this n that and not much in particular

Home.

After a week away, despite the washing to do and the holiday things to be put away, it is nice to be home.

The house is quiet, the boys are still up in bed, Himself is off to work and the cats have got over the short lived desperate need to be fed/held/stroked/played with and have reverted back to their more normal aloof superior being selves.....I know my place.

I have a long list of to-do things.

1. Tidy up (not just our holiday katunda but general house tidy)
2. Feed Pepper (she says she's not had a morsel for HOURS which is a lie as I fed her about 20 minutes ago)
3. Make myself a mug of tea
4. Wake the boys - might put that off a bit longer 
5. Ignore the cat (talk about persistent)
6. Washing - must not forget the washing
7. Water the plants - they all seem to have taken on a rather parched and flaccid look - suspect that plant sitting is not high on Himself's agenda....
8. Look for an alternative to net curtains (I HATE net curtains with A PASSION) however, our front room window is angled such that as people wander up through the village they look straight in and stare. I usually have some sort of screening up - the most recent ones have lasted the longest - they were sari veils with embroidered paisley swirls. The cats finished them off while I was away........
9. Put the kettle on, thinking about making a brew will not actually materialise one next to me - despite wishing VeRY HaRD!!
10. Knit - I want to knit
11. Ignore point 10 - that will have to wait *sigh*
12. Re-discover my desk - it has become a dumping ground for paper and other detritus
13. Get ready for Halloween - There will be the annual trail of of little snotty pink witches and ghouls this evening yelling 'trick or treat' expecting sweets without hesitation. They always look baffled (as do most of the parents) when we yell back 'TRICK!' We gave that up a few years ago.
14. Empty out Eldest's bedroom by mid day - he is having a new carpet laid down. You might wonder why I am not sorting that out choosing rather to blog and day dream about a mug of tea and knitting..... those of you who have teenage sons will know why I am procrastinating....
15. Washing - mentioned that but it is preying on my mind
16. Kettle - I must put the kettle on
17. Stop writing lists and get on with things.

I can hear the shower going on upstairs, one of the boys must be awake - unless it is the cat.

Which reminds me, while we were away, one of our furry little beasties turned on the bathroom tap (the taps are the type with a long handle that when lent on will easily turn) and when Himself returned from his break found the bath was rather full of water...........

Oh well. Procrastination is not an artform unless it is done to keep up with yesterday, I suspect I am doing that right now!

Over the last few days, I took pictures of this and that and of nothing in particular.

 Very yellow coloured frog crossing a quiet lane in St Abbs, the dull weather made it's skin glow

 A rather large stirk leaning in for a sniff 

 Youngest leaping from one tank trap to another. Relics from the 2nd WW - his legs have grown somewhat....

 Merino goats at the wool festival

 Youngest priming himself to leap again

 Marram grass head

Seaweed

Edited to add - Vacuumed out the washing machine (yes you read correctly - VACUUMED OUT the washing machine...)

Made creepy hands out of black paper for the window (see I ToLD you I was a procrastinator)

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

After Tuesday's wash out, Wednesday's sunshine was AbSolUTeLy gorgeous.
We set off in two cars to St Aidens beach were my folks came a short way with us then returned to have a picnic on the sands and Youngest and I continued on with out walk.

We were going to walk from Seahouses to Bamburgh along the coast and then cross over the dunes and into farm land and wander back through the lanes and pathways back to the car. We had walked this route some years ago when the boys had legs that were only little and had to work twice as hard as they do now. The walk took us most of the day with many stops and deviations as well as lots of bribery encouragement and goading positive words to make our little guys keep moving. This time, Youngest with his long giraffe legs and I with my Nordic walking poles strode round in just over 2 1/2 hours.

The views were spectacular - definitely made up for the monsoon weather we had yesterday!

What a soggy day!

Well, the plan had been to visit my folks 'favouritest' fish and chip shop In ThE WoRLd! in Seahouses. A proper holiday style seasidey town. The type that have 'bucket and spade' shops with 'kiss-me-quick' style goodies for sale. Then we were to go down to the sands of St Aidens beach and do a bit of beach combing.......

With it being half term, the pavements and shops were rather full of families doing more or less the same as us. Keeping busy whilst keeping an eye on the weather.

We sat down to a rather nice, very clean and shiny fishery-and-chippery-eatery and soon there was four huge plates of fish and chips, pots and tea and a pile of bread and butter - goodness knows how I was supposed to eat all this food!

While we were chatting and munching in the the restaurant the heavens opened and so so much rain fell. It was still raining when we left and by the time we reached the car we were drenched!

Discretion being the best part of valour - we retreated back to our cottage to dry off and hide from the weather.

It rained rest of the afternoon and most of the evening but it meant I could do loads of knitting!

My owl hat is nearly completed and my shawl - oh my delicious shawl - is back on the go - happy me :)

Tomorrow Youngest and I are planning a walk! Woo hoo!

The sculpture on the sea front commemorating the heroics of all lifesavers - he almost lifesize on a huge rock - managed to take his photo before the rain caught us!

Swap over

Himself, Eldest and Girlfriend left us on Sunday evening to go back to work and study and my folks - Jak and Dad came up to share our holiday cottage. Swapped one part of my family for another!

Youngest and I took them to St Abbs - we are being dictated to by the weather and as Monday looked to be the least wet, we took to the coast.

We had a delicious lunch at the converted village school, now a community business being run as a lovely simple cafe serving excellent home-cooked food.

We bumbled down to the harbour and watched the boats and visited the visitors centre and I showed off my guillemot.

In the visitors centre is the most beautifully painted mural on the central wall, the detail is amazing. Apparently it was painted by an art teacher from the local school and all the animals depicted are native to the local area.

As we explored, we had a couple of hysterically funny moments that made us laugh until we cried. It's been a while since I had one of those :)


As we jumped back into the car, the rain returned. I quietly thanked the weather for allowing us to wander around the village and harbour in gentle sunshine.


What shall we get up to tomorrow?!

Walking the sea cliffs

As I mentioned yesterday, we'd spent a lovely morning at the St Abbs Wool Fest and afterwards we went for a wonderful (if a touch breezy!) walk. I managed to change in the front of the car out of my jolly out clothes into walking clothes - it was a bit of a wriggle but I managed. We had a picnic lunch down by the harbour. There is a lovely small picnic site right on the edge of the water so we sat there and admired the boats.

A small but thriving industry in this little harbour is a 'dive school' and boats trundled in and out of the harbour dropping off divers who explore the coves and the bay along the craggy coastline.

I thought I'd taken photos of our walk to the lighthouse but when I checked through my pictures, I don't have a single one! It must have been so windy that I must have used both my hands to hold my hat on!

St Abbs Wool Fest

Well, yes! What a lovely lovely day.

We had set off from home on the Friday afternoon and despite all the road works and the contra-flows and the traffic - we finally arrived in Northumberland. It was dark and windy and rather cold and despite finding our cottage we could not raise the owner with the all essential key. Eventually by the magic of 'ringing my mom' who was able to find a different telephone number and then get hold of the owner, we were able to get in.

Oh what a lovely warm cottage and shortly we all curled up on to the settees with steaming mugs of tea and some comfort food as we settled in.

On Saturday, full of anticipation, we set off for the festival.  Our wet and windy weather had turned into bright and breezy with warm autumnal sunshine - how delicious.

What a beautiful view from the visitors centre where part of the wool festival was held.

Look! There is my silly guillemot! Woo hoo! He is the snooty looking one in the middle right. 

Eldest and Girlfriend (in my fairisle hat :) ) off to the rest of the wool festival.

I wanted to share a lot more images and stories, but where I am staying the wifi is rather stone age (!) and I am  struggling to post anything - so this one will have to do for a starter!

Guess where I'm going to be on Saturday?!

Here - St Abbs Wool Festival.

Happy? Oh yes!


I am taking my camera and my knitting and my smile :) I can't wait!

 

And I am going to visit my guillemot!  

I shall report back :)

Oh - and I shall be getting my hands on some more of this gorgeous stuff!

The colour red

Saturday was a bright and breezy day with clouds flying across the sky teasingly showing brief glimpses of blue.

This had a somewhat sombering effect on the colours of our walk, however various shades of red seemed to glow iridescently through.

Eldest's haversack slung casually across one shoulder, impractical and probably uncomfortable but so typical of teenage lads.

  Berries in the hedgerows. Some glossy coated and glistening while others mat and leathery, their shades being off set by yellowy foliage.

 The invasive and cannibalistic Harlequin Ladybird - a foreign species devastating the native ladybirds. At the time of taking these photos we were unaware of their unwanted status and we oohed and ahhed at their colours and how many there were..... hmmm, we know better now.

As the afternoon progressed and our walk lengthened - the clouds relented and the sky began to glow - this only had an intensifying effect on the reds and these holly berries were positively incandescent.

  Then, just as we returned to the village where we'd left the car, Youngest found this...... how could I resist?

Sunday is a lot quieter, more home based, the weather more dull. Think this sort of day calls for homemade soup and bread :)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend

 and wishing you all 

a Happy Monday!

Only catching the half

Walking through the town square I weave my way through the day trippers, the lunch time workers, pensioners and pushchair wielding mothers. I only have a few minutes spare so no time to linger.

'What time does it arrive dear?' he says to her. I have to squeeze through a queue waiting for the small village-to-village bus.
I never hear her reply, I am already out of earshot.

'Wot ya fink? - shurra I give 'im a call?' Two teenagers draped in goth inspired clothing in turn drape themselves on the bench alongside the renovated town hall. I catch a baritone 'dunno' in reply as I cross the road.

Amid the northern accents I hear a strident southern voice demanding to know 'when is the next bus to Ingleton?' I turn to see an older lady in long shorts, her shoulders weighed down with a heavy haversack. The answer was lost to the breeze as I strode round the hall.

'No she wasn't!'
'It's true!'
'Really?'

I'll never know, who she was, what she did and whether it was true or not, but it certainly had three dumpy ladies in deep conversation. Their crimplene coats buttoned or belted against the cooler autumn air.

'Eee, I'll be beggerrred' grumbles a crusty old boy to his equally craggy friend as they sit watching the world go by. They don't notice me, at least I don't think they do. I am just some one who fleetingly crossed their line of vision.

I continue my mission to the mini-mart to pick up a bag of salad to add to my lunch, cross another road and hear a workman yell an instruction to a fellow worker, his reply lost under the metallic clang of scaffolding poles being loaded into the works van.

I quickly make my purchase and leave, people chatting all round me, some inaudible, some raucous, all snippets that I am not privy to but hear all the same as I traverse unheeded  through their bubble of conversation.

Striding back to work I find I am overtaking old folk and day trippers gawping at shop windows and at the view.
'Look at that Doris, awww, I think our Dorothy would love it'.
I see Doris lean forward to peer at some trinket or other and nod and mutter a reply. Did Doris agree? Don't know, I never will. Their conversation slipped in and and out of my life  - uncompleted.

To me this patchwork of unfinished sentences, half heard fragments of conversations are like glimpses of private lives open to anyone who can hear them.  I am not deliberately setting out to listen but crisscrossing through people usually means conversations wash over me and words get caught and I am teased by the scraps of sentences.

It makes me smile.


It is life.

Celebrating an autumnal glow

I have mentioned recently how I am finding the ending of this year a little harder than usual, so after a severe talking to myself, I am trying hard to feel positivity and joy at the seasonal downturn. It does certainly help that the sun is shining and it is still warm and bright.

So, in celebration of autumn, I would like to share my 'alter' to autumn and my walk to collect my little treasures.

 

 The brilliant red haws against the blue sky, leaves of autumnal hues, mushrooms and the unexpected and delightful last flowers from the achillea and honeysuckle. The crunch of dried leaves, the slip of damp wooden footbridges.

Then, home again for tea and the last pieces of Devon apple cake.

Good.