Misty Mountain

Holiday - Day the Second

It must be nice to be able to brag about having fresh flowers in a jug on your table every day.  Sadly, I cannot.  I wish I could but sometimes life just doesn't allow for it.  But I am on holiday, so right now I have jugs of fresh flowers in my bathrooms, in both sitting rooms, and in the kitchen!  Yay!  I do, however, have a wonderful garden that brings me much happiness.  I wander out there every morning with my first cup of tea of the day.  Through the apple tree and rose archway...

Past the old grinding wheel and the old shed that badly needs painting.

And up to where the old outside loo used to be...

And over to the multi coloured hydrangea.

So I guess it makes up for not having flowers in a jug on my table every day.

I am busy making things, as usual.

My new grandson needed a lighter weight blanket for park visiting so this turned into this.

And I added in some face cloths for baby and his mummies.

Some guest soaps for the girls, a couple of hats that I didn't take pictures of and a couple of onesies from BHS and I had another box ready to send.  And the really really best thing is that on Friday I will be on my way to Belgium for the weekend to see my baby grandson.  Cuddles for me!!

Now I have mojito in hand and I'm busy knitting a teddy to take with me on Friday so... hopefully more tomorrow!

O. xx

St Davids

On New Year's Eve as some of you may remember I lost my last remaining Uncle.  For years, my Aunt and Uncle came to St David's on the southern most tip of the welsh coast on holiday, and recently especially for the music festival.  This year, despite being widowed and in her late eighties, my aunt decided to continue their tradition and made the six hour drive from her home in Derbyshire to St Davidsfor a holiday and to attend the concerts at the festival. So today I went over to spend the day with her.  Had I  not been so ill last week I would have gone then and stayed for a couple of days, but as it was, today was the earliest I felt up to driving myself there.  It's only and hour and a half for me but it isn't the easiest of driving.  Anyway, off I went this morning with my camera, looking forward to a good day out.  My Aunt met me just outside the tourist information office and from there we drove to the converted barn she is staying in for her holiday.

  
It's a lovely place, very quiet and despite it being self catering she has been very well looked after and happy there.  We made a cup of tea and sat and talked for a while before making lunch...

 
Strawberries and cream for dessert.  Yum!  After lunch there was more talking and of course there was some crocheting...

 
And the disappointing discovery that the one shop I really wanted to visit again is no longer there. Boo!  But then the sun came out so I got my camera and we drove through the town to the cathedral, where my Aunt went to talk to some friends while I ran around taking pics.

Because of her age and being so well known to the Cathedral we got to park in the gounds at the back so the first picture is the view from the pathway at the back of the Cathedral.

 

The next picture is of the Bishop's Palace ruins whic are adjacent to the Cathedral.

 

A little stream runs along the valley between the cathedral and the ruins with a pretty little bridge to cross to get to the cathedral grounds.

I left my aunt sitting on the wall in the sunshine while I walked back to the top of the hill... 

 
And then down the road to get this picture of Bishop's Palace.

 
And finally...

 

Once I was done picture taking (this is just a small selection) we had a quick run into the cathedral to see some of my Uncle's work that is displayed in the exhibition there before heading back to the barn for tea.

I stayed much later than I expected and didn't set off back home until well after 8pm.  On the way home I couldn't resist taking this shot...  The sun setting over the surfer beach at Newgales.

 
It was a lovely day with much talking and laughing and I think my Aunt enjoyed my visit as much as I did.  If I get chance I will post more pictures tomorrow but now it's time for a drink and my bed.  O. xxxxxxxx 

Sunshine on My Shoulders

Makes me happy

 
I just love the way the sun sparkles on the water!

This morning we got up early and went down to the sea

It was a lovely bright sunny Spring morning. The first real chance we have had to get out early and get a good walk all holiday. We went to our usual favourite spot - the lighthouse at Burry Port, where the walking is easy for Cloud (the 14 year old husky) and Phaolin and I can go off and run along the beach...

 

 
And get very wet

 
We had a splendid time, great fun!

The marina was looking very pretty...

 
With all the different coloured cottages in the background. Sadly the only thing I had with me to take pictures with was my iPhone so the pretty coloured cottages aren't all that visible. Nonetheless they are there and they did look very pretty in the early morning sun.

It was a grand morning, I guess living 10 minutes from seven miles of some of the best award winning beaches in Europe has its advantages... especially when those seven miles of beach are all but empty

 
Anyway after all our exertions on the beach Mum needed a sit down... and Phaolin looks an absolutely gorgeous colour in the sunshine.

 
This morning reminded me why John Denver's "Sunshine on My Shoulders" is one of my favourite songs.

 Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry

Sunshine on the water looks so lovely

Sunshine almost always makes me high

 

If I had a day that I could give you

I'd give to you a day just like today

If I had a song that I could sing for you

I'd sing a song to make you feel this way

 

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry

Sunshine on the water looks so lovely

Sunshine almost always makes me high

 

If I had a tale that I could tell you

BR>I'd tell a tale sure to make you smile

If I had a wish that I could wish for you

I'd make a wish for sunshine all the while

 

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry

Sunshine on the water looks so lovely

Sunshine almost always makes me high

Sunshine almost all the time makes me high

 

Well now I have to run away and make my special lamb curry for dinner. It needs a good while to cook slowly so I want to get started now. *hugs all* O. xxxxxxx

Home again, home again jiggetty jig...

So, it's been a while.  Too long, considering I was supposed to be updating this blog at least once a week.  Ho hum.  Anyway, I've been away.  Work, of the kind that I do for money to pay the mortgage and buy the yarn suddenly got kinda hectic and I had to go to New York for the week last week and it required a fair bit of preparation so sadly the blog got neglected.  Still I'm back now and just becasue I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been creating.  Oh no! 

Remember this?  My Mini Mochi hat.  Well I decided that it was the perfect thing to take to New York with me provided it had a...

Matching scarf and hand warmers...

 

I love it, I really do.  So have another picture of it.

  

The ensemble got worn in NYC and complimented especially when I visited the lovely lovely ladies at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio on West 15th.  I had a wonderful couple of hours in there and bought a lot of lovely lovely yarn.  So much I had to go and buy an additional hold all for travelling home!

Anyway I will take pictures of all my NYC fibre booty later...

For now I have started work on a bit of stash busting, kinda...

I am calling this my Purple Haze Sunset Blanket

Thirty five identical squares with a four row border.  I am aiming for at leat five squares a day then the thing will be complete in a week or so.  Sadly I have to visit the smoke again next week which will put paid to a couple of days hooking.

 
 
 So there we have it, all the recent hooky goodness.  If the baby blanket ever gets finished I post pictures of that too.

Love O. xxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Domesticity

Aaaaah... there is nothing more satisfying than a pile of finished ironing!  I know many people hate ironing and try hard to avoid it but I do enjoy my Monday morning spent removing creases from or putting them into the previous weeks laundry.  I find neat piles of well pressed clothes fill me with a strange sense of accomplishment and glee, knowing I can put them away and that when I next want a t-shirt or some clean jim jams there they are waiting for me all clean and pressed and crease free!  Nuts innit.

So with the ironing out of the way I actually have to do some work this afternoon, which means it will be this evening before I can get back to the monster ripple.  So no pictures until later in the week.

I am probably going to have to leave for the funeral tomorrow morning now as they are predicting heavy snow and blizzard conditions for SW Wales tomorrow afternoon and into Wednesday morning.  *sigh*  I really do wish this weather would just go away.  It's beginning to annoy me now, beautiful though it makes things look, it's very frustrating when you actually have to do something.  Ah well, it will be all over on Thursday.

And here is my lovely new pin cushion that himself got me for Christmas.

Bye for now, O. xxx