Last day

Bruno´s last night before Brazil, Grandma took this picture which is why it may be a bit squiffy




It´s our last day today and we have been packing up with the thought of going back to the cold and damp.

Yesterday we went to the beach, November 2nd on the beach ; )

Today we have been driving round, getting things together and later on off to say goodbye to our friends until the next time

On the beach

Home again

So we are back home, with Mae and Pai but it is raining. It doesn´t matter that it´s raining, we are here, just here, doing nothing but after 6 months it has been a long time since we have been here.

The rain is keeping us inside, like when I was a little person and the paints came out but this time the yarn comes out and Mae and I knit whilst the children and Pai tease, poke and prod, play games, build things and provoke each other

Happy Days

something broken

So long since I have been here, so much to say

Everything is whirling around but right now I am trying to make a cake, a lemon crunch cake - all fine until the whisks just stopped working so whilst I make a plan on *what to do next* (sounds like a *katy* book) I'll come and hang out here for a while.

The summer just whizzed by, but we did lovely things and on the very last week managed to squeeze Gary Hume at Modern Art Oxford in.......mmmmmm, as good as lemon cake

love lost, love found

So long little blog, many amazing things have happened and today I heard something that made me think I should log it here

Listen to this
Leonard and Marianne

Only one thing made him happy, but now it is gone everything made him happy

It will be gone 7 days from now

I couldn't help it

I was going too wait before I started these, it is not as if I need them - today was a hot day in the UK, a very hot day, a palatable sweat broke out and even May was too lethargic too walk in the midday sun - does that prove she is not a Mad Dog?

But my yellow socks were beckoning too me, or the very idea of them - in my vision I can see them up to my knees (that would be my freckly knees) so I wound up a skein, pulled out the pattern and cast on sock no.1 this very evening. What absolute gorgeousness is the yarn from the amazing skeinqueen, I am not on commission but would like too point out that this is almost eatable for its touch - except hairiness in the mouth would not be nice. (Not that the yarn is hairy, it is just wool in the mouth sensation - yuck)

Just wait until you see me in all my yellow glory, it must be something that happened to me in my childhood?

























Spiral Boot Sock pattern by Veronik Avery

another day

It is so very quiet here, everyone is sleeping, so I mustn't wake them.

Why is it that I always wake up no matter what time I go to bed, at almost the same time everyday - I know various creatures come into the room and start too stir me but I am conscious they are there, so I sit here after only a few hours sleep I creep around the house not wanting to disturb the small people.

It is almost a year since my parents left on their adventure, we get to speak to them pretty much whenever we want, send them letters, see that they are REALLY happy, they love life but when we come to having to say goodbye, on the phone, at the end of the page or at the airport a little sadness creeps up on me.

But then I remember that I am partly a Prior, a family shedding tears freely so instead I will think of the lovely things, like being under the sea and the water on my face.

and then today

It has become a yellow day, first we found our bargain raincoats - okay they are yellow but they were £1 and in excellent condition. In fact the big one (the one for me) is reversible and is blue inside)





Then I spent a further 75p on the haberdashery, I don't think I was robbed there







And now I am here gazing at the gorgeous yarn, top *clotted cream* is by Oxford Kitchen Yarns, the middle is created by the wonderful sunshine yarns and the bottom is a custom order created for me by Skein Queen, *do you like butter*

mmmmmm, sunny happy days

yesterday

It is only now as I was uploading the photos that I realised it was a red day.
Handknit gloves by me - a sample for a possible Riley design - ziggety zay


Beautiful tree at Cliveden



Poppies in the Secret Garden




And the young hustlers back home

well it is still raining

When will it stop, there a brief respite yesterday - you know the day that I have to go to work and do a huge list of things with the children as well, but today, a comparatively quiet day it is raining. Today there is a huge washing mountain that needs doing but too wet out to dry on the line, so on with the waterproofs and out May and I will venture.











In an ideal world, my home would be a shrine to goodly things like these gorgeous paper cut outs but in reality my home is a constant hive of adventure, fragility would have a hard time co-existing!

Popmats!

When you know it is a Bank Holiday Weekend

So what is different about this Bank Holiday?
It is raining - check
The hubby is working - check
No other soul will walk the dog with me in this weather - check

























It must be statistically written somewhere that when you are planning a day out walking and it is a Bank Holiday that this will invariably be a wet one or am I being pessimistic - it is okay really, I don't mind the wet and cold too much. Out walking I like the space and quiteness (especially knowing I have temporarily escaped from being the hostess and everyone is sleeping), it just is that bit when you have too peel of the wet pieces of clothing, dry them and return to a normality and try and warm up. Meanwhile the children look on, in horror

I am hiding here on the computer, looking around and reading blogs - just trying to find a moment of solace away from the kerfuffle. And as I am gazing around I see that the last two days of crafting 365 have had a blue theme, not for any reason of having the blues but that particular colour keeps popping up and there was me thinking yellow was my current obsession - however I do find myself fumbling for the blue mug to drink from and dreaming about a blue sky for this weekend instead of the clouds and the forecast gloom and rain.

Having my cake and eating it

mmmm, cake week - so far we have made 3 lemon traybakes (I know that is excessive but one was for knit night and everyone loves them), a victoria sponge, a cherry cake and a Bradbury Biscuit Cake.

Making the cakes = stopping me from going insane - we have a house guest for a week, I have a busy work schedule and the kids have lots of extra extra curricular activities going on (that is not a typo, there are extra extras). Everyone is on their best behaviour, but we are all like little pots waiting to boil over. My Mother-in-Law arrives in a few hours and that will be a test of any virtues I may have pertaining too patience (frankly I don't have many).

The brightest star today is for May who is exactly 2 years old, we rescued her 9 months ago and she makes me smile

sweet blog, not abandoned just so little time to update you. So what have we been doing?

making things

playing card games in disguise

gazing at my new shoes

going on adventures

then more adventures

making sheep in a tent

that's right, sheep

making cakes

and dyeing the grey bits out of my hair

Lifes priorities

our adventure

Now we are there

so I won't say much, but every minute with my Pai and Mae I treasure