Me On Monday

It was a homecoming weekend. One we had been waiting for. A Quick! Into the car! Oh, no, wait! The plane is delayed!  weekend. An Ah! There he is! weekend. And a celebrity spotting at the airport weekend.

Because it was also the weekend of finally getting to use the tickets for BBC Sports Personality of the Year. The girls stayed in for a lovely relaxing, tea on our laps in front of the TV evening. the boys dressed up and headed out to watch the show. Row X? Not exactly near the front but they still had plenty to tell us when they got home. It was late to bed by the time we had heard it all.... 

But this morning? This Monday? We're up early, getting ready for our next arrival. In fact I think I hear the doorbell right now..

It's Uncle Dave, straight from the plane. Let the holidays begin!

And that's it from Me On Monday this year. Thanks to everyone who has waved all year. It's been a great way to start Monday mornings. We'll be taking a break next week; and then...maybe a different twist for the New Year? Something quick and easy? I hope you'll join us.

Last week our Mondayers were: Helena, Eileen, Mary Lou, Maggie, Mitra, Susanne, Rinda, Jane, Louise H, Deb, Krafty Karen, Alison, Gail, Sheena, Barbara and Cheri Click on a name to give them a wave! And this week? I hope you have time to catch up with someone you haven't seen for a while. That's one of my favourite bits of the holidays. Have a good one!

Me On Monday

It was a we can't decorate this tree until it dries out kind of weekend. A now it's dripping all over the hall weekend. A remembering the places we've been weekend. 

A Mum, if you aren't going to hang the nativity on the tree at least take the strings off it weekend. A don't worry, Eyore will cheer up when his owner comes home to put him in his rightful place next Saturday weekend. 

A driving out of the city and discovering snow on the roads weekend. A finishing up our cards and then going to write a stack more at Granny's weekend (Sidenote: we went to buy more stamps and the man behind the counter says it's a myth people aren't sending cards any more. He ordered in 27 000 Christmas stamps, he was sent 30 000, and he has sold all of them with nearly two weeks to go. Doesn't that make your heart glad?). A yes, I'll make mince pies, but if you eat them all now what's Uncle Dave going to munch when he gets here? weekend.

A wrapping, list ticking, Granny visiting, warming ourselves by the fire weekend. A good one. Today? I'm about to vacuum up the first lot of pine needles. Already. And after that? I have another pair of socks to finish. Quickly. How about you? How's the wrapping going?

Our Monday-ers last week were Deb, Barbara, Rinda, Helena, Eileen, Jane, Linda, Mary-Lou, Maggie, Louise H, Karen, Cheri, Julia and Sheena. Click on their names to wish them all the best with the week ahead! And maybe think about joining us? After all, there is only one more Monday before Christmas. And then, maybe, it's time for a change. Have a good week.

Me On Monday

It was a get up early and leave her to the bus weekend. An "No, I'm not thinking of going to Trinity but we'll go to the university Open day and tour the library and look for the Book of Kells just for fun" weekend. And with that, she packed up her Euro and she left.

So we had a stand in the Post Office queue and confuse the new counter staff weekend (Oh, I hope our box arrives where it needs to be: there are presents in there!)

We had a shop til you drop (in a good way) weekend. A just a few stocking fillers to get now weekend. A card writing, gift wrapping, more paper needing (buying on a roll by roll basis doesn't really work, does it?), new art supply shop discovering, marking the calendar (Uncle Dave will be here for two whole weeks!) weekend. 

And also a mince pie with cream eating, perfume sampling, Salvation Army band (sob: it always makes me want to cry) listening, knit like the wind weekend. In other words, we got stuck into making Christmas.

And today? I'm making shortbread. As a spectator sport. 

With a day off school, The (Not So) Small One has a tea party to bake for. I get to lick the icing bowl. And that's a good way to start the week. I hope your Monday has something sweet in it too.

So our Monday-ers last week were Helena, Eileen, Jane, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Deb, Rinda, Sheena, Linda, Karen, Barbara, Ruth, Louise , Maggie and Julia. Go on, give 'em a wave!  And have a good week!

Me On Monday

...after not being out of the house since Thursday? Not a lot to report, then, apart from a very unglamorous but deeply debilitating return of last month's sinus infection.The details haven't improved any; the antibiotics have worsened; and I realised that I'd reached a new low on Saturday night, when I tried to get out of bed and put my foot into a bowl of half eaten chicken stir fry. It was that time of a Saturday evening, after a day of lying round, when my foot was particularly receptive to a handful of red pepper and some noodles; because I was at that point - you know- head too sore to read, can't sit up, can't lie down, when you cast about for things to do and you find the handcream on the bedside table, so you handcream your hands; and then - because it seems like a good idea at the time - you handcream your feet too...

So I got up on Sunday; and did nothing again, but in a less dangerous place. I put on an old tracksuit bottoms, baggy sweatshirt combo, which The (Not So) Small One intimated should be be taken out into the garden and burned. I'm still wearing it now, though, so I'm not offering a picture. I'm just inviting you to use your imaginations..

More very soon, I hope. I'll certainly be back with my Gossamer Blue December pages tomorrow, because they are all ready to go; and I'd love to get some Christmas cards made, and a few pages of my December Memories album done. Until then, there is always socks:

I hope everyone who was celebrating had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and that you are all looking forward to the start of December. Have a great week!

Louise H, Helena, Eileen, Maggie, Deb, Ruth, Mitra, Fiona, Barbara, Mary-Lou, Julia, Sheena, Sandra, Linda, Rinda, Krafty Karen and Alison were our Mondayers last week. Give 'em a wave! We're all very happy to have you join us if you'd like. Leave me a comment - something cheery! - and I'll be over just as soon as I can. 

Me On Monday

It was a look up Great Grannie's recipe and measure and mix and stir and boil up the Christmas pudding weekend. A visit the Continental Market without buying a single thing weekend. A make a trip to the craft shop to choose some card blanks for Christmas cards weekend. A getting home and laughing at myself for buying a box of ready made cards in the next shop weekend. A You'll be home on the 19th? Hurray! weekend. Definitely a weekend of starting to make plans.

The highlight, after the glorious smell of orange peel and all other things Christmas pudding throughout the house, was the Narnia themed Craft Fair

The organisers had worked to create Narnia magic everywhere we looked. There were old wardrobe doors on either side of the entrance, and fur coats to push through to get in, and a lamp to gasp at, before the room opened up into a sparkling, candlelit burrow of Christmas treats. There was an armchair for Mr Tumnus, and there, a glass dish of Turkish Delight; and over there was Aslan himself. It was a lot of fun. I tried to take pictures; though part of me felt I should be simply enjoying it: in a visiting Santa's Workshop kind of way: remember? standing in the queue? admiring the decorations?  That's me in the mirror, with my brown paper bag of sock wool: yes! this Craft Fair had everything I needed for a good time! 

Home to knit, then, and fill in a few scribbled notes beside names in my Christmas Present Notebook. Oh, but I'd better not say too much more about that; so I'll give you a Monday morning wave and wish you all the best for your week. I hope it has a little magic in there somewhere.

Louise, Deb, Ruth, Helena, Sandra, Linda, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Karen, Maggie, Eileen, Barbara, KraftyKaren, Fiona, Mitra, Alexa, Sheena, Gail and Julia were our Mondayers last week. Follow the links to give 'em a wave!

Me On Monday

It was a weekend of ordinary activities washed over with extraordinary events. For what else is there we can do except keep trying to live our good lives?

A subdued weekend, then. Close to home. A list making, first trawl round the Christmas shops without the kids (yes, we still do that) weekend. A knee socks take longer to knit than ankle socks weekend. A does anyone actually understand what's happening in Homeland? weekend. A weekend of wind and high rivers, of floods and impassable roads. 

And then it was the weekend of the new laptop. I don't know about your house; but here, when there is something of the technological kind to be acquired, it goes a bit like this:

We sit round for days, talking about it. We pile into the car and head to the shops. We stand in the shop, confused, and when the salesman asks if he can help, I open my mouth to say "we would like.."  but before I manage it, my other half says "we're just looking, thanks." I spend the next ten minutes trying to re-attract the attention of said salesman. He talks to us. I start to say "I think I'd like.." but I'm beaten to it by the man saying "Okay. We'll go away and think about it, thanks". So we go away, We find ourselves at home again, doing more talking. We end up in a different shop, ordering something completely different, usually at the suggestion of a teenager who knows what she's talking about. 

So now I'm waiting for a new laptop to arrive. If I disappear sometime over the next week, you'll know why. Keep your fingers crossed it's here before the old one finally refuses to turn on for good!

Today? Today I'm measuring:

We have one room in our house which JK Rowling might call The Room Of Evolvement. It's where ancient furniture goes to die and where medium-ly old furniture goes to be considered, where we keep things tenants don't want, and things they might like and sometimes ask for. It's a constantly moving stock room of pieces which get steamed, cleaned, painted, or pensioned off. I'm looking for space for a set of bookshelves due to arrive soon. It's bookshelves; so of course I'm going to find room. But, since that desk left, I've also had in mind a new spot for taking photos, in front of the window, if I can keep the radiator out of shot. I've grabbed a spare coffee table (always one or two around) and started to play with some of my Christmas album things. It might work. It's somewhere with a little light, and that's hard to find on this side of the house.

And I think that's where we came in today, isn't it? Looking for light. I hope you find some in your week! If you'd like to pass it round, please give last week's Mondayers a wave. They are:

  Sandie, Deb, Ruth, Helena, Sandra, Eileen, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Fiona, Louise H, Linda, Louise, Karen, Liz, Ladkyis, Julia, Sheena, Maggie and Gail

Have a good one!

Me On Monday

Me on Monday?

Determinedly wearing cheerful yellow stripes and pinning up my message for the day, after a why is my brain still only half functioning? kind of weekend. A do a little something and crawl back to the sofa kind of a weekend.

But enough of that! From the sofa I did try to turn it round to a sock knitting, catch up on iPlayer, do a tiny bit of internet Christmas shopping weekend. The knitting is for a gift, so no pictures. The iPlayer catch up was a collection of things nobody else here wanted to watch: Iain Rankin talking about Jekyll and Hyde, followed by a documentary on Clara Bow, the Silent Movie star, topped off with two hours of Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War. And the Christmas  shopping? Oh, Little E, I'd say you have a surprise in store..

...except that wouldn't be true, would it? You asked, we are happy to listen. But may I play too? I like Playmobil, a lot.

So: looking forward, hoping the week picks up and I get lots more things done. Scrapbooking-wise, I'm itching to get started on my December Memories album

A last child's last Christmas at school, that's what I'll be pinning down. I enjoyed every minute of my last Christmas at school, way back when, and I'm wishing the same for her, with a book to remember it by. 

These aren't new pictures. I can't claim to have taken a single one over the weekend. They're from my Instagram feed. But they do show what I'll be hoping to have a look at this week. May your own week be filled with good things! 

So last week I did manage to get round and say hello and pick up the links for Deb, Barbara, Louise, Rinda, Helena, Eileen, Sandie, Jane, Karen, Alison, Linda, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Karen, Julia, Sheena, Mitra and Maggie who all shared the start of their week. Happy Monday!

Me On Monday

..even though it's Tuesday. Me on Monday? The cold I've been fighting for weeks got worse. They looked at me here, past their own boxes of  tissues, and said "Go back to bed, Sian".

I was so congested that when I replied that I couldn't go to bed because I hadn't "done my Monday", they said "Bun Day? Hooray!"

So, you see how it was. It was a sneezing and snuffling kind of a weekend. Pretty much made for the weekend of the undead. Halloween make up? We didn't need it. Lucky, then, that Little E was able to send me a picture, or this would hardly have been a post at all. Doesn't he look creepy? (Though that sounds a little wrong. Surely aunts aren't supposed to think of their nephews as creepy? I think I need to go back to bed...)

Last week Louise H, Deb, Helena, Sandra, Sandie, Mary Lou, Ladkyis, Denise, Rinda, Eileen, Fiona, Maggie, Lizzy, Barbara, Michelle, Julia, Sheena, Alison , Ruth and Gail all gave us a wave. Thank you! This week, I'm hoping one big wave from me will see you all well on the way to a good one. I'll gather up the names for next time, so you'll know I've been; but if I'm a little quiet, please forgive me just this once. Happy um, Tuesday!

Me On Monday

It was a weekend of flowers. A Granny only asked for some houseplants for her birthday, so let's see what we can find weekend. A "mum, my corsage is dying even though I'm keeping it in the fridge" weekend...

...because of course, with Friday off to recover, we've had an extra day on our weekend, of talking about The Formal.

Yes, I took a photo of that wilting corsage, and then we looked back -again - through the phone photos and the FB photos, and my photos, and the ones taken with the ipad by my second shooter: her dad. And when I'd pored over those, I couldn't help going back to find a photo I took just after I'd started scrapbooking. There she is, in the window; and there she is again, how she was on Thursday night. We couldn't stop looking at her. 

And then, suddenly, he was here, and she was opening the door, and he was telling her how beautiful she was, and handing over that corsage, and chocolates for me (who knew that was a thing?!), and posing for pictures, and then they left; and we looked at each other and thought..really?

So it has been a morning after the night before weekend. Catching up with the new Fargo, cooking a curry, scrapbooking. Which leaves Me On Monday

letting down the glamour side a little in my new fur lined sneakers. But it's half term, and it's dark, and cold, and blue suede is always good, so a Happy Monday to you!

Last week  Louise H, Ruth, Helena, Rinda, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Julia, Fiona, Maggie, Denise, Sandra, Deb, Krafty Karen, Alison, Lizzy, Gail, Cheri, Sheena, Karen, Jess and Eileen all gave us a wave and wished us the best for the week ahead. I'm waving right back. Have a good one!

Me On Monday

It was a weekend of disappointment (in part). But at least we smelled nice.

As our team crashed out of the Rugby World Cup we were left eating the doughnuts of bitter failure. Ah, well. Next time.

But, yes, we were smelling good. Or make that: we were smelling all macho and irresistible to women. My tidying - that decluttering I started a couple of weeks ago? - is of the basic kind. I find six things every day and I throw them out. So on Saturday I blew the dust off an ancient bottle of Christmas aftershave and I poured it down the bathroom basin. Twenty years in the bottle? It had a lot of catching up to do. I can still catch a hint of its delicate bouquet this morning.

But we did more than sob and sniff. It was a sock ripping out and starting again weekend. A shortening the straps on the Formal dress weekend. It all comes together on Thursday! A writing postcards about where we live to help with a school project weekend. A shopping for Halloween decorations; ooh, no that's way too scary weekend. A cooking beef stifado weekend. A putting away the barbecue weekend. And an are we ready for the Christmas catalogues? weekend. My answer? Just about! After all, I need something else to think about if Monday finds me consigning my lucky green shirt to the laundry basket. Four years til it's needed again..

Last week Louise H, Helena, Mary-Lou, Julia, Ruth, Ladkyis, Maggie, Deb, Sandra, Jane, Gail, Karen, Alison, Lizzy, Sheena, Fiona and Eileen all gave us a wave and wished us all the best for the week ahead. I'm waving right back! Have a good one. Oh, and join in if you'd like. You'd be very welcome.

Me On Monday

It was a have we really known each other that long? kind of a weekend. (That would be back to the days when Freshers' Week was at the start of October) A how do we celebrate when we can't think what else to do/ We go to Ikea! weekend. A weekend with my lovely, lovely library drawers, which I'd spotted in Ikea when we were in Scotland, decided to look for at home, failed to find in the catalogue, and finally made my own on Saturday. They're a creamy white metal, they look like a card catalogue...

...what else can I say apart from I think I'd like another set, please, or possibly one for every room in the house. 

It was also a rugby watching (again) weekend. An unidentified berries found in the freezer: let's put them in a crumble and see if we live to tell the tale weekend. An new, illustrated Harry Potter ordering weekend (I'd like to put it away for Christmas, but everyone I've talked to says it's too nice to save so I expect I'll cave when it gets here and open it). A new winter sweater weekend. A hearing about Little E's Undertaker costume weekend (you want pictures? Me too). A cast on a new pair of socks weekend. A picture hanging weekend.

Which leaves Me On Monday moving stuff around rather than decluttering this week:

I'm filling the drawers of my card catalogue. With wool. But I'm not alphabetising it. Honestly.

Before I head off to give everyone a wave this fine Monday, I'd like to thank all who have contributed to the discussion on commenting on Friday's What to Say? post. I'll probably do a follow up post when I've finished my 300 comments in 30 days; so I'll just quickly run two things past you today. Firstly, if you have a Google + blog, I've been unable to leave you a comment because I don't have a Google+ account. Sorry about that. And, secondly, with Julie's permission, because she thought of it first, I have echoed her plan of a Pinterest board to record the blogs I've visited. I have tried to start with everyone who left me a message on Friday but I'd love some suggestions! Any blogs you think I should visit? After I've finished with the Monday-ers, of course

So Helena, Deb, Ruth, Eileen, Mary-Lou, Fiona, Louise H, Barbara, Karen, Julia, Sheena, Susanne, Maggie, Ladkyis, Louise and Liz all gave us a wave last Monday. If you were thinking of joining the comment challenge, returning their beginning of the week good wishes could be a good place to start, maybe? Have a good one!

Me On Monday

It was a picture framing, pottering, rugby cheering, match marathon of a weekend. A "Beck" recording, hot dog chomping, sock knitting, lying in the sun with the papers weekend. Or, at least it felt that way - finally - by Sunday teatime. Saturday had been busier:

A go queue for a flu jab day, combined with a monster shopping trip. Of course! The shopping trip! That was the main event.

The much talked about, heavily planned for, formal shoe shopping event. It's only three weeks to go! This year's "Formal" as we know it, "Prom" to many of you, has been moved forward from February to October: a cunning plan by those in charge to keep minds on school work after Christmas. There was outrage first; but the lure of the early sparkle soon won them round. So now she has the dress, the partner and - at last - the shoes and the bag. She says he seems  up to speed on the whole corsage thing: nearly there, then. 

I was taking a couple of quick pictures when I noticed the label: "Untold". Now there's a red rag to a scrapbooker. Of course there'll be a story. After I've got my head round it all. It's only a couple of weeks, after all, since I was making a page about basic black brogues and the start of her final school year.

From a layout here

So that leaves Me on Monday, looking a little crafty - and not in a scrapbooking way - I think you'll agree. It's because of my plan for the week: decluttering. Need I say more?

So  last week Deb, Helena, Eileen, Mary-Lou, Maggie, Ruth, Fiona, Michelle, Karen, Sheena, Louise, Julia, Liz and Louise H all gave us a wave, wished us the best of our Monday. Hope it's a good one for you this week too! And if you'd like a wave, you are very welcome to join us. Leave me a comment and I'll be round shortly! 

Me On Monday

It was the weekend of playing about with numbers.

A friend's 18th birthday found The (Not So) Small One organising a treasure hunt in the park. They stationed guests and gifts to pop up at points along the route if the birthday girl followed the clues. Imagine! You guess that the answer is "beside the ice cream van", you find it, and you discover not only ice cream, but also a surprise friend and a present. It was a glorious afternoon; but because The (Not So) Small One ought really to have been in bed with a sore ear, I told her to make sure she was well wrapped up. "I am wrapped up," she said. "I'm taking my scarf.."

The next day we drove to the seaside for Grannie F's  80th birthday. And that's when I really started to toy with the numbers. It won't be long until I'm the age she was when I met her for the first time. That means that if the years go round again, just as quickly, then I'll be the age she is now. And if she's 80 and all the girls are turning 18, then I can't help thinking that when my Grandma celebrated her 80th birthday, I had my 18th ten days later. I had been due on her birthday. And then when I got married, Grandma was the age my mum is now. It's circles within circles: I find it fascinating and I don't even enjoy maths.

But I know a man who does; and, after I'd hauled myself out of my numerically twisted daydream, I glanced down to the other end of the sofa. What? Using the calculator on a weekend? Aah, it's tricky to keep right on top of the score chart in your Rugby World Cup Souvenir Guide...

Yes, we watched, yes we shouted ourselves hoarse, and yes that brings me to Monday morning, and a load of laundry. Have to get my shirt ready for the next match of course..

I hope you find something to cheer about in your week. I know it's been a bit quiet round here. But I haven't been slacking. I promise. I made five layouts last week, and wrote up a couple of other things. So I'll be here and there soon, Keep an eye out! 

Last week  Eileen, Louise, Helena, Maggie, Mary-Lou, Jane, Ladkyis, Deb, LouiseH, Michelle, Barbara, KraftyKaren, Julia, Sheena, Sue, Fiona and Alison all gave us a wave and shared a little bit of what their weekend was about. There was plenty to celebrate; but it's not always good news, we know, and we're ready to hold you up should you need us. Just give us a shout, go on: give us a Monday!

Me On Monday

It was a home comforts, home team, homely pleasures kind of a weekend:

After spending last weekend out of the country, it was nice this week to take things more slowly and enjoy some simple pleasures. Because of course it was a The Rugby World Cup is finally here! weekend, which meant is was a where's my shirt? who is actually playing? who's on the bench? Oh, yes! kind of a weekend. 

Which we combined with a soda bread eating, steak pie baking, blackberry collecting, local treats appreciating kind of a weekend. The blackberries were thin on the ground (or is that on the bush?): it turns out we were a little early; but what we found will go together with some apples in a nice crumble tonight. It was left to the view to provide most of the refreshment. And that it did. Every time I set out on this path I marvel all over again that it is within walking distance of our city home. A weekend of easy enjoyment, then, which we needed. A good one.

Monday is starting out sunny here: maybe I'll need to get back to look for those blackberries before the week is out? Whatever you are doing, I hope you find time for a treat or two: have a good one!

 Last week Louise, Deb, Ruth, Helena, Sandra, Mary Lou, Maggie, Julia, Eileen, Ladkyis, Sheena, Louise H, Karen, Michelle and Susanne all gave us wave. How are you doing this week everyone? Any plans?

Me On Monday

As the sun rose over a new term it was a see you at Christmas kind of a weekend. 

A do we really have to move that desk again?  (see this week last year) kind of a weekend. A let me at least take one photo of you weekend. A big, long driving weekend. An are you sure we need to go to Ikea when we get there? weekend, which turned into a 

Mum, Dad, you are the most embarrassing parents on the planet weekend when we stood in front of a green screen and posed for a photo to go on the cover of our own copy of the new catalogue: a release day romotion. Our new coffee table book:

So we shopped, we museum-ed, we ate, we carried stuff up stairs, we peered out of some filthy student flat windows and took photos of the view because someday son, you'll be glad that I did. (Though that wonderful sunrise was captured by The (Not So) Small One, who became tired of a sleeping bag on a sofa round about six on Saturday morning.)

But if it was a weekend of all of that, it was also a weekend of saying cheerio. We drove back to the boat and there I met up with a dear friend who had been leaving a boy of her own behind for the first time. We stood out on the deck, just we two, watching the darkness fall and the land slip away, and we talked about how we'd met outside the school gates, so long ago now, collecting our boys, and of how our brains and our bodies are changing now those boys are grown, and of how we're all ready to see what the next few years bring. We leaned over the rail and then we turned to look in at the lights in the lounge and the family waiting and we went back inside. It was a good way to end the trip.

We got back late last night, so I'm trying to catch up this morning. Here's hoping you are having a good start to your week!

Last time Sandra, Louise, Eileen, Ruth, Helena, Jane, Mary Lou, Miriam, Louise H, Fiona, Barbara, Karen, Alison, Maggie, Sheena, Ladkyis, Gail and Deb all gave us a wave and wished us the best. Right back to you! And to you. If you'd like to join us - and you'd be very welcome - please leave me a comment and I'll be over to wave just as soon as I've finished up here. Have a good one.

ps I've been trying out Instagram. You can find me @fromhighinthesky 

Me On Monday

It was a how could we have slipped back so easily into our autumn routine? kind of a weekend.

Because it was a rugby watching, apple crumble considering (it had to be apple: we only found six blackberries), curry collecting (six different kinds, bought at the market, packed for the student to take with him), early evening gardening in the late golden sunshine kind of a weekend.

Which is why I was caught trying to inpect the shed.

It's on my hitlist for a big autumn clear out.

Things to note about this photo:

1. I did make a half hearted attempt to climb on the top of the pile of stuff, to pose, as suggested by the photographer. But he got fed up waiting.

2. Finally, that striped t shirt has been relegated to gardening wear.

What else? It was a "did you know?" kind of a weekend. I had no idea that the first Saturday of September is World Beard Day. And I was also intrigued to learn that potatoes you find in an unexpected bit of the garden are called "volunteers" because they've pushed themselves forward. These are especially hardy souls: we didn't plant any potatoes this year.

Volunteering for a photo on World Beard Day

So with the plucky potatoes in mind, I'll wish you a brave new start to your week. Oh, and talking of new starts? I've finally made my way over to Instagram. You can find me fromhighinthesky. All I need to do now is post something!

So last week Deb, Helena, Eileen, Karen, Louise H, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Cheri, Sheena, Fiona, Michelle, Julia, Louise and Alison all gave us a wave, wished us a good start to Monday. I'm waving back! Why not think about joining us?

Me on Monday

Me on Monday? Here I am!

We took an impromptu roadtrip and we've just got back. We only have a couple of weeks left until we say goodbye to our student again, so we grabbed a chance today to suggest an outing, and everyone said yes so we got in the car and drove. We ended up at a rather fancy Outlet Village. As the boys looked at new suits, I crept away and was eventually discovered searching out something old right beside the shops. It was a good day out.

And the weekend? It was a world fair kind of a Sunday, as we visited the Mela 

 to enjoy the music, the costumes, the food ..

...and the crafts

It was a grand way to spend an afternoon in the park..

...and all that colour has me looking out for more. I hope your week is a colourful one, in the very nicest of ways! Have a good one.

Last week Helena, Alison, Deb, Louise, Sandra, Eileen, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Michelle, Barbara, Karen, Fiona, Liz, Julia, Sheena and Alexa all gave us a Monday wave. I'm waving right back! Won't you join me?

Me On Monday

Me on Monday? I'm looking back to Sunday and a much happier weekend than of late. With Granny home from hospital we were able to stay in one place and open the door to welcome my blogging friend, Alexa:

No, wait: there's a more smiley picture here:

And did I say blogging friend? She's much more than that. I met Alexa through a scrapbooking forum before either of us ever thought of beginning to blog - would it be maybe seven years ago now? - and her friendship ever since has been a constant source of delight. She is one of the nicest, most intuitively kind, outrageously talented people I know. And she has twinkly eyes. Her blog, Trimming the Sails, is here and it's stuffed with beautiful, chic scrapbook pages, photography, digital templates, thoughtful writing..)

Alexa was in town on a mission to catch up with family and friends, so we were delighted that she was able to find us and spend a very happy hour sitting round our kitchen table. It definitely wasn't long enough! Come back soon Alexa!

So, a we really do need to tidy up before she gets here weekend. A let's write her a card weekend. "Granny's on the phone again, Mum, you can tell she's feeling better" weekend. A Little E: is that you with the hole where your tooth used to be weekend? A no time for a driving lesson weekend. A trip to see the Youth Orchestra weekend. A back to normal weekend. With added Alexa. A good one.

Last week Becky, Sandra, Helena, Deb, Barbara, Gail, Susanne, Mary-Lou, Karen, Ladkyis, Julia, Fiona, Sheena, Jo and Louise gave us a wave, wished us a good Monday and shared a bit about how they were ready for the week ahead. And now it's time to do it all over again. I hope you find something nice along the way.