Bank Holiday Weekend.

This week has gone on forever, I really thought that we would not get to Friday at one point. I seem to be at work for longer and longer !

Beth and I went out last night for an evening, we went to the bead shop in Knebworth where they were holding a beginners class, there were 8 of us all together some knew more than others but we got started and were shown the 'right' way to do things rather than my way of doing things!!

It was a very successful evening started at 6.15pm and we were still there at 9.30!!

It was also a bargain price, £5 for the tuition and refreshments and all you then paid was the price of the beads used. Beth made this lovely funky bracelet with stripey squares and bright pink beads.We learnt how to 'pin work' so now we can make head pins, eye pins and we know how to string beads together on wire.

To go with her bracelet she made a necklace with the same square beads and this chunky star! We also learnt how to make a pendant with the end crimps on the thong.

I make a bracelet using the same pin technique as Beth but I used crackle beads, pearls and crystals. I now have loads of ideas about what I can make next, time to start thinking about Christmas presents!!

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend.

Sunday Afternoon at the Lavender Farm!!

Sunday afternoon we took a trip to Hitchin Lavender farm. My friend Sue had been there a few weeks earlier and took some beautiful shots. I wasn't able to visit until this past weekend. The hillside was full of fragrant lavender, it was breezy and the air was heavy with the scent of thousands of plants.I had plans to take some dreamy shots of the girls wandering up the rows, stunning colours and sky complete with white fluffy clouds. What I hadn't bargained for were the thousands of honey bees feeding on the plants. I found that as soon as you went to pick the flowers they went away. Beth was not convinced, she hates bees having been stung at least a dozen times before, so she refused to walk up the rows, she firmly stuck to the ends of the rows which meant no pretty pictures starring her!

The lavender had to be the star of the show !!

Alongside there was a field of Sunflowers, most of these had turned to seed but there were still quite a few of them hidden deep in the rows, we managed to pick a bunch though!

Late on in the afternoon the farmer came out and started to harvest a couple of rows of Lavender, he had a clever device which lopped the top off of the plant and dumped it into a trailer behind the tractor. The aroma down wind of the harvest was over powering!!

I finally managed to get a photo of Beth where she was not trying to dodge the bees!!

The best part of the afternoon was that there was no charge, we picked a couple of carrier bags full of lavender and a bunch of sunflowers. Previously there had been a charge for the visit but as the harvest was underway they waived the charges!!! Result!

I have been repreminded by my first born, Laura for failing to mention that she was there and actively picking Lavender, in fact I forgot to say that my foot was playing up again and because of that I wasn't able to walk too far up the rows. Laura stepped into the breach and picked me a bag of lavender. So Thank You Laura I am sorry that I missed you off, I won't do it again!!!!

Sunset..

One evening we spent an hour on the beach at Whitby, the sunset was stunning. We had gone down there to see if we could find any fossils, but for the first time ever we could only find a few stones on the beach and they didn't look very promising. In the past there has been a bank of stones left when the tide went out, so it was a little disappointing.

You can't beat a few black and white photos to bring out the tones of the day!!

Gone Crabbing!!

Beth was dead keen to go crabbing while we were away, we seemed to spend ages with her looking for good opportunities to get out and crab. She was so confident that we would find hundreds that she was worried the bucket would be too small. In the end the competition between Beth and her dad was a bit of a wash out. The crabs were not nipping. The final result over the week was two crabs to Beth and one to Tom!!!

While they were crabbing off the edge there were loads of these seagulls, just hoping that some poor crab would make a nice dinner for them !

On a trip out we decided to take a look at Ravenscar, there aren't too many houses, but there are some absolutely stunning views out across the harbour. A really beautiful place.

This is a view from our cottage, we were treated to some really interesting stormy skies. I had tried to get some good sky shots, but there were so many grey skies that it effected the quality of the photos. I did get some lovely sky shots at a particularly lovely sunset on the beach which I will post later!

In and English Country Garden.

We visited Ryedale folk museum, a great interactive museum with cottages and shops set around a village green. It has everything for village life including a school, stocks and a blacksmiths. I loved looking at all the little cottages and the gardens were well stocked with traditional flowers along with fruit and vegetables.

I'd like to live in a cottage like this, although I would want a few essentials like an inside bathroom, a kitchen and a place outside to keep the animals!!!

It was hard to resist this one, best place for Beth !!

Down On the Farm.

The good thing about staying in a cottage on a farm is that there are animals around, Beth loved having them there. There was the usual selection of motley farm inhabitants along with a few unusual ones....

Alpacas!! Apparently they make very good guards and protect the sheep that they share the field with, they chase away anyone brave enough to step food in the field!! I think this one has a fantastic hair do!!

There was a field with a couple of horses as well, which interested Beth, she got them some carrots so they liked her a lot!!

Something Crafty. Polka Dot Frenzy!!!

Last week on holiday we had a fair few wet days, so Beth and I spent one of those wet afternoons in Doodle pots, a great studio for painting your own pots. Beth and I have done this a fair few times before and we really enjoy doing them. This time I chose a pint jug and Beth chose a cupcake trinket box.

The amazing thing is that the time absolutely flies when you start painting.

You have to remember that the colours that you start with are the not the same ones that you end up with. This was the first time I had been brave and used black paint, the lady said that its a hard colour to work with as it goes streaky. I am glad that I gave it a go, as it has turned out just fine.

The paint needs to be applied in three layers to get the depth of colour and that's where things can go wrong. Its hard to see the white paint and remember how many times you have been around the pot. Still it was great entertainment, I just wish we had a shop around here, as I would work on a dinner service.

This is Beth's pot, its turned out fine!

I haven't had chance to photograph the finished articles as of yet but I am very impressed with these photos, taken by Beth!!!!

Frustration !!!!!!!

You are supposed to come back off of a holiday feeling refreshed and relaxed, ready to face the usual hassles of everyday life, well it simply hasn't worked like that !!

Thursday night we had torential rain, gale force wind and general horrible weather. So we packed up and made a start for home on Friday morning, we half thought that we might not get a good journey home, but none the less we had to be out of the cottage and on our way.

We must be getting better at packing up as it took less than 45 minutes to pack and load the car.

We hit the road and only had one problem crossing the Moors, the usual bottle neck at Pickering and onwards to the A1, that was where it all went wrong.

(I took this photo of Beth before embarking on the return journey!!)

So we got onto the A1 and within minutes we were in a huge long traffic jam, all the radio stations started to talk about an accident on the south bound which had happened a short while before we joined the queue. From then on we were stuck. We couldn't get off the road and we were simply not going anywhere.

Hours later we finally got to a point that we could leave the road we stopped at a pub for something to eat and realised that we were STILL north of Doncaster, it was so demoralising. After dinner we we looked at the A1 an it was moving well, so we decided to rejoin it and restart the journey. We got back on the motorway and within minutes we were in another traffic jam. This time we were between junctions for another couple of hours as a horse box had broken down and blocked one carriageway at the point that the road had narrowed from 3 to two lanes. Throughout all the hold ups it was raining hard which made the driving when we did get to move a bit of a challenge.

We eventually got home 8 1/2 hours later, a journey that usually takes 4 1/2 hours!!!!

Once we got home, I started on the marathon unpacking and washing, I switched on the PC and plugged in my Iphone to charge only to watch it self destruct, before my eyes it decided to reset itself back to factory settings, I lost everything, no calendar, no contacts, no nothing!!!! I could have cried.

It has taken ages to try and get all the contacts back up and running and I am still lots short, so if you were one of my contacts and wish to remain one of my contacts, please get in touch with me!!!

Today we have had a Royal visit from Laura who has been following the Rosemary Connolly diet and torture class for the past month and has today lost her first stone in weight. Well done Laura!!

A day at the rock factory !!

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Today we went to the John Bull rock and chocolate factory it was a real sacrifice to go to a place where we had to taste the merchandise and join in with making it! It was incredible good value £2.50 to do the tour and £1 to roll your own rock with your initial inside bargain!! Beth also made her own chocolate lolly. There was a factory shop and cafe both were good value.
This afternoon we had an hour on Scarborough beach although the sun was out the wind was freezing so we ended up on the beach wrapped in coats and blankets, all we have to do now is load the dirty washing into the cases and head home tomorrow!!

In Honour of Malcolm !!

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Looking around Whitby we spotted this shop which had obviously been named after our friend Mad Malcolm the Jackson from hell!
So here's to you Malcolm Jackson and your daily 5000 sit ups, here's to the Butlins pin up boy here's to all 'Gutsy Gingers' in your life!!!

Stunning sunset

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Last night we had the most spectacular sun set it made up for the rubbish weather !!!

British summertime !!!

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Well yesterday was a typical seaside day wet blustery and chilly we sat on the beach at Scarborough regardless and had a good time inspite of the weather !! Strange thing is that we have all caught the sun must have been super strong when it did break through!!!

Another rainy day.

Yesterday we woke up to sunshine so we made plans to go to the beach by the time we had packed up it was drizzling still quite warm but definately wet !! We changed plans and decided to head for Ryedale folk museum in Hutton-le-Hole instead. We drove through some spectacular scenery and up some hills we could only do in first gear! These roads were trusty and single track and very scary!
The sun came out for long enough at the museum for us all to get a touch of sun burn!
We headed back late afternoon and they had another bash at crabbing although this time in between dodging the rain they didn't catch anything!
We ate at the cottage last night and Tom and I had a couple of drinks it certainly helped us sleep better!!(you know how you keep waking in a strange bed)
Today we are off to see the rellies!!

Down on the beach!

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

I am trying out an iPhone photo uploaded app, could you please leave me a comment if you can see the photo as it's not showing in my preview so I am not sure if it has worked!! Thanks

Boot sale Sunday

Yesterday we started with a boot sale, it was massive with a well organised carpark it took us over an hour to walk around it the once ! There was the usual tat and rubbish but a few stalls selling some interesting stuff. In the end I only spent a couple of quid, two brass weights for my weighing scales (I have been missing the the one and two ounce weights ever since I had the scales) I also picked up some necklaces just for the beads which I plan on reusing. My last buy was a Disney music cd for 50p bargain!!
We then headed for the beach and spent a pleasant hour reading the Sunday papers before we realised the tide was coming in fast so we had to escape up the steepest stairs on the beach while carrying deck chairs!!!
We spent the afternoon walking around the little shops in Whitby before heading home with a Chinese !!
I took some lovely beach photos but I just can't seem to find a way of uploading to blogger from my iPhone!!
The sun is shining so I hope we can get back on the beach for a while!!

Day one and more rain :0(

We got up Saturday morning to rain which got worse as the day moved on . It was that hot sticky rain where it was too not for a coat but too wet to go without one!! We had a drive around but Beth and I ended up at the ceramic shop she has painted a beautiful cupcake trinket box and I decorated a jug. The amazing thing was that it took around 3 hours and that time flew! As a bonus Tom went and had a few bets on the dogs and paid for the ceramics with his winnings!!!
Last night we ate at the cottage but we have Sussed out a nice Chinese for later in the week.
I am up early as the bed gives me back ache, since changing to a soft matress at home which helps my back any hard matresses are agony!! Off to have a shower and hit the boot sales fingers crossed it doesn't rain!

Morning from an overcast Whitby

We arrived in Whitby yesterday afternoon and made our way to our little cottage, it's a lovely cottage on a dairy farm so lots of cows around!! The cottage is lovely and the bed is comfy which is always a worry !!
Last night we went into Whitby Beth had a go on the amusements. Today we are going to a village show which will be interesting !!
I am hoping that the weather gets better I want to sit on a beach somewhere!!!
Carl behave yourself and Karen over the road if you notice anything untoward TEXT ME !!!!

Too Much Drink!!

Well you know how it is, the weather is hot, the night is young and alcohol is on the menu. Before you know it, people are having fun, wearing silly hats, and singing along to 'tunes' on the computer. Wasn't so long ago that we would have been singing along to the 'radiogram'!!!!

Well the drink was flowing and there was a stream of willing posers...

Its amazing how much alcohol lubricates the swivel hips.

Finally the alcohol wins out and everyone goes to sleep!!

Carl and Gracie celebrating Saturday evening.