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!

ZacMan007 at 18!

.. funny isn't it the names we choose when setting up our first email addresses....we always did call him ZacMan, 18 years ago Zac was not such a well known name for a baby and the closest nickname was PacMan..

The 007 speaks for itself, he used to have designs on being a spy but I think I'd spoil that for him.. bound to tell everyone and blow his cover!   Mind you, he is 007 in paintball terms, just got his first toy as an adult.. a paintball pistol for his birthday present.  I did write 'his first adult toy' there, but that sounded kind 0f 'wrong'!!

So, the day has been rather a washout, thick drizzle and lots of rain all day, so the plan to have a paintball game and barbecue has floundered but we've all been happy to blob out, drink tea and generally have a Sunday.

Ross sets off for a two week camping trip to France tomorrow, in his converted van with three pals.. hoping we may be able to follow his exploits as I follow Kerry's blog... Notes from the Horizon (see right), though I doubt she'll update it much en route!   (especially if the first port of call is my big brother's and he opens the 'wine cellar' for them!!)

By the time he gets back he'll have to hit the ground running, he starts back to work and his Access Course pre-Uni and Zac will have seen at least 4 universities so will have a better idea of where he'd like to end up next year... oh and dear JB will be planning an ice cream and reading week after her big dental adventure!

Morning after..

.. luckily I was so busy with catering for everyone and tidying up I only had a couple of drinks and I'm quite with it so far.  Nevertheless my boys felt slightly delicate this morning!  Zac had a great evening, the idea was a camp out in the field, but the bacardi got the better of him and his bed came-a-calling!!

Ross, as ever was busy running a bar at a local event so he'rocked up' at midnight, managed to play catch-up and had a good hangover today to show for it, though an hour of Two & A Half Men followed by a southcoast surf is putting that to rights.  Mind you, he let some of the girls sleep in his van so he's secured himself an invite to their future gatherings I guess!

Zac has a great bunch of mates, most of them had to leave early as they are full on working the summer season before college again next week.  He has such a way with words.. his quote of the night was: 'I'm 10% Zac and 90% a passenger of alcohol'.. good eh, that he can even add up to 100 when he's had several! Must be those 'A's  in maths which are standing him in good stead.

Pic to follow.. oh dear...and the great thing is we can do it all again next week when he really does get to 18!!  And the week after I hit 50, so it'll be tea and biscuits all round, okay!..

Busy days..

..and August is almost passed me by, only 4 blog entries, how bad is that! Trouble is although the days seem to have been busy I don't really feel like I have much to show for it, or much to tell blog wise..

Work has been good, but that's meant Col has been away in the summer holidays more than usual, and as summer was in May this year (well, definitely not in August) we haven't had many boat trips to report on.

Our Zac turns 18 next Sunday and is having a 'gathering' of his mates, old and new this evening, so we have a large barbecue planned, ye olde choc fudge cake has been made for the third time in as many weeks, and we're entertaining!

more later..

All my own work!

.. with a little photography help from Jordan & Helen.

You might recall my excitement at taking Ross, Jordan and Ross' friend Helen on the nostalgia trip? Well for Helen's birthday, and to say thanks for being so kind and listening to all my stories, and (sounding like) she enjoyed my scrapbooks, I have sent one to Helen for her birthday, a small momento of her stay last month.

I used the CD wallet / mailer format I used on the Maldives album and it actually went really well..although I have made mental note to be more organised and to prep the pages before I stick them in.. it really isn't so easy to stamp after the pages are 'in'.

Click to view mini album





At Linda's class a couple of weeks ago the theme was journalling and writing, I really did want to use pens and handwriting more, but they just didn't quite happen, so I used some lovely ink techniques to colour printed texts..on my usual double page layout.

I also managed to do the layout for my new found photo of me with my Mum & Dad in 1962...I used some words from Fields of Gold, which I know some people find a little depressive.. but somehow I don't, the song even wakes me on a weekday morning and I haven't tired of it in about a year!

A legend in his own lifetime..

.. the Cornish sun is shining this afternoon as we celebrate the life of Matt Lethbridge, much decorated Lifeboatman from the Isles of Scilly, who died on Tuesday, aged 86.

He was one of a kind, a generous, humble man who lived a wonderful life. I have many fond memories of time spent with him & Pat on the Scillies when my two eldest were still young. Matt took us on a tour of the islands, told us tales of wreck and rescue at the Western Rocks and met us after in the pub at St Agnes, but was just as happy feeding seagulls with my kids on Porthcressa beach in the morning. 

He and my step-dad Phil talked fish and boats, while Mum & Pat played the supporting roles so perfectly, smiling and 'working them from behind'...Matt and Phil were lifeboatmen in the days when technology was in its infancy and if you needed help at sea then it was these people you knew would be there, they relied on true seamanship and what you learnt from growing up on the shores of the Atlantic where you knew the rocks like the back of your hand.

A great life, a priviledge to have known him, long to be remembered..x

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/7944869/Matt-Lethbridge.html

New toys!

They always say, don't they that the only difference between men & boys is the price of their toys...which incidentally must mean that our Zac has been a man for a few years already begining with his archery kit and now culminating in an arsenal of paintball weaponry which has pride of place hung on his bedroom wall.. next to the electronic drum kit and X-box!

Anyways, as ever, I digress.. had a fab day at Just Scrapbooking today, a small crew but we welcomed a new lady who we hope will be a regular at our Saturday crop. It was great to catch up with everyone, and apologies to Linda for me and Yvonne 'not paying attention to her tutorial, and talking too much at back of class!!'

I added to my own arsenal of crafting weaponry, at last conceding that I need some inks and blending tools..and this evening I played with them, enhancing some of the sample embossing bits I ran through my Cuttlebug.  Quietly I could see Jordan earmarking this technique or that, this embossing border or another, for the next Birthday Card she is asked to make by the rest of the offspring!

For layouts I worked on some of the Minack photos from our recent Nostalgia Tour and also the haybales picture below..I was really happy with them both, so the photos will have to wait.. indoor photos on my bemoaned phone do not do them justice!

Well, it's an early boating session tomorrow so should drag the crowd off to their beds..hoping to feel a little less like an old crock when I wake up, keep feeling like I've just done a round or two with Joe Bugner (mmm, that'll age me)... think maybe I need a chiropractor appointment but our favourite lady left and until now I could not be bothered to go through the learning phase with someone new.. so perhaps I'll try a light beating up by the sports therapy lady I know first!

Keep planning to start my fitness regime (haha, WHAT fitness regime you may ask.. note also the lack of any mention of healthy eating or exercise for almost the whole of the life of this blog!).. current start date is my 50th birthday.. in about a month.. but hey, now I hear it's Cardiff Uni Open Day on that very day, followed by a clutch of other Open Days Zac is looking to attend.. so, other than walking up hill (Exeter) and down dale.. well, harbours (Cardiff maybe) I can't see me getting any regime in place this side of...errr..2011 !!

1962, pushing 2 years old!

Not a very good image at the moment, but this is the one I found the other weekend..a rare photo of me with Mum & Dad, they both look 'tidied' so I guess it was some event or other, perhaps a Feast Day, or maybe just a Sunday walk, after all, they did tidy on a Sunday in those days didn't they.

Firtly I thought it was at St Buryan, what with the hay bales, perhaps at the Playing Field, but I think that's the sea in the background, so maybe it was taken up at Treen with Penberth Valley in the background.. even better!

Paris goes fishing...

(Luckily Kate isn't one of my main readers so it may be a while before she gets to see this..)

We got out in the boat yesterday, long overdue, and as I laid back enjoying the sun while the others fished, this was my view.. and luckily my cameraphone agreed to play ball for once..

It was a great afternoon, we caught a few fish, enjoyed the sun and just all getting out together.

We had such a laugh.. and only Kate and Paris Hilton would go fishing in a SuperDry jacket, denim shorts and white sunglasses.. wouldn't they!

Kate and the Hayle massive have been off to Alton Towers today, she said by text that the Rita ride is the scariest and best thing she's ever done..more on that tomorrow!

Couple for Karen..!

Flowertime at Penberth too Karen! 

Jordan used our office SLR and loves the photos she gets with it. I have promised to help her buy her own soon, and with a few shifts being KP at the Bosun's Boat Shed I'm sure she'll soon be knocking on my door for the balance!