Beth's Turn!!

Here we go again, it seems barely five minutes since we were watching Carl learn to drive in his little Matiz called Kermit. Now we are doing it all again with Beth in the driving seat. 

Last week Beth passed her theory test and is ready to get cracking on her practical test, so the time has arrived for her to buy her own car and get it on the road so she can have a go!

Beth spotted a 'ginger' Matiz in her price range and we took it out for a test drive, it seemed to be fine so after doing a few checks on it and bargaining with the seller she purchased it. The insurance was OK but once she passes her test and is on her own it will go through the roof, but so far so good. Its made a big dent in her bank balance, purchase price, insurance and road tax, but now she is legal  and  ready to roll. Its good to look back and compare the two of them!!

The new car is to be known as Maximus the Matiz!!

Now the problem is keeping Bath in long enough to give us a break, we have been to the shops, put petrol in, been to the shops again, tonight she has volunteered to get fish and chips for dinner! The only slight fly in the ointment was that the owner delivered it to us and after they left it wouldn't start. Anyway thank goodness for RAC home start, the very nice man turned up (second time, same man!!) and checked it out only to find it was the battery. I expect the battery had been on the way out, but due to the cost of replacing it, I think he jump started it and let us get on with it! Anyway a new battery has been fitted (with thanks to Grandad) and Maximus is now fully up and running.

No pressure, but I hope she passes her test the first time like Carl!!!

I seem to have a million things to do and not the slightest interest in doing any of them!! Oh well I expect they will all be there for me to do tomorrow!

Here comes SUMMER!!!!

Over the Bank Holiday weekend we took a trip to Lemsford Fete. They were blessed with the weather, it was sunny and just hot enough to give us a bit of a glow! Beth had a go at Archery, she has done it before so she was keen to have another go. It was cheap enough £2 for six arrows and some tuition. She did very well hit the target every time!! We managed to win a mug on the tombola and that was it, I had hoped to win the big prize draw, one of the major prizes was a new all singing and all dancing sewing machine, it was not my lucky day!!

We popped down to the cemetery and its looking really pretty, with all the tulips in flower. I am impressed with  how the council are keeping it looking so good.

Of course the other big news of the past week was that it was the General Election. There had been so much coverage (as there usually is) but ALL the opinion polls were agreeing with each other and forecasting a hung parliament. It was Beth's first chance to vote, so we all went together to put our crosses in the box. There were lots of people there when we were there. So it looked like quite a good turnout. At the end of the day the actual turnout for our constituency was 68.8% not too bad all things considered.  This area has been Conservative for some while so it was not a great surprise that the incumbent was returned but this time with a smaller majority. The actual overall result was not as close as the predictions would have us believe . So we will have to see what the next five years will bring. Can't imagine it will be any better than the past five years. 

I have been in full flow craft wise, I have made all the invites for Carl's leaving do in July, I decided to sit up and see the election results come in and managed to do the whole lot in one evening!! He just has to get them out now. 

On Saturday I went to The Living Crafts show at Hatfield House. It had been years since I have last visited. We booked an entrance deal on line via Groupon. We got there for around 10 am and it was one of those days where it looked like it was about to rain all the time, so it was hard to know what to wear. So I ended up going for the fleece and scarf combo as I could put them in my back pack if it became suddenly tropical. I am still working on the art of selfie taking, I find it very hard not to look at where my finger is pushing the button on the phone!! My friends daughter being a youngster is professional at it!!!

There was some incredible art on display the above looked like blobs of clay mounted in a frame. The colours were gorgeous, it wasn't until we looked a bit closer that I realised that they were representations of faces and hands, very subtle and very beautiful!

There were also some very very expensive stalls, this bag made of up cycled/recycled fabrics and silk flowers had the price tag of £87 , well out of my comfort area!!! I did buy a couple of bits, some lovely lemon hand cream and we walked around the food tent a few times. That was in the interests of testing all on offer!! We tried all sorts biscuits, cakes, fudge, cheese, just little tiny tasters, but a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Just before we had lunch we spotted a group of ladies from West Herts College who were doing pottery. They bought along a gas fired kiln and lots of pots so that we could have a go at glazing our own pots with 'raku' glazes, so we did!! We glazed away and left out pots (and a hedgehog) in their safe hands while we went off for a spot of lunch. 

When we got back our masterpieces were on the way out of the kiln, Amy's hedgehog became a killer, the lady dropped it onto a bowl and smashed it!!

The glazes behave differently depending on the weather, so the green glazes actually turned out mainly red!! It was a nice cheap souvenir of the day!

We finished Saturday night with a great meal out with our friends at an Indian restaurant in Wheathampstead. Great weekend!!

I hope you all have a good week

Bank Holiday Weekend!

I am loving these three and four day weeks, I could get really used to it! 

Yesterday was a bit of a nothing day, just a bit of shopping and a lot of thinking about what to do for the weekend. I really like to have a 'plan' but so far a 'plan' has evaded me, So I have trawled through Pinterest for ideas and eventually hit upon these flowers. It passed an hour or so and I think that I will be able to do something with them, perhaps something arty farty like the beautiful wreath my friend Jane made!

The flowers on Jane's wreath are different type, I will try them next but she has warned me that I will need heat resistant fingers to  with the hot glue gun, I don't have a good track record with glue guns, I still have the burn scar from a Glue gun related injury several years ago!!

I also helped Jane to celebrate her birthday with a sensitive and useful home made gift from me!!

I knew she was starting  a new fitness regime, so I made her a block to walk around!! I am sure that she will use it often!!!

Beth and Grace have gone up to the 02 to see Olly Murs, so this afternoon we went over to Watford to drop her off, I took a chance to have a look around the shops and finally made it into Tiger, The last time I was in one I was in Amsterdam! We had to drop into Primark and picked up a few bits in their sale. I dropped Beth at Watford Junction and when she got out of the car she was nearly blow, away!! She text me when they got there and they somehow managed to get themselves upgraded and into the VIP lounge, who knows they may bring Olly home with them!!

Finally a few photos of our lovely doggie Hunny. She is now an elderly lady of 12 years, she is slowing up and no longer really wants to go for long walks, in fact she is happiest sunning herself in the back garden, she makes me smile when she lets us know she wants to go into the garden and then finds herself a sunny spot!

So happy Bank Holiday tomorrow, lets hope it stays dry!!