:: MIA ::

I may be Missing In Action for a while.  My 40 something self, while on a search for a missing cat had an encounter with a steep hill and some slippery shoes. The result being a broken ankle and torn ligament.  I'm now the happy owner of 7 titanium screws and plate in my ankle.  Thankfully though we found the cat, Spuds sister, Mrs Pickles hiding under a car.  She came out to check on me after my fall.  Luckily my screaming didn't scare her away.

Take care and keep crafting! 


Toddles...L..x..♥

P.S. Ok, so I lied, there is NOthing happy about having screws in your ankle.  Broken bones hurt like the devil.  Lying in bed for two weeks may sound like fun, but not when the pain is so bad you can't even manage a tiny bit of knitting.

Little J Love

Hello!  Welcome & Happy Wednesday.

Finally on the downward slide to the weekend.

Phew!!!  This week has been exhausting.

Let me tell you a little about my Little J, the youngest of my three J's at almost 12, as he would say.

Of late, Little J has taken to spending his pocket money on trips to the hardware store to buy wood and nails and a fancy hammer.  He mostly spends his time creating all kinds of guns and swords and other things to shoot stuff around the yard.  

It's fairly harmless, better than video games and he is actually very creative.  Little J spends most days outside sawing and hammering and generally keeping himself occupied.  

Once in a while he'll dash inside to show me his latest handiwork.  

Explain how it all works.

Drag me outside for demonstrations.

And tell me  how he's going to create a fortune selling his guns.

Of course, he's already decided when he grows up he wants to be a gunsmith.

I myself am not fond of guns, but he is a boy and we do live in a community where guns (for hunting purposes) are the norm.

He does have a real gun, but it spends most of it's time locked up in the gun cabinet - safe and sound.

He knows all about gun safety and has only fired it once, under very close supervision.

So, we shall see if he sticks with his idea to be a gunsmith.

Would you like to see his latest creation?

It's my favorite.

Remember, he's 11 and it's a one of a kind.

Little rustic, but awesome in my books.

Here it is......

 Yes, Little J has made me a little bed for Blythe!

I had given him a little hint, since he's the only one who doesn't make fun of my new obsession, but I was thrilled beyond belief when he handed it to me. I didn't actually think he listened or would use his precious wood on something for me.

It is something I will treasure for EVER. 

He cut out the headboard and footboard with his Dad's jigsaw and used two dowel rods for the bed rails/frame.

Then I helped him stretch an old piece of denim between the two dowels to make a mattress of sorts.

Of course I had to add a few stitches to it and Little J helped me with the red coat of paint.

Isn't it sweet?

 Love you Little J!

Little J is not so little anymore.  He's off to middle school in two weeks.  I wish just once when I took his photo he wouldn't pull some crazy face. Crazy Little J with the sweetest kitty ever, Miss Skittles from next door.

Aren't the things your children make the best gifts ever?

Toodles...L x ♥

Our Last Field Trip

I've been hanging onto these photos the last couple of months contemplating a blog post.  It makes me sad to think these photos were taken on Little J's last field trip of his school days.  Next year he's off to middle school and the days of Mum's going on field trips are over.  After seeing the squirrel on our walk the other night it reminded me of the BEST part of our field trip to Washington DC and I just had to share it.

After a VERY long bus trip to the capitol, we arrived a the Lincoln Memorial. Whilst walking from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument on our way to the Smithsonian Museums we came across the most interesting residents of the District of Columbia.

Sad to say, nothing we saw after that was as exciting as these little guys.

These little guy were lightning fast. 

I couldn't take snaps fast enough.

This one was black.  I've not seen a black squirrel before.  The photo makes him look reddish brown, but he really was black.  I hear they have white squirrels too, but we didn't see one.

There must have been five on them racing up and down this tree, stopping quickly to snatch treats from our hands.  

They were FAST.

And adorable.

I wanted to take one home with me.

And they love love loved Cheetos.

Not the healthiest of snacks for them, but it was all we had.

 They lived in the most fantastic tree right next to the reflecting pool.  For being in the middle of busy Washington DC, it was beautiful.

We visited loads of museums and monuments, but it was unanimous that our most favorite moment was feeding those squirrels.

Toodles... L x ♥

My ♥ Monday

After a morning of sweeping, mopping, dusting and tidying I spend blissful day off surrounded by lovely baskets full of yarn.

It was like a little day in heaven.

Happy Monday.

I do hope your week is off to a good start too.

Toodles  L x ♥

A Little Wander....

Well it certainly seems like August has come around quickly.  It seems like only yesterday I was watching the trees turn green and planting my vegetable patch.  Time seems to be whizzing by this year.  Don't you think the days go faster the older you get?

Speaking of the veggie patch, other than being decimated on more than occasions by a certain long brown dog, we've had loads of lovely green beans this year.  Really the only success so far, other than a few delicious peas.

The green beans are to die for and there is often green bean thefts at the dinner table.

:: YUM ::

I've loved these beans so much, that I'm certain I could live on them alone. I have found that since I started working from home I spend my days eating. ALOT. The fridge is just too damn close.  My waist line is expanding at an alarming rate.  So, I've decided enough is enough.  I need to eat less, eat better and exercise more.  I'm taking the advice of my boss, who also works from home, and I'm going to pack my lunch each day to limit my eating.  I hope this works.  Do you think it will? 

Last night, with some encouragement from Big J, I decided to take a long walk after dinner.  Unfortunately there are no nice footpaths or fields to walk through or picturesque villages close by.  Although not dangerous, our little part of town, often known as 'The Dingle' or 'Westside' is starting to decline and get run down.  Too many rentals, not enough home owners, too many people with no home ownership pride - you can definitely tell the homes occupied by the owners.  Anyhoo, I'm waffling.  To try and enjoy my walk I decided to take my camera and document the lovely things I enjoyed.

Just at the top of our street I came across these amazing flowers.

On closer inspection I realized I had these in my garden!  Mystery flowers that I nearly pulled up thinking they were weeds.  Actually initially I thought they were my dahlias, because I've never grown dahlias, but clearly they are not.  But I love them all the same.

 At the top of my street we turned to go down the alley between our street and the next. You can't walk down the street next to ours, there is no verge, shoulder or sidewalk to walk on, just a steep hill.  As sad looking as the alley may be, I quite enjoy walking down it and spying into peoples gardens.  

Yes, I'm nosey like that.

 Sally loves the alley.  Lots of unsuspecting cats to chase!  No one really walks down the alley, so the one poor cat we came across got quite a surprise.

 We came across this great apple tree in the alley.  Sadly it seems that no one picks the apples and there were loads on the ground.  Seems like such a waste.

The house next to the apple tree looked sad and shabby, but clearly occupied so as much as I would have loved to pick some apples, I thought it best not to.  I think the house is exactly the same house as ours - same floor plan etc...  It has the same shutters as our house, except sadly we only have them on the front of our house, the rest were lost and gone before we bought it.  Still, since these houses are almost 100 years old, I think its amazing it still has them all.

In fact the other day I some how came across photos of the houses on our street being built! Not our house exactly, but just a couple down the way.  All of the houses on our street are one of four or five designs/plans, our house style being the least popular.  (You can see our house on the side bar of my old blog.)  They were built originally for the executives of the Kelly Springfield Tire company in 1917.

(Image from this site.) 

I'd love to find an old photo of our house as I am so curious of it's history. I do know we are the third owner and the last owner had the house for about 75 years.

Sorry about that, got off on a bit of a tangent there waffling on about houses and such.

So we're heading down the alley now.

It's steep and slippery. I like to walk on the bricks in the middle.

 Once we're out of the alley we head up to Cleveland Street.  Past some very run down unloved houses, you know, the sort with the sofa on the front porch and a dozen broken toys in the yard. I'll spare you the photos of those - well actually I didn't take any!

This little street call Cleveland, makes me forget we're in the city and think we are actually out in the woods.

 We stop for a quick photo of my boy and the dog.  I realize I have so few photos of my boys anymore.  They tend to run for cover when they see the camera, so I grab the chance for a quick snap.

Sally's enjoying a little break.

The woods on Cleveland were full of mozzies and gnats.  Both of which I dislike immensely.  Mozzies 'cos they treat me like some sort of buffet and eat me alive and gnats 'cos they love to dive bomb into my eye!

 Much to Sally's delight we come across some of her furry friends.  Well, she'd like to make friends with them, they of course think otherwise and run for their lives.  We snuck up on this one.

 After more than 20 years in this country I still get excited about seeing squirrels in the wild.  Which reminds me, I must post about the squirrels we met when we were in Washington DC a few weeks back.  Friendliest squirrels EVER.

I love these trees across the street from where the squirrels were hanging out. I think they are American Sycamore trees, but I"m not certain. I love the bark. It's white and peely and has a lovely soft velvet texture.

 We're heading down Cleveland now, back to our street.

Do you see the brown house?  It's the first house in the black & white photo above.

Nearly home.   

 Back home at last. 

My rather messy flowers are starting to look very colourful.

 Well I hope you enjoyed that little wander and ramble.  Thank you for coming along and listening to my nonsense. Very brave of you.  As I said, nothing particularly picturesque, but still a nice little walk.

Happy August!

Toodles...L x ♥