Lavenderhouse

Happy Smile

Good morning!  It is a good job that blogging is a typing communication as currently I am hyperventilating at the combination of colours in these photographs.  Today is an extremely dull grey day here by the coast and it probably makes these beautiful colours seem even brighter.

I bought the left over beads from the school fair and we have been making keyrings for Open House here.  The children and I spent a lovely evening last night watching Nanny McPhee, threading beads and tickling playful kittens.

The weekend was summery .........  Friday saw the local Rainbow group receiving their badges and playing games on the beach.  My friend and I hid our wine until they had all gone and then some of the Mums enjoyed us for a glass before going home windswept and salty.  That sounds terrible doesn't it!  Saturday saw an influx of two more children staying here and we had a long day on the beach pottering about and BBQing.  (I could do a Which Report on disposable BBQs!)  Sunday we had some friends over and Sam bought me these gorgeous sunflowers.  They always make me so happy to look at. We relaxed on the beach enjoying the last of the gorgeous sunshine.

This hopefully will make you laugh if you are not already cheered up by all the bright colours.  Jasper and I decided it would be funny to put our email address on this duck and send it out to sea.  We found a message in a bottle at the weekend but it had only travelled about five beaches along from the pier so we chucked it back again.  Anyway, the tide was low and Jasper set about sending the duck off .....

So off he went in the crystal clear water ...........

He kept going, it involved chucking it out to sea now ........... but it just wasn't going anywhere.

So we still have it!  We will say goodbye to the duck when the sea is rough and just turning so hopefully the tide will take him out to sea.

Did he just wink?

Sunshine

Peonies are positively my most favourite flower.  I just couldn't get the light right at homes so I photographed them on the beach - any excuse to get down there!  My Mum gives me a bunch every year.  I am sure the season does not usually last this long.  I have been so pleased watching them unfurl from tight buds to beautiful frothy flowers.

 

Life, although stressful for the same reasons as everyone else, is somehow very magical at the moment.  I checked my blog for one year ago and I had typed in capitals - tell the wind to stop blowing.  That would have meant cold trips to the paddling pool and beach, poppy petals being ripped from their stems and very bad hair days!

Instead we have been basking in summer holiday sunshine.  It is almost a sin for children to go to bed on time when the sun is out in strength.  The pebbles hold the heat when the sun has gone, keeping us down there even longer.  The children cleverly ask for one more swim before we leave the beach (usually @ 8.30 pm - don't tell their teachers!!!).  It is hard to refuse children such good exercise.  Apart from this Sunday morning the TV hasn't been watched by the children for weeks and we don't have computer games vying for their attention - their hair is bleached by the sun and wavy like they have already had their 6 weeks summer holiday.  

I have enjoyed doing a few watercolours on the beach - sorry that should be messing around with paint.  I cannot paint anything properly but I love the colours merging together, something I love about felting too.

Today, 20 of us met on the beach for a BBQ.  The sniff of suncream, the seasalt and sizzling BBQ sausages literally was heaven.  The twelve children played beautifully together.  I have a garden trug that I have constantly filled with plastic bowls and cups.  Just peeking in that trug makes me happy as it signifies happy gatherings. 

A large pile of sarongs gathered from different holidays teeters in my wardrobe.  I would not dare wear one on its own but have taken to wearing one like a little skirt over my cropped trousers.  I cannot resist the summery colours.  Somehow, summer and that holiday feeling increase ten fold when a sarong is involved.

This year I planted more lillies in the garden - I didn't know nature produced such vibrant colours - how mad is this yellow! The clashing of the purple and yellow are so uplifting in the hot sunshine.  I love watering the garden at the moment as the smell of the earth wafts up, mingling with the scent of lavender and rosemary.

 

Last week I helped on the school trip to Wakehurst Place, which was an absolute pleasure.  They hold the largest seed bank in the world.  One project the children had to do was make a picture using fruit and vegetables.  My daughter started to make the picture of the man anatomically correct - it had to be my daugther, didn't it! ....... off for more outside cooking tomorrow - I really encourage you to try it too as it involves no sweeping up or hoovering of crumbs (something I hate doing) .......  have fun!

St Ives & Porthminster Cafe

As you can probably guess we have been away.  We went to Cornwall for the week so we could spend 7 days sheltering in a UV pop up tent on the beach or surfing.  Fortunately I invested £25.00 in new pop up tent before we went and I checked that it was waterproof too.  It was very useful. 

One of my favourite places to visit in Cornwall is St Ives.  I love the little shops and the little windy rows of cottages.  As with anything, it has its bad points - parking being one of them!

These cottages look great.

It is important to say that it was not one of these cottages but we rented a cottage. Despite being very expensive for one week it was like stepping back to the bad old days of holidaying in Cornwall.  We had to have a plumber out and an electrician to fix different things and the bathroom was like one in a student house - yuk, yuk, yuk!  We have stayed in some lovely properties in the last few years so it will not put us off.  Needless to say, I have had to spend part of today putting together a complaint letter!

One of the best things to do in St Ives is go to lunch or dinner at the Porthminster Cafe.  It is fantastic.  The cafe itself is interesting, the view is stunning, the food is wonderful and the staff are always great.  If you remember the days before children then you would eat at a sophisticated table taking in the amazing view:-

However, reality for us is that the naughty kids who need entertaining get given the lobster.  What a surprise!

This is an outside view of the cafe - the white building right on the beach.  We sat on the beach after dinner.  It was one of the only good evenings that we had weather wise so it was great!  If you want to experience the cafe if you visit Cornwall then no matter what time of year it is important to book quite a way ahead.  Have more to blog about Cornwall but also have three very dirty children that need bathing!

Love & Beach

Most mornings I try to go for a march along the seafront - whatever the weather.  Sir Jasper tends to hide in his sedan - or is he maybe becoming an old man - blanket over the knees!

This made me laugh - do you think the seagull built it in the night? (I know he didn't really).  

We made this LOVE canvas for Whist for his birthday (amongst other presents before you begin to feel too sorry for him!)  We can't afford the real Paul Smith version.  Although it would be a collector's piece in the future so hopefully I might invest one day - keep collecting those 20ps.  I want to embelish it with some buttons (so very not Paul Smith).  Each of the children did a letter each - Sky did L, Jasper V, Pasha E and me O.  I find it very interesting that the letters are similar in style to the canvases we did a while back.  Anway, Whist and I had a good lunch out at a local fish restaurant.  It was really windy but very sunny so we sat outside.  Then we went out with the children in the evening for a pizza/spaghetti so they didn't feel left out!  - hence the extra long walk this morning!

In anticipation of Julie Arkell

Sometimes when you live right near the beach it is difficult to go inland on a sunny day.  My other half went to the Rugby Final with some clients so the children and I thought we would try to do something different.  This year is about stepping out of our normal routine.  Our favourite holiday destination is Menorca but this year due to a family wedding we have planned different holidays.  One of the holidays is to go to Malborough College and do the Kids Clubs and I will be doing a Julie Arkell course.   I am very lucky as this coming weekend I am going to do a Julie Arkell course as a precursor to a whole week of crafting in the Summer.  The point of this ramble is to say we went to see the Fairy exhibition in Bracknell on Saturday.  One of the exhibitors was Julie Arkell whose work is so beautiful.   We all loved it.  There was one of Julie's little creations that had a shadow created in front of it - I was really pleased as Skyla spotted it was a shadow straight away.

We had a lovely time but the first things the children wanted to do on our return was go on the beach.  They put on their wetsuits (another grey evening) and I took my special cup down on the beach for a hot cup of mint tea. 

All the blogs I love talk about all the craft they have made or what amazing things they have bought at car boot sales.  I would love to blog a picture of all that loveliness but my weekend ended with Monster Trucks squashing four cars at 'Kidstuff' at Leonardslee Gardens! 

My antidote - another beautiful peony that smelt absolutely gorgeous.

Today's word is lovely!

When I reread this blog to check it nearly every adjective was 'lovely'.  I started to change them but stopped as I do really think everything I talked about is lovely!

I love the Brighton Art Festival and treated myself to these lovely corsages made by Emma Herian of Sew Recycled.  For some reason I cannot get the flipping pc to let me do a link to her, but her blog is at sewrecycled.blogspot.com.  She also sells these lovely corsages at Appendage in Brighton - one of the loveliest galleries in Brighton. 

















After school yesterday we went straight down to the beach for a quick run around.  We really miss the gorgeous weather we had recently - come back lovely weather.

















Skyla was extremely tired and run down with an ongoing cold so stayed off school.  She was so excited about being at home without her brother and sister though it temporarily revived her, which didn't look too good when she enthusiastically announced she was staying at home to all her class!  We had a lovely time together despite the amount of housework and tidying up to get through.  I love time with them all but spending time individually with them is so lovely too.  Jasper and I went for a refreshing walk along the promenade as usual this morning, then he had his swimming lesson and I did pilates afterwards.  Then we went and fed the ducks at Falmer village.  The seagulls are squawking mad but it makes it lots of fun, although they are all camera shy apparently!

















This is how lovely the sea can look when the sun flipping shines!