Flowers and Fall.

A couple of weeks ago William bought me these pretty flowers. 

He thought I might need cheering up a little.  For a little while there we thought we had to cancel a trip we had been planning and looking forward to.  However no less than a day or two later, yippee, the trip was back on again! 

Come March next year we will be jetting across the Atlantic to stay with my sister and her husband in Arkansas for three weeks!   We'’ll be taking a couple of trips with them while we’re there.  A 2 t/3 day trip north to Branson, Missouri and then a longer trip south to Rosemary Beach, Florida coming back home to Arkansas via New Orleans!!  Now that sounds like one heck of a fabulous holiday to me.  And not only that we get to my see my sister’s family too.  The last time we visited was in 2007.  On that visit we took a road trip to Colorado which was absolutely fantastic and I know this trip will be every bit as good.

And this is one of the places we are going to stay.  Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri.  I can’t tell you  how excited I am about staying here.  I have been and seen this wonderful place once, but it was only a fleeting visit and we said then that one day we’d love to come back and stay there.  Lo and behold that day is coming in March 2014!

My sister Maureen sent me these pics of Big Cedar via her iPhone this afternoon.  She and her husband Jerry are up there on a visit to Branson.

Maureen sent the photos to whet my appetite.  And that they’ve certainly done.  It’s going to be a wonderful trip – country, coast and a bit of Cajun too!  I can’t wait!

This is Charlie, my little grandson.  He jetted across the pond on Saturday.  He’s on a two week holiday to Disney World, Florida with his mummy and daddy. I know they’re having a great time.  FaceTime has made it possible for me to see and talk to them, see the villa they’re staying in and almost feel as if I’m there with them!   I love all this modern technology!!

Until next time,

 

School Holidays Continue…

…and for once it seems like we have had more good than bad weather for them.  On Thursday Caroline wasn’t working so we were able to all have an outing to the park together.  Caroline needed to go to a jeweller’s shop in Hebden Bridge so that decided which park we were going to.

 

After play in the park it was ice cream time.  No surprise there then!

George leap-frogged, time and time again, over these posts in the town centre which were not much shorter than himself.  I was impressed.

I was also impressed by all the floral displays in the town.  It’s not just Hebden Bridge town council, nearly everywhere we go these days council gardeners seem to have been put to work to outdo their neighbours in the blooms department.  Public money well spent to my mind.

 

A Birthday, High Winds and Queenie.

Time seemed to slip away from me last week and before I knew it the week had gone.  So I’m doing a bit of back tracking here.

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Wednesday morning I got a lovely surprise.  Caroline called before work to leave Nicholas’s birthday present with me and presented me with a couple of bunches of beautiful tulips.  How sweet was that?

Wednesday was Nicholas’s sixth birthday.  I collected Charlie from school and then we both went along to Nicholas’s birthday party at his house.  This is the best picture I got of him.  I like it though.  All Three Little Treasures together and looking at the camera!!

Thursday wasn’t so good. We had been having really high winds over the previous few days and I know William had been worrying about the awning we had erected on the caravan only the previous Saturday.  His worries were well founded.  Thursday lunch time I got a phone call from Bay View.  “The high winds have taken the back of your awning down.  Would you like to come up and take the rest of it down to prevent further damage”.

I rang William at work.  He was able to get the afternoon off and we flew up the motorway at a rate of knots.  Fortunately for us the damage was minimal and the awning will be fine to re-erect and use the rest of the season.  It was hard work taking it down though.  The winds were whipping up a storm and the clouds threatened us with rain every inch of the way.  But we managed it and were thankful the damage was so little.

Not everybody had been so lucky.  We took a walk around the site to see how others had fared.  The owners of this awning, above, will find all they have left is a heap of rubbish!

This caravan awning had obviously suffered a similar fate and all that was left was the “skirt”.  We spoke to one of the site workers and he told us that in all 24 awnings had been badly hit.

There in the middle another casualty. 

This picture was taken just about ten minutes after we had finished working on the awning.  You can see the storm didn’t materialise.  The sky had miraculously turned blue and any clouds were now white and fluffy.

One last check over of the caravan itself and we were done. 

In view of the horrendous happenings in the world this week our little problem was not a problem.  My heart goes out to the people who have been affected by the Boston Bombings, the tragedy in the town of West, Texas and the earthquake in China.  Sadly the list could go on and on.

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For us the week got better.  Friday night George stayed overnight with us.  He likes to play cards, as do I, and I had promised to teach him a new game.  The new game being Queenie, or Chase The Lady as it’s sometimes called.  Granddad played too and what’s more we played for money.  I have a purse full of Euro coins left over from past holidays abroad and we used them.  I wasn’t teaching him to gamble with real money here, rather just making the game a little bit more interesting.  I have lots of happy memories of playing this game from when I was George’s age and on through adulthood too.

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Saturday morning as per usual George wanted pancakes for breakfast.  He didn’t want this one though.  I seem to have a talent for burning food.  I do like to eat most food well done but not pancakes.  This one went in the dog!

There’s a First Time for Everything.

And yesterday for the first time ever I went to the pictures all by myself.  

I fancied seeing Song For Marion and there was nobody available to come with me so rather than miss it I went anyway.  The film was showing at the little old fashioned picture house in Hebden Bridge I mentioned in this post.   On a Thursday morning the Cinema is open for Elevenses.   The film starts at eleven and in with the price of your ticket you get a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit which you’re allowed to take into the theatre and enjoy while you watch the film.  How civilised is that?  That really is the attraction for me.  The time of day it’s shown, the reduced ticket price and the fact that it’s an old fashioned picture house and not a plush multiplex affair. 

As for the film – it was an easy going kind of affair, a bit of a tearjerker but it probably won’t win any awards or break any records at the box office.  Having said that, the picture house was practically full so what do I know?

A beautiful day it was yesterday so after the pictures I toddled along to my favourite cafe, ordered my usual, grabbed The Times and took it outside to sit and read and eat in brilliant sunshine.   It was a bit cool and my tea and toasted teacake soon went cold but that didn’t matter because it was sunny and when I looked up the sky was blue and not grey!

I was fascinated to see on the front page “Learn to knit in 10 minutes”.  Knitting is definitely a popular pastime these days.  Blogland is full of knitting blogs and they’re mainly young bloggers too.  It’s all to the good, I’m glad the art of knitting is not going to be a lost art.

Talking about which here is my latest project on the needles.  Another pair of socks and I’m knitting them on the tiniest pair of circular needles ever.  They only measure 20cm from tip to tip!  Aren’t they cute?

Sticking with the daily paper this headline caught my eye last week.  It was good news on the front page!  How amazing is that?  And what good news it was too.  I hope it comes to fruition.

After a morning of leisure yesterday it was on with real life and on to the supermarket.  A ray of sunshine while doing the shopping was this hyacinth indoor plant I bought for only 50p.  That was a bargain I couldn’t walk away from.

And finally what I’m hoping is the last snowy picture I’ll be posting this year.  This was taken just a week ago when I picked Charlie up from school.  The snow was piled high in the library car park to clear the area a little for cars and Charlie took great delight in clambering all over it.

William and I are off to Bay View tomorrow afternoon and staying overnight.  Fingers crossed we don’t freeze to death in the process!

Spring Flowers.

In search of spring flowers William and I took a trip to Bents garden centre yesterday afternoon.

We found plenty.  Pretty pansies…

.. pretty primulas all in my favourite colours.

I like the reds and yellows too.  William would choose these rather than the lilacs.

Bents’ is a humongous garden centre with everything it’s possible to need for a garden and then some.  They have a large home wares section too with both ornate and useful stuff.  Happily there’s also a very lovely restaurant.  Pricey I might add, but good quality food and they don’t scrimp on the portion sizes.

Now and again a treat is necessary.  We tucked into a cream tea with strawberries and clotted cream for two.  Very nice!

We both spent some time looking at the housey stuff then William wandered off and left me to it.  I found him sitting on this bench.  His feet didn’t reach the floor and he was sat swinging his legs like a little boy.  It was soo funny.  I couldn’t stop laughing!

It was Mother’s Day a week ago yesterday and these are my happy, sunny, spring flowers off the girls.

On Mother’s Day the kids all came round and I did some baking with the boys.   See the scales and Pyrex dish above?  They were wedding presents and are still serving me well after all these years!   In fact they’re so old they’re fashionable again.  I see things like them in magazines all the time.

I loved the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett  and last week I watched the DVD, courtesy of John and Lesley.  I think it stayed more or less true to the book.  I’d definitely recommend it.

Lastly my sock knitting is coming on a treat.  I was very happy with them until I noticed that I had done the cuffs different to each other.  Hence the third one on the needles – I’d like a matching pair and there’s sufficient yarn in one ball for three socks.  Shame there’s not enough for four!

That’s it for now.

Kathleen.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

From the man in my life and aren’t they pretty?

Kathleen.

Two Little Robins

Cross-stitching.  I used to be obsessed with cross-stitching and completed a fair few in my time.  I first got the habit from my sister's sister-in-law, Sherry, who lives in Arkansas.  Sherry had so many wonderful cross-stitch pictures on her wall and I thought they were all amazing.  Sherry kindly gave me the basic instructions in how to, my sister took me to a Michael's store, where I purchased the necessities and I was off to a very enthusiastic start.  That was back in the late 80s and for several years I always had one on the go.  I would frame them myself too.  I also passed the bug onto a few other people.  One of whom is still ploughing her way through the Flower Fairies series.  Which reminds me I have one of those kits tucked away waiting to be done.

Then I lost the bug for a while.  Then it made a brief come back a couple of years ago and that's how long this cross-stitching of two cheery little robins has been hanging around.

Today though, I finally got motivated and framed this little, it measures 7" x 5", project.  The frame is an old one I already had so I have no excuse at all for not finishing this project a couple of years ago,  just lack of inclination.

However, I am thrilled to bits with the result and think the time of year is just right to get it hung on the wall.  Now, I would usually link up with Dayle over at A Collection of This and That for her weekly Simple Pleasures party but sadly Dayle has decided to shut up shop (her words) and there will be no more link ups.  But because this blog is after all entitled Simple Pleasures I'm going to continue once a week listing that little something that has given me pleasure, raised my spirits or made me smile.  

Actually I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and that's why the robins are perched in my nasturtiums patch.  I love nasturtiums and this year they have been such a vivid shade of orange and are a source of joy every time I see them that they are also a Simple Pleasure this week.

Kathleen.

My Orchid

I'm in love with orchids.

I rave about orchids to anyone who will stand still and listen to me.  I have three of them just now and I can't believe how easy they are to care for - just water them once a week and they're happy.  It seems that they bloom forever too.  What more can one ask for in a houseplant?  This little beauty lives in my computer room where I see it all the time and I get so much pleasure from it you wouldn't believe it!  Its colours are deep and vibrant and a pleasure to behold, especially on days like today when outside is plain old grey, wet and miserable.

I haven't linked up to Dayle for her weekly Simple Pleasures party for a few weeks but I'm getting back in the swing of things and am happy to be linking up today.

Kathleen.

This and That

This is the book I've just finished reading, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  It's a good book and I really enjoyed it.

I was able to sit out in the garden yesterday and finish it.  The weather was just wonderful, note the sun lotion and the temperature - 86.5 degrees.  Now that's what I call hot but not unbearably hot.  All was peaceful as I sat there reading in the sun.  I hate the sound of electric lawnmowers and strimmers with a passion but yesterday I didn't hear a one of them, it was bliss.

And this is one of our colourful, loaded to the brim, hanging baskets.  William makes them up each year, waters them and the rest of the garden for that matter, and I do the dead-heading.

I hope to be back later with more photos from our holiday in Devon.

Kathleen.

Blooming Marvellous

This clematis has got to be the prettiest plant in our garden.

This year looks like it's going to be a good year for it too.

Whichever window I look out of at the back of the house I can see it.  I think it's just gorgeous and without doubt it is my simple pleasure this week.

I'm joining Dayle over at A Collection of This and That for this week's Simple Pleasures Party.

Until next time,

Kathleen.

In my neck of the woods today.

Spring flowers in the sunshine.

A walk by the lake where I happily bumped into two of my favourite people, John and Lesley.

A vacuum cleaner that conks out on me, without fail, before I've finished half of the carpets in the house!

A little dog who wants his tea at 3.30p.m. on the dot and who follows me around and stares at me non-stop until he gets it.

And finally, pink trails in the sunset.

TTFN,

Kathleen.