The last day of summer ....

31st August.  Bank Holiday here in the UK.  And torrential rain nearly all day.  And it was cold - not above 14 degrees.  It certainly feels like the end of summer, although I am hoping for an Indian summer somewhere along the line!

It got me thinking about the summer we have just had and how easy it is to forget the things you have done by doing more things quickly after!  So our summer in some pictures:

The weather in early and late spring was lovely so we made elderflower cordial very early on in June

Home Ed kayaking group met for their second course of the year - the weather was somewhat cold!

Impromptu visit to the National Trust's Hidcote Gardens - truly beautiful and inspiring gardens - well worth a visit

A break on our journey to Bude saw us stop at another National Trust property - this time it was Tyntesfield.  It was the first time we had visited and there was sooo much to see.  Another visit is definitely in order, probably without the children!

We went to Bude for a week and were greatly surprised by its beauty and warm welcome. We quickly fell in love with it and we were already talking about a return visit before we had even left the town environs on our departure!

The lobster pots at the end of the sea canal - that just happened to become my blog header ...

One very happy surf mad daughter - it was hard for her to leave the coast of New Zealand and live in the middle of England

July saw the arrival of my Handi Quilter Avante longarm quilting machine and a glut or Project Linus quilts to practice on, here, here and here.

I attended an indigo dying workshop with Edwina Mackinnon and loved the results

On the Home Ed front things wound up for the summer but there was our monthly group meet up in Snitterfield, a production of Tom Sawyer, sports sessions at the playing fields, a trip to Sulgrave Manor to attend an Explorers in the 16th Century day, a day of presentations on European countries, a visit to the Lunt Roman Fort near Coventry and a lovely day spent at a local farm helping them with hedgerow planting.

August started with a very full to-do list

The Webb Ellis cup, the trophy awarded at the end of the Rugby World Cup, came to Stratford which was cause for great excitement in our household - although we have a divide in our loyalties when it comes to rugby!

August also contained:

- a Flower Show, more to come on that

- lots of sewing on my Straight Line Bow quilt, progress can be seen here, here, here and here

- time spent with family, birthdays, barbecues and sleepovers

- time spent with friends, on the water and in the woods mostly

- lots of reading, magazines and books

All in all a great summer, despite the weather.  I won't be sad for autumn to start I think it's my favourite time of year, but then again I like spring too and I guess winter and summer.  I think what I like is the change of seasons.  When I lived in Tauranga in New Zealand I missed the four distinct seasons we have here in the UK so now I truly relish all that comes with each season and the natural cycle that we move in through the year.  Goodbye Summer - until next year! x

What a day ...

Yesterday we had a brilliant day!

I have been very busy the last month trying to start on on-line business so my time has been pretty precious.  How can it be that you want to start something that is all about making things and end up not making much but spending LOTS of time on your computer?

Anyway, yesterday we went over to my Mum's for breakfast with some friends who are visiting from Canada.  Breakfast was delicious - fruits salad, homemade granola, pastries and true Canadian Maple Syrup.  Did you know it takes 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of maple syrup?  Now I understand the price.  They had also bought over maple butter which I haven't tried yet but will look forward to next time I am at my Mum's.

Then it was off to Packwood House.  It's a regular haunt of our but we hadn't been this summer yet and I really want to the house in the woods I friend told me about.  They have some follies in the grounds which were amazing to look at.

The girls had great fun figuring about what parts of the pieces of furniture were used.

I was using a digital SLR for the first time.  My nephew has lent me his and I had so much fun - 200+ photos is a testament to that!  I have a manual SLR which I was really enjoying using before Miss M was born (nearly 10 years ago now) but have since just used a compact digital camera.  Oh it was so lovely to look through a viewfinder again and to have sports and macro modes.  I won't put up all 200+ but here's a few ....

 

 



They both raced up to the lake edge and couldn't wait to feel it.  "It's kind of like a beach.  I just want to go swimming in it!"  Water and the coast is certainly something that has been missing in our lives since we returned to the UK.

I got beautiful shots of Miss C dancing wildly on the lake shore but, unfortunately, I was not allowed to use them.  I was, however, given permission to use the one of the back of her head!