A Picture Catch Up

Here I am trying to blog again, let's see if I actually succeed this time :-)

 Ben passed his driving test in March on a first attempt.  It was a nerve wracking few days before the test and on the big day but he nailed it.

We finally made it over to the North East, our first visit back since that dratted covid infection in December 2022.  We stayed at the Alnwick Youth Hostel and visited all of our old favourites Hexham Abbey, Lindisfarne, Seahouses, Barter Books and a new addition The Aln Valley Railway.

 Stained Glass Window at Hexham Abbey.

Seahouses for Fish and Chips.

Pip feeding the 'spuggies' at Pilgrim's Coffee House on Holy Island, Lindisfarne.

A lunch time treat at Barter Books.  Shock horror, I only came away with one book!  I've just recently had a big clear out of the book case so was determined to be very intentional with any purchase.

A lovely train ride on the Aln Valley Railway.  It wasn't a long journey but it was an enjoyable steam ride.

Pip received her exam results in late August.  She gained really good marks in her Maths and Geography but the English paper was an unmitigated disaster thanks to the Exam board, who failed to mark her second paper!!  As a result this cost her a place on her level three aeronautical engineering course.  By the time we challenged the result and she was given a remark (which although just eight marks shy of a pass would have been enough for her to study the level three alongside a resit), it was too late to attend the course :-(  Needless to say she was pretty devastated and this past month has been very difficult for us all. 

 We are now homeschooling for Year 12 which comprises of an English Language resit following a different examination board, AS Level Maths and a beginners course in pottery amongst any other short courses that come along.  We have designated Fridays as a field trip day, so here are some pictures from a recent trip to the British Commercial Transport Museum in Leyland:

This ambulance is very reminiscent of episodes from the lovely drama, 'Call the Midwife.'  Poor Pip had a quick run down on the best positions for labour and lying flat on your back was not on that list ;-)  She was very tolerant of her old ma!

The back of the Popemobile used to transport St John Paul Second when he visited the Uk in 1980.

I still find screens and cognitive stuff still a bit of a nightmare but I've missed sharing over here and connecting with lovely blogging friends, so I'm hopeful I can make it work this time around.  

Thanks for reading xx 

Gloucester Part Three :: Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway :: Highfield Garden Centre :: Holiday Knitting and Reading

On our last full day before returning home we split into two groups and went to two different places.  Dave, Pip and Uncle Mike travelled on the steam railway:

 Studying the tea room menu

 Dave's lunch chicken mayo wrap, tortilla chips and side salad.

 Dave messing with the art filter on my camera :-)

 One for the family album and yearly calendar.

 Another art fiter shot using the old style grain effect "film."

 Bye, Bye Train!

Whilst they were at the steam railway, Benedict and I pottered around at the cottage and then visited "Highfield Garden Centre" five minutes down the road:

 It was the first time I had actually eaten a proper meal since the day we travelled!

Once home I sat outside with my holiday knitting:

 I bought this Opal sock yarn from an independent knitting shop in the heart of Gloucester.  I had been knitting on some hand dyed yarn but had forgotten to bring an extra skein and so shock horror, no knitting!!  I was grateful for that trip into town on the Tuesday and by the following day I had made good progress :-)

 By the time the evening had drawn in I had already turned the heel and was working on shaping the foot gusset.

  I had also bought three books from the garden centre, two novels and one very helpful diabetes cook book based on insulin adjustment and low carb paleo cooking for type one diabetes.  The recipes are really tasty but a bit of a challenge since they rely heavily on dairy and eggs, two of the things that Pip and I cannot tolerate on a daily basis.  So we are switching up with some non dairy paleo foods from various sources across the web ;-)

I finished "Pedigree Mum" it was an OK read and I guess you would place it in the chick lit category.  I have read another book by Laurie King and it was a really good adaptation of Sherlock Holmes as a married man to a much younger woman, an Oxford graduate and his sleuthing protege.  Needless to say I am looking forward to reading this one and when I have finished it I will be passing it on to my friend Kezzie, who loves a good murder mystery!

Since returning home I have been unwell with the ususal hassles but I think I am slowly turning a corner.  There never seem to be enough hours in the day and although I am relieved that I have this online work it is also very stressful and time consuming.  Trying to write a blog post for the website is a marathon event of keywords, meta descriptions and the website net nanny checking every word and phrase for readability and search engine optimisation!!  Still it forces me to hone my writing skills and I have even become a little more confident with alterating the exisiting email newsletter format via Mail Chimp!  If you would like to read my recent post on The Mindfulness for Christians Blog it can be found HERE

Hope you have had a good weekend and managed to enjoy some sunshine wherever you may be x  

Here, There, Everywhere

Last week we were out of the house every single day and most of my time was spent up and down the motorway.  We had one disastrous journey on the Friday whereby a one hour journey did in fact take over four hours!  In amongst the travelling we also had a freezer breakdown, so yes last week was certainly eventful :-)

Pip completed the second part of her Mad Science camp this week, which gave me the chance to catch up on laundry and packing.  We are currently in Newark on our way to this festival in Norfolk tomorrow. The festival lasts until the Monday but we are staying until the Thursday.  The journey down was a bit tortuous in parts with poor visability, rain and water spray from the articulated lorries, boy was I glad to finally stop the car for our overnight stay!

Here are some photos of the past week:

 Benedict over the moon, a room full of Lego and a Lego computer game!

 Lego Wii after a long while jumping up and down on the trampoline!  One very tired and zonked out toddler!

 The long awaited BFG cinema trip :-)

A felted phone case for me and made by Pip

 One Little Flower birthday celebration and a long hoped for ...

... our generation doll.  Each of The Little Flower girls now have a special doll of their own.  I think we will be busy crafting sashes and dresses for these Little Flower Friends!

I think I might actually manage an early night for a change which is good since we have another busy day tomorrow, a museum trip and the last leg of our journey.  We also have WiFi at the cottage so I should hopefully be able to daily blog; the only time I manage to blog regularly is when we are away :-) 

Holiday Round Up

We forgot to take the lead to connect the DSLR camera to the laptop on holiday with us, so here is a holiday round up using some of the images we missed.

Saturday

An Uncle visits, Tewksbury town and abbey.

Sunday
Feeding the neigh-bours, Gloucester town and cathedral.

Monday
Alfresco chef, eating outside and later by lamplight.

 

Tuesday

Beautiful carrot and coriander soup with Uncle Mike and driving the tea trolley afterwards.

Wednesday 
More steam railway pictures 

Thursday
Outside our little cottage on a quiet day. Our last full day here.