Grrrr!

Grrr...
...a friendly monster purse which I recently purchased from The Linen Cat. It's for N's birthday which is not till July, just thought I'd better get one while they were still in stock. I've seen so many lovely purses for girls but none (apart from Beth's!) for boys.

Grrr...
... this is how the weather has been pretty much since my last post over a week ago. Cold and wet. We've all been wearing big cosy cardigans and winter jackets and most definitely socks. May is usually my favourite month (and often has the best weather as sometimes summer just doesn't happen here) so I have not been happy!

Grrr...
... I made some mince pies with the mincemeat I had left from Christmas. I had only made the short lasting mincemeat (ie hadn't bothered to include the heating step) so needless to say the mincmeat was indeed a little off so although they looked nice they weren't especially tasty. Still, good enough for us to eat and they didn't end up on the bird table which has been the fate of some of my baking in the past.

On to more happy happenings now...

...N and I went on a sponsored toddle.

It was absolutely pouring down until about ten minutes before the walk was due to start and then stayed dry for much of the rest of the day, hurrah!

Due to the rain we'd got the bus to the meeting point. While waiting for it's return I photographed this lovely little thistle detail on the war memorial next to the bus stop (it turned into a long wait, we could have walked home quicker!)

My parents popped in en route to the airport, their first visit since December. Amongst other things I made lemon curd muffins from Hugh FW's River Cottage Everyday. The were yummy, and look there was some sunshine during the photo shoot too.

And on to the blanket...

I had a bit of difficulty in deciding what kind of background to use. The original intention was to use a beige colour like Andrea did for her lovely version of this blanket. However, I just didn't think so much beige would look good in our living room. I still liked the idea of using just one colour so that the circles would stand out, I tried a blue/green which is pretty much the colour of the sofa the blanket is intended to be used on, but there wasn't enough of a contrast between this colour and the circles. So I have decided to use random colours, similar to the sample on the left but with bigger stitches so that there is more space between the circles. I also wanted to join as I go so I devised a way to do that too, and then decided I didn't like the red, gold and pale purple after all, so big changes from the original plan.

N calls it a turtle blanket, you can see why.

His teddies finally got a much needed wash. It was too rainy for them to be dried outside, so not such a photogenic scene as it might have been

A's class at school are doing a fairyland project, part of which involves taking a cuddly dragon home for the night and writing about it in The Book. Happily A was keen to write her own story (some previous entries had been written by parents). I just thought it was really good! I like the idea of sailing the seven seas before bed time. (Click pic to view it larger).

And here is how things were just before I started writing this post. The sun was shining, the blanket was coming on and N was playing happily with his fire engines. N is still happy, the blanket is still there, but I notice it's now raining so the two washing loads I have hung out on the line won't exactly be getting dry. I've just got up to look out the window properly - the earlier patches of blue sky have all now disappeared. I had hoped to finish on a high note but the weather is horrible again. Please can we have a warm day without rain soon!

Saturday Morning Bike Ride and Some Purple Crochet Additions.

The long settled spell of fine weather has ended here and we're back to our more typical overcast conditions. Still, Saturday morning wasn't bad - it wasn't raining and it was surprisingly warm. I wasn't especially keen to go cycling but I'd eaten a huge number of fairy cakes the previous day and knew I needed the exercise.

Once up and out I enjoyed the cycling as usual. A look back at the little row of houses as I leave the village, I'm heading off to join the cycle path.

The view of The Tree from the cycle path - one of several trees I like to photograph regularly. If you look very closely (click the pic to make it bigger) you can see a rook or jackdaw perched in the branches of the tree.

A few miles on and I'm heading out to more open countryside, still on the cycle path. I like this view of misty hills with the fleece coated fence encircling the pond/bog in the foreground.

Past the roman soldiers.

Attention!

Beautiful blossom, probably a crab apple tree.

Into a neighbouring village and I head off down a woodland track which welcomes walkers but not cyclists (I ignore the sign, the track is suitable even for cars so a bike's not going to any harm). I'm on the lookout for more bluebells still.

And I eventually find some. They're intermingled with small pink starry flowers (a quick internet search and I think they are pink purslane).

The overall effect is very pretty though not as blue as I'd hoped.

I peek out from the woods over the surrounding fields. A lovely little white cottage acts as a focal point in this picture.

Just a little further on and I come across this little fishing loch. Fishing folk are already in action so I didn't explore too far, I'll come back another day.

Highland cattle taking it easy.

A lovely beech hedge surrounds the field.

More beech trees line the road further on.

Cow parsley starting to bloom, gorgeous!

Then home...
...to be greeted by one of the few fairy cakes left, I eat it.

Now to the crochet.

Everyone else is out of the house so I have a chance to see how things look.

I've added a few motifs with a dark purple and a light purple. I'll do the same number of each as I did for the red and gold, then it will be back to blues and greens for the rest. I think it'll be OK.

I'd recently put the purple throw on the armchair which is what made me realise I wanted some purple in the blanket too.

No space on my shelf for jugs of flowers now.

And lastly, a picture of my mosaic, just because it was there!

It was raining most of the morning today, I just notice the sun is now out - time to get out for some fresh air. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Some Progress

The new blanket so far...

Forty circles. I've been good at sticking to my planned colour scheme (blues and greens with the occasional accent of red and gold), but now I really want to add some purple! What do you think - purple or no purple? I'll try a couple of purple circles and make my own mind up but I'm just curious to know what the general opinion is at this stage.

Anyway, such order doesn't last for long in this house...

...and it'll be even more fun once I've made more, I'm thinking 8 x 12 so just another 56 to go. As to the background - I'm completely undecided about that, I had thought beige but we'll see.

Despite the mess he made of my crochet circles N is actually quite a tidy and orderly little boy. Here he has lined up his Buzz Lightyear collection. Of the four big ones two are from charity shops, one is a bubble bath bottle (from skinfint me), and one is the most recent version from ebay (from his more generous daddy). I think we'll probably give one of the charity shop ones back as we've enough now and it'll mean another little Buzz fan can add to his collection.

Thanks to Tess at Driftwood and Marylin for helping me to identify this flower (centauria or cornflower).

It looks its best at this time of year . These photos are from Wednesday. Rain was forecast (and it has indeed arrived) so I took a couple more photos of the garden while the sun was still shining.

The cornflowers are just at the top left of our path.

The path is made of lots of flat round stones, it was one of the things I liked about the house & garden when we first viewed it. These are two balls of German sock wool I was given as a present for the little bit of cat-sitting I did recently.

The big hedge coming to life.

Pots of pansies.

As Wednesday was to be the last day of the good weather and I also had use of the car, I dragged two rather reluctant children off for a walk beside the loch and to see how the bluebell woods were looking after A had finished school.

Looking up underneath a bridge.

The loch.

The bluebells.

Once we reached the woods A & N were quite happy to play and run along the paths.

And I was quite happy too.

We returned to the car by the path along the shore of the loch, this allowed for more stone throwing so took a while. Then home.

Time to pick some more rhubarb...

...with which I made rhubarb shortbread using this recipe from Nimble Fingers and Steady Eyebrows. Mine is quite gooey on top but still delicious though very sweet. Mmmm.

Along the shores of Loch Lubnaig.

On the Bank Holiday Monday at the beginning of the week we packed the bikes, tag-along, trailer and picnic into the car and headed off to Callander to cycle along the cycle path from Callander to Strathyre and back. The weather was just too good not to go anywhere (rain is now forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the week), and this was an easy route suitable for taking the children along with fantastic scenery and great picnic spots along the way.

We were a little late in leaving the house so it was pretty much time for lunch soon after we arrived at Callander and set off on the bikes. After about 4 miles we arrived at this beach on the shores of Loch Lubnaig which formed a little peninsula out into the loch and looked an excellent spot for a picnic. Above is the view to the north.

The view south.

To the west. Some members of the picnicking team are enjoying the exciting pastime of throwing stones in the water.

Further on we pass fields of highland cattle, some with calves.

There is a short section with a steep zigzag climb (we walked up it), here are the bikes at the top.

Looking back down over the loch.

Through some woodland, not a bluebell in sight!

Shortly after this we arrived in Strathyre where we took refreshments at one of the pubs. Then back towards Callander again.

A last view of the loch, I like how the sun is lighting the trees in the foreground.

Nearly back at Callander where, after loading up the car, we had...

...fish suppers. It's the first time I've managed to photograph one, usually I've started scoffing it before I even think of such a thing. As it turn out it wasn't the most enjoyable fish supper, N got a fish bone stuck in his throat and by the time we'd dealtwith it (fortunately a chip dislodged it) the suppers were cold and the thought of more bones made us rather wary.

Still, we had a nice view. Though this is as much of Callender as we saw, next time we'll be more organised and make time to visit the town too as it is quite an attractive little place.