Meet OSCAR

We have a new addition to the family - Oscar - my husband isn't really a cat man but I've found out after 25 years (today I should add) that he can't really refuse me anything. Aren't I lucky - so for my silver wedding present I got Oscar the cat - a three year old from Cat's Protection. I lost my Felix in May after 17 years and he left a big gap.

Although I have two other cats they are just not people cats but I could see that Oscar and I were going to be great pals. He's settled in very well so far and taking all of my brood in his stride. He doesn't look too stressed does he?

INCHY CHALLENGE - WAVE

Our word for this week over at inchy challenge blog is Wave - I've done a wave of the hand. If you'd like to play along you'll find us here

Its a busy week ahead in our household as my daughter goes off to Uni next Saturday - all the way up to Aberystwyth which is a 5 hour drive from us here in Hampshire. She's going up to study Equine Studies and this weekend we drove her horse Figaro up as he's going to be studying with her! At least if she gets homesick she can go and give him a big hug. I must admit I'm not looking forward to the goodbyes - I cry at the slightest thing and I know I'll be wreck.

I have a new cat coming to live with us tomorrow - his name is Oscar and he's a three year old black and white - I've missed my old Felix who died in May and although I have two other cats they are very aloof so I'm hoping Oscar will be more of a people cat - he's come from Cat Protection and I hope he settles in ok with all my brood. He will give me something to focus on with Emma going!

Its my Silver Wedding Anniversary tomorrow - we've been celebrating since August with one thing another but tomorrow is the actual date. Don't 25 years go so quick!

INCHY BLOG - DAINTY

Inchy blog's word for this week is Dainty. I found this image and thought it suited. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else makes of the word. You can find us here if you'd like to join in.

I'M BACK AND SO IS INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG

I'm back from a wonderful holiday in Kefalonia, Greece as part of our 25th Wedding Anniversary celebrations - this was the view from our pool - isn't it gorgeous!

We received a wonderful Welsh Lovespoon from Emma and Christopher as a present.

In case you are not familiar with Lovespoons, the custom and carving of Welsh Lovespoons originated in Wales hundreds of years ago. The young man would carve the spoon in the hope that his loved one would accept it. If the girl accepted - it showed her interest and is the origin of our word "spooning" Various symbols would be included - a chain would mean togetherness, a dragon for protection, a heart for love, a diamond for good luck etc.

I've also started up inchy challenge blog again with a brand new set of challenges each week which is going to be WORDS. This week's word is Touch - here's my inchy - the image was part of a Moo I was sent by Pauline and I loved the way she'd presented it so I adapted it somewhat to become an inchy and added a few more bits and pieces. If you'd like to join in with our challenges you'll find us here

Apple picking time

My apple trees have shown an abundance of fruit this year - I'm not sure whether its to do with the lovely hot weather we had in June which made them think we were going to have a summer (what a joke!) or the fact that I pruned them last year after some expert instruction. Whatever the reason - they are showing lovely big juicy apples. Its coming up to my favourite time of year - when the house is going to smell of baking, chutney making - cider and anything else I can think of to pickle or preserve.

One of my favourite books for apples is called The Apple Source Book by Sue Clifford & Angela King, which is a wealth of information for everything to do with apples. I never realised how many varieties they are- sadly I don't know what make my apples are - I have one cooking apple tree which I presume is bramleys and two eating apple trees.

As well as loads of information about apples it also gives recipes and this is their Dorset Apple Cake - scrummy! As requested - here's the recipe - and it is yummy - even hubby says so and he doesn't like cake!

8 oz flour

2 oz butter

2 oz lard

1lb cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped

4 oz sugar ( I used demerara)

1 egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

a little milk

mix all ingredients and bake in a greased and base lined cake tin ( I used a spring loaded and didn't line it and it was fine) about 8 in across and 1 1.2 in deep for 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 180C, 350F gas mark 4

Sorry for all the imperial - I still don't use grams! But can convert if you need me to

Greece and other things....

I'm off on holiday to Greece next week as part of my 25th Wedding Anniversary celebrations - and can't wait to relax in the pool with an ouzo, just to see some sun will be nice as its pouring down here in Hampshire today.



I managed to get a bit of time to do some crafting and was inspired by a piece Francesca sent me when she joined in with my inchy challenge blog swap. I had a look at some challenge sites and noticed that Wednesday Stamper are asking for a stitched piece and this one fits the bill. I've used various stamps, Cherry Pie - Tim Holtz - can't remember where I got the flourish one from.

TMTA are also asking us to use script this week - my background script is a Tim Holtz stamp.

W X Y AND Z!

Oops- I've been neglecting my old blog - we've now finished our A-Z on the inchy challenge blog - here's mine to finish the set:

I will be starting a new challenge in September - something a little bit different.

A busy month ahead of us for August with celebrations for our 25th Wedding Anniversary (which is actually 21st Sept) our daughter going away to Uni, off to Greece for a holiday all of us at the end of August and my son off to College.

My daughter has been doing an equine touch course in the New Forest for the past few days and it was a great opportunity for me to take the dogs down to play in the Forest - its so peaceful down there but such a shock when you get back into civilisation and on the motorway.

Here are some pictures of Tegan now 9 months and Tara - 11 years.

I love the way the camera has managed to catch Tegan's tail going nineteen to the dozen.

I've also got something else in the pipeline which is in its early stages at the moment -

What do you think of my posie or tussie-mussie?

V IS FOR.....

V is for Victoriana over at inchy challenge blog - we're nearly at the end of the alphabet and a big thank you to all my ladies who have stayed with me from A-Z! A mean feat.

I've been toying with the idea of finishing the blog after the alphabet challenge but then.....what else would I do on a Monday morning and I've been inspired by what the ladies have come up with for the alphabet challenge and its given me an idea for a new challenge - slightly different to what else is out there in blog land. If you nip over to inchy challenge blog - you will see I'm running a little competition - why not join in?

On a different note - I've had another dose of Jane Austen this week - whilst wandering around my local Oxfam shop getting some holiday reading books - I came across a hard back book of Sense and Sensibility, the Film for which Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and starred in. The book had all the screenplay in it - it still had some still photographs of all the main characters and it also had Emma's diaries of the weeks shooting the film. A fascinating insight to what it takes to make a film.

I've joined in with a couple of challenges today and hopefully one piece will do all.

Mixed Media Monday wanted us to use something "Borrowed" on our piece - I have borrowed the inchy of Mona which I received in an inchy swap.

Theme Thursday want us to use "Torn paper" on our piece - I have even laid the torn paper on mulberry paper which is the paper I usually tear but for this piece I've left it whole.

Think Monday Think ATC have the theme of Mona Lisa and here we have two for the price of one.

Finallly......

... I have my main computer up and running again - although it is a little slower than the laptop its easier to use so no excuses for not posting more.

On Friday I spent a lovely couple of hours with Karen MissyK who I met through my inchy challenge blog - we discovered we live not far from each other and have met up in Winchester for coffee on a few occasions- but on Friday we decided to go a bit further and visit Jane Austen's House and Museum in Chawton. The weather was glorious and it was so nice wandering around the house and the gardens - afterwards we popped over the road for a lovely lunch in a little tea shop which had gorgeous china tea cups hanging from the ceiling. Hmm - where shall we go next?

On to the Inchy challenge blog and we're up to the letter U - mine is a Unicorn - someone asked if he is a goat with a horn - but the stamp comes from a collection of Magical Signs and Symbols which I bought when I lived in Texas. The boxed set also has a book with information on all the signs and for the Unicorn it tells us that, although now dismissed as a fairy tale, in medieval Europe it was widely accepted. Some think it was a misunderstood rhino or narwhal - some think it was hunted into extinction. The unicorn was said to be faster and fiercer than a horse but of a trusting nature. His noble nature and strength caused the unicorn to be adopted as the emblem of British royalty in the 15th Century.

INCHY CHALLENGE - T

We're up to T on the inchy alphabet challenge - my T is for Tower - the Eiffel Tower - I was last in paris 24 years ago when hubby took me for a suprise weekend for our 1st Wedding Anniversary - I can't believe its 25 years this year - where does the time go?

I'm having strange phenomena at home at the moment with all things electrical going bang - my computer went last week - my mobile phone went yesterday- the DAB radio wouldn't tune this morning - makes me wonder just who is coming to visit me.......

INCHY BY INCH - S / MONDAYS ATC

We're up to letter S on inchy challenge blog already - don't the weeks fly by and this was my inspiration for my letter S for Soar. I used Tim Holtz's stamps for the birds.

We're nearly at the end of our A-Z challenge and I'm wondering whether its worth carrying on. We have 138 followers but only a handful of regular loyal players who join in. Maybe its time to call it a day.

The challenge over at TMTA this week is groups - what a fun challenge - I can't remember doing anything like this one before. I ummed and aahhd (?) over what to do as I do have a Tim Holtz stamp with a great group on it but thought everyone may use it so I found something slightly different in my stash. Maybe they are discussing crafting over their coffee! What do you think?

WEDNESDAY STAMPER - HIP TO BE SQUARE

the challenge over at Wednesday Stamper has been running for two weeks and a new one starts tomorrow - so I just managed to scrape in here. How could I not join in when it was asking for squares - and doing inchy challenge blog means I'm surrounded by squares - here I've put some together and made a tag.

If you enjoyed doing squares you might like to join in with inchy challenge blog's summer swap - details on the blog here

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - R PLUS SWAP

Up to R on the inchy challenge blog and my R is for Romance.

I'm also running an inchy swap titled ON THE BEACH if you'd like to join in - pop along to the inchy challenge blog here

TMTA and other stuff

We're on Q on inchy challenge blog this week - but I can't show you mine as my computer has died on me. I'm having to use a spare laptop which doesn't have the picture on it. But as I had a few minutes to spare and I've actually tidied my craft desk and thrown a lot of rubbish away - I thought I'd have a play. You know what its like when your desk is all tidy and you can actually see some space??????

So I joined in with TMTA this week which is asking for fairies or princesses - mine are done with all Cherry Pie Art Stamps.

Oops - it might have needed cropping!

I'M BACK WITH A 'P'

Thank you for your kind messages of support during this difficult time - I still find it hard to believe that my mum isn't with me - so many times I've gone to pick up the phone and there are still messages she has left me on my phone which I can't bear to delete yet.

Anyway - I'm back up and running with the inchy challenge blog and this week we're on the letter P - I used an old Stampin Up stamp of a penguin as I'm not thinking very creatively at the moment and, as the weather has been so hot, he helped cool me down!

my mum

I lost my darling mum Dorothy on Friday 7th May after a short illness - she was 86 - she died two days after my birthday. I want to be able to ring her up and speak to her but I can't - how awful it was for me on Saturday to find a message she had left for me on the phone when she was still fine only a month ago.

I've also had to bury my old cat today - we had to take him to the vet as he looked poorly and there was nothing more we could do so we had to have him put to sleep - he was 17 and the best cat I have ever had but did he have to choose this weekend? Maybe mum wanted a companion!

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG/TMTA

I'm a day late with our challenge this week - but things are still not well with my mum - she's now on morphine to keep her comfortable and that's not good.

On to our inchy challenge - I found O another difficult letter - I was nearly having to resert to French and do Oiseau (bird) but right at the last minute I thought of Opera - doh and me an opera singer!

The challenge over at TMTA this week is to use the colour green - one of my favourite colours so I jumped at the chance to join in with this one. The song Green Green Grass of Home by Tom Jones was the first thing that came to mind so I had to do a Welsh ATC cause that's home to me.