London sights

Our main reason for a trip to London last weekend was for T to have a contact visit with one of his birth grandparents. Whilst T and G went to meet his nan from her train S and I wandered over towards Trafalgar Square where we were due to meet up with G's sister.
T has just read The London Eye Mystery and so I felt the need to add another shot of it to our photo collection. S decided she wouldn't like to go on it now or even when she's older.




Another photo for T, how could I resist one of a Dalek?

S was super impressed by the length of the boots the soldiers sat on horseback were wearing. And the shine on them too.

For some reason I have never taken a photo of this incredibly beautiful monument before and this along with lots of other statues prompted lots of questions from S as we wandered along.

T always got so excited by the sight of Big Ben, I must admit I still do!

We didn't pop in for tea with the Queen, we admired her house from afar and had a cuppa (or two) in the park instead.

On Sunday we went along to Brockwell Park as it's within easy walking distance of D's home. It really is a gorgeous park.

How about this building for the cafe, isn't it just splendid?

As well as the vast open space, there is a lido, a paddling pool,

walled garden,

and over this weekend the Lambeth Country Show was being held there.

There was so much going on, stuff to buy, though not at £75.00!

Entertainment of many different varieties

in fact so much it would keep you busy all day and as we arrived at nearly 3pm we just didn't have the time to fit it all in. Maybe next year.

quiet

I haven't been around on blogger much recently, certainly posting has been a bit intermittent, reading and commenting a bit, though not much, better.
Reason being is I've not taken many photos as I keep forgetting to take my camera out with me.
Another reason is I've been doing a lot of thinking.
Sometimes I do too much of this, well ok just too much idle daydreaming if I'm honest, which then leads to time wasting and hair pulling when I realise how little I get achieved.
I've been thinking about my life in general.
Don't panic this isn't going to turn into a long emotionally charged and heavy post, but 2 years ago I hit 40. 3 days before the big day I had a great picnic with friends and family to celebrate and then 2 days after my birthday life turned upside down (and stayed that way for a very long while) as my Dad was admitted to hospital and then a few weeks later he died.
In a couple of days time I'm hoping to go on another picnic and celebrate my 42nd birthday and I hope that it will signify some kind of mark in tme for me.
I still have a lot of thinking and considering to do.
And a bit of idle day dreaming too!

In the meantime here's a couple of snaps we have managed to take from the last few days.
On Friday S had to go into school dressed as a Super Hero.
A made up one or a well known one.
We made up Princess Power, any excuse to wear her red sparkly skirt to school.
Not shown in the photo is the cape I made from a lace tablecloth with tinsel sewn round the edges as a bit of trimming. Note to self, don't sew tinsel on to anything again!



G doing his own impression of Dr Doolittle with the pigeons in St James' Park on Saturday afternoon during our weekend trip to London.

choose your sonic

T was at home with me on Monday due to a school inset day.
I had housework stuff to do first thing but after all was done I asked him what he wanted us to do.
'Play Dr Who,' he answered.
My heart sank.
I am so bad at those kind of games.
Jigsaw puzzles I can do, reading I can do, colouring I can do, gluing and cutting out I can do, board games I can do. Make believe games just aren't my speciality.
'How about we go to the park?' I suggested.
'No thanks, Dr Who please.'
A couple of other suggestions were also dismissed and so Dr Who it was.
I was asked to make my choice from the sonic screwdriver collection and also decide between the vortex manipulator or Sarah Jane's watch.
I won't forget in a hurry how T laughed until he nearly cried over how I explained to Mr Smith yes of course I was Sarah Jane, no I'm not an imposter, yes I agree I don't look like my normal svelte self and yes I may have put on a few pounds, before finally admitting I was in fact an alien who had just eaten Sarah Jane!
As well as charging around the dining room trying to dodge the sonic rays and work out ways to get through the triple force field shield T was able to deploy whenever it seemed like I was getting the upper hand in our battles, it all turned out to be really good fun.

random

I have been a very inconsistent blogger recently.
I've never been very good at managing my time properly and just lately I seem to have become even worse than usual. Time used sat around thinking about what I should be doing/want to be doing/need to be doing and nothing much done at the end of it.
Oh well I'm sure I'll figure it all out at some point.

One thing I really should mention is a lovely little parcel I received recently from Miss Peagreen Kitty. Inside the pink tissue was some delectable G&B chocolate and yes the wrapper on the milk chocolate looks like that because I had already eaten some before I remembered I needed to snap the contents! A string of beads to add to my ever growing collection and the sparkliest blue brooch that had once belonged to her nan. How very touched I was to be entrusted with such a treasure. Thank you Kitty.




Diane, who goes on the most wonderful walks, recently posted about one she and her husband did round Haddon estate. This reminded me of a coffee pot I bought about 20 years ago when I worked in a shop selling china and glass. It only cost me £1.00 as the top part of the handle has a hairline crack where it meets the pot and so couldn't be sold. Apparently the design was inspired by the tapestries which hang in the Hall.

Now this post isn't entitled random for nothing! Next up is a small cutting I made from a magazine years ago of a Scottish home decked out at Christmas. I liked the homespun feel of this sock 'stocking' and being the thrifty shopper I am wasn't going to buy brand new ones and so have been on the look out (when I remember) for some I can use in our home.

And last week I found 2 pairs for 10p each. With all my procrastinating and other time wasting pursuits I reckon I should be able to 'Christmas-ize' them in time for December! Well don't hold me to that, but that's the plan!

whoever said.......

...it's as easy as riding a bike?
I want a word with them.
Cos it's not easy. Not when you haven't ridden one for 30 years!
I have finally ventured out in the cutway behind our home on the bike rescued from our neighbours skip. It had belonged to her daughter, nothing wrong with it, just didn't want it anymore and so it was being chucked out.
It's been sat in our shed waiting for me to feel confident enough about trying it out for a very, very long time.
Towards the end of last week I gave it a go and oh my, oh my, I was more than a bit wibbly wobbly to start with but after a couple of practices and G very kindly buying me a jelly saddle cover to help make the whole experience a little more comfortable, I'm getting the hang of it again. Slowly does it.

weekend smiles

There were lots of things that made us laugh this weekend.
Saturday morning I bounced with T on the trampoline, something I haven't done for ages and that certainly made us laugh. When S came out to join us in the garden I set up a mini obstacle course for them. Nothing strenuous, just hit a beanbag up in the air 3 times with a badminton racket, throw a ball into a bucket, balance a tennis ball on a spade, do star jumps and a few of other things. T insisted I have a go too and we took turns timing each other. Stopping for a quick biscuity break of course.




In the afternoon we picked up my mum and the 4 of us spent an hour at a garden fete. The children got to hook ducks, throw wet sponges and eat ice creams. Me and mum had a rummage through the bric-a-brac. My two best buys were the tiny perfume bottle for 10p and the glasses case for 30p.




A 5 minute walk away from the fete is a little wooded area. Now owned and (not so) maintained by the council, it was once the garden of a large family house. We hadn't been there for ages and so wandered along. We found that the swings had been removed but the helicopter climbing frame is still there. So along with a bit of scramble over that the children also played with some marbles my mum had bought for T and the bubble wand S had won on the tombola. We were there ages just running around, laughing and larking about. It felt so good to be out in the sunshine being silly. There is a huge tree in the middle of the grounds which would be perfect for picnicing under. A plan for the summer holidays I reckon.

Thank you all for the ladder loving comments. Whilst watering the plants on Saturday evening I noticed this white rose had begun to bloom so on Father's day I snipped one off to bring indoors

and although I thought of him many, many times during the day each time I saw this rose I thought of my lovely dad and smiled some more.

garden goodness

On Saturday we popped to visit my sister. In her new home she has a lovely decking area just outside her back door which is a perfect little sun trap and she has filled it with plants.
These pansies look fab in a pink bucket.


She has made some very pretty labels for some of the plants.

At a church sale a few weeks back we both bought a morning glory plant. Mine was devoured in days by a slug or snail, being on the safety of the decking hers is doing well. She told me she had actually bought this cheery red bag for me as part of my birthday present but has now decided to keep it for herself. What a meanie, I would have loved it!

This rose was one from our dad's garden. He really loved his roses.

And here is my Freecycled step ladder. These plants were already in the garden, I haven't got round to buying more as yet, I was just having a move around to see how things looked.It's the perfect place for my cuppa to go on too!

Another new addition to this area is the bunting. I'm not blessed with sewing abilities and so don't have anything like a fabric stash to raid and so I cheated and bought this off of ebay. And shock horror, it's plastic and not fabric, but the colours and patterns are so pretty and zingy! I love it.