Memos, Mail, Me

Dear Friends,

It was a weekend here of music and laughter and missed planes and returning heroes, and grown up children grabbing life and showing us how to give it a good shake. And, friends, it has confirmed to me what I've suspected for some weeks now. I need a break from writing - over the summer - so that I can spend time with everyone while we are all in the same place.

I'll still be scrapbooking and making projects for Gossamer Blue and Get It Scrapped (and I'll be uploading them to Pinterest, so you can find me there); and I'm sticking with Instagram, so you'll catch me there too. Thank you so much for your company and for dropping by here every Monday. If you enjoy making a memo, please do keep on Monday-ing! And have a wonderful Summer! 

With love,

Sian

Last week's links, because you still deserve your wave, are:  Ruth, Deb, Barb, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Maggie, Mardi, Karen, Ladkyis, Honore, Alison, Jane and Eileen

Memos, Mail, Me: Do You Come Here Often?

Monday: I'm not seeing it. It's supposed to be the warmest day of the year so far here today; and I'm waiting...but until I can take off my sweater and go out into the garden, let's talk weekends and mail and making a memo.

Saturday morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table, wondering what I might write about once the weekend was done. The mail last week hadn't offered much. So I picked up our local City Council magazine which comes through the door once a month. It tells us what's on about the place, if there any new arrivals at the zoo, the latest astounding visitor numbers for the Titanic Exhibition, all of that. I flipped through it, I set down my knitting and I put on my coat. Let's get out and about! I said. Any ideas? Somewhere not too far, somewhere I've never been? And The Accountant said Trust me. And drove.

We went out of town, into the country close to where he grew up, past a patchwork of fields and hedges all frilled in white; and then we pulled up outside a large red building, almost a barn, but not quite.

The Rinkha? I said. The Rinkha! he nodded. Now here's your new fact for the weekend (though maybe you are way ahead of me and know this already): "rinkha" is an old Irish word which roughly translated means "place of mirth and merriment". I'd heard him talking about this place for years. It sounded like a cross between Santa's workshop and Rudolph's holiday stop off: a magical combination of toyshop and icecream kiosk, out on its own, with fields all around. 

The Accountant held up his hands. He hadn't known if it was really still there, he admitted, he'd heard a rumour about apartments, and then he started rummaging in his pockets and counting his icecream money. I ate my rum n raisin at a table inside and as I licked I looked at the display on the wall and it all became clear. The Rinkha had been a ballroom, hugely popular when showbands were the thing round here. When I was at school I had a friend whose Dad had been in a showband, had even made it into the charts, and sure enough, there was his picture. I ate the end of my cone, I wondered if it was too late to learn how to jitterbug, and then we had to go

onwards to the beach and then home in time for tea. How about you? Maybe your mail sent you on a trip this weekend too? Anything interesting? We'd love to hear about it! You could make a memo!

Last time  Alex, Deb, Ruth, Barbara, Mitra, Honore, Mary-Lou, Maggie, Ladkyis, Melissa and Karen shared a bit about what they'd been up to. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a great week!

Shuffle, Shuffle: Finding Room for More Cards..

So every month when my box from Gossamer Blue arrives and I open it and begin to think about what I might make for my contribution to the blog, I tell myself  to come up with a plan which doesn't involve cards. Something new would be nice, Sian! But this time round I couldn't help myself. I looked at all the pretty new die cuts, all exclusive, all waiting to be gathered up and clustered and I made this:

I turned a blank journaling spot sideways to make a resting place for a butterfly and some flowers. Then I used a picture frame to give a home to a little pink bird:

and then I found his friend and another frame but also a stamp, which I used to mark out a stitching line.

Gossamer Blue found room for my cards and now I must find a space in my card drawer too. Or maybe I would be better finding a couple of stamps and a pillar box?

See you Monday!

Memos, Mail, Me: Oh, Darn!

Hey, Monday! I see that you are actually Tuesday but that's fine. I don't mind working a little bit faster to catch up after the lovely weekend I've just had. 

We travelled south and spent two nights in a hotel we like, we drove out to the seaside, we shopped (yarn, of course, books, and a navy dress I have in the "possibles" pile for our boy's Graduation in July) and then, on Sunday, I rocked up to the knitting shop for a class with the delightful Kate of A Playful Day (find her instagram @aplayfulday and her beautifully curated and full of tips Pinterest boards here. She took my picture!

I can't say too much about the class itself, of course, much in the same way as I couldn't share the contents of a paid for pattern on ravelry, say, but what I will save for another day and share then is what I realised I already knew, what I always think about when I try to tell a story with my phone.

So what else is new, then? I have post! I got the loveliest little parcel last week from my Monday-ing friend Ladkyis, who very thoughtfully (yes! thank you! you were right! it is exactly what I need) realised I could use a darning egg, for my socks, should they wear out, which they will and probably all at the same time, very soon. 

This one is a bit of an heirloom: it is smooth and satisfying to hold and I shall think of its original owner every time I use it. There it is in the middle of my photo, close to a nearly finished pair and a spool of reinforcing thread which I've lately been knitting into heels as a preventative measure.

My post today has just arrived and with it a letter addressed to this address, but with a name and a postcode I don't recognise. Someone has mixed things up. I hope with a little bit of detective work I can send this letter on its way again. So I'm off to google. How about you? Anything new? 

Deb, Ruth, Eileen, Barb, Mitra, Mary-Lou, Melissa, Alison, Ladkyis, Cheri, Maggie, Honore and Alexandra made a memo last time round. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week!

Have Notebook, Will Travel

On the day I wore this sweater and ate this fish and chip supper and was caught taking pictures of my dinner with a view to posting them on instagram (though in the end I didn't because it turns out a piece of cod in a mini metal frying basket is quite hard to capture in its full glory), I made a note in my diary

Supplies from the May kits at Gossamer Blue

I had booked myself a place on a phone photo course. And this weekend, it has finally come time! I've been looking forward to it and to the road trip we have planned around the journey. A two hour class a couple of hours from home has turned into two nights away, with plans for a yarn splurge and a museum or three. 

So I suppose what I'm really trying to say is that I may be Monday-ing on Tuesday next week. Don't wait for me! I'll be back!

With ideas for more pictures, I hope, and a story or two, and pages I can show you, instead of the bare bones

of an entry, which will turn into a record of a Formal, with a black dress and red lipstick and a boyfriend in a very tight jacket (why does he have his shirt tail untucked? asked Granny. That's rock n roll, we said..)

If you are celebrating Mother's Day this weekend, I hope it's a lovely one. See you..maybe, Tuesday?