New Baby

Hello friends

Last weekend my sister-in-law and brother welcomed their baby daughter into the world. She was a bit poorly after the birth with a chest infection but is well again now.
We met her yesterday she is so cute. Sorry no photos as I was too busy with cuddles. She has two older brothers of 2 yrs and 10 yrs.

I don't have any other news at the moment. Have a great week.

Thanks for dropping by, I love reading your comments.

Carolx

A Free Day Out

Hello friends

We had a lovely day out on Saturday courtesy of the National Trust. They were doing a free entry weekend for most of their properties. We went to Rufford Old Hall at Rufford near Southport.

Front of the hall

Rufford Old Hall is one of the finest Tudor buildings in Lancashire and the great hall was once the stage for William Shakespeare before he became famous.

We took along L's friend for company and took a lovely picnic which we ate in the grounds.

The woodland walk was nice but short. There was evidence of some den buildings which looked fun. In a month or so the woods will look very different with a thick carpet of Bluebells.
The back of the hall looking at the formal gardens. Unfortunately the formal gardens were looking a bit rough as a number of trees and plant had to be removed due to disease and was going through a reconstruction. There was a tiny vegetable garden herbs and rhubarb and a bed waiting to be planted up and a wonderful orchard. All the trees had labels on to state what variety the fruit was and was beautifully pruned.
Next to the orchard there was a field set up with children's games of swing ball, twister, gnome hoopla and chess.     

At the side of the Hall was a canal with a lovely walk along the side.

The great hall was grand, it was the only room where we could take any photos. This room is also used for weddings. We went into five other rooms all nicely set up with guides who were very knowledgeable.


The magnificent ceiling.  
This heavily caved screen (right) is the only Tudor one left in existence. It was believed to be used to hide the servants as they entered and left the hall to and from the kitchens and the minstrels would sit behind as they played.
We did have a lovely day.

Did anyone else take advantage of the offer over the weekend or did you do something else.

Thanks for dropping by it was nice to see you.

Carolx

Blooming Recycling

Hello friends

Hope you had a good week end. It was a bit wet here but not too bad. It was glorious yesterday as is today if not a bit windy (great for getting the washing dry)

Today I'm excited to show you what I've been working on recently. It was inspired by this post by Angela.

I cut the flowers from plastic pop bottles (2ltr and smaller ones). I then painted them with acrylic paint.   The flat blue flowers, the butterflies and ivy leaves are cut out from milk bottles and painted in the same way.  I have a lot more to make as they are to be
 

)used as part of the Gala float in June where L is Prince Charming. I will do a post afterwards to show you the results.

I feel really pleased with the results and I hope you like them too.

My mum is at day care today so I will be sewing for most of the day but I also want to get in the garden and do some work towards getting it ready for planting out some veggies.

Thank you or dropping by and I look forward to reading your comments.

 

Carolx 

Nurse Maid.......

Hello friends

Hope you are having a good week.

My week has been nursing the sick. My dad got a stomach bug and was quite poorly. When he's poorly is is quite short tempered and likes to be left alone and doesn't want any fuss so bearing this in mind I brought mum back to our house for the afternoons and had tea with us. This gave dad a chance to relax when he went back to bed. His Dr said that there was a lot of it going around.

As soon as dad recovered poor L came down with a different bug. She had such a high temperature and just felt so ill. I dosed her with calpol and was also placing a wrapped cold compress on her head. I don't know what it was but you can be sure the Dr would have said it was a virus and to drink plenty. This morning when she got up she said she feels like herself again and feels wonderful.

Have a nice week end

Carolx

Another Busy Week.

Hello friends.

Welcome. You might want to get a brew as this is going to be a long one. I started it yesterday.

First an update on my no spending days for March. There were 17 of them. I seem to be getting better. The decluttering is going well. I listed 10 items in the local paper and sold one (14 books in one lot) and swapped the PSP for a SatNav which will be advertise in the local paper as we already have one. I had some stuff set aside for car booting but have transferred them to either selling in the paper or to charity. I have two bags and a heavy box of books for charity so I called into one of the new shops that's opened up on the high street and made arrangements for them to be picked up - no one came. So I called in again and made arrangements and again no one has come for the items so I'll go to one of the others shops instead.

	Mar
For Sale	6
To The Bin/Recycling	27
For Charity	54
Passed on to others	2
For Car Booting	0
Total	89

Next our trip to Lancaster. We went to the Maritime museum on the side of the River Lune. It was housed in a very old building which I believe was the customs house. It was very interesting as it went through the history of Lancaster and the Slave Trade right up to the modern day. We then went to the pub for lunch and had a superb meal, all cooked from fresh. Our first meal out this year. Next we had a walk along part of Lancaster Canal. I do feel that the museum could have filled the rooms with more exhibitions as there wasn't a lot to see however here are some pictures.



 

A Collage made by a local school

Lancashire rose and anchor made from knotted ropes

An extra picture that I can't some how remove without deleting the others. Anyway it's an early dug out boat.





My Ribs with Monkeygland sauce. Not as bad as it sounds (NO monkeys involved). The sauce was so nice and very delicious I had to google it so that I could make it at home. M had steak and L had chicken gougons.

A house on the canal bank with open fields opposite. Stunning.

Another with a resident crocodile


This week on Wednesday M took his taxi for a service so we went off for the day to Grizdale Forest in the Lakes. We did a 45 min walk first and then had a picnic lunch before going on to do a 21/2 hour walk that took us 31/2 hours. more pictures.

   

 

 

The 45 min walk took us past Go Ape where you climb amongst the trees (with harnesses and other protective gear) and slide on zip wires.  Not a hope will you ever get me to do that, besides it's £30 each. 

 

Now for the longer walk. There are several walks to choose from and and at the beginning there are wood carvings and some fun stuff for younger members of the family. A number of  these keys were attached to trees. You are suppose to be able to wind them up and then listen to some clock work music. There are 32 short pieces of music that are played randomly. Only one key was working. 

 

 



I don't think Ms legs are quite long enough to climb this giant style.

 We climbed many hills like this one some steeper and some not quite so steep. We just kept going up then some flat, then up again. I really don't like hill walking I prefer flat. Some of the views were amazing. Most of the forest was sheltered and quite warm but occasionally there was an ice blast and had to put our coats back on.  Plenty of snow the higher we went. We had a little game of snowball's.

  I don't know which hill this is but look at all that snow. 

Just a few logs. There were about four piles of logs like this one, All pine.  

.At Last down hill. By this time my lower back was hurting badly. We had a lovely family day out and it was nice to get out into the fresh air.  This coming Tuesday M is taking L walking up and around Cat Bells at Derwent Water. I'm staying at home and sewing and will have a nice tea ready for them when they get back.

Today we went field walking to two car boots. L got lots of bead and chain necklaces for her key rings and I got a welcome ornament for the front step for £1.

This coming week we, as the mums of the Gala queen and retinue, are working on the gala float. We did some last week, oh it's back breaking but will be worth when finished.

 

I need a brew now. I did say it was a long one.

Thanks for dropping by it was nice to see you.

 

Carolx

 

PS don't know why the post changed part way through but it wasn't doing on purpose. I give up I can't sort it.

 

 

Why Have I Been Missing?

Hello friends

Welcome to my new follower Hester from Hardup Hester Stretching The Pennies.

Sorry that I've been missing this past week but I have some exciting news to tell you. L and I have opened our on line shop. It's called L & C Crafts and our web site is http://lccrafts.com Please take a look and please feel free to comment and give feedback if you think we could do somethings better. We are thinking of doing a facebook page as well, what do you think?
The yarn stuff is mine and the bead work is Ls. Some more stock will be added over the next coming days just need to take a few more creative shots.

Good Friday I was sewing in the morning(I will do a separate post about that when I have more to show) and in the afternoon we went for a walk to a localish park. It was nice to get out relax and have some fun. Here are some pictures:

Newly painted crazy golf. The colours looked so bright and cheerful.

A lovely place for a picnic in the summer next to the lake.

The lake is so full that it's lapping over the path.

The bandstand by the lake.

The Art Deco cafe. From the outside it doesn't look too impressive but inside it's wonderful, all the original decorating/moldings and the glass doors. We didn't go inside so there are no pictures. Sorry:(

Just two more pictures to show some of the layout of the park which was built in the 1920's and not much has changed with regards to the flower beds and gardens. There are some sports fields/pavilions and kid play areas which are up to date.

 



Yesterday we went to Lancaster for the day but I've not downloaded the pictures yet so again I will do that later in the week.

Thanks for dropping by and enjoy the rest of the Easter Bank Holiday.

Carolx