16 years

 So much has changed here in my life and the world since I made my first post way back in February 2009, I was still working with just one very cute grandson, he's now 19 years old. We have moved to our final home, where, we have created both inside and out our perfect place. Grandchildren has risen to 8 grandsons and just one granddaughter, all healthy and happy. I am still very happily married, it will be 39 years married and 41 years together, as we get older we are still both happy with our lives.

The one thing which has changed the most is my outlook on life, we have stepped back from the commercial world, preferring a simpler life, with less stuff, our home and minds are clutter free. I am deeply interested in how our food is grown and what is added, eating hardly any processed food, wasting as little as possible and growing some in our small garden. I am mindful of all the unnecessary plastics, in our growing throw away society, using what we have and when purchasing anything, getting better quality to last longer. I hope to start making my own cleaning products as well as sourcing green products I can't make, I have to get hubby on board with it. 

I intend to keep blogging, I do love this medium, I have already made most of my years into printed books, which I do enjoy reading, plus it's a useful reference for us. I am fascinated so many people drop in each time I post and some leave comments, I love to visit your blogs, reading about your lives around the world, there is too much negativity in our world, so it's good to see others making the most of their own small spaces on this earth.

Kew Gardens

Iconic photo's of Kew gardens are everywhere, huge glass houses and beautiful kept gardens, on a sunny day there is nowhere better. 

We visited all the huge glasshouses, this lily pond house was our favourite, no giant lily or huge flowers on the day, but still hugely interesting. We have watched a year at Kew on TV and recognised this space. 

These huge leaves look so beautiful.

I loved the structure of the glass houses as much as the planting. 

Hubby with me all the way, it was very hot in the higher level, but worth the trip up.

Resting under trees, from the heat, I love to look up. 

Views everywhere

The Great pagoda, seen from so many angles

I did rather love the dragons on the outside,

 the sunlight shining on their golden wings. 

The city from level 7, we took 200+ steps to level 9 the top, with 30 minutes to take in the views, I took loads of photo's but preferred these from lower level. The Temperate house sitting in the parkland, when we booked the trip we decided it would be too much to go up, but once there it was an opportunity not to miss.

The Hive

Interesting and weird.

The only thing closed was the Treetop walk, sadly they were removing a summer art installation, we spent over 6 hours wondering around, we did not see the whole of the parkland, I enjoyed the woodland walk and the giant redwoods, hubby enjoyed the huge lake and all the birds, we did not see a squirrel all day, no rabbits, just birds and bugs. The flower gardens were starting to go over, but still full of colour and well looked after. Plenty of huge tree's over hundreds of years old, loads of different types, I would like to go again, I did almost 19,000 steps so lots of walking, but it felt restful and calm. 

The weather gods were good to us, it was bloody hot, but with plenty of shade and benches, loads of water fountains, loos, and places to eat, the only places uncomfortable was the higher levels in the huge glass houses, we did carry our own water bottles, which we could refill. 

We were both pleased we drove up on Sunday, visited Kew on Monday and drove home on Tuesday, it would have been impossible to do it as a day trip, we stayed in Hounslow, a borough I have never visited, just a small hotel, it was vibrant and very alive, far busier than our small part we call home. We used our bus passes in the end to get to Kew and back to hotel, enjoying the whole vibes of the area at a slower pace, better than rushing by on the train. 

Today we have been married 37 years, together 39 years, where has the time gone, I'm lucky they have been happy years, we have a good partnership, together we face everything, personal health scares, Covid, and with our families we plan a happy future. 

32

Lovely gift from hubby

 Instead of flowers

It's our wedding anniversary today, 32 years, how quickly the time has passed, later we will pop out for a walk along the coast at Lee on the Solent, I love this walk, we always chat as we walk, making the time enjoyable. For lunch I suggested we pop to a new tea room, loads of sandwiches and cake, perfect way to celebrate, we have no plans for the evening.

Hubby always purchases flowers on our anniversary, but this year he got me the succulent, it looks good on our dining room table, I will replace the white silk rose with a nice stone.

Loads of cake

Another good harvest this week, 

This is the second picking this week for tomatoes, cucamelons and sweet peppers, plus my last two cucumbers

I have been nibbling Raspberries all week 

 

 Tomorrow we have been married for 28 years

we do not do wedding anniversary's

But hubby always buys me flowers. 

 I told my friends I was making cakes for our BBQ tomorrow, 

so Cat got us this anniversary cake, she pinched the photo from Facebook,

 and Steve got Kev is Red Velvet cake for his  birthday

I will still make another Pavlova with loads of soft fruits on.

 My last purchase in August arrived today, I will not be able to stitch it yet, I need a longer piece of linen, and can't purchase it until October, but I am working on Winter Watergarden, well I have not stitched it in the past couple of days, real life has gotten in the way.

I have cleaned the house top to bottom, which is silly, after tomorrow after everyone has gone it will be a mess again, but I do like everyone to arrive to a tidy place.
Tonight we are home together, tomorrow we will have loads staying over, including Sam and Logan, both are excited.
I have only spent money on our BBQ for tomorrow, most of the meats have come from our freezer, with loads of salad from the garden, and our gifts of cake, it is still a low spend event, normally we spend over £200.
Just a quick post tonight, photo's tomorrow.

Blog birthday

Today I am starting my 6th year, how time flies.

When I look back on my fist post without any photo's, an interesting start to my blogging journey

I now record all my blogs in books, I am almost ready to have 2013 sent for printing

Stitching next, getting on with my boxes, I now have 4 along the top row, which for me is more balanced. I will stitch the contents of these boxes next.

 Daffodils in the front garden, they don't look the best, but it is nice to see colour, last night we had another storm and very high winds, so it is great to see any flowers in the garden. 

 Our Magnolia tree is in bud again, as is our Acer, and we have loads of bulbs pushing through the soil in gardens around our house, promises of the arrival spring

With this post I am having a give away, if you want to take part, please leave a comment, it's a surprise parcel  just for my followers, so please no need to put it on your blogs, just a thank you for those of you who pop by. I have a second parcel, not sure who I will send this to, I will check my statics and find someone.
Thank you to every one who pops by, I love to read all your words and soak up all your photo's, loving your stitching, gardens, families and hobbies. I feel lucky to be able to interact with ladies from all over our world, sharing our stitching, gardens, wild life and family's.

Here, we are very lucky, we live in what is the driest part of the UK, and even with the record amount of rain we have had since the start of December, we are warm and dry. Now the trains are not able to travel through to the South West, with land slides and floods, and the rail being washed away in Dawlish, life is very hard in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. My niece lives on the northern edge of the Somerset Levels, and to get home to see our family she had to drive 30 miles in the wrong direction to avoid all the water. 
So stay warm and dry, we have another storm due tomorrow, and no signs of them stopping, not sure how much more water the South West  and the rest of UK can take. 

Our friends.............

         were great on our anniversary, we asked for no presents, after downsizing our home just under 2 years ago, we really did not want more things to display, so we asked those who wish to pop something into our art fund. A bit cheeky but it suited us.  We have been looking for art for our sitting room wall for ages, our problem was two fold, Kev and my taste differ and most every thing we see was expensive.

But in our local art shop I saw this in the corner, not the best photo, the colours called, I had said I did not want any prints, I wanted something in oils. but as we looked closer we saw....

 its pair, London and Paris, they are by Henderson Cisz, he has done loads as you can see here we have been looking at New York as well. So we are very happy to have two prints on our sitting room wall, now we need to get our friends back to show them off!

 I used the prints to make our thank you card, 

We have nothing planned this weekend, Su and Gav are away at a wedding and it's Fliss and Steve's 12th wedding anniversary, so we hope to see them, just rest a bit of gardening and sew and I have another book to read, I will finish my little heart as well.

Saturday 10th September 2011

 We had a very good day on Saturday, only one little storm, and then as our families and friends walked in the grounds of Portchester castle to St Mary's church the sun poked through.

St Mary's is our local church, set in the grounds of the castle just 10 minutes walk from our home, you can see more here, church is boring for little grandsons, all three of them.

 Connie was lovely, just wanting everyone to enjoy the service, and loved all the little children. here we are giving back our blessed rings, neither of us wanted to have new rings.

 It was great to see so many friends and also family most had to drive over 100 miles to be with us, but that is what days like this is about.

 And finally a photo of me, I even like it, we have loads of photo's, I will start putting them into an album.

It was for us a perfect day, just as we had planned it, loads of smiling faces, hugs and chatting, catching up, showing off all the children.

25 years later

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary, 

we are out for a meal tonight

Renewing our vows on Saturday, with a garden party for family and friends.

I'm lucky I have had 25 happy years, and Kev's promised me another 25!!

Another finish

 This finish is different, I have completed  our anniversary cake, it's my Christmas fruit cake recipe, which I have used for years, when I get the recipe out of my cook book, it's typed on paper, can't bring myself to re print in an up to date way.

The pink flowers, I purchased for this cake along with the bling "25", but all the other decorations are from our wedding cake, we both thought it would be fun to use them again. Two weeks toady and we will be having our garden party.

 I have seen loads of these signs, if you want to look just go to Google images and type in "keep calm" I thought this one is a bit different.

I have spent the morning sorting, we were looking for new dinning room furniture this week and could not see anything we liked, so I have been sorting through our cabinets, packing loads away and just having few items on display, that then lead me into my office and I have packed things away in here.

Su and Gav celebrate their first wedding anniversary tomorrow, and next week it's Kev's birthday, so busy times, we also have Su's birthday and Fliss and Steve's 12th wedding anniversary in September, this month is going to be expensive.

My sampler is coming along well, only a few things to do and most of them are planned in my head, no room for changes now, just get them all done.

PPS this is my 100 post this year..............

Getting ready

 In September we will celebrate 25 years of marriage, we are going to our local church for a blessing, same church Su and Gav were wed in last year.  Afterwards, we are having a garden party, we wanted something different than a big party, so we have chosen favorite family and friends to share our day.

Above is the card I created, I tried to keep it similar to our wedding theme, and below I thought I would show you a few of our wedding photo's. Below with my beautiful young daughters, who both have grown into beautiful young woman, Fliss my eldest daughter, you might know through "Joshy & Belle" blog site.

 I love the movement in this photo, oh to be young again.

It was a strange weekend, we had no internet, so I got on with my cards, Saturday we popped into see Joshy, he was having a bowling party with his school friends, it was an early birthday treat, 12 younsters all having fun, and a grandson with a huge smile on his face. Sammy just wanted his cuddles with Grancha, Sunday I was very tired, so no stitching at all.

Work is very busy at this time, I had a agument with my boss on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, so whilst he is not getting at me the office is very quiet, I'm struggling at the mo, don't have a reason why, but most things have become a chore, the rainy weather does not help. My mum would tell me to snap out of it, but at best I keep my head down and get on with things.