On The Beach

Hello friends

We've had a lovely morning. Sit yourself by the fire and I'll make you a brew.

We had a few errands to do in Cleveleys, live get some passport photos done for L they should have cost £5.99 but because M came with us and the shop assistant knew him (from the taxi - ranks up outside the shop) she knocked off the 99p. (great) and then we had a look at L's favourite shop.

After all that was done we parked up on the prom and walked on the beach. My goodness that wind was cold even though the sun was shining.
There were a few people out just for a walk and walking their dogs even a unicyclist was out with his juggling balls (behave, he had three)

We came across this shell. This picture was taken on our walk back to the car because the sun was then behind us. It's huge and the best thing about it is that there is no rust on it and it has survived the worst battering for years unlike the new seats and tables that have been unstuck and shifted by the bashing waves.
 This is a table on its side. Looks like lots of kids have been having fun rolling it around. They are L's skinny legs - sigh, to have legs like that.

Some of the old sea wall had been bashed about and broke which is not too bad as that is due to come down and replaced soon.
Next we came across the Ogre. He's got a really cute face. He looks longingly at the cafe on the prom. Probably hoping that someone will bring him a hot chocolate. He must be very cold sat there all day and getting buried by the cold sea twice a day.
The tide was quite far out but on it's way in. You have to be so careful on our beach because there are gully's that create islands and you can so easily get stranded.                                                 After walking on the beach we went back onto the prom and came to the Ogres paddle that had been washed up. It's been made from one piece of wood and has been beautifully hand carved.
Click on the pictures to make bigger to see the details.
Soon after we went home for some lunch and now it's really dull.Think it might rain later.

All these characters are from this book written about a local legend. I was luck enough to find it in a charity shop in pristine condition.

Hope you're having a nice weekend and then back to school for some.

Carolx

An Eventful Week

Hello friends

Come in and sit down and have a brew whilst I tell you about my week

My word it has been an eventful week, some good some not so good. It started when I went grocery shopping on Monday instead of Tuesday because I had some errands to do so I though I would save petrol and do it all at the same time and whilst I was out I bumped into a friend I'd not seen for a bit. We had a lovely chat and one of the things she said was, when I was ready and able to re-enter the would of work to let her know and she would have a word with her boss at the local college regarding learning support. It sounds great and in three years time the college could be busy with the new education rules - The school leavers then will have to go to sixth form, do an apprenticeship or further education. Looks like the timing might just be right (I really hope so)

Tuesday it was a nice day so I went around the garden an took some pictures of early spring but google wouldn't let me download them. I'm on google chrome now so I might do the pictures another time.

Wednesday, OH my word was that a windy evening/night. I had to take L to an extra dance lesson at the other end of Blackpool (dance show next Monday) and I only know the way along the promenade. I was not looking forward to the drive, bear in mind it was still only 4:30pm, it was still windy and the tide was on it's way in (hight tide was around 9pm). The journey wasn't too bad going and the wind was blowing towards us instead of from the side. Two hours later and it was a different story. The prom was still open but I didn't want to take any chances so I took the back roads. Well that was an adventure because I had no idea where I was going. I just pointed the car northwards. There were diversions due to fallen/falling debris and I ended up back on the prom for a short while. I got to a point where I knew where I was and got home safely. I was so glad to get home. M phoned on our journey home to see if we were ok and L spoke to him. All the emergency services were very busy that night. Well done to them. Plenty of damage around as you would expect with 100 mile hour winds. We fared well, no damage at all to our home or garden.

Thursday, L was off school because it was meet the teacher. We had an appointment to meet with L's form teacher to discuss her school work in general (she's doing very well) and then L had set some personal targets to set for the rest of the year and next year. So that was all good until the evening. L and I had settled down to watch Birds of a Feather comedy and M was getting ready to go out with the lads when everything went dark. I just thought a bulb had blown as M switch the bathroom light on but on looking outside all the street was dark. Yep we had a power cut. We lit candles and then I tried to phone Mum and dad but the land lines were dead so I tried the mobiles, dead too. I went round to make sure they were ok and had candles, they were and did but I gave a candle to a neighbours of theirs because his were buried in his garage. The power was off for, m&d, about an hour but ours was off for about two hours. It was something to do with the high volt cable thingy. Suring the power cut someone tried to come in through our front door. Thank goodness it was locked, M locked it on his way out.

Today, so far so good.

How has your week been and was you affected by the wind on Wednesday?

Carolx

Baking Something Different

Hello friends

Thank you for your kind words on my last post I really appreciated them and I feel a bit calmer now.

We have another sunny day again today, wow That's three day on the trot but unfortunately it's all about to change and it'll be back to normal, rain.


I made some chocolate scones on Sunday, a bit of an experiment. Ooo they are so good. I put some cocoa powder in with the dry mix and instead of using a milk and egg mixture to bind it all together I used egg and soya custard (it needed using up). The mix was very soft and wet and when baked was still moist (a bit cakey). when a little cooled I split them and spread chocolate spread. (well they had to be tested, didn't they). They would have been extra nice with some whipped cream on top. L loved them, M hated them. Next time I'll make them bigger, extra yumminess.

Look what else I made. Fortune Cookies. We hunted every where to buy them but to no avail so in the end I trawled the internet to find a recipe. They taste amazing but I don't think I will make them again because I had make them in small batches so that I had time to fold and bend them before setting. To fold and bend the cookies you really need to wear cotton gloves which I don't have so I used a clean tea towel. It was a bit tricky but got there in the end. I made these for L's Chinese presentation at Guides last night. I didn't put the fortunes inside them for hygiene purposes but placed them  in a bowl.  The evening was a great success. 1 Challenge down just 9 more to do for L's Baden Powel badge.

Has anyone else been involved with the Baden Powel Challenge badge? When I was in Guides it was the Queens Guide badge (I didn't go for it) now the Senior Section, formally known as Rangers, do this one. 

I'm off to enjoy some sunshine so I will catch our with you again soon

Carolx

Our Not so Great Outing on Friday

Hello friends

First, welcome to two new followers, Vintage Kitten and Kim H, hope I won't bore you too much and that you find something of interest.

Hope you are all ok after the storms again. I do feel sorry for the folk down south who are struggling with continuous  floods. It must be so horrendous for them.

Today we've had some lovely sunshine with cold winds (great for blowing the washing). I can't remember the last time I saw the sun.

Anyway back to Friday. We had to take L to Manchester's Children's Hospital to see a orthopaedic surgeon because she has Scoliosis (curvature of the spine). The appointment was for 2pm so we brought L out of school at 12.30pm, An hour to get there then half an hour to sort out the parking and find where we have to go. We were five minuets late but we were ok. The journey was awful, There was a lot of surface water on the motorway so that caused a lot of spray  and made visibility very poor and on top of that it was still raining. I took some crochet to do on the journey but couldn't to it.

After waiting an hour we got sent to the x-ray department and then back to wait and see the surgeon. He was such a nice man and explained everything to us and was patient when we asked lots of questions. Back in July when we first started the investigations regarding L's back she a  46 degree curve now it has a 60 degree curve. The surgeon explained that a back brace would not work so there were two options left. 1) Leave it alone but it will get worse and will cause problems. 2) Operate to correct it using rods. We were all a bit shocked because we thought she would have the brace. L had tears and said she didn't want the operation. The surgeon was very understanding and realised we had all had a shock. So has given us three months to think about it and has put L on the waiting list (9-13 months waiting) anyway (we can always change our minds). Even today I still feel sick at the thought of L having to go though all that. We will decide to go through with the operation because in the long run it will giver her a better quality of life.

The journey home was very quiet and it was 6pm. We got caught up in the rush hour. We had a quick tea and then took L to her dance class. Thought it best to continue as normal (dance show coming up in two weeks) as keeping busy would keep her mind of things for a bit.

By the way we didn't make it back to Manchester today for the Chinese New Year celebrations because L went on a sleepover last night and thought that would be more fun.

Thank you for dropping by

Carolx

Dragons are in Town

Hello friends

Yesterday morning we went into Blackpool, in the pouring rain, because Chinese dragons were coming and also a Chinese market in celebration of the Chinese New Year next Friday. unfortunately we were disappointed with the market because there were only two Chinese stall, the rest were non Chinese related promotions that we didn't bother with. We were hoping to get some fortune cookies for L because she is doing a Chinese New Year presentation at Guides next Monday.

The rain finally stopped just in time for the dragons to arrive.  first came the long dragon chasing a shiny ball meanwhile much further down the street, two dancing dragons were coming up. As they came up other little dragons got ready including a tiny one (two youngsters). Then the drummer started (I chose the wrong place to stand, near the drummer) and a battle commenced and all the while the long dragon was chasing the ball.

The dragons are so colourful and the dancers controlling the dragons were very fit getting down low without sitting on the wet floor and lifting the heads high.

The dancers were from Liverpool and were of different nationalities which was nice to see.

There were firecrackers going off.


We watched the display for fifteen minutes and although it was continuing we had to leave because out parking ticket was running out. We really enjoyed what we saw and Next Sunday we are hoping to go to Manchester's China town to see their New Year celebrations, I'm sure we will find some fortune cookies there. Last year 75,000 people visited Manchester to see the dragons so the atmosphere should be amazing, we're really looking forward to it as we've never been before.

Is anyone else doing/going anywhere foe Chinese New Year?

Carolx

Latest Make and Catch Up

Hello friends

Recently my SIL to be found some baby patterns that that she really loved, a hat, jacket and a dress and asked if I would knit them for the baby. I said I would because they are lovely patterns and also they would be in keeping with this years challenge. So here is the hat with loops all over it. The loop stitch was new to me and was quite time consuming until I got used to it. The yarn I used was a random type one. SIL loved it. I've started the jacket and that's crocheted. This is done in two colours so I've picked pink and white (surprise surprise). I'll do a show and tell when I've completed that one. This is slow growing which is unusual for crochet.

This past two weeks I've had a few days working at my old school doing some exam invigilating. I feel so pleased when they ask me because it means that they have trust me especially when most of the invigilating I do is one to one with special education need students. The next time will be for the GCSE mocks which they think will be in March.

I wonder if I could ask you all a little favour. One of L's friends will be 15 in a couple of weeks and I'm looking for inexpensive ideas for a gift. This friend always get L some lovely presents for her birthday and Christmas and we feel a bit stuck this time, can you help?

Thank you for dropping by and I look forward to reading your suggestions.


Carolx

New Year Challenges

Hello friends

It's great to be back. We had a lovely Christmas at home and with extended family. We were then all poorly with a stomach bug, L being worst hit and me the least. We were recovered by New Years Eve but lacked energy however we all managed to stay up to see the new year in (although I fell asleep half an hour before).
During the two week break L and I did some crafty bits.  We have two sets of the Jenga blocks. L decided to paint one set in rainbow colours. They looks so bright and colourful and a joy to play with.

I did some crocheting. This is my diary cover. I think I made it a little too small because it made the corners curl outwards so I made straps to keep them down and also to keep any loos papers safe. I always seem to collect loose bits of paper in my diaries. Anyone else do that? Next I made a cover for L's new tablet. I also made a little pocket for under the flap for any memory discs she wants to use.

I made my shopping list pad by cutting up my old calendar, any one else do that? I used to just throw them away in recycling bin.

I haven't made any new year resolutions because I never keep them but I have set some challenges again this year:

1 Continue with the decluttering 365 things. It worked well last year and we still have far too much in our home.

2 I would like to loose three stone before August. I lost 2 stone last year after I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. So I want to continue with my new eating plan (was hard over the holidays). And why August, well, my youngest brother is getting married in Jamaica and we are going with them (sooo excited, It's a dream holiday) and L is bridesmaid. I will still have some way to go to get to my "perfect" weight but I want to make each step achievable.

3 I need to improve my time management. I spend way too much time procrastinating and not doing.  I feel I need to get myself more organised and in the long run I think it will help me for when I return to the world of work. How am I going to do this? I'm going to get an appointment diary and book in my daily tasks and appointments and I just might succeed if I see it written down.

4 Use my recipe books more to make tastier family meals. I don't mean going silly and making gourmet meals but just ordinary tasty meals. I feel that I have become a rubbish cook.

5 I will continue to knit and crochet and maybe some sewing but I want to try something a bit more challenging this year. I will show and tell in time.

I still want keep things frugal as much as I can, Yeah I know going to Jamaica is not very frugal but I will tell you about that another time.

It has finally stopped raining and I need to go out so I will catch up with you all again soon and thanks for dropping by and your new year messages.

Try to keep safe and dry

Carolx