The Jubilee celebrations are over - River Pageant, Jubilee Concert, Church Service in St Pauls and finally the procession through London to Buckingham Palace and a balcony appearance.  A great three days, quite moving in parts and a lovely walk around the Higham Ferrers Jubilee celebration.  Very villagey but enjoyable.

And still it rains!!

You wouldn't believe we are now into June.  After a heatwave a week or so ago we have now got wet, damp rainy, cold weather.  I suppose we ought not to be surprised as we have a 4 day 'weekend to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee .  I feel so sorry for the people who have organised all the Jubilee events as the weather really is dire here at the moment - cold and wet.  The big thing for today is the River Pageant on the Thames.  Hundreds of boats (big boats, little boats and everything in between including rowing boats ) sailing from Battersea down to Tower Bridge. Should be a sight to behold even with the rain.  I have got into the spirit of the Jubilee a little.  Hung some bunting outside and made Jubilee brooches and badges for family members. and friends. We will be watching the pageant on TV but tomorrow we will probably go to my son's house in Higham Ferrers as they have a Jubilee picnic. Being British we will brave wind and rain to make sure we 'enjoy' ourselves and get into the Jubilee  spirit.  Hopefully will get some pictures tomorrow.


These are the brooches and bunting I have made.

 

It has been a week since I last posted  (where has the past week gone??).  It has been very warm here, not that I am complaining but it means one has to take life at a slightly slower pace (I don't need much encouragement to do that).  I have been out in the garden and done a little but as we are in a drought area (even after the constant rain in April/beginning of May) I haven't planted any bedding or 'thirsty' plants.  I have few tubs and some veggies.  I'll be able to manage those by watering from the water butts and washing up water etc.

On the sewing front not a lot has been done as my sewing room is a tiny room at the front of the house and gets absolutely stifling so I've been doing a little handsewing here and there. Mainly making Jubilee brooches for the female members of the family and diamonds  for the male members. DH refuses to wear one as he is an ardent Welshman so I have got to try and draw a small dragon for him!!!

We had a lovely meal in the garden yesterday with three of the grandchildren and respective parents. It makes such a nice change to be able to sit out in garden to eat.  Somehow it is more relaxing.



I'll put a couple of photos up of some bits and pieces I have been doing recently in swaps I' m in on the PP Craft Forum.  These were for a postcard swap with the theme of Trip Around the World.  We had to make cards of something that made us think of the particular country.  The top postcard was my interpretation of India. Spices for the wonderful Indian curries.  The second was Russia and  is a Matryoshka doll and the third was Denmark and is of Lego bricks as Lego originated in Denmark.  In the next post I will put up some pics of the lovely cards I have received so far.

I seem to have a 'thing' about blogging.  I start with enthusiasm and good intentions but for some reason or other the enthusiasm seems to peter out.  Why I don't know but I am going to try one last time!!

Many things have happened since the last time I blogged, too many to mention really.  DH and I have now been retired for about a year and life has certainly changed and the plans we had have had to alter drastically.  Not going into details but I am finding it quite difficult to adapt to new circumstances. Compared to some, these changes are minimal but when you've planned for years and looked forward to doing things you love, it is difficult to accept. However, the one constant in my life is my quilting.  Even that suffered for quite a while but recently I've got back into the swing of it, albeit slowly.   In the next few posts I'll try and put up some pics of things I've been doing.

That's it for now.  Hopefully will be back in a few days.

See button on my sidebar. If you fancy getting ahead for Christmas just follow the link. I'm going to give it a go. Are you Jan????

A few images from my very badly organised photographs! First one is Jeff and Curli at a viewpoint in the middle of some beautiful Pembrokeshire countryside. The second is Strumble Head lighthouse and the third is a kite surfer on a lovely evening at Broadhaven taken from the apartment we were staying in.

It's been a little longer than I hoped it would be since my last post (hoping to post at least once a week!!). Things have been busy here with one thing and another.

Thankfully my Dad is now out of hospital and is managing very well at home, so the need for a six hour round trip between here and Grimsby is no longer necessary. My DIL had very sad news a week or so ago which made it necessary for her to fly to Thailand at very short notice. The upshot of this is that we have oldest (only 7) grandson staying with us until next Friday or Saturday as his Dad has to go back to work. He's a delight to have around and I think today's activities include a visit to Brafield to watch the banger racing (DH is in his element)!!! Also this week a visit to the cinema to see the Smurf movie! I'm sure he will persuade his grandad to go to other places too. He has also intoduced us to Bacugans!!!!

We have been decorating our living room which has taken longer than we thought but I think we are nearly there. Just cushions to either make or buy and a couple of pictures to hang.

Nothing done on the sewing front for quite some time but hopefully this week I can get something done. I have to get something sorted otherwise it will be a another few weeks before we are back to just the two of us. We are due to look after our youngest grandson (9 months old) for a couple of days the week after next.

Who said retirement was relaxing???????????