Aldeburgh

Mum, Amanda and I had a jaunt yesterday to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast.  We had a week's holiday about this time last year to Saxmundham and went to Aldeburgh for a visit - we had Sid and Finn with us which caused much anxiety.  Sid is fine around people but Finn was a monster - being on the lead makes him aggressive.  Dad also can only handle so much sightseeing before he gets fed up and wants to move on to the next place.  So, for all these reasons, we girls decided we would go back another day minus dogs and Dad - it's taken us a year to get our act together.

Aldeburgh is basically a high street and a shingle beach - but so pretty.  The houses and cottages are all painted in different pastel colours and there was a real holiday atmosphere to the place - lots of lovely places to eat, heaps of fish and chip shops (all with very long queues outside), and some lovely arty-farty shops to browse in. 

It definitely felt like it is in another time - very unspoilt.  Parking all along the high street - side on to the pavement like a little market place - and all for free!  

It is Dad's 80th birthday next week and we've been racking our brains trying to think what to get him - what do you get an 80 year old, who wants nor needs anything, every time you ask him?  However, we found the perfect present in the first shop we went in so, even if we hadn't been in any other shops, it was already a very successful outing.  A couple of charity shops, some lovely fabric and arty gift shops and a light lunch later and we were ready to leave Aldeburgh, but we will definitely be back. 

We headed off then to Snape Maltings, the concert venue which hosts the annual Aldeburgh Festival of Music, started by Benjamin Britten in 1948.  We then had a bit more retail therapy and a cream tea before heading home.  Another lovely day and we are definitely going to repeat it - we just need to work out where we're going next!

Summer Solstice

This weekend has been more autumnal than summery, but that didn't stop us having another lovely camping trip.  This time we ventured to a village called Stanwell Moor, very near to Heathrow airport - and less than a mile's walk from where Andy stays during the week.  This is proper wild camping - no facilities, no loos, etc.  So it's a fifteen minute walk for me if I need to go and use some "facilities" - unless I'm feeling quite brave and dash into the bushes.  Too many anglers about this weekend though for that sort of malarkey!

I haven't set foot outside the tent very much to be truthful as it's been very cold - but lovely and toasty and cosy in the bivvy.  As long as I have the things around me that I need, I'm very happy.  A warm fleece, some magazines, some wool and needles, plenty of tea and coffee, Finn laying on my feet.  I love it.

Perversely, I usually always sit outside the tent in the evenings, the coldest part of the day.  The light isn't so good for knitting or crochet or reading, and Andy's generally cooking - barbecues are "man's work" apparently - so that's our time for sitting outside the tent, chatting, drinking wine and laughing together. 

Andy did manage to catch a couple of pike this weekend - maybe about three or four pounds each - and, at one point, he started to use a new technique I've never seen before ..... calling the fish to him.  "Come on fish, come to yer Dad."  I only hope the fishies understand Northern! 

Happy

Sometimes I get all bubbly and hopeful and happy without even knowing why.  The silliest little things make me happy - while walking home, a young girl walked past me wearing the loveliest floral perfume.  And then, when I got home from work, I dashed outside to get the washing in - that made me happy because I managed to get it in before the forecast rain.  And the smell of it!  From now on , I will only ever buy Tescos own brand summer meadow fabric conditioner.  It's beautiful.  And then, while getting the washing in, the orangey peachey coloured roses kept me happy for ages - the smell is very delicate but the flowers are such a gorgeous colour and have multiplied overnight it seems.

Flowers make me happy, whether they're indoors or out.  I'm so lucky to be able to see the flowers in the garden from my living room.  If I didn't see them, then I would probably cut them to bring them indoors.  But they are left in situ.  These chrysanthemums were given to me by Andy weeks ago now and they're still going strong.  And I've noticed some more flowers on the gerbera.  Gorgeous.

Finn makes me happy - he's such a nutcase!  This photo was taken yesterday when Amanda came round with Sid.  Finn was protecting me I think - he gets so jealous that he doesn't like me to make a fuss of Sid.  What a baby!  (Typical - in my pyjamas by about seven in the evening!)

Holkham

Finn and I have been to Holkham today, one of my favourite - and I'm assuming, Finn's - walks in North Norfolk.  I try not to go at the weekends because it can get busy, but now I don't work on Mondays, it's perfect to go up there on my days off in the week. 

We park up at Wells beach car park and then walk through the woods along the back of the beach, before heading up to the beach at Holkham at Lady Anne's Drive.  One of my favourite bits is as we come out of the woods onto the beach.  This can also be the most anxious bit of the walk too - it's only then that you see how many people/ dogs/ horses are on the beach and when I need to start making risk assessments in my head about how to keep Finn under control.  No problem today though - the beach was practically empty!

I only saw two horses on the beach this morning but they were some way off.  I understand that the Household Cavalry occasionally ride out over the sands - and I've certainly seen that on Sundays when the beach has maybe a dozen or so horses.  Finn did find something to roll in - I couldn't see if it was seaweed, a dead seal (it has been known before - horrid dog) or some royal horse poo.  Whatever it was, he was having a right old birthday.

We had a lovely paddle - it wasn't as cold as I'd anticipated.  It's been a weird day - quite overcast and quite fresh too. 

And it did start to rain a little bit, but not enough to stop us having a sit down to watch the world go by.  I was trying to work out the colours in my head - I have an idea of something seasidey creative, but the colours don't come out very true on my camera.  I spent ages sitting and trying to work out exactly what colour sand is.  Everywhere I looked, it was different, depending on whether it was wet sand, whether there were clouds overhead or whether in sunshine.  Why is sand colour so complicated to capture?

As we headed back to the car, we walked past the beach huts at Wells Next The Sea.  The colours of the huts are every colour imaginable - there is no subtlety here!

Roses

I never used to like roses - I always thought they were a bit "obvious".  Just too perfect.  But a few years ago, I worked with a lady called Jenny who was coming up to retirement and was looking forward to spending years gardening and she had cultivated her own rose garden.  Every Monday morning, she used to cut me a rose and put it in a little vase on my desk - a single rose and she always chose one with a beautiful scent.  Every week, it was a different colour and came with a different vase.  Lovely lady.  And for years, I've battled the whole rose thing, but have been totally converted now.  Firstly by Jenny.  Secondly by Mum and Dad who have hundreds of them.  And thirdly by the scent.  I now have five rose bushes in my back garden - two of them planted by my predecessors and the other three have been introduced by me. 

And I have a rambling rose bush out the front garden which climbs up and over the front door - slightly cliched I must admit - but it has thousands of tiny white flowers on and the smell is heavenly when I come home. Because it's a rambler though, it only flowers once a year which is such a shame.  But then I suppose all good things come to those who wait, so I will just have to wait more patiently.  This white rose is called Rambling Rector and I was rather taken by its description, that it was "spectacularly rampant"!  I'm a sucker for good marketing!   They were right though - it's very vigorous, never lets me down year after year and I'm thinking of getting another out the back to climb over the pergola.  It's not out in flower yet, but it won't be long before all those buds open.  I can't wait!

I'm surprised everything in the garden has survived yesterday actually - we had the most spectacular thunder, lightning and hailstorm yesterday morning.   Finn was terrified and was looking for all sorts of hiding places which is quite tricky, given his size.

I summoned up the courage eventually to venture outside and drive to Spixworth to support my friend, Sarah, at a craft fair.  Although the drive was very exciting - for all the wrong reasons - when my windscreen wiper flew off in the hail and horizontal rain, which necessitated a short detour to the garage.  The craft fair was really good and gave me lots of ideas of how to dress our stall later in the year and I was extremely pleased to see that no-one else is doing the things that we do.  There were plenty of sewing stalls and bag making stalls, but no knitting or crochet.  We will corner the market!

Car trouble

A Daihatsu Grand Move is not a vehicle that is happy with offroading.  Despite all outward appearances that it is a tank, it quite clearly isn't.  So today, I've been carless as it is in the car hospital, getting a new exhaust and new windscreen wipers - they weren't affected by the offroading, they were just knackered anyway!

After dropping the car off, I spent a very productive couple of hours wandering the streets of our fine city on a general fact finding mission.  I usually head to the mainstream shops in Norwich - usually because I have a list that I must not deviate from.  Otherwise, my shopping trips would end in anarchy!  But today I've found a useful little wool shop on Upper Goat Lane that has a weekly knit and natter group; I've found a lovely shop on St Benedicts - Arts Desire - which, as well as selling gifts - runs art and design classes and has some beautiful fabrics out the back; I've also sourced a couple of bric a brac shops on St Benedicts for buttons, beads and ribbons; and I've discovered (while visiting the Art College) that there is a Costume and Textile Association in Norwich.  The CTA gives lectures and organises tours of costume exhibitions - both in Norwich and nationally.  And, quite apart from anything else, being a member gives you 10 per cent discount in Anglian Fashion Fabrics on Magdalen Street.  I'm a very happy bunny today after my recce. But, first, I've got to get that bloody loft sorted so I can get the sewing machine out! 

Self-conscious

Today is National Knit In Public Day.  In the past year alone, I have knitted by the side of a river, a lake, on a train, in my staff room at work, even in the waiting room of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital - where I gave an impromptu sock-making lesson to a couple of interested ladies.  And, in November, I spent a couple of hours knitting in my car - with a packet of biscuits, a thermos of coffee, and two dogs - while Amanda climbed Tintagel - despite the wonderful distracting view of the sea, the cliffs and the castle, I managed to not drop any stitches at all. 

So I should have been delighted at a knitting in public day - however, for the life of me, I could not think where to go to do this.  I wasn't sure whether I wanted to make a special trip anywhere - I thought it needed to be done in a place that I was already visiting, to make it more real.  However, the public places I have visited today are the marshes (too draughty and too difficult while trying to control Finn at the same time); the Craft Room where I was dropping off stock (but that's hardly innovative, it's almost de rigeur to knit in there!); Hobbycraft (too lonely); and the Coop (the aisles are too small).  I did think about sitting in the garden again - my little patch is overlooked on all sides so that almost passes for a public space, but it's a bit fresh today.  I'm full of excuses!  I will form a splinter group and knit in public on another day - I never could abide rules anyway.

My visit to the shop was to drop off a shawl - in a beautiful peacock blue colour, which didn't come out at all peacock blue in the photo - bloody camera!

And also another wave blanket.  I really like this version of the wave, although I had quite a talking to from Shannon and Amanda who weren't at all impressed with the colours.  I dont care, I love it!

I need to think of a way to do some marketing - Bryony and I had quite a discussion this morning about the flowers I dropped off - she had put them in a pretty vase with the ones I had taken the last time I called in.  We're thinking of wedding table decorations - flowers on every table in small white enamel jugs, almost like milk churn jugs?  And, at the end of the day, guests could each take a flower home as a souvenir of the day.  How do you market that?  I think the first thing would be to speak to some florists to find out how much they would charge for table decorations and then at least I have a figure to work to.   Too many creative ideas rushing around in my head - my poor old brain can't cope with it!  

Randomness

Isn’t this pretty?  This gerbera was a very kind present from Shirley yesterday – I love any daisy-like flowers and I can never resist yellow either.  Gorgeous.

This post is proving quite tricky to write – we had our third Knitters with Attitude meeting last night but, because it was the usual raucous and rowdy affair, it’s hard to know where to start with documenting it!   I think the best way would be to split it into sections – things we’re making, things we discussed and things we’ve learned.  So ….. here goes …..

Oh, hang on, the food too ….. there was an awful lot of it, and it was yum, as usual.  We had quiche and new potatoes and salad and bread rolls and fruit crumble and custard and chocolate gateau.  We didn’t even get started on the trifle which arrived after most of us had eaten two courses. 

Marti was eating at least one course behind the rest of us!   And now we’re wondering whether to cut down on the food altogether so we have more knitting time?   This time we had THREE puddings – so it has been mooted that we become a Pudding Club instead?  I shall add it to next month’s agenda for discussion ….. 

Now, what can I say about Shirley’s magic waistcoat?   Well ….. there was a wee bit of a mistake on the back of this garment, which entailed more unpicking – about six inches worth this time!   We did suggest that Shirley make the same mistake on both fronts to turn the blip into a design feature, but to no avail.  She’s a perfectionist!  It appeared that Shirley had given up altogether on the back and had started one of the fronts – although we’re sure we saw her unpicking that too.  And henceforward this will be known as “Doing a Shirley”. 

Ruth – our newest member – was next to arrive with a lovely box of chocs – I’m not sure if this is construed as bribery?  Ruth did show some trepidation as she thought we’d make her “make” something as an initiation into the group!  Because Ruth hasn’t knitted for yonks, she brought a very simple, but really beautifully snuggly, chenille scarf to make.  So soft!

Mo brought the gorgeous green scarf to carry on with.  We can forgive her though as she has been busy with the sewing machine, modelling a rather jaunty houndstooth check top for us.  She’s too clever!  Mo was the reason for the look of terror on my face when I thought a steam train was about to come through the front of the house – but it was just the text message alert on her ‘phone.  Trainspotter!

Michele is cracking on with her purple stripey bed runner – it’s gorgeous.  I think it would make a lovely table runner too.  At the last meeting, Michele had brought a pretty top she had been making, but it was a sixteen row pattern and rather unforgiving when you make a mistake.  Even I would baulk at the idea of sixteen rows!   So Michele had “done a Shirley” and was going to start it again later.

Marti is making black sheep bottle tops.  Obviously.  Considering that her last two projects have been meerkats and zombies, I am not a bit surprised.

Amanda’s knitting made a guest appearance, even if Amanda didn’t.  The ripple blanket is absolutely beautiful and was the subject of much debate about the speed at which it has been made.  Gorgeous.  Amanda actually rang at one point, demanding that we save her a doggy bag.  Apparently she was already in her jimjams (this was about eight o’clock!) polishing her new sideboard.  But if you don’t turn up, you don’t get nosh – them’s the rules.

So that’s the things we’re making covered.  Next up are a sample of the things we discussed – and they make no sense whatsoever, so I might just have to list them – I certainly can’t give them any context because they were very random – quelle surprise?! 

Food porn – Waitrose v Marks and Spencer?  We have all decided that we’d like to work for Waitrose or John Lewis because of the fab discounts and staff perks they have.  Not to mention that amazing wool department in the Norwich John Lewis – I’d be spending my entire discount in there without a doubt.

Church steeples – there was much debate about whether there are spare burial plots scattered around graveyards to bury any busy-bodying church committee members who upset the vicar?  

Living organisms which somehow became confused with orgasms – this momentarily put some off us off our stroke.  Pun intended!  

Sewing machines and home economics lessons – and especially singing encouragement at the machine to make the material glide through more easily.

Pre-retirement courses and how they might teach you to shout louder at people and also encourage you to go shopping at the busiest time of the day while those people who work are taking their lunchbreaks.

As for things we’ve learned:-

1.                  It would appear that listening to the Arctic Monkeys while knitting makes your garments grow quicker than if you’re listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. 

2.                  You have to eat a lot of Gu puddings if you want a charming display of tea light holders when you’re camping.

3.                  And sometimes a man just can’t compete with chocolate gateau.

And this box of beauties is hopefully going to remain intact until our next meeting in July, although I’m promising nothing!  I cannot wait until the next instalment – I know we had suggested meeting more regularly than once a month, but I think I need a few weeks between meetings to gather my wits again!

Gardening

Today is the last day of my mini holiday before I go back to work and, true to form, it's the sunniest and warmest day of the lot!  Too hot to spend prolonged periods out in my garden working, but lovely to get out and do a bit of a splurge on it before having to retire indoors for tea, biscuits and a feet-up! 

I do love my garden but there is no shade all afternoon or evening.  I have stipulated to Andy that, when we buy our "forever" house, we must have grass and a tree for shade.  I will of course be sitting underneath it on a picnic blanket, wearing a large hat and reading Austen and the Brontes.  Or maybe I will just be snoozing or knitting.  Whatever.  We MUST have shade!  

The garden is looking particularly beautiful today.  I've been reading a few housey magazines over the past week and especially the bits about gardens and, apparently, it's very important to colour coordinate so that your garden isn't one huge out-of-control psychedelic mess.  Oops.  I love colour, I don't care about the mess!  And if it looks uncoordinated now, it's going to get worse when the lilies - which are the most amazing orange colour - arrive on the scene.  I can't wait!

The aquilegias are still rampaging, albeit with a little less vigour now.  I think it's too warm for them.  I do love them though - and the best bit is that they are covering up all the shingle - the world's biggest dog litter tray! - and the weeds, so I can't get in to do the weeding quite so much.  Which is just as well, as I've already filled up the big brown wheelie bin today.

It hasn't all been about flowers though.  I have potted out my tomatoes finally and the mange tout are ready to go out - I'm just waiting for it to cool down a bit.  And I've even dug up some more spuds for tea.  Life is good.