September Miscellany

Mainly photos taken with my iPhone.  Lately I’ve been falling into a bad habit of relying on my iPhone instead of taking my dSLR out with me.  But not no more!  A mobile is fine for fun photos but just not as good as my big girl’s camera.  Full stop.  I could have taken some lovely photos of all three boys yesterday afternoon when they were absorbed in play but I didn’t take my camera with me and I was sorry afterwards.  Lesson learned.

Anyway, these pics have all been taken over the last week or two and they include:-

• A visit to Uppermill garden centre last Sunday affy.  William and I spent ages admiring the winter plants.  Do you see the Pom Pom tree on the left hand side.  I’d love one of those.
• A pretty pink fuchsia in our garden still flowering despite all the bad weather we’ve been having.
• A cute sign in a Hebden Bridge restaurant window.
• Beautiful skies.
• George bringing me a latte from the lake visitor centre cafe.  He didn’t spill a drop.
• Lots and lots of rain.
• A visit to the library, probably one of my last trips too.

• A solo shopping trip into Manchester including a visit to the city’s great cathedral.
• Sipping a Starbucks coffee in St. Anne’s Square while watching the world go by.
• Joyfully listening to the voice of an angel. Or what I imagine one would sound like.  The young woman in the centre photo serenely sang her heart out .  Her classically trained voice filled the whole of the Square despite the busy market etc. and all with no amplification.  I could’ve listened to her all day.  Such a shame it was raining or I’d have grabbed another coffee, sat outside Starbucks and done just that.
• All three boys were here yesterday affy. 
• We strolled around the estate.  They jumped huge puddles up Middle Starring and amused themselves for ages climbing over and sliding down that small handrail as though it was a bannister.
• Handcrafted shell lights to die for.
• Crocheted my first granny square.  Encouraged by my efforts I’m now in the process of making a blanket. 
• A productive (I don’t know if that’s the word I’m looking for but it’ll do) visit to Todmorden Antiques.  I found a Christmassy looking Johnson Bros transfer ware dinner plate - Thanksgiving pattern, Historic America series.  A bargain at £3 and a simple pleasure every time it catches my eye. 
• And finally I’ve got one.  An All New Kindle Touch.  A birthday present form my girls.  I had been dithering over which Kindle I wanted but I made my mind up and here it is.  I’m thrilled with it!  Thank you daughters! 

Can you believe tomorrow is another first.  The first of October!  It’s not all bad though,October means autumn and I love autumn.

Kathleen.

 

Lunch at the Lake

Yesterday I had lunch with these two lovely ladies.  We called it our Christmas Do.  Just the three of us, in the restaurant by our beautiful local lake.  A light lunch, laughter and lots of chat.  We had a whale of a time.

Insomnia is still bugging me.  I decided to do something useful instead of reading in bed this morning.  I got up before dawn and wrote out my Christmas cards.  I've read somewhere about people who suffer with insomnia so much that some nights they don't even go to bed and instead do housework and other productive things.  I'm hoping I don't get that bad!

Online shopping.  I bought some goodies from The Body Shop recently.  They had 50% off everything for one day only last week.   Now that was my kind of shopping!

I don't usually have a colour theme with my decorations but this year I'm going with red and green as much as I can.

And lastly, one little dog who is always hungry.  This photo was taken at about 10 p.m. last night.  Muffin wanted his supper.  I know he's eating too much these days and putting weight on, but he's getting on in years and he just stares at me until I give in.   So, sooner or later, I give in.  I can't stand that staring business!

All pics taken with my iPhone.

Kathleen.

When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

Well, not a lot of any great importance going on round here but I still thought I'd put fingers to keyboard and report anyway.

An assortment of stuff here to say the least.  Starting top left and moving on clockwise. 

• Last weekend my lovely sister in law, Brenda, gave me a sweet little Wedgewood bud vase which matches the little vase she gave me some time ago.  Also, showing are my two winter cyclamen, aren't they lovely?  They were just £1 each from Morrisons.  Good value don't you think?
• William, busy repositioning pictures and my Portmeirion plates on the kitchen walls for me.
• A little reminder of what's just around the corner.
• I spotted this little Father Christmas night light in Costco yesterday and had to bring him home with me.
• I paid a visit to Housing Units and rather liked this leather sofa. I think we'll be buying a new 3 piece suite in the New Year.
• This afternoon my girls came round with their boys to visit.  The boys turned my dining room into a zoo.  I play the zookeeper, George and Charlie are monkeys and Nicholas is always a guard dog!
• Gary came round a little later with their little dog. 
• It's a mad house here at times.
• I wouldn't have it any other way.
• The little Father Christmas and the Wedgewood vase are my Simple Pleasures this week.

Yesterday afternoon I snagged a couple of bargains.  The frame was £5, you'd pay a lot more than that in somewhere like John Lewis.  I found this one in a curtain factory shop.  I had no idea they sold things like that.  The book was 40p in a local charity shop and the Guinness As Usual mug was in the same shop.

Guinness is a favourite tipple of mine and that's why this little cup caught my eye.  When I discovered it was actually made in Ireland and was only 30p I brought it home with me.

So, why the title?  Well, I bought the purple fleece you see in the picture yesterday.  When I came home I changed out of my "good" clothes into some more comfortable clothes.  I reached into my drawer and chose a purple sweater to wear and what was I taking off? - yep, a purple sweater! 

The poem Warning, When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple by Jenny Joseph immediately came to mind.   Click on the link to read the poem, - I'm sure it'll bring a smile to your face.

Kathleen.

Red Herrings and White elephants.

Do you ever wonder where the everyday sayings we use come from?

I do, but I need wonder no more.  All I have to do now is go to my bookshelf and look it up in this book.  It's a little gem and I love it.  I found it in a charity shop on Thursday, it's a hardback copy, in excellent condition and at 99p it was a bargain to boot!  Now I wonder if that's in it -"to boot"?

Thursday was one of those nice easy going days for me.  I needed to get a gold chain repaired and the place to have that done was at Max the Jewellers in Hebden Bridge.  I was hoping he wouldn't be too busy and able to repair it while I looked round the shops and sure enough he had it fixed inside a half hour.  The charge was only £3 and I thought that was a bargain too.

Recently I came across this cute little idea on a crafty blog of how to make personalized fridge magnets from flat glass marbles.  I'm into all things crafty at the minute.  So, I'd been looking for suitable glass marbles to use without success.  Until Thursday that is when I found several in a charity shop in Todmorden on my way back from Hebden.  They were mixed in with a vase load of colourful marbles.  I fished around and found a handful of clear ones, took them to the counter and the nice lady gave them to me for nothing.  Another bargain!

In this same shop I bought a paperback for my daughter, Caroline, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, for the bargain price of £1.

My good fortune didn't stop there.  In Hebden Bridge after happily wandering in and out of the shops I decided to go for a coffee and who should be sat outside the cafe I was going to but John and Lesley.  Now how was that for good luck?

Yep, Thursday was a nice, unhurried, unplanned, easy going day.  My kind of day.

Kathleen.