Wild camping

Yesterday DH drove both of us back from the hotel to my mum's to collect the dogs. We'd decided that as DD was going to stay with her boyfriend for the night that we were going to have a night away in the van. So when we got home it was time to unpack the overnight bags and pack the van with food and clothes! 

We set off heading for a lovely spot we'd seen last weekend when we were out walking. However, when we got there someone else was already parked up for the night! This happened for the next three spots that we'd seen!! But, as I also wanted to make sure that we had a phone signal, it made it a bit more difficult to find anywhere as we were in the middle of nowhere. We eventually found a nice little spot just off the road. 

After tea and a bit of a dog walk we put the bed up in the van. Oscar must have thought it was his bedtime already and promptly went under our bed on his towels! 

He looked really cute!

So after a lovely lie-in this morning, this was our view from the van .....

It's so lovely to wake up to a view like this. 

After breakfast we decided to go on a walk with the dogs further up the road, from Dunsop Bridge.  We started and ended with blue sky, with a few clouds inbetween. 

It wasn't very busy which was lovely too. And we finished the walk with an ice-cream from the village store. Perfect!

Wedding!

DD's Auntie got married yesterday. And what a lovely day it turned out to be. 

DD headed off on the train on Thursday to stay overnight with her Auntie and to help with last minute stuff. I think it was a bit stressful as they were still decorating the reception room early yesterday before getting ready to head off to the Registry Office! DH drove the two of us over in the morning after dropping the dogs off at my mum's for the night.  After a quick detour to where DD was getting ready, to drop off last minute makeup for her to do her Auntie's makeup, we headed for our hotel to get checked in before going to the Registry Office. 

It was a lovely ceremony and both Bride and Bridesmaid looked amazing (I know I'm biased about the bridesmaid as her mum, but she really did look lovely). Her hair was amazing too!

As did the flowers and accessories .....

 DD's boyfriend arrived not long after the ceremony, just in time to get on the minibus taking us all to the reception. 

The girls had done a wonderful job making the reception room look fabulous - all done in lilac and silver. I think everyone had a good time, and the bride was still smiling when we left!

I hope the bride and groom have many, many happy years together. 

Bank Holiday Weekend

Only part way through the Bank Holiday and already we've tidied up the garden and been out walking!

I had an extra day off work at the end of last week, having managed to book Thursday off, so I've had a few days to try and catch up with jobs and crafty stuff. I've been able to make some more bead and button jewellery, make some more Fimo beads and do some research about packaging options for jewellery.

 I also let DD drive to the supermarket and back again on Friday. She's getting quite good at driving now - she just needs lots of practice so that she can put in for her test.

A lot of yesterday was spent sorting the garden out - weeding and general sweeping up and tidying. I also discovered yet more courgette's growing, and picked lots more tomatoes! I really don't know what we're going to do with them all!!

And today we went for a walk - DH, Oscar and Molly. We haven't taken Molly out for a walk for a while as she isn't able to do any long walks these days - at 16 it's probably time for her to be taking it a bit easy now. But she seemed to enjoy the walk we did today and we had some fantastic views.

I've also managed to use up nearly a whole courgette in yet another cake tonight - another lemon and courgette cake with chocolate drops in it (only another 6 or 7 courgette's to go .......!)

Sunshine and showers

What a wonderful sight as I set off for work this morning. Despite the rain coming down there was a wonderful rainbow! 

Sadly my photo's dont do it justice as it was fabulous. 

Then tonight, more sunshine taking Oscar by the canal. 

What a day!

Happy Monday!

Another gap in posts! No doubt I'll get the hang of this blogging eventually!!

Last week, and, to be honest, most weeks really, are spent always trying to fit too much in to the time that I've got available outside my normal working hours, probably like a lot of people trying to juggle work/home life in the best way you can. 

Last week was also taken up with trying to find different courgette recipes as we're trying to use up the never ending supply of homegrown supplies. With two cakes made at the beginning of the week and courgette in Friday's curry, Saturday was DH's turn to find a recipe. He came up with stuffed courgette with couscous and chorizo .......

.....and very tasty it was too! 

Yesterday was another chance to use up some courgette to have with roast chicken legs - cooked with more chorizo, tomato and onion as a side dish (I could get used to DH doing more cooking ....!)

Yesterday was also an opportunity for us to get out walking again. So, despite the weather forecast we headed up to the Lakes, and as a joint decision we headed to Thirlmere. After seeing the sign to say the walk we wanted to do was closed for tree felling, we opted to do a low level walk which still has some views out over Thirlmere. And the weather forecast was right - we ended up getting soaked more than once! Thank goodness for waterproofs!! 

I've also been busy making some jewellery, just to see how I get on.  This is the result so far ……

And I've also made another cake. And the secret ingredient this week? You guessed it - courgette!!! Another chocolate cake but with chopped nuts on the top this time.

And today? Well, today's been a normal day at the office, then rushing round to get stuff done at home before having tea, and then I'm off to line dancing - having missed last week I'd better go or I'll be forgetting the steps!

Have a good week!

Food Alert!!

The last couple of days have been been filled with food!

Having finished off all the chocolate and courgette cake last week, it was time to try another cake recipe which included courgette (we have to eat them somehow!). So after a brief browse on the internet I decided to make a frosted courgette and lemon cake.

And then, to use up more courgette's, I also made a carrot and courgette cake for DH to take with him to work this week.

To add to the cake overload, I had a day off with DD today so I took her for afternoon tea at The Garden Kitchen at Holden Clough Nursery. This is what they serve you ………..

What a fabulous way to serve afternoon tea! (and it all tasted wonderful).

And after sharing a picnic table this afternoon, we haven't really eaten much since then ………..

Trees and a Hen night!

We finally have light in our back garden! The tree man came and was able to finish his work yesterday. So we've gone from this ……

… to this ……..

And, as the wedding of DD's Auntie gets closer, it was time for the Hen Night last night. I'd booked a hotel room to share with DD as it wasn't close to home. So while the tree's were being trimmed, I drove DD to our hotel.

The party itself was going to be on a canal boat - just the ladies and a 'pie and pea' supper.

It turned out to be a really good night - 32 ladies having a good time complete with disco, drinks and food (a huge slice of steak pie with mushy peas and gravy), while the boat travelled up and then back down the canal. 

When we arrived back at the start there were a few ladies who had decided to continue the hen night by going round a few pubs until the early hours, but DD said she was tired so we headed back to our hotel.

Then today we headed back home in the rain.

When we got home I decided to have another play with my Fimo to see what I could make. There seems to be so much you can do with it! Here's what I've managed to make today ….

More courgette's!

Just a quick update to say I made the courgette fritters this afternoon - courgette and feta.

They were so easy to make too! I had a couple with some sweet chilli dipping sauce and they were delicious.  

I might just have to make some more though as I only used up just under half a courgette, and there's plenty more to go at.,......

Garden update.

The courgette's just keeping coming! I have never had so many in the all the years I've been attempting to grow them. So we have two large courgette's already picked, and then there's these.......

And at last it looks like the tomatoes are starting to ripen .....

So I'm hoping to be able to eat some soon. 

Then there's the strawberries which are also doing better this year than previous years ....

I've noticed lots of blackberries ripening too when we've been out, so I think it must be time to go blackberry picking very soon.

So, blackberry and apple crumble, tomato chilli chutney and possibly courgette fritters to look forward to! 

Crafting!

We didn't go walking yesterday as the weather forecast wasn't all that good, so I decided to use the time to try out some of my new crafty bits. I've been gathering a few bits and pieces together to try and make some jewellery. I've some charms and jump rings and other bits, along with different colours of Fimo so I can make my own beads.

I've got loads of ideas of what I can make in time, but this is what I've started out with at the moment, just a few beads in purple …….…

……and then a sort of turquoise and white …….…..

…….and then I tried to be a little bit more creative and made these ……..

Having not used Fimo before I was quite pleased with what I made. 

I just need to find a few more hours to carry on and make some more!

Trees and cake!

So this last week has been yet another hectic week, hence the lack of posts from me.

My supervisor has been off during the week, and as I'm the deputy on the section it was my first time being 'in charge' of the section. A very scary thought! Something I've not done before and so there are probably things that I haven't done that I should have done, but I've seen it as a learning experience for if it happens again before we have a move round in the business in a few months. It has meant, however, that I've not been able to leave work quite as early as I normally do as I've just had too much to do! The only day I managed to get away on time was on Monday when I had a hospital appointment, during which I was told that I need to go for an MRI scan. Eek! So that's been arranged for this coming week.

Then on Wednesday DH had arranged for someone to come and cut down a couple of trees in our garden and trim a few others. The trees have been steadily blocking out a lot of light from our garden so  we thought it was about time we did something about them.

So, the man came, started work, then somebody walking down the path told him he couldn't cut the trees down as they belonged to the council!! We've had dealings with the Parish Council before about the trees, so we know that they're on our land even though the land in question is on the other side of the fence to our 'main' back garden. It just so happens that we have a very odd shaped piece of land attached to the house. However, because somebody had then questioned whether what he was doing was right, the poor man had to stop until we could provide some kind of concrete evidence that the trees did, in fact, belong to us. We now have that evidence after obtaining plans from the Land Registry and having confirmation from the Parish Clerk that we can, in fact, do something about the trees!

Hopefully our tree man will be able to come back fairly soon and we can finally have light in our garden.

And then there's been the courgette's - they still keep coming!! But I had a plan this week. One of my work colleagues brought in some cake for us all, including slices of chocolate and courgette cake. What a way to use them up (and to get DD to eat courgette's). So, on Friday I found a recipe and my courgette's went from this ……..

to this ………

(or at least one of them did!). And I can tell you that it's really yummy! And I managed to fool DD as she thought it had banana in it!!

I've also sent two courgette's 'down south' with DH's daughter who we saw yesterday. She was up for the weekend at her mum's so spent some time with us yesterday which was lovely. But as she said she likes courgette's , and it would then mean that they weren't being wasted, we said she could have a couple and use them up.

So that's a summary of last week.

Time to start on this week!