Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 10:14PM
to post a photograph of that magnificent sky the other evening, I failed to notice the other detail in the sky.
Because up there, just in the shot is another little feature. Well, not so little actually, because today I discovered it’s Mars.
Ooooo.
I don’t think I’ve ever linked to The Sun before, but on this occasion, it seems an apt reference to make.
Monday, January 2, 2017 at 10:42PM
Happy New Year!
Once Christmas is over, I’m ready to put all traces away again, but with the arrival of friends to welcome the New Year in, we decided to let it be a little while longer. Today, however, it was time to say Goodbye…
Going…
Gone.
In no time at all, we’d cleared the baubles away though it took a while longer to untangle and sort out the lights, I’ll admit.
It’s also taken a while to chase all the small and extraordinarily light bits of black “paper” which seem to have found their way into every corner of the house. One disadvantage of a largely open plan layout is that such things tend to float about a bit!
Still, the Flying Paper Wishes on New Year’s Eve were fun and we all had sweet wishes to make, of course.
It’s been a glorious day in our neck of the woods though that clear blue sky brought chilly temperatures.
As I came upstairs around 6pm, the moon and Venus were shining so brightly, I just had to get my camera.
So, our friends have all left, the Christmas decorations are all put away for another year and peace reigns once more. this afternoon, I completed the last page in my 2017 Project Life album having finished my Christmas Journal on Friday. Tomorrow, I plan to blitz the studio and clear the decks for the next project.
It’s almost time for another adventure
Gloucestershire, friends, fun, home Thursday, December 22, 2016 at 11:06PM
We are at home.
We’ve been having fun with friends, enjoying the season.
Admiring the elegant bridesmaids arriving for a wedding in the church opposite the pub where we were having lunch last Saturday.
Preparing to welcome our neighbours for a little get together last Sunday.
Planning to steal this idea for a grand Advent calendar, spotted a Daylesford on Monday morning.
Actually, we were admiring most of the grand things at Daylesford. It’s a grand sort of place.
£75 for a door wreath? Beautiful but a little OTT.
The Welsh Rarebit brunch was grand in a different way, thank you!
We’ve made lots of Froebel stars. Small fingers make light work of them.
when fuelled by Smarties, of course.
My WI entertained a group of 20 guests from the Macular Society to lunch, cooking them a full Christmas dinner and enjoying their company as much as (I hope) they enjoyed their visit.
We all agreed that the fun never stops when we are with friends.
Did I mention that Mary has been here this last week?
Gill Thomas
now with links for you, Lesley!! ;-)
Gloucestershire, friends, fun, going out, home Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 10:41PM
We’d become used to the chill. I enjoyed wearing my new warm coat and wrapping up warm with my scarf and mittens, even if I hadn’t quite got my hat out yet. So I was disappointed when the temperature rose to unseasonably high levels and found myself more in need of an umbrella than a pair of gloves.
I mean, is this the weather in which to go Christmas shopping?
Well, yes, if you are in a dry shopping mall and can get away with wearing a T shirt. No, of course we didn’t – though I’d given it thought and left my coat at home, I was still uncomfortably warm and glad to be out in the fresh air again.
I rather liked the red, white and blue Christmas variation in John Lewis, by the way.
Clearly, I still had that colour palette in mind whilst passing the flowers in Marks and Spencer and chose this “Luxury Ilex” bunch. It looked lovely when I put it in the vase but within hours the blue “thistly bits” had drooped and the following morning, I was emailing M&S for their comments.
(I had their reply today: “Thanks for getting in touch, Gillian. I'm so, so sorry to hear about the Autograph flowers you bought from us, especially as they never lasted as long as you, and we expect. I can certainly understand why you wanted to let us know, Gillian - I would too” It was followed with notice that I will receive a gift voucher in the post for a full refund…
The main challenge of the weekend was to trim the tree, however. By Sunday morning, the rain had passed through and the sun had put in an appearance. Now, that made getting the lights arranged evenly a bit tricky! By mid morning, we were both feeling a little over-heated though and for the first time I can remember, we spent the whole day with the garden room door wide open.
December weather? Very strange.
By the time darkness fell, it was finished and the house is in holiday mode. I really love finding all the old favourites and sat down for five minutes to read Lucy and Tom’s Christmas, one of the books we have around for small visitors to read. The little bit about Tom being “excited and a little bit cross” in the afternoon, and going out for a walk with his Grandad is so touching.
Speaking of old favourites, there they all were with the tree looking pretty. The bear in the velvet Christmas stocking,
the polar bear with the fish he caught
the little bear which used to hang on Grandma’s tree
and because our tree is not completely covered in bears, the little ice-skates we spotted and couldn’t resist in Boston Anthropologie some years ago.
It might not be cold outside, but those icy-white lights make me feel very chilly inside! I still prefer the warm white lights we had a couple of years ago, but perhaps these lights are in keeping with our white and silver decorations.
At least, the polar bears are happy!
Monday, December 12, 2016 at 4:49PM
No matter how unseasonal I might be feeling, going out to lunch with my WI friends is bound to lift the spirits and in no time at all, the laughter and silliness makes for a fun afternoon. The Snooty Fox in Tetbury did us proud yet again and provided a table full of party poppers, very smart but rather silly hats, streamers, crackers and loud rocket balloons. There were also “those things you blow which make a funny noise as the rolled-up paper thing extends out” – I have no idea what they are called, so just googled “Party blowers” and came across that description, as it seems I’m not the only one to be lost for a name.
Our annual Christmas Lunch is always a smart affair and an occasion to give the fine jewellery an airing. But if the Snooty Fox thought that the elegant ladies of Avening WI were above creating mayhem when provided with a table full of toys, they were wrong. The rocket balloons were soon screaming about above our heads, cascades of streamers were popping out and only the arrival of the turkey (and all the trimmings) brought everyone to order.
By that time some found their “clear liquid refreshment” had been unintentionally spiked.
A great time was had by all, then, especially because someone else was going to take care of all the clearing away and washing up. Notice there’s not a party hat left in sight…
We’ve had a little excitement at home, because our lane is being resurfaced. Never sure if we will be able to drive out or whether we will need to leave our cars up on the main road and walk down, we’ve kept a beady eye on the proceedings. This was the scene last Tuesday, when I returned from lunch and a week later, they have finally laid the finished surface adjoining our drive. We are reliably informed the work will be complete tomorrow – phew.
I decided I should take a home made contribution to the WI Christmas party on Thursday so baked some Pecan Tassies, making an alternative to mince pies (which I knew would feature in some form or another). They were quick and easy to make and we liked them very much!
My team won the chocolate tasting, identifying all but one of the fourteen chocolate bars. We’d identified Picnic, Double Decker, Topic and Mars Bars, we’d been able to taste the difference between Galaxy and Dairy Milk, but one single milk chocolate defeated us. No wonder we were unfamiliar with it, because it was a Yorkie - “Not for Girls” !
Our prize: a bar of chocolate, of course!
Actually, my table won the “tray zoo” competition as well, as the eight of us created a curious set of playdough creatures including a pig, a penguin, a turtle and the cutest dinosaur you’ve ever seen. Not a single “worm” in sight (though such things were seen in great number on other trays, disguised as snakes, eels and slowworms!)
Collecting a present from our secret Santa, the jollity was over for another year. With calls of “Happy Christmas!” we all went our separate ways, though we’ll see one another again before the big day, making and serving Christmas lunch to a group of old friends from the Macular Society on the 21st.
We have our party hats at the ready
