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Tuesday 31 January 2012

January Scavenger Hunt

Thanks once again to Kathy for organising this Scavenger Hunt, you can click here to see other takes on this months subjects

1.Soft - Cassie



2. Two - tea caddies



3. Blur - through the front room window



4.In Season - wind damage



5. In my bathroom - also two - toothbrush/toothpaste mugs



6. Mess - Poulshot farm



7. Information - wine label



8. Company - Alex popped home for a pre-birthday meal



9. Warning - on Cherhill Down



10. Odd - false windows painted onto the outside of the building, on top of the originals, which were filled in when a window tax was introduced by William III in 1696. Many houses in Devizes are like this, it was a prosperity tax, as it was supposed that it was the more wealthy people who owned larger houses, thus more windows, and who could afford to pay more taxes. Perhaps I should mention this to George Osborne?



11. In the Distance - northwards from Cherhill Down



12. Entrance - to Brownstone House in New Park Street, Devizes

Monday 30 January 2012

Week 39/52 268-274/365

268. Guest beer, aptly named - if you drink too much this is what you turn into.



269. Alex came home for his pre-birthday meal (alcohol again!)



270.Still life



271. Cast Iron gate



272. My versatile calendar



273. View from my window - not quite sure of the significance of this, does it mean the end of men playing with umbrellas?



274. A nice drop of the red stuff



Well, thats the end of week 39, which means we are three quarters of the way through, only another 13 weeks to go. Stick with it.

Sunday 29 January 2012

A trip down Memory Lane

Prompted by the fact that yesterday was Alex's 23rd birthday, and that after his visit earlier in the week, he was back in Bristol celebrating the day with friends, Rog and I decided to take a walk down Memory Lane. Back in 1993, long before the days of mobile phones with recorders, we hired a video camera to take a snapshot of our 5th Wedding Anniversary. Alex was 4 years old and already attending Nursery (or pre-school as its now called), Oli was 2 1/2 and I was 45.

Alex



Oli (almost hidden in the long grass)



Me (in front of our rather untidy looking pre-improvements house)



When he came home earlier in the week for his birthday tea and portrait (which you can see here), Alex brought back a book he had borrowed, and in which he found this, which had been used as a bookmark by an earlier reader - a ticket to my very first football match, and the day I became hooked. (Just look at the price of the ticket!)

Thursday 26 January 2012

All packed up and no-where to go . . .

. . . well, not just yet, anyway! The legal bods at the bottom of the chain are being extremely slow, the lady at the top of the chain is having a hissy-fit as she is about to give birth and doesn't know if she is coming or going (cant say I blame her!) and we and two other parties are stuck in the middle, so I am currently just filling time with a few bits and pieces.

Firstly I have taken on my first professional proofreading work for over ten years, for the lovely Amy Winfield who has written her first novel "North", I think we are both wandering around in the dark holding each other's hands at the moment, but hers is by far and away the more skilful part of the process! You can follow her progress by clicking here, and pressing the "like" button.

Secondly, I am going to need a few sets of curtains for the new house, so I am converting this double sided curtain that I made for inside our front door here into a pair of lined curtains for the TV room



and with the left over fabric (that I bought about 3 years ago and never used) I'm making some full length curtains for the snug.



Hopefully in a couple of months time I'll be able to show you them in their (and my) new home.

Sunday 22 January 2012

Week 38/365 261-267/365

I'm a bit sad that I'm actually here today, writing this blog. I had planned to travel to Surrey to visit family this weekend, but sadly my trip was postponed at the last minute as Ed, Junko and Marissa are all suffering from a tummy bug. I'm hopeful that I may be able to go next weekend instead, but at long last things seem to be happening on the house sale/purchase front, our buyers buyers solicitors now have all the paperwork they need to proceed so it looks as if we may be exchanging contracts fairly soon. If that happens this week then I'll need to stay home and help with finishing off the packing, and dont know when I'll be able to plan my next trip! Excited as I am at the prospect of finally knowing when we'll be moving, I'm also saddened that I wont know when I'll next see the Surrey contingent. Watch this space.

And so to the next 7 images of my 365
261 Having a rest



262 Frosty morning



263 Beef stock



264 Raindrops keep falling on my head/window pane



265 Knitting for Marissa (this will be a separate blog post when I have a bit more to show)



266 Nuts, a high protein snack



267 Glasses

Thursday 19 January 2012

26 week challenge



Thanks, once again, to Karen for setting this challenge, the subject of which is weather. We tend to get a fair bit of weather at this time of the year. I am posting early as I am going away tomorrow and wont be back until Tuesday.

My first shot is of a misty morning, taken from my sitting room window on maximum zoom.



This shot is my favourite, we took a walk on a glorious, sunny (but not warm) day heading off to the hills.



This was my final shot, raindrops on the window this morning.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Be afraid, be very afraid

Rog and I eat quite a lot of fish, and are always happy to try something new, so when we saw this in Morrisons, we bought it.



As it was completely new to us, having never heard of it before, Rog did a quick search on the web and found this (please read, unless you already know or have heard about basa)



Needless to say, it went straight into the bin. But, how come Youngs are allowed to market it in UK? Thats scary!

Monday 16 January 2012

Which colour . . .

. . . is it registered as?




A chilly, hilly weekend

What a lovely weekend it was, bright and sunny, and such a change from the weather so far this year, which has been gloomy, grey and wet. So lovely, in fact that we just had to get out and about and enjoy it while it lasted, even though there was a chilly easterly breeze.

On Saturday we went to Echilhampton Hill, which I have blogged about often, its one of my favourite spots. We take the car to a parking spot about halfway up the hill, then go the rest of the way on foot, this is the view as we head towards the summit.



Looking down towards town, on full magnification, you can make out the castle turrets in the middle of the shot.



We stop at the very top, where there is a triangulation point, but the path goes on down the other side of the hill and eventually to Echilhampton Village. You may be able to spot the Alton Barnes White Horse in the distance. We head back to the car for a picnic lunch.



On Sunday we climbed Roundway Hill. This isn't far from home so we walked across the fields to Folly Lane and then started to climb, the Devizes White Horse in full view in front of us.



About two thirds of the way up the lane divides, on this occasion we took the left turn, to be more sheltered from the cold wind.



At the top we found a bench at the side of the wood, so we sat there for a while, ate our picnic lunch and just enjoyed the scenery. I loved the haphazard growth of this tree, crossing back on itself.



It's a quiet spot, but not completely isolated, here we watched some riders going back down the hill.



The sky overhead was a magnificent shade of blue.



Almost back to the bottom now, and it's starting to cloud over just a bit. On the horizon you can see Echilhampton Hill, where we were yesterday.



We now both feel so invigorated we are ready to face anything the week can throw at us. How was your weekend?

Sunday 15 January 2012

Week 37/52 254-260/365

254/365 The fence is fixed



255/365 Hang gliders at Milk Hill



256/365 Snowdrops in my front garden



257/365 Bonfire smoke



258/365 Gulls



259/365 A frosty morning



260/365 At the top of Echilhampton Hill