Halloween is not far away ....

....and I am not at all ready!

However I am feeling a little more ghostly and a little batty thanks to Lisa Ridgeon who posted me 2 of her lovely ghosts that I bought from her....

However she's such a lovely lady she popped in a little batty broach and a bar of M & S Marzipan and a pack of chocolate lollies for the kids...


and whenever I get a parcel from Lisa she adds a beautiful origami bird and this time I received a big one and a little one they are beautiful too... I think I am going to save them and with a little piece of added thread I will hang them on my Christmas tree...

Thank you so much Lisa and I am tempted by your felt gingerbread men too! not to mention the Christmas puddings..... you are such a clever crafter!

take care
everyone
hugs
Alex
x

It got me....

Hi everyone, Sorry that I dropped off the planet there for a while.... as expected I came down with Danny's bug and it was a whopper...!

Not this weekend gone but the weekend before I woke in the early hours of Saturday with horrendous chest pains.... with bleary eyes I went down stairs and pondered what to do, I wandered, I sat, I lay down and I got up again... I did not know what to do with myself... 2 hours later I was hugging the toilet like my life depended on it and at 7am I wandered back upstairs kicked Mr P out of bed and crawled in leaving Mr P to look after the children all weekend as I curled up in bed and waited for the grim reaper to drag me away because I really felt that bad...

by Monday I was up but not good, in the end Danny went to mums for the day and I curled up on the settee, Mr P got home and I went to bed again.... and this is how it went on all week

This weekend just gone was a little more normal, I am still not fully back on my food and I am feeling like my head is stuffed full of toy wadding and its tricky to concentrate but every day I feel a little more normal

but if I am still feeling fuzzy by the weekend I think I will take a trip to the doctors and get a check up, just to be on the safe side

Upside of being wiped out:
Mr P and Danny have really gotten to know each other, I have been very silly and far to accommodating and I have always done bedtime, bath time, meals and everything and now Danny looks forward to and asks that daddy puts him to bed... I know its only a little thing but to not have to do the bedtime thing every night is something I am not giving up its such a relief to have someone else to help...

Downside:
I was tooo ill to even crochet!
arghhhhh!
I have however started with new vim and vigour and a polar bear is almost complete, alas I need a cunning plan to finish his ears as I have run out of silver wool... so I will sit and ponder the solution this evening... once complete I will share

I am also behind with my letter swap so I have emailed my lovely partner Molly to apologise and I also have a parcel to post to Nicola and another parcel for Sarah so I promise everyone I will be playing catch up all week and let you know as soon as I have posted your items.

Well I had better feed the kidliewinks and I will post something far more interesting next time...

take care
Alex
x

Yucky!

I feel quite yucky at the moment,

I am not sure if its because Danny is currently unwell and spent yesterday being sick or if I am just overtired and worn out still from trying to do too much

I have managed to step down from the PTA

yay!

So surely I should be full of beans, but my beans are not jumping

I am chatting via email to a lovely ex Clare's school boy and I am getting an idea of what the boys uniforms were like and how they used the house as a school and I have also contacted the archives at the local council and a lovely man called Joseph is helping me out

its exciting to gather information and visualise how life must have been at the school back in the day's that Nanny and Grandpa lived and worked there but I am thinking that all this info should be collected together and I think kept safe for a time when my own children wonder what their Great Nanny and Grandpa use to do when they were in their 60's... So I will stop boring you all to death with my research and histories, after all they are the lives and histories of other people that I do not have the right to publish without a second thought to their feelings or their families feelings

Anyhow... I must apologise for not popping by to all my bloggy friends posts as often as I should and I have swaps to get on with and parcels to post to good friends, I have just crocheted 2 pairs of slippers the first were obviously for myself as my recently purchased Uggs have not arrived and I believe they are being held by customs... so goodness knows if I will ever receive them.

Now the thing that ticks me off about my Ugg purchase was that I purchased them from an Ugg website that calls itself "UK - Uggs" therefore giving you the impression that they send the goods from the UK, but alas no... it would appear that they are sent from China.
I have no idea if the reason for the hold up is my parcel or another parcel within the shipment so I have no idea if my goods will arrive or not... hence the cold feet! :(

now I know a lot of people hate Uggs and I promise you I am no model with skinny legs and silly furry boots on the ends of them, my last pair of Uggs were worn non stop for 2 years ( well obviously I took them off when I went to bed!... well... apart from a couple of occasions when I annoyed Mr P ;D ) anyway they are so comfortable and warm and cosy and I am really sad that I might not get my warm feet this year.... and I will not be ordering anymore as they are not the cheapest things in the world, so I will have to wait and see if the customs peeps send them on to me or whether I am going to be a fair lump of money out of pocket and one step closer to not shopping online because of the uncertainty of waiting for something to turn up in the post.

Danny has finally fallen asleep and I am feeling a little washed out, mind you I slept on a mattress on his bedroom floor last night and he was very restless in the night, he almost fell on top of me a couple times but luckily I caught him just in time... its almost like I slept with some of my senses still tuned in to him... but he has a little colour in his cheeks today and has eaten a few bits and is drinking little and often, so I hope (fingers crossed) that he is on the mend

I was lucky with the weather yesterday too as I managed to wash bed clothes and towels and get them dry all in the same day... today is quite a grey chilly day so I might be cleaning out the fire later and getting it ready for lighting when Jamie comes in from school.

Well I had better go and I promise to show you some creations soon... I really need to get back to basics and share my latest projects...

take care
hugs
Alex
x

Welcome to Brymton D'evercy....

.... this is a brief trip around one of the most beautiful Country Houses I have ever visited this is the front porch... so wipe your feet and shake of the rain

and warm yourself by the fire in the hall

Lets move on and as I look over my shoulder what a beautiful site as we leave the front hall

goodness me.... the stairs are beautiful

Lets pop on up and head for the servants quarters where the rooms have been made ready for our arrival

What a beautiful room
I wonder what memories these walls could tell...

back downstairs and lets head for the sitting room...

when my Great Uncle was estate carpenter this was known as the blue room and when Clares boys school occupied the House it was the Masters dining room and my nanny Tucker would serve their meals in here

I learnt during my stay that this room is in a Rococo style, with the shells and natural forms... or was it Baroque...

beautiful wood carvings possibly by Grinling Gibbons
now lets head through the panelled doors to the sitting room
look at that fire...

as we head through the next room which is the oak panelled library where Susan Ashman has hung the most exquisite Gainsborough silk curtains ( I did take a photo but it was not very clear) we went through another door to the candle lit dining room and enjoyed a beautiful family meal of poached salmon and all the trimmings

back out into the hallway, can you see the door to the front hall in the distance?

lets pop into the dinning room, right behind me is the door to nanny's kitchen where she prepared all the meals for the school, and just to the left of the large fireplace you can see the bread oven... mum says that the boys kept their own jams and toppings for their toast in here... each with their names written on them...
We ate our lunch in here on the first day and in the morning we had a splendid full English breakfast

the door out into the garden is just around the corner and I think these are the windows to Nanny and Grandpa's flat... its now part of the bridal suite...
(I could be wrong though, mum or Auntie B will put me right)

Moving on around the end of the house we can see the front aspect in all its glory....

Just to the Left you can see the Dower house, this was built to be the home of the mother when the son got married and his new wife moved in.... but as it one of the oldest parts of the house along with the front hall I think it was back in the days of the D'evercy family

Just behind the Dowery house is St Andrews Church
and I believe the lace on the altar was placed there by my nanny and that it was made by my great great grandmother on my grandpa's side...
Auntie B will hopefully be able to give me some info on this

Its a beautiful little church, and my 3 brothers and I were christened here
and my middle brothers 3 children were christened here too

Lets head out beyond the lake now

and for a wider view of the back of the house

well I hope you have enjoyed our stroll around the house and my visit and learning about the historical architecture and interior design from Susan and Lindy has whetted my appetite to be more aware of the beautiful houses all around me in my own County and neighbouring Dorset. I have already made a long list of all the places that I intend to visit

I cannot thank Susan enough for that first contact that she made with me through my blog and I look forward to visiting many more times...
Earlier this year I was contacted by an ex Clares Boys school pupil and I have dropped him a line to let him know whats happening at Brympton and he has already gifted to me the names of the masters and will in the future share some more school time memories, I am so pleased to be able to act as the keeper of memories for a time which has so much relevance to my Nanny and Grandpa's lives

If any of you have memories of Brympton I would be very pleased to hear from you and feel free to drop me a line at
pinkfeatherparadiseatlivedotcodotuk

I had a lovely time with 2 other blogger's so why not pop over to visit Jane and Joanne to see their photos of our visit

Finally many thanks to the lovely family now living at the house for being so friendly and warm and making us feel so very at ease in their beautiful home

big hugs to everyone
take care
Alex
x

Will the moon rockets effect the earth?

Do they care?

Why did I hear nothing about this till it had happened?

Shouldn't the people of the Earth have a say in this?

When we send rockets to other planets are we going to blast them too?

what makes us rulers of the universe and will we in fact make the first aggressive move towards another life form starting a war the planet will not survive?

I know this is perhaps getting a little far fetched but really who the hell do we think we are?

We have already rapped and pillaged the planet we call home and rely on for our very existence but I pray we never find another habitable planet we do not deserve to be given a second chance...


the people in charge of each warring faction are too stupid to stop fighting over who owns what to realise it is a chance to start fresh...

Light a candle and pray there is no water on the moon...

Alex
x

TLBG Moresbag post....Better late than never!

Sorry I am soooo late with my post, Wednesday night I was worn out and then I wanted to tell you about someone who's blog I have followed since early days as she makes Moresbags, so I wanted to be sure Josie didn't mind me showing you her fantastic bags...
The first time I ever heard about Moresbags was from Josie on her blog Sykesssillysite and to date she has made 31 bags I believe from what ever she can lay her hands on, it would appear that Josie has been very busy the number is in fact 81!

The Moresbags concept is a really simple and yet effective idea and if I had a space to use my sewing machine I would join the ranks of Mores guys and gals but alas I have no table to work on... however I do have a hook and loads of yarn
with this in mind if I was to create string type shopping bags would people use them as much as a Moresbag?

I will have to make some and start giving them away... mind you I give everything away so there will be no change there! lol ;D

well I had better get on and I will let you know how I got on on my 2 day break at Brympton D'evercy....

Take care
Alex
x

2 days away, I am so excited!

Goodness me I have been so busy, and I have been given so many wonderful things by some lovely wonderful people....

I believe in a good deed being re payed later in life and the balance of both sides of the coin... I had a pretty poor time of it at the beginning of the school term and it was a real struggle but it paid off in the end and Jamie got a place on the school bus...

since then I have been scrabbling back some control over my life I am standing down from the PTA on Thursday and I even managed to say no to a request to chair the Pre-School committee... ( I am not usually good at saying no! ;D) and I have been asked to start a craft club at our village hall, something like a knit and natter but you can bring any kind of craft you like... I have also said no to running it but that I am happy to go along and teach people to crochet if they would like to....


I then exchanged a few emails with a lovely lady called Susan Ashman and I arranged to pop down to Brympton D'evercy House near Odcombe

where she is working at restoring the interior of the country house which is currently being used for weddings and will be the venue for residential courses


Mum, Danny and I had a wonderful morning looking around the house and mum told Susan what each room use to look like and who it was used by back in the 1960's when my Nanny and Grandpa Tucker where housekeeper and caretaker when it was a boys school... Mum had also found photocopied receipts that dated back to the 18o7 and paperwork from when my Great grandfather on my dad's side was a Carpenter for Sir Clive Ponsonby Fane


plus a very interesting letter my great uncle had written to Charles Ponsonby Fane telling of his memories of when he was a carpenter with his father at the estate



My brothers use to play in the house and the whole family use to spend Christmas's there as Nanny and Grandpa had a flat in one of the wings, it was amazing to think that my nanny use to cook for all the boys in that very kitchen where they now prepare food for functions and weddings

Well Susan will be running 2 day residential courses teaching interior and exterior design from Medieval to present day, using hte house as a visual aid every month after Christmas and she has asked me to be an assistant (nothing grand but with my family connection and fabric design background I might be helpful to have around, I hope! :D), I am stunned and so very pleased only the week before Mr P and I had been chatting about what we wanted to do when we were about to leave school and I wanted to get a job working as an interior designer... Mr P wanted to be a farmer... but our respective parents had other ideas and I went to art college studying surface pattern design and Mr P started working as an electronic apprentice...

So it would appear that fate has given me the chance to redirect my life and I am so pleased to have been given the chance to work in a place that my grandparents loved living and working in

Perhaps fate will also assist Mr P sometime in the future.... mind you he will need to do something to change his direction as if I hadn't started a blog I would never have gotten to know Susan. Last week she rang and invited me to a tester/taster 2 day residential on Tuesday, my initial reaction was "wow, yes definitely but I won't stay because of the children...." then after I had hung up I thought " I am not indispensable and I am sure Jamie who is 11 will be fine and Danny who's 3 will be with mum on Tuesday and Wednesday so staying the night in between won't hurt... "

but I still felt so guilty that I was considering doing something just for me... I won't lie I did ask Mr P if it would be okay, I think I needed someone to give me permission to abandon my parenting duties for 2 days...

So after I received permission and I ummed and ahhhed for about 2 minutes I decided that everything happens for a reason and I emailed Susan to accept the invitation to stay and now I am so very excited

I have to go and find my suitcase and the wash bag lovely Nicola sent me in a swap and work out what to wear and get some batteries for my camera...

the anticipation of a night without having to put Danny to bed and all the other rituals of being a mum, cook and houskeeper will be left in other peoples capable hands for just one night .. it feels like I have won the lottery!

Other thoughtful gifts I have received this week were from 2 lovely ladies at the village cafe on Thursday, one gave me a pattern book for crocheted socks, and I have been looking for one of these for months and then another lady gave me a bag full of wool... I seem to be receiving so many thoughtful gifts of late

So I must apologise for my lack of popping by and I promise to catch up with you all at the end of the week but now I am off to dig out a suitcase and get myself packed and ready for my 2 day break, even if its dull and drizzly the sun will be shining because for once in my life I am grabbing hold of an opportunity of a lifetime and living for the moment and its exhilarating

hugs to you all
take care
Alex
x