Relaxing Me!

My Colin is good at stopping and relaxing..much better than me..I think he knows he needs it and instead of racing about he can chill and often it does involve technical things..Moto GP..Airplane programmes ..or documentaries about the wars..or big ships..

This evening we were in the office til 7.30pm catching up on all the jobs you want to have done before a few days away...then a snack tea and catch up with the girls and Pops..before the heavens opened again with sunshine and a downpour!

I must have been tired because Kate did my nails and eyebrows and I just relaxed and stopped chatting .. For once!!

..and I took these pics...

Social Me!

Busy day here as the new car park for the new buildings can be used and we are moving the containers into the yard...then I have hair trim this afternoon ... (writing this at 8am I am not sure how my Social Me will manifest itself...)

I can show you though a huge crane brought in to move our storage containers into the yard .. It will mean my view is blocked to the field until the stored stuff is moved into the new buildings..A big Reveal!

...just browsing my pictures and the most Social Me! is on holiday with our kids these days. I love a trip away however short .. In fact I prefer a splash and dash to a long trip. .easier on the logistics and the stomach!

Here's a fave selfie or two from our Tenerife trip .. on the volcano!

...and one last week when we had a mini works 'do' and I was sending Kate pictures of me and our young design guy Jowan. .who incidentally is the nephew of one of my childhood friends. ..!

Family Me..

Tuesday afternoons is my time with Lyla. We hang out, do some shopping, watch some Peppard Pig, play with Brio trains that I bought for Ross 26 years ago..and today we walked home from school when I collected Lilley.

Then we went to the sweet shop..and amazingly they both close the same sweets..and no arguments! When we got home they played in the tiny paddling pool I had and then used Ross' herb garden to make potions!

Me..? I watched..provided food and drinks. .ice lollies .. and lots of fruit..oh and dispensed Factor 30! Factor 20 for me and working on a little tanning for the weekend!

Here is my Selfie..and a Sunset for good measure..xx

Crafty Me?

Not much craftiness going on in my house the last year or so, but my untidy scrap room will be sorted one of these days and I will return to photos and memories.. just that right now I am happy Making The Memories and will scrap them some day when I am not out there quite so much!







So Crafty for me today is 'stealing Ross's pictures'.. these are a few from his GoPro camera , not bad for stills from video.. it goes under water so I wanted to share the jellyfish pic especially xx

(Sorry for speed blogging but I want to keep it up but have a busy week so apologies if I don't manage to comment, will definitely peek though!)

Scavenger Hunt for Summer

Sunrise

Karen has started me thinking about this list : Scavenger Hunt! 

and since I already have a sunrise.. which is so NOT me.. I woke yesterday and looked out to see a gorgeous bank of cloud just hanging in the valley below.. accompanied by a pink sunrise sky..

and yesterday saw some people on the slipway at Porthleven who may or may not have been tourists..

Tourists at Marazion.

but these people near the causeway to the Mount definitely were!











This is the list!!

1. A sign welcoming people to your home town (or a nearby town)
2. A garden gnome
3. Birds on a wire
4. A group of tourists  22/6
5. A rack of post cards
6. An urban street scene
7. A rural landscape
8. A tattoo on a person 7/7
9. A bakery
10. A photo bomb (someone found lurking in the background of photo; the lurker may have intended to disrupt the picture or may be doing it unintentionally, but the background lurker is a surprise to the photographer)
11. A horn
12. A mascot
13. A sunrise 22/6
14. A parade
15. A juggler
16. A sign in a language other than English
17. A lamp post
18. A water fall
19. A public garden
20. A bus (not a car, truck, lorry, camper or RV) with a picture painted on its sides.
21. A photograph of you with something representing the season

Close Ups answers and boating!

My close up pictures were not too hard..I think most people got close...

Spiral notebook
Hairclip
Granite block on front of our house
Cheese grater reflecting the window plants
A tall pepper grinder
A £20 note
and a metal dustbin!

I am thinking maybe to joint the Photo Scavenger Hunt like Karen as I have already notched up a sunrise (not common for me!) and a bunch of tourists!

Sunrise, 4.45am 22 June

Just had the best of days.. getting the boat launched down at Porthleven harbour. Reversing it down the slip on the back of Colin's van.. it is quite stressful to watch and maybe almost as stressful for him to do!  Ross and his pal Lewis came along and we went round to the back of the Mount for some sunning and a little fishing.

Tourists at Porthleven (probably locals, but I didn't ask!)

Gently does it!

And we are in..4 months and we take it out again!

And fish for tea (for me anyways!)

Ross got some lovely footage on his GoPro, of a huge jellyfish passing under the boat, there are a lot of them about. I am hoping one day we will see the pod of dolphins which is still in the area by all accounts.

Last two close ups..and update!

..I will come back later and give you the answers on the close ups I have posted...or maybe tomorrow. .depending on what a nice day I have!!

We .. well Colin..put the moorings in for the boat yesterday evening.  I went along for the walk..and it did me good. Although we have been out a couple of evenings this week..We hadn't actually been out just us two for about 2 weeks and I miss it!  Beautiful evening even if a bit breezy.

It was a very easy tea.. A burger thrown on Ross' barbecue and no frills.. followed by some elderflower gin and some lovely chilling out with Ross and his pal Lewis.
No taxi driving so the drink flowed..The blankets kept our feet warm and we crept into bed and a fine sleep about 1130.

I haven't been sleeping too well.. restless.. hot.. wide awake and thinking..but last night was good (make the Gin?) ..just woke at 445 for a moment. Checked all was well outside and saw this amazing cloud of mist down in the valley below the yard.

Off to have the afternoon in the boat.. and work on a bit of tan for my dress next weekend..Zac's Passing Out at Southampton Guildhall.  Can't wait for that.. They said it is like a graduation but a bit more.. as they are now being 'launched' (pun intended) into jobs...I am thinking almost a wedding and have two dresses to choose from..A short LBD and a maxi navy one..I am thinking the maxi as it is comfy but very 'tidy'

Photos will definitely follow..from the boat trip and the passing out !

Close up?

..more of an unusual angle really...

Close up

..I like this one!

Abstract enough?

I would be proud if I had painted this intricate image!

Close up..

..quite a personal item..x

Close up..everyday item.

Answers on Sunday..

Past Times week at Lucky 7's

So I set a 'past times' challenge over at Lucky 7's and as has become the norm I am busy writing my offering all in one go on a Sunday evening.  

It is Father's Day here in the UK, we have not done much. Colin celebrated by doing chores in his own Dad's house for most of yesterday and part of today... and also by showing what a great Dad he is by sorting out the double puncture Jordan got less than a mile form home before we had even got out of bed!

But with the prompt as well it has been a bit of a Nostalgia day for me.... and you know how I love a bit of 'how it was, way back when...'  My Dad died when I was only 8 and half years old so my memories are few and quite hazy really, though made vivid by the number of times I have recounted them and by my Mother's own translation of how Dad was, and remains, in my mind as a consequence.  

(No thoughts of my dad are ever not followed by the satisfaction that he and my Mum loved each other so much that little money, a simple existence and a cantankerous father-in-law living with you could diminish..)

My cousin Neil met me at his own Dad's funeral about 10 years ago. We were both in our late 40's and Neil observed that when my Dad died at 47 ('our age') he seemed old then, but there we were almost 40 years later at his own dad's funeral, my dad's best friend, and we didn't feel anywhere as old as we thought my Dad had been.  

Do you ever feel the age you are? 
Do you get stuck in an 'age' and is that dependent on the life chances and changes you have? I for sure log most events in my life as before or after the prime dates in my life : 1969 Dad died, 1973 we moved to Mousehole, 1992 Zac was born, 1997 we moved to our current home with all our family, 2008 Mum died.

So.. to my Past Times offering for the week:

A wedding (or two) of the past

Mum & Dad 1946

Joe & Leo Warren
Mum's parents
1916

Cars of yesteryear

We didn't have a car in our family until my brother had one when I was about 8.  I think it was like this one.. >>>

My Uncle was the family 'driver' and would do the honours if anyone needed to go anywhere. He was a mechanic and always had a car with leather seats, but certainly not a new one. It would squeak as you drove along and the indicators were orange wing lights which came out between the doors!

It was about 15 miles to the nearest town, a bus journey of almost an hour so you had to be content where you lived. But we were, we didn't know anything else. that's why today we all want more, because we know about it and we 'can'

Toys & hobbies

Banana Box cooker

My favourite thing to play with was a large banana box which on the odd occasion Mum would get from the Grocery Van which used to come by our house twice a week.

I had a plastic cooking set and tea set and would play for hours with a few rings drawn on top and the door on the side. 




Clothes we had to wear

Pinafore & pretty blouse
had been for Ken's wedding

1969

Just about whatever we got given.. 

..usually something Mum may have bought at a jumble at school, sometimes it came from the girls up the road and had been donated!

 If we had new it was for best and probably too big at first, then once it fitted or got too small it was for every day and you finally loved it!  




You can see knitted jumpers and short second hand bits in all these pics.. sometimes I got boys things.. and shoes.. as in the 60's somehow they seemed much harder wearing!

How towns change
I have really enjoyed looking at some of those Ghost pages you get on facebook, especially the ones from D-Day where they ghost old images in the context of the new.
I especially wanted to share this old footage of fishing life in Mousehole in the 1940's.
Thought it might be interesting. My step-dad would have been in his 20's then and a local fisherman whilst many men went away to war, fishermen did not have to as they were part of the home front war effort.

Mousehole archive

Vintage look

This is a cravat I have in my drawer which Mum gave me, it belonged to my Dad and I think it would look just fine if I wore it now.

May even try it tomorrow..might look good with a navy dress?






A new picture vintage-d

23 years on.. mine and Colin's wedding, pictures at the Minack Theatre which doesn't seem to change .. ever!

Doesn't feel vintage to me ;-)

Blog Hopping! (or in my case 'Blog Hop-eless!!!)

Well this is new to me!

Karen over at memycameraeye has nominated me to take part in a Blog Hop!  I am not sure I can do it justice, but here goes!  The idea is that I answer four questions and then nominate three more bloggers to carry on next week!  I think ideally it is about people who craft but since my scrapbooking and crafting is on a sabbatical at the moment I will try and let you know where I am now and how things were just as I left them!

In case you are coming to me afresh then this is me:  mum of five grown up children (yes Kate, 17 is meant to be grown up!)  Three live at home full-time and one is away working 8 months a year, whilst the last one is married with three gorgeous girls and lives not too far away.
We run a small but busy manufacturing works from behind our house and life is busy, working in our office 5 or sometimes 6 days a week and juggling the wants and desires of family life as well.

I was an avid scrapbooker, especially with the Just Scrapbooking crew over at Newlyn for five years.  I started this just as my Mum went into residential care; she had dementia and was losing a lot of memories and as a response scrapbooking helped me put down on paper some of my own thoughts and memories of my childhood.

About a year ago, life got a little easier, for a number of reasons, our children getting older and more independent mainly, and my husband and I have managed to get out and about for weekends a lot more. The house had a kitchen extension put on (long awaited) and the house was in turmoil most of last year. Also a new baby joined her two sisters to make three grand children under 5 years of age so our free time.. and space to scrapbook was hard to find.. though to be fair the photographic opportunities still pile up! ;-).

Maybe, just maybe , I also am feeling a little less bereft after several years of our whole family really feeling the gap in our lives our Mums left when they died 5 and 6 years ago. Life goes on, memories get easier and you feel less need to be 'in touch' with the old times. Children become adults, children have children, and make new memories of their own and you all move on in the cycle of life.. and it's true, you have to live for now.

Anyway, suffice to say.. life is good, busy but good..  

What am I working on now?

My scrap desk / mess!

Life is so busy with our family, our house and our business that my scrapbooking in 2014 means an untidy pile of things in a specially allocated room.. which also houses the baby's travel cot for when she comes to stay!

I still take pictures with an idea of using them in a layout.. sometime.. later.. when I am not so busy..

I have several projects in limbo with my scrapbooking. An 18th birthday album for Jordan (who turned 19 last December) and an ongoing project to plot Zac's course through his Navigation Officer training with Princess Cruises.  
I also need to organise the albums I have. I used to do annual ones so I could see the progression of my ability and style but then I started an album for Lisa's girls and lost the flow.

How does my work differ from others of it's kind?
I think I have a kind of busy but 'organised' style, even if I try to get away from it. I tend to labour over a technique on one page and then compliment it with a speed scrapped page to lay beside it as a double page layout.. which I love.. did I say that? ;-)

You can see it on this beach layout...we were working with Monopoly pieces and I used the Monopoly Cornwall edition, the place 'Porthcurno'  Lots of layering and I love the sealife stamps.

This is the more formal second page which I use to allow me to include the loads of extra pictures I want.. because making the memory is what it's all about for me.

Why do I create what I do?
So that when I am older and greyer I can pore over the albums and show my kids and grandkids the days we had. I already enjoyed sharing an 18 year album I did for Lisa with her girls..even for me it was hard to look at the little girl doing crazy things and remember that it is the Mum and not one of the children I am looking at....

How does my writing / creative process work?...
I usually get a technique from our class leader and then try and match with my photos.. or develop an  idea from that.rarely I use sketches but when I do I think I should so it more often as I like the effect!
I think when I get back into it I shall look back and find layouts I really liked and use the formats again.

Here are three people you should enjoy reading about ..(so far I am not sure if I can get them to join in as it seems several have already taken part in this BlogHopping)

here are links to my favourite reads anyway:

Jen.. who I met through 365+1 blog

Janice .. who I met at a JustScrapbooking course way back in 2008

Linda.. my original scrapbook Inspiration..

Transportation..

So this week was Colin's birthday. 

It has been crazy busy in the office as one of our main men has gone away for three weeks well earned holiday!  Zac has gone back to warsash for his final short courses before his passing out in 3 weeks, then just his oral exams before he is a fully fledged 3rd Officer iwth Princess Cruises.. yay! Some stressful days for him the next six weeks but I am sure he will be fine.

We went to Torquay last night for the evening, we really like it there, always things going on and usually we have great sunshine..and it gave me chance to find the transport prompts for the week: 

My Car... we do love it..

Well these ones are oldies:

2 wheeled Segways in tenerife

There was D-Day commemorative event in the Pavilion Gardens and they had some lovely old vintage vehicles which really help set the mood.. 

Torquay has an enviable marina with all kind of boats of every shape and size, this is kind of public transport; a ferry which takes you round to Dartmouth..

.. and this pretty much fits the bill for some unusual transport I'd say!

(the blue sky cost us extra!)

English Riviera Wheel

The fabric of my life!?

It's a little bit sad when the posted of the blog prompt cannot get anything posted for the group!

But I do have excuses.. more of them later.. here is my fabric offering.. a floral dress I wore on Monday and lovely cotton pillowcases and my bedroom curtains.. the rest is history!

So.. what have we been up to here in the Big House (that's what Colin's Mum used to call our house and I noticed that Ken has it down on his key rings too.. awhhh.



We spent a lot of the bank holiday weekend decorating over at Pop's house, he was away and we got busy.. finishing the bathroom decorating and then a quick spruce before his new kitchen went in.. it was all hands to the pump.

Zac was home as he had no short course this week and he and Ross went to work outside while Kate, JB, April, Col and I were painting and staining anything which stood still..

I must a get a picture of how it looks now.. well, when pops has done the tiling!





This weekend was somewhat more recreational! Zac needed a suit for his final oral exams in July and Col needed a suit.. full stop! We are off to Zac's passing out evening late June and whilst he has formal wear (white naval type jacket and bow tie) Colin and I have to get done up as if it was a wedding or something.. they say it is a bit more than a graduation as once he is done there he is going to be a (Third) Officer on a cruise ship!

We had a few laughs in M&S as there was no-one offering any help.. so went to the very high ratio staff : customer Moss Bros and got suited and booted.. well suited and bow tied!

I shall no doubt have a big pic blog fest late June for my boy xx

I also seemed to be in St Ives again! Dropping off the crew for a night at the Rumn Shack.. not quite sure why we didn't go out as well.. oh yes, that's it, we are the oldies! ;-)
had to stop off and take this great Friday night sunset!

.. and yesterday we had a wander and went round the back of the harbour.. had to leave after a bit as a lad was there showing off and it made uncomfortable viewing worrying that he may fall off a chunk of wood he was balancing on!

But St Ives is always busy and has great photo opportunities..

I almost forgot!! Last Sunday Zac, Lisa and her husband and some of their pals went on a 12Km Tough Enough challenge, set by Marines it was under mud and over mud.. obstacles and even an open water swim out and back.. we had the children and went to see them turn the corner for the final mile..

Annabelle..16 months

Later there was another muddy party for the runners and despite it being horrible weather M&D cannot give up on a planned night without the babes!

.. so the girls slept over and in the morning we did some Nan & girlie selfies in bed!

 (If it had been fine I would be posting pics of the Penzance Pirate challenge.. but we were all pooped (on the poop deck maybe) so we have to admit we were the 7 of the 77 too short to make a world record!

Over to you Lynn.. did you go when Hastings got the World Record?