Grannying!

Yesterday Mr P and I travelled to Leeds to visit our twins - grandchildren and see my son and wife (they are secondary!) It was so lovely to see the girls and they were so happy with all their toys around them.

Oops - no she hasn't got a striped face but me still rather an amateur with my new camera! This is Sophia sucking that bread stick as bless her still no teeth. But apparently it's a family trait to have teeth late. Strange how these things get passed down the generations. Little Rowan (other grandchild) has a skin tag thingy just like me, in the exact same place as me! Wonder if his sibling (to be born tomorrow) will have one too?

We went out for lunch and here the girls are having such fun and attracting lots of attention.

This is Karis and I'm sooo proud to be able at long last to be able to identify which girl is which. Now Karis wasn't quite as happy as her sister, but she has almost cut two teeth!

The girls are sooo flexible and manage to get their legs and feet everywhere. Their favourite trick is in the high chair - they manage to remove their legs from under the tray and almost have them so that their feet are in their mouths and have to be removed in order to feed them!

Mr P has got his tickling spider out! I have to let my son take the claim for this photograph - as he took it for me. I think it captures the moment beautifully.

Time for a walk and a sleep after our lunch - just love the knitted gnome hats that their mummy made. Even Mr P has one!

Today I am resting before I head down to Bristol - as tomorrow I become a grandma again! Whooppee! I am sooooooo lucky. Can't believe how emotional I feel. Decided that last night was time to finish making puffs and see how many I have got.

I am about half way through sewing them in lengths but have still got to attach the rows. I was hoping that I could have finished the sewing and made them into a bag! Ha ha! That is not going to be possible with the few hours I have left. Somehow thought I was going to show you all a picture of a new baby by the side of my puffy bag but hey ho that is not be. I think I can say with certainty that making these puffs will not be happening again other than making one or two for decoration for a project. They are mind boggling boring to make!

Well enjoy the rest of your weekend and next time I blog it will contain - WARNING - more baby photographs! Number four grandchild! How exciting!

More Puffs

Just a quick update on the baby situation. My daughter saw the consultant yesterday and they have come to the conclusion that it looks as if the only way this baby is coming into the world is via a c.section. So the baby has till next Monday to come out naturally! Meanwhile it's back to more puffs.

The Waiting Game

Last week I felt as if my mind was in two places - one at work and one just working out what I would do if my phone went to say my daughter was in labour, in Bristol. So every day I lived with this dilemma. As with my job I see clients most of the day and sadly there is no magic fairy that can come and see my clients instead of me. Well waiting still continues but hopefully for not too much longer. Tomorrow my daughter has an appointment with the consultant who will hopefully decide whether it is time to break the waters or do a c.section.

Meanwhile I do not feel as if I can settle into a project that requires my brain. Then I remembered some years ago I bought this.....

I had been thinking that it was time to get it out and try making a few of these Suffolk Puffs.

Started with a few and now I have this many.....

I have to be honest and say I am not sure that I really like "Suffolk Puffs", but I thought it was a great idea to have a go at making some as it is so mindless, also I can say that I have used this tool and used up some bits of fabric. What am I going to do with the puffs? Well I decided that I would continue making them until the baby is born and then decide - see how many I have got. They could be used to make a cushion, a bag or even a quilt! We will have to see how long I have to wait and do this boring craft project.

Meanwhile my daughter's husband had arranged a business meeting in Newcastle Upon Tyne - which is a very long way from Bristol! So he dropped his wife and son off at our home as he reckoned that if she went into labour then Leicester was nearer to get to than Bristol. This then led them into staying the weekend and lots of grandson time. SO here goes cute photographs. Sorry - you can always switch off!

Having fun at the park on a bitterly cold Saturday morning.

We had forgotten his gloves and he kept on insisting putting his one hand out in the cold and then getting upset!
























Back home for dinner, eating being a favourite for Rowan!

He is very independent and insists on feeding himself. Here he is having the delight of some brownies with chocolate ganache (food that didn't get used at Christmas - I know his Leeds aunty and uncle will be dead jealous as they are huge chocolate fans!)

Rowan was mesmerized by the flash on my camera! Needless to say after this meal he had a bath!

He loves playing with balls - one of his favourite toys.

His second favourite is books. Friday grandad was very in vogue and was being chosen to have stories read to him, then Saturday my dad, great grandad was in vogue, but yesterday it was my turn and my turn and my turn and my turn until I had to admit defeat and hide in the kitchen!

Rowan enjoys the slide. When he finally reaches the top of the slide and has managed to sit down properly he expects a clap from all of us and bangs the sides of the slide to remind us to clap! He's so funny, then sometimes he likes to throw other toys down the slide like fire engines etc. Teddies are much quieter!

Well we had a lovely weekend together, ate lots of yummy food and today regardless of how cold it is - believe it's going to feel like -4 I am on my bike - my belly is getting tooooooo huge, I need the exercise. Hope you all have a great week and that hopefully I will have some baby news soon.

A Bit of Crafting

You may remember me saying that I was busy making something for Christmas but couldn't say anything. Well Christmas has passed and now my daughter has her presie. I crocheted her a blanket to cuddle up to. I used stylecraft special double knitting wool in coastal colours from the wonderful website shop Wool Warehouse. The company send the wool in a lovely muslin bag, such a treat when it arrives. Well here is the result.

I loved the colours and still have the delights of some wool left to use up.

Now my friend has been busy making some applique squares for an advent calendar for 2015, the design is from Quilt Mania. I think she has done a wonderful job, she still has more to go but thought I'd share what she has done so far.

This one is my favourite....

Whilst away at Christmas I made this small crochet bag to use for work.

It's rather bright but I was using some leftover wool.

The other thing I have been making recently is a blanket for the baby to be born anyday now. I adapted a pattern from the book Granny Square Crochet by Catherine Hirst.

At the moment I have it blocked to make the shape a little more improved.

Now all we need is for this baby to be born!

Early Labour - Waiting Game!

Oh what a week. It started Tuesday morning, 07:00, with a phone call from my daughter in Bristol. "Mum I am in labour since 2am". So I hastily pack a bag, rush into work to sort out all my work for the day and following day. As there is no magic fairy that can come in and do it for me! Half way through the morning and I receive another phone call "I've been sick and feel better now. No contractions". Ugh. Oh dear, just knuckle down to an ordinary day again.

The rest of the day nothing much happened and so I trot to bed for a rather restless sleep. Then Wednesday at 07:00 another phone call. "Mum I am in labour been up since 2am". So I hastily get dressed, put my bag back in the car, race over to the surgery and sort out Thursday's work as I had already sorted out Wednesday. Then you'll never guess what the next call said?! Yes you've got it - the contractions have stopped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhh! This baby cannot make its mind up! And meanwhile its doing my  mind in as I do mental somersaults with my work!  So again I settle down to another days work and go home and unload the boot with my bag, pillows etc!

I just love this picture that she took last night. Sometimes it can be quite handy being pregnant! Having an inbuilt tray!

Finally I just have to include this picture of her son looking so cute, yesterday, on the dog's back!

Well I wonder whether this time next week I will be writing this blog still waiting or whether there will be pictures of the new baby?????????????  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Officially baby not  due to 22nd January but already weighs about 8lb 4oz! I'll keep you posted!

A Different View - Ford Moss Reserve

Last full day in Northumberland and so I decided to take my new camera and me for a well worn walk. Should say Mr P got me a wonderful new camera for Christmas. It's going to take me ages to get the hang of all the settings - well those that I understand! Now I like to think that no one else ever goes to the reserve as most times I never see anyone, except today. It started with a horse box blocking the road as its owners stopped to talk to some walkers. They kindly move over and then I notice more horse boxes appearing. As I park the car I am passed by riders on horses.

That's not my car - it's too clean! Our car is now a grey colour with the registration plate almost unreadable because of mud! Better clean the plate before I leave tomorrow - don't want to be stopped by the police. Anyway as I don my walking boots I can hear hounds barking and I am thinking this is no ordinary ride this looks like a hunt.

28.02.2014 this was the view....

Today 03.01.2015 ....

Mmmmm I'm not sure what I feel about this. I realise that we cannot keep on abusing nature of her sources but at the same time I do not like seeing the countryside being marred with these edifices. Can't these windmills be placed in ugly places? Guess there is no perfect spot and wherever they are placed will upset someone. I just hope these windmills are producing lots of energy, otherwise I will not be amused.

As I continue walking I become aware that the hunt must have started as I hear and see some riders.

Then I see a fox racing across the moor, and within minutes I start to see the hounds.

 At first I was fascinated seeing them race over the brow of the hill, but then horror as I realised they were heading towards me. Needless to say I do not have a close up picture as I was wondering what the heck to do. Realised there was no where for me to go and thank goodness I was wearing my bright blue coat! At least the huntsmen will see me. I could hear them yelling at each other so hopefully they would hear me scream. But just as I'm about to write my will quickly the hounds turn direction! Phew! What a relief! Then it made me think about the poor fox. Now I know fox hunting is not allowed but what is going to happen to that fox? I find it difficult to comprehend how the huntsmen are going to be able to stop the hounds from grabbing the fox? There were some men going around on quad bikes - so perhaps that is their job?

That was the last I saw of the hunters and hounds - I was not disappointed! As I walk along the track I begin to remember one of the negative points of this walk - the bogs! I tried to walk around them and ended up in more bog! The cold peaty water went over my boots onto my socks and down inside my boots! Mmmm bang goes my idea of after the walk going straight to Kelso! Eventually I reach my favourite ladder stile. This was the view in February 2014...

Today the view is like this......

Wonder what you all feel about these windmills? I'd love to hear what you think.

At this stage of the walk I am now in a valley with trees and no wind - so time to play with my camera!

When I think of Northumberland these trees are what I remember with their beautiful pine cones.

The next picture is me trying to use the black and white setting and picking out a colour - at the moment I sometimes get it right and here is one photo that worked!

I wonder when we retire here whether I will get used to seeing the clear skies as an everyday event and not notice anymore?

Time to head back home and get changed!































The afternoon finished with a trip to Kelso, but I had forgotten the time of year and a large chunk of the shops were closed. Back home and a trip to the bottle bank, oh and another quick photo of this bush glowing in the last of the days sun.

Nice Murder Knitter Coming Out Of Hibernation

Hello All,

I hope you all managed to get through Christmas and New Year. I know for some it is a difficult time of year and for others a favourite time of year. My Christmas has been a very full one with lots of time spent with my children and their families. It started the weekend before Christmas with No 3 heavily pregnant staying the weekend - as she had been ill and the pregnancy being rather difficult. They left Monday and come Tuesday evening different parts of the family started arriving. It was No 4 and his new wife. It was soooo lovely to have some time together before other family arrived. We do not get to see them so often because of where they live. We had some time to make some decorations for the Christmas pudding and enjoy a special quiet time together. Christmas Eve was last day of work and the day when more family arrived - including the baby twins. What seemed to be a large house suddenly starting shrinking as we all crammed into each room. Christmas Eve Mr P and I attended a midnight communion service. This for me is the highlight of Christmas. All the shopping has been done, food prepared, presents wrapped, rooms ready for visitors and now time to truly contemplate what Christmas is all about. We love to find a village Anglican church with bells, choir, candles, nativity scene etc etc. We turned up at one local church and the lights were on full, no choir and so we made a hasty retreat! Daft probably but being free church it's just so lovely to go and join the Anglicans in what I think they do best. Christmas morning and the babies started opening a few presents but they are still not old enough to understand what is happening. In fact it took days for them to get through their presents as they got side tracked and required food or a nap! I guess it will be different next year!

The twins were rather poorly and Christmas night was rather traumatic with them not sleeping well and the other baby being disturbed as he was not feeling too good either. Midnight saw us all moving cots around, son in law staying up till 4am to check that his son did stay asleep. Next morning Mr P and I had to be up as No 1 and hubby were flying in from Belfast at 8am to Birmingham airport. Also my dad was coming over to join in with the celebrations. As Mr P drove I did my best to convert the living room into some sort of normality after bodies had been sleeping everywhere. Needless to say some people did not get up till later on that morning due to lack of sleep. Amazingly it all got sorted and looked as if we had all had a good night! After lunch my No 4 son and wife had to leave in order to spend some time with her parents in Leeds. We were all sad to see them go but grateful to have had some time together.

The twins amaze me with their ability to lift their legs and feet up. According to my son and daughter in law they sometimes have to remove the girls feet from their mouths in order to feed them - oh to be so supple!

Now Rowan needs no persuasion to eat unless he is ill and there was one day when he turned food down! He has started to interact with his cousins and it is so lovely to watch. I cannot wait to see them all grow up together and hopefully become special mates. At the moment he is winning with having first go on the slide but I think his cousins will soon be making it very clear that they too want to be first on the slide!

Here he is wearing a gnome hat that the twin mummy knitted - I have NO idea when she found time to make this?!

Uh oh looks as if one of the girlies is up to mischief! The days flew by and very soon Saturday arrived and it was time to pack up and say goodbye. For Mr P and I we tried to pack in order to head up north to our home in Northumberland. It was really difficult to pack with everyone else trying to pack their stuff up to! I discovered I only packed one jumper once I arrived up north! This time we head up north not alone but with No 1 and hubby. It was so lovely to have time with them. In fact I'd go as far as to say that this was probably the first time we have ever spent days together without other parts of the family being there too.

 
Sunday we headed out to Holy Island. It was sunny but bitterly cold and here I am all wrapped up with my layers!

The light here is so clear, I guess there is very little polution.

Now I am going to skip through the week, otherwise you'll all be asleep, that's if you're not already!
Monday we needed to get some food and so we headed to Berwick. We were furious as our favourite coffee shops was closed! Guess it's that time of year when some places open up and others take a, I'm sure, a well earned break. Tuesday we headed off to St Cuthbert's cave. This is somewhere that No 1's hubby had never been to and had heard so much of us talking about it.

As you can see we are all wrapped up again! Back in Leicestershire there is snow but up north just very cold.

When our children were small we would come and bring a picnic, sometimes a makeshift BBQ, and they would play hide and seek behind these rocks and in the bracken. This place brings back so many happy memories.

I love seeing wild mushrooms - daren't forage as I would probably poison us all!

OK time for a crafting moment! Here is No 1 showing off her newly knitted leg warmers - good job! But what I should also point out that this log that she is leaning on caused her a problem! She went to jump on it to take a photo and slid off it. Initially she was not hurt but the next day after being up for a few hours she developed shooting neck pains and ended up finding it extremely difficult to move her neck. Heard today, after seeing her GP, that she has a type of whip lash! Poor her. I feel a bit guilty as I just laughed at her and a young man standing nearby was offering her support! Some mother I am!

This was the view that she was getting excited about.

Wednesday started the day with Mr P not having slept the night. He became ill with what appeared to be a cold but was rather nastier than that. So he had to spend the whole day in bed! This is something he has not done for about 30 years! He only got up to make a drink or visit the bathroom! Totally unheard of. Poor No 1 went around with her neck wrapped up in a scarf and keeping it very still. We decided to visit Alnwick and mooch around the shops - so no pictures I'm afraid. Thursday was a rather sad day with packing up as my daugher and son in law had to be driven to Newcastle airport to head back to Belfast. Then I had to drive back up north to drop my husband off at Berwick train station. He needed to be back in Leicester as the next day he needed to conduct a funeral for a lady who was very much loved and thought of highly at the church.

Now I think I have bored you enough with my ramblings. I'll finish off my last few days in Northumberland in a few days time - when I have had a chance to enjoy them.