This Week....

I baked some banana bread scones. G ate two whilst they were still warm from the oven, so the next day when I made the glaze there was too much so they got a bit drowned in it before I remembered there were 2 less.

I finished reading the book of the month from my reading group. It said on the cover that it was Birdsong for the new Millennium. I wouldn't say it quite lived up to that but it was a very good read none the less, I very easily got swept up into the relationships of the all characters. Full of the horror that was WW1 but also a story of love and hope.

I bought some paint. S's bedroom is due a makeover. After the purchase of a couple of tester pots, S settled on Sweet Pink. Photos will be taken along the way.

I wore one of my 5 a day!

Wordless Wednesday

Playing with Pixlr

Jane, Cath and Lucinda

I have been very lucky and seen the work of some extremely talented women this week. 

On Thursday I went to Winchester with my friend to see an incredible photography exhibition. Jane Bown's portraits are absolutely stunning. If this exhibition ever comes anywhere near to where you live I urge you to go and see it. The one image that captivated us was this of Samuel Beckett. Incredible when she only managed to take 5 photographs of him as he was leaving a theatre.

Being in Winchester we did have to pop into Cath Kidston for a browse and I was very restrained and only bought this little lapel pin, a jolly red bus. 

Last night the whole J&J family went out to see The Lucinda Belle Orchestra. We had booked the tickets ages ago and we have all been so looking forward to it.

And she, and her orchestra, were just as fabulous as we hoped they would be. Our family favourite song of hers is Rose Marie and Bobby McGee which unfortunately they didn't play but we were lucky enough to be among the first to hear the new songs they have been recording for the next album. Lucinda describes herself as a jazz harpist and she has such a beautiful voice too. This song is one of my favourites. Our family fave is also over on you tube if you fancy having a listen to what we all sing along to very loudly whilst in the car together.
Let me know what you think.

Fantastic Plastic

Whilst sorting out my photos out for March and April I came across these photos of recent plastic purchases which I had forgotten to share.

First up is a set of snack boxes I bought as part of a friend's birthday gift, purchased from dotcomgiftshop. I'm not sure if I like the deer or the toadstools most. Thankfully she liked them all and the extra little gifts I popped inside each of them. Too cute.

And from the toy section(!) in Sainsbury's I bought these star and flower shaped cake cases. Although I have baked cakes since buying them I have forgotten to use them, good excuse to make more cakes I reckon!

I have spent a very frustrating time this evening with Blogger as apparently I have used up all my free space.
So I have been looking at various options. I have now begun to delete my posts from the start of the blog to the end of 2009 as I have converted them into a PDF and saved them with a view to printing them out. It's something I was thinking of doing at some stage but this situation has made me get on with it.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Not the busiest of weekends. The wet weather, like it has been for lots of others, has been one factor and another is that although G is getting on well with his recovery a day out would be too much for him at this stage.

Saturday morning S and I went to a craft fair. This was a fundraising event organised by a friend of mine. I bought this Jubilee inspired brooch/rosette kit which I made up and pinned on my Cath Kidston bag. I am so in love with it.

G's mum and sister came to visit on Sunday. G's mum gave me this beautiful bunch of tulips and G had his own special floral gift too....

....a painting she had done for him of a field of poppies.

Miraculously there was some of this this afternoon, blue sky!

We went for a short walk to Telegraph Woods in the hope of finding some bluebells.

Just like the blue sky the bluebells weren't plentiful, we found more of a trickle of blue than a sea of blue, 

but all was not lost as we found a lot of mud to get stuck in

a recently cut tree stump with all the lines showing up so perfectly

and a rope swing which provided a lot of fun and laughter

and washing. The other side of S, which can't be seen in this photo, was caked in mud when she fell off!

Happy highlights from a wet weekend.

Thrifty Thursday

I have had some really good buys during this past week, dare I mention even a couple of brand new items at very reasonable prices which will be Christmas presents for S.

Here are three of my favourites.

First up a water jug for £1.00. Can't believe this was left on the shelf of the charity shop I volunteer in for over a week, but I'm glad no-one else bought it so it got to be mine.

Star patterned fleece for £1.50. This may be used as a picnic rug, or it may stay indoors for snuggling, haven't decided yet.

Card organiser/filing box for £2.00. I have seen these many times before in the Phoenix catalogue and drooled over them. The selection of cards I have, that were in all jumbled and stuffed away in a drawer, have now been stowed away much more neatly and I feel a bit more organised.

Sunshine and Showers

There has just been so much rain recently and at the weekend it was a case of if you can't beat them join them as S and I had a bit of a crafting session and made our own rain clouds complete with rainbow coloured raindrops inspired by another Pinterest pin

Yesterday we did have some sunshine which tempted G outside for the first time since his op. Thank you to all who have asked after him, he is doing well.


More sunshine arrived at the weekend, this time in the form of an award from Marina. Thank you so much for nominating me for the Sunshine award, it made my day. Please pop over to meet Marina and her lovely children at her blog where she writes about her life and all the things she loves.