Under the Sea

More holiday photos, and all self-explanatory. The Red Sea is awash with coral and marine life, and it's stunning.

All taken from the jetty here

Although we were a bit taken aback by this

Mind you, it's not all marine life!

More photos to follow!



Didn't we Have a Lovely Time.......

..... the week we went to Egypt :-)

When mum died last year, I went through a whole gamut of emotions. First of all there was guilt, guilt because I wasn't there, worse still I was away in London having a lovely time at Knit Nation. Then there was anger because her last year had been such a hard one. That was followed by relief (and then guilt again for feeling relief) that her struggle was finally over - because it was a struggle towards the end. Most of all though there was just an overwhelming sense of loss, and a great void in my life. It's all taken it's toll.

I've also had to come to terms with a permanent rift in my relationship with my brother, although ultimately this actually has been a very positive thing if that doesn't sound odd. We've always had an up/down/on/off relationship, not having to work so hard at something has been very liberating and far less stressful.

Finally I am able to feel very peaceful about it all. This has been helped no end by a family holiday in Sharm el Sheikh. I'd wanted something that we could all do together to remember mum, closure for all of us really, and deciding to go on holiday was the best decision I have ever made (almost!). As you might remember, mum loved her garden. The hotel was beautifully landscaped, and at first I would think "mum would like this" or "mum would like that" and then gradually I just felt that she was there with us, enjoying what we were enjoying, and that was a very comforting and healing thing to feel.

So, time for a few holiday photos. I'll probably make a couple of posts rather than overwhelm the thread. We stayed at the lovely Reef Oasis Blue Bay Hotel, and I'm afraid we didn't set foot outside the complex for the entire week!

First of all, there was the sunset as we flew into Egypt

Our lovely view of the pool from our room

Wonderful towel art!

Beautiful flowers

Here I am with my youngest DS - wearing my beautiful Sweet Pea shawl made by the lovely Franney



And with my beautiful daughter

And with Mr A

This was our favourite sunbathing terrace with a fabulous view

Another view from the terrace



And to end with for now, another sunset

More photos to follow in a few days!

I Love Days Like This!

How lovely to return home from holiday to comments on my blog - some from old friends and some from new faces, and all very welcome :-)

I have just returned from a week's holiday in Sharm el Sheikh which was wonderful, and I'll tell you all about that in the next few days. I want to write about today first though, while it's still fresh in my mind.

This morning DD and I went to church to listen to her banns being read for the first time. What a wonderful way to start a day :-) There are 10 weeks and 6 days to go now until the wedding, not that I am counting or anything, but I am so excited.

I hotfooted it from the church at Eastnor to Droitwich, where the Droitwich Half Marathon was taking place, and arrived in time to watch DS1 complete the course in a personal best time, of just over one hour and 22 minutes, taking 30 seconds off his previous personal best. We were there with two of his old schoolfriends and their wives (it doesn't seem five minutes since they were all 7 years old never mind being married with wives but there you are) and have all been for a lovely pub lunch together, reminiscing about old times and generally enjoying each other's company.

And to cap it all, Liverpool have beaten Manchester United :-) Life doesn't get any better than this!

DS is on his way back to London now and some of the best photos are on his camera, but here's a flavour of the day for you.

Edited to add this lovely photo which was in Rob's camera. Don't you just love it!

Next stop London and the Marathon on April 17th. I am very much looking forward to another lovely weekend.

Bloggiversary Competion

Some four years ago today I took a very tentative step into blogland. I had no idea how long I would blog for or  indeed whether it would be my one and only post. I've been thinking about my poor neglected little blog for some time.

I spent a long time reading through four years of posts the other day and decided I'd missed my blog a great deal. So what better way to return to blogging that to have the almost obligatory bloggiversary competion. So I've put together a little package of goodies which could be yours - all you have to do of course is leave a comment here on my blog during the month of March. And every comment made will earn you an entry into the draw. Simples!

With a Little Help from my Friends

Hopefully this is the first of many posts this year, that is if I can get my head round some of the changes here on Blogger ;-)

It's been a busy few months since I was last here. Life has gradually returned to something approaching normal but I have to say it has taken a while. I think I was on automatic pilot until Christmas, but I have definitely turned a corner now. Planning and getting ready for my daughter's wedding in May has been a most enjoyable way to concentrate the mind. And work keeps me very busy indeed.

I have been knitting a little, and for anyone who might be interested everything can be seen on my Ravelry projects page. This however is my latest FO, it's the Falling Leaves Wrap which seems to have taken me a very long time.

Several people helped me in the making of this by sending me their leftover yarn, you know who you are and thank you again. The yarn was a club yarn in the 2009 Socktopus sock club and is Toddy from The Yarn Yard a lovely mix of merino and nylon, great for socks and equally lovely for wraps too :-)

 

I used 4mm Aero needles and around 1.8 skeins of yarn.

Happy New Year!

I bet that fooled you ;-)

Do you know, at the end of this month it will be my bloggiversary. My poor, sadly neglected little blog will be four years old!

I am determined that it will be neglected no longer, and have a little competion in mind.

I'l be back again on Monday with more details.

Hello again btw. I've missed you all :-)

Centrique

Time for knitting. There has been a lot of knitting while I've been away from blogland, but it's all there on my Ravelry Projects Page should anyone feel the irresistable urge to look ;-)

I bought the yarn and pattern at Knit Nation - yes, last-in-first-out with the yarn again but it was such lovely yarn I just had to cast on. This is Centrique, and I used around 1.5 skeins of Fyberspates Scrumptious DK to knit it and I love it. It was mostly knitted on holiday, and was an ideal holiday project in that pattern was interesting without being complex.

It's beautifully soft and very very warm and I absolutely love it.

Consider the Cobwebs Blown

Oh dear, lapsing again! Here am I back from holiday for almost 2 weeks and I haven't blogged about the rest of my holiday. Well as you can see the wind died down and we had the most perfect of weather. Just look at that fabulous sea a day later, as calm as a millpond.

Some souls even braved the water! Sooner them than me.

We went on a boat trip and saw this wonderful lighthouse. It's Longstone Lighthouse, from where Grace Darling and her father braved the sea and made their heroic rescue.

We also saw plenty of these. It's a privilege to be able to be so close. Sadly we were too late for the nesting birds, but not to worry, that's good reason to go back again ;-)

We visited Alnwick Castle where Harry Potter was filmed. The gardens there are lovely.




You couldn't say you weren't warned!

This is a cannibis plant. The sign reads "Please Keep Off The Grass" I like it!!

Here is Lindisfarne Abbey

And Lindisfarne Castle


I loved the walk from Craster to Dunstanborough Castle and have a friend to thank for making the suggestion.

And yet another castle, this one is Banborough.

Stunning views. I have really fallen in love with this beautiful part of the world.

I really can't think of a better place to have gone. Northumbria is a stunning area, and I am sure we saw just a small proportion of it's splendour. We all needed a break, somewhere to wind down and relax after the stresses and strains of recent weeks and months, and when times get difficult in the coming months I'll be able to draw strength from this week.