BLOG HOLIDAY

I have been TERRIBLE at blogging this last month and its not gonna get much much better in August as we are away for 2 wks.
Apart from being LAZY there are 2 valid reasons....

Firstly here in the UK we are having a SUMMER, its been HOT, very HOT and I am outside ALL day and most of the evening too. Its too nice to be sitting in front of the key board.

Secondly.... the house is FULL of returning children who seem to be constantly in front of the screen whenever i might want to get within an arms lengths of it.


Anyway here are a few photos of what has been going on lately


We went fruit picking ........

 and made just a few pots of jam

 This is to prove it has been hot and sunny enough to wear sun glasses on our trip to Borough market

 Also the good weather has done wonders for my green fingers, though in all honest all I have harvested is a rather tasteless and woody radish.....

 For a birthday treat we went to the rooftop cinema in the Bussey building in Peckham, great fun. It did get a bit chilly and the film turned out to be about concentration camps.... but overall great fun. We were the oldest there by a good 30 years though...???!!!

HOME AGAIN

Just over 3 months ago Charlie set off for his gap year travels.....Australia,NZ, then Thailand, Laos,Cambodia.

Yesterday he returned, arriving at 6.30 am at Heathrow. That meant that we had to get up at 5.30 to get there in time to meet him. Joseph and Sam made the huge sacrifice and got up too.

We made it in time.. here they are in arrivals.....

It was great to see him but I was rather shocked by the beard....

As soon as he got home he started eating

and hasn't stopped since.

I'd forgotten all his little traits, the 2 wet towels on the floor after the shower, the mess in the kitchen, the empty juice cartons left in the fridge, drinking straight from the juice carton. There are many others but not really for a public airing.

I had become quite accustomed to the new look Charlie and then he came home after a trip to the barbers looking like this,

Anyhow, all in all I am very happy to have in back.....

And then to top all the joy, look at the weather .....

SUNDAY

Sunday... and what a day it was!!

The sun was shining and the forecast was for the hottest day so far...23c... yes its been a RUBBISH summer so far.

started with a walk in the woods, which was cool for the dogs.

Then home and off to meet the boys from a BIG cycle event, a 60 mile trip around the edge of London. We were sitting in the spectator stands as they came into the Velodrome and gave them an almighty cheer... stupidly didn't take any photos!


Becca had her first day off for 8 days from managing a hospitality tent at Wimbledon Tennis and was chilling nicely with her boyfriend nicely in the garden and sun

Being the lovely Mum that I am I made them a jug of homemade elderflower cordial

We then had a lovely cook in together and made some SPLENDID salads to go with baby back ribs

  and then sat in the garden and ate it and drank copious amounts of elderflower and I even added prosecco to mine!!

Finished the day off by sitting outside knitting till it got chilly.

Joseph had returned from a "sleepover",( why ever are they called that??,) and spent most of the beautiful day like this...

WRINKLES

I am pleased to say that I have found a pretty good cure for wrinkles...

It all started with getting fitted for contact lenses, suddenly I could see my skin really well, too well in fact , as now the wrinkles are 2x enlarged..... quite a shock I can tell you. However although this is a downside to being able to see without glasses, there is an upside. Contact lenses should be put on before your make up so you have less risk of getting chunks of mascara in your eye as you make endless attempts to get the blinking things in. I must say, my make up is looking soooo much better since I have been able to see what I am actually doing. The trick is then to take the lenses out and look at yourself again.... 20 yrs of wrinkles have disappeared in a flash, its the best miracle cure and involves no surgery or even creams!! Obviously this is usually done just before bed so not so helpful really but it certainly makes me feel a lot better as I'm cleaning my teeth!

I hadn't noticed how overgrown my eyebrows had become.... until I put the lenses in

so a quick trip to the threading lady sorted them out

can you see the difference???


We have been looking after a sweet but BONKERS dog!

Here he is looking sweet and normal

but he has a DARK side......

He is obsessed with the washing machine, literally attacks the washing as it is pulled out and then jumps into the drum and licks it furiously, panting and quivering. He cannot be left alone with the machine, he would spend the entire day inside it!!!

CLEANING

This isn't something I do often, really very little at all if I'm honest. I find it boring and quite frankly pointless, its a mess again when everyone comes home and by the time i get up the next morning I can't really tell i have done anything . However the time comes now and again when a feeling comes over me and I HAVE to do it.
The house was a BIG mess and I had some visitors planned for the next day so the feeling came upon me and i HAD to do it! This time I had some unemployed children at home and they helped me A LOT!!

Here is Sam really getting into it...

He also hoovered the stairs from top to bottom, Becca emptied the bathroom and scrubbed the floor on her hands and knees and I attacked the living rooms....

This is how nice the snug looked when i had finished!!

In the whole scheme of looking better and being clean the dogs went to the hairdressers. this is a VERY handsome Huxley

Well.......
havent found myself here , in front of the computer for a few days and realise its been a looooooong time since i last wrote anything.

The house is FULL.... Becca and  Sam home , 2 lodgers , one lodgers girlfriend, Becca's boyfriend and several "mates"generally knocking around. Monday night I cooked supper for 9, and I wasn't even eating as I am trying hard with the 5:2 fasting diet.... just got a new bikini...scary!!!

Over the weekend I was up in Leeds to help bring Becca home... she has finished her degree!!!!!The four girls in her house arranged a Mums weekend  so we all trooped off up to Leeds where we were spoilt by our daughters!!

Becca and I had a lovely day shopping for  graduation dress for her and after much undressing , dressing and walking we stopped for these...

When we got back to the house all the mums were treated and spoilt with the following....
Roast chicken, salad, couscous, a fantastic pavlova, G and T's and even cocktails... great fun!!

next morning we inevitably became involved in the cleaning of the flat but with all of us there it was pretty easy and we left an good time. Even the drive home was good , Becca and i shared and the time wizzed by!!

Home to  Fathers day  and a roast cooked by the father and a few hilarious cards, this being one of them.

Guess what... I have got contact lenses and can now see again, without having glasses perched on my head most of the time! quite an experience learning how to put them in and out. Got them in ok but took ages to get the bloody things out but seem to be getting better though Ian had to put one in the other day for me after 20 mins of trying!!!
There is a real downside though... I can see my wrinkles and lines soooo clearly now, all the time. I didnt really look at myself much with my glasses on so didnt realise quite how bad the situation is!!
Also , as if in a huff about the lenses my £200 glasses are missing, ironically the last time I remember having them is in the opticians when I was making the appointment to have the lenses fitted!!!

Today has been the 1st summery HOT day we have had , sadly for today only, back to rain and overcast tomorrow and all over the weekend!!

I HAD SOMETHING REALLY GOOD TO WRITE BUT..........

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep a thought popped into my head .... a very interesting and witty , slightly off the wall topic to write about on my blog. Not too long just succinct and to the point and very witty and amusing (??!!) and even a title to put at the top of the page. "I will surely remember that., its so clever and interesting" I thought to myself. I woke early again...5.30 isn, (Sunday morning arghhhhhh) and in trying to get off to sleep wrestled with my brain and sleepy memories of the previous night ...... absolutley nothing, no idea at all of what this brilliant piece was to be about and inspite of my hardest efforts there is still a BLANK. Maybe it was just a dream and there was really nothing there at all......

So its just a few photos I'm afraid... but quite good ones I hope.

Just spent the last couple of days visiting my mum down in Stroud. It was the most beautiful day, warmish and such lovely blue skies.

In case anyone is interested this is what I took to knit on the train

Its a rather long and slightly plain and boring wrap. I had a lovely one that was left on a plane and I have never quite found the perfect replacement, until I recently found a GIGANTIC ball of wool that was the perfect shade. Its growing nicely and I'm thinking that I am about half way.

In the evening we went for a beautiful walk over the hills, it was a lovely evening and the fields and trees and grass looked so vibrant.

As you can see its beautiful countryside.

I had a drink from a spring

The water was delicious, so cool and refreshing.

Home again now with a houseful of children/ young adults returning home from uni. It takes some getting used to again, no hot water for my shower after the gym, the towels all being wet, the fridge emptying before my eyes....

I made some sourdough this morning... it was a good one

However it is almost gone now, it is sooooo good we cant stop eating it

So a sunday roast for 7 needs preparing, roast lamb and its smelling GOOOOOOOD.

enjoy the rest of the weekend