Last Saturday night we had the pleasure of attending our second eldest grand daughters 21st Birthday Celebration. Her birthday was actually a few days before but midweek so Saturday was a much better time to celebrate.
Theme for the night was pink and white and everyone was requested to wear pink, white or a neutral colour.
There was about 30 family and friends attending and it was such a lovely night. The food was great and the cocktails/mocktails were fantastic. But her cake…..well that was out of this world.
Not sure exactly what it was but it was like a white chocolate sponge with cream in a heart shape.
It was sooo yummy. Melt in your mouth. Was a wonderful night mixing with everyone and grand daughter looked gorgeous in her pretty pink dress. Although 18 is officially adult age here, we still celebrate 21st birthdays.
I love art, whether it is looking at it or drawing, painting and colouring pieces myself. Its been a bit of a family thing.
My dad was good at sketching, my late son was excellent at it, Ive got a portfolio full of his work from University which gained him a first class honours degree.
Now my 12 year old grandson Alfie is looking like he is going to be a chip off the old block.
His latest composition of a crumpled cola can, which I loved.
He has come on so much and its nice that he does this at home instead of always gaming. I am so proud of him.
One of our day trips out this summer was to the Blue Lotus Water Gardens situated in Yarrow Junction, (Victoria, Australia.) It is always a pleasure to visit this garden and it is only open between January and April, thats when the Lotus Flowers are flowering.
These are the most beautiful things when seen en masse. The Giant ones are amazing and the various colours are just lovely. Predominantly the main colour is white, and these are still a wonder to behold.
… again my youngest granddaughter, Olivia, was competing at a race meeting this weekend. This time it was an indoor event on track rather than the more recent cross country races shes been competing in!
The race was held at Sheffield and was open to any age or sex!
Amazingly, even though she was the youngest there, competing against men & women … she went on to come 2nd!!
To say that we are proud of her is a big understatement! lol
I made myself a little bag last week. It is called The Dollie Crossbody Bag and it is so cute!
It was so fun to make, until I got to the last bit of sewing when the layers were very thick, and because its a small bag it was very hard for my machine to deal with.
But we got there and I learnt a lot from making it. I am already planning my next make. the fabric is chosen and I am ready to cut it out. Here is My Dollie bag
Last Sunday my daughter and her staff from AirPlay at RAF Benson attended a theatre in Oxford for an evening of pop music from the eighties.
They decided they were going to dress up in the styles that were popular of that time.
I do remember the fashion then was very distinct and colourful. RaRa skirts, leg warmers, etc., were a popular mode of dress. My daughter was born in 1987 so was only a baby at the height of the 80s music phenomenon but obviously looked at classic fashion from that time for young girls.
I thought she did a great job with her outfit and hair. She told me it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
… Weekend …. And (yet) another Cross Country Race Meeting! lol. This time it was held at Berry Hill Park near Mansfield. It was a bright, dry dry … but once again bitterly cold! Both Austin age 9 and Olivia age 11 were competing.
Austin has only been training for a short time, as he had to wait till he was 8. Hes not a natural runner. I couldnt have been prouder of him when he finished next to last. He did his best and you cant ask more than that!Olivia just keeps getting better and better!
She took the lead from almost the starting gun …. and increased her lead by sooo much there was no one in sight behind her at the finish!
This was the 4th of 5 Cross Country Mini League races for her and so far shes won them all!
She doesnt even need to turn up for the last race as she has such a lead on the other competitors that the gold medal is already hers ….
But …. I guess well be going to the 5th race anyway! Lol
For Christmas my 8 year old Granddaughter got a Boogie Board. As I live near the beach, she naturally brought it along when you came to stay. So off to the beach we went to try it out.
After a few attempts she finally got the hang of it and had a lovely time boogie boarding in the sea on a hot and sunny day.
I was amazed at how quickly she picked it up and was using it like a pro by the end of the afternoon!
Go Girl!
Ive really started to regain my sewing enthusiasm. Currently, Im working on a little crossbody bag, which is turning out to be more challenging than I initially thought because I chose a thick fabric.
Its been a bit of a struggle, but Im determined to finish it.
During the Christmas season, a Facebook sewing group Im a part of held a 12 Days of Christmas sale. Each day, we were tempted to splurge on beautiful fabric and haberdashery items. The first thing I bought was a surprise bundle of gorgeous, water-resistant fabric. A few days later, I returned for some lovely black vinyl and cork. I cant wait to have fun using all of it!
…. Weekend I was out and about supporting my youngest granddaughter, Olivia aged 12, in yet another cross country race. This time it was held at Bullwell Hall Park near Nottingham.
It was a bitterly cold day, with a hard frost, but the sun was shining and at least it wasnt muddy underfoot! lol Olivia once again won her race with a huge gap before the girl in 2nd finished!
All the runners had qualified for this race over the last few months and it was the big final ….
As such Olivia was presented with a trophy and she got a rather large gift voucher too! Im out and about this coming weekend again too ….
Its another cross country race, but this one was postponed in December due to bad weather and its a mini league competition this time ….
The last of 4 races, of which Olivia has already won 3 …. I wonder where shell finish this week! lol
This orchid was brought down from Hervey Bay when I moved. I am not even sure where I got it from!
I think it may have been there when we went there and I just let it grow ….and grow it did but I cant remember it ever flowering in the 14 years we were there.
So when I moved I just grabbed it as it has a lot of aerial roots. I just stuck it in the garden, it got moved a couple of times and just sat on top of the ground.
A few weeks ago it started to get buds and I have been waiting patiently to see what happened. My birth mother is into orchids big time and had the most amazing greenhouse full of various orchids. Although she is now in residential care, her/my cousin goes to the house and gets orchids and takes them to her to tend to.
She cuts/repots and can tell you the name of every single one. But this one had her stumped. Thanks to Google I have now found out it is a Holttumara Hari Afghan Orchid. The orchid Holttumara Hari Afghan is a hybrid in the Holttumara genus. It is originated by A.Peh & Peh Eng Kee.
Registered parents (cross) are Aranda Bertha Braga × Renanthera storiei. It was registered in 1982 with the Royal Horticultural Society. It has been in flower now for 2 weeks and the blooms are still nice and healthy. I want to find out more about the plant but there doesnt seem to be too much more information on it.
Last Sunday my grandson Alfie had his 3rd skills bout. A skills bout in boxing is a controlled, non-competitive fight that allows boxers to practice their skills without worrying about winning.
Skills bouts are often used to help young boxers develop their skills and prepare them for amateur boxing.
Boxers demonstrate their skills in a controlled environment and there are no winners the bout is strictly controlled by the referee and is also closely monitored by their supervisors.
The bout for under 16s consists of three 80 second rounds. It also gets young boxers used to boxing with an audience watching. They are introduced in a typical boxing style and at the end the Referee holds up the arms of both competitors and announces a draw.
Both boys get a medal for their achievements. Alfie was told by an official afterwards that if it had been a proper amateur fight, he would have won.
We had our 8 year old granddaughter stay with us for a few days, and decided to take her to Garden World where there are a number of Dinosaurs, some of the models even moved, which was a delight.
But she also loved the models of the enormous bones, including this one of somethings jaws. Of course we had to take a picture of her with it. Her raw is as fierce as the models. Needless to say she enjoyed her visit.
During Christmas week, our son and his girlfriend visited us along with our youngest granddaughter, Daisy. To take a break from the holiday food, we decided to go out for a meal. We chose our favourite restaurant that overlooks the sea and has a relaxed atmosphere.
I managed to take a picture with our son. He jokingly said he would charge me for it since you might recognize him as the actor Tony Way. Most recently, he played Lenny in After Life.
He has also appeared in Game of Thrones and films such as Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
But to us, hes just Tony.
When my family visited after Christmas, they brought their 5 month old Weimaraner -Otto their puppy with them. I was so excited to meet him. He came bounding in and pounced on me with lots of licks. I found it astounding that he was very sociable from the start.
He was full of energy and quite mischievous, sneaking a few bits from the buffet I had laid out. One think we found is that Otto likes to cuddle, not just snuggle in but he literally likes to wrap his front paw over you as if giving a big hug.
He did this with all of us which was so lovely.
I managed to take this pic of Otto giving Harry one of his doggy hugs.