May Scavenger Hunt

The end of the month already? It can only mean one thing, another scavenger hunt post is due.

One of the items to snap this month was 'nine'. This one I failed at. And the reason is silly. You see we live at number 9 and all month I kept thinking I'll just pop outside and photograph the number of the wall. All month I have failed to do so, so we are nine-less.

Here are the rest.

Good things- a stretch out on the bed with an added treat of a tickle is high on the list of good things for Melvin Cat.

Small packages- this wee wee package was originally stuck onto a Christmas tree decoration which broke. It now lives on the dresser.

Fragrance- I bought some flowers from Sainsbury's last week. The bouquet contained a flag and was named 'A Little bit of Chelsea'. The fragrance was gorgeous.

Station- the local train station we travelled from last weekend. Lovely old building.

 Nose- This was the first photo I took for this month's hunt whilst at Homebase. Love these little doggies sat nose to nose.

Front page- the front page of a newspaper from 1924 which we discovered in an old wardrobe and I blogged about here.

Beverage- bit of a cheat as I took this photo last month, but like the box so much and seeing it's Jubilee weekend on the way thought I would use it again.

Currency- One of my favourite purses. The address is so sweet and contains Pennies.

Historic- at Salisbury station I picked up a free copy of the Wiltshire View magazine. Inside was a fascinating article about a group of incredibly brave men who gathered information about the beaches in France right under the noses of German soldiers. Fundraising is in place to erect a memorial to these men. You can read more about them here.

Yellow- this chap was from the Friends of the Earth and was manning, or should that be beeing?, a stall at the Spring fayre we went to. 

Can you see what I see?- I was a bit stuck on this, but I hope this one fits the category ok. A little splash of red and black in amongst all that green is easy to spot. No pun intended!

Big thanks as ever to Kathy for organising us such a great list. I always enjoy seeing what everyone else has found.

Bunting for School

S's school is having a special Jubilee day on Friday, all very exciting stuff! Last week the children were sent home a sheet of card with two bunting triangles drawn out on it. They were asked to decorate them however they wanted. All triangles will all be strung up together to make bunting for decorating the classrooms.

We took inspiration from the bunting we have strung up in our dining room at the moment, £2.oo from Sainsbury's in case you wanted the info,

and went with glittery blue (and silver) crowns teamed with white stars so we had the red, white and blue colour scheme.

S told me very confidently that hers are the best as most of the others did flags and ours look good!

Playing Catch

If when playing catch with your dad you concentrate on the ball as it comes towards you, sticking your tongue is optional,

 you keep your eyes wide open

and when picking up the dropped ball from the floor you are careful of rogue thorns from recent pruning, ouchy,

you will be successful in the end and make that catch

and have a great laugh too!

Salisbury to Old Sarum

We took the longer scenic route to get to meet up with G's mum and dad yesterday.

A ten minute walk from the station took us to the start of the Avon Valley Nature Reserve and what a welcoming sight it was. Who could not resist being beckoned in when greeted with such a sight of lushness. Frothing cow parsley abundance lining the boardwalk on either side as it twisted and turned tempting you in to discover 

a walk by the gently rippling river. There were very few people around. Just a few dog walkers on the path and the dogs in the walk cooling off in the shallow water.

At a fork in the path there was a beautiful bench which had been designed and made by local school children. Click on the picture to enlarge and you can see the design of swimming fish, but for all it's loveliness it couldn't really be used as it had huge stinging nettles growing all around it.

Turning to look back there was a great view across the meadows to the Cathedral.

Part of the walk included the path G would take to his primary school, what a treat to see sights like this from the little bridge.

And this is his old school, much changed since his day, well it was 34 years ago that he left!

Lining the road are the most selection of cottages and houses. A history of Stratford-sub-Castle and some of the houses, including this whitewashed cottage, can be found here.

G told us that this is the House where his Grandad worked as a gardener for many years right up until the day he died. It looks from the signs up there is some restoration work being done.

Across the road is St. Lawrence's Church.

From here it was a fairly steep walk up to the Old Castle. We paused once for a swig of water and once to snap another view of the Cathedral in the distance.

The remains of the Castle are owned by English Heritage and the website shows a fantastic aerial view of it all. We haven't visited it with the children yet, we keep saying we'll go when they have one of their special event days. 

Unlike the website photo the grass isn't currently all green as it is awash with yellow buttercups and the children obligingly laid down amongst them for me to take, what in my opinion, is one of the very best photos of them I have ever taken.

Spring Fayre

Are we all enjoying this very welcome weather?

It's been so lovely that we have been outside as much as possible and so the decorating has ground to a halt, the house in general is looking a bit neglected and I have hardly been near the computer.

Plus we have all been a little distracted as my sister's dog is very poorly and she is taking the news extremely badly.

So as we are edging ever closer to a new weekend I thought I should get myself sorted and get a post done about our little trip out on Saturday to a Spring Fayre held at a local nature reserve.

Things to see and do included being able to hold this beautiful barn owl

 listen to a marching bagpipe band

watch craftsmen at work

and have your face painted, a must do when you are 7

and you can be a blue and pink lion.

We walked home past the pond where unfortunately recently there have been issues with people poaching fish and the ducks.

It was such a treat seeing so much green lushness along the way.

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.