Counting down this week..

Harry Flatters at 8am

... our ZacMan leaves for his new career on Friday and the girls start back at school / college next week, so it's a week of 'before I go'es.  The weather looked fine, if a little breezy so Col and Zac got up early to get the boat off the moorings. I got a lie-in, woke with a frenzied start almost two hours later and managed to muster Kate to join me and Pops for what may be her only trip out fishing this summer.

Well, it went okay, true to form Kate caught a good number of fish and she and Zac had a play in the inflatable. It was so calm in my favourite spot right under Logan Rock that we could get within feet of the rocks.. and spotted a couple of snorkellers there too, it was that calm.

I just can't get enough of these rocks..

.. and it was low Spring Tide so you could walk from Porthcurno right along about 4 beaches..makes you feel so lucky to live here and most of all to be able to see it from the sea.

 Yes, I reckon that should be about enough Vit D and visits to the homeland to keep me quiet for ... oh at least a month!

Perfect days...

.. all round, I think everyone got something they wanted already this weekend. Us two laid in til almost lunchtime today and I got a long lazy bath. Two lots of motor racing for the boys (and me to some extent), F1 and Moto GP and a nice brunch on the .... decking, afterwards! (well it was a meal between lunch and dinner / tea, but I'm not sure what that's called?)
...then Pop's returned home from his little sortie to South Devon with tales of salsa and singing in the rain!

I finished the afternoon off with a nice hour in the sun, settling well into another Anita Shrive book...The Pilot's Wife'  I really like her stuff but you have to get stuck and read them in a frenzy as they are so engrossing... as Ross' gf April found out on their flights to Palma this weekend.. gave her my last Shrive holiday read and she was well stuck in by lunchtime day1!

Jordan & Col returned unscathed from their day at the Reading Festival, with tales of rain, other people's shoes abandoned in the mud and the fun people they met.  Jordan reckons she can almost die happy after seeing The Offspring; only GreenDay to see now and she's content.... ahh, I remember those teenage days when life was that simple!

This is one of Col's pics which is this week's desktop image...til Ross comes home with his super yacht pics from Palma next week..

Mud, glorious mud..nothing quite like it..

 ...but I particularly like this one Jordan took... from the perspective of a muddy Show-Zone wellie!

All hail to the Shoe-Zone Wellies!

All good!

Well it's been a newsy kind of day.. started out with Jordan and Col setting off for some customer visits and aiming for Reading (okay, via Warwick!) and en route they went to school for Jordan's results.  For a girl who claimed she was straight B's I think the A* and the A with the clutch of B's and C's is pretty damn good.  

So, she's off to do some enjoyable A's and who knows what next.. currently a toss up between advertising and being a baker!


Creative Collage of JB's work.



Some of Col's relatives arrived to say hello, except Col and his Dad are both away, but Zac went karting with them and we updated all the family info, so 'job done' I'd say!

'None of the above'

My armchair doctoring was proved to be quite wrong and I do not have some incurable terminal ailment, probably in fact a virus... mmm, should tell me something.. esp next time I ponder on where some of the kid's hypochondria comes from....!

Work was fairly quiet, I guess anyone with any sense is winding down for the long weekend, so maybe tomorrow will let me catch up for once...but so easy to find a distraction isn't it. Only me and the boys in for tea so I had a wander about the shops, amazing not to have someone in tow or the mental niggle that I should be somewhere making a meal for someone..mmm, this emptier nest malarky might even lose me some weight.. all I need now is some exercise.. ahah, that old chestnut!

So busy!!

... despite the weary I have been feeling quite a bit better today.. but our little Lilly was over for the day, so maybe it was a case of no choice, get busy!  Funny, when you start to feel better you can't quite put your finger on how it was you felt unwell..suffice to say JB and I had a good bimble around town this morning, pushchair at the ready and got lots of chores done.... then back to the office..

.. now, there's another change.. about eight years ago I used to suggest that we had a summer shut-down like our European pals who supply us from Italy and France, but we never did, using the time to play catch up instead on all those jobs we were behind on.  But this year it's gone mad, so much work has come in this month, it's almost like an end of budget-year month. Heavens knows what we'd have done if we'd shut down and closed the doors , all I know is the post box would have been very full come 1st September!



Col's December pay-day!

But, also on the good side, this means we should have a nice funnel of work in til Christmas and hopefully it will all  be running along smoothly so we can go have a holiday with our girls in December....only the girls?..well Zac's had Ibiza, Ross is off to Palma this weekend and well, Lisa is having half a weekend at a wedding in September!! Poor thing, she is mad busy too..so driven and reflections of the juggler I used to be when we started out.. it's all deadlines / promises/ baby baths and sleepless nights.. as they say, that's why you have the babies when you're young!

And for those that worry that at the first sign of feeling decent I am busy again.. this is my relaxation.. out there in blog blog world.. well it will be til I get myself GooglePlus or whatever the mature version of Facebook is going to be!... and I leave it to my teens to tell me the answer to that!

...and small memory that today three years ago we were all celebrating Col's folks Golden Wedding.....

...and there we have it.. full circle, the Wedding Album I started out to scrapbook three years ago, before I started this blog and met most of the lovely people who are now part of my circle of friends.. xxxx

Spontaneous & creative?

.. thanks to Picasa..x

Good start..

.. to the week! Looking mellow and calm outside, we decided to go out in the boat this morning.. as Col said, that's why we live here and work for ourselves!  It's really good having the boat moored in the Mount this summer, even the little inflatable trip from the beach is fun!  Only me and Col, Zac and Pops, so a small crew..

.. a little visit to 'the homeland' Penberth bay and we decided to go as far as the Runnelstone to see if the fish were biting. And sure enough a good few mackeral and couple of pollock later we had had a good morning out.  Col even did a proper fillet job on them and we had pan fried mackeral for tea.. quite the 'two men in a boat' cooking experience!!

The weather was quite threatening but this moody look around the Mount didn't actually come to anything and the afternoon in the office was hot & sunny.. but with the mroning out I couldn't really moan!  Maybe I'll tweak the photo and see if I can make it even moodier, then it'd be a good contribution to Karen's 'creative' challenge.

Results Days..

.. just ain't what they used to be.

I remember the days when 'A' levels results day brought many surprises, both good and bad, while now they just seem to deliver confirmation of the final few assessments done since Easter.  The days of it all depending on 12 hours solid writing at the end of two years are done, and many would argue this is a good thing, not least of all those who fear exams and the pressure it entails.

So, Zac got what he expected, a final result of 3 B's, a great result we all respect when they included Maths and Physics. subjects you can't waffle your way through as I did with all my Sociology and stuff way back when!  So in a couple of weeks he's off to Maritime College and starts the term with a visit around the Grand Princess cruise ship in Southampton.. good one!

I amused myself earlier with some pics of Zac and Colin doing some decking, realised how well it works in with Zac's training for 'Deck Officer'.. haha, plenty training in decking done here this week! 

I have been so weary this week (but hopefully getting to the bottom of that this week) and they have worked so hard in the evenings, so it was great to have a proper garden tea this evening.

Jordan & Ross both working lots and Kate, well at 14 it's hard work just having fun isn't it!
JB gets her GCSE's next Thursday and then she's off to the Reading Festival with Colin ...wellies and sun block at the ready, well you have to be ready for every eventuality in UK!

For Karen..

.. as you may know I'm not a big flower photo taker.. but last Christmas Zac's girlfriend Lucy bought me this amazing white orchid. It lasted about 5 months and then lost all it's flowers.. I was just about to dispose of it when I noticed buds.. and this is the second wind..

Later, in March when Lyla was born, my pal Naomi bought me a pink one and it has flowered ever since..such fantastic resilient blooms, to last so long in my house too!...

Busy weekend!

Our house has been full all day.. it's Col's Dad's birthday and Zac had his posse over playing paintball this afternoon, so Lisa and the girls came by for the afternoon, then we had tea and cakes, including scrummy banoffee pie and this 'Fish Cake' Jordan worked so hard to make last night.

We had fun yesterday cooking lasagna for tea and Jb made mini Victoria sponges in our new pans from Lakeland.. oh what a place that is, a cook's heaven.. we came home with everything from Pirate cupcake decorations to new enamel pans, perfect for home-made rice puddings!

This evening was fun too, we watched Ross' van reach the end of it's bid phase.  It was close but it looks like the surf van period of his life is drawing to a close..here's a little pic just in case you haven't seen 'Charlie' in the flesh!!  Domino's pizza when the girls came home from their adventures made for a great end to the day!

Nine days later..

... not sure I have much to show for them, but must have been busy not to have written before. Mind you, with Karen away on her delicious cruise there is less going on here so maybe I'm looking less too!

Been feeling a bit under the weather, can't quite put my finger on it, reminds me of how I used to feel at end of term at Uni.. maybe it's that 'run-down' thing Mum used to say I had when she was kindly telling me to stay home more and get some early nights!

I think also my neck has been acting up, I got told about ten years ago I had 'more than average wear and tear' on it (5 kids, carried on hip at 30 months each is a good start when I wonder why!), and it seems whatever I do my arms and neck are in there getting busy...yes, cooking, blogging, working, ironing and worst of all even the sandpapering and distressing of scrapbooking.

So last eve I made the effort to lay down and watch some TV.. and promptly fell asleep.. seems I must have needed it!

Scrapbooking on Saturday was great, Emma was there for the first time in a few months and it was great to catch up.. she has her new extension (and decking) almost done, so it was nice to see how a happy bunny feels!! Mind you, I now have wayrock (?) screwed to mine so maybe it is forward movement and perhaps the promise of birthday tea outside for Pops on Sunday will spur on the deck!  Watch this space..   Pat has had a new grandchild, almost every month one of us has some family news or another.

Our baby Lyla is coming along leaps and bounds, almost crawling (thanks to laying on her belly for sleeping maybe?) and she just smiles at everything! 

No Way!

Big sister rules our roost as much as she can a couple of days each week, but it's so refereshing to see her.. and hear her angle on the world according to a 3-year old!  Here she models today's fashion accessory and I have pics of her mum in just the same outfit 20 yrs ago! Love it!