A Night at the Museum

Tomorrow I fly off to the UK.

And I still haven't got back into a blogging routine

and managed to visit everyone.

I usually fall behind with my blog when I'm away

and I won't have access to a computer on this trip.

I haven't even blogged all the photos from my previous trips to the UK.

So as these photos were ready and waiting for some words

I thought I would post them now.

On my Eastertime trip,

we went to a museum. ( The Hancock in Newcastle, as the link is broken).

It used to be an old fashioned one

with lots of stuffed animals.

But it has had a makeover.

With some scary additions.

I remember this T Rex from years ago.

Still a scene stealer.

I was so busy snapping away taking photos of the family,

I didn't get to see what this exhibit was.

Shame on me!

Some family fun.

I like the next two photos for their

blurryness,

and quiet interlude

in an otherwise

silly day.

Beware the Roman soldier.

And the Easter Bunny.

And a long

wait.

Little Pink Flowers and Biscuit Cake

Sunny warm weather,

which we are still enjoying here in Germany,

calls for some

light summer dresses.

I bought a couple when in the UK recently

and was so pleased with them,

I rashly went and bought a dress pattern and fabric.

The best thing is,

I've made the dress!

It must be years since I've made myself a dress,

though my daughter

got me back into sewing dresses

when she asked me to make one for her.

That was two years ago.

I made the 'ghost dress'

mentioned above,

an odd choice and some very slippery fabric it was too,

but I also made a second dress for her in some Happy Hippo fabric.

Another odd choice.

But they both looked lovely.

The best thing is though,

is that it got my daughter interested in sewing.

She still sews,

though she doesn't seem to blog much now.

I've sewn

for as long as I can remember.

Taught by both my mother and grandmother.

Sewing my own clothes all those years ago

led me to taking up patchwork.

An obvious detour

what with all the lovely scraps of fabric left over from dressmaking,

I just had to put them to good use.

Another love of mine,

is baking.

Yesterday, I decided to make some date scones.

I tend to use my food processor for the job these days.

I thought I would whip up a Victoria sponge while I was at it.

An easy cake to make,

but I thought I'd make it even easier by using the food processor

to make it even simpler and quicker,

(always important when you fancy a slice).

Unfortunately, it turned out on the thin side.

I did wonder at using the food processor for the job,

but it was one of the recipes that came with it.

So I've called it Biscuit Cake.

Sponge cake with a crunch to it.

It's still nice,

but it wouldn't win any competitions!

Well I'm off to sew some buttons on my dress now.

They are really quite tiny.

It's just a very small basket.

Sunny Days

The weather has been so HOT here in Germany!

I just had to update my blog

to something sunny.

These photos however were taken

from my recent UK visit

from a day at the seaside with the family.

My niece and grandson are inseperable when they meet up.

Here they are looking out over the North sea

after playing on the beach below.

I've been back in Germany for a week now.

But I have already booked flights for a return visit to the UK

having won some tickets for the BBC Good Food Show.

In the meantime,

I've some catching up to do with my sewing

and crocheting.

Fortunately it's a bit cooler here today

so a good time to complete my Ripple Blanket I think.

Yesterday I had to abandon it as it was so hot resting on my knee.

Hopefully I will be able to show it to you soon!

Wishing you a sunny weekend.

A Murky Day

The weather has been changeable while I've been in Cumbria.

On Wednesday last week

Three of us set off into the Lakes.

We drove up by Borrowdale and parked the car

where we could take a look at the view,

such as it was.

Rather murky.

But nevertheless,

we set off for a walk along a closed valley to a place called

Watendlath.

Along a narrow,

twisty road.

Lined with dry stone walls.

Watendlath is a little hamlet at the end of the road with a few

Lakeland buildings,

one of which is a tea shop!

Beyond this bridge is a tarn,

(a small lake).

It was generally overcast,

and started to rain.

Not that the ducks minded.

They seemed used to people,

and saw them as a provider of food.

The picture below was taken on the way back when the sun came out for a short time.

Just before the thunder,

which was deafening,

and frightening,

and lightening,

which I didn't notice,

began.

That evening on the local news,

we heard that a number of walkers

in a valley to the west of where we had been had been struck by lightening!

I think we were very fortunate

in that we only got wet.

Cat in a Box

As promised,

I'm back with more photos.

The first one is from an evening walk I did with my sister and a friend

in Cumbria.

These two are of my sister's cat,

Jazz.

She loves boxes.

Can you tell?
She's a Bengal cat.

They have a bit of a reputation I believe.

They don't like other cats,

but may tolerate dogs.

I 'spotted' this dog outside a colourful shop in Keswick in the Lake District.

I liked the black and white against the colour.

I rather liked this little area in a coffee shop.

I must admit that I have uploaded these photos in the wrong order!
Before we went into Keswick,

We had a drive along one of the Lakes,

Thirlmere.

The view below is the view we had while enjoying our picnic.

Before we had our picnic

we took lots of photos.

I love Bluebells

so I was pleased to see some down by the lake.

Of all the lakes in the Lake District,

Thirlmere is fairly quiet.

The photo below is looking across Thirlmere towards Helvellyn,

a popular fell with walkers.

I've been having problems with the camera for a while now,

not wanting to focus.
By the time the camera decided to respond,

this sheep and her lamb

had had enough of posing and were running away!

One of my favourite fells in the Lake District is Blencathra.
We took a back lane to get the following shots.

Except for this shot below!
My sister took this of me

getting down low for a photograph

at Thirlmere.

Farmlife and Bridges

HELLOooooooooo!

Long time no see.

Though some of you have been kindly stopping by to check up on me.

And I appreciate that, thank you.

It's difficult to get going once you have a break.

But I've had these photos ready for a few days now

just waiting for me to find some words to go with them.

So what have I been up to on my unplanned blog break?

Well I have been working with hexagons.

Elongated hexagons.

An idea I saw a couple of years ago in a magazine

but only now am I following it up,

 I was able to buy the necessary template on my last visit to the UK.

I have to work from a template to make my pieces accurate.

I'm afraid everytime I try to draw a shape accurately,

it's never good enough.

I find these quite time consuming and more fiddly than the regular hexagons.

But I love the effect,

when pieced together.

What else has been happening?

Well flowers in the gardens seem to be blooming generally.

The flowers pictured here are taken in my sister's garden.
And from a garden we visited last weekend.
Yes I am on another visit to the UK!

Unusually,

we have had some lovely weather in Cumbria

since I arrived over a week ago.

My sister's garden is full of birds.

I enjoyed listening to this Blackbird singing his heart out one afternoon

as I sat reading my book below.

This little fellow came to join me for a while.

Last Sunday morning started off sunny and warm.

So I set off with my camera

for a walk along the river.

The county show is coming up in July.

Both my sister and I have been looking at the categories for entering

exhibits.

We both thought we might have a go at entering some photos.

One of the categories is 'Farmlife'.

Another is 'bridges'.

So both of us have been clicking away

trying our best to get some interesting shots.

We must have taken hundreds of photos

trying to capture the right one.

We're still looking.

But it's enjoyable.

And I'll be back with some more photos soon.