15th - 21st October

This week I have been

Wearing - a little blue combo of a crown patterned top and a bunting strewn cardigan after the pregnancy of the Duchess of Sussex was announced.

Feeling - a little blue at times too. Wednesday was the birthday of T's brother L who passed away a couple of years ago. When the children were little this would have meant a day trip to London for us all to catch up. Now being older and mobile T drove himself up to Norwich, staying for two nights to see his birth siblings and spend time with them.


Trying - not to succumb to the temptation of snuffling a cake (or two) on Chocolate Cupcake day and so deciding to go down the brooch route instead.

Grateful for - the comments left on my last post which contained messages hoping we were all over our various bugs. Much appreciated.

Watching - The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. G and I have watched 3 episodes of this so far and we are hooked. It's written by the creators of The Gilmore Girls and I loved that long series so it's really no surprise we are enjoying this one.
Rocky adores Graham and ignores me most of the time, but whilst we were watching this TV show last night it seems my lap was the spot he preferred. Look at the size of his feet!

Eating -  steak and chips. Can't remember the last time I ate steak. We are lucky enough to work near some fab bars and restaurants and so a little gathering was organised for after work midweek. What a treat. 

Loving -  this late Autumn sunshine. To make the most of it the 3 of us took ourselves out for a walk on Saturday.
We took the train to Shawford and then walked the 3 miles along the Itchen Navigation trail into Winchester.

Over the years we had done various sections of this trail, which takes you past some beautiful river views, 

and this time we also took in St Catherine's hill. A walk up the hill is on the agenda for another day.

Hoping -  for a little colour in the front garden come the colder months after I potted up this colander and a terracotta planter with winter pansies. 

The First Ever...............

.................episode of Doctor Who was broadcast on 23rd November 1963.

Watching Dr Who with the children brings back some very happy memories of the four of us sat together anticipating what perils would befall the Doctor and his companion.

I bought this set of stencils from Lakeland a few years ago and in the past they have been used to dust icing sugar over fairy cakes. 
Tonight the TARDIS was used to top off G's coffee with a sprinkling of chocolate.

Weekend Snaps

Saturday morning breakfast was banana and oat pancakes.

I am a little undecided about whether or not I liked them, it was a texture thing rather than the taste.

G liked them.

One of the recipe options has a chocolate chip variety, I may give these a try.

I decided to paint the key cupboard red, then decided that actually it really needed to be pink.

The decorating of the utility room has stalled. The hot weather has sapped my energy when it comes to painting. When G toddled off to London for most of Saturday (he went to see Bat Out of Hell with his sister) I decided I really needed to be a bit more proactive and so phase one of the key cupboard makeover was set in motion.



A new A4 sized notebook has been purchased.

Back in 2015 I finally figured out a page a day diary set up which worked for me. This served it's purpose well but over time I began to miss the option of having a whole week on view, I just find this easier when trying to plan the week. 
Over a few weeks I trialed some new layouts and have now settled on going back to having an A5 week to view diary for my handbag which I can scribble the day to day stuff in. This A4 book stays at home, close to hand, and on a double page spread for the week contains the master list of all things which need to be done or are happening.



Whilst doing the above along with some more general pottering I finished watching The Gilmore Girls.

I bought myself the first season a couple of years ago and since then G bought me series 2 through to 7 as either birthday or Christmas presents.
From what I've read I'm not sure I want to watch the four specials they did last year to bring the story up to date.


Sunday morning we went to the car boot sale.
I spent half an hour with G and then when my mum and sister arrived I went wandering with them whilst G was happy to go and do his own thing. He gets bored waiting for me as I dawdle round whilst he prefers a more speedy approach.
My sister spotted this brand new M&S dress for me. The seller was only asking £3.00 which I thought was very reasonable and I was going to buy it until my mum offered to buy it for me as part of my birthday present. As it's only a few days away she suggested I took it on home with me, which I was more than happy to do.

2017

A Happy 2017 message bought to you courtesy of a banner from the outside of the supermarket my son works in.

Unfortunately the bus service wasn't in operation early enough to get him to work on time so we dropped him there this morning.

He took a packed suitcase with him as after his shift he was travelling to stay with friends for a few days.

Time away, what a great way for him to start the new year.

Not long after arriving back home S was dropped off, she had been invited to a New Year's eve sleepover and judging by how tired she looked much fun had been had.

For me the first day of the year hasn't involved much more than a little light pottering and two very enjoyable hours flumped on the sofa with G watching the cracking BBC adaptation of The Witness for the Prosecution.  

                                                  (picture from this book, a Christmas present from G)

So what's in store for January? 
We have plans for a day out next weekend, T has a young driver lesson booked for another weekend and most excitingly G and I have a weekend away in London right at the end of the month.
But for now the sofa beckons again as Sherlock is back.

Children's TV

On the first weekend of half term G, S and I took the train to Portsmouth.

There was a reason we went there which I shall get to in just a mo.

However our first stop, as it so often is, was for lunch.

In the summer lunch is usually a picnic, but in cold and wet February it was in a family friendly pub.

The building was once the offices for a local gas company and so before we go any further there's a couple of things to share from there.

Whilst waiting for S outside the ladies I took a photo of the old window directly above me

and the one directly in front of me. Looks like it and the banister next to it could do with a bit of a dust off!

Flanking the main entrance are two plaques dedicated to the men of the Portsea Island Gas Company who gave their lives during WW1.
Only right and proper these remained in place.

So to the reason for our trip. 
An exhibition of children's TV through the ages was being held and the chance to see it was drawing to an end as it was due to close within the next week.
I'm so glad we went.
Greeting us on arrival is the costume worn by the actor who played Fizz in the Tweenies. Fizz was S's favourite character.

Situated in another part of the museum was Jake, T's favourite Tweenie. He won't thank me for sharing that I'm sure!

There wasn't too much within the exhibition that S was familiar with, but she has always liked a bit of Rastamouse

and I found it amusing when she pointed to this little fellow and said 'Mum do you recognise who this one is?' She thought he was a recent creation of her TV children's TV generation and hadn't realised that Morph goes way back.

Another recent addition to children's TV is a new series of the old favourites The Clangers and this is a model of one of the new ones.

T was on a school trip in Madrid that weekend and even if he had been home I know he wouldn't have accompanied us but there was so much he would have recognised. 

All his favourites.

When we became a family his most favourite thing was Bob the Builder and his machines.

T had such poor speech delay back then and he couldn't say any of these words correctly and so it was more like Bo ye Builyer.

This machine is called Scoop, for obvious reasons.

Oh my word how many times did we hear the theme tune played for these next two. T had videos of Brum

and Rosie and Jim which we watched countless times.
Happy, happy memories.

G was very excited to see the original Pob puppet, this is one I don't remember at all.

Another highlight for him was this piece of original artwork from Captain Pugwash. Can you see the strips of paper coming out from the left side and the bottom? These work the arms and such to make the characters move.

For me there were 4 stand out items which I have to say really made my day.
First up two annuals. One for Mary, Mungo and Midge and the fantastic Camberwick Green. Two programmes which I loved.

And just look who it is...... Humpty!!!!
An original Humpty.
So, so exciting.

And if that wasn't enough there was an original Little Ted too.

To be honest my day was complete after seeing these two but it was taken up a notch further when the next thing I saw was an original Fingermouse.
What a treat it was to see these familiar objects from my childhood.

I've been to the museum a couple of times, the last time the children came with me during the school hols but G has never been so we made our way around the rest of the museum.

Should you ever be in Portsmouth I recommend a visit as they have lots of different permanent exhibitions which are well worth a look.

You can also get married here and as the door was open we had a peek and this beautiful painting was on the wall.

I've shared parts of the museum before but here's a few more from this trip.
I loved this decorative thistle light fitting which hung at the sea front during the mid 50's.

Part of a 1950's room set

Cosmetics from the 1950s and 1940s 

There is also a small art gallery in the building and within it we found this painting of a train approaching Fareham along the Wallington viaduct. A scene familiar to us as you can see from this post and it was a treat to see too.

Halloween Half Term

We've had a half term week full of variety.

On Sunday we went out for lunch before G and T took the train to Norwich.

They stayed there until Tuesday so T got to spend time with his birth siblings.

S was kept busy on Monday when she had her friend C over.

They busied themselves and I hardly saw them apart from when they came into the kitchen to bake some cakes.

With G away I caught with on a couple of things I had recorded on BBC.

A few years ago I bought this book but it has just sat on the shelf being passed over for others because it's quite a thick one and the print is tiny!

When I saw the story had been made into a documentary and was to be presented by the author I knew this would be something I needed to watch.

A love story lived out in India during the 19th century and it was as fascinating as I thought it would be.

My second watch was The Scandalous Lady W. This was absolutely riveting from start to finish. The true story of Lady Worsley, her unhappy marriage and the court case which her husband instigated against her lover seeking £20,000 in compensation. The way women were regarded as their husband's property is shocking.

Tuesday morning we went to the cinema to see the Minions movie. 
All very good fun with some bits which made us laugh out loud because of their general silliness.
From the cinema we walked into town to purchase a new pair of school shoes which, thankfully, was a quick and easy process.
Tuesday evening I went to a WI meeting. I found details online of a group who meet at a pub in the town centre. October's meeting was all about keeping happy and healthy during the winter. Next month will be Christmas wreath making. There are  two other meetings which take place each month, one is a book group and another a craft group.

On Wednesday we had our annual trip,with my mum, to the country park for the Halloween trail.
I have a feeling this will be our last one. S was as keen to go as always but once we were there and she had the trail in her hand and she read the cues she said 'I know the answers to some of these already.' Plus as we walked round she recognised some of the clues hidden in the trees and said 'These were here last year!'
After the trail we go to the garden centre for hot chocolate and here we were joined by my two sisters. After a drink and a chat we had a good wander round the Christmas department, the final part of our yearly tradition.

Thursday and Friday I was at work and G was at home. 
T saw friends and S spent time on a homework project. The topic at school for the next half term is the Greeks and G has helped S produce a power point display on the story of Perseus. Before they broke up S's class had a trip to the Baring Room at the art gallery to see a series of works by Burne-Jones depicting the Story of Perseus.

Saturday was all about Halloween.
G carved the pumpkins and the children decorated the outside of the house with all manner of ghost and witch themed paraphernalia. T set up some music and we had the theme from Ghostbusters blaring out to greet our trick or treat callers, we had 84 during the evening, all chocolate bought for the occasion was given out and we had to ignore the last couple of people who knocked as we had not a thing left. 
G took S out and she came home with a bag brimming with sweet treats.
I saw this idea for a trifle in one of the free supermarket magazines and made one for us, minus the biscuits on top. 

To round off the week we come to today, S kept busy at home playing and adding the finishing touches to her homework, T went to the charity shop and I attended a talk at the Dolphin Hotel entitled 'Why Jane Austen preferred Southampton to Bath.' The Dolphin was the venue for this talk because as the plaque on the building quotes 'It is said that Jane Austen celebrated her 18th birthday in the ballroom on 16th December 1793 with her brother Frank.'
More on that another time.

Saturday - start to finish

It was whilst I was looking for details for our day out last weekend I found something which we could go to this weekend.

We left the car near one of our favourite parks and took a stroll along the river. This was busy with people in kayaks

and when I saw this chap all I could think of was the theme tune to Hawaii Five-0.

When the children we younger we would come to this park and feed the ducks and yesterday we saw a new sign advising other items which are better for them to have.

It's good info to have for a future visit but we weren't at the park to feed the ducks or any of the other birds we saw.

 Our destination could be seen just over the roof tops 

 

 St. Denys church was the venue for a new art exhibition. 
Outside the church was a colourful display by a group of primary school children. It was all about the rights of children. Access to food and clean water, a safe place to play and being able to go to school were all mentioned.

Also outside were these faces cut from plastic bottles which reminded me of boggarts.

The art work on display ranged from paintings and sculpture to stained glass. I liked the way these flowers were displayed entwined around an old metal gate.

We visited this church a 4 years ago on a heritage open day and it was the stained glass windows which caught our attention then. I couldn't get a good photo of them yesterday. This was because of the sun, so I'm not complaining, so I concentrated on some other smaller features.

Back home in the afternoon I spent some time in the kitchen baking Dalek shaped biscuits to go with our

Dalek straws. All of this was in readiness for the start of the new Dr Who series which we all sat down and enjoyed together. 

I thought we needed something to go with our biscuits and as it was butterscotch pudding day there really was only one contender. I could have spent longer in the kitchen and made something from scratch but decided on the trashy option instead.