The Holidays Are Coming

I think S is going to be more than ready for the school summer holidays.

This last half term she has had a trip to a Hindu temple and another to the Mayor's parlour for an awards presentation. Next weekend the whole school has sports day, a sponsored trampoline bounce and then Year 2 have their leaver's assembly. Today has probably been the most exciting of all though. A trip to London for a picnic, sightseeing by coach, seeing The Lion King and then pizza. A treat for working hard during their time at Infant school before they go up to the Junior's in September.

Over this past week I have been checking out websites for ideas on places to visit and events we can go to locally, and slightly further afield, so hopefully we can have a our fair share of summer fun.

One thing I thought I would share as others may find it interesting is a free download from http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/ I know I have mentioned this web site before but it really is so good and is jam packed full of FREE ideas to do with children, both out and indoors. 

I have downloaded a copy of my THE SUMMER ADVENTURE LOG BOOK for (mainly) S to, hopefully, complete and here are a few pages to give you an idea.

A tick list of different places to visit

The different ways we may travel on our days out, I'm liking the piggy back option shown by one tiny snail hitching a lift on the back of another.

The type of weather we have during the holiday, should we just tick the boxes for heavy downpours now?

Another tick list, this time of activities which we may be able to do

There is even a page to record all the scrummy treats taken on picnics.

Here's hoping we get some of our log book completed.

One Amazing Summer

The only thing amazing about summer so far this year is that the weather has been just so appalling. 
However the the new BBC trailer, entitled One Amazing Summer is pretty amazing, made up of 168 separate shots over 74 different locations. It certainly made me smile when I first saw it, especially the poor dog and cat being pushed off the sofa! I defy anyone to watch it and not end up smiling.

Things that have made me smile this past week...

A rain drop drenched poppy in one of the park gardens in town.

A visit to the Thai festival on Sunday. Lots of lovely food, chatting with friends and a variety of entertainment including a trio of Ladyboys.

S looking completely adorable and grown up on her transfer day, all preparation for Junior school in September.

A £1.00 purchase from the charity shop, snazzy blue Midwinter casserole(?) dish serving as our new fruit bowl.

This tin of shortbread from Marks and Spencer. 

Snowflake ballerina tutu skirts made for S's Barbie's. Top optional apparently!

My new diary.

Hope there is plenty in your world right now to make you smile. 

June Scavenger Hunt

A few of this month's photos were easy to come by, a few were a bit harder to find and a few I'm not exactly happy with but they kind of fit.

Sleep.

My sister's dog Max enjoying 40 winks in the sunshine.

On the edge. Malcolm balancing on the edge of the back fence of our garden.

Before. Roses in bud in the Porter's garden in Portsmouth.

After. S has a toast stamp with a cute little cartoon creature on it which you press into the bread and then becomes more visible after it's toasted, kind of!

Symmetry. The x from S's handwriting guide.

Out of reach. The top shelf of the utility room with the flasks and picnic cool bag on, way out of my reach which isn't a problem as they aren't exactly in current use!

Close. A close up of the gorgeous colours of the beads on my fabulous new bracelet. I was lucky enough to be a winner in Simone's give away. A handmade bracelet from her etsy shop.

Diamond- who doesn't like these little cheesy biscuits, the scavenger hunt was a great reason to buy a bag and eat them all share with the family.

Crown. My new brooch. Love it lots.

Bunting. A mug of tea at my sister's house.

Majesty. None other that His Royal Majesty King Henry V111 with some common wench!

At night.  Fancy spending the night in this bed and spending a penny not too far from the bed if you get caught short?

Thanks again to Kathy for providing us with such an interesting list.

Prudence

When I was a young teenager I read my way through my aunt's collection of Jilly Cooper books and when I started work and began earning my own money I bought a set of my own.  My favourite is Imogen, but I lent this out a few years ago and never got it back. I have recently begun looking out for another copy (but it has to be one with Jilly Cooper herself on the cover) as although I have read these books many, many times I haven't read them for a long while and I thought it was time I read them again.

I decided to start with Prudence. This story was originally published in 1978. My copy was published in 1986 and cost me £1.95! It's about a girl who lives in London and has a barrister boyfriend, one weekend he takes her home to meet his family in the Lake District and that's where the story takes off.
Reading it again it made me laugh because when any music is played it's on a record player, when Prudence refers to when she met her boyfriend it was
 'at a party- a ghastly What-do-you-do-for-a-living?, Oh- I-bash-a-typewriter sort of party'. 
A typewriter?!
And at the said party
 'all talked about President Carter, Mrs Thatcher and Laura Ashley'.  
Something that made me cringe was when one character was suspected of being gay he was referred to as 'a pouf'.
I know these books are still in print, I wonder if they have been updated in any way.


There are also some descriptions and conversations which I really like. My favourites are...


The last yellow leaves covered the parked cars and crunched like frosted cornflakes beneath my feet.


Clutching my happiness to me like a hot water bottle.


Deep puddles reflected a sky as blue as the Angel Islington in Monopoly.


On being told her boyfriend's flat was on floor 13 he asked Prudence if she was superstitious to which she replied 'No, just super.' 


The next one to be read and reviews will be Emily.

Blogging is Good

When I first stumbled into the world of blogging I could never have envisaged how many wonderful people it would bring into our lives.

This weekend we got to spend time with some of those wonderful people.

And it was good.

Very, very good indeed.

Jewellery Storage

I have been pootling around on Pinterest again, this time I have been looking for ideas for storing my necklaces and I when I found this I was inspired.

We have tongue and groove on the walls in our bedroom and so the little ledge running around the top was just ideal for making this little project come to life. I bought some upholstery pins from Ebay and knocked them in at one inch intervals.

I now have all my necklaces hanging across the width of the chimney breast, in colour order as I'm a bit manic about that kind of thing, plus there are a few empty pins at the end so room for plenty more.

As well as trying to store my necklaces in a better way I also did a search on options for bracelet and bangle storage, which led me to buy this bud vase in a charity shop yesterday for £1.00

and so a selection of my pink, purple and red bracelets now have a new home. I need to keep my eyes peeled now for more suitable vases for the rest of my collection.

To be honest I enjoy the searching for suitable pieces just as much as i enjoy looking at the finished and tidier result.