Harvey's Missing His Girls

Poor Harvey doesn't know what to do with himself.  Even though we are taking him on long walks, he is still doing an awful lot of this:

He is waiting for his girls to walk up the road!

Are you crying yet?

Shopping Trolley

We have a 'no dogs' policy in our Senior Citizen's Centre where I work, so he was unceremoniously dumped in the shopping trolley and sat there patiently until his owner had finished her coffee!


This house seems to have been in a state of chaos for ages now.  We have said goodbye to our lovely long-term German student, meeting her family and entertaining them with a proper English tea (cucumber sandwiches, scones and cream, the whole hog), at the same time as hosting the hairdresser doing Scary's and her friend's Prom hair!

Said Prom went very well, thank goodness

Then we had the packing for India, including the losing of the passport (which she had taken to the cinema to prove that she was 16 and forgotten about).  At this moment Scary should be in Delhi facing an 18 hour bus journey!  All with a back pack bigger than she is!

Tomorrow Starfish goes to London for a few days and The Runner and I will be on our own for the first time in sixteen years!

I wish I had some energy left!

And The Winner Is ....

Eva Owl from Slitknits!


Well done, Eva.  Get in touch and let me know where to send your little summery parcel!

Last Chance Giveaway

Last chance to enter my giveaway:

Owl Be Back

with more goodies for my Giveaway.  Owlie is included!

Summer Giveaway!

Well, here I am at 250 posts!  So why don't we have a giveaway?

We have sunshine here today, for a change, but the forecasters are already full of doom and gloom about how cold it is going to get at the end of the week.

So let's just pretend it really is Summer, shall we?

Here are a few summery little things:

Sorry, the cake is not included!  Not sure it would travel very well in the post.

It includes two cards:

and a couple of postcards

a flowery little book (lined paper) and a set of owl cards (blank)

and anything else summery I can lay my hands on in the next week.

I am happy to post anywhere.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post before 6pm British Summer Time on Tuesday 26th June.  If you're a follower as well, I'll put your name in twice.

Well, I think that's everything.  I will try and add to this, maybe even make something, so keep your eyes open.

Good luck and see you all soon!

WTF?

In Exeter today ....

??????

WIP's

The dog thinks I am making him a pillow.

He is wrong.

It's not a cushion at all.

Well, that's the plan anyway.  Watch this space.

Also on the needles:

He doesn't look so impressed with this one, does he?  Think he was getting tired of being a model by this time.

Also, work in progress, is the children's craft cupboard.

There are things in there that they haven't touched since they were learning to count (they are now fourteen and sixteen).

So, boot sale, here we come.  Well, I say 'we'.  The Runner does all the selling here.  I think I'll just bring the thermos and the sandwiches.  I hate selling.

Why is it that games instructions are always missing?

I'll let you in on a secret.  I've got designs on this cupboard.  Well, wouldn't you?

Bunting, Bunting, Everywhere!

I am sure I have never seen so much bunting!

It's not very often we British feel so patriotic, is it?

I've got my handmade crochet bunting up in the front window (from Making Magazine):

and I have been watching all the boats go up the Thames on the tv.

Yesterday, I made quite a lot of cakes for the Senior Citizens Tea Party -

I think they enjoyed their little cake fest.

We also went to Cadhay Fair near Ottery St Mary.  It was lovely and we had a gorgeous cream tea in a quintessential English garden.

The weather just about held out, with a little drizzle as we were leaving.

I hope you're all having a memorable weekend and let's hope we've got some better weather tomorrow!

Still Playing Catch Up

Just to let you know, the dog is still being spoilt rotten!

Still catching up with the things I have been making and not had time to show you.

It was the out-laws wedding anniversary the other day (quite a special one), so we all decided to make them something, as it was impossible for any of us to get over there at the moment.

As they are Irish, I ran with the Celtic theme and appliqued this Celtic cross:

While The Runner went for a wooden tea light holder:

And the girls did a painting each.

We were all very proud of our little creations that we had spent ages thinking about and making, and we duly posted them off (costing a small fortune by the way).

On asking, they said yes, they had arrived on time, and they were "very nice"!!

Wrapping Crisis

Just a quick post to show you a bag I customised with the help of my lovely German student that is staying with us at the moment.

We started with a plain white bag (from a sandwich shop!) and a little bit of second-hand pink tissue paper which I couldn't bear to throw away.

I remembered this inspiring post from a website called Fiskars and thought I'd have a go.

It also meant I could have a little practice with my new Big Shot that I've had for ages now and haven't had time to use much.

I suppose there must have been about ten layers of tissue paper that I cut, all at the same time, with a flower cutter.  I stapled it in the middle and then fluffed up the paper and then glued it to the bag.  I think perhaps I could have done with more layers on the biggest one, but ten seemed fine with the smaller ones.  I cut a tag with double sided paper; see the other side -

and ta da!

Another wrapping crisis averted!

Knitting Update

Hellooooo

A lovely slobbery dog breath kiss to you all!

This is how everyone is greeted at our house now!  He doesn't bite, but will knock you over and lick you to death!

Anyhow, just wanted to update you on what I have been knitting lately.

Just one or two pairs of fingerless gloves.  Some have been commandeered by daughters and some are winging their way over to Switzerland shortly.  See the dog has to get in on the act!  I think he just wants the  cake actually.

Needless to say, with that many teenagers in the house, the cake didn't last long!

Fish Pie

Whilst in my favourite coffee shop yesterday, the Runner commented on the quality of newspaper headlines nowadays:

The Runner made tea last night.

Oh look what we had:

Fish pie!!!!!

Bumbling Along

Well, all week I have been trying to get to this point (posting) and I am finally here at ten to eleven on Sunday!

Lots of knitting has been going on here and I hope to show you a picture soon but in the meantime, here are some buns!

I have a Jubilee Tea to do in a couple of weeks and decided I have better have a bit of a practice.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any dark blue tulip cake cases, only light blue ones; so the red, white and blue effect is not as good as I wanted.

I have also invested in a mini loaf tin and so I made some miniature lemon drizzle cakes as well.

Oh dear, now we have to eat it all!

The dog is settling in well.

It seems like he has been here forever.

And hasn't it been a lovely day?  Oh look, some more rain forecast for tomorrow!  What a surprise!

Better use it as an excuse to do some more knitting!

Pinterest

You know I love Pinterest, right?

(He's usually watching some American cooking tripe or perhaps some reality drivel!)

Pinterest is full of lifestyle choices ...

advice on getting older ...

some good ideas ...

some new words ...

some comparisons to other social websites ...

some ideas for exercises...

some diet tips ...

menu ideas ...

and some things to aim for ...

And that's without even talking about the craft pictures!