Friday random

 

How did it get to be Friday again already? I feel like I may have fallen into a time vortex.

 

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post.

 

You have discovered my secret - it is all a great big excuse for wearing fancy dress, and eating cake.

Especially the eating cake. I love food far too much to reduce my intake of it......

 

Exercise is the only way I can allow myself plentiful cake.

But I must clear up some confusion. There is Very Little Running.

And a lot of very fast walking.

And a lot of cake.

 

I made 12 jars of bramble jam this week. It was lined up on the table.

Youngest child making himself a sandwich complained that he couldn't find any jam......

I clearly have invented invisible jam. Do you think it will catch on?

 

 

Yarnbombing at Saltburn by Sea.

 

 

not your average Sunday stroll

 

First join a "cattle pen" filled with 56,000 people.

 

Next take traditional blog style photo of footwear, to show off timing chip.

 

Now spend the 40 minutes it will take you to reach the start line faffing with your costume, warm clothing, layers of fleeces and waterproofs that are doing nothing to reassure you that you will be warm enough in the first storm of the autumn.

 

Reach the iconic Tyne Bridge LONG after the red arrows have done their flypast.....

 

Groan at the half way sign, surely we are further than that.....

 

Speed up as you see the sea, oh and because the road is impossibly steep at this point.

 

Walk round wearing the spoils of war.

 

 

Eat cake.

 

This weekend I plan to be extremely lazy.

preparations for the great north wet and windy

 

2 days to go till my next walking adventure.  A friend referred to it as extreme walking recently. Which makes me think of extreme ironing - on cliff tops or mountain sides.......

This event is safer, but probably just as crazy actually.

 

I have a different walking partner this time, I've swapped my moonwalk buddy for J, he doesn't look good in a mermaid outfit so he's got a nice sensible Yorkshire Cancer Research t-shirt instead.

 

Race numbers attached and ready to go, now I just have to get the weather sorted.

 There's a storm forecast.

Oh joy.

 

Miss K, E and a friend are meeting us at the finish line. I am packing supplies to keep them happy whilst they wait in the wind and rain. I hope they don't eat it all though....

 

 

The cat brought me a contribution to the picnic,

 

 

and left it in my bedroom for me to find.

Mouse pie isn't my favourite so I put it out in the garden, but I haven't told the cat, I don't want him to think I wasn't grateful for my gift........

 

and talking of gifts I need to make more hexagons, they're destined to be a present, and I need it finished by the end of the weekend.

 

Do you have any nice weekend plans? Have fun whatever you're doing.  If you're short of something to do on Sunday morning you could sit down somewhere warm and dry with a nice cup of tea and watch out for me on BBC1. I'll be amongst the other 56,000 crazy people getting wet and freezing cold in the wild wet weather in Newcastle.......

autumn gold

I met up with Ali last week and we wandered the gardens of Cragside admiring the wealth of autumn flowers and colour.

And I knew my garden which was so gloriously bright a few weeks ago had barely a hint of colour in it.

Until I looked closely and then I found there was colour after all, 

but only one, a yellow gold colour the warmth of which mirrored the late summer sun.

Yellow courgettes, and their flowers, ripening pumpkins.

Unexpected sunflowers which grew from spilt birdseed, 

bright golden fennel flowers from a plant I chose for it's foliage,

seed heads bright against the sky.

Sunshine glinting on grasses

Golden rays bursting through the pinks and purples of an early morning sunrise.

There is colour everywhere, I just need to remember to look harder.

end of summer

 

So it's the last day of the summer holidays.

 

We have very few plans.

 

We need to go and get a new front door key cut, so that Miss K can have her own.

 

I think we need to go out for cake.

 

New stationary has been bought.

 

 

 School trousers were the last emergency purchase.

 

E could have done with a haircut, but it can wait I suppose....

 

I am trying to look forwards not backwards.

 

But it is hard. It has been a wonderful summer.

 

I am not quite ready for it to end.