open Heritage weekend.

This windmill is just a 5 minute drive away from us and yet we've never taken S here. When we got there they were conducting tours but we had just missed the start of one so we wandered off to a stroll in the woods. When we got back the sails were turning and the tours had ended so we sat and enjoyed watching the windmill in motion whilst sipping hot chocolate.

Enjoying - crossing a couple of jobs off the long to do list. I painted the skirting board in the bathroom so now we are one step closer to getting the flooring down and having a room finished. Such a good feeling.

Captain of the Carpathia

What a wonderful afternoon wander I had today.

And the thing which made it even nicer was, unexpectedly, being joined by T.

I must admit I didn't divulge just how far we would be walking, it wasn't actually that far, but if I had told him what I planned he wouldn't have got out the car!

14th May is the birth date of Arthur Rostron.

Sir Arthur was the captain of the RMS Carpathia and when on 15th April the ship received a distress call from RMS Titanic he ordered the Carpathia to head towards the Titanic and by doing this they were able to save the lives of just over 700 people.

We parked by St James church

and walked along the road to the house Captain Rostron lived in.
The house is called Holmecroft and is situated at the top of Chalk Hill.
The house is screened from the road by lots of mature greenery.

At the bottom of Chalk Hill is a relatively new collection of housing which has been named Rostron Close.

Our route back to the car was a circular one and just before we reached it we stopped off at the burial ground which is linked to the church where we found the final resting place of Captain Rostron.

12 Days.....

...... have passed since my last post.

This two week Easter school holiday has felt more like the six week summer break.

It seems like such a long time ago S was last at school.

Not that she agrees with me of course!

So what have we been up to.

With my family over on Easter Monday we found a way to mark Chocolate Mousse day, Wednesday 4th was Vitamin C Day and easy to work celebrate with my daily glass of orange juice at breakfast time and then Thursday 5th was a fail.

I wanted to bake some biscuits for Star Trek first contact day but as we know school hols do have a tendency to cause plans to go awry and so this didn't happen.

Friday 6th was Tartan Day.

 I have been combing the charity shops for months hoping to find for a skirt suitable to wear, but all I could find were this type or worse (for me at least) tiny mini skirts.

In the end I went with changing into my PJs at the earliest opportunity!

.

Saturday 7th was a very important day in our home.
It was S Day. 
A little day out was planned but S woke with a sore throat and other cold symptoms brewing.
So the sensible thing was to put the original day out plans on hold and instead we stayed much more local and went out for a spot of lunch instead.
No photo of S from that day but here she is a week later feeling much better.

Sunday 8th was the slightly unusual Draw a Picture of a Bird Day.

So we did just that.

From left to right we have S's owl with huge hypnotic eyes, my grumpy looking chick and G's most excellent (non specific breed) bird.

G and I were also busy at the weekend completing another jigsaw.

This time it was Vintage transportation.

In the bottom right hand corner is a double decker bus, it's a shame the flash has blocked it out.

The coronation of Henry V took place on 9th April 1413. 
Many centuries ago Southampton was surrounded by walls to defend the town from would be invaders. We made a trip to Westgate which once led directly to the quay and through here in 1415 some of Henry V's army marched on their way to the battle of Agincourt.

10th April was Sibling's Day It just so happened that T was round to see us that evening and I asked both he and S if I could take a photo of the together, explaining the significance of date.
Both refused for the same reason. Neither were happy about how their hair was looking!
What are they like.
Instead I shall post a photo from when those things weren't an issue!

For years Dan Maskell was the voice of Wimbledon and 11th April was the date he was born.
Before I went off to work G and I did something simple and a little silly for this day.

S came to meet me after I had finished work as we had a couple of return to school purchases to make and in the shopping centre we came across a display of eggs which had been decorated my local primary schools.
This rabbit was my favourite.

The reaction you get from people when you mention Marmite, as in love it or loathe it and not much in between, was repeated whenever I mentioned that Thursday 12th was Liquorice Day.
I happen to love it and so was very happy to partake in celebrating with a sherbet fountain and it's (much smaller than they used to be) liquorice stick dipper.

Friday 13th was Scrabble Day. With G on a late shift and S out at dance there was no-one at home to have a game with so that day passed me by for the time being.

I decided to cheat a little when it came to 14th and 15th April and have one event mark both days and yesterday on a walk into town we detoured past two buildings which played their part in the event.

Admiralty House housed the Post Office headquarters and this building is situated not far from where RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on 10th April. I've never seen the movie Titainc but I understand this building features in it.

Titanic struck the iceberg on 14th April and sank 2 hours and 40 minutes later in the early hours of 15th April.

Further along the same road is Canute Chambers where the White Star company had their offices.

As the plaque explains it was here that local people came to wait for information regarding their loved ones as many inhabitants of our City were employed working on board this ship.

In The Pink

When I was planning my schedule of April days I decided I would give myself a little time off over the Easter weekend.

Thursday was another easy brooch day to mark the date in 1886 when John Pemberton brewed the first batch of the drink which would become known the world over as Coca Cola.

Having taken Friday off it was then onto some heavy construction work on Saturday.
Pink wafer biscuits and icing sugar were pressed into action to help us build our own version of the Eiffel Tower. This was to celebrate the date when after more than 2 years of building work Paris' famous landmark was complete.

Easter Sunday I took myself off for a walk over the bridge to St Mary's church.
As I mentioned a post or two ago I have been researching my family tree.
I decided to start with my dad's family and the earliest relatives I can find are George and Sarah both of whom were born in the late 1790's. 
They had a son George, who in turn had a son named Henry.
Henry had a son name Albert and his son William was my grandad.
I found out that Sarah was buried on 01/04/1838 and so I decided to go and leave some flowers for her. The church which stands today is not the one she would have known as that one fell into disrepair.
It would seem so many of my relatives lived and worked in this area of the city and so by leaving the flowers I wasn't only remembering Sarah but all those whose lives I am slowly uncovering.

If you read yesterday's post about the chocolate mousse then you'll know that we had my family over on Monday for food and games.
With G's help I was able to recreate the Pinterest plastic umbrella and pom pom idea as a little April showers display above the buffet lunch I had set out.
I was really pleased with the way it turned out.

Poetry in the Snow

As had been forecast we woke this morning to find the world outside our window under a blanket of snow.

We weren't going to let the weather conditions get the better of us though as we had something very important to do.

The 3 of us bundled up in coats, scarves and wellies and set off into town.

Buses were running as the main roads were clear but we wanted to walk and besides you can't have a snowball fight if you're sat on the bus.

Once in town we stopped for brunch, picked up the few odds and ends we needed and then headed to carry out the main purpose for our trek.

The Cenotaph in Southampton is situated in Watts Park on the opposite side of the road to the memorial to the engineers who lost their lives in the sinking of the Titanic.

Edward Lutyens designed the Cenotaph and it was to heavily influence the final design of the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

18th March is the birthday of WW1 poet Wilfred Owen and when I was putting this year worth of activities together my idea was to visit the Cenotaph in remembrance of all those lost during the war.
Since then though things have become more personal as I have begun to research my family tree and one of things I have found were some details concerning a war record for my paternal grandad's uncle Percy. 

Percy Murrey joined the army in 1911 and at the outbreak of the war he was sent to France. He took part in the Battle of Mons and did valuable work in the Battles of La Bessee, Ypres, Loos and the Somme. I believe he was an ambulance driver.
He survived the war but it does make you wonder what he would have seen when he took the wounded soldiers away to be cared for.

G's brother has been doing some research into their family tree too. Their mum's maiden name is Dimmer and by clicking on this link you can read about the extraordinary bravery of one of their distant relatives John Dimmer. He was awarded the VC and the MC for his astoundingly courageous acts.
Sadly John Dimmer did not come home. He was killed in action on 21st March 1918.

This morning I wrote Percy and John names onto two plain luggage label style tags and we tied them to these red roses.
At the Cenotaph G read a poem by Wilfred Owen and we laid the flowers down in the snow.

Wrap Up Warm

No contest for my choice on Sweater Day.

This grey jumper is the ultimate in warm and cosy.

It was a fabulous find in my favourte charity shop, the local Barnardos where everything is £1.99.

I wore this when we had our weekend away in Bristol late last year and as it had kept me toasty as we explored that city I knew it would be perfect for out little urban walk today.

We live very close to an area of Southampton called Bitterne.

A while ago I had bought a booklet produced by a local history society detailing a self guided walk around Bitterne.

The walk itself is divided into 3 sections and today we did part 1.

The walk begins by The Red Lion pub.

A year ago, after undergoing refurbishment and a new extension, it was reopened by Wetherspoons.

A nearby underpass has a tiled red lion on the walls echoing the lion in the precinct.

Although the road was extremely quiet on a Sunday afternoon it is quite the opposite during the week as it's a main road into town.

The guide book told us that this was once a route used to herd sheep along on their way to market. On the corner of this road stands a shop and from it a watchmaker plied his trade. One day his young son managed to get out of the gate and wandered onto this stretch of road. Suddenly 4 horsemen galloped towards him and being scared and not knowing what to do to get himself safely out of the way he began to cry. One of the men dismounted, scooped him up and returned him back home to his father.
Apparently this gentlemen was none other than Baden-Powell who had been riding from the Southampton Remount Depot towards Netley Hospital to visit soldiers who had been injured in the Boer War. 

Near the corner of one road stood a solitary tree which we would have walked past without a second glance had the guide book not drawn our attention to it.
4 foot from the ground a metal hook is fixed into the trunk, positioned there in the 1920s, so a gentleman named Alfred Petty could hoist himself on to and off of his horse. He needed this assistance as he had lost a leg. 

I can't help but wonder who on earth thought it was a good idea to put in white UPVC windows on this building which had originally been built as a Baptist Chapel but has also been used as an Anglican chapel, council chamber and library.
With it's dull brown exterior and the stark white of the windows it looks more than a little plain and could really benefit from a bit of tlc.

One house I did fall in love with was this cottage. 
With a 'Sold' sign in the front garden I hope it's going to have some new residents who will love it and create a happy home insides it's walls.

This row of houses are just a section from a cluster of identical homes built in 1970.
They stand on the site formerly occupied by a grand pile named Anglesey House which was home to Mr Gerald Mills. He was one half of the romantic publisher's Mills & Boon's.

There were once a fair few pubs in this area and now just two still survive.
We discovered The Humble Plumb about halfway through our walk and as the sun has disappeared and we were feeling the cold it did looked very inviting but we decided to keep going, although I think a future visit is needed.
The other pub is The Fox and Hounds. Built in the 1870s it was originally named The Cooper's Arms but changed to it's present name a decade later to honour a local hunt which met there.

G had never walked any of these streets and it has been years since I had visited some of them too.
It was fascinating walking around somewhere so local to where we live and finding out about social history so close to home.