sunsets - and an announcement

It seems fitting to use a post full of beautiful holiday sunsets to announce that I'm winding up this cheery little blog. This will be the last post here.

It's been nearly 3 years of jolly fun for me, and hopefully a little light entertainment for those of you who've read some of it too. I've read and appreciated every single comment made, and it's lovely feeling there's others out there sharing your life, so thank you.

The good news is that I'm not disappearing, just moving down the way slightly, to a new virtual home!

Please do pop over and join me, I'd love it if you would!

I'll be heading off on a cheerful living adventure...

a week in photos

Much as I'd love to spend a while waffling on about what I've been doing this week, I just don't have the energy right now!

So, here's a selection of photos so you can see what I've been up to... celebratory cakes, learning new wall-building skills (and finding out that putting cement on with your hands, er, isn't a very good idea), disco balls and fabulously painted ceilings, an evening trip through beautiful countryside to an old haunt (and an old friend), a walled pub garden, a whole-city free music festival, a picnic in the park, and a lavender cake in a little London cafe.

And trains. Lots of trains.

Speaking of which, I've got to be on another one in 7 hours, best go to sleep....

Today I have been mostly swanning around looking like a bit of a pillock.

And being glad that this is (hopefully!) the third and last time.

And eating jam roly poly and custard, because you can't possibly expect me to spend the entire day looking like that without treats.

sneaking up early (and hula hoops)

Would you just have a look at this adorable Viennese butter kiss I had at the Women's Institute yesterday morning! So tiny, and so perfect. That wrapper! Just when you start to think the WI is all jam and sturdy fruit cake, they pop something like this in to surprise you.

(although on the whole I do prefer a piece of sturdy fruit cake myself).

Anyway, that wasn't what I came here to tell you. I came here to talk about getting up before everyone else gets up.

Because that's what I've just done.

As it happens, there's only one other person here to get up before - and I do often get up before him, because I work a long way away, and he often works in the evenings rather than the mornings. But that's everyday getting up before someone.

This is sneaking out of bed trying not to wake them up.

I have no idea why it felt like that this morning, but it did, and I like it. I like that feeling of slipping downstairs, trying not to make the floorboards squeak (utterly impossible in this house, I tell you), looking around at the mess of camping equipment and wondering if you can tidy it before he wakes up, trying to catch the boiling kettle before it starts whistling tooooo excitedly, and then drinking tea and sifting through yesterday's photographs, remembering that I actually sneaked in a little fun project while he was having a nap yesterday afternoon.

(I should point out that obviously I do fun things when Peter is awake too, but there's something quite exciting about a furtive bit of sloping round with the house to yourself, not entirely sure when you're going to be disturbed).

So, shall I show you what I did yesterday?

First of all, I opened ALL the curtains and windows, so I could see and hear the rain.

Then I put Pride and Prejudice on the tv.

Then I pulled out the two bits of plumbing pipe I bought the day before and made a collapsible hula hoop.

Yep, that's right. I LOVE hula hoops. We have one hanging in our shower. But that one's a little bit too small for proper hula hooping.

I've got a friend with a HUGE hoop, it's so lovely to twirl round in, but there's just nowhere to put it round here, and it won't fit in the car for camping trips (if we ever manage to get on any, that is).

So I wanted to make a collapsible one.

I think the guy in the plumbing shop was a little bemused, but he played along gamely, even when his mate came into the shop while he was trying to bend the pipe round his waist.

The two blokes in the hardware shop took my requests all in their stride - they're used to me ambling in saying 'have you got any magnets? I'm trying to attach them to cardboard fish' and the like, so this was perfectly ordinary.

So - one length of waste pipe (cut in half), two easy (well, reasonably easy) quick-connector things, one roll of black electrical tape, and one roll of jaffa tape (*love it*) later, and I'm all set - for the princely sum of £8.

Have you got any idea how difficult it is to photograph a hula hoop?

Or how many dusty mirrors I have in my living room? (a lot, it appears).

(obviously it's entirely necessary to keep one's wellies on while making hula hoops - just in case)

So - by the end of Pride and Prejudice, and the end of the roll of jaffa tape, and the end of Peter's afternoon nap, I had myself a nifty tiger-striped hula hoop.

That just about twirls round in the living room, as long as there's nobody else in there too.

I wonder what little mini adventure I can get up to this afternoon while he's asleep??

Speaking of which, I should probably wake him up with a cuppa in a minute - we're off to our current favourite little cafe for breakfast treats and he won't want to miss that...

You up to anything exciting today?

weekend adventures (and more spring cleaning)

Another weekend of fun and frivolity here. I do love the summer, altogether more sociable somehow than the other seasons.

Anyway, I've been trotting about all over the place! Hopped on a train for a mini adventure on Friday night to see the lovely Fay, who was only an hour or two up the road rather than the usual 13 hours away. Couldn't miss an opportunity like that! And I do love train adventures, especially ones to new places, that involve meeting some new people too. Altogether a jolly evening!

Then up early on Saturday morning to take part in the local park run - didn't take photos (too busy puffing and panting), but this is going to become rather a regular Saturday morning feature I think. I had a lovely time galumphing along at the back with an extremely cheery fella getting fit again after a triple heart bypass (yep, that's how slowly I was going). Anyway, he was very jolly, clapping everyone who went past us (which was, er, everyone), and also very chivalrous, and let me go before him through the finish funnel, so I wasn't *quite* last, which makes a nice change...

Then off to the WI (of course - can't let running get in the way of cake eating!)

And then a wedding! Busy as bees here!

So, after the wedding we sloped off for a little sneaky duck feeding...

There really is something Extremely Jolly about feeding ducks, I find. Their little beady eyes, their little legs waddling over when they detect the slight rustle of a paper bag, the gentle little quacking noises...

We finished off Saturday with the most glorious buffet, and a whole load of dancing (and then a nice cup of tea, of course).

Today has been rather more sedate - one of those days when I wake up slightly grumpity and petulant and decide that EVERYWHERE is a Complete Tip, and despite it not having bothered me for days and days, declare that Something Must Be Done - right now.

You know, one of those days.

Peter, fortunately, had a pre-arranged musical project happening downstairs, which pretty much restricted my flurry of activity to the attic so my banging and crashing and cursing didn't disturb the creativity in the kitchen.

The attic has several purposes in this house. I work at home several days a week, so my desk is up here, and the printer. It also houses all my sewing related paraphernalia, and assorted things-that-don't-live-anywhere-else. And it houses the spare bed.

So... I started by pinning up these ludicrously ancient and daft curtains that we found in a house that a friend bought (she declared she couldn't live with them, and I squirrelled them away with some vague plan for a skirt - which fortunately never happened). Bravo! A place to hide things - point 1 on the list of vital things for tidying up.

The shelves are looking a whole lot better too.

Of course, there's still several miscellaneous bags and boxes of things-that-need-to-find-a-new-home, but we're down to 2, rather than 8 or 9.

And you might notice that you can't see much of the floor in these pictures...

I also discovered just how much stationery I own.

A lot.

I had planned a little bit of sewing, which never *quite* happened. Maybe next week...

But I've had a lovely pottering day sorting things out, tearing things up, stashing things behind curtains, and I'm actually looking forward to spending the day up there tomorrow.

Hooray for spring cleaning whims I say!

a little amble around blog land

It's an absolutely gorgeous evening here, and I've just been for a Most Marvellous run across the hills (which makes it sound far more strenuous and gazelle-like than the huffing and puffing around the local hilly park it was...). I'm all excitable and full of beans now, so while I wait for my tea to cook I thought I'd take you on a little tour around the strange hotch-potch corner of blog-land that I hang around in.

First of all, a confession. I don't actually subscribe to or follow any of these blogs - I actually haven't yet figured out how, and a seized by an irrational fear that my inbox will fill up with messages telling me to go and read such-and-such a blog, and I'll never get anything done.

Well, I never did say I was entirely sensible.

So, the way I mostly keep track of the things I read is using that blog list over there -------->

Which isn't to say that they're the only things I read, oh no. But they are the things I keep coming back to. They also keep changing, you might have noticed... Depends how I'm feeling at the time, and whether I've irrationally decided to have a clear out, or whether I've just found something new and am all excited about it.

The list is in order of who's posted the most recently - so when I pop in here I can see if anyone's posted that day, and pop over to have a look. Does anyone else use their own blog to keep track of their life?!

(this isn't going to be a giant blog review of who's-best, rather a little look at some things that I like and how I found them)

So, let's start at the top, shall we?

Down to Earth

This is the blog that prompted me to start my own blog. I have absolutely no idea how I came across it in the first place, but it's a lovely mix of tutorials for things like soap making, writing about simple living, and the occasional pep talk. I remember reading the entire archives (er, I think I was avoiding writing my phd at the time...), and then writing to Rhonda telling her how inspirational she was. She wrote a lovely email back, and I've read her blog ever since. There's a whole forum attached to it now too.

************************

Well, so much for that lengthy amble! The phone rang, and now the tea's about to come out of the oven, and we'll have to continue this little trip round blog-land another day! I was looking forward to that too (although I'm looking forward to food perhaps a little bit more....)

abundance, and spring cleaning

Today has been utterly glorious. The weather, of course, but also the time, the whole day with nothing in particular to do, nowhere to be - that's quite a luxury at the minute!

I picked these flowers from the garden last week, and they've sat in a glass jar on the kitchen windowsill cheering me up for the last few days. What is it about flowers from the garden that just lift the spirits?

It's been a whole weekend of pottering really, although today was rather more calm than yesterday.

On Friday night we ate cherries, picked from a friend's tree.

And then a trip to the women's institute, of course. Lots of knitted things on sale this week, and a Most Delicious almond and apricot sponge cake.

Then off to the green fair, to hang around on the LETS stall. I'll talk more about LETS one day - maybe when I've pulled my finger out to use it a little more...

This morning, bizarrely, I woke up with an urge to do a bit of spring cleaning.

I know - very strange.

Maybe it was the sunshine streaming through the skylight, showing up all the dust.

Whatever it was, I thought I'd best take advantage, and I've ambled around the house washing and hoovering and dusting and clearing drawers and making space.

I'm not sure it meets normal folks' standards of cleanliness even now, but it's much better than it was.

I do love hanging washing outside, even if we don't have the traditional blowing-in-the-breeze washing line...

Oooh, speaking of washing, I realised I never did share this exciting parcel that arrived a few weeks ago!

A while back, I signed up to take part in a dish cloth swap, over at the Down to Earth blog, and was paired up with another Jennifer right round the other side of the world (hi Jennifer!)

I duly knitted my dishcloth and dispatched it (late, as usual) off on its little adventure, together with some home made soap.

Then, excitement of all excitements, a parcel arrived!!

Would you just look at those beautiful dishcloths! Five, all different colours! And such a thoughtful parcel! A copy of the local newspaper, so fascinating to read the local news from somewhere else, so different to here! And some locally grown pistachios - mmmm. And a big pile of leaflets for local attractions, and keyrings, and postcards, and all sorts of things!

I *love* parcels, they are just The Best.

Of course, now I'm concocting a more elaborate parcel full of local stuff from round here to post back. SO much fun!

not that I'm starting a series of cafe-related posts or anything...

So, one day we were out in the street, admiring this gorgeous yellow scooter, when we got chatting to the bloke who owned it.

And he told us he was opening a new cafe on the other side of town.

And that it was going to be a great cafe, with a jukebox, and lots of other fabulous things, and we should go down to the opening celebrations, which we did - but we couldn't get through the door so had tea and cake elsewhere instead.

Last week Sunday morning was rather dreary and rainy, so we decided it was high time we headed back to the new cafe.

Oh!

The jukebox!

The music!

That combination of turquoise and red!

The most divine scrambled eggs!

I think you can probably imagine just how excited we were.

And just how many times we will be going back in the future.

I've also started a new campaign, having discovered that Peter *owns* a jukebox, which is currently languishing in a garage somewhere, because it won't fit in our kitchen.

Aarrgghh!

Can we get rid of the table?

The stove?

Build some kind of extension out into the garden??

You'll probably see me stalking about like a woman possessed with a tape measure in the weeks to come, figuring out just how we can get an enormous 1970s jukebox into our kitchen.

Because it's got to be possible, right?

Right??

the art (or not) of self portrait

Hello!

Can you see me down there (or up there), reflected in the lake? What fun!

It's been ever such a sunny day here, and we've been ambling for several hours down a dapped wooded valley.

Absolutely ideal for experimenting with a spot of self-portrait-ing, which is this week's art of living cheerfully task.

As it turns out, it's more difficult than you'd think to take photos of yourself.

I've finally discovered the timer function on my camera, and now have 10 seconds to position myself in an elegant and artful pose before the lights flash.

Haven't quite mastered it yet though, and plenty of them end up like this...

... or, even better, like this...

(nice socks though)

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that it's best to interpret 'self portrait' to include pictures of *part* of yourself.

And that it's a whole lot easier to take photos of your shadow.

What's even easier than that, of course, is to get someone else to take photos of you.

I know, I know, that doesn't count as 'self portrait', but really, after seeing just how cheerful these pictures were, with my pretending-to-be-a-relaxed-otter pose, I think I might just leave it to the professionals (or at least people other than myself).

I'm absolutely tickled pink with these pictures of me floating in a lake.

(I wasn't actually floating, of course, but standing on the edge being reflected in the water, before you start worrying about my sanity)

I'm exhausted after all that posing!

Good job there's another three days off work really...

where did the time go?

Anyone care to enlighten me where the last week and a half went?? Goodness, the time really is just flying by at the minute!

Time for a sneaky little update on what I've been up to I think. This time last week you could have found me and my mother up here in the sky...

... looking out at the sun setting over the city on the London Eye. Then there was dinosaur-watching to be done, parakeet-spotting, eating and ambling around, and generally exhausting ourselves walking miles and miles in the sunshine.

Work has been rather pesky this week, taking up far too much space in my head, and causing me to not be my usual efficient self in the rest of my life.

Like the day I took the car to the garage, and got home to find I'd left the house key attached to the car keys - which were in the garage.

Nice excuse to spend the morning in my favourite little local cafe I say.

There's been lots of building and sawing and hoovering and moving things going on in the house too, and I came home the other day to find I had a new desk! It's still waiting to be filled with lovely things (as is that new cheery little shelf above it), but my little attic is shaping up nicely I'd say.

I've been doing a spot of palace creation myself this week too (a very little spot mind you!). This bookshelf is one Peter built to fit in a specific place in my old house, and it's been kind of hanging around a bit here. It didn't have a back, as it didn't need one in the other place, but the floors here are all wonky, and the walls aren't straight, and, well, I wanted a back on it.

What better than a 30p fabric remnant and a staple gun?

And just how good are staple guns for quick cheery projects?! Oh, ever so good!

Oh! And would you just look what's peeping its little head up on the living room windowsill! Beetroot! That means I'm going to have to get out and do something in the garden soon...

So, there you have it, a whistlestop tour of my week. The next few weeks are going to be fun, I'm signed up to a cheery little online course, the art of living cheerfully, which starts on Sunday. I'm so excited!