Five on Friday - Savouring summer.

Hello and welcome as I join with 'Five on Friday'. As the weather seems to be cooling and the evenings drawing in, I find myself not really wanting to let summer go just yet. My five random summer photos reflect my mood perfectly, summer days with winter preparation.

Summer holidays and carrying on with routine jobs and shopping, are not so easy with teens, that don't really want to be taken out for some 'fresh air and a change of scenery'. These bold, bright and beautiful flowers, complete with a sunflower, were purchased on one such occasion. Chosen with a chorus of 'can we go home now'.

A bit of a polish and more spring cleaning, this time upstairs in my room. I found all these seaside, ocean related ornaments tucked away and neglected behind a calor gas fire. This unused fire place welcomed a sweep out and polish. The birds drop twigs down the chimney and of course dust and cobwebs are never far behind. Having lit the multi- fuel stove a few times this week downstairs in the lounge, it's reminded us to source a double fronted stove to replace it. This will open up and heat into the dining room, which is the coldest room in the house. 

I've neglected Knit and Natter group over the holidays, there have been other things to do. Having teens you're sort of wanted home, but not really needed, strange. This week, I was handed these angels for the town's angel bombing nearer Christmas, shush a secret! I'd asked the ladies a while ago now if they'd like to knit or crochet some for me. There's more in the bag, so lovely that they took the time to do this. I wrote before and left the pattern links here on this post. I took my latest project that is small and portable, socks. I also bought a few more new balls of sock yarn too, well I thought they'd be good for presents.  

Preparing for the barbers and a duck walk at a local beauty spot this afternoon, I made up my duck food recipe. Some children made it for their sponsored walk last summer. People often tell you, 'don't give ducks bread', but they never say what to feed them. As I like things done properly, I thought I'd better find out what to feed them. Here is the official answer, so that's what I went with. This time I didn't have any peas, so mixed up - bird seed, oats, lettuce and sweetcorn.  

The ducks seemed to appreciate their meal and ventured onto the grass to eat. There's a definite pecking order, with the ladies very much in charge. We thought the male ducks looked quite young, their heads not fully sporting the gorgeous green colour that defines them. There were many families enjoying the last of the warm sunny days, playing frisbee and picnicking on the grass too.

I borrowed this DVD from the library and hope to watch it tonight. The original was filmed in 1974 with the characters and events set in the summer of 1929. Here is the Wiki link if you want a trip down memory lane. Teen 2 has seen this already and I remember studying the book with the Open University Children's Literature course. It'll be interesting to see the changes that have been made in this updated version.

I'm off to knit some more of M sock and maybe watch a bit more of the film. I'm not sure if the teens really like it. Maybe if there had been aliens on the island.... If you've seen this new version of Swallows and Amazons, do let me know your thoughts. At the moment we're a bit confused as to why the beginning was made unnecessarily sinister.

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