Work, Waiting and Winding Roads

The Summer holidays are drawing to a close here at High In The Sky. As the years flick past time seems to fly faster with every new school bag we choose. For the last week we've been in that in between state before the holiday ends and term begins, sewing on name labels and catching up with friends who have been away.

This morning we reached the last staging post before the new year. The Tall One received his exam results and he has done us proud. Very, very proud. All that work and waiting has seemed like a long and winding road at times

but now we know he has a solid foundation for his final two years. And we are off to celebrate!

Then we'll be coming home to finish up all the holiday projects we've been experimenting with. The wooden skeleton kit (Christmas present) is nearly done. The make-your-own-soap is more than completely done (don't overheat it - turns out like chewing gum). And the bedroom tidying is - ongoing. "There's a story behind every one of these things," said The Small One as she sorted. Oh yes. All that's left to do now is have another look back through the summer photos. There is an autumn of scrapbooking ahead...



August At Gotta Craft

Today I have two pages I made with the August Gotta Craft kit. It was blissful! No, really. It was Authentique's new Blissful collection and I did enjoy using it very much.

First of all I made this one:

taking the photo of me in my grey shirt as my starting point. I'm looking contemplative, don't you think? The little fold up journaling card in the kit was perfect for tucking away some private thoughts.

And then I made this:

which was inspired by the chipboard banners in the kit. I added some buttons from my stash and a few flashes of pink with papers from one of the new Authentique 6x6 paper pads. 6x6? Perfect! I'm always hoarding my full sheets of patterned paper to use as backgrounds. This way I can use smaller sheets to add accents and make embellishments. And I will. Oh, yes, you can count on it.

Wish You Were Here

So here's the thing: the motto of the company we travelled with is "Escape Completely". And we did, oh we did. And yet as we travelled and looked and admired and wondered, I found myself spotting things you would have liked. And that was nice.

I saw a collection of trolls one of you would have loved. And a shop full of clean Scandi design another one of you would have wanted to bring home. And a decoupaged table which I just know would have had one of you reaching for the mod podge. And then I started looking for things from my list, my list for Rinda's Summertime Scavenger Photo Hunt, and I discovered a few:

Wall art in Stavanger

Decorated mail boxes in Olden

Rooster weather vane in Olden

Wooden bridge in Geiranger

I've been enjoying seeing who else has been joining in, as I sift slowly through the posts I've missed. I'm savouring them in between loads of laundry. Nearly there with that - I needed a fast turn around because on Sunday The Tall One flies to Pittsburgh to take part in the International Schools Language Olympiad. He's been doing a bit of training with Uncle Dave:

Dave: Forget cricket. That was your old life. The hard work starts here. I've marked a few passages..

The Tall One: Yeah. Right. I'm off out to play cricket.

Whatever you are up to this Thursday, I hope it's a good one!

When The Sun Shines..

"When the sun shines, angels are travelling," our Tour Guide in Bergen said. Now, we're no angels; but the sun certainly shone for us last week in Norway. It flashed off the waterfalls and made the green fjord water glisten as we sailed past.

One fjord, one pair of big sunglasses. And me.

We had a wonderful holiday and I have lots to tell. But most of those stories are still in my head for now, waiting for a chance to escape.

Phrase book borrowed from (who else but) Uncle Dave

I have been answering emails this morning, but I am also looking forward to looking at my Google Reader. It's full to bursting with enough excellent lunchtime reading to last me all week. And then there is the laundry pile, which will probably stretch into next week too. It's good to be back...

Oh, look. Family togetherness. In the coffee shop at Geiranger Fjord Centre