Barton Grange :: Visiting Friends

It's that time of year and the best place to experience over the top colour is our favourite eating and garden place, Barton Grange.  Naturally it was super busy on a Saturday but it was well worth working our way through the throng to marvel at the displays:

 

 

Barton Grange is celebrating 50 years in business so each tree represented each decade as you can see this one is dedicated to the nineties.  On the ceiling they also had pictures from that era, ranging from Princess Diana to Kylie Minogue!

 

 

Pretty in Pink and Purple.

 

 

Standing Guard.

 

 

The Kids Tree.

 

 

Snowman Plates.

 

 

Santa table display.

 

 

Santa in his workshop.

 

 

Pip totally enthralled by a moving Santa ~ oh to be a child again!  It was lovely to see her response of unbridled joy.

 

 

Our last Aunty Judith treat of the year ~ our Barton Grange gift card was such a treat and much appreciated.

 

 

Benedict having another hypo, his fifteenth in ten days!  There is no real pattern to them, so I definitely have some detective work cut out for me tonight!

 

 

Dave catching up on a much needed  forty winks!

 

 

Singing Snowmen.

 

 

Pip sitting on Mr Barton Grange.

 

 

 

After our trip we popped in on a surprise visit to Aunty Maureen and Uncle Bryan.  It has been ages since we have seen them and it was so lovely to catch up on news, deliver Aunty Maureen birthday's present for Tuesday.  Uncle Bry very kindly bought tea for us all ~ fish and chips and great they were too!

 

 

Trying out Pip's reindeer ears.

 

 

 

Aunty Maureen wearing the flashing nose!

 

 

 

This sums up our feelings of the day.

 

 

 

The Lord is so good a beautiful sunset at the days end.



Quiet Days

Pip has been at home this week, she has been too ill to attend school but thankfully not so ill that she cannot do things around the home.  On Tuesday we had table time in the morning followed by a trip out to Leighton Moss in the afternoon:

 Snack time.

 Work sheet fun.

 Cakes to share, gingerbread latte and apple juice.

 Reading the Sooty books a favourite.

Slurping and puzzle solving.

Yesterday was a home day as Pip's cough had really settled in with a croupy noise and feeling weary.  Whilst Benedict was at Shein's Pip made shortbread biscuits:

 Mixing the melted butter and sifted icing sugar.

 Sieving the flour.

 Once the dough had been refrigerated for half an hour it was ready to roll and cut into shapes.

 "Here you are Daddy an afternoon treat!"

With a little help from Mummy, Pip had fun playing scrabble.

After tea, Benedict had some fun of his own, he attended both Cubs and Scouts, so was out from 6 pm until 9 pm.  This will be his routine until Christmas and then in the New Year he will be invested into Scouts.  It doesn't seem five minutes since he was at Beavers, time really does fly.  He was full of beans when he came in, he had invented a new team game, won the cub of the week award for being super helpful and had enjoyed making a Christmas craft:

 Happy Chappy!

  A cheerful Advent Wreath.

Friday Fun

These past two weeks I've been making a concerted effort and taking myself off on a camera walk, usually when Pip has her art lesson.  These shots were taken at Williamson Park last Friday:

 Front Façade of The Ashton Memorial

 

 

 

 Back View.

 

 

 

 Sweeping Staircase.

 

 

 

Autumn foliage.

 

 

 

A carpet of red.

 

 

A truly horrid history and a ...

 

 

... poignant epitaph ~ remembering.

 

 

 



Today I visited Hest Bank.  I walked along the shore and then part way along the canal:

 

A hazy view across the shore.

 

 

Exercise for all.

 

 

 

Paddling Away.

 

 

From the towpath and my favourite ...

 

 

... a smiley boat!

 

 

 

I was not the only one having fun and for the past fortnight Pip has worked on her own composition, a nativity scene for the school art competition.  Pip's year has not been included in the event, as they are only a reception class but Erika felt that her was good enough to be submitted:

 

 

 

Preparing and Pasting.

 

 

More glue, you can't have enough glue!

 

 

Background preparatory work completed.

 

 

A Happy Artist!

 

 

Ta-da!

 

 

  Three kings, one star to steer by, one baby in a manger and his mummy kneeling close and two sheep racing ahead of the shepherds, having heard the good news from the angel!  But where is Joseph?  He's off collecting water from a well and will make an appearance before the date for submission, which is Monday!





Yarn Along and a Long Overdue Yarndale Post

 It has been a while but here I am yarning along! I am  knitting something for me, some cheerful looking socks, using wool hand dyed by these folk in  "watercolour." 

 

 

 

Having heard Esther speak nearly a month ago, I am still slowly reading my way through this book and to be honest, it will need several reads for me to fully absorb and attempt to put into practise some of the things suggested!  Never mind though, I am quite happy to be a work in progress and any improvement is better than none at all!

 

 

 

After taking ages to finish a sleeve and weave in the ends, I was able to give Kathryn her long overdue birthday present!  Would you believe it, I started this project when Pip had the noro virus way back at the beginning of the year!  I had completed over three quarters of it, before Gracie appeared and then completely lost my knitting mojo, when all else around me was falling apart, myself included.  So you can imagine, it was a complete relief to cast off this project once and for all:

 

 

At one point there were over four hundred stitches on the needles.

 

 

I love the cross over shaping at the front.

 

 

Here is the lovely lass, modelling her cardi.

 

 

Speaking of Kath, she has also taken up knitting and has progressed quite quickly from knitting squares, to hats and then finally an aran cardi for Gracie:

 

 

My mum helped out a little bit, but what a fab job.

 

 

Last but not least, my Yarndale trip.  If you pop over on to this site you'll get a real flavour of the event.  Surprisingly for me I did not take many pictures, I think it was a case of being exhausted from diabetes checking at two hourly intervals during the night and due to overwhelming numbers of people and stalls, I actually reached sensory overload and could not think straight!  I would definitely go back next year and it was a real treat to spend the day with my lovely friend Debs:

 

Yarndale Bunting.

 

 

 

 

Lucy's Attic 24 Corner.

 

 

Lovely llamas and their wool ~ I would love to have a rug made of their fleece, totally scrumptious!

 

 

Debs bought some black llama wool to make herself a pair of wrist warmers.

 

 

Fluffy Angoras.

 

 

No wonder the wool is so expensive, it must take a whole lot of angora hair to make one ball of wool. 

 

 

So, that's me up to date, I'm know off to knit a few more rows before bed, tootle - pip!