Home and Away

This weekend has been very different from the previous one. On Friday evening T went to Salisbury in readiness for his trip with Grandma to London to see Mamma Mia. This was his combined Christmas and birthday gift from Auntie D. I pleased to report that all 3 of them said it was fantastic and they all had a great time.

Meanwhile back at home, instead of taking S and 3 of her friends off to the local soft play centre for her birthday treat she was under a duvet with a high temperature watching

All she wanted was cuddles from me and so we spent most of the on the sofa. As well as giving cuddles I was able to read my current book club book The Glass of Time which was a great page turner.

Thankfully on Sunday S was feeling a bit perkier and as I wasn't required to spend quite so much time on the sofa I got on with a few household chores before baking this delicious Chocolate and Ginger Cake. I'm not a very good cake maker but this was so easy and tastes really good. The recipe states it improves if left for 3 days wrapped up in greaseproof in a tin. I'll let you know if it lasts that long!

T came home yesterday in a very bouncy mood, I'm sure he has grown since Friday and S has been able to go back to school today, birthday treat rescheduled for a couple of weeks time. All back to normal.

Thrifty Thursday

I don't think I've done one of these TT posts for a while, so here goes.

I bought this pink lidded Jamie at Home glass storage jar last week for £1.00 with every intention of giving it to my sister until half way home I realised it was the perfect colour and size

for the marshmallows that top off our hot chocolates. Sorry sis, this one's a keeper.

I have to say this new word verification is really annoying me. I've set my blog to comment moderation now so hopefully any lovely visitor I have here leaving a comment shouldn't be asked to decipher the two words with squashed up letters.

February Scavenger Hunt

Here is my helping for this month scavenger hunt as organised for us by Kathy.

I have completely failed on the subject of Cupid but got all the others and they are as follows

Empty.

One of our laundry baskets, doesn't happen often, just like the ironing basket!

Leap Year.

The leap year leaf on our weather tree.

Crowded.

One of the birthday cards sent to T. Who doesn't love the Where's Wally series.


Train.

One of T's many keyrings.


Food.

With the double birthday this month it just had to be one the cakes.



Music.

And her is the birthday girl with one of her presents from me and G. She is looking a bit concerned for some reason, but she does love it to bits.

Love.

Lots of love hearts on my lovely dresser which I love.

Heritage.

A plaque on a wall in the middle of town explaining that a church used to stand on this spot and it was here that Jane Austen worshipped when she stayed in the City.

In the Sky.

The Spinnaker tower at Portsmouth reaching up high into the sky.


5.

Whilst sorting through the box where I keep birthday banners and candles I found a few balloons left over from a birthday a couple of years ago.



Black and White.

Tiles on the outside of a house spotted whilst we were on our walk on Saturday.

Thanks again go to Kathy for making sure we keep busy with the cameras.

Tassel Tussle

At the charity shop I volunteer in all of our hats, gloves and scarves are put into a couple of large plastic storage boxes and are sold for 50p each and at that price we sell a lot. As the boxes will be packed away soon I thought I would have a rummage to see what was in there and I found this stripy beauty. The only thing was I wasn't sure about the amount of tassels.

So I unknotted the tassels from one end and wore it around the house for a few hours, as you do, to help me decide.



The decision was made and the tassels were taken off the other end too. I think it looks much better that way.

I do have a use for them though.

Another Wander by the Water

What another wonderfully mild and Spring like day we have enjoyed today. So mild in fact we were able to go out without coats or jackets, although for the paddling

wellies were a necessity.


Although I must admit I stayed out of the water most of the time preferring to seek out little treasures along the shore



but we all enjoyed being out in the fresh air no matter what we did. S kept running around shouting out how everything was 'so much fun.'



We saw a different part of the shoreline today as we started our walk from where we normally end up. The first thing we came to was the sailing club where through a hole in hedge we could see a few of the boats which had just taken to the water.



Part of the sea wall had holes cut into it quite low down, perfect for peeping through!



Our last new find was Netley Castle. The link gives lots of information about the castle. It's only been in it's present state for over 100 years, although there has been a defensive building here for many centuries. Unfortunately when it was converted into apartments a few years back another addition was made and it wasn't very sympathetically done so one end looks new and concretey and doesn't quite have the character of this older part.

It's certainly been a weekend for discovering new old buildings on our doorstep.

P-p-pick up a Parcel

One of the cards sent to T for his birthday didn't have the correct postage value on it so couldn't be delivered and instead we had to collect it from the local sorting office.

As it was so bright and mild it seemed like a good idea to take a walk to collect it rather than hopping into the car.

The sorting office is on a small industrial park off of a very busy road and just before you reach it, set back from the road, you get a tantalising view of a listed building. It's an old manor house which has been converted into apartments and there is a sign warning it's Private Property so unfortunately this is the best look you can get of the front


but a better view can be found of the back, although it's not quite so attractive as you can see all the later add ons to the original building. I would like to meet someone who lives there to get a better look round!
As we walked round by the side of the house we glimpsed a view of the river



and this is what we saw once we were past the trees. We had a great uninterrupted view of the river, those living near it and those out enjoying it in boats and canoes.



Once we had collected the card we took a different route back as I was hoping to find an unusual house I had once read about in a newspaper a few years ago.

First we passed a small boat yard where S saw and instantly liked these colourful boats and wanted a photo of them

then past an apartment building named Swan Court



until we found the building I was after. It was described in the article I read as being an oversized chess piece. Now I would love to see inside this home too.


To end this post there are a couple of completely random photos which I have included as I liked the texture in both of them.

One of them is a gnarled part of a fallen tree trunk


and the other weathered boards by the water's edge.

Birthday Cake x 2

It's been a day full of presents and cakes.

Today T turned 12

and S turned 7.

T wasn't impressed that he had to go to school, quite often their birthday falls during half term, but not so this year.

S wore a hat to school in the shape of a birthday cake, she wanted to ensure that no-one was under any illusion that today wasn't just any old Thursday!

Happy Birthday my darlings.