Adventures in Knitting

I've talked about it for a while - learning how to knit - but I thought I would put it on my list of things to learn in the new year. The other day I got the sudden urge to try. Some of it was internet browsing/shopping - usually a bad thing as I end up spending money. I had a learn-to-knit book/kit thing in my shopping cart when I remembered that I had everything needed except some wool to practise with. Next time we were out doing the weekly shop I picked up a ball for .79 cents. Can't go wrong when it's that cheap!

I've done some knitting and purling. Got that part worked out! Next step I thought I'd take a look at some free beginner patterns. Ack! They look like they are written in a foreign language. There are yarn overs, decreases, Garter Stitches, Stockinette Stitch, Right sides, Wrong sides, Gauge - it's never ending. I ended up ordering a book. Hopefully it will help!

Sunday Walk

It was nice and snugly in my bed this morning, but there was certainly a nip in the air when I went out into the living room. This has to be the coldest morning of Autumn so far. I was tempted to put on the little heater today, but I abstained from doing so instead wrapping up warmly.

Despite the cold temp hubby and I decided to talk a walk. Far better than sitting on my behinds all day. There is a nature preserve not too far from us (about ten minute drive) so we decided to go there. They have lovely trails. You do have to share with people on bikes but it is worth the dodging. No, it's not really that bad. Most of the people on bikes do let you know when they are coming up behind you. It wasn't that busy as it was still early when we went.

We could see plenty of places where deer have been bedding down. Hunting isn't allowed on the preserve so it's probably a good place to hide!

We're beginning to see the first signs of Autumn. The colours are slowly changing.

A few leaves here and there.

In a couple of weeks I bet this place will look really beautiful. Looking at it you wouldn't believe that it is just 6 miles away from the city!

Flowers - Five on Friday

It's Friday again and time to join in with Amy over at Love Made My Home for another Five on Friday.

Summer is at an end and the warmer air is starting to grow cooler. The nights are definitely drawing in and the mornings are darker longer. Summer is a time where everything is alive, blooming and bursting with colour. Autumn brings its own colour which slowly falls until there is little colour left. I love Autumn. It is a toss up between Autumn and Spring as to which is my favourite. Next week hubby and I are taking a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in hopes of seeing the beautiful colours of the abundance of trees. It will be my first time up there in Autumn. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will not be too early or too late.

Today I'm going to look back on some of the photos I took of flowers this summer. There were some gorgeous displays where Mum and I visited. I'm hoping that, in the midwinter when I'm tired of seeing whites and greys I can look back on this post and remember the beautiful colours that will come around again.

Colchester Castle - there are always such beautiful flower displays here. This one right by the castle features bees. All over the park are hives painted by children and facts about bees.

This year one of the main displays was about the cubs.

All around the park are beautiful displays of flowers.

Bury St. Edmunds - just beautiful. The Abbey Gardens, round by the cathedral and out of the gate. A fabulous place to visit if you get the chance. I have never been disappointed by a visit to the gardens.

A beautiful Thistle at Drumlanrig Castle. The gardens here were stunning. I shared a picture last week on my Five on Friday.

Threave Gardens in Scotland. Stunning flowers. So many different gardens to see. I don't think we even got to visit them all!

These were the first flowers of Spring. After the cold and the snow colour returned slowly but surely. I love the turning of the year. Autumn always reminds me of that. I am not looking forward to the colder and darker days of Winter. I don't like the snow. We get a lot of it. It gets really cold too. In the dead of winter everything seems so grey and dirty. Just when I'm about ready to think it will never end, things start popping up again, the wheel turns and the world renews.

Shasta - Six Months

My daughter reminded me today that it has been six months since she adopted Shasta, her Siberian Husky. She's a beautiful, sweet dog - so loving. First thing in the morning she isn't dying to go outside, she just wants to cuddle.

She was adopted from the wonderful Northern Lights Sled Dog Rescue.

How could anyone resist? Daughter was really lucky the day she found her!

Rolling Around Again.. What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

I'm joining in with Julia and the gang over at Stamping Ground for another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. I'm late this week - stayed at my daughter's for a couple of days. Not much to show on my desk but I did find some goodies while we were out and about.

The black and white style papers are exactly what I've been looking for. While in Cambridge I took some wonderful pictures of gargoyles up on a church. I've got the photos printed, almost finished the basic mini-album and these papers will work wonderfully. Hopefully next week I'll have a finished project to show!

While up with daughter took dog for long walks. The weather has been just gorgeous so we've been out trying to enjoy these last warm days.

There are some lovely trails near where she lives. We're going to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and I'll be off to visit desks at home this evening.

Weekend - lazy one

It's been a lazy weekend around the house. We were going to go for a nice walk/hike today, somewhere we haven't been, but it's been raining for days and was still raining this morning so we put it off. Yesterday we got sat the wonderful Shasta while daughter went out with a friend. It would be perfectly fine except Shasta doesn't like cats and our cat doesn't tolerate dogs. We managed quite fine although Shasta did not like one of the windows in the living room - she kept looking up at it and whining. When I closed the curtain she really got upset. Goofy dog.

I tried out a new recipe yesterday but forgot to take pictures - Buffalo Chicken Wraps. I don't eat meat so I don't taste a lot of this stuff. Hubby said they were good. Oldest Son said they were a little too creamy - less sauce perhaps?

Today I made a favourite of mine - Lasagna Roll-Ups. I use a Taste of Home recipe (basically) from Lasagna Roll Ups. I omit the sausage from the sauce for mine.

The recipe does make a LOT of them. I ended up with 16, not 12. I have halved the recipe before but there is enough leftover for Hubby, Middle Son and I to have/take for lunch tomorrow. Yummy!

I am going to make a to-do list in the morning so I actually do some of the stuff I'm supposed to do!

Scotland - Five on Friday

It's Friday rolling around again and time to join in with Amy over at the fabulous Love Made My Home. We're a random bunch from all over the world. The posts are always fun to read and I always seem to learn something new.

This week I'm going to share another few pictures from my seven weeks visiting Mum in England. While I was there we took a coach holiday up to Scotland. It was my first time visiting. I definitely want to go back. It was SO beautiful. I think I spent most of the week with my mouth open in awe. It was lovely to go on holiday with Mum and see these wonderful places with her.

I'll share five memories and tell just a little about them.

Sweetheart Abbey - ruins of a lovely abbey. So tall and majestic. A stunning, peaceful place.

A sort of romantic story to go along with it. The name seems to make sense!

Kelpie Marquettes at Kirkcudbright. These are 'miniatures' of the Kelpies that reside in Falkirk. These are handcrafted by artist Andy Scott and are 1/10th the size of the ones in Falkirk. Apparently these were actually created first. Up close they are really quite stunning.

O, my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.

O, my Luve's like a melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

The beautiful town of Dumfries. Lovely walks along the river. Mum and I misjudged how far away the coach was parked and was almost late for pick-up time. We were guilty of being the last ones on the coach that day!

Dumfries is also the burial place of the famous poet Robbie Burns. St. Michael's churchyard where he is buried is just magnificent. Inside the church we were lucky enough to be show around by a lovely man who told us some of the history.

The mausoleum where his remains are today. So much to see in this town and not nearly enough time!

Drumlanrig Castle was one of the three castle we managed to see while we were in Scotland. It's a lovely place with just beautiful gardens. Somewhere I could have definitely spent more time.

 An interesting fact:- in 2003 four men, acting as tourists, stole the Leonardo da Vinci painting Madonna of the Yarnwinder with nothing more than an axe! They have since improved security. The painting was found!

 I could share all day - I took so many pictures and there were other places we visited but for my fifth this week I'm revisiting one of the things I talked about a couple of weeks ago - Pigs Gone Wild, the art trail in Ipswich displayed over the summer. The pigs were all auctioned off and raised over 150,000 pounds for St. Elizabeth Hospice. The pig I featured the other week was Ed Sheer-ham, a play on the singer Ed Sheeran, who comes from Framlingham which is not far from Ipswich. 

The pig was auctioned for 6,200 pounds and was apparently purchased by Ed Sheeran! I wonder exactly what he's going to do with it!

Wednesday - Desk Sharing WOYWW

Wednesday rolling around and it's time for Julia over at Stamping Ground to host another weekly visit around to desks all over the world to see what others are getting up to. It's a lovely place to join in and share what you've been up to and perhaps gather some inspiration.

My desk has seen a little action this week though not as much as I hoped. I spent Tuesday checking out some videos for inspiration so, hopefully, next week I'll have something to show. I had pulled out some photos I took in England at my favourite park and was going to journal about them in a Project Life page, but when I looked I had every page layout except the one I wanted! I'm got some re-thinking to do.

I was listening to Radio Suffolk on my computer as I played. I have a mini-album ready to go once I make the pages. You can see some mini easels I found at Walmart. I had used one for my phone!

As you can see it isn't too exciting but I was just glad to be up there again. The weather is certainly cooling down the last couple of days so it was a little nicer to be up there. We did take a wonderful day trip to the lake Sunday (see post for pics). There is only one more trip on the horizon - a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to see the colour changes of Autumn but that isn't for a couple of weeks. Our holiday fund is desperately in need of topping up!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and thanks for visiting and leaving a comment! I really appreciate them.

Another Week Begins

My crafting mojo has yet to return but I have pulled out a couple of photos that I'm going to do some Project Life journalling with in the hopes it will help kick-start things. I have a few cards to make so I need to get going.

Around the house things are pretty quiet now after our whirlwind of visits (from daughter and middle son). Middle son stayed for a couple of days. It was nice having him around but I had forgotten how he likes to leave his stuff in certain places!

It is definitely getting cooler. I closed the window yesterday as it was quite windy and chilly. This morning I am in sweats and actually have a cardigan on. I need to get moving on the gardening and washing down the side of the house.

Talking of the garden, outside I do actually have a couple of pumpkins growing. Something the deer did not get hold of!

The plant is massive. It grew outside the garden fence along the ground and up by the fence! I've grown pumpkins before but they've never grown like this. I'm pretty sure that I should have got rid of some of these flowers but they were already growing by the time I got back so I've left them. I currently have three pumpkins growing!

Hopefully they will be completely ready by Halloween.