We WILL enjoy summer, and look! ANOTHER RAK!!!

So we ventured out to Burford cos that is where we go every summer for summer birthdays..it was on the calender so we were going. We packed a picnic, made a flask of tea, and picked our way around the abandoned cars....and we had a lovely time. SUMMER HAS ARRIVED, SOD THE WEATHER!
We saw lots of animals, but these photos of Mongoose/Mongooses/Mongeese/Mongii were taken specially for Lulu, as I promised I would say hi to them if I saw any

From here we went to Woodstock, as DH wanted to eat at the Italian Restaurant there (it was very nice) and look at the weather at 6.30pm...can you believe it!!!

Then today look what I got in the post...a RAK from Knitherapy, she said that she had found some dishcloth cotton (I feel you can never have enough of this stuff in yer stash) and thought of me (I saw it and thought Italy, DD said "Christmas!!"), which was very kind, and then she added in some lovely stitch markers (how do people know that I am desperate for these), and a fab handmade card - on the outside it says "The beginning is the most important part of the work - Plato", and the inside - "For your birthday I started a sweater for you"......aaaawwwwww, that is fab. Why can't we get cards like this in the UK, or maybe we can and I just don't know where.....Thank you Janis, you are very kind :-)

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Also replying to FaeryNuff, in this order ;-)

- I saw your Bib and was surprised that we had synched - they are lovely aren't they, and so quick too.

- You are knitting the pinwheel blanket?!?!?! Dear god, are we seperated at birth!! what with that and the sweetie cupboard - hee hee. Would love to join you in a KAL. I am about to join ball 3 and I am using Laines du Nord, Linea Merino - Dolly Mixture which I picked up at Woolfest from Laughing Hens at £16 for a bag of 10 balls (v. lucky I know).

- Our home is fine (touch wood) apart from a leaky window, but hey the amount of rain beating on that window over the last few days, I'd leak as well! Hope you basement continues to be ok - I love your plans for it for next year. Looking forward to seeing the photos of it, your very own building WIP.

- Pink Leggings? - New Look!

But despite that, we partayed like it was 1999.....

2 posts in one day - scroll down for the flood pictures.....

Awful weather..

Have you seen the news....my 40th Birthday Party had to be cancelled as this is where we were going to have it:

The rain came down all day yesterday, and this is what happened very quickly. We started cancelling people at 1pm, it was wet, but everything was still passable. The club called and cancelled at 2.30pm. We wanted to make sure that none of the guests got stranded. Some people didn't get home til midnight, having started out at 11am, but at least they got home. It could have been a lot worse some people who were trying to get away on holiday got stuck on the M5 all night - imagine a car full of holiday stuff, kids, dogs and not going anywhere apart from your car for 12 hours. One friend had to abandon her car, and walked thigh deep in water for about 4 miles to get home; another friend ended up stopping with strangers who invited him in for shelter when he got stranded 15 miles from home.

These pictures are of the Rec - the playing fields, you can never normally see any water from either of these views.

The next picture is the of the childrens park:

Then we have the Basin where the narrow boats moor:

And it must be bad as the BBC are here filming:

Here are a few more photos:

These people couldn't get out of the hotel as the car park is flooded. Can you believe that they allowed guests to park in the car park knowing how much rain had fallen!

And finally a blog post wouldn't be complete without a shot of DD:

Luckily we are all fine, and no-one got stranded but there are lots of people whos houses have been badly affected, and people who cannot get out of there villages. More rain has been forecast. Let's just hope that the current water gets the chance to go away before any more falls.

Yay, A RAK...

Thank you so much Pixieriot for the parcel I found on my doorstep this afternoon .......
DD and I were so excited to see this, and "squeed" a lot with delight as we ripped into it. What a lovely message :-) THANK YOU x

I do knitting...

just to prove I do, here is a WIP - pinwheel blanket, and

and an FO, a petal bib from One Skein by Leigh Radford
Crap photos that do the colours no favours...but hey I DO KNIT - better photos with better colours will follow

A little late but here is day 3, and travelling home.....

VERY VERY picture heavy....but here goes

first off, we went to a lama farm...the shop was full of "lama"y things, and as you can see the fields were full of "lama"y things too. It was raining, but that didn't stop DD from leaping around like a "silly", and getting very excited.....the lamas? they just ignored her, they must get a lot of "sillies".
Then, we went for a walk to Aira Force Falls - god it was wet, and I discovered that my walking boots are not water proof, so I squelched up and squelched down. At the top of these water falls though is a little village called Dockray, where thank god was a hotel with a pub that didn't mind VERY wet people. Pea and Ham Soup - hhhmmmmmmm. Walking back down was like walking in a river because it was raining so hard, the path became a river....but it was warm!

So it was straight back to the B+B to get changed and get to Ambleside to buy some replacement boots, which are sooooo comfy they are like wearing slippers AND THEY ARE DRY!!! Whilst in Ambleside we found a bistro called Lucy 4's, a tapas type place, where the food os fab, and the atmosphere even better. If ever you are in Ambleside, promise you'll go, it is worth it. For those of you who listen to the Food Programme on Radio 4, Lucy was featured last week - she is taking British Christmas Cake to America.




Here she is, ready to eat!

Next day, another walk. This time on the other side of Ullswater


yes, it was wet.....again! But she is still smiling :-)

Then we drove round to Buttermere - which is fab, and on the way up saw this:

Crappy photo - it is stunning!


Last day - hurray I hear you cry. Can she really have any more photos?????????? Yes, a few more.....DD got tired - it was all that walking!

She was excited to see this though! We weren't sure if Kylie could make it, but we should have more faith in her. She got us home! And let's face it, compared to what people had going on in their homes, this was nothing!!!! And I got home to this! A few of the cards I got, and look knitting, ACTUAL KNITTING, see I do do it. I know you have seen these before, but hey I am having a busy month!
Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes, and more especially your comments on DD ;-) I keep telling myself that she is secretly pleased to be told she looks like me, that she is a very good actress, and does a good impersonation of looking pissed off about it!

And Janis - another parcel???? OMG I am bouncing with excitement!!! Now to track you down. I think I know - ponders! Ha, gotcha!!

Knicker pattern - I don't know, but they were hanging very teasingly on this stand (we think) The Fabric Colour Workshop . If anyone knows the patterns, please let me know.

NEARLY FINALLY - DH is away at the moment, so we are feasting on crappy food, and strawberries, spending quality girlie time together watching BB and the Tour. Yes there is a little BITCH here all the time I guess. Anyway he has gone away with some friends racing in Scotland. Not Bitch racing, but hosses. We have had one phone call in 3 days, so presume he isn't dead. He should be back tomorrow.

FINALLY FINALLY - It is my fancy dress party on Friday - who's coming?