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.

Manor Farm

We had a really wonderful day out yesterday and one of the best things about it is that Manor Farm is practically on our door step and so very handy for a return visit sometime soon.

T and I visited the farm way back in 2004 with my Dad and my nephew. The farm is currently being used by the BBC for filming the Wartime Farm which I'm sure will be watched by many of us when it comes to being shown. The farm holds various events during the year, the latest was a Home Front weekend. Given my interest in history and the fact we hadn't yet visited as a family it seemed like an opportune time to go. 


On paying we were each given an Identity Card to complete with our name and address.

First stop was a barn with lots of information boards about life on the farm and things for the children to touch and examine. Here's T and S working together to assemble a wagon wheel.

Outside the barn S was very surprised to see one of the dinner ladies from her school dressed in an ATS uniform. I chatted to her for ages. Living history is one of her hobbies and the bike they are stood next to belongs to her. She has ridden this all around Normandy whilst taking part in a procession of vehicles to commemorate 65 years of the D-day landings.

One of my favourite parts of the day was watching this lady's cookery demonstration. We were told that the little trailer holding her mobile kitchen was originally used for transporting pigs around!

On display were details of weekly rations. 2oz cheese a week!

The little cakes made during the demonstration were made from Allbran and copies of the recipe were given out at the end. Here are the details should anyone want to give it a whirl. Apparently they taste even better split in two with a scraping of butter and honey.

As this post is quite photo heavy I have made a few mosaics on Picmonkey. Here is one of just a few of the farmyard animals we saw. One of the pigs had given birth the day before and I tried to take a photo of the piglets but they just didn't stay still long enough.

One animal that deserves a photo all of his own is the cockerel who was strutting around, isn't he just magnificent.

The farmhouse was next and I managed to snap an outside view of it just as the village bobby was passing by. He was very friendly and stopped and had a chat a few times asking T if he had a license for his mobile phone!

The farmhouse is full to the brim with treasures of a bygone age, here are just a few.

Outside in the garden these poppies looked beautiful

though I can't say the same for the toilet facilities! Fancy sharing with friends?

One of the rooms has been fitted out as a Victorian school room. G took the role of stern school master.

Back to the Home Front weekend. There was a small display of military vehicles, I particularly liked the attention to detail on one of them. The American flag and the baseball glove and ball strapped to the side, the wicker basket with German wine bottles and on the dashboard a packet of Lucky Strike cigarettes.

Just before leaving, we could have stayed longer but S had a birthday party to go to,  G,T and S each got to handle a chick, rabbit and piglet.

And as it's Father's Day this post is dedicated to G for being such a wonderful fun and loving dad to T and S.

And here is a photo of my own dearest dad from our visit in 2004. My dad who I love so much and miss every day.

If it really is June then why.....

 instead of fresh billowing laundry I do only have row upon row of raindrops hanging from my washing line

instead of paddling pools to cool off in are the only pools of water are sitting on the aquilega leaves

instead of enjoying family meals al fresco it's the snails who are happily munching away in our garden

All I can say to the weather gods is.......

and please may we have some sun again soon. Thanks!