Fun Friday :: Catch Up

Hello there, thank you for your lovely comments last time. I confess that I was a bit unsure about changing the Friday link up. Tricky started the Five on Friday link up party, sadly his blog has disappeared. If anyone is in contact with him and his family, please do let me know. I'd love to know how they're all getting on. I remember they had big plans and dreams for life abroad, teaching Permaculture Sustainable living. 

On to this Friday Catch Up, do join me if you wish. 
This week has been a quiet week, I've been knitting the KAL (knit-a-long) daily. Some reading of the Book club read and a bit more de-cluttering. I've decided to cut back on my library book orders, they tend to arrive altogether and after having a quick look through the pile, I don't seem to enjoy them enough to read. Maybe if I only order a maximum of 2 or 3, I'll actually read them.  

I bought another Spring Bouquet, this one had daffodils in the bunch. I thought that daffodils in a bunch of mixed flowers, would kill off the other flowers. So I removed the daffs and placed them with the surviving few flowers, from last weeks bunch.

One afternoon we went into town to buy a few pairs of trousers for Mark. We also bought a wooden dog bone and a Nylabone for Angus in Pets at Home. Then a few bits including flowers from Sainsbury's and a 7.5 tog duvet from Tesco. We looked for some new mugs... they need to be a good size not too big, or too small, not tall and thin, the handle needs to have room for two fingers, not mega expensive... the hunt goes on.  

Last Thursday evening, an exercise instructor visited our WI this month to run a one off chair exercise class. The range of music was fun, I can't remember them all. It ranged from The Can Can, Glen Millar In the Groove - some stood up for that song, to The Polka Dot Bikini and many more. 

Sunday we took Nat and Ellis to the local sandy beach. Lincolnshire beaches are a long way out to the water. Closer beaches to us, have all grassed over with marsh grass. Angus enjoyed the freedom of running about without being on the lead. 

We didn't stay long as it was bitter cold.

Realising that I'm not in many family photos, Nat very kindly put me in ha ha. Thanks Nat.

Do you belong to any groups, eg Book club, WI, Craft Groups etc?
Do you remember to jump in the family photos?

Take care, Ttfn

Cathy x

  

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Christmas Break part 2

Hello there, thank you for visiting me in blogland last week. It's been lovely to visit your blogs and read comments left here too. Today I'm sharing a few photos of our walk over the Christmas break. On New Years Eve, after lunch, we drove to Lincoln with Angus. It was cold but dry, perfect for a nice crisp walk. Bundled up with warm hats and gloves, we met Johnny and his girlfriend at Hartsholme Country Park. We kept Angus on a lead as he would've been in the river on one side of the path, or the boggy stagnant water the other side. Both would've been muddy... why do beautiful fluffy Goldies like to get muddy and look a right mess? 

We'd been there two years ago, meeting Nat and his Fiancée for a walk. It was Summer back then, so it looked completely different. Apart from the glorious warm sunshine, there had been wide open grassland to walk on, alongside the water. Everything looks different in warm sunny weather. I remember we were waiting for their car to be MOT and some parts replaced.
After that walk we'd taken a brief trip to Hobbycraft, I'm not sure that I've been to a hobbycraft shop before. In typical yarn lover fashion, I headed straight to the yarn section and purchased 3 balls of Women's Institute DK yarn. I found it a quite thick, course yarn. I crocheted with some of the yellow yarn to make a scarf but later donated all 3 balls to my Mum. Since then I've been better at not buying random balls of yarn. I'm trying to stay focussed on using up yarn that I have in my stash and only buying what I need to make something specific.  

Back to the New Years Eve walk, we kept to the paths, along the lake and woods. At one point we took a turn that took us back onto the main road. Without a map we decided to go back the way that we came... we were not lost! Ha ha. 

We had a nice afternoon talking about birds, ducks and swans. Johnny's girlfriend has done some studies on the feeding habits of the swans. It's shocking that people still feed ducks with bread, despite being asked not to. You may remember that I talked about feeding ducks on this post. The duck food recipe that I took back then, was from the Canel & River Trust website. 
It's simple to make: Oats, birdseed, sweetcorn (or peas) and lettuce (shredded). Mix it all up together and feed the ducks crowding around you. I usually carry some birdseed in the car, though I need to buy  more as it's all gone. 
I once fed some ducks in a car park walking through to the shops. People were queuing to pay at the ticket machine. Suddenly the bridge area over the river was swarming with ducks eating birdseed. A man and his dog waited patiently to cross the bridge, oops!
The ducks were very happy as I disappeared, it didn't feel right that day to stand and watch. 

I'll leave you with some swans in cold water, Brr!!
Cold water swimming, or Wild Swimming is all the rage at the moment. It's good for circulation, mood and skin health etc. But it's not for me. 
How about you, do you like cold weather days? 

Take care and have a lovely weekend x
 

The Dambusters - Five on Friday

Hello there, hope you are well. Cold germs have lingered too long in my bungalow. First me and now my husband. If it's not coughs, it's catarrh... just fed up with it now. I've not been knitting very much lately, I need to get back to it. I crocheted some flowers and leaves, whilst on holiday - to make a brooch for the next WI competition. I need to start putting it together with some buttons for the flower centres. I've bought some felt for the backing and a brooch pin. I'll put it together and show it next time. 

Back in April we all went over to Hope Valley, Derwent Water in Derbyshire. We took Angus and Johnny, Nat took Ellis and her parents.  The weather was dry after lots of rain, lots of chat and a very good walk. We had a coffee back at the café before leaving. We stopped for some fish & chips on the way home. 

  

1) Gathered for the walk - plus me holding the camera. 
We walked around the lower part of the reservoir, starting at the Dam. It's the place where the Dambusters practised for their mission during WWll 

2) The Dam - such an impressive Dam.

3) Angus - on the lead due to the sheep around and some main roads along the walk.

4) Village under the Derwent Water - the tale of the lost village is sad (photo: random people sat down). To build the reservoir, meant flooding the river valley, sacrificing the village. The people were rehomed nearby. In very dry years, the houses can be seen beneath the water of Ladybower Reservoir. 

5) Reservoir and Sunflowers seeds for the ducks - I took sandwiches and a few snacks for us and some sunflower seeds for the ducks. 

It was about 120 miles round trip to Derbyshire, the walk that we took was 7 miles. I'm not sure that we'd visit again, unless we were staying nearby. It's a lovely calm place, beautiful countryside with a vast amount of water. 

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Finish it Friday

Hello there, it's been too long. I hope you are all well, I'm going to try and visit all your blogs next week and catch up on your news.  I'm taking a long break from Instagram again. It's just too time consuming for me. I had a look in my draft section and found a few photos of some knitting that I'd finished last year. I've added those and also a few books that I've read and a photo from a family walk last Saturday. 

 
First finish: a pair of  Winwick Mum socks knitted in 4 ply Robin yarn by West Yorkshire spinners I took far too long to knit these. I just couldn't get the size right as my ankles are far narrower than the  average pattern fit. Starting with a much smaller cast on but knit for my size 8 feet was a perfect solution to this. Christine was very helpful with the fit over on Instagram (my account is temporary disabled, so not available to view).  

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Second finish: another crochet wash cloth, I think it's a cotton blend yarn so it may end up being a mat. I enjoy making these as it's a small project to take out. Usually I can remember the pattern, if I've not left it too long. This pattern is a 2 row pattern, if anyone is interested, I'll write it out next time. 

Third finish: my purple jumper, the pattern shows how the colours have been altered. I omitted the diamond pattern with sequins around and across it. I made several attempts at the diamond pattern but it always look puckered. There were beads all along the edges of the jumper too that I left off. I like it all except for the neck, it's very wide and gapes open too much. The yarn is Sirdar Country Style with a small wool content. I doubt that the yarn and pattern is still available, it was purchased probably 30 years ago from a chain of yarn shops called Tri-Star. 

Fourth finish: 2 recent library books. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah was a very emotional read as the secrets and mystery was unravelled. It was very good but I'm not going to read lots of her books back to back. I think they are all quite involved and in-depth emotionally. 

Partners in Crime is the book for February Agatha Christie read 2023. There is a discussion on the last Friday of each month on social media. I will say that I struggled with the book, Tommy & Tuppence detectives is written in 1929 so not only a different era, but lots of craziness for me. They enjoyed acting out different detective characters and pretend that the agency was very busy. I'm sure many loved their style but it wasn't for me. Incidentally I bought a DVD box set of their series and could only manage the first one. 

I also read:
The Library of Lost & Found by Phaedra Patrick
Malice in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope
Sad Cyprus by Agatha Christie - Agatha Christie's book for Januray
A Woman's Courage by Simon Block - part of the Home Fires book series following the Home Fires TV series.

                                     

Fifth finish: A family walk, in the photo we are not half way, but we finished the 8.5 mile walk with lots of chat and fish & chips before driving home in the dark. From the left: Nat, me, Mark, Angus (Goldie) Ellis (Ellis-Mae Nat's fiancée) & Johnny. Nat & Ellis invited us all on the circular walk to Cleethorpes beach via a river of  the country park. 

I need to dust off my camera ready for next Friday, I'm following a KAL (knit-a-long) scarf that is part of a church Lent course. So far I'm enjoying it, each section relates to a different part of faith (I think!) time will tell. I'm using up yarn that I already had, mine will be in various colours instead of a single colour. 
Reading at the moment, The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz Caroline from Coffee, Books and Cake recommended the series. I can't work out how to leave a reply on her blog, sorry Caroline if you read this, any hints please? 

Bye for now, take care 
Cathy