365/30 Collection!

Well in my life the are many collections, often piles of 'stuff' to be sorted, but I am trying to use pictures which give a taste of my life too.. so this is one of my little corners of the kitchen where a collection of metal signs lives. Jordan gave me the card and it is in the same kind of theme.. and reflects our house.. just when you lose someone from the list of people to feed, someone else arrives or others come home with extra babies or friends in tow!  And I'm loving it!!

And yesterday three of the kids were home and they were all wearing the same bright green.. okay a tenous link to a collection of green tops (!) but here's a shot to mark the day when Jb was sad to say bye to Zac as he wends his way to warmer climes for the next 3 months aboard the Sapphire Princess.  I am sure they were twins, separated at birth, plus 27 months!

Say Cheese said Zac!

365/29 Kitchen Utensil!

Well those who know me will know how hard I find it to give a short single answer and yesterday's photo prompt is just that... pick a utensil, any utensil.. and I have to show you everything, but to be fair, they are my favourites!

The little peeling / chopping /slicing knife has been 'lost' a couple of times, but always seems to turn up, in a cake tin with a half eaten cake or 'in the wrong place' in the drawer.

The pizza cutter has survived almost 20 years of married life, a little extra gift from Col's auntie and it has outlived a few other comedy (Homer Simpson) cutters.. and we like our pizza in the Jones household!

The utensil set on the wall was a Christmas present from Col, he gave me each one separately and was dumb founded when I opened the second soup ladle , he hadn't even realised he had bought two when he was wrapping them!

Last but by no means least my steamer, I use it almost every decent meal and cook all the veg in it, potatoes first, then carrots, broccoli, peas, the lot!

365/28 Fluffy!

So, since 9am or even before that I have had the word 'fluffy' in my head, the picture prompt for today. mmmmm...first thought was the state of my brain at times, (but hard to photograph)...ahhh, there will be a soft toy around this evening when the family convenes for curry night...(too easy and a cop out).. or maybe I'll find some warm socks (more cop out)

So it's almost time to go make the curry and we will all start getting busy for our 'Zac's nearly last night' and I'm playing around with my tablet in front of the TV... and there he is.. fluffy Chandler!

Sorry, will try harder!

365/27 Amazing!

Well I got as far as early evening and apart from lots of telephone calls and emails keeping me busy all day (my pennance for having two days out I suppose, and worth it to be fair), I cannot think of anything especially amazing which happened today...and said so. Our no.4 child put out her arms in a ta-dah fashion and I was going to photograph her and Zac but the moment kind of passed.
 

So I looked through my pics on my tablet and for sure I found a picture to suit.. an amazing layout of an amazing picture of the most amazing place in my life...Treryn Castle, a headland just near Porthcurno where we go in our boat during the summer, just to hang out and charge my spiritual batteries!  My parents raised our family close by and my Dad fished these waters all his life and I love that to be there I can feel that nothing has probably changed in the 50 years since then...like touching back through time.

365/26 Free Choice.

Great day for me, a few quiet hours with minimum crowds and no-one to answer to at Cribbs Causeway, catching the tail end of the sales and a few bargains for my troubles. Then Col finished his service visit to a customer, met up for some lunch and we headed for Ikea where we planned our new wardrobe.

While having a 5 minute break at the 'Mall' I checked on Twitter and picked up Suzie's prompt for today.  Free choice.. aha, not so easy, deciding what to photograph in a shopping mall..everything from a jumbo jacket potato to a performing fountain!......... but then at Ikea I snapped this pic of the storage options ... such 'Free Choice', something to suit everyone's organisational desires! 

365/25 Motionless.

Well I failed yesterday.. didn't take a pic at all but spent a good deal of the day being just that...'MOTIONLESS'.  I travelled up to Bristol on the train, am uneventful 4 hours, listening to my iPod and reading my magazine from cover to cover.  Then when I got to the hotel we didn't do much either, a good few more hours sitting, eating, drinking and generally 'busy doing nothing'

So, a picture from my archive to tell the story...
.. and hey, how good is it that on my list of things to do soon I am actually getting to tick some boxes!

365/24 Motion!

Well I thought this one might get the better of me, unless I decided to go out to our workshops and find someone working on a trolley or go out and stand by the roadside...

But I was rescued by a lovely gesture : my eldest offered to make the tea... a lovely Thai Green Curry.

Trying to tick off one of my 'things to do soon' list I am away for the night tomorrow to meet Colin and enjoy 'doing not much' so it was a golden (and rare) opportunity to go upstairs after work and have a nice long bath. 

I couldn't keep from meddling though, still ended up stirring in the fish and getting the rice pinged in the microwave... oh and I did the dishes too!

Motion.. ahah.. Ross stirring his curry.. challenge sorted !

365/23 Hot!

Well my affair with Gellish nails continues... perhaps also my Guilty Secret, well they would be if I didn't enthuse about them so much....I never was good on the whole secret thing!

So the word is hot and having already used my fire it had to be the nails... 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' or to the 365 crowd...'HOT red' xx

oops and the blue green ink from my days work..HOT at the desk!

365/13-14 Guilty Pleasure.. Inside my Fridge!

Inside Nannie's fridge!

Well this one was easy.. and two in one again.
 My grand-daughter Lilly is a guilty pleasure of mine. It is hard to be firm with her, but I have to (or I will be the told off one when she goes home all bulshy!) 

She just talks all the time and is so knowledgeable and you just can't get one over on her... sadly my own Mum isn't here to tell me so, but somehow from what I've heard, she'd say 'She's just like you were!'

This picture was taken when my youngest was looking after her and cleaning the fridge for me... she heard this little giggle and there she was, inside the fridge!

365/15 Generous..

Playing catch up still, but when I think of this word I always come back to my dearest Mum.

She was so good she was bad, always wanting to do for you and we used to joke she must be uncomfortable sitting on that barbed wire fence where she never said bad of anyone!

This scrapbooking layout shows her digging sandcastles with us on a Sunday School trip, trying to make it fun when really it was probably pretty dreary!

365/16-17-18 Pleasurable Naughty Snack!

One for my man, and it covers three days worth of Suzie's photo challenge.. this could be the only way I catch up.

So, it's my Col's guilty pleasure.. Domino's pizza, Vegi-Roma with Jalapenos and Garlic Dip....eaten in the car, less than five minutes after collecting, from a nice viewpoint watching the boats in Penzance Harbour!

.. luckily easily pleased, my man x

365/22 Glowing!

I know it's a little predictable, but I love the effect a pair of sunglasses over your camera lens can have...

..Kuramathi March 2010..

..thanks to my girl Jordan for the picture..x

365/19 Bad for you..

Well, all things in moderation and if you only go on holiday two weeks a year and maybe have a couple of these during the year (for sure they do not taste the same at home!)then it shouldn't be too bad....

B52 : Kahlua, Baileys and a topper of Cointreau ...fabulous xxx

365/20 SIGN

So there it is.. the sign my daughter gave me last year... says a lot.. sorry, but I do just love a bit of news ..x

Starting late : My 365 or is it 366.. day 21 FIRE

Well all week I have been wanting to join this really cool 365 photo blog challenge, especially now I have my tablet and HTC to play with.
I was planning to go back and do the previous challenges, but maybe I'll use old photos for them.
But today I am using a photo taken as I write... my sitting room woodburner, it has made our house a home.. love it ...x

Suzie's 365 link

Good find..

.. finally getting sorted out after the holiday was followed so closely by Christmas. The large box of Milk Tray discovered beneath a bunch of stuff in the scrap room has been brought downstairs and eaten... not all by me, it didn't last long on the kitchen table though!



So... who ate all the Quavers?



Then I realised that I had not put the photos from our camera on the house computer and found these little gems.. which can't go un-blogged..ok, I promise, last ones!

Our room.. on arrival..awhhh x



Very shallow, so sunny, fish not perfect but that reflection!!



Snorkel buddies..



Not even 'I feel lucky-ed'... but looks like he's in front of a poster!!

New post..

I'm here feeling the need to add an entry, perhaps I can't log in any more and see that huge pic of me and Col, a little worse for wear, or maybe it's just been a good week and I feel it deserves a mention.  True to being English, the weather has been nice enough, not inclement and fresh and clean feeling. Things in trolley world are going well, selling kit to all and sundry with enquiries from everywhere from Italy to Libya and India.

Zac finishes his first college phase today and heads home tomorrow before he flies to Canada in ten days to join the Sapphire Princess to head south to California for three months based in LA, cruising out to Hawaii and Mexico etc. Sure we'll be having some kind of gathering in next couple of weeks, and I can see that celebrating his arrival home or impending trip away will be a great excuse for the family 'dos' I love so much xx

At the weekend Colin decided the fishtank needed more fish or be removed from the alcove it occupies in our living room. Well if removed it would surely end up broken and sad in shed and ultimately the skip, so he took Kate off to TriMar shopping. ... and there is a not very clever link to the picture of the day..

Had to add these..



It's that 70's Porn Star moustache we loved!



Ooooo.. Mrs!



And the evening draws on..



New Year 2012..

Arrived on the Last Banana Boat?



Spong Bob WAS yellow.. it was dark and we didn't realise!







Navy Seal meets Sailor Girl!



New Year's Eve... welcoming 2012!

Sponge Bob & Cap'n

The Macarena..

 

Figure head..aka Sam!

Well it seems the way of things this month, playing catch up with my blogging, but I am keen to do it as so many good things happen and it would be a shame to let the days pass by un-blogged..yes, it would seem a small addiction is taking hold!

So, to 31st December 2011..Col and the boys had moved furniture out and set up twp projectors and screens so we could show the music videos JB and Zac had compiled for the night.  April and I set to work on a big batch of sandwiches and Col and I had plundered M&S and Tesco for a good variety of snacky finger food (I had long since given up a plan to make canapes and cute little desserts, the fridges and cupboards had plenty of Christmas left-overs and the plan was to provide food people didn't need to eat with a fork!.. this worked famously as the double pile of unused plates and napkins showed the next day!)



Yer tiz..them Pirates!



So to the party, there was a nautical theme, small homage to Zac's impending first 'sea phase' on Princess Cruises and despite thinking everyone would turn out in sailor mode it seems that Johnny Depp and his crew have really cornered the market for fancy dress pirates and their 'molls'.  There was a few disappointments with the usual last minutes 'sorry's but we still had a good 25 and made a decent party. The music videos were brilliant, cries of 'yeeesssss' to a good track and moans to the black and white classic Dusty Springfield type tracks, but something for everyone, and if there wasn't then Zacfound it pretty quick.  We saw midnight come and go with a few bottles of Rose Cava, Mariah Carey's great video with fireworks and Auld Lang Syne and sadly people mostly headed off home by about two, but Zac and Lucy, Col and I hung it out til three!



2 am girls x



Eventually thought we should go to bed as everyone else was settling down.. for a couple of old early nighters I think we did good, threw a pretty good party, had not too much clearing up to do and vowed to have that much fun again soon..!

What you'd call a brisk walk.

Living inCornwall we don't always make the most of it and this year Ross and April have made a resolution to do something at the weekends and enjoy what all the holiday makers enjoy for only a couple of weeks a year. Last weekend was Nanjizel beach and today I went along for awalk from Penberth, up over the cliff and to the Logan Rock pub for some lunch before down the hill again to fetch the car. It was lovely, the sea was grey and wild but when the sun came out it turned blue and beautiful.. 

I was quite well behaved, not too heavy on the nostalgia, perhaps because we weren't really dawdling due to the easterly wind and consequently a nice chill. But there was no rain and it was fab to get up on the cliff and see the cove from up there. Porthcurno bay was gorgeous with a huge flock of birds enjoying the wind and surf on the sand bar off Pendne and Prie beaches.  

We were surprised the walk was quite quick, I think that had something to do with the weather making us walk a little faster..and the rest to do with the fact that I remember the walk from when I was about five or six years old, little legs dragging up the side of the cliff and the whole event seeming to take hours... even Ross remembers the cove as being a lot bigger when he used to go there as a little kid..x

I love rocks covered with Lichen!

Day 15: Last day : 21 December

Last breakfast, last lunch, last dinner....last snorkel, but even Kate came along. Great venue, just off the jetty and across to the bar.. my , how Jordan's grip tightens when she sees a Moray Eel.. they are only breathing as their mouth opens so wide, but they do look kinda menacing! A pod of dolphins passed by as we started out and Kate pulled out a final trump card and spotted a solitary eagle ray minutes before we swam in..majestic. 

Last dunk in the pool.. for Col & Kate, Jb and I headed for the shower..



Still got it!



After lunch we treated ourselves to ice creams at Palm Court and good timing meant we could say bye to two of our best bar guys..

..further debate was had during the evening about the possibility of a trip to Sri Lanka..maybe a week's tour there and then a week in our faithful Kuramathi.

Col cracked us up today, Kate had a craving for a pack of Quavers and listed it as the first thing she'd do when we got home. Colin found an empty packet of one he'd eaten on the way out and left it lying out, told her he'd just eaten it.. she was loving even the smell!! (hey, but one pack down at Gatwick and she was sated)  OUr last meal sadly wan't TexMex as last wednesday but dates in the choc fountain and baklava made the European buffet another winner for me.



Ode to Jb



And this was pretty much how it ended, under an umbrella in a tropical rainshower, with Kate taking yet another picture at arms length.. we set off early the next day at 7am (2am UK time) and a boat and two plane journeys later at 10pm UK time we arrived home..weary, holidayed and ready for Christmas!    I do have quite a few favourite pics I haven't included, but will add these on dreary winter days when memories of all those 'S' words needs a little wake-up!

Day 14 : 20 December

There's a tattoo artist in there somewhere..

Me and the girls lay out and Jb henna tattoos my wrist while Col headed off for a two hour snorkel off the jetty. Just what he needs, it's so good for him to step off the world like this.

Christmas has arrived here, a whole bunch of imitation holly wreaths and so much 1980's tinsel, the guys have had so much fun. There is a little competitive streak too as up at the Palm Court bar there was a really unusual tree, made of felt and we would have chosen their decoarations as the winners if there had been prizes to give!

We're not sure what to make of it all, apparently everyone at home is 'well Christmassy' and it was great to hera the girls looking forward to being home, but mainly to be with the family and snuggle up in front the TV.

Funnily I was reading my Psycholgies mag today and loved David Baddiel's thoughts on being an atheist Jew at this time of year.. he is quite funny and at best thought provoking, as for sure many of us in the UK think pretty much the same, on the surface at least.

On a side point the girls and I got chatting about the proposed party at home on N Y Eve... Kate would obviously rather be somewhere else, that being in St Ives, regardless of weather (and non-drinking) warnings etc.  I wondered (and noted on my phone note blog) .. when is a family party not a family party... ahah , when one of the family wants to opt out.

Ahhh, the return home beckons and the familiar ache of a mother's stomach, wanting to please all of the people all of the time returns.... how come 25 years later the old worries are the best ones and as a mother (or a guilt ridden one at least) the old stomach stillisn't used to that churning and is unable to welcome it like the unreliable friend it must by now be!!!

And true to form, the rollercoaster that is teen parenting pulls you up again, Kate in jester mode is wondering what it would be like to only have one arm (and is hiding one arm inside a very tight tee-shirt, at the dining table I might add)... then she suggests she may need to open a jar, or cut her food and a special little hand appears from under said tee-shirt (apologies to those who may be arm-less and reading this, but hey, she was being funny, this mum is grateful for every small mercy!)   JB on the other hand was less easily amused, seems the negotiations on living with the clothing pile which now Kate occupies in the forementioned 'Gaza Strip' in Villa No 14 is less easy to forget for her!  Almost done, the return home approaches..

Day 13: 19 December

(Okay so it was a 14 day holiday but somehow I have gained some days.. I may or may not find them when I look back over this, but I think it's all to do with hours travelled.. pity I didn't do Geography huh?!(I did.. that's the joke there, in case you didn't get it) )

Today was still grey and quite windy, nice way to get a few rays without the burn factor! Kate even put a cardi on, bless here, and had plans for a hoodie evening too!

A little slack on things to talk about whilst laying out (after almost two weeks that IS allowed isn't it?).. so I embarked on a game... 'I spy with my little eye something beginning with.......'S'

Well when you start it is so funny .. I just kept finding them...sun / sea/ sand / sky / sailing boat / surf / sandcrabs /snorkeller (then it started to get really funny...well I thought so..) sarong /  sexiest swimsuit  etc etc.  Col on the other hand was alittle less amused, not being one for wordy games in any case... 'Simpleton' was his offering!

But the grey skies returned and we decided we'd best go back to our villas.. as it was ... 'spitting' (for Peter Kay fans everywhere).  So we settled down for an hour and Col and I watc

hed one of his early Christmas presents, Jeremy Clarkson's DVD about the Raid on St Lazaire... an epic tale, not quite tropical island-ish but heroism at its best.

Jordan dragged Col out to do some long exposure photo shots with her tripod, She came back with some nice shots while he came back with some mossi bites!  As for me I noted the silence, a DVD stopped in mid comment, no air conditioning on, a moment in time, all alone, not many moments like this on our holiday as we are together 24 / 7. What should I do with the time.. head in book, a chapter down.. and the door opens, the moment is gone!

Day 12 : 18 December



Oily post-spa head!



Started the day with a nice snorkel 'out back' with JB, those crayfish really do think they can't be seen don't they... someone needs to tell them that their antenna stand out so clear amongst the fish. Mind you I guess they'd be hard to prise out of the holes they have backed into, that's some fine parking!

In the afternoon Kate had a manicure and I got a back, neack and head massage ... interesting ... Lying on my front I felt the lady put pressure on the backs of my calves, then on my knees and then on my thighs.. equal pressures on each leg... hang on a minute, she has pressure on both calves, knees and legs at the same time. she's actually on me, her knees and hands doing the work.. Such a good job Col or Kate didn't come with me, I'd probably have thrown the poor girl off with my laughing! 

Today I started reading Eat, Pray, Love...I didn't realise it was going to be quite such a biographical tale, thought it would be more like a novel. Will be interested to see how it goes and then see the film.



Ahhh, Chamila.

Chatting in the evening to our fave bar guy Chamila, talking to him and others about the rise of the tourist resorts in all parts of their home island of Sri Lanka. These guys should go back home and show what they know, they could be heads of tourism!  I always love to tell them about my few weeks there, way back when in ..err..1982 or was it 1983.. either way the troubles came 'after me'(mmm..?!) but I remember lots about their special places like Kandy's Temple of the Tooth and Dambula / Sigiria and it is nice to see their faces when I know where they lived and stuff., it's kind of like giving something back to them.  We talk quite a lot of visiting Sri Lanka, maybe take the girls at least, they could be ready for something a little less lazy and little more cultural?

Now where was I? Day 11: 17 December

Bit of a squall coming..

Quiet day by all accounts, or at least that's how it seems two weeks later and referring to my phone blog notes!  A windy grey day, but as warm as ever. Kate amused us with some of ther musings, Jordan asked me where Kate gets those random thoughts from and thinking back I do reckon she is more like me as a teen than I care to admit... just in another era.

Tonight there was another film on the beach, though sadly even a tropical setting, the warm wind and russle of the palm trees can make up for a rubbish film!