...as a rule

I came across these printable rulers this morning and thought they might be useful for sticking on workspaces and counters and tables - anywhere where a bit of measuring is required from time to time. Check it out!

Empty Nest ...

I never thought I could miss my boy so much. We had our big family road trip down to Glasgow on Saturday and we left him behind at his University residence. OK, so I don't really have a totally EMPTY nest, I still have my two beautiful daughters at home, but it certainly going to take some time to get used to my son not being around. He on the other hand is perfectly fine - having a ball in fact! Oblivious to his mother's tears! But that's OK. It's my problem, not his after all. I'm happy he is happy.

This made my day though - I won a beautiful handmade book in a blog giveaway, from the wonderful Lori. If you haven't visited her blog before, then drop by and have a look. She is a very gifted individual. I can't wait for my little book to arrive!

I also recently received a gift from Sherry, a lovely embroidered sachet. I apologise Sherry, that I haven't mentioned you sooner - my head has been full of sorting out things for Uni and all the other things going on in this busy household. The sachet is lovely. What clever hands you have.
Drop by her blog and say hi...

My little sweet pea !

My little girl is growing so fast. She has now started nursery two mornings a week, and she is loving it.

But she is never happier, than when she is in the garden, munching sweet young pea pods. We have never had enough for a harvest, because she is constantly raiding the plants for their bounty. But I am happy that she is taking such pleasure from them when some poor kids think that peas only come from the supermarket, and they don't have the pleasure and benefits of a garden. If you have a little space outside, do grow some food to eat. You don't need much space - you can plant in containers. It's well worth the effort.

A lovely walk...

We went for a long walk on Saturday, just me and my girls. Actually, it was a lot longer than I had intended - about 3 and a half hours. I'd forgotten how long the route took - and we only read the information after we'd been on the walk. We managed to keep the little one going by bribing her with brambles. e.g. "If you make it to that next tree, you can have another one! " It worked quite well, but my feet were really sore when I got back. The walk was in an amazing place called Monadh Mhor which is a pine woodland that has been transformed back to its original Pine bog woodland Habitat. There is a circular walking/cycling track around it, and it is very beautiful. We saw many species of dragonflies and butterflies, and the wild scabious and heather were purplicious! Photos by Naomi.

This was my husband and son passing us on their cycle trip.

Twas the hooting of an owl...

It's an owly rambling I have for you today. We were woken last night by a screech owl. It was REALLY loud and it was ages before I got to sleep again, and as a result, I am a bit tired and grumpy this morning. It reminded me of a poem a wrote when I first moved to this house. Thing is - (and this is a bit weird) - when I wrote it, I heard the voice of Pam Eyres in my head. Now if you've not heard of Pam Eyres. She is a poet who became a bit of a household name in the UK a number of years ago. She's a bit like Marmite - an aquired taste. She's part of my youth, so I look on her fondly - and I like Marmite. Anyhoo, when reading my poem, be sure to embody Pam Eyres, otherwise it doesn't work so well!

Twas the Hooting of an Owl (With apologies to Pam Ayres)

Twas the hooting of an owl wot woke me,
Twas the hooting of an owl last night,
It’s wot woke me up from me beauty sleep
And gave me a terrible fright!

Twas the hooting of the owl wot woke me.
Woke me up in the middle of me dream.
Twas the hooting of an owl,
Wot ‘as made me feel so fowl.
It’s ‘is fault I’m so grumpy and mean.

Twas the hooting of the owl wot woke me,
Twas ‘im wot disturbed my REM
Twas the hooting of an owl
On ‘is nightly prowl.
Well, e’d better not do it again!

Hmmm, maybe someone will find that amusing!!! MAYBE !

(The owl illo is one I did a while back, it's in Karisma/Prismacolor pencil on black paper.)

Some links to check out...

I don't often post links to other peoples blogs, but I think you would enjoy the blogs of the following two talented people; Jackie Morris and James Mayhew. They have collaborated for the second time to bring out their latest picture book book, Starlight Sailor.

I have been very privileged to have interviewed them both for Armadillo Magazine recently. I hope the interview will be in the next issue (which is due out very soon), but if not, then it will be in the Winter issue. Do look out for it. You can find out more about Jackie at her website and you can follow her illustrative journey for the creation of Starlight Sailor here.

James has two blogs which he has created for his picture book series; Ella Bella Ballerina, and Katie's Picture Show.

Do drop by and say hello to them. Oh, and if you are looking for a special gift for a young niece or nephew, their book Starlight Sailor would make a great gift. You can pre-order from Amazon here.

Brambles

I can't believe that the brambles are ripening already. Where has the year gone to?

BRAMBLE. Isn't that a lovely word? It's sort of makes me think of going for a country walk and getting purple stained fingers and lips, and listening to birdsong....I guess a country AMBLE...So we picked some brambles and Naomi made us a delicious bramble and apple pie.

Here you can see it cooking, but it didn't last long - so sorry no photo of the finished pie. Well, I have to say, this blog post was a bit of a RAMBLE...I'm off !