365/170 Same but better..

".. I learnt a lot the last 24 hours.. all about a thing called Twitter, where JB posted this cool pic of Col in his previous life as a Father's Day tribute..'Tweet for Dad'

.. and about scrapbooking.. there are loads of sticky gluey things to play with and I got to sit in charge of them a while, then when the pages were done I got a closer look.. hey, that Zac-man guy really gets around.. and for some reason his Mum has got a Meerkat calendar she uses to post the dates of pictures on her pages.. (apparently he used to stretch his neck to see things and reminded them of meerkats way before Sergei and Alexander made them famous on TV)

Great Outdoors!

Well I finally got myself back in the scrapbooking saddle today.. I printed out some of the pictures Zac left for me and thought I'd link it to enter the Happy Scrappers online monthly Challenge.  I am slightly apprehensive as I have a double page layout but the pages are about 11x8, which is a bit unusual and not on 'the list'.. hope Shaz will understand and it IS undoubtedly a scrap layout..

...On his first seaphase Zac got a days excursion in Mexico and they went canoeing and also trekking, they even went swimming in the pool while they watered the horses.  

A couple of weeks later a bunch of the crew went up to one of the high points in Hawaii on a special 'mission' .. Bad weather had meant that the previous trip had missed this island and a family that were travelling out to sprinkle the ashes of their mother there did not get there.... so this trip the crew took 'Beatrice' to her final resting place.  

I was fascinated to see the snow on the volcano in Hawaii, a volcano itself would be great, but snow in the tropics is just too much.. x

Happy Father's Day for him...

... meant a bit of mowing, a lot of MotoGP on TV, a good amount of chocolate and a the love of a good family.. awhhh.  And for me it meant a little catering, some washing to turnover, a good bit of laid back scrapbooking, catching up on Zac's pages from his last trip... so almost a Mother's Day too.

JB just came in from an eight hour shift, catering establishments are always so busy on these special days. I quite miss her the last few days, since she got to drive herself about, it's surprising how many of our conversations have been had in the car en route to the college bus or work or to friends..I guess we'll settle into finding some chatty time as things sort themselves into a routine..

.. here's the Moomin having a look at the Twitter pic JB posted of Col today..almost famous!

365/169 Same Moomin, different adventure!

" So there I was, being just a little inquisitive as to what this coffee thing is that gets a mention a lot in this house.. I was only looking... 'You'll fall in if you're not careful' she said. I didn't actually, but she is a witch in diguise and wondered out loud if I did fall in would I float, so she tested it.... and did I float?... no, I sank?!!  

Still, the old softie in her kicked in and she fished me out with a spoon, like a wet rich tea biscuit!  And then she took my picture.. funny girl.. but cuddled me up and dried me off in a (tea) towel.. thanks Kathi!! "

365/168 Same.. but different 2

" It's been what they call a pretty average day in this household.. food shop and chores.. pretty much.. but I had one adventure which I'll tell you about tomorrow"

365/167 Same .. but different...

..our prompt for the next few days is to feature a mascot / toy / pet or similar in our activites.. sounds just great for me as I like to try and find a tenuous link between what I wrote and the daily news..

.. I was in half a mind to feature one of the girls Ty softies, maybe the giraffe or polar bear, or even Freddie Teddy from my own childhood .. but here is my 'Star of the Week'...Moomin.   I bought him for Col way back when, probably some crazy Christmas thing, as I think he called Zac it a few times when he was small (mmm, Zac is really going to appreciate that when he reads it!) .. anyway, you know how it is.. we had a whole bunch of names the kids were called, Lisa ranged from 'Sausage' to 'Tilly Mint' .. they're the ones I remember best!

..so it's Moomin, mainly as he is only about 3cm high and can go in my pocket or bag and should make a small world look like a much bigger place..

.. so here he was ...standing on the shelf above the computer, hoping I would notice him and cook him something healthy from one of the many cookbooks..

Everyone is out, I mean everyone, so just me and Col for tea.. a lavish meal perhaps, an evening out, what will it be... the weather outside is miserable like a bad autumn chill is in the air.. so I think we may light a fire, snack for tea and find something nice on TV.. til teen taxi is called.. though it is so odd to have Jordan out on her own.. such independence and freedom.. my stay-at-home girl just left the building!!

PS 9.30pm..

''they had beans on toast for tea and settled down to blog and watch MotoGP on TV.. two kinds of heaven.. getting used to the teenless quiet... even appreciating it..I wonder if they'll take me out tomorrow if it stops raining.. it's been a long time since I went out of doors...''

365/166 Face

Well I have enjoyed already seeing some of the faces I haven't seen before (Jen.. we have a similar blonde in our house as you know.. they are such a joy.. mostly!)

My Col is due home soon, it has seemed an age since he left on Sunday lunchtime, perhaps longer because his Dad has been away too so not so much catering required here at all this week.  I kind of like that for a week now and then, but inside I think I may be a 'feeder', like my Mum used to be, always trying to give food to people when they come by..like my whole existence is justified when I am catering for people!

.. the weather has turned really grim and I need to go to get 'fridge food', so it was lovely when Col suggested picking up fish & chips on his way back...and in he just walked with them and.. for JB's test passing, celebratory Krispy Creme donuts!

(small eating interlude)

Face...couldn't really not do Kate could I?
She has been here this evening entertaining us with tales of her job at a local Chinese... a classic moment was when she said that she asked a lady from Manchester if she was from Liverpool.... (bet that went down well!) and when the Chinese guy (from Newcastle) she works for was trying to teach her to speak properly..!!

We tease her because she can be quite calm, even shy but when she's on a roll a mini version of Stacey Solomon appears..

I told her I needed some 'face' pictures so she gave me the middle two, but wouldn't be serious so I have added the first and last snaps from her photo session we had in Watford in March..

365/165 Earth tones..

Home alone.. should be scrapbooking.. but had the urge to bake, maybe the aged (!) bananas were the clincher.. or the apples which need using in the fridge..so I set to work.. an old Banana Cake recipe from wartime Australia, I made one last week, it goes quite gooey but is fab with cream, like a pudding!
Then some flapjacks, mainly because I had used all the castor sugar so no sponge cakes on the menu.  Then a great Devon Apple Cake from a Cranks Cookbook.. it's a great book but I've probably only made three things from it in 25 years!!

Mmmm, what for my tea.. ahh, no-one else likes quiche much so I slid one in the oven to have afterwards, love it with salad.. and the picture with the salad just made sense.. okay, earth tones with a bit of colour!!!

365/164 Antique.

Two things today : Uncle Bill's birthday.. I had in mind it was today and Kate saw it on Facebook.. ahh, it has some uses...Happy Birthday from your Cornish connection.. xxxx

...and Jordan PASSED her Driving Test.. what a little beauty!!  She had to wait for the car to come through MOT and then had to go to work half an hour later!


 I have most of the antique things I own in my Mum's little annexe which she used to live in. ..she went into a residential home for the last six months of her life and in that time I sorted a lot of stuff out, so as it turns out it was easier to do before than after.  The place was decorated for Uncle Bill to stay in so I kept the antique stuff in a nice glass cabinet, a little bit of our life long ago.

There are a few things hidden in my scrap room drawers and here are some of them..mostly a diary and post from my Mum's Dad, sent home from East Africa in the first war.. I should get on with the job of writing up his thoughts, he was a teacher and I am sure he had lots of views of the way the world was then..I think of him like the Tom Hanks character in Private Ryan, a teacher misplaced in a war.

Also found a silver coin, well worn, turns out, thanks to Google, it is a Queen Victoria commemoratuve meal from her Diamond Jubilee.. good timing.. here's the Google image I found, so the one I have is very worn, maybe it was worn around someone's neck.. it has a small hole in it.

365/163 Aged.

Colin made this wood burner for outside on summer evenings and even though only a couple or three years old the metal has aged.. it does so readily, especially when not treated and in the damp Cornish air.  That's another reason why we manufacture lots of kit in stainless steel, so it is durable in an offshore environment ..

.. again though, with damp cooler evenings it is still a great hit!



Must just say that the small pic was taken outside at about 7pm this evening, I think we had the best weather today, despite it being quite windy. We lost our server at work and the phones were quiet so I was quite relaxed when I came in.. just JB and me for tea so we had carrots and dip, veggie sausage rolls from yesterday and dessert.. walnut whip for me and croissant and jam for her.. oh and I had a large glass of wine.. sounds like a girlie tea when the boys are away huh.. spare a thought for Col and his induction session with the MOD.. innane videos, warnings and paperwork.. all his favourite (not!)