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. ..!

365/279 A local landmark.

  

Well being lucky enough to live in Cornwall I guess lots of people are familiar with some of our most well known local landmarks: St. Michael's Mount, Land's End and my best place view of Porthcurno Bay across to Treryn Castle headland.  Without boring everyone more than usual about this but to be there on the sea-side is just heaven for me, or as close as it gets, even Col understands the replenishment those granite cliffs give me..am I turning into a granite hugging pagan in my old age I wonder!?

Blogger is still not enjoying tablet world so I am writing here and will adjourn to the kitchen to find a nice picture.

Col travelled home from Hampshire today, he spent the evening with Zac and his flatmate last evening, good food and lots of seafaring chat, just what he likes!  Today he had to go to Portland and through Weymouth, he is so envious of the southcoast marinas.

Sadly Penzance has not utilised its natural features to the best advantage and only has one meagre slipway that is now usable and no decent moorings really, a real bug bear, especially as the harbour has been occupied with a huge carpark instead of a decent development, it took 30 years to do and 30 years on it is a carbuncle on our coastline. Add to that the bureaucratic debacle which has allowed us to lose the helicopter link and not fully develop the sea link to Scilly and our local town has fallen into disrepair and is so much in the shadow of our beautiful sisters at St Ives and Falmouth.

..ahh well, it is said.. on reflection the best bit about the town is probably now the bypass which takes you directly towards my little piece of heaven on the A30. 

Despite that unexpected rant I do not feel passionately enough to get involved in making anything else happen, I think my community spiritedness was sucked up in my youth when I was involved with all kinds of things organising Raft Races, Harbour Xmas Lights, charity fundraising and my first and last love the Pz Phab Club which was such a big part of my life in my early 20's....

awhh, I kind of miss it now sometimes, probably the good people you get to meet and the feeling of achievement, but at his own admission my Col is not a community spirited type (yes, he would do anything for you, but is pretty much fully utilised in his efforts to make work happen and look after and provide for his family.. )and having done my bit in our current village when our Mums were about; all those coffee mornings, table sales and socials at the chapel, and of course the school based stuff which seemed to go on forever,(well it does when you have 5 kids across eleven years I guess!) I must have enjoyed at the time..

So, now I just don't 'feel it'. maybe it's something you do when your kids are young and then again when you retire, but I did a couple of years on the Village Hall committee and tried hard to buck the trend where only 25 of the same stalwart villagers turned out and spent their pounds to keep alive a Hall only used by the 25 who supported it (there's a moral there somewhere) Some events nights would find me making soups and cakes and attending with maybe one or two of the kids an almost funny (yes, just 'almost funny') comedy nights, whilst the rest of my family were laid out at home in front the fire watching X-factor! 

Eventually I stuck to my guns and now enjoy the fire too, along with Blog world and all it offers.. sad but true.. x  And as for you all, thanks for making Jb feel so welcome on her cake blog.. tonight's project she has is making bunting.. gosh, I can visualise her in years to come in a New England shaker kitchen wearing a gingham dress and putting up chequered bunting for the summer cream teas.... are you all coming then?

We could even take in a song and dance show at the Minack...(now that is another story!)

365/174 Sunshine?..Every cloud..

..what a miserable day..(Thursday).. grey rainy summer evenings can be so draining.. I had hardly any enthusiasm for anything and when I got in from work I sat down to chat to JB and grabbed a blanket to warm me up.. next thing I knew it was almost seven, I'd been asleep and J had cooked our tea.. what a hunney!


Poor Col had no such rest, drainage works.. yeah 'nuff said' but he was just finishing off when I set out to fetch Kate home from her beau's house..this is the view across the yard.. (phone camera hence the rubbish quality for sky images at 9pm but I liked it..)

I have a little thing for light showing from behind the clouds, it reminds me that just out of reach our Mums are there, watching, waiting, reminding us that even when life is grey here, then we should be thankful for whatever has been and whatever is coming soon.

I was chatting about that, about the summer barbecues and cream teas we used to have, often at Col's Mum's instigation and this time of year I often find myself missing having the older ladies about to nudge us into a 'bit of a do'... I know it's down to me now but the girls aren't just ready to play my role yet..

(Fri) I have been really quite mis' the last few days, it seems it's not only me though, and I do wonder if it is the weather.. but also I think, although I am nowhere near having an 'empty nest' then I am suffering the 'empty nest syndrome'.. I really miss the time with JB, fetching and carrying her, listening to her laughs and woes as she comes or goes from work or college, ... now she drives herself it's not quite the same listening in between ironing and making tea..

Kate is getting pretty self sufficient and well Ross, he is doing his thing.. I fell upon a pic of Zac last night, taken on the boat the other day and I was surprised at the sudden 'missing him' feeling I had.. he too does his own thing but when he's here we all kind of hang out more and 'do things'.. perhaps, to be fair it was the sunshine day on the boat in the picture I am also hankering after.. or just the 'having everyone about' thing.. blah blah  

2011 Mazey Day

Anyways, it's festival time in this neck of the woods and tomorrow is Mazey Day, I should be meeting Lisa and we can show the girls the processions and the bands..

Lilly will love it and Lyla will hate the noise, but maybe will like it from the safety of my arms..I shall hope for warm (or at least an almost dry day) and perhaps don a maxi dress and join the myriads of people in their tie-dies and home made handbags..

I should really paint a few flowers on my cheek, get some John Lennon sunglasses and go fully incognito!  Maybe then I'd relax a bit and have some fun and stop being the miserable cow I have become the last week or so ...

Further trials and error?

Last year our scrap group had a monthly challenge and the prompt for January was 'If you really knew me...'

Well this is the double page 8x8 entry I did.. short and to the point as ever..hahah... but kind of a self portrait in line with the entry below..(I did well until 'Think Big' the prompt for June beat me and maybe fine weather interrupted scrap..I was trying to use old images from my own life and somehow 'Think Big was never a mantra I'd had..)

..but who knows, maybe I'll finish the book one day..

P.S. How good is this, three entries one day.. Kate had to be at work by 9am and I got home to an empty house.. and hey, I could have been in bed doing nothing!!  Quick, look busy, someone is coming..

P.P.S. I tried to blog this direct from the image gallery on my tablet but the quality of the image was rubbish.. back to drawing board!

365/133 Self-portrait

I thought I'd struggle here and end up offering one of those teen 'at arm's length' type phone-cam shots, but then I thought of this page..

...as it turns out the pictures were taken during the fishing trip mentioned below during Ken & Jean's Golden wedding weekend..but the 'pieces of me' page is all my own work, for me, about me..

Looking at it now I can see that although the sentiments reflect a time in my life where I was adjusting to being an elder in the family, taking responsibility for both the older and the youngest members of the family, things were changing and I am much more settled and content and understand now what it's all about.. just a shame you have to cry a lot before it all makes sense and you can accept it!

.. thanks to Linda at Just Scrapbooking, it was a lovely page to do.. I should retake the picture as it is pretty poor quality but hope you get the drift!

P.S. have a look at the next blog entry for an up to date scrap self portrait from last year!

365/129 Prickly.

Mmmmm, I don't think we have any cacti in our house, and prickly is more a feeling or state of mind for me. There's generally between five and nine people living in our house at any one time and mostly things go along pretty well, the odd bristle (another prickly word), plenty of banter but no major league rows.

I feel a bit of a fraud when it comes to blogging some days as I generally try to keep it upbeat and newsy, but rarely moan or groan.. yes, a small smattering of sadness and nostalgia at times, but rarely full on rants and angry stuff..mainly because after the event it's nice to review good times but kind of cringe worthy to revisit bad mood days.. and anyway, the person I may be cross with may unwittingly not even know I was peeved...

...that reminds me of when I was first with Col and raising a young family I would sometimes get what we in Cornwall call 'teasy' about something, but he was (and is) so non-argumentative that I would have the debate with him in my head, and play his role as well..then by the time he got home I had rationalised it, heard both sides of the imaginary argument and it had blown over....and an embarassed face at being cross about nothing was averted..!!

If you are still with me here.. (any you are true blogger pals if you are) please tell me at this point that I was not alone, it was part and parcel of having a houseful of children under eight and feeling hard done to at times! 

..so it came to pass that I discovered I have a default face, one which has been caught on camera and I plead the case that I am just being pensive, thinking about something away from the moment... but to the innocent bystander apparently it looks pretty 'prickly'..



how I scrapped it!



mmm, definitley prickly!





 

I'll see if I can find a pic and you guys can judge for me!!












.. and to update.. Stewart Lee was brilliant  in Plymouth last night.... the non-funny comedy star is quite an acquired taste but I laughed til my face hurt.. he was also at the next table when we went to eat before the show, but we were very well behaved and treated him just like any other stranger eating out!!

365/118 Art

Not sure my scrap pages count as art but it's probably the closest thing you'll get.. it may not be painting as such, but I like  the glimmermist on otherwise plain cardstock in the first page and the 10 second studio metalwork on the second.

'

The Grower'

Layout inspired by a choc cake box from Tesco!

Jordan is the artist in our family and has done some lovely original stuff..she's hoping to do a year at Falmouth after 'A's so she can see if there's something she doesn't yet know she is good at or loves! (hoping she won't ask me to take this off when she gets in!)..Major OOOppps there.. it isn't her pic!!

but this is..

365/116 Powerful.

Again I imagined I might find this one a problem, but then I had to go along the Prom in Penzance on the way to getting a haircut. The stormy weather wasn't too apparent apart from the remnants in the sea, a grey brown with a really heavy swell, the spray was full of water even though it was really white.

There's nothing quite like the powerof the sea for me, I grew up within 150 yards of the cove and living about 5 miles from it now feels 'too far east'! so it's always great to be close to it and feel at home..


Travelling back from Newlyn about 7pm I realised why it looked so heavy, the tide was as high as I've seen it and the waves were crashing against the promenade...lazy me though, I took this from the car on the opposite side of the road..

365/59 Grey.

When I mentioned to Jordan what Suzie's prompt for today was she asked me if she may be a little depressed... mmm, grey / misty / rain... so we're hoping that March will bring some brightness all round.

It's hard to find an interesting 'grey' in today's happenings. The weather, (still bland and miserable) my fridge and freezer (?) , my girl's favourite of all my outfits (and no, I'm not going up to get changed just for a photo..) ..

...so here it is, my black / grey spot craft bag and a bag from my favourite of shops, especially knowing there is a nice new cardi in there I have yet to give an outing! Funny, you know you are a fully fledged grown up when you buy new clothes and they stay in the bag a couple of weeks before you start to wear and get enjoyment from them... it's a children of the 60's thing I think, where you had to savour the wait and then have the new item as 'best' for the appropriate amount of time before it became regular wear! I have still got many 'best clothes' items in my wardrobe which never got the right occasion to get full utilisation before going out of fashion.. we never learn it seems, and sadly I have passed the inclination on to my girls.. well one of them..

.. so, the boys are out, easy tea for J and Pops and me.. and I'm a poet!!.. and off to do a little scrapbooking..third time in a week.. go girl!

365/48 Abstract.

Not an easy word of the day for someone who likes her things symmetrical and with some kind of repeated form. I sit here on my sofa perusing a world where the tiles around my fireplace, the design on my wallpaper and on my carpet and front door are all versions of a rectangle.  Even my ornaments have rhythm and form, one side matching the other, no randomness to speak of in this little world of mine!  And it's not even something I try to do!


It really is quite revealing, rectangular mirrors and bookcases, diamond shaped nets of lights and circular decorative baubles...



I am waiting for Jordan to come home from her work and present me with one of her random examples of abstractness...



JB and her example of abstract-ism.



Kuramathi chairs!

It comes to mind something my scrapbook pal Linda once said when she saw me tearing a pair of papers across a Fiskars random edged ruler.. 'only you could tear in an organised fashion'.. though as I have shown before now on this blog I am not known for tidiness in the putting stuff away kind of manner ..x



And for the record, the most abstract photo I have..



365/36 Rubbish!

RUBBISH is what I'd call myself of late when it comes to tidying away my 'stuff'.. we were really busy in the run up to our holiday and then Christmas arrived the day after we got home...then Col and I got a night away ten days ago..and the last few weekends I have finally learnt the attraction of chillin' out in front the fire..(you can kind of see the pattern of excuse making going on here...)

...consequently the jobs which I intend to do every Saturday and Sunday when I lay in bed 'planning' have gone by the by.. and my bedroom still has the pre-Christmas suitcase (well it was new, so hasn't yet been allocated a 'home') and the weekend-away holdall laying around, festooned with various bits of ironing (all done, just not put anywhere..) some reading from holidays and also half my scarf collection draped over the chair. The various black jackets and coats which have made the cross trainer a very useful clothes horse go without explanation!

And my scrap room next door is another story..a desk full of untidiness to be attended to.. looks like I need another night with R
oss and his OCD to sort that one.

The plan is to order the Ikea wardrobe stuff ordered for our room and get the scrap room sorted... soon.. well I could say 'this week' but that may be setting myself up to fail!

Slightly out of synch! 365/33 Buttons.

Well as soon as I saw the prompt for Thursady this is what I wanted to photograph.

 I loved these shoes from afar a few months back, pre-Christmas shooping. I especially loved the purple ones but since I rarely wear purple I rationalised that if I bought them I would then have to buy clothes to match!

Then January sale time came and I happened (yes, just happened.... honest) to be in M&S with Jordan and saw them in the sale... even better, there was no purple ones in my size so I wasn't tempted to buy a complete 'white elephant' and the black ones fitted great... and with only a little prompt from J they were bought..I just LOVE the buttons, though sure that having to do them up with button hooks way back in the days before the Zip fastener, may not have been quite so much fun.

mmmm, I really could do with a nice black handbag now...xx

You can see the rest of the 365 challenge 'button' pictures at Suzie's blog.. 365/33 Button

365/32 Accessory.

I've been thinking about this one.. should I photograph my miriad of ear rings and necklaces, my collection of scarves or perhaps my more recently growing number of belts (who cares if you don't have much of a waist, this is a below the belly belt I'm talking about!)

But all the time I come back to my faithful plain silver necklet which I love so much. It goes with everything almost and I wear it most days even though I do try to wear the pretty things everyone buys me. So then to find a picture from my tablet images to show it... and then I realise that to be fair my most important accessory is now my reading glasses, I rarely go without having them perched on my nose or head! ..... ahhh, embrace the onset of the fifties!

As the weather improves I do hope to make this challenge a little more .. err.. challenging, as I really will get a camera out and take the pics especially for the subject.. til then I am cheating, just feeling the need to keep nice and warmed up..awhhhhh x

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!

And another thing...

... thought for last evening...

'You know it's time to lose some of the weight around your belly when you are wearing a short(ish) summer top and you manage to burn it whilst ironing!

...sad sad day.. so sad though it just makes you reach for more chocolate..xx

Winter chapstick!

With the advent of the chilly winter season I am always amused when the chap sticks come out. Some of the male members of our family also have to use them in the summer when sun and sea get the better of wet lips.   Watching your husband or teenage son using lip salve and putting it on in a manner much like your two year old grand-daughter playing with Mommy's make-up always brings a smile.

But, as Col says, if you have a husband or son who can put on lip salve in a confident lady-like way then you should think about it! ....(you kind of had to 'be there', but I thought it was funny!)

Feels the same..

.. even though I've finally arrived in the second half of my century.. God help the kids if I make it for the full second half.. or extra time even!!   I kind of have a thought that we don't really know we're in the world for the first 15 years, so essentially I'm no more than 35 yet..

Zac and I spent the day travelling to and from Cardiff for a University visit.. a bit surreal when you get there and feel like you've been teleported to another country..which I guess you have. It's much more 'Welsh' than I remember it.. perhaps since it now has it's own assembly etc.  

It was a good day, we saw and learnt lots about the University and its armed him with a better idea of what he needs to glean from the 3 he visits this week.. yes, Bath, Loughborough and Exeter by this time next week.  Col's doing the first two and I'm meeting them for Exeter.  I went there myself '79-82 so I have to try hard not to take him on a Exeter equivalent of Mum's nostalgia tour, but hopefully what I can add will help not hinder!

Before we came home, we had a quick sortie into the town, got the obligatory pizza (Italian restaurant not Domino's.. but plenty of them next week!) .. and we had a beer each..me and my 18 year old son eh?!

We were dead beat when we got home and it was hard to be as enthusiastic as a birthday required when faced with a pile of pink pressies..but I tried!... failed miserably amongst people who know me too well, but as I said I tried!

Great start...

... taking a tip from the way kids run things these days, with their celebrations for birthdays, weddings and the like lasting upwards of a week, I met Linda today for a pre-birthday lunch.  We started with a glass of wine and talked so much we almost forgot to have the food which would soak the wine up before we headed off to the school run..

I told Linda how I'd watched a programme about Liz Smith last night, she is 86 and was on her first proper holiday...a cruise on the Hebridian Princess around the Med.  (for those of you frowning, Liz Smith played Nana in the Royal Family)  Pondering the enslaught of my 50th birthday I had quickly calculated that if I get to 86 I will have the time I've been with Colin another twice over... so that's not bad is it... wonder if he's up to it?

Anyways, the weekend starts here, tuna readied for a barbecue, it's still (just) a summer's day here, so out to eke it out as long as possible!

Spoke to my (always) big brother yesterday, seems Ross and his posse slept the first night in a French field, lost... and had still not appeared at Ken's doorstep 24 hours later...what they need is Google-Kath's maps... I plan Colin's trips away on Google maps to get the least long journeys and am known in the office as Bomber Jones!

Took few photos at lunch.. will add later.. PC and phone software allowing...hic!

Birthday fortnight..

.. has come 'round again. Seems a moment away I was talking about this last year.  Ross turned 24 and his baby sister 22 today.... how different their lives are at this point, though I guess in ten years they might both be meeting up with families in tow?

We had the babe to sleep over last night, she is such a cutie, almost a birthday girl herself, two years old on Friday.  She slept all night and woke us at 7.30 shouting 'Naaaannneeee', so sweet that she realised she was still here and that it should be me who would come to her.  Lisa had her first lie in in two years, much deserved after such a stint!

We had a little baking session, Lilly decided she should taste the 'chocolate', pity it was cocoa and no sugar added..yukkky! It's a trick they have all fallen for over the years. We ended up with flour all over the floor and only then I realised that the hoover was out of order!

Had great lunch with my scrapbook mate Linda on Friday.. well lunch wasn't quite the right description, we had a coffee and a cake at 1015 and a pot of tea later, the next thing we knew it was 1.15...luckily the cafe knows her well and they didn't eject us due to lack of purchasing!

I always get a bit of jip for talking so much from most people I know, but Linda said a much nicer thing (I think?!).. she reckons that 200 years ago I'd have been one of those wise old women, living in a cave somewhere, offering words of wisdom to the young..mmmm, does this mean I am at last a mature person?.....is this what becomes of the girl who liked to know the latest news...!!!