Photo Scavenger Hunt :: January 2021 #2 'New'

Hi there everyone 😀

It's time for this weeks photo scavenger hunt, linking up with Kate over on I live, I love, I craft, I am me ... this week's word is ‘new’. I’m sure this will bring an absolute myriad of interpretations ... new home, new job, new baby, new year, new shoes ... the list could go on forever.

I decided to not to raid the archive for this week's entry and opted for ‘new’ pictures .. see what I did there 😂😂😂

I’m starting with the garden ... something that brings both Martin and I plenty of joy ... though at this time every year we look out back and can't imagine it ever looking good again ... it’s wet, it’s brown, it's dull and there are jobs waiting to be done everywhere we look.

However ... experience tells us that give it a few months and we will start to recognise it again and then we will be inspired to get out there and get cracking.

The first real sign of a new year in the garden for us is the hellebores coming into flower ... always the first blooms of a new year for us and this year is no different ...

Another early ‘new’ for 2021 was my first attempt at coffee and walnut cupcakes. Now coffee and walnut is not something I would normally go for but it’s dad’s favourite and I wanted to make him a treat. These certainly went down very nicely ... even I enjoyed them ... another great recipe from Jane’s Patisserie ...

Another ‘new’ for us is this new home for our tiny cactus collection ... they have lived in the tiny pots they came in for a good few years and it was definitely time to make use of the new pot I had for Christmas ...

They certainly seem quite happy back in the bird cage ...

Another ‘new’ for me this year will be these embroidery projects ... I want to try and fit some kind of ‘art wall’ somewhere in the house and I’m hoping that these will feature ... apologies for the quality of the picture, it really doesn't do the colours justice ... I'm blaming the lighting ...

I also couldn't resist treating myself to a couple of new bits and pieces this month ... firstly this V&A William Morris fabric ... it is so beautiful. I have no idea what I will make with it. For now, I am more than happy to just enjoy looking at it ...

... and secondly a bit of totally unnecessary home decor, just bought purely for the sake of loving it and just knowing that I will be able to find somewhere for it ... I've found it a temporary home for now ...

I’m finishing off today with a ‘new’ from old ...

For a while now we have been hanging onto our burned out Yankee Candles and melting the wax down to make ‘new’ candles and we had a candle making session earlier this week. We did really well and have ended up with seven new, smaller candles ... one candy cane, two plum crumble puddings, one pomegranate and gin fizz and three of my very favourite black cherry ...

I popped the old empty Yankee candle jars on my local Facebook craft group page to see if anyone could use them and they were snapped up within half an hour ... so that's all worked out really well, with another bag of stuff saved from landfill.

Thank you everyone for reading and all of your kind comments on my recent posts ... I will be back next week with an update on how I'm doing with the '50 Things I want to do before I'm 60' and whatever I can find in the archives for next week's photo scavenger hunt ... the word for which is 'Moon' 🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘

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Exploring East Devon #8 :: Over the Border to Lyme Regis

Hi there everyone 😀

I am seriously out of sync with this post, but didn't want to let the last few days of our September holiday in Devon fall through the cracks.

It's actually nice looking back and remembering our time away ... not sure when we can expect to do it again ... we have a break in Wales booked for early March, but I'm guessing that it may end up falling by the wayside.

Anyway, back to September and the last few days of our break ...

It was the autumn equinox and the Tuesday of our second week away. The weather had turned, though we couldn't really complain, having had almost two full weeks of glorious sunshine.

We decided to head across the border, into Dorset, for a visit to Lyme Regis. We parked up at the harbour end of town and headed out into the grey ...

It was pretty breezy so we didn't fancy the harbour wall this time and kept our feet firmly at ground level ...

It wasn't all completely grey and we made the most of the odd pop of colour as it presented itself ...

The plan was just to have a walk round the harbour then back along the front before making our way back and finding somewhere to have our first fish and chips of the holiday.

The rain held off for our walk along the front, though it was still very grey ... the normal vibrant colours along the front looking just a little bit muted ...

We made it to the far end ...

... where it did feel a little bleak and pretty blustery ...

The locals didn't seem too bothered though ...

It was a good view looking back across the bay to the harbour though, so had definitely been worth the walk ...

We did have a very quick walk up the high street but it was very busy so we gave it up as a bad job and headed back long the front, hoping to find a good spot for fish and chips. As we were making our way back it started to rain and, as we really wanted to eat outside, our options were limited.

We ended up at a place called Swim ... where an outdoor table, with an umbrella just became free as we arrived, so we settled in with the paper and a more than generous portion of some very nice fish and chips ... and just about managed to dodge the rain and keep dry ...

There was just one more snap on the way back to the car before we headed for The Old Piggery and a cosy night in ...

So that was about it for our two weeks in Devon. Our last couple of days were spent relaxing in The Old Piggery and having a short drive to a local bistro for lunch ...

We were sad not to be able to take advantage of the beautiful outside space because of the weather, but it was very pretty and still lots in flower for this time of year ...

Our stay at The Old Piggery ended with the most spectacular of sunsets ...

It would be oh so lovely to be back there now ... but hopefully 2021 will bring more trips and more new and beautiful places to explore 😀

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Photo Scavenger Hunt :: January 2021#1 Gifts

Hi there everyone 😀

I’ve really enjoyed taking part in Kate’s photo scavenger hunt challenge over on I live, I love, I craft, I am me and fully intend to try and join in for 2021.

To start the year off, instead of the usual monthly challenge, January’s scavenger hunt will be a weekly one, so I hope to be able to find something that fits in with the theme each Friday

The first word is ‘gifts’ so here we go with my first contribution for 2021 ...

Having retired from work in January 2014 I soon fell back in love with crafting ... inspired by a friend I started off having a go at making jewellery.

In January 2015 I shared the first post of the ‘50 things I want to do before I’m 60’ series. The first thing on the list was ... "to make hand made Christmas and Birthday gifts" ... it seemed the ideal outlet for all the bits I was making.

These beaded bracelets were the first of my home made gifts made for everyone for Christmas 2014 ...

I soon ran out of people and occasions to gift them for and needed to come up with something else ... and so began a hobby that has stayed with me since. I love making things as gifts and here are some of my favourites ... starting with a selection of things that I made for Christmas 2015 ...

I have been lucky enough to have had friends and family who have had babies over the last couple of years and these are ideal opportunities for gift making ...

As the babies grow to toddlers then I've hunted out new things to have a go at ... this matching pairs game I made for my nephew is a real favourite ...

... and he did go through a bit of a robot phase ...

It's not just babies and children though ... I have made a few random bits for grown up friends too ... including this tea cosy which is still in use today ...

... and this is the first go I had at a paper piecing pattern which I used to decorate a bag that I made for my Goddaughter ...

I didn't actually make that many hand made gifts, other than for babies, in 2020 ... so when my sister-in-law added a knitted headband to her Christmas list it was just the nudge I needed to start scouring Pinterest and get the crochet hook out ...

Sorry that I've took a bit of a ramble with this one and there are so many photos, but as I'm fairly new to the scavenger hunt I thought it might be a good opportunity to let you all know a little bit about me and what I get up to.

Next week's word is 'New' ... and I can guarantee that I won't have much to share with you at all, but I really hope that I can find something ... you never know, I might surprise myself 😀

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The Reading Corner :: December

Hi there everyone 😀

Welcome to my first post of 2021 and the last Reading Corner for 2020.

I did manage to read a little more during December ... not sure why ... just seemed to have the time and the inclination.

I started off with something a little bit different ...

The Forgotten Guide to Happiness

Sophie Jenkins

I just wasn’t quite in the mood for another Jack Reacher and fancied something a bit more light and frothy.

I’d kind of ordered this book by accident really... tagged on to a Christmas gift order I’d made from The Works. They were doing a deal on three books and this one must have got left in the basket as I ended up with four.

Anyway I was really looking forward to curling up with it for a nice easy read on a winter's afternoon and it was all that I was after. Not too taxing, a fairly simple plot and the requisite happy ending for this kind of book.

It was just the job ... I do love this kind of book ... I tend to call them ‘pink’ books. Even though this one is blue, it definitely falls into the pink book category for me ... a bit of light froth ... and that is not meant to be derogatory in any way what whatsoever ... sometimes they really hit the spot.

One shot
Lee child

Book nine in the Jack Reacher series and as ever it started off with a bang ... literally ... and though Jack was nowhere to be seen it wasn’t long before he became involved and set about his usual mission of digging under the blindingly obvious and finding out the real truth. Once again things were most definitely not as they seemed.

As usual Jack teemed up with a strong female lead but this time he didn’t end up in his usual situation but instead hooked up with a bit of a blast from the past for a quick one nighter.

The tale ended, as ever, with Jack managing a lift to the nearest rail or bus depot to catch his next ride out of town and no doubt onto another adventure.

The hard way

Lee child

Now this one was a bit of a last minute entry. I wasn't expecting to manage to fit another book in but picked this one up on a miserable afternoon and literally couldn't put it down. I finished in within 24 hours.

You've got to feel a bit sorry for poor old Jack Reacher ... just sat having an innocent coffee and just happening to witness something very significant indeed, only it seemed inconsequential at the time ... and there we are ... off again, within a couple of pages, on another adventure, which would seem pretty unlikely anywhere else but for Jack it’s just par for the course.

I really couldn't put this one down and it wasn't always obvious as to where the plot was leading, though, as usual, Jack could cut right through the noise and managed to spot what no one else even thought of.

It was a great read for my last one of the year and a series I will definitely be sticking with in 2021.

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So how have I done on my reading challenge? At the beginning of the year I set out with the aim of reading two books a month, or a total of 24. With the year we've had and the time we've had to spend at home I would have thought it would have been an easy goal ... but not quite so ... though I did just about achieve it.

I actually ended up having read a total of 25 books, two of them cookbooks, so not really sure those count.  12 of the 25 were of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, he has definitely become a favourite character for me. Having read the books and become acquainted with Jack, I'm not sure I'd be able to watch another film with Tom Cruise playing him though ... that just feels so, so wrong.

There were a few other old favourites in there too .. John Grisham, Wilbur Smith and Clive Cussler for adventure and Milly Johnson and Cecelia Aherne for something a little lighter, with a whole lot of strange thrown in from Phillip Pullman.

Shall I continue with this series of posts? I'm not sure ... though I do still have a good selection awaiting reading on the bookcase ... we shall see 😀

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