Cruising Cornwall...

Last week we went on our annual holiday to Cornwall to visit my Dad, which is something we always look forward to. As a bonus we are getting a proper summer this year, which made planning what we wanted to do so much easier, as all of Cornwalls beauty is outside!

It's always a long trip down there, but it is definately worth it!

Our trip coincided with the Stithians show this year, which is an agricultural show, so we got to see plenty of lovely animals.

On our first day we got to see a variety of sheep, including one which had, what looked like a rabbit head. So much lovely fleece!!

3 really adorable Alpaca's, one of which was only 7 days old. They had not long been shawn, which made their fluffy-topped heads look even cuter!! 

All breeds of cows. Watch where you step now!!

There was a marquee of Goats

A massive Poultry tent, with every shape and size of chicken. From the big plump rooster to the fluffy headed, fluffy footed chickens, and also the bare necked chicken, which was as ugly as it sounds!

There was a whole tent of pigeons, yes really! Muli-coloured, tiny, caged birds, and Cavies, the term used for Guinea pigs. But the highlight for me, which you don't normally see at Ag shows, was the rabbit tent! A whole space dedicated to cuteness and fluffyness, which definately had the Aaaaaahh factor! I could have easily taken a few home with me! My absolute favourite was the lion-head rabbit, the ultimate in fluffyness with its tufty mane.

After having explored all the animal areas, we stopped for some much needed refreshment, in the heat, before heading round to the rest of the stalls and displays. It was a long exhausting day, but well worth the visit.

On the Tuesday we opted to stay local, as we did need some rest days. There are usually some small changes to the village each year, but even if there wasn't I'd still enjoy re-visiting the little shops and galleries and you can never tire of the beautiful views of the harbour!!

It was great to have a garden to utilise too, something that we really miss, especially in this fine weather. It enables you to enjoy the full extent of the light, morning and evening, and can enjoy dining Al fresco too!

On the Wednesday, we had booked aboard the Scillonian3, to take us across to the Scilly Isles, this was somewhere that we hadn't ventured to before. It was a 2 1/2 hour trip away from the mainland.

Once we'd arrived at the biggest island, of St Marys, it was a hop onto a much smaller boat called Surprise, to take us to the Isle of Tresco, this was home to some stunning gardens, which Dad wanted to take us to. It looked so idyllic on arrival, with turquoise clear waters, white sandy beaches and palms, a tropical delight. We needed to make haste as we only had a limited time to venture round, as the travel does eat into much of the day.

Tresco gardens certainly lived up to its reputation, absolutely stunning, with a whole host of tropical plants, but giant sized.

All the plants were green and lush and the flowers were bright and colourful.

The trees loomed up into the sky

and the succulents spread out widely.

We stopped for a quick picnic lunch, where we had a little visitor. A beautiful chinese pheasant, with colourful plumage.

There was a gorgeous shell hut

and an amazing treasure house which had a whole collection of figureheads from various wrecks that had washed ashore.

Our time was up and it was a quick march back to board our boats. Both boats seemed more packed for the journey back, and finding somewhere to sit was quite tricky, and we were exhausted from walking around in the midday heat, but it was worth every moment as we have many visual memories to treasure.

On the Thursday, it was yet another new experience. Hubby is an enthusiastic freshwater fisherman, and we had the opportunity to go with a local fisherman to try sea fishing. Dad has had experience of this trip before, which he said was great fun, though I had to admit I was not totally convinced of this, but hubby was most excited to try. It was great to sail away from the harbour, and see it from a new angle.

The sea was totally calm and flat, and as it had been so hot in the uk, there was an unusually large amount of jellyfish in the water. We were handed our rods and shown how to attatch the weights and hooks. We put our lines out over the boat and reeled in and out of the water. We stopped for the boat to move position now and again, and then we changed from using a lure, to multiple feathers, and then we added bait, as the fish werent biting too much in the heat.

Dad was the first to land a fish, and the team went on to catch a mix of mackerel, pollock, ....... To my surprise I managed to catch not just one but 2 mackerel. Oscar the fisherman was a great tutor, and was helpful as most of us didnt really know what we were doing and he was always at hand to help out. It was a sweltering heat, being out on the water in the middle of the day, but surprisingly I thoroughly enjoyed the whole venture. I got stuck in and with the expertise of Oscar, it was a pleasant smooth trip for me.

On our return to shore, we went straight to one of our favourite pit-stop for a milkshake. They make milkshakes from chocolate bars or biscuits, and they are refreshing and yummy.We do have to try as many flavours as we can while we are there of course!! This time I tried peanut m+m's, mint areo and terry's chocolate orange.

We left the gutting of the fish to Dad, but we had the freshest and tastiest fish meal that evening. How satisfying to know you are eating what you caught!

After our last 2 adventurous days, on the Friday we again stayed around the village, with the morning spent relaxing and eating in the garden. In the afternoon we decided to tackle the Treasure trail that we'd brought along. This gave us the opportunity to have a nice walk around the whole of the village, whilst keeping an eye out for historic points and various images. This wasn't quite as difficult and the clues weren't so obscure as our previous one, and as Dad has quite alot of knowledge about the village it wasn't as tricky as we'd hoped for, but we still enjoyed our time scouting around the area.

Then before we knew it, it was Saturday and time to go home again, time always goes so quick. It's so restful and peaceful there, a relaxed way of life, that the thought of going back to the hustle and bustle of town and having to go back to work, was not a pleasant thought.

We had our last milkshake and stroll around the village.

It was lovely to unwind, and more pleasant to by the sea, in the heat, than a stuffy town. So lovely to spend time with family and enjoyable to play and cuddle up with the cats.

It's just a shame that we aren't able to do this more than once a year!!!

Treasure Trails and Daisies....

After a long, hard weekend at work, I had the Monday off, and me and hubby planned a trip to visit his Mothers. We had bought a present for her and my Mum, in the past, from Treasure Trails,  but as yet had not had the opportunity to take her out. As we all needed a stress free, fun day and it was going to be another gloriously sunny day, it seemed like the perfect chance. What you get from Treasure Trails is a booklet, of directions of the trail around the town and clues that you need to look out for on the way round.

Our one was a Murder Mystery, so we needed to work out 'who did it' and 'with what'??
We worked our way up the high street, and found it difficult right from the start. It doesn't matter how well you know the town you are doing this in, as it makes you look at it in a completely different way and in minute detail.

We stopped off at a cafe for refreshments, before working our way up and around the church to the old town.

After a few hours of trailing and at the last clue, we rounded our day off with a cool drink at the pub!

We got stumped on 2 of the clues, so we didn't get a final result. There is a text line to get up to 3 answers, but we've chosen not to do so, as we may go back to re-check.
I can highly recommend to try one of these. In fact we've already ordered another two, a local one for us and one of my Dads village. They are fun for all the family, for any ages, an inexpensive afternoon, to pull together and search high and low!!

Crafting wise, this week I have continued with the mini bunting. This time I have been working on daisies.
Again the pattern was taken from 100 flowers to knit and crochet.

I liked it, but yet again I wanted to add my own twist. I opted to add a smaller round of petals inside.

I did also experiment with doing a closed centre, to be more realistic, but I decided that I didnt like it as much.

Having then decided on my final flower, I then went ahead and made a whole bunch.

I now need to get these hung, and I believe I have some green ribbon tucked away somewhere.

* I'm a little behind with this post, as I didnt manage to get it finished before going on holiday, but as I have only just got back, and I have loads of photos to edit, which will certainly keep me busy for the week,  but at least it enables me to put up a post *

Little Bunting!

I mentioned last week that I had been doing a little crafting. Not a great deal with all my trips out,  plus work seems to encroach on my personal time more and more.
So I had whipped up a couple of owls, which i had previously shown a sneaky pic of!  It was just something that I fancied doing out of the blue, a nice quick easy project, a basic shape, nothing too fancy! After completing the main owl, I decided she needed a bubba companion!

I'll admit I've committed crafty naughtiness!! My owls were so close to completion, all that I had left was to stuff and sew them up, but instead I started a new project! The shame of it!!
In my head, for ages, I have wanted to do a collection of mini buntings. A selection of different styles, shapes and patterns. So I started with a flower. The pattern I took from 100 Flowers to knit and crochet book, I chose the Irish Rose, but only did the centre of the pattern, otherwise the mini bunting wouldn't end up that mini!! I did a test piece first, I did find it a bit fiddly in places and I changed a couple of joins to make it easier.

But once I knew what I was doing and I got into the flow, and before I knew it I had a whole bunch!!

I had a lovely reel of dusky pink ribbon tucked away, I knew this would be a perfect compliment for the flowers to hang along.

I wanted the bunting to be the width of my door. By putting a couple of pins in the door-frame I can then interchange the different styles of bunting quite easily.

I'm looking forward to making more, as they are small and easily transportable and doesn't feel too daunting a task in between work shifts. I quite fancy doing a daisy chain as I think that would look really cute, some hearts and maybe some fishies inspired after seeing 'Chickidees' display window! I might do some traditional bunting too, I'll just see where this project takes me!! When I get round to putting these in my Etsy store I will be able to offer the option of different colourways and different lengths if they don't want their bunting to be quite so mini!!!

Daddy comes to visit.....

So, I disappeared from blogland for a couple of weeks, firstly due to pleasure, secondly due to work, which meant I didnt get the chance to update...
So going back, we had Fathers Day. For the first time ever, my Dad came up to us to visit for a couple of days. He does live right down at the bottom of the country, in Cornwall, so it is a long trip! As its such a distance it means we only get to see each other once a year, when we go down for our annual visit. So to have this extra time together, and for him to see the area we are living was so lovely.

They arrived on the Saturday evening and we met up after we finished work. We had chosen to go to Charlie Choys, a local restaurant, which is buffet style, so an opportunity to taste new flavours, and something for everyone to enjoy.

The food was amazing, and it was great to have a catch up.

The following day, they came to see where we live, and spent the first  half of the day having a relaxed natter, just stopping for breakfast and lunch. In the afternoon the weather brightened enough for us to venture out. We walked down the road, to our local park, which has a beautiful large lake. By the time we walked halfway round, the sun had made an appearance, and the ice-cream van turned up, it looked like it was all done to plan!

The sun shimmered on the water, the ducks were quacking, the swans were gliding across the water and the bees were buzzing around the flower heads.

It was lovely to get out in the fresh air, feel the warmth of the sun, get to relax and enjoy spending time with family.

The relaxation continued in the evening as we cooked a homemade vegetarian meal and watched television together.

The following day we overslept and so felt in a bit of a rush and a panic.

But we had chosen to go to Wisley, as it was close by and we all enjoy visiting gardens, plus it looked like the rain would hold off.

We strolled around the gardens, until we needed refreshments.

We stopped for lunch, which of course had to involve cake!!

We went into the Glasshouse, where there was the most amazing colourful display of Orchids.  I find these flowers fascinating with their different sculptural shapes.

Further round in the 'hothouse', were the collection of Cacti. Again, another love of mine, due to the textures and shapes.

After a quick pit-stop, we went round more areas of the garden, until it was closing time and we had to leave!!

We were exhausted by the end of the afternoon, but thoroughly enjoyed our day, and although the gardens are just down the road from us, it's so difficult to get there on public transport, so we appreciated the opportunity of being able to go.

After stopping off at home to freshen up we went out to a local restaurant, The Khyber Pass. We chose the set meal for 4, and this gave us a nice mix of 4 different curries for us to try out. As you can see, I got so into eating, I forgot to take a picture till after.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time together, and it's only a couple of weeks until we get to make our trip south. Hopefully now we will get to see each other twice a year in future.

I have managed a little bit of crafting, but I will leave that for next weeks post, as they are WIPs at the moment!

MOVIES
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

The story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist - for whom diary -notable events include the acquisition of a new electric toothbrush and getting his article on caddies fly larvae published in 'Trout and Salmon' - who finds himself reluctantly involved in a project to bring salmon fishing to the Highlands of the Yemen - a project that will change his life, and the course of British political history forever.

***1/2 much better than the title! 

Rise of the Guardians

DreamWorks computer-animated family adventure film based on the book series by William Joyce. When the nightmare king Pitch (voiced by Jude Law) launches his evil plan to engulf the whole world in darkness, the Guardians - Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and the Sandman - enlist the help of a young and reluctant Jack Frost (Chris Pine) to stop Pitch in his tracks and protect children everywhere. But with the powers of the Guardians waning, will they be able to convince the world's children of their existence and overcome the power of Pitch?

****1/2 Fantastic, Magical

Colourful London...

It was a trip to London for me this week. I havent managed a visit to the Capital for a long long time. Its easy for us to get to with a direct train, but its just a silly cost! But with the Kaffe Fassett exhibition on at the Fashion and Textile museum, nothing was going to stop me!

I also took the opportunity to meet up with a friend who havent seen since i got married.
We met at London Bridge, and eventually found the museum, tucked away, but not till I managed to trip over a wonky pavement and hurt my elbow  :-(
I was excited to see the works of Kaffe, all that mass of colour at close hand that i'd only managed to pour over in books.

With his still life paintings

His colourful quilts

And Multi-toned knits

There was a whole delightful corner dedicated to his 'cabbage' phase

With an array of quilting and needlework. Everything was stitched, tablecloth, wall-hangings, cushions, armchair and even the slippers!

And a whole wall dedicated to knitwear when collaborating with Rowan

Even the painted design notes were interesting to look at, with the colour notes and instructions

|All in all, it was definately worth the trip, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to see these beautiful stitch works so closely.

By the time we came out, we were hungry, so we grabbed a sandwich and headed towards the river. We had the luxury of sitting in the glorious sunshine, enjoying the warmth, and watched the world go by.

All the surrounding office workers were snatching some rays in their lunch but they soon dispersed and we were left to just enjoy the surroundings.

I cant believe how much the skyline has changed by the Thames. It used to be the historical buildings that stood out with their different architecture depicting their years. But now rather sadly, they are now dwarfed by these huge, glass, alien looking, modern buildings, which are just growing higher and higher!

We had great views of tower bridge for our little pit-stop

But decided to wander down further

past HMS Belfast

But of course, as soon as we moved away from the bridge, what happened, it opened up!!

Luckily we turned around, and had a quick dash back...

We walked down towards London Bridge, stopping to see 

 'The Navigators' sculpture at Hays Galleria

We went as far as London Bridge and made our way back up the opposite side of the river.

we went around the outskirts of the Tower of London

We made it back to Tower Bridge, this time walking across it. As luck would have it, when we were 3/4 the way across the siren went to off to warn that the bridge would be opening. So this time we were able to see it open at close hand.

I was exhausted and sore by the end of the day, but it was a most enjoyable trip.

Crafting wise, (yes I have managed a little), I have put the cushion on the back burner, until i manage to have some hours at home to dedicate to it. But I did a sneaky little, quick make. A little Owl. It is nearly completed, and I want to make a little baby one to go with it too...

MOVIES

Paranormal Activity

Supernatural thriller in which a young couple tries to rid their new house of unwanted guests. After moving into their new home in San Diego, Katie (Katie Featherson) and husband Micah (Micah Sloat) begin to hear strange noises and witness odd occurences. Believing that she's been followed by ghosts since she was a child, Katie is convinced that malevolent spirits have followed her to her new home. Receiving no help from a local psychic, Micah decides to try and get proof of the ghostly presence by installing a bank of cameras to record any manifestations. Now, as the couple try to make contact with the spirits with the aid of a Ouija board, their unwelcome guests decide to make their presence felt.

*** started slow, boring + amateur, but made you jump by the end

Wreck-it Ralph

A video game villain wants to be a hero and sets out to fulfill his dream, but his quest brings havoc to the whole arcade where he lives.

*** ok but more suitable for kids