Early September Sunshine

Hello Lovelies, 

what a cheerful, sunny week we have enjoyed this first week of September. Wonderful blue skys.......

It's been perfect cycling weather and I've enjoyed pedalling about and having chance to notice things like roadside produce stalls set up in peoples gateways. At one I bought these Raspberries for a few pennies.....they were delicious.........

The countryside too is looking so pretty. I love seeing the changing landscape you get with agricultural farming. At last we have harvest weather..........

I'm sure this crop will soon be gathered in . Tractors are everywhere, transporting grain and making bales of straw...........

Bright red Hawthorn berries are back too. I'm not sure if this is early or if I just did not notice them at this time last year...........

I'm sure this settled weather must be making the farmers smile after the dismal summer. ........

In my own garden  butterflies and making me smile.....

Stunning Red Admiral

And this year I was so happy to see my favourite butterfly of all......so common in my childhood but  not so prevalent now ..........the pretty  Small Tortoiseshell. 

The weather is forecast to stay good here over the weekend . Hope it's good where you are too. 

Thankyou for all your comments and guesses on my chrochet thingumabob . No one has guessed what it is yet :0)

Jacquie x

Colourful Crochet Fun

Hello Lovelies,
 hope you are well. I can hardly believe it's September all ready. The boys are back at school and the days are getting shorter......sigh. Still , the weather is gorgeous here at the moment and I do love September...such a pretty month.
 Last week , on a day out with the boys and their cousins, I sat in the sun and enjoyed playing with some colourful yarn.
On occasions like this I'm always glad to have such an easy, portable hobby.

I got out my little seaside  tin to add a few more rows to a quick project I'm working on , despite not having finished my seaside ripple yet........

I'm working with Patons Smoothie  again .....It's splitty stuff but I do love the colours and silky feel........

Actually I did not bargain on having quite so much crochet time and only took a couple of balls of yarn.....silly me. I could easily have finished this mystery object..........

It's almost done now and, of course,  I'll be sharing the pattern with you lovelies .

What is it ? Here's a clue :- It's practical as well as pretty ........ooooh .........All will be revealed very soon .....I expect you will laugh when you see what I've been making :0)

Jacquie x

Seaside Holiday :: Part 3

Hello Lovelies,
 on the days that the weather was not kind it was nice to spend a bit of time pottering around inside our little holiday home . The interior was predictably neutral so a couple of Hydrangea blooms popped in a makeshift vase added a bit of colour. In the background you can see my granny stripe completed back in 2010....it's still one of my favourites and in daily use..........

My Giant granny square blanket , made last summer , and patchwork cushions made earlier this year also add some colour and homemade cheer.....

While  the boys were off playing with their cousins I enjoyed playing around taking these pictures. Love the look of my latest project on the round coffee table..........

I didn't make much progress on my ripples this holiday , just hooking an odd row here and there. This was a quite moment which lasted about ten minutes.........

Soon everyone returned and the peace was gone. I'm not complaining though. I love the fact that we holiday with family and there is a ready made gang of five children who get on so well and have a wonderful time together.....

Our modern caravan was very practical but I was thrilled to see this vintage Airstream. I longed to peep in through the windows but there were too many folk around :0)

If you would like to see the interior of caravans like this I found some lovely examples ( with crochet ) here. Just click on the individual caravans for pictures....wonderful.

Staying with holiday nostalgia I also found a display of holidays at Croyde through the decades at our site. 

Loved this Fifties image  of some glamorous looking ladies with their wooden body boards . You can still buy these and we did see them in use.....they worked well. 

No wet suits in sight :0)

I also loved this Fifties caravan. Apparently the box on the outside is a cold store........

This seventies photo reminds me of my own childhood holidays........we had a caravan similar to the ones in the background on this shot. It had gas lights and no fridge or oven ( just a hob and  grill ) but I remember it as being  a very cozy place to sleep with it's bunk beds.........

Does any one remember slides like this ....I do.

Back to the present day......

I love this sketch of the beach, done by my youngest . You can see the body boarders and the lifeguards with their flags, along with the sandcastles and wind breaks........

 a great memento of a lovely holiday

Apart from over 200 photos I didn't bring back many souvenirs . A small gift for a neighbour who looked after the animals. A calendar for my mum, a great way to support the RNLI. 

 For myself A little Emma Ball tin and a postcard add to my collection :0)

I was sad to say goodbye to the sea and the journey home was long ...... but it's always nice to come home . In the garden my White Buddleia had come into flower and the Peacock butterflies were back :0)

Phew , that's the last of my holiday posts.Happy thoughts and memories saved for the future. As I said before , thank you so much for reading and commenting...your comments always make me smile. 

Next time a new crochet project....hopefully if I can get it right....it's a bit of a fun experiment :0)

Jacquie x

Time To Run :: part 3 ( a seaside run )

Hello Lovelies,
 as some of you know I'm currently training for my third Half Marathon. Our holiday coincided with week five of my nine week training schedule. The little sheet of paper pinned on my calender told me that I needed to do two runs . Four and nine miles in distance.

 It's always lovely to run somewhere different for a change but also slightly worrying that you might get lost or end up on a busy narrow road with no footpath. To try and get an idea of  possible routes I visited this site . It gives you an idea of the area and includes routes already plotted by users ( try entering your postcode and see what's there :0)  ). Here  I could see there was a coastal path....... Now I was feeling excited about my seaside run.

 As I mentioned in my last post the weather was pretty mixed for our holiday but on Tuesday I woke at seven, peeped out of the caravan curtains and saw sun. Yessss. I crept out of bed  quietly, and whilst the family slept, headed off for my long run . Well, my eldest woke up and insisted I took my phone ( bless him ...such a caring boy )

 I love being out in the early morning on a sunny day. And in such a stunning location it really makes me happy and thankful I made the effort to get out of bed..........

Looking back towards Croyde Bay..........

As this is a coastal path designed for walking some bits were too steep or dangerous to run.....this scary  view made me wonder if I was breathing deeply  from running or fear........it really was breathtaking :0)

I was glad when the path turned and was not so close to the cliffs, though it was still tough going ,with steep climbs and "locals" to negotiate........

I knew from the map there was another sandy bay around the headland and was excited to see it in the morning sun............It did not disappoint..........

Woolacombe Bay........WOW gorgeous

A little further along the track I realized there is a caravan site practically on the beach .......

What a view to admire from you cozy  little home from home .........I'm sure you must have to book very early to get a pitch here :0)

In this picture you can see the caravans from the other direction and the headland I've just run along reaching out into the sea..........

Looking at my watch I can see I've been out for for 50 minutes already so I decide to turn back and retrace my route, just time to take a couple of macro shots of the pretty plants lining the path.......

Ferns

And one I'm not familiar with........anybody know ?

Back over the stile....

It's so nice to think this wonderful bit of coastline is protected for future generations to enjoy........

As you can see the paths are great for walking but a challenge to run on ...this is a good bit....

I think I only managed to run about 80% of the time and I now have a healthy respect for trail running :0)

Obviously the scenery more than made up for the tricky paths .........

I took the high path on the way back to avoid the scary rocks and was rewarded by a wonderful view .........

Just had to pause here  to drink in the colours and sunlight and space  , it's the sort of moment you want to bottle up and open in the depths of winter.........

These Crocosmia were growing wild all around the village.......

Nearly back now, I can see some big waves and people already in the water..........

Arriving back at our holiday home the sight of our family of wet suits makes me smile. 

Inside my boys are waiting and I feel so blessed . Time for some breakfast and a bit of rest before the beach and body boarding fun. Another day to remember.

Jacquie x

P.S. thank you all for your comments on my holiday posts. It's wonderful to be able to record happy family times in this way  . 

There is one more holiday post to come..........hopefully not quite so long and it includes crochet :0) 

Jacquie x

Seaside Holiday :: Part 2

Hello Lovelies, our week at the seaside saw a wide mix of weather. It was never cold and we only had one day of solid rain. Generally though, the days were a mix of sunshine and showers. 

On Wednesday we woke to rain and wondered what to do with the day. Searching through some leaflets we found one for an Aquarium at Ilfracombe . It sounded like a good option on a wet day so we headed off. 

As we arrived the rain stopped and I was delighted to find a lovely harbour surrounded by pretty buildings.......

better still it was a working harbour with fishermen mending their nets and lots of interesting fishing paraphernalia.....

And look at the harbour's entrance with it's  impressive towering cliffs

on the other side there was a little lighthouse on a small steep hill......

I've since found information about it here.  Wish we had made time for a visit

As you can probably tell from the number of photos I've taken I loved this little harbour. 

There were several boats offering sailings to explore the coastline.....ooooh , yes that sounds like fun now the rain has stopped.

We booked our places , had lunch then waited on the quay . The sun was shining and I couldn't resist taking even more photos :0)

Soon it was time to embark .

As we left the shelter of the harbour it was great to see this stunning coastline from the water...

And whizz across the waves, getting splashed by spray and buffeted by the wind.......

At each interesting feature the captain slowed the boat and told us a bit about the area. This is Watermouth bay...

It has a castle but it's pretty hard to see from this angle !...look in the trees to the right of centre :0)

The sun kept disappearing behind  clouds , but when it shone the rocks looked so colourful.......

Such a dramatic coastline............

As the clouds gathered it was time to head back ...

We did spot some wildlife.....gannets, oystercatchers and a large fish that jumped right out of the water, but I didn't catch it's name....I think the fish was the highlight for the boys :0)

As we pulled back into our mooring spot the rain began to fall ( you can see the drops hitting the water in this shot ).........

We sheltered in a doorway and thankfully it was short lasting  . When the sun reappeared I squeezed in a couple more boaty shots......

Before it was time to say goodbye to this gem of a spot. It's somewhere I would very much like to return to one day. We might even make it into the aquarium next time :0)

Jacquie x