Welly Wander

Today I had to go to the shop and Post Office and because we had half a bag of stale bread I decided we would take the long scenic route and go via the duck pond. Then after reading my latest email from www.naturedetectives.org.uk I thought we would take one of their suggestions and make it into a welly wander where we had to spot something that started with every letter of the alphabet. T and S did them all (with a little input from me) apart from K.

We began by putting on our coats and Zipping them up. We weren't the only people by the pond as we saw a few Dogwalkers.

Down by the waters edge we spotted a family of Water rats chasing each other around.

The Hungry ducks were very vocal with lots of Quacking and they did make us smile with their antics on the frozen Icy water. Down by the pond we saw lots of Feathers.

Crossing over the road to the park we followed the trail, passing the wooden noticeboard which had a Butterfly carved on it, to the bridge where we played Pooh sticks. It was here the children went for a paddle, tried to dam up the water and ended up with Orange hands. Walking along the path there was plenty of Squidgy mud and we spotted a couple of Tree monsters. We thought this one below had the look of a dragon about it.



As T and S continued eXploring I handed out some Yummy hot cross buns to help keep energy levels up and distract S from the fact she had just slipped over and had a very Muddy bottom! Passing an Upturned tree stump we saw a pair of discarded black Gloves before leaving the path and making our way over to the playground past a huge holly bush which still had a few Red berries on it along with all it's lovely glossy green Leaves.

Just by the park is a Chair carved out of a tree stump, S didn't like the look of it for sitting on so decided on a jaunty pose standing next to it.


After a quick play we made our way to the shops passing this red sign to warn drivers of the Adverse camber in the road



then past the New housing estate which was full of builders and their Vans
Into the Co-op for a couple of things for tea we noticed all the chocolate on display for Easter and then it was on home for lunch after snapping our last photo Johnny English 2.


I think I've remembered them all!

City Culture

• Today I met my friend I at the Art Gallery for our regular catch up with each other's news and we chatted whilst making our way around a new exhibition showcasing the work of Roland Penrose and British Surrealism.

After leaving the gallery we made our way into town by taking a detour to see the progress being made on the new Sea City museum which is due to open at the start of April in time for 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster.

It has been annouced in this last week that the council will be giving away a free entrance ticket to each household in the City. I would have gone along anyway to have a look around, but will definitely be taking advantage of this freebie.

Keeping Warm

I only bought these on Saturday but I wore them yesterday and today whilst out and they have been keeping my arms nice and toasty.

I found them in Primark reduced to £1.00 per pair and today it struck me that they would have been a good item to have included in my winter warmer jar. So I thought I should share them as I know a few people liked the jar idea and IF you are planning that far ahead again and live close to a Primark then it might be worth a quick trip in to stock up. Of course you can always just buy yourself a pair (or 2) I thoroughly recommend them.

Busy

These past few days have been very busy. Busy with lots of fun things.

I went to London on Thursday for a visit to the Natural History Museum.

I went with S.

And the rest of her year group and 20 other adult helpers.

Oh my goodness what a full on day that was.

A lot of fun, but we were all pretty tired by the end.

Friday was work and then home and a quick change and out again for a meal with the group of colleagues I had worked with for the past 5 years until my change of office last year. As we had all left a different times and gone to different places a meal out was a good way to get together and have a proper goodbye to the team we had been.

Yesterday the 4 of us nipped into town for a couple of hours as a few things were needed, including a birthday present for G's dad and today we have been to Salisbury for celebratory birthday lunch.

We've been to the Grasmere a few times over the years and the food is always tasty and the staff very friendly. This lovely painting of the hotel hangs by the entrance desk.

T took this lovely photo of G with his dad.

I thought I would include this photo of me as it's quite rare.

Yes I'm actually helping myself to broccoli from the mixed veg serving dish. I even ate a small piece of cauliflower!

So that's been the past few days around here. Thank you for the messages concerning my reaching 500 posts. I hope to get round and visit you all later this evening as I haven't been around for a fair few days and I'm sure there is lots of news to catch up on.

Actually I'm thinking of perhaps buying a laptop just for my own use, with us all wanting to use the internet each evening even when I am free to wander through blogland the computer isn't free to use, any recommendations would be appreciated.

January Scavenger Hunt

The first photo Scavenger Hunt of 2012. A huge thank you to Kathy for keeping this going again this year and giving us an interesting list month after month.

1. A warning. This exclamation mark highlights ingredients on the back of a packet of peanuts. Why when there are clearly nuts in the bag do they still have to list 'may contain traces of nuts'.

2. An entrance. The entrance of the hotel we stayed in in Cardiff.

3. In the distance. The tower of Brains Brewery seen from the end of a residential street during our walk down to Cardiff Bay.

4. Odd. 3, an odd number of planters in the Holyrood area of Southampton.

5. Company. The original name of the John Lewis store in Cardiff. This shop has been used in an episode of Dr Who.

6. Two. A pair of lamps on a bridge over looking Bute Park in Cardiff.

7 and 8. Soft and in my bathroom. Cotton wool balls on the chest of drawers in my bathroom.

9. In season. Parsnips in Sainsburys.

10. Information. My pink storage box full of leaflets for ideas of days out.

11. A mess. A bundle of clothes on the floor on Saturday morning after I had been to a jumble sale.

12. Blur. Me shaking the camera!

P.S. This is my 500th post!

I ♥ Pinterest

Inspired by http://deluxemoderndesign.com/blog/2011/05/something-from-nothing/.

Saturday Brunch

This past week has been National Farmhouse Breakfast Week.

I spent a bit of time looking at the different recipes on their website and thought a few of them sounded interesting so decided that on Saturday we would try them out.

They can be found at www.shakeupyourwakeup.com/breakfast-ideas

I made the wheaty raspberry smoothie which no-one liked except me. I also made the hot chocolate shake which again no-one really liked. The oaty texture was the issue with that one.

I baked soda bread and made the bran flake pancakes.

We also had fried eggs, bacon and toast.

These are my versions of the breakfast trifles and crunch fruit layer.

The oaty cranberry smoothie was the most successful drink, liked by all the adults, but as you can see S was not so keen!