Camellias......

...... in March, unheard of north of the Mason Dixon line
around this time, except in a greenhouse!

Still Life in Blue!

Very slowly, the house is coming together.......

Cotoneaster

The wall is a wonderful backdrop for the shrub

One of the neighbours........

..........wanted to say hi!

What is a tablet but is not a pill?

Our worldly goods restored to us!

On its way!

Can we really have enough stuff to fill three vans?  Apparently we do!

The kitchen looking fairly respectable

The dining room!

The sitting room

The hall

Hmm, it appears there is some work to be done and soon........ I have friends coming to stay next weekend.  Eeeeek!!!!

Goodbye, Little Flat!

A new chapter in our lives as we move to much more space...... and a garden!

Home Cooking in the Pub!

I was up at the new house today supervising the unloading of our wordly goods so the World Traveller kindly took me out to dinner - delicious food and a great atmosphere (in one of our local pubs) so have a feeling we will be back.  I should have asked for the recipe for the tomato chutney!

Railway Flowers

The station in our small town is not manned so it's even more delightful to see the carefully tended beds of flowers here - by the railway elves, do you suppose?  Not sure what happened last year with the awards, they were off their game a little as no prizes awarded!

The nearest I've got to Rhode Island is renting a Toyota Prius from there!  Rhode Island is the smallest state (by area) and was the first one to declare independence from those pesky Brits!

The Stitcher's Church!

I always thought this was where the World Traveller and I should have worshipped when we lived in Kalamazoo!

Portage, Michigan

This sign gives me a chuckle every time I drive past!

An Eclectic View!

While visiting Portland, Oregon last year we came across this wonderful shop, it was more like being invited into a private house than a retail establishment.

The Old and the New and Some Stitching!





The stitching is a design by Tanya, the book is inscribed inside "May the little devils always dance in Lizzie's eyes" and was given to her by a man named Alec in their hometown of Dunfermline and no, gentle reader, he didn't marry her and thus become my father!  The electronic device is a Nook which has been surpassed, in my husband's eyes,  by the iPad!

Beauty at your feet!

Sometimes you need to remember to look down

Only in the UK.......

......... could you name a restaurant this! 
I have eaten there and the food is good!

Watch out, Mr Heinz!

Lots of tomatoes, red and yellow, and basil growing on the window sill
so ........home made tomato soup for dinner!

Nordic Walking in the sunshine

This is my third or fourth week doing Nordic walking and I can honestly say I'm enjoying it as much as ever.

Ancient and Modern

Walking down the High Street this morning on a beautiful clear sunny day I could see right across to the Welsh hills in the background.  Just out of the camera lens is a cottage built in 1580 and in the distance the modern products of the Industrial Revolution.  I have also mentioned before that the town was listed in the Domesday Book so I live in an area of much history!

Saturday Books!

Driving down Church Street this morning after walking in the Forest, I noticed that there would be a book sale in an hour in the village hall.  Home for a quick shower and a cup of coffee then off to the hall to check it out.  It was being held as a fundraiser for the Frodsham and District Choral Society and this was my haul.  The one under the Anglo Files is one of the Australian Women's Weekly cookery books, this one on salads.  A bit ago I read Sheila Hancock's poignant first book The Two of Us about her sometimes stormy marriage to the late and much missed John Thaw.  This one is about life without him and promises to be just as good.  I began Bill Bryson's account of retracing his steps twenty years later around Europe and have had several chuckles, not the first time I've read it but it bears a second read or a third or a fourth....!

I could have bought so many more but was mindful that I was walking home!

Five a Day and Flowers!

The Village Greengrocer

In the small town where we live in Cheshire, we are so fortunate to have a proper greengrocer with all the lovely fruit and veg displayed outside the shop.  There are two butchers too and the fishmonger comes in his van on Thursdays - market day.  Oh, and several bakers but no candlestick maker!

Our First Read!

The first choice of our newly established
book club in our small town!

The Darling Buds of................March?

Signs of spring in the Delamere Forest
with apologies to H.E. Bates!

A Roman City.......

The Eastgate Clock

A short bus ride away so I went to Chester on yet another gorgeous day.The clock above was built to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.  Being Shrove Tuesday cheese rolling and pancake races were on the menu!

Today was made for walking!

Walking along the side of the Bridgewater Canal



A peaceful walk this afternoon in Big Wood (which is quite small) managed by the Woodland Trust and is neatly tucked into a corner of Runcorn in Cheshire.  The sun shone out of a beautiful blue sky all day and made you want to just keep on walking!

Lots of news - some good and some not so and some just plain weird!

One of the biggest treats of being back in the UK - the Sunday papers, they rank right up there with British bacon, lol!

Seen through the garden window!

See on the way to the pub tonight - made out of left over bits of wood,
pity the view behind isn't more attractive!

Wordsworth's favourite flower!

Spring!  In the house and in a garden!

Multitasking Clothes Airer!

The flat being so small and with no dedicated stitching table I got tired of strewing bags of threads over all available and non-available surfaces so decided that since the airer just sits there for large portions of the day - it had to earn its keep!

I might just possibly have too many threads (you are only seeing about half of them, lol) as a visiting estate agent/realtor asked if I sold them!

A Day without Coffee................

................. is a day best forgotten!

Does it make the ladies' bottoms larger or smaller in the UK?



The North Face Outlet
Cheshire Oaks, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire

 This was yet another store where I noticed the lack of customer service.  Only one assistant working and alas, he was too busy with his personal phone call to find out whether the shoes could be obtained in a wide fitting.  I had tried on two pairs of shoes and regretfully I left without returning them to their boxes.  I wonder what the shrinkage is when only one person is on a shift?


It is thanks to Maggie over at her photo blog that I've begun this one, let's see how long it lasts!  The challenge will be to remember to take the camera with me - every time!