Photo a Day : 29 March 2012

 I had a lovely day today when I met up with an old friend for a coffee and lunch.  Julie and I met in Primary School in South Africa when we were 8 years old and have kept in touch over the years as Julie moved to a different part of South Africa when we were 12 and then came back to the UK with her parents at 14.  We only live just over an hour apart but don't get to meet up that often.  We finally got our act together and met up in Arundel, West Sussex today.

 We spent most of the time catching up while having lunch, then had a quick walk around Arundel before our parking ran out.  Arundel has a beautiful castle which can be seen virtually all over the city (I found out today that it has a cathedral, thus making it a city though it feels like a town!)  Here are a few photos, though I'm afraid I can't tell you what everything is because we did our walk so quickly and didn't have time to take it all in. I definitely want to go back and do a proper walk around to take it all in.

 I think this was an entrance to one of the churches.

 Walking back towards the castle.  Julie was telling me that there is still a family living at the castle and the building on the left is their residence. She says they do open it up to the public and that it's a wonderful building to walk around because it is very much a family home.

 This building was in the gardens of the castle and I believe there is a tea room either in or near it.

 Walking down towards the main castle entrance.

 One of the side streets - there are lots of little shops down the side streets and Julie was telling me that there is a lovely little area with antique/second hand shops.  I could definitely spend a whole day walking around here.

And a final shot of the castle taken from the car park just before we left. Isn't it beautiful!  (Wish I could have got a better photo though!)  Next time :o)

xx

Photo a Day : 28 March 2012

Tonight was haircut night for Emily and me.  We go round to Mary's house where she has her utility room set out as a mini salon.  We always have a good natter and catch up with what's been going on.  Emily is growing her hair and is pleased with how long it's getting. She had a little bit more shape cut into the front tonight. As for me, I tend to just have a trim and get mine back under control ;o) 

xx

Last ones from Monday

As I said in a previous post, we spent most of Monday outside in the garden. Here are some more photos from our day ...

 This little truck had the toys for the sand pit in it and it's been a big hit as Alice likes to pull it around the patio (sometimes while making choo choo sounds??)

 My nephew, Max, is staying with us and he and Alice had fun playing peek a boo through the slats of the bench.

 Hello, beautiful!! <3 xx

 From when she was little, Alice has enjoyed playing with my clothes pegs.  Monday was no different and she spent ages playing with these two pegs on the chair.

 We then had a period of water play, which resulted in Alice getting soaked through and Grandma also getting a bit wet  ;o).

 After the water play we came inside to get Alice into something dry and to play and read books for a while. I even managed to tie her hair up in little pigtails - though they didn't stay in for too long.

 Big smile for Grandpa :o)

 And then it was back outside again for a while.

If you've stuck with me through all these photos, thank you ;o)  

xx

A few more photos from Monday :)

I've got a few more photos to share from Monday.  The first two are just because they're quite cute and I like them :)

 When we remind Alice that we don't pick all the petals off the flowers, she bends over and "sniffs" them instead :)

 These next photos make me smile/laugh each time I look at them because I can still picture and hear Alice ...

 It all started because Hugh had brought his exercise bench outside to do his workout because the weather was so nice.

You can see by the look on Alice's face that she wasn't quite sure what Uncle Hugh was doing. And as he was lifting his weights, he'd make a Shhhh noise.  Alice continued watching for a while and then turned to me and went .....

 Shhh .. (putting her finger to her lips ;o) ) ... and started giggling! This continued throughout that segment of Hugh's routine and at times he could hardly carry on because we were laughing so much.

 And when he finished, she gave him a round of applause!

Then she'd run up to the workout bench and give it a pat and then run away from Hugh.  It was soo funny!  She is so cute and keeps us in stitches with some of the things she does :)

xx

Photo a Day

Sunday  25 March 2012

Our clocks went forward on Sunday, never my favourite time of year as I hate losing an hour's sleep! However, we had another beautiful day and my parents came round for an early dinner (though by the time it was ready it wasn't that early ;o) ). We sat outside to begin with until it got too chilly. I merrily took photos of the cats in the garden and I got this photo of Hugh making himself a pizza when he'd got home earlier in the afternoon, but I didn't actually take any photos of Mum and Dad! I'm not doing so well with this photo taking at the moment :o(


Monday : 26 March 2012

We had so much fun on Monday. The temperature went up to 20C+ and Alice and I spent a lot of time out in the garden.  We put the garden umbrellas up so that we had some shade for her to play in and I also applied sun lotion a few times.  I did well taking photos this day and ended up with about 50 of Alice :o) (doting Grandma perhaps?) so chosing one for my photo a day was quite difficult.  I think an extra page may be added to Project Life this week because I love them all.  Some of you may have seen more on my Facebook page already.

Monday : 27 March 2012 

I've been on the go most of the day today - I think I was at home for about an hour today and the rest of the time was spent out and about doing stuff. However, after an early dinner, Emily and I went to her school for a talk on the World Challenge the school is planning for 2014.  They are taking 18 children to Uganda for 4 weeks.  Emily, and a couple of her friends, were interested in finding out more. The talk today was just to let them know what the trek entails and what sort of things they might expect to do. It was very interesting and has certainly given Emily food for thought. The next step, should she want to take part, is to write a letter of application to the school explaining why she would like to go, what she thinks she'd get out of it and how she might go about the fundraising. From the applicants received, the school then have to choose the 18 children who are going to go. Not an easy task. For those who are chosen, I have no doubt it will be a life changing experience and one they will never forget.  Emily now has to think carefully, taking into account all they've been told, and decide whether she is going to apply or not. 

xx

International Pot Luck Blog Hop

Welcome to Deb's Pot Luck Blog Hop/House Warming Party, my name's Rhona.

 As the participants of this party are from around the world, we've had to compromise and make our party a virtual one. But what a great idea!! You've probably arrived here from Becca's blog (http://lajoliefleurrouge.blogspot.com/) but if you haven't be sure to check Deb's blog (http://paperturtle.blogspot.com) for a list of all the people taking part - I'm sure you'll pick up some wonderful recipes along the way. 

I don't actually know where the recipe I'm about to share came from - other than we used to have it in South Africa and my niece, Theresa was still making it here.  It's now one of our favourite recipes to make for pudding when we're having people over.  I hope you'll enjoy it too.

Caramel, Cream and Mint pudding

Because I don't have an actual recipe the ingredients are a bit vague but I'm sure you'll be able to find something that will work

1 packet  Nice biscuits (these are biscuits with coconut in them)

2 x 405g tins Caramel Condensed Milk

2 x 250g cartons Whipping Cream
1 slab Mint chocolate

Layer the bottom of a square or rectangular dish with the biscuits.
Beat one tin of caramel till smooth, then layer over the biscuits.
Whip one carton of cream and spread over the caramel.
Grate the mint chocolate and sprinkle some on top of the cream.
Repeat the last 4 steps.

A word of warning, this pudding is quite rich so you only need small portions :o)

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do.  Now it's time to pop over to Cheri's (http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com) to see what she's made.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the blog hop :)
xx

Photo a Day : 23 & 24 March 2012

On Fridays Alice and I try to pop round to visit my Mum and Dad (her Great Grandpa and Great Grandma :o) ).  We've been doing this since I've been looking after Alice during the week and she certainly knows who they are and is happy to play and potter around at their house. Yesterday, Alice spotted some Pringles Mum had on the side in the kitchen and kept pointing to them.  We let her have one, which she enjoyed, but then she'd keep going back to the kitchen to get another one.  Luckily we weren't staying long after this started so she only had a few. I've no doubt next time we go she'll remember where they were :o)

Then today, as I was unpacking my shopping, I thought I'd better take a photo to have as a backup.  Claire and Alice came round this afternoon for a braai/bbq and we had a good time both outside in the garden and playing inside. Did I remember to take any photos? No! So, thank goodness for this back up photo because that's what I'll be using for today :o)

I hope you're having a good weekend and have some of the lovely sunshine we've been having.

xx



Photo a Day : 21 & 22 March 2012

Alice and I had a wonderful day yesterday. The weather was kind to us once again and we spent a lot of time in the garden playing in the sand pit and splashing in the water.  She had Hugh is stitches when she was splashing water all over herself but in the end we had to strip her down to her nappy because she was soaked through. She then needed to be towelled dry and put into something warm to warm her up again.  She's so much fun, I never knew having a grandchild would be like this :o)

However, while we were having all that fun, I didn't get one photo :o( so yesterday evening when I looked outside and saw these two cats sitting out on the step together I knew they'd have to be my photo for the day - don't you just love how thrilled they look about that ;o)

This afternoon, I was sitting outside having a coffee when Emily arrived home from school.  After changing out of her uniform she came out to join me and do some revision for a test she has tomorrow.



It looks like the warmer weather is going to last most of the weekend so I'm looking forward to more time spent outside. Hope you're having decent weather where you are too!

xx

Photo a Day : 20 March 2012

I had a quiet day at home but got some lovely photos, of Lily, from Michelle. Can you believe she'll be 4 months on the 25th! Doesn't time fly.  She always looks such a happy little girl, it's a pity we don't live closer together so we could see more of Michelle, Matthew, Josh and Lily.

Here are a few more of the photos Michelle sent :)

Thanks Michelle, I love them all!!

xx

Photo a Day : 19 March 2012

We had a fun day yesterday and I think this is going to be my photo of the day :)

While taking a few photos, Alice was trying to take the camera so she could take photos of herself ;)

And how could anyone resist this little face, even looking at photos of her makes me want to see her and give her a big cuddle :)

And the top photos were taken while we were waiting for these cakes to bake, raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes.

xx

Photo a Day : 18 March 2012

Alice with Aunty Emily

Claire and Alice popped round for a couple of hours on Mother's Day :)

xx



Photo a Day : 16 March 2012

Although Friday was a lot cooler than Thursday it was still dry and therefore, a good day to go out.  So Alice and I went to Tulley's Farm to feed the ducks. 

She wasn't sure about them to begin with and chose to stay back next to the pram while I threw bread for the ducks.

But then these two waddled over on our side of the fence and were eating the bread that had landed nearby and curiosity got the better of her :)  That's how I got my photo of the day because it wasn't long before she was happy to go up to the fence to see the ducks close up :)

Tulley's also have a children's play area at the back of the tea room so that was our next stop :) The swings are always popular

But driving this digger came a close second.

It must have tired her out because she fell asleep in the car on the way home :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the UK Mums :)

xx