Mapping A Village

Using the book of the same title, we chose one of the activities and sallied forth on a sunny autumn day.  Pip did a great job looking for and drawing key landmarks and it also gave us a chance to explore one area of our village:

 The memorial garden just a stones throw from the end of our road.

 Georgian style houses built around ten years ago.  Whoever paid for an architect and a builder to construct these two delightful properties, isn't short of a 'bob or two!'

The basket ball court at the village hall, with a brand new playground in the distance.

 The village hall, our destination.

 Map One

 Map Two

Well done Pip :-)

It's The Little Things

Slowly we are finding places for things, organising areas and the house is beginning to feel like home:

 We now finally have a clock in one of the rooms!  The grey "bed" is Dave's Robo Physio bed.

 The inside door in the entryway has a lovely wrought iron feature, which is perfect for attaching twine in order to display cards.  With all the chaos of the move we were unable to display and appreciate Dave's birthday and our anniversary cards, so they too are included in the display. 

 In the same area is a shoe and slipper basket, Dave's walking pole, our magnetic white board and a basket of leaflets.  The white board is likely to hang on the opposite wall and our calendar/organiser will probably fill this space.

 The bookcase that used to be in our lounge fits rather nicely in our downstairs bedroom.

 I even have room for a knitting nook in the corner.  At the moment I am using a folding camping chair, but my intention is to find a small "tub" chair for this corner, preferably from one of the local charity shops.

 A selection of stuffed animals are guarding the area in my absence!

 A friend recommended " Joseph and Joseph" and their products are not only cheerful to look at but really well thought out design concepts.

Since the kitchen in the old house was really small, every nook and cranny was used in some way and as a result we actually had three utensil drawers and one deep pan drawer.  This kitchen is a lot bigger but not as well designed and we only have one utensil drawer.  This cleverly designed insert has meant that we have been able to fit in almost three drawers worth into one space!  Cool or what :-)

 We are now also able to store our crockery in the kitchen.  Most used items are placed on this tiered rack and the overflow is stored in a cupboard with the mugs, teas and coffee.

 This interactive world map has instigated many interesting adventures and questions over breakfast and lunch.  Pip has had fun finding our dear friends on the map as well as learning about new places and their habitats.

Only two chairs are currently displayed, the other two are housed on their side just underneath.  We have managed to seat all four of us round the table with just one leaf in use, but for more space we can pull the table away from the wall and utilise the extra leaf. 

 

This Week

We celebrated All Hallows' Eve as per last year, with the kids dressed up as Saints:

 Our very own St Lucia :-)

We attended mass on All Saints' Day and for All Souls I made new picture bunting of those dear to us:

 My side of the family are on the left in pink, Aunty Maureen is in the middle and Dave's side of the family in blue are on the right.  Since I am a visual person this display is a timely reminder to pray for them and to also ask for their intercessions.

Yesterday we had a visit from Sara, Tom and Ollie.  It was the first time they had visited the new place and it was lovely to spend time with them:

 It has been a good week :-)