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.

P O S H

An exhibition entitled Port Out Southampton Home has been running at the Sea City museum for the past year and is due to come to an end in a couple of weeks.

With G being off with me today we thought a little jaunt into town for lunch and then a wander around the exhibition would be just the thing to make sure we caught it before it closed.

I love the old advertising posters. They are so brightly coloured and 

some are just so stylish too. The exhibition told the history of the liners from their beginnings in the 1890's through to the modern day and was really very interesting. 

I must admit the section covering the 1920s and 1930s was a bit of a draw for me as everyone and everything looked so very glamorous. 
Not sure G would blend in with the in crowd with his Alterbridge t-shirt and jeans!
We did have a game of deck quoits and I'm pleased to report I won.

My dad was in the Merchant Navy and worked with Tommy Steele. He said when he wasn't working he constantly played his guitar and sang, Dad said it drove him mad!

A large and fascinating section of the exhibition was about the food provided on board. On display were a dozen or so menus from different ships across different decades. 
There was so much choice.
Had I been a passenger on R.M.S Berengaria on April 18th 1935 I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been choosing the fried calf's feet for dinner.

I can never resist the lure of trying on dressing up clothes when they are provided, in amongst all the reading I think it's fun when there are some parts which are a bit more interactive.
I think G looks quite good in this cap.

Where as I look fairly ridiculous in my posing!
All jolly good fun though..

On the way back to the car we had to walk past the shopping centre and discovered a new temporary art installation. Huge plastic snails. They reminded me of counters in a child's board game made super-sized. 
We need to go back for another look before they go in June.

Easter

                         What a lovely Easter weekend we've just had.
Starting back on Good Friday me, G and S took ourselves off into town. For ages now we've been wanting to go and have a round of mini golf on the course in one of the parks and Friday proved to be the day we finally got to do it. We were the first group to arrive and had it all to ourselves for the first ten minutes. This gave us a good head start on the people who followed and meant we could just take our time and enjoy each hole and not feel like we were holding anyone up.

S managed to get a hole in one on her very first go but unfortunately things didn't carry on in the same vein for her!

We all had a really good laugh and it was lovely to spend time together.

A Festival of Colour was advertised as being held at the shopping centre so we wandered on over.

Loved what they had done to the steps.

The colour was continued in people dressed as exotic flowers

and the traditional fairground attractions of the helter skelter

and these gallopers.

A couple of weeks back G and I watched High Society. I love everything about this movie but G had never seen it before. I'm please to say he liked very much.

After watching it I commented that I have never seen The Philadelphia Society, the movie on which this musical version is based.

A few days later a copy arrived in the post, G had been online and ordered a copy and we watched this Friday evening.

I'm glad to have seen it (Cary Grant is in it!) but we both agreed High Society will always be our favourite.

We've now passed it on to G's mum to watch.

G had to work on Saturday and as S was busy with a friend I went to Winchester with him. We went a couple of hours before he needed to start work so we could pop along to the Angie Lewin exhibition at the Discovery Centre.

G was in and out within 5 minutes, he said it didn't so anything for him so he went into the library to see if he could find a book he was after.

I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't doubt I would. I love her work.
It wasn't until I was nearly leaving that I realised what I had chosen to wear that day by pure co-incidence, wasn't a million miles away from what I had been looking at.

We had time afterwards to sit by the Cathedral and have a drink and a bite to eat before G had to go on into work.

I then had an hour until my train and spent most it it in a shop called Molly's Den. There are several of these locally. Each one a treasure trove of collectables, antiques and all manner of goodies.
I came home with a new handmade brooch

and some of my money which my mum gave me at Christmas was spent on this cute mini desk calendar. 

Easter Sunday was a strange day. G had to work the late shift again and T and S were both at home all day. That hasn't happened in a while. I busied myself with household chores and in between those S helped me to prepare some games, presents and nests for our family day on Monday.
I cheated and bought the meringue nests to which we added a good dollop of melted chocolate and some mini eggs.

We had invited some of G's and my family over to us for lunch today which is when most those meringue nests were eaten.
Everyone was given a chocolate rabbit. Each rabbit sported a tag handmade by S which read 'You're Some Bunny Special'.

Plus there were some games. We had a round of bunny bingo, an Easter bunny left and right game, a guess what's in the golden egg competition and then we rounded it all off with a messy 'make your partner look like a spring lamb' game.
This involved one person in the team wearing a shower cap which was then covered in shaving foam. As shown here by T.

The shower capped team members lined up on one side and the other team members stood in a line opposite. They were given a bag of cotton wool balls which they had to throw at the shaving foam. They had one minute to get as many balls to stick as possible. As shown here by my sister C, my sister's partner A and by G. 

It was incredibly messy, incredibly sticky and incredibly funny. The winning team managed 34.
S was G's partner and she only managed 6!
I would thoroughly recommend this game, but make sure you have plenty of towels handy for the clean-up afterwards and a black sack for throwing everything away in. 

London In January

 I had been looking forward to our post Christmas trip to London so much and      the weekend did not disappoint.

We had a plan, which we stuck to, and it all worked out rather well.

We took the tube to Notting Hill and walked in the direction of Portabello Road as we wanted to wander the market.

As I'm sure you can imagine the housing in this area is all extremely desirable.

The previous residence of one George Orwell was up for sale in 2012, you can view the details here.

 I can't imagine how busy this stretch of road is in the summer as even on a cold Saturday in January it was absolutely heaving. Everywhere you look there is something which catches your eye.

We weren't really there for shopping but the riot of colour which is Alice's couldn't be ignored and

had money been no object then the soda syphons and this sign would have come home with us.

Even the door was a work of art.

As well as spending some time in a part of London we haven't visited before the other reason we were here is because we were going to visit the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Design. Using our rail tickets were we able to make use of the 2 for 1 deal on the entrance fee.

No photography is allowed inside otherwise this post would be chock full of photos.

We spent ages in here. 

It was so interesting. 

We spent ages pointing at things we recognised from when we were children. Packets of sweets, yogurts, breakfast cereal, tins of soup, household cleaning products, shampoo, toys and games,  I could go on and on.

I would thoroughly recommend a visit, not just for a stroll down memory lane to remind you of things you had forgotten but also for the informative displays on items from other decades such as the children's board games from World War I.

Fascinating.

From here we took the DLR to Greenwich where we had booked into a Travelodge.

We managed to get a seat in the very end of the train and as we came up from being underground the skyline of London opened up in front of us and we the most perfect clear view of it.

An unexpected and very welcome treat.

The reason we stayed in Greenwich was so on Sunday morning we would be right on hand for making our way to the Maritime museum for soon after opening. 

We had tickets for the Emma Hamilton exhibition.

Actually before I continue with that, I must give a mention to the cafe where we had breakfast. Should you ever be in the area and in need of refreshment then try The Plumtree Cafe.

We didn't really have time to explore Greenwich which is a shame if there are other parts which are just as elegant as the Queen Elizabeth College Almhouses.

Although we did make a little stop at the vintage market in case there were any gems of the vinyl kind for G.

 He left empty handed but I found a birthday gift for a friend which was an unexpected bonus.

 So then it was on to the museum I must admit I was feeling very excited by the time we got there. I mean just look at this place.

I got a bit giddy with it all which I think probably explains my rather jaunty stance by the huge anchor at the entrance!

The exhibition was wonderful.

Whilst travelling home from Salisbury on the train last year we had seen a poster advertising the exhibition which said 

Emma Hamilton was one of the most famous international celebrities of her time and her life is the ultimate costume drama. Now largely remembered as the woman who captured the heart of the nation’s hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Emma was an extraordinary woman in her own right. Find out all in our dazzling new exhibition and events season.

So what did we find out about Emma?

Emma was born in Cheshire andwent to London when she 12.

She was became the muse of George Romney who painted her dozens of times.

She was the mistress of Charles Greville who then persuaded his uncle Sir William Hamilton to have her live with him in Naples once he needed to settle down to married life.

Emma and William eventually married, there was an age difference of 35 years.

Emma became fluent in Italian and French and developed a series of dances inspired by classical art which were known as The Attitudes.

Emma became a close friend of Queen Maria Carolina, the sister of Marie Antoinette.

Emma met Nelson in 1793 but their affair did not start until a few years later.

Emma gave birth to their daughter Horatia in 1801.

Sir William died in 1803 and Nelson in 1805.

Emma spent time in a debtors prison due to financial difficulties before fleeing to France  where she died in 1815 aged 49.

We had spent quite a while in the exhibition and there really wasn't any time left for further exploration of Greenwich museum. My mum was staying with T and S and we were mindful of having to be back home.

So it was back through the main hall where we just had to spend a few minutes looking at all the colourful figureheads

before heading back on the DLR to Canary Wharf and then on to Waterloo and home.

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.