Little things mean a lot, don't they?

My daughter's baby boy broke my favourite mug yesterday while he was, with her assistance, "washing up" here at my house.  So today, Caroline surprised me with a new mug, not just any old mug but a Starbucks mug.  We love Starbucks and she knew I liked these new Christmas mugs, I've looked at them every time we've been in a Starbucks recently and now I have one.  Isn't that sweet of her?  Thank you, Caroline xx 

P.S. I'm loving playing at this blogging thing!

A domestic goddess...

in the kitchen I'm not, so it might come as a surprise to some to know that I was absolutely thrilled to bits to receive this in the post tonight.

This blue package was in an Amazon.co.uk outer box, I hadn't ordered anything from Amazon so was a little bit mystified as to what was inside.

Then I read the gift note with it (you can enlarge photos by clicking on them) and guessed what might be inside.  I'm not a great cook, I'd rather do anything than cook and my family knows this. Certainly my daughter Vicki knows this. So why would she buy me a cookery book and why would it make me so happy? 

 Because it's Pioneer Woman's cookbook, that's why and she knows I love the Pioneer Woman!  I'm a big, big fan of http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/  I discovered her through reading photography blogs but her blog is much more than photography, I recommend to anyone to go and check her out.  She is so entertaining and her cookery instructions are full of step by step photographs.  Yes, even I might be inspired to do some cooking, well... baking anyway and I think first up will be her Cinnamon Rolls.  So, thank you Victoria, it was a lovely surprise. xx

It took a while but...

..we have finally found the caravan for us.

 

While we were on a week's camping holiday with Caroline and Trev in the summer we all decided it would be a good idea to buy a caravan together for our future holidays in Devon. So after a lot of searching and a couple of hiccups along the way we are in the process of buying the caravan you see here. It's a five berth with plenty of room for us all and will be stored, winter and summer, on a beautiful site in east Devon.  A place we love and now can't wait to spend our first holiday in when March comes around.

It's been cold, wet and windy...

..round here lately, just the right weather for walking.  No, not really.  But there was nothing much to do here this afternoon so after grandson #2 had gone home I decided to take our little dog for a walk. I didn't go far, this scenery is right on my own doorstep.   

Looking at the sky to my left I thought I was going to get drenched.

Looking over to my right it was a lot brighter and the fields all looked so pretty with some autumn colour still around.

And I made it home without seeing one drop of rain.

I Cannot Look at This Picture..

.. without laughing. Look closely, Nicholas is wearing glasses! Thankfully they're mine, not his. Doesn't he look, now what's the word I'm searching for, studious? They transform him completely from an impish, never sits still little monkey to a serious, "butter wouldn't melt" little lamb! 

Now, Charlie likes baby dolls and I knew his mother was tempted to get him one for Christmas. Today when I was in my local supermarket a lady was there with a stall full of dolls.  I really wished I had my camera with me, nearly every one of them was wearing hand-knitted clothes, dresses, cardigans, bonnets etc. which she herself had knitted and the money she made was all going to Cancer Research. So, for £3 Charlie got a baby doll and he loves it.  I'm not too sure his daddy feels the same way but he'll get over it.

For ages now...

.. I have been promising to take George to the library, just the two of us, and so last night after school I did.

He went straight to the reference books, wasn't interested in looking at the fiction at all and chose six books.  He was very decisive, no messing about.  The first one was on reptiles.  The picture of a boa constrictor swallowing a whole deer, thrilled him to bits, me not so much.  The others were - Shipping Disasters, The Human Body, Cranes, Big Cats and I can't remember the sixth one. The things that interest little boys are so different from the things that interest little girls aren't they? 

I Won't be Seeing...

this scenery for quite some time. My sister-in-law and her husband have lived in the Lake District for the last seven years and we have been lucky enough to go and stay with them lots of times and enjoy their company and the beautiful countryside up there. Now though they are moving to Wales.  There's nothing wrong with Wales but it's just not the Lake District is it? However, the move to Wales is making them very happy and that's what counts.

Ullswater.  We visited this weekend for the last time before the move to Wales and as you can see the weather wasn't very good but these hills are glorious no matter what the weather is like.

We enjoyed a visit to an Antiques and Collector's Fair at the Rheged Centre. It was full of lots and lots of beautiful china (Mo, you would have loved it).

To finish, a picture of Charlie playing with the Fisher Price school his mummy and aunty used to play with when they were his age.

Kathleen.

Ten Books for £10

Some offers are just too good to refuse and this was one of them.  Caroline and I were in Borders yesterday and tons of books were being sold under this offer.  So we bought five each.  Here are my five.

My favourite among them has to be the Roddy Doyle.  I couldn't believe my luck when I saw "Oh Play That Thing" by him. Then, when I discovered it was the sequel to "A Star Called Henry", a book I really enjoyed not too long ago, I was just thrilled to bits.  It doesn't take much to make me happy!

Thursday Afternoon...

..was spent in Todmorden Park.  Todmorden is a small town set in a lovely valley only about 20 minutes away from us just over the border inside Yorkshire.  We went for the fresh air, for the boys to have some fun and to take some photos in the autumn colours.

Nicholas and George sitting still but not looking at the camera.

Still not looking at the camera.

Getting restless, not much chance of a picture of the two of them together now, Nicholas has had enough.

Charlie, bless his little cotton socks.

The girls and Charlie. Victoria about to dash off to see what Nicholas is up to, he could be standing on his head on top of the slide or anything!

Going back to the car now through these glorious autumn colours.