Breathing in

This week has moslty been about 6th Form. My darling Han is considering various options and while it has been busy, it has also been a bit of an emotional time for me. She is nothing like I was at her age. She is a confident, capable young woman and she is making her choices based on all manner of things, mainly how well they will work for her and her plans and ideas for her future. She seems so adult and at the same time she is still my little girl. I have been very proud watching her conduct herself, how she ask questions, discusses things and interacts with people. The search continues next week as well. It won't be long before Em is in the same boat and they will be one step closer to their own lives....

A quick detour

En route home from an appointment I popped into Ardingly Antiques Fair, which I had no idea was on....just luck really. With barely a penny to my name, getting in was a task...luckily there was a scrunched up fiver in my bag.

There was much to see and a lot of it required imagination and creative juices to see how it could be used. I steeled myself over the gorgeous linen from Sweden and some fabulous retro fabric. I cannot indulge the desire to own something that will sit in a basket or cupboard becoming nothing.

I have a craving for a mirror in the hall, but decided inspiration for one was free!

At a £1.00 table I found this:

The owner said there would be strictly no bartering and payment in cash only....I had .76 pence. Her hubby said that he would take it as long as I didn't tell, so after thanking him, I slipped silently into the crowd. It will look nice after a wash and a bit of blocking.

Great day.

Back at the blog face

The end of October was a blur and for much of it my camera was in the clutches of some young miss who has been to a gaming show in London (dressed as a Japanese school girl for those anime fans out there - complete with floppy bow tie and calf length black socks... and may I add, looking INCREDIBLY normal....she is after all a half Japanese school girl!!). Still she so looked the part that many asked her to pose in their photos.

Tonight the camera is mine once again and this is the latest.

We had Halloween and prepared thus:

We are not very big on the event in this house. It seems somewhat forced, although in my distant youth I did carve a turnip once. I think there was a shortage of pumpkins in my granny's shop in Newtownards!!

The results were:

Strangely, the girls were very protective and did not want to put them out until the actual night...a bit of coercion persuasion did get them out on Saturday night where the slugs then snacked on them leaving them with unsightly facial blemishes...

A neighbour had a fancy dress party where the focus was how fab one can look. I mean cat woman costumes were EVERYWHERE, but not on this bod! I went as a car crash victim (apologies for offending anyone as this is a serious thing to happen) but it was really easy to prepare for.

Dress up all posh
Wear stockings
Slash said stockings at knees - Get daughter to apply fake blood

Get daughter to apply nasty split lip and black eye makeup (source: the Internet)
Mess up hair as if one has crawled from a ditch
Go to party - drink pink champagne - come home!

On the crochet front this little thing is happening

Tiny granny squares with sock wool and four ply rowan wool. I am really happy with my little kneeling pad for the garden finally getting used to block squares on.... On the colour. This is not ideal, but I just had to START something.

Phew, got to blog. I needed that.

And so to bed...for the winter

Warm wind from the Azores apparently made our little space in West Sussex very pleasant today. Big J did a sterling job in the garden preparing the beds for winter and mowing the lawns. I planted out the celariac which have been growing under heavy guard for some time now. We have slugs the size of cats in our yard...no doubt because I will not use pellets and they know it to be a safe haven. However, the tables have turned somewhat and for the first time ever, there is a deterent in the soil around the celariac.

My eldest and I headed out of town for a sunlit walk and came across this:

How I wish! But the sunshine today was as bright as any in Queensland in the autumn.

And lastly, I am working on the BORDER of the blanket.....

Loving London

The more I get to know the city, the more I like it. Today the main reason for the trip was a visit to Australia House to get a new passport for my eldest....She and her sister have THREE each....The High Commission is in Temple and then I walked in the glorious sun shine all the way to Marble Arch. Past the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square where there was some living art on display.

The real thing looked more lush and it was moving in the wind. It reminded me of the Japanese green curtains I wrote about in the summer.

The rest of the walk allowed me to take in more sights and go into shops that usually there is no time for. For the first time I went to Anthropologie. It was funky and inspiring and I would like more time there next visit.

Lots of trying on of boots, some yarn shopping in John Lewis and lunch there too. And I saw this in the window of ZARA HOME

It was the crochet throw that caught my eye. It is called the Melissa Blanket and is in the catalogue. The colours are really calm.

As always, the highlight of the day was a quick visit to Ava and her mum and dad. She is filling out, still looks like a punk rocker, but smiles a lot. How I love that girl!

Home to my own two lovelies, three of us again this week as Big J is up north and Ads is in Hove.

What would Mary say?

Tonight's attempt at Mary Berry's brandy snaps resulted in these:

More lacy, more crunchy and a better batch all together. Thing is though, I work with women WHO LIKE TO EAT CAKE and this would feed only a very few of them. I will have to bake some more tomorrow to make sure there are enough to go around...

Adding up

Last night Han-solo was counting squares on the baby blanket (yawn - you must all be so tired of this...) and discovered that I had only ONE MORE ROW to finish and here was I slogging on with an EXTRA row. Yip Yip Yippee.

That meant (and means) assembly is imminent and I have decided on the border and with luck there will be a TA-DAH here very, very soon...