All a matter of time......

Time is such a relative thing!

For Daughter and E it was Tudor time and as usual R moved in with us. For the first time O really really didn't want to go back in time as all his techy interests are very much in the here and now, so he moved in with us too. He's only done one or two nights sleepovers before so fingers crossed for 10 days!

I thought I would bring some craft stuff down so I could be near and handy when needed but not bored and idle when O spends lots of time on ipad/laptop/atari/etc. I'm playing with plastic bottles to upcycle into a garden.

After a whole week I'd achieved very little as time is never your own when there are children in the house. 

There were games to play. This one was a super-mega-noughts-and-crosses that O invented.

We managed a trip out to the beach. This summer's national trend is painting rocks/stones to hide and find. So we joined in although limited on time.

These were our finds that we rehid after our icecream/tea break.

These were the ones we painted (I'd taken sharpie pens) during our icecream/tea break and hid these too. When we got home O and I posted these photos on the "Felixstowe Finds" facebook page like everyone else does.

Hilarious at the time, the tide was right in, O took off his trainers and had shorts on so he was fine, R didn't! Unfortunately she mistimed the waves more than once and was soaking wet up to her knees. Clean dry trousers at home but no other shoes! Got back in time to plonk a dinner in front of her while I spent the whole time with kitchen roll and the hairdryer. I didn't succeed so managed to find her a pair of my black boots to wear that night. 

Apart from her brief beach trip one day and a hospital visit the next day (D was taken back into hospital)  R's time was spent in bed, or trying to eat two meals in less than four hours and spending a minimum of seven hours each day in the forest. Saturdays have a matinee too so over ten hours, 12 hours on the day they ended with the wrap party! I did a couple of runs but Hubby was her taxi service most of the time. 

O and I found a new recipe for bubble mix that worked really well in his machine, they were stable enough to rest on the grass for a while before popping. 

O said my pancakes have definitely improved since he gave me cooking tips!

D was discharged from hospital Friday but will still need a bit of time to recover. He went home with his mum, so M was free for a while in the afternoon and O was thrilled to go home for a few hours to show his dad what he'd been making (stop frame animation, remix music, his own recordings mixed too) and to collect a bit more kit. 

The apple tree was more than ready to be relieved of a good crop, then O helped me for a while chopping for the freezer and an apple crumble. This was Saturday and as M had no other commitments from 2pm for the rest of the weekend O decided to go home, so we boxed up crumble mix and stewed apple for them to cook at home. 

O also had to quickly finish programming his game on Atari Logo to show his dad too. He had been an absolute pleasure to have here and good company.

R goes home after dinner today and Daughter and E will be back in 2017 and home tonight too. So love spending time with my wonderful grandchildren, precious time they may be too busy for in the near future. Probably take me some time to get the house back to normal though! 

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Theatre: As You Like It......

Red Rose Chain presents
Shakespeare’s
As You Like It
at Jimmy’s Farm

One of Shakespeare’s most bewitching comedies, featuring some of his best-loved characters. Forget the rules of romance…Orlando & Rosalind have their own ideas! Escape with us into the magical woodland of Jimmy’s Farm to enjoy a world of unforgettable adventure. Full of rivalry, redemption and a most-unexpected wedding!

Packed with engaging energy, music and dance – Theatre in the Forest is an ideal introduction to Shakespeare for all-ages and a must-see event of the summer!

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Such a magical setting for theatre, past the animals at Jimmy's Farm and into the woodland area where my neighbour/friendA and I got comfy in the permanent tiered seating. In a small area in front people could bring their own chairs and some had even brought little tables and were having a picnic, while other seats were reserved for those booked to have dinner first in the restaurant then arrive in time for the show.

It was a lovely warm evening but we were pleased we'd thought to bring a cushion each to sit on as the plastic chairs were chilly. We'd also packed fleeces and scarves and by half time these were all out of our bags and saving us from shivers.

All the actors were incredibly energetic and so enthusiastic delivering pure Shakespeare dialogue (such a lot of words for them to learn). It was hilarious and confusing and switched from wrestling matches and Dukes at court and banishment to the forest to suddenly being all wild west cowboy camp fire. They encouraged lots of audience noise and cheering and singing along. It was a lot of fun.

So now I've seen where we have lost R to for the past six weeks as for this performance she is one of the main volunteers and Assistant Stage Manager so has been there for every performance. She's so confident there and does a great job.
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Another mixed bag.......

And on the subject of bags here's the latest one I've made

Totally free as the beige fabric front and back is the two back pockets of old jeans, the brown is some leftovers after making lounge cushion covers which was from my stash anyway after making trousers with it about 40 years ago lol, the zip was cut down to size from an old mac and the handle was once a belt, even the lizard and starfish I've sewn on to show me which is front were given to me as a gift.

Also had a crochet play and made myself a fedora style hat that can screw up in my bag but pull back into shape. I was really pleased with myself as I still find crochet patterns completely foreign so just made this up as I went along and only had to undo half and try again when the increases didn't look right. I'm hoping it won't be warm and I can wear it as a sun hat too.

As you can see I'm still into all my crafting and always look forward to our monthly gathering at Acorn Village at Mistley. Although most of us do more chatting than crafting lol.

This Monday was also our monthly coffee morning at home, yes they are still going, think there were 12 of us round the table. Lovely to have one of our old neighbours pop back to catch up with us too. Unfortunately Hubby hadn't been feeling well since Saturday afternoon so he stayed upstairs in case he had anything contagious.

That afternoon Hubby was still feeling rough enough to go and see a doctor who diagnosed suspected food poisoning and gave him antibiotics. I'm not convinced that's what it was but happy to report by the end of this week he is feeling about 80% better.

I've got a bit of a medical issue going on as my recent CT Scan showed a little something on my left kidney and because my right kidney was removed four years ago they want to further investigate. Not urgent so could be ages before I mention it again here.

More fun and games to report, as we had a rough evening and night Tuesday night as M's son D got rushed into hospital and had surgery to remove his appendix at about 10pm. Of course everyone was in different places and poor Daughter drove miles and miles all on the same roads getting different people where they needed to be and take food too. Op went well, and Wednesday morning Daughter was back at the hospital, I had O and he's a live wire as he is the only one who went to bed before 1:30am. Hubby did of course as he wasn't well so he was up before 6am which woke me so I was quite tired yawwwwwn. Op went well and D was discharged Wednesday, amazing!

While O was here he was showing me what he'd learnt about freeze frame animation then went off to make his own. I'm amazed at the understanding and knowledge of use by an 8year old. This one was my favourite.
https://youtu.be/3DxQmeMbI-M

And now my birthday which hasn't turned out to be the quiet day I thought it would as gradually it included a little childcare, catering for extras,  courier service, taxi service and barber! So many cards and social media good wishes, some lovely gifts and lots of them floral. All rounded off with a meal out with Hubby, our children, their partners and our grandchildren (all bar one). I'm very lucky!

Did you notice the candles?
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