Somewhere Over The Rainbow

What a lovely version of this song.

I am letting the weeks run away with me.  Today my oldest son, Henry, did his first days work.  It is casual work, but it is a taster.  He was Gardening at a large store for the whole day.  It was hard work, lots of weeding and carrying.  He is very tired and I think the true value of a pound maybe finally sinking in.  He will go again tomorrow courtesy of 'Mom's Taxi'.  He complained that he got his brand new 'work' gloves filthy.
                I met my friend this morning to walk our dogs.  Our dogs have never met before and are both a bit iffy about other dogs.  Our previous dogs were the best of buddies...well my sausage dog, Josh, liked her spaniel, Blue, much more than she liked him...it was a highlight for Josh to see his friend Blue.

Josh and Blue are no longer with us but they were very loved and I know Josh gets talked about in this house all the time.  We have lots of funny happy memories of him.  He really was my soul mate.
           We enjoyed our walk over the meadows this morning.  The dogs met, they had one noisy spat, then they proceeded to ignore each other for the rest of the walk.  I think that is some kind of result.  Not quite the best of friends though.
            I have got the 'Rainbow Theme' for today's post because do you remember An Idea Is Born?  I have been meaning to update.  I have not forgotten or shelved the idea.  I fully intend to make crochet/knitted hats and maybe cardigans for premature babies.  I asked for ideas for what to call this project and 'Rainbows' was suggested by my Blog Buddy Claire. I am aiming to donate a bundle to the hospital where Euan was born next year, near to his birthday, July 10th.   Some of you have already kindly pledged and blogged about your makes too.

Lacey over at 'Mina and Me' has been busy making tiny pink hats.

Teresa has also been busy and has pledged to make five hats for her local hospital.

Between us we should be keeping these teenie preemies warm in crochet and knitted lovliness.  If I have forgotten anyone please let me know because I will set up a 'Rainbows' page to keep track of our work in progress.  If you make anything please share and I will include it, with links,  in the 'Monthly' update post and on the 'Rainbows' page.
                I would like to have one post a month to update this project and it will be as close to the 10th of the month as I can manage.  My own progress has been rather slow...I have 'made' but frogged two more hats.  One step forward two steps back.  I am still searching for good, workable patterns.  All suggestions gratefully received.  I hope to have more to share with you next month.
XXX

The Limpics Closing Ceremony

There is 20 Minutes to go and it is all over.  What a blast!  I don't really know what to make of it all.  It has been an exciting few weeks.  Euan is now practicing his sprinting and wants to be the next Usain Bolt, he does the pose and everything and keeps zipping everywhere breaking into a sprint!
             I know we have done ourselves proud.  I do wonder if our economy will begin to get back to 'normal' now it is all over.  The Opening Ceremony and the Closing Ceremony were brilliantly British.  It makes me very proud to be absolutely bonkers and now I really have a greater insight into why!  We do have a whacky sense of humour here in the UK and lots to celebrate about our culture and history.  Our musical heritage has to be the best in my opinion.  This is one of my favourite songs that was featured in the Closing Ceremony.

I hope you all enjoyed the Olympics and are proud of your countries achievements.  xxx 

Phew I have been Missing in Action ...Again!

This week has absolutely zoomed by!  At the beginning of the week we had a trip to the Cinema to watch Ice Age 4 - Continental Drift.  It was very educational for me.  It did take half an hour for my eyes to get back to normal after wearing 3D glasses and I can crochet in the dark but I can't crochet wearing 3D glasses.  We have also been busy, just being busy.  Housework, gardening, bike rides, dog walks and swimming.  It all makes for a good nights sleep!
            At this weeks Weigh In I lost another 4.5lb making it 29lb in total.  I am quite delighted with this but need to keep on going.  I have still been doing my punishing exercise video each day 'The 30 day Shred' and I have been trying to swim and cycle too.  This morning I moved on to Level 2 of the Shred!  Hilarious.  I am so glad there is nobody to witness my plight as I attempt crazy moves.  It is a miracle I have not hurt myself.  Then I went for a bike ride.  It was rather enjoyable.  I came home to laundry and vacuuming then on to make a 'healthy' lunch.  The photograph is of my delicious salad, mango, cheese, Black Forest Smoked Ham, lettuce, olives, cherry tomatoes, radish, spring onions and carrot.

The Boys enjoyed their healthy lunch too.  I do love all this 'Summer' food.
              I am hoping to get some crochet in today at some point today but I am struggling to fit everything in.  The poor dog needs to go for a walk too.   I think I have three weeks of Summer Holiday left. . . I just don't know if I can keep the pace. . .
Hope you are all well and happy XXX  

I Wanna Jam it Wid You

It is that time of year again already.  I love it.  This year so far I have made:

Three Jars of Apricot Jam.  This is my first time making Apricot Jam.  I no longer weigh or measure anything when I make preserves.  I had a lovely large punnet of fresh apricots and realised in this weather we were never going to eat them before the humid weather got to them.  I chopped and de-stoned the apricots.  I covered the bottom of the pan with water and stewed the fruit until it was soft.  Then I added the same amount of sugar as there was fruit and boiled it all up 'until' it looked right!  I do a spoon test, where I twizzle the spoon and let the jam drip off.  If the jam forms a globule before it drops then I think the set will be good.   This Apricot Jam is delicious and has a good set.  With some freshly made bread it is deliciously naughty!

Then I made two jars of Strawberry Jam for the same reason, fruit does not like to keep in this humid weather and it is sad to see it go in the compost bin.  I used the same method and made some delicious 'Strawberry Sauce'!  Doh it did not quite set, I think I may have over boiled it.  I always use up Jammy mistakes somehow.
                I have had my 8yr old assistant in the kitchen this afternoon helping me to prepare a 'Roast Chicken Dinner'.  He has chopped carrots, potatoes, swede and cabbage.  He still has all of his fingers.  He also made 'stuffing balls'.  It is hard to leave them to it and not but in and get critical, we all have to learn somewhere.  We had a bit of a disagreement over the size of golf balls!  Stuffing balls the size of tennis balls are a bit hefty!  He had great fun and was very well behaved and on task.  He really enjoys cooking and food prep and thinks we should go in to business and sell our wares on the front garden to hungry passers by.  I said 'we could go into business when you are a man and you can employ me'.  He wants to start now!  Euan thinks the 'Strawberry Jam/ sauce is delicious.  He said it would be great on ice-cream.  He seemed to be enjoying it by the spoonful.  We mixed it with fresh, quartered strawberries and have topped it with a crumble topping.  It is rather experimental.  It is all cooking in the oven at the moment and it does smell rather good.  I wish my assistant was this enthusiastic more often.  My partner is a good cook, but he doesn't cook very often and Henry reaches his limit with a toasted sandwich or a Pot Noodle.
                 I could be sabotaging the Weight Watchers regime with all this Summer Jammin!  I better get a grip and cycle it off!  xxx

A Crochet Gift for my Lovely 'New to Me' Bike

It is not quite a Ta Dah!  Hence a Henry off left holding balls of yarn!

I wish this had have been a 'Ta Dah' as I spent 30 minutes in the saddle this morning.  Euan and I had a fun cycle around our local lake.  I am loving this 'seat cover'.  I have heavily improvised and worked from a picture but I am delighted with the results.  I had no idea the 'Blue' would be such a good match for the bike.  Here is a pattern I found this morning, when I have almost reached completion of my prototype.  Crochet Bicycle Seat Cover - Pattern   I quickly ran out to take photographs for you as now we are in the midst of a heavy thunder storm.  Euan is fascinated by the lightening, then we had to run out and tempt the chickens back to bed with corn.  They were reluctant but are all safely tucked up in their coop now.

Henry thinks my seat cover is hilarious but I am 100% certain it is the way to go!  I have more crochet lovliness planned for this bike.  It will be built for comfort and certainly not for speed.  No bareback riding for me.  Oh no!
  Oooh I just noticed my foot in shot!  Doh I would never make a photographer!  (I am a bit of a hobbit and spend more than half of my life barefoot).
              I hope you are having a great weekend.  I will be popping to my parents shortly.  They make the best cups of tea!  xxx

The Angels of Bicycles Have Come up Trumps

Delighted I be!  I believe in 'The Angels of Parking', 'The Angels of Thrift', 'The Angels of Yarn' and now. . .
'The Angels of Bicycles'.  I have been hankering after a bike for a while now.  I gave my old one away on 'Freecycle' as it was a monster.  I had not really ridden on it much but it was like riding/driving a Sherman Tank.  I have always had a bike from very little.  I am not exactly built for speed anymore and cycling is now my idea of an 'Extreme Sport'.  It provides as much of an adrenalin rush as I can cope with.  I had a fall of a bike when I was about 17 and it was no joke!  I have been looking at bikes and going to various bike shops but I had not quite found what I was looking for, for a price I wanted to pay.
              This morning my parents neighbours put out three bikes for the 'Scrap Iron Man' to collect.  My dad explained I was after a bike and the neighbour said 'help yourself'.  Seriously I think this bike is great.  I am just back from my Maiden Voyage.  Euan was behind me coaching (as usual) 'keep your balance Mom', 'Your are doing great Mom'.   I actually went fast!  Wind in my hair, free wheeling down a big hill shouting 'Yaaaaahoooooo'!   I cycled for a grand total of ten minutes!  I am building up slowly as I am no martyr to pain.

  Euan loves his bike too.