Six-month sprint

Six months in one fell swoop?  

The thing is.... that despite me not being here...... its all been going on still....so for my own sense of being up-to-date.....allow me a sprint through it all?

Blue bell woods at Ashridge, Herts.

Middle Boy's ninth birthday, chicken themed as you can see....and the main present?  Six hens with which to start his very own business.

Summer footie games with the cousins (actually, they were all out on Christmas day playing footie, so this is one for all seasons)

Summer days in my favourite formal gardens.

Pirate Day in our village, Big and Middle Boys canoeing.

Littlest Boy and  Mr. F kitted out to go

Middle Boy's trip to Birmingham Symphony Hall to take part with the school band in Music For Youth 2014.

Beach days

School sports days

Walking on the coast path

Dog walking

Dahlia....just because....

Painting commission of one of our local beaches

Biggest Boy starting comprehensive school

Being an early bird and beholding undisturbed beauty

Littlest Boy's sixth birthday

My first attempt at patchwork...

.....With a matching crib blanket for a new baby.

Mr. F's second marathon of the year in Chester....this boy is not just a pretty face, he shaved a huge 30 minutes off his previous time at 3hrs 43

Thomas hat for a first birthday.

October holiday to the Brecon Beacons

Taking the boys walking up Pen Y Fan and Corn Du

And at the top.... the mist was so thick I was slightly uncomfortable....but we made it to the top and back to the car before the heavens opened.

My holiday handwarmers

Red Kites feeding, an outstanding and awesome display!

The painting that went down so well, that it became three!

A bit of Christmas knitting thanks to Sarah, Crafts from the Cwtch

Littlest Boy's Christmas jumper for Save the Children

Christmas day magic

Boxing day in the rain and wind.....blowing all the cobwebs away......

So 2014, was a good'un!  Far more than shown here, lots of sunshine, happy family times, good food, giggles, knitting, painting, crocheting, music, baking, running (yes, me running!) German (my studies plod on) French another string to my bow with the Open University, reading, sewing

Gosh, looking at it like that, I can see why I didn't find time to blog.........

I wonder what 2015 holds?  More of the above I hope!

Here's wishing you a happy and healthy 2015 with new adventures and challenges, new skills to learn and experiences to be had!

Merry Christmas

This year, all the usual suspects....coconut mince pies, yummy popcorn, last minute present making, glitter, cleaning, christmas music, twinkly lights....oh and a turkey coaster gift.

Merry Christmas, hope your Christmas is everything you want it to be!

I can't tell you how much I've missed this corner of my world....

Isle of Mull

 Home now from our holiday on the Isle of Mull, I've been sitting looking through our photos.....(why is it we've just driven 1500 miles straight, and yet, I'm ready to sit down again)

Mull has left me, inspired, rejuvenated, relaxed, tired, overwhelmed, ponderous......

All good stuff I think, just hoping that whatever it was that bit me, stays with me.

A quick whirl round the island in photographs....there are many more, but here are a selection.

Duart castle - a proper Scottish castle, full of wonderful family artifacts, paintings and adventure.

View of a mid-sea lighthouse taken from Duart.

The scenic road....the back road round Mull....beautiful, but a bit scary, single track with passing places, often long drops with no girders to keep you on the road.....here a wall to keep you from the sea, but nothing to stop you being caught under a big boulder!

So come on, what kind of crafter would I be, not to check out the locally spun yarn. This Hebridean yarn comes from a small horned black ewe, she has a fairly robust rough feeling wool....not sure I want it around my neck, but it will be used for something special.

A bag of bits to fiddle with, fleece brought in and spun.

The more used road took us through large areas of hills, grazed only by a few Black-Faced Scottish ewes and their lambs, excellent mums and thrifty enough to live on very little....as you can see they have to....

Two abandoned boats in a little village Salen....I think these may become inspiration for a painting.

Evening light on our way home one evening.

An hour out pony trekking for all of us, this is littlest boy on Storm, his Shetland pony.

Views from the highest point of our trek....I didn't get much chance as my pony kept trying to trot off....trekking was brilliant, I haven't done it since I was a kid, and only a couple of times then....I've certainly lost my nerve somewhere in between, but I loved it!

We were totally spoilt with the weather during our stay on Mull, blue skies and sunshine.....blue on blue....

One afternoon, the day was so glorious that  middle and small boy decided to take a dip, despite strong warnings of how cold it would be, off they went.  The small beach was literally a stones throw from the garden, so I sat with sketch book and cider enjoying the sun on my face, watching the boys splashing about.  Big boy was far to sensible to go in, but went down to take some photos.

On our last night, after packing our bags for an early set off the next day, we got (relatively) dolled up and went to the pub across the road for some supper which was a real treat.

On the last night, Mull was showing off with this beautiful sunset over the water, the lumpy bumpy skyline is Iona.

We left just after six the next day, and we definitely saw more of our four-legged neighbours, as we were the only ones about it seemed.

This would have been a wonderful photo if only I'd been expecting to see two deer stood on top of a hill silhouetted against a morning sky....after reversing back and lots of scrabbling about for my camera, they both scarpered, this one just momentarily turned around to look at me and then was gone.

Our ferry to take us back to the mainland.

Our holiday to the Isle of Mull was perfect, I don't think I've ever relaxed as much.  And while I was relaxing I remembered all the things which are important to me.