February Scavenger Hunt

A lorry or truck - seen in Kensington Park.

Something heartshaped - a ring I bought last year when I went to Isle of Wight.

A park bench - taken during on a dull grey February afternoon in a local park.

A round clock face - outside a department store in Queensway, London.

A postbox - part of a window dressing display for Joules.

Your shoes- not worn these yet, don't do heels very often!

Newspaper headline - a subject close to our hearts

A bridge - the Itchen bridge, just down the road from our home.

A musical instrument - photo taken by G of his 3 guitars which live in the attic.

Eyes - one of this year's Red Noses

Something stripy - the blanket on our bed.

Something red - a sign by our local greasy spoon

Cushiony Goodness

What's this cushioned shaped brown paper parcel on our sofa?

It's a new cushion, but not just any new cushion, it's my new and utterly fabulous cushion from the very talented elsy which I was extremely lucky to win in her recent giveaway.

I have long admired her handiwork and it's not just crochet she is a whizz at. Pop over to see her lovely creations with needle and thread too.

Thank you so much elsy. It's been much admired by G and the children too.

My Back,Their Birthday's and His Brother

At the weekend G and I made plans for the back garden. We talked about what needs to be done and then felt motivated to try and clear a bit of wilderness. All went well at the time but oh my goodness come Monday morning my back was in agony. Don't ask me what I did, we weren't out there long! We had made plans to meet up with a friend and her son, but she had to cancel at the last minute which was just as well as I spent the day with a hot water bottle on my back taking it easy whilst the children chilled and stayed in PJ's.

Tuesday was a bit more active. G, T and a friend of T's went off to London to see the new Dr Who exhibition. This was T's birthday treat. There was much excitement as I dropped them all off at the train station. I'm very happy to say they all thought it was completely wonderful and T and his friend had a couple of 'green screen' photos taken, one of them so it looked like they were actually inside the Tardis!

Whilst they were away rubbing shoulders with aliens I took S and a friend to an indoor soft play centre for a few hours. I read, they ran around.


Yesterday was T and S's birthday.
Both were extremely happy with their gifts from us.
T received a mobile phone

and S had a dolls house. Both have been played with a lot over the last 24 hours.

They were lucky to have lots of visitors bearing gifts all day long. My mum and sister C were the first to arrive at just before 10am. Then it was off into town for lunch at Bella Italia with G's mum, brother and sister. Home again for cake and more visits from my other sister, various friends and other family members.

Although it was wonderful seeing each and every person, by far the best guest was T's eldest brother R. T had no idea that R was coming to see him. It's the first time that R has visited our home. He wanted to make it on our recent trip to London when we met S and her family, but he was unable to get the time off work so he contacted G and asked if he could come and see T on his birthday instead.We were delighted and secret plans were made for R to come and stay overnight. I can't tell you how excited we've been for them. I asked T to open the door when I heard R knock and I was poised with the camera to take a photo of T's face but I was so caught up in the moment I forgot to click the camera button. Needless to say his expression was priceless! He was utterly surprised and so, so happy, especially when he realised R was staying.

All those years ago when we became a family G and I would have conversations about 'when the children grow up wouldn't it be great if they were able to come and stay on their own' and now it's happened. We are so thankful.

R and took T off to town this morning to buy him a birthday gift and one of S too.

Then all too soon he had to leave todo the long drive home again. T has been quiet this afternoon, missing his brother and wishing the visit could have been a longer one. Maybe next time.

I took my 6 year old pink fairy off to feed the ducks at her request this afternoon and we enjoyed being out in the sun for a while.

Happy days.

A day late

This was the post I had planned in my head for yesterday but when I came to do it I couldn't find the darn camera lead. I searched high and low, although not low enough as it was eventually located under the computer desk, but by then I was too tired and my tummy was hurting. I think I may have developed IBS. Anyway I digress.

Yesterday was my fantabulous dad's birthday. He would have been 71. I took flowers up to the church for him and sang him happy birthday and then went and bought cake. He would have approved.


As well as finding some of my things in her loft my sister also found some of dad's. Lots and lots of cards. Christmas, birthday and Father's day cards we had sent him over the years. Although it was incredibly hard thing to do I decided not to keep them all. I have a box full to bursting point of speical momentoes and so I decided to keep only a few and these without doubt had to be included. All of these cards are to my dad from me but written out by my mum. With just my name inside I'm guessing they were given to him whilst I was the only child they had, so they are 40 years old.

I had been very lucky to meet lots of new fabulous friends through blogging and recently I have been very fortunate to meet lettice leaf.

Yesterday I went to the post office to collect a little parcel Linda had sent me. This is the second little gift she sent as the first one went AWOL in the Christmas post!

I have to admit that I ripped into the parcel as soon as i got back to the car but very carefully unwrapped my pressie so I could share the lovely wrapping.

Isn't my new brooch just gorgeous? I love all the cute little buttons, the purple reminds me of a pansy. It will be pinned to my coat today. Thank you Linda.

Box of memories part 2

Does anyone else remember these adverts for Fry's Chocolate Cream? They were all torn out of my dad's daily newspaper, hopefully I waited until after he had read it. The date on one of the pages is 17th Feb 1981 which makes it 30 years old tomorrow!

I really liked the silhouette artwork

and as at around that age I really enjoyed copying pictures out of books

and because I liked these so much I copied one of the adverts.

I can still remember the rainy afternoon I sat down to do this.

I know it's not fantastic but I was so proud of myself.

Roar

Sue, this post is for you.......

Valentine edibles

There were plenty of heart shaped goodies on offer to eat after our meal tonight.

S and I baked these together yesterday and then she decorated them herself


and these little plain sponges I baked this afternoon. I served them covered in a homemade caramel sauce.

I hope today, in some way, someone told you they love you.

Another branch to our family

Yesterday we spent the day in London.
We had a very special get together arranged.
Readers of this blog may remember that we meet up with T's siblings R, R and L from time to time. We are very lucky that these contact visits, which were originally supervised by social services, have over the years as the children have grown up turned into hugely enjoyable and very relaxed family occasions.

T also has another older sister and up until yesterday they hadn't seen each other for 7 years. At that time and up until the last couple of years S's life has been complicated.
About 6 months ago she got in touch asking if she could have contact with T. We took thing slowly with emails and then this progressed to phone calls. Then it all culminated yesterday with S and her partner and their children meeting up with us in London at the same park we've enjoyed visits to with their siblings.

This photo makes me so happy.

Here's a photo of all the girl's together

and all the boys.

S thoroughly enjoyed being with K and T, we think being with K was for S like getting her own real life dolly to play with! They played together so well and it gave T a chance to spend more precious time with S.

I'm so proud of our expanding family and before I get all emotional about how much it all means I'll change the subject and share a couple of other photos from our day.

S was highly entertaining on the way home sat with her legs crossed reading one of the supplements from a newspaper someone had left on the train.

I thought this silhouette painted on to a wall of a charity shop was a fabulous way to decorate an otherwise plain wall.

Part of a window display for Valentine gift ideas.

A row of the bikes now available to hire. We saw loads being used. Such a great idea.

good things come.....

.....to those who wait for the sale prices to be reduced even further.
I saw this red plastic bangle in Superdrug last year and fell in love with it, but seeing as it cost £5.99 and most of my accessories come the way of the charity shops and the like for very little money, it remained unbought.
That is until today.
I was at the till paying for my purchases when I glanced round and saw a yellow sale sticker glowing like a beacon calling me over to where it was hung on it's own.
It was the last one.
It was £1.49.
It's mine.
I'm so happy.

Box of memories part 1

Last week I had to go round to my sister's house because she had sorted out the contents of her attic and in amongst all her stuff were 2 boxes of my stuff.
I was really pleased to discover one of them contained some items I thought I had lost. I'll be blogging about the contents over a couple of posts.
This first part contains photos of me.

Here I am at 6 months in a fabulous knitted outfit.

With my mum in the back garden of our home at the time. We all lived with my dad's dad for the first couple of years of my life. In fact I was born in that house.

Me with my dad on a very stony beach. Just look at his hair!

What a huge poser! This was taken on my first trip to Hever Castle with my nan, grandad and my aunt. Just one more step backwards and I would have been in the moat.

I think this was my 8th birthday. Not entirely sure, but what I do remember is that this was the day I won the egg and spoon race at the school sport's day. I wasn't at school very often on my birthday as it normally fell in the 6 week summer holiday but this particular year I was with my friends, won a race, wore one of my fave t-shirts and had a party. Totally wonderful.

This photo of me and my 2 sisters (and my mum, but the flash made her head disappear!) was taken at my aunt's wedding. She is my dad's sister and only a few weeks before the wedding their mum had passed away. The wedding was held at the church where my nan was buried and now my dad and another of their sister's is there too. It was obviously a very emotional day for all but it was also an incredibly momentous day for me as it was the first time I wore a bra.

I like this photo because my legs look long and slim, I dislike this photo because WHY ON EARTH DID I EVER WEAR THAT JACKET??????

It was taken at Dunster family whilst we were on a family holiday. Not long afterwards my mum and dad split up.

Nothing to do with the holiday.

Again I'm not sure of my age here, probably 13 or 14. I loved that outfit, I have a feeling I wore it to the cinema to see Fame. The dog is Bonnie. She was mine. I went on holiday to Butlins with my dad and sisters and when we got home Bonnie had disappeared. I was told she ran away. I cried for days. I was told many years later she was given away whilst we were away. Totally heartbreaking.

Lots of memories there, good and bad, happy and sad.