Beads and Birthday Cards

I completely forgot to mention that St Emilion has a BEAD SHOP. How seductive have they made this shop - everything is displayed beautifully - all colour co-ordinated in a series of wooden trays around the shop, then the metal beads, findings etc are all set out in those tiny weeny glass finger bowls (I was so scared of getting a sleeve caught and sending the lot flying all over the shop) the whole place was like a work of art!
Now, I thought it was a bit expensive, so managed to rein in the urge to fill my tray with everything in sight - I know this will come as a shock to some people out there..... but Hubby was there and he had that "Why did I let her in here, I'm soooooo bored" look on his face - besides he was holding the euros:-) Still I did manage to get myself a nice little selection, and as it was part of my birthday treat, I get to use them to make something for me!

After a day of trying to load a whole set of photos onto Blogger, and with thanks to Jo and Deb for their assistance with getting my slideshow actually into the message, I think I can show you the wonderful array of handcrafted birthday cards I received from some of the very talented people on the CBC forum

I was so lucky to get all these lovely cards and I hope you'll enjoy having a look-see. A HUGE thank you to those kind people who made and sent a card - it is a real joy to see all the creativity, the different styles and the many different techniques - I thoroughly enjoyed opening each and every envelope and I hope you're all really, really jealous!!! :-)

Two Weeks Later....

Well, it's time to catch up after our Road Trip.
We went to France for a couple of weeks - nothing booked except the ferry - which meant finding places to stay as we travelled. This wasn't as easy as we'd thought, lots of the hotels were closed for their own holidays, and lots of places were full of people who like us had waited for the kids to go back to school and had got there before us! It meant we had to move on more often than we'd planned and that every day was a driving day - and a pack/unpack day too for that matter. My favourite bit was the 3 nights nights we spent in St Emilion so that's what I'll start with.



We tried a couple of hotels with no luck then went to the Tourist Information Office for help. When we mentioned that it was my birthday and we were looking for somewhere nice to stay she suggested a little flat in one of the old buildings and rang the owner to arrange it. We didn't realise that she'd mentioned the special occasion to the owner, but when we arrived at the house he was waiting with a bottle of wine from his own vineyard for me. Not only was it my birthday, but it was a special weekend in the town too. Saturday was the Nuit de Patrimione, when all the buildings are open to visit for free, and special events happen - in St Emilion this meant a music festival with lots of different types of live music being performed in different spots all around the town. Unfortunately it was a horrible weather day and several of the performers couldn't do their thing in the venue assigned - heavy rain and electrical gismos just don't mix! The rain actually dried up by late evening but it was too late for some. Still wandering around the ancient cobbled streets finding oompah bands, swing bands, guitar and accordian players, clowns etc in unexpected places made for a fun evening. Sunday was also a special day as it was the launching of the grape-picking. The whole day saw processions and services in the old Church, and various other traditional events taking place. As the day went on those processing got less and less staid and serious - I think some were almost rolling down the hill after they'd been for lunch - I believe a lot of tasting of the vintage goes on......
It all ended with them climbing to the top of the castle where a speech was given over the tannoy and then grape shaped balloons were released.

Much Flag-waving, medieval costume, drummers and trumpeters at the head of the procession on Sunday

The wine heirarchy followed the musicians through the town to the old Church, where I think a special mass is said, presumably in the hope of a fantastic grape harvest..

While they are all in Church, the musicians and other costumed leaders of the procession hang around outside and pose for photos.

Here's what it's all about!
St Emilion is fab, a fantastic place to spend a few days. It's a town on a hill, very old - home to the hermit Emilion who lived in a cave hewn out of the rocks. He became a Saint and the old Church was built bearing his name and again hewn out of the rocks - it's open to the public and worth a visit. Plenty of wine shops and caves to visit - over 30 growers in the town I think. There's the big "new" Church as well as the ancient one, plus the castle, and wonderful views over the town and the surrounding countryside from all over the place.

I took this photo looking back up to the town from among the vineyards that surround the hill St Emilion stands on; There's a wine "cave" now in the old convent buildings - but even that has been in there for over 100 years, some of the buildings are in ruins, this photo is of the Cordelier's Cloister which I loved. The wine people use it as a place for their wine tasting now.

This is one of the old gates into the city;This is the view we had when sitting at the breakfast bar of the flat we stayed in. I loved looking out over the red roofs and out to the countryside beyond. OK sometimes it was a very grey view, but somehow, when you've got a bit of space to lounge around in the weather doesn't matter! Our "landlord" brought us a delicious breakfast of fresh bread, croissants, pain au chocolate and other pastries every morning, there was juice, milk, jam etc in the fridge, plus tea and coffee supplied, and of course loads of cafes and restaurants within a couple of minutes stroll - wasn't too bad eh?:-)Next installment will probably be Chateaux and seaside so be warned!

Busy Busy

Trying to get myself caught up with my blog because I'm not going to have much on-line time in the next couple of weeks. It's been a manic week, not only have I been feeling rather "under the weather" but I've got masses of things I need to do, plus I've had a lot of cards to make and get in the post for clients, friends and family - it's proving a busy month. Thank goodness there's one birthday I don't need to make a card for - my own!!!
I had an few rush orders to do - so rushed I forgot to get photos taken before they went off. One of these was for a 70th birthday card for the mother of a Swedish work colleague of Hubby's. Apparently she loved the card, but was only 69........ Let's hope the same girl's sister really is 40 or I think she's not going to be too happy when she gets her card either! And let's hope the names she gave me to put on the wedding card she ordered are correct....


Also had an anniversary card to make for another client - luckily she's a bit more reliable with her info. I was really pleased with that card - shame I forgot to take the photo.

Here are a some others I've done for September - they all use the same basic template - it's proved useful with so many to do.

House-wise, Hubby's been painting the front guest room. It was a very deep blue on one wall and a slightly less deep blue on the others and has proved a pig to cover. after two coats of white there is still a faint blue tinge, but I think it's almost ready for the vanilla top coat - though that'll have to wait now too. Check out what the walls looked like when he ran out of paint!

Last weekend we spoke to the guy who did a bit of work for us at the old house about some fencing, topping out some trees and getting some turfing done. Then we went to look at sofas - finally got round to ordering them yesterday so hopefully they'll be here before Christmas. We're getting 2 sofas (like the pic) and an armchair . They are by the Italian company Natuzzi and ours will be dark blue leather. Can't wait.

We've even started on the "Get Bathroom Sorted" campaign and yesterday saw a builder and plumber to get the first of the quotes underway - now I need to see more people about this.

Last is a photo especially for Janine. I loved reading your blog entry about the old wedding photos you've been looking through. This one is of my Great Uncle Len and his bride Olive on their wedding day. I know I have more photos, but can't find them at the moment.

OK, it might be a while before I get any more blogging done, but I'll be back as soon as possible, and till then - behave yourselves and I'll catch up with you all soon.....

Ancestry Challenge!

I've been tagged by Kathy Pitt, well, I guess it was about time we had another challenge going around :-)

1. Which famous person would you most like to learn that you are descended from?

AA Milne - because I love his Winnie the Pooh stories and would have appreciated being related to him in the way his son Christopher Robin didn't seem to....


2. Which famous person would you hate to learn that you are descended from?

Any of a number of despicable characters. I hope that even if I am decended from someone like that, that my own life wouldn't reflect the way they acted.


3. If you could be ancestor to any living famous person, who would it be and why?

I think I'd be proud to be an ancestor of someone like Bob Geldoff. He really grabbed the world by the scruff of it's neck and demanded some action over poverty in Africa. OK so there's still a long way to go, but you've got to admire the way he's motivated so many to try and make things better.


4. If you could go back in time and meet any known ancestor(s) of yours, who would it be?
OK this one I'm actually answering first because it's the easiest - I'd like to have the chance to speak to my 4 Grandparents about their parents and grandparents - because by the time I decided to do my family history they were all dead and I didn't get to quiz them about our history.

5. Tag five others: Jo, Kel, Lythan, Lisababe, Rachel

Stuff

Just in case you're wondering why I'm so quiet (especially considering how much I nag you all to keep your blogs up to date....). I thought I'd show you that I'm still alive and kicking!

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

A Saturday Jaunt and a Crafty Bargain!

Hubby's aunt is over from Germany for a course in Cambridge so we met her on Saturday and tooke her out for the day. It's not easy, she's been based in Germany for so long now that she speaks English (very loudly) with a German accent and many of the nuances and jokes pass way over her head. She's so loud it's embarrassing! I'm sure the people in the pub we had lunch in were enthralled by our conversation. Oh well, at least we didn't take her somewhere we'll be going back to any time soon!

We decided to take her to Ely, she's a very religious person, in fact she used to be a missionary in the Philippines and the course she's on is something Church-y. She mentioned she'd never been to Ely so it seemed a good place to start and the Cathedral is a beautiful building. We weren't very impressed with the charge of £5 per person they wanted though - so instead of 3 people each going in and giving a donation to their coffers, Hubby and I didn't go in at all (we've been a couple of times before anyway) and Aunt just went in to say a prayer - the Cathedral didn't get a bean. I know that it's expensive to keep these places open but I really do think they've got a nerve to require payment to visit a church - if I remember rightly from Sunday School days, Jesus threw a bit of a wobbly over people trading and making money within the synagogues hmmmm......

We had lunch and a wander around Ely - and a quick poke around in the maddest shop ever - The City Cycle Centre - which sells bikes and toys, DIY and models - and lurking right at the back a little crafty area with lots of fabric, haberdashery, a bit of card-making and all sorts of interesting bits and pieces - a real Aladdin's Cave of a place!

Then off to Denny Abbey near Waterbeach, which is an English Heritage site. It's got quite an interesting history, having been a Benedictine Church, then it belonged to the Knights Templar, then the Franciscan Nuns the Poor Clares, then after the dissolution it became a farmhouse and was owned by a succession of families and companies including at one time Chivers - the jam people. This is one of our regular places to visit as the setting is so pleasant and peaceful. There's a farmland museum there, and also a cottage which has been decorated in the style of a farmworker's cottage of the 1940's, complete with it's little cottage carden and a "privy".

Next stop was for coffee and cake at a Garden Centre near Huntingdon, after which I managed a little look-see in their craft department (well it would be rude not to, wouldn't it?) I bought some sort of skin coloured card with which to have a play with my new QK dies, a couple of the lovely 6x6 Making Memories paper pads which I love. I got a bargain pack of interlocking plastic pots for £6.99, there are 5 stacks, four different sizes of little pots and very useful for all those teeny weeny bits and bobs. I've got quite a lot of the smallest size already - they are the ones you can buy in Boots and they cost me over £2 the last time I bought some, so I'm well chuffed with my new purchase! Dropped Aunt off back in Cambridge and headed for home. Just got back before the now seemingly daily thunderstorm......phew!

Yay! Card Order Completed at last

I've finished an order for some cards today - two for kiddies cards which I'm not terrifically keen on doing. In this case they are for the same two children I've recently made cards for too, so I couldn't just use the same idea :-(
I also had a Christening card to make, so did that first - to ease me into the groove - OK I did it first because I like making those more than kids cards.... Oooops, just noticed that the little silver cross is lying the wrong way on the photo - took the pics in a hurry and should have checked it was hanging correctly - too late now - but it hangs loose on a silver thread so honestly, it's not wonky in the real!

Sam is a little boy who loves techie stuff like mobile phones and remote controls - I was asked to make him a card last year with a mobile phone on, and apparently his taste in playthings hasn't changed so I decided to do something different but still use some phones. I made the letters - cut them from thick card, covered them with paper and used Glossy Accents over the top. The papers are from MM's "Kid's Collection- Sam" - I couldn't resist the link with the recipient's name.
I really liked the first one I did for Roan's birthday - that was the one her mum ordered and I used one of Jane's lovely little nresses and a Pink Princess theme - there's a photo somewhere further down my blog, I think. This is for her Grandma to give her and I'm not so pleased with this. I was told that Roan likes butterflies, but I found it hard to come up with anything! The card has a glittered vellum overlay with butterflies on it and I cut out another butterfly and used it to make a fluttery one for the tag.

I've even been out and posted them off - had to dodge the thundery showers to go to the postbox too.

Got some new QK dies today - I've bought the new Paper Doll set, the photo corners and the little dog - the one with bows, though I'm not planning on using the bows too often! I've been so busy with the card order and making some others that I needed to get in the post today that I've not had time to do any more than open the package - now that's hardly fair is it?

Missing you...

Just wandered around my links to see what the Blogmates are doing. It didn't take long as only Jane's updated her blog.

So where are you all? Feels like you're all at a party that I've not been invited to.

Maybe you are.

I'm not paranoid - they REALLY are after me.....

Where's my lovely summer gone?

Another miserable wet day. What happened to our lovely hot and sunny summer?
We don't switch our heating off in the summer as it's controlled by a thermostat gadget thing but the last few days it's actually been coming on in the mornings. It's August for heaven's sake - last evening I found myself thinking about digging out my joggers because it was so chilly!
We were up and about earlier than we like on Saturday as the rain woke us up beating down on the velux window which is abve the bed! Youngest of the Nieces has a birthday coming up so we headed for the grim, grotty place that is Stevenage town centre - a place we go maybe once a year but for quick in-and-out shopping trips is easy. If we want to browse we go somewhere nicer! Bought a pretty girly top in Next and then in the cheap books and stuff shop next door found loads of crafty bits and pieces which she'll like as she's into making cards and doing arty crafty stuff. I bought a canvas and some acrylic paints as I have a project in mind for a present for Middle Niece for Christmas (not going to say any more because it'll probably never happen anyway!), Then a quick call into the crafter's favourite cheapie shop - Poundland (- yes, everything's £1). Yay they had foam tape and pads so I could stock up on those, and on rolls of double sided tape too. Happy Bunny here.

Not a great crafting weekend despite spending what seems like most of it at my desk. I managed to finish two cards, that's all - and another couple got to the "OK now what do I do with it" stage and went in the box with all the other half-made ones waiting for some inspiration to finish them off - more often they just stay in the box.
Did make the card for Niece's birthday though so just to prove my weekend wasn't entirely fruitless on the craft front here it is.

Meet Audrey

We planted a yukka in the front garden of our old house and one year were "blessed" with a flower - if you can call it that. This thing just grew and grew and developed a personality of it's own. We called her Audrey (from the "Little Shop of Horrors"). Mothers would call their children back as they walked past the garden to stand, staring open-mouthed and pointing. When I finally cut her down - with a saw, I might add as she was so thick I measured her at 12feet high.

Eyes Wide Open

This is my 2nd ever scrapbook page. I started it a few weeks ago, but various things conspired to prevent me getting on with it. I've not felt much like crafting for the last couple of weeks but at last I've felt more in the groove and in the last couple of days I've finished my CJ pages, and even sent it off, and now I've got this done too. Now all I need to do is make some cards for the latest template challenge!

Still No Closer

to finding the name of this plant, so here are a couple more photos. The flower is dying off and that's the only one there is.
Now I've had a closer look at the leaves they don't look like a peony after all. I think it's probably a perennial rather than a shrub, but I'm not sure.

Berry tasty!

I've made another batch of blackberry muffins. Obviously I had to taste one to make sure they were ok.....

And there's still all those other ones to use up, plus all those still ripening up. I think I'll give Lythan's recipe a try at the weekend.

Flowers

After I'd taken some photos of my blackberry "vines" I roamed around looking for more stuff to photograph. Found this beautiful yellow rose and this other flowering shrub that I don't know - so guess what today's question is? Anyone able to enlighten me?

A few years ago we went to The Algarve for our holidays and I bought a packet of "Seeds of Portugal" There were various types and they all grew - but gradually I've managed to kill all except two bougainvillea plants which despite all the odds have survived and flower regularly. They are enjoying their summer break out in the garden at the moment and deserve to have their photos taken as they look pretty against today's blue sky.

Struggling!

Every now and then I have a week when my energy levels fall so low that I can barely drag myself out of bed. I'm in one of those phases now.
I can't settle to anything for more than a few minutes and although I'd really like to do some crafting - and maybe getting creative would help get my head together I just can't be bothered to clear the desk of the stuff I bought last Friday. All I've done is tip it out of the bag!

So, I've pottered around the house and the garden a lot over the last few days. I got the loppers out and made inroads into the wilderness of overgrown trees and shrubs on the left side of the garden, and now I can actually see the ground, which is good (I think). Yesterday I shredded my way through all the branches I'd cut down.


When my aunt was here last week she spotted blackberries growing up in these tall trees and shrubs - they are more like a vine than a bush. Before they'd been here for a couple of hours she was making pastry for a blackberry pie - my aunt LOVES to bake! I picked loads more, I made blackberry muffins on Saturday, then they picked enough to fill a box to take away with them when they left for home on Sunday. Since then I've picked a load more and frozen them for future use, and there are still masses more - anyone want some blackberries?

Actually, thinking about it, even though I feel as if I've achieved nothing this week I've not done so badly, what with gradually getting through all the extra laundry, virtually catching up with my ironing mountain, and all that gardening.

Hey, that's not so bad!

2000 and counting...

Today is a momentous day in Kathy's World!

We passed the 2000 visitor mark - wow! Thanks you for visiting, I hope you've found something of interest to read and that your visit hasn't been so boring that you'll never come back.

I think this is the longest that I've ever managed to keep a diary and I'm doing better than some of you lot on my links list....Are you listening Puss?, Lucy?, Turtle2?

More Photos from The Cotswolds

It didn't seem to want to load any more on the last message, so here's Part 2.

The first photo is of one of the fields at the Lavender Farm, Snowshill - shame you can't smell it too!

Just a couple of the cute model village in Bourton on the Water - it's a model of the village itself, and there's even a model of the model village there too!

The last two are of Hailles Abbey

Some Cotswolds Photos

Bourton on the Water (left)

Broadway Tower

Broadway village

(right) Bibury, Arlington Row

Not Yorkshire after all.......

We thought we were all sorted to go up to my brother's little "holiday house" in Pickering, Yorkshire for a few days over our anniversary. It had all been arranged weeks ago, well before they went off to France for their holidays, I had the keys safely in my bag and we planned to go up on Friday evening and stay till yesterday. Just because I wanted to check the house number, I rang my SiL's mum up in York to be met with a strange sort of silence at the other end of the line when I told her we were going. Turns out she's arranged with some friends of hers to go for the week - but hadn't rang SiL to check it was OK, assuming that as they were in France it would be fine for them just to go if they wanted to.
Not a good start to our little holiday. Especially as it was Thursday already, and one of the busiest weekends of the year, and knowing from experience how difficult it is to find somewhere nice to stay even when we did have more notice......
So instead of spending Friday afternoon packing, and the evening travelling, we stayed home and spent hours on the phone and internet looking for somewhere, anywhere, to stay.

Eventually we got booked into the last room at the Chester House Hotel in Bourton on the Water, deep in the Cotswolds - lovely. We headed off after lunch on Saturday and the drive was really good, roof off the car, sun shining and the traffic behaved quite well. We headed off the main road once we'd got past Milton Keynes and instead drove along the country roads, through some beautiful little villages - it was all very pleasant.

The hotel was fine, nice and comfy room, though not a great view from our room - but what could we expect with our such last-minute booking, The staff were very helpful and friendly and the hotel is completely non-smoking, which is such a treat. While we were wandering around the web we found a place that looked amazing, but they couldn't offer us the 3 nightz, or the particular room hubby liked the look of so we're saving that one for another trip later in the year hopefully!

Bourton is soooo pretty, with it's river running right through and all the tiny little bridges over it. A plethora of tea-shops and antique shops if that's the sort of thing you like. A lovely place to wander around - very much on the tourist trail but quieter in the mornings and late afternoons when the tour busses have left.

We had quite a lazy few days exploring the area. We went to Hailes Abbey - ruins of a Cistercian Abbey, up to the Broadway Tower - folly built on the 2nd highest point in the Cotswolds, the Lavendar farm near Snowshill, and the Model Village of (and in) Bourton on the Water itself. Apart from that we toured around the beautiful villages of the area including Snowshill, Broadway, Burford, Bibury, Lower Slaughter and others. Photos will follow.....

On the evening of our anniversary we went to La Villa Romana Ristorante near Stow on the Wold and had a delicious meal. I had a starter of assorted mushrooms in a herb sauce with garlic croutons, then veal escallops with dolcelatta cheese and a tomato sauce. I should have stopped there but couldn't resist trying the tiramisu - which was fantastic, but tragedy of tragedies I couldn't finish it! The restaurant is lovely, very plush indeed and the food was fantastic - and very generous - to be recommended if you're ever in the area.

Well, we had a wonderful break, the weather was pretty good - a few late evening showers and a torrential downpour on Monday night, but somehow we managed to avoid all that. One day we'll get up to Pickering, but on this occasion tbh I think we were better off being looked after in a hotel rather than having to do any of that "house-y" stuff up in Yorkshire. When it comes down to it there's nothing much nicer than having your breakfast cooked for you, is there?

hellllooooo......

Dear Diary,
Just got back from our weekend away so thought I'd pop in and say "hi"

I promise I'll come back soon and fill you in on the details.

xxx

Just one more thing

Received this morning - even though I only placed my order yesterday - a lovely new stash of ribbons and other stuff from the CBC Shop
Thank you Carolyn - fab service and fab stuff yet again.

One more thing....

We rented a car for our stay in Mauritius, it was a red jeep and broke down the day after we'd hired it. The only other jeep they had was this one.

Could this be classified as Altered Art?

Bitter Sweet

3 years ago hubby and I were on holiday in Mauritius celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. It was our last full day there before we headed to Dubai for a few nights - we'd actually celebrate our anniversay in Dubai.
We found a message at our rental house asking us to phone my brother - obviously the alarm bells were ringing, but I didn't for one moment think it would be the worst of news, that my mum had died suddenly the day before. What with time differences and him somehow having problems reaching us on our mobiles it had taken a while for him to contact us.

So now our wedding anniversary is always a bitter-sweet time for us, with such happy and sad memories vying for space.
When I think back to that holiday, the memories are bitter-sweet, it's such a lovely place and we had such a wonderful time both in Mauritius and Dubai, but there's always the remembrance of receiving such horrible news mixed in. In some ways there was no better way to hear such bad news. The house we'd rented was at Trou aux Biches right on the shore, with a long garden going down to the beach. I sat for hours looking out to sea and thinking about what had happened. Being by the sea has always soothed me and I'm grateful that I was there, in a beautiful place at one of the worst times in my life.

I thought I'd post some of our photos from that trip as my thoughts have been wandering over to that house on the beach this last few days.

This one on the left is special as it was sitting here in the spot the photo is taken from that I last spoke to my mum, trying to desciribe this beautiful view from here in the Casela Bird Park. Thank goodness for mobile phones because I can remember how pleased she was that I'd rung from so far away and how happy she sounded as I was telling her about the wonderful colours, the mountains and the lovely gardens, plus of course the birds and animals we'd been seeing and the lovely lunch we'd just had - this last one especially made her laugh, because the restaurant had been very busy and rather than turn us away they'd taken a little table out onto the grass, not far from where the photo was taken and served us our meal there, and how we probably had the best seats - with a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy!

Better late than never...

I promised my aunt and uncle I'd decorate an album for them to show off the photos of their new baby grandson. Ok, so he was born in February and it's now almost August, but sometimes I'm not quick getting round to things - actually the reason I've done it today is that they are coming over to stay for a few days next week so I really thought I should get on with it. - I am very guilty of being a Last-Minute -Millie, I always have been and tbh I can't really see it changing now.


Hopefully they'll bring loads more photos with them that I can use for their Christmas presetn scrapbook too!

Circle Journal

A group of us are having a go at our very first circle journals - we are all total novices and I think we were all completely be-fuzzled by the format etc to begin with - it all seemed incredibly complicated........or maybe we're just thick?

Anyway, there are two groups participating and as one has 5 members and the other only 4 some of us are on our last entries and the other group still has another one after this - clear as mud, eh?

I'm in the group with just 4 people and even though I was petrified at the outset, I must admit that I've really really enjoyed doing this and can't wait to get my own book back and see what the other's have done with my theme.

As we're trying to keep things secret until all are complete then have a mass unveiling I'm not about to spill the beans on here. It's just that I finally had an idea for my pages in Susan's book and have made a start this afternoon. It's quite exciting when the germ of an idea comes to mind after a couple of weeks of nothing - so exciting that I felt compelled to share!
Of course, whether it actually works out as planned in my poor old noddle remains to be seen.
And you lot will just have to wait to find out too!

We've not stressed out over this, we've given ourselves loads of time and then some! I think they (CJs) are usually done on a tighter timescale than we've done, but this was just for fun and the experience of doing something new, so we took a nice leisurely hippy approach to time. Yeah Man.