an excess of cakes and even some prizes!

ok here goes, are you ready for an excess of cake and sugar and more sugar, and maybe just a sprinkle more.
ash fallout from the Icelandic volcano isn't what's grounded the UK air industry, it's the clouds of icing sugar from my kitchen..........



we've been busy bee's here in the driftwood house!

some leftover roses from a wedding cake have been put to use

some family members favour the everything in excess style of decorating....

another little bee looking for a flower to rest on.

this cake looks like it might be feeling a little blue? perhaps it's as tired as I was by 10pm after delivering all the cakes and flowers.......

the making of the buttercream icing meant the lemon drizzle cake might have had a few minutes longer than it needed in the oven, and oops look wrinkles from the greaseproof paper - definitely not show standard, but Miss K says it tastes good!

and a satisfying rack of child made scones filled the house with a most delicious smell.

and look - they are prize winning scones no less! E was enormously proud and even more impressed with his £3 prize money, which had to be spent immediately on match attax world cup cards..............

Miss K was more than happy with her millionaires shortbread 2nd prize! and £2 to put towards a mood measuring necklace no less........ but I must just say that whoever thought this is a suitable challenge for a child's class needs their IQ testing. I mean come on, bubbling hot caramel and small children. really......... why?

and me you ask, well my daffs with the orange centres came 2nd! my cupcakes came joint 3rd!

clearly all your well wishes did the trick, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

you may be called upon again.

Both E and Miss K are hugely keen to do this again, at every village show in the county if they get their way I fear. Me. not so keen........... we'll see.............

and just so you don't think we're ALL about cakes here, here's proof that we do indeed do have vegetables too.

and my prize money you might wonder. well I spent my £3 on the these. I love them. they smell amazing. and unlike everything else round here they're sugar free........

reading the rules

picture the scene if you can.
the beginning of a two week school holiday.
with no plans, play dates, or parties.
heavenly you think, until 2 children say
"what are we going to DO?"
and you remember that your hubby is going away at the end of the second week, and perhaps you really should make some plans...........

"we're going to enter the spring show" I say with faked enthusiasm, and show schedules are aquired, and discussed, and pored over, and the rules read.



the garden is assessed, and I decide that these daffodils are miniature, but who knows if they are on the "approved list". if they are disqualified then I guess they are not........



my plans to only have the children enter anything are thwarted when Miss K spots the class for lemon drizzle cake.
lemon drizzle cake is probably her most favourite cake in the whole world.
even more than chocolate.
how can she be a daughter of mine I wonder.
must be due to her father's genes............
anyway I am nagged and nagged to enter the lemon drizzle class.
until I cave in for some peace and quiet..........



also making an entry will be these yellow and orange daffs, who have a class of their own. I do hope I'm not supposed to know what variety they are, I was truly delighted to find them bravely growing in the corner in the shade of the last of the conifers.



and then there will be sea creatures, and funky animals made of vegetables, and scones and caramel shortbread, and decorated cupcakes in the childrens classes.............

so my kitchen tomorrow will be a bomb site of flour, and sugar, and icing and bits of mangled vegetable.
and due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland hubby is not going anywhere until the flights are uncancelled..................
which means he will be home to witness the destruction.

it's just as well I've got a new apron, I will be stopping to read it often I think

wish me luck. not for the winning, just making it through tomorrow will be enough...........

the bunny went this way

we've had lots of visitors recently, but this guy was my favourite.



anyone bringing chocolate is my best friend at the moment.



other blogs seem to be relishing the warmth of spring, talking of wearing skirts and flip flops, but here it's still a bit too chilly.
which is good because I don't love flip flops, but I do love socks.



These will be for my sister-in-law's birthday. It's just as well I've told her about them, or might be tempted to keep them for myself. Miss K wants a pair next.

but this weekend there will be no time for socks.

This is the big flower and vegetable bed creating weekend. So far our gardening has been only the destructive type (we've taken out 15 conifers that formed the boundary at the back, leaving it open to view the nettles that are growing in the wild bit behind our fence) trying to move a deck, (much too heavy.......) and cutting lots of turf. This weekend we're going to edge the beds with timber and then let the planting begin! (followed by some chocolate, just for sustenance of course..............)

sock maniac

I have a new obsession.




a very good friend of mine has called me a sock maniac, and I am not offended, no indeed, I am enchanted by the title.






meet sock one. Oh how happy I am.


sock two will be ready for a photo shoot very soon!








coming up next - meet socks three and four!

moving on

breathe in the crisp cold air,
feel the bite of the hard frost,
take time to walk along the river bank,
before it gets light,
watch the mist swirl on the water,
and the sun come up over the trees.
soul soothing.

beautiful flowers,
a lovely bright sunny sky at the graveside,
unbearably sad,
and yet it all felt perfect.

" a reet good send off" as one of his friends said.

and now we try to adjust and move on......................

the importance of photos

I've looked at a LOT of photographs these past 2 1/2 weeks.

crinkled old photos found in a cupboard with people on them who we're not sure whose who.
newspaper photo clippings with teams smiling after another football victory.
wedding photos with smiling faces.
holiday snaps taken to record memories of a brief moment in time.
proud photo moments; holding the first grandchild, giving the father of the bride speech, cutting an anniversary cake.
generation photos, where we've tried to capture as many of a family as we can at once.

but there's not enough........................... and I've realised that whilst I've been trying for years to get that perfect shot of a sunset or a poppy opening, or frost on a cobweb; whilst beautiful these aren't the photos that are important to me right now........



this one though is right, this one is perfect.

John 14:1-3

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; Trust also in me.
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am.

My father-in-law died suddenly at the weekend.
We've chosen this for the reading at the service.
I loved him very much.