Sweetbriar Dreams

So where shall we go on our journey today?

Monday 28 March 2016

Snippets of a Bank Holiday Weekend

Snippets of a Bank Holiday Weekend @ www.sweetbriardreams.blogspot.co.uk

It's a Bank Holiday in England and Wales and true to form the rain returns.  Bank Holiday = Rain, we should just accept it.  I sit here tapping at my keyboard just as the storm 'Katie' taps away at the window panes.  I think it's going to be a cozy day inside.

Snippets of a Bank Holiday Weekend @ www.sweetbriardreams.blogspot.co.uk

At the end of a very busy week at work, I needed to get my home looking more like a place to live rather than a place to collapse.   Luckily I knew Good Friday was going to be a good weather day so the housework was done, the washing had been line dried, the ironing mountain had been conquered, the surfaces were polished, Tia had been bathed and the weekend was now mine!   I had such plans for each day, but the only good weather day was Good Friday and another ridiculously 'named' storm was coming our way - those of you around the world that have real storms stop laughing now (why the met office have had to feel to name them I don't know).  Knowing that this would make the Fen a very soggy place to walk, I took full advantage and me and Tia enjoyed the firm pathways before the storm hit - nothing better!  The daffodils are about to turn, so seeing them still dancing in the fields and against the backdrop of the ever swelling ditches was satisfying to see.

Snippets of a Bank Holiday Weekend @ www.sweetbriardreams.blogspot.co.uk

In the distance the wind farm stood steadfast waiting for the winds to start.  It was already blowy and the sails were all turning, along with the waves of yellow rippling like the sea.


The wind was blowing Tia and her gorgeous long ears.  She loves this place so much, including the car journey to get here.  The back window of the car gets rolled down and from the wing mirror I can see that happy little face looking out with ears and jowls dancing in the air as we make our way down to the Fen.

Snippets of a Bank Holiday Weekend @ www.sweetbriardreams.blogspot.co.uk

The horses at the side of the path were far too busy enjoying their lunch to notice any changes in the weather.


Mind you, they did look cozy in their coats.



Saturday was going to be Mother/Daughter time and lunch was decided in Peterborough at the Handmade Burger Co with Miss Teen followed by some retail therapy.  We don't get enough time together lately so we thoroughly enjoyed lunch and then hurriedly searched for Easter eggs!


Being the bad mum that I am, I had sorted everyone else out with Easter eggs but Mr Teen and Miss Teen!  All the major stores were telling me that they had sold out (hmmm, I thought, let's see how many magically appear on the shelves on Tuesday!).  Luckily a smaller store had a couple of little beauties left, so panic over!  Yes, yes, I know, they are old enough to survive without this level of sugar on Easter Sunday, but traditions are hard to let go sometimes for this mum.


... along with a bit of baking!


Unfortunately this holiday means that Miss Teen will be at Easter School.  Each day she will have to go in and study with her fellow GCSE class mates.  I know it is a good thing for them to do, but she is so tired and with no break now until after her exams, it is a little unfair.  Other schools have study leave, but not her one.  So, early mornings and late nights for the homework to be completed is just too much and I feel that many will burn out before their big days.  She will eventually be an Art student, and I am going to do my very proud mum moment and show you just one piece of her art work for her GCSE project.  Every piece she does has me speechless, so talented.


And so, before another busy week, I will my third cold of the year to pack its bags, and settle down with the blanket that is driving me slowly mad, and make lists for when the weather actually cheers up a bit.


Have a great week - here comes the storm!


Sunday 27 March 2016

A Very Happy Easter


Wishing you all a very Happy Easter! 

(A busier post next time, I'm chasing my tail a little this weekend).

Sunday 20 March 2016

Just Singing Away


Oh, isn't she a beauty! 


Walking past one of the antique shops in Holbeach a few weeks ago, I spotted one of my 'must buy' items that I have always wanted to own.  There it was, on the floor by the front window.  I stood, with Mr Teen and Hubby, staring at it with such love and affection.  "I'm buying it" I said to the two of them.  Only to be knocked back by Mr Teen who told me in his straight talking that I had too much tat in the house and weren't we meant to be decluttering to sell the house.  Well, I hobbled away, quietly upset and we went home.


Little did I know that they had decided to buy it for Mother's Day and later on went back to the shop.  They were very lucky to buy it as there were two other customers who had also spotted it and had gone down the road to get the money.  It was destiny!


My Grandma used to have one of these and I used to look at it and its steadfast engineering.  They certainly don't make them like this anymore.


Inside, the musty smells of the contents where it was once stored are a symphony to my imagination and inquisitiveness to what the machine has made in past such as post War wedding dresses, mini skirts, mending hems etc etc. 


I have traced the date of the machine's production as 1949, not as old as my Grandma's one but certainly as steadfast and beautiful as she was.


Now it will be in retirement, a tactile object to carefully touch and turn and to just look at.  It's place with be eventually in that book lined room overlooking a lake and mountains - when I find that place of course!!

Have a wonderful week, it's going to be a busy one.

Friday 18 March 2016

Five on Friday - Unwrapping


I am so glad it's Friday.  The cork in the wine bottle will be released this evening and sipping the contents will be very welcome.  This time of year flies by to the extent that I haven't even opened by lap top to read and see what is happening throughout the world in blogland.  I have so much catching up to do!  My camera battery also expired after Mothers Day and the charger wasn't working so I missed out on so many shots including the group of twenty swans flying overhead, what a beautiful sight and very windy!  However, the camera is back up and running and I will be out and about this weekend catching up with my technical 'friend'.

So, my five this week has to start with a lovely little package from Amy who hosts Five on Friday at Love Made My Home.  Unwrapping the tissue paper revealed her crocheted hearts which are a joy and now adorn my dresser that has so many things that make me smile.  Thanks so much Amy, they will be treasured.
  

Mothers Day was full of surprises, and this one was very specially received .  Now that my camera is working again I will go into detail at the weekend and show off this beautiful piece of machinery.



 The weather has been differing each day but I have to say we had a real pea souper last week with the fog.  The Cathedral looked as though I was viewing it through tissue paper.



 Earlier that morning as I waited for the bus, I felt very aware of the eerie stillness of the morning as the fog cloaked the graveyard near where I wait.


Unwrapping the contents of an envelope and my first trip to London for this year has been booked!  Oh I can't wait!  I feel like I have a bungee rope tied to me and London is pulling me so hard to get back.  Those who have been reading my little corner of blogland will know just how much I love to get back to my home town.  This trip will take me to the Shard so that I can breathe in the missed polluted air, listen to the sounds of the City and marvel at the high vantage views across my City - let's hope it's not foggy!!  Then off to Borough Market for a bit of shopping and anything else along the way that takes our fancy. 


Unwrapping the mind with the Lily Pond Blanket that I am currently putting together (Janie Crow's CAL project last year).  It has been a little frustrating, but persevering to focus my mind.  I am getting there, but have seen her latest CAL which begins soon.  Hmmmm, shall I just have the Lily Pond as a WiP in the basket??! 
  

So that's my five.  Now, let's grab the camera and take a closer look at the Singer!
Thanks so much for your comments over the last couple of weeks, and in fact all the comments and visits I have received over nearly four years.  You are all a great comfort and deeply appreciated by me.

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Wordless Wednesday - Let's Trap Spring



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Friday 4 March 2016

Five on Friday - Sunset on Another Week


Well, the sun sets on another week.  It's Friday again, where on earth do these weeks go?  Looking back over the week on my phone and camera card, it seems there have been plenty of things going on, and rather a lot of little treats.
  
1. We've had all seasons this week.  It's been cold, it's been warm, it's hailed, it's rained, it's been sunny.  No snow though, the one thing I would love!  I can never tire of this view from the office window looking over to Peterborough Cathedral.


2. A lovely gift in work for us all to enjoy.  The chocolates are from Brugge and when I picked the box up I just knew they were going to be good!  The weight was like picking up a brick.  Solid pieces of chocolate with decadent fillings.  Good job I didn't give up chocolate for Lent! 



 3. As so many of you know, I have been harping on about my feet for a little while now.  The good news is that the Consultant has discharged me and now I can just get on with "being sensible and know when to elevate them!".  No heels for a year and will be eventually a shoe size less than I was once the remaining swelling goes.  Apparently I am already 14mm shorter in the foot size than I was three months ago.  So, I'll stop boring you from now with my plates of meat (my family however will continue to get the moans and groans).  What I will say is if you are considering bunion surgery, yes it is painful for a few weeks afterwards and if you have the two done together it is frustrating and double trouble, but now that I am back at work and able to walk in a fashion (John Cleese would love my style!) and can now walk on the Fens and drive, the pain will be worth it my friends.  Other bloggers have kept my spirits up who have also had this done and I see their posts of them walking enormous distances.  Hope indeed.  So, that really is the last I will say.  This is a happy place and now a Foot Free Zone.  (love my socks though!).



 4. Oh my goodness.  This Lily Pond pattern is so lovely, but I have spent weekday evenings unpicking. 

Am I so tired that I have forgotten to count to 85?!

 I start off with the 86 chains, and then by the end of the straight lines, I am down to 82.  Has the crochet imp sat on my shoulder and made the other 3 vanish into thin air.  Determination will succeed this weekend!!
  
5. I can't not post about Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose's Teacup and Mug Exchange.  I have done this a couple of times and about to sign up again.  This is such an exciting exchange where you give to one person and receive from another.  The instructions are here, we might even be paired up!  This was the lovely Asia at Creative Spell Designs' beautiful box, cards and tea cup gift to me last year.  You can read more about it here.


Stephanie's link is in my side bar.  Come and join in!

Right, time to unpick some more crochet and then wrap a few bits and pieces up for Mumsy's Mothers Day pressies.

Have a wonderful weekend, and for those Mum's in Britain looking after those little ones and not so little ones, as well as our fur babies, Happy Mother's Day!


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