Month: August 2020

Sunday Postcard #005 30.08.20

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Hello again! Blimey it feels like more than a week ago that I woke up to the sunrise in the first photo. It’s been a week of getting ready for school starting – that can be an expensive business!! Here’s this week’s Sunday Postcard…

One last Gibraltar sunrise

So this was one week ago, our last wake-up in Gibraltar for a while. In case you missed last week’s postcard, I headed back to Gib with Eldest so he could collect his GCSE results in person and say goodbye to his teachers. It was a lovely few days – if a little odd after leaving so recently, however I’m really glad we made the trip. Last Sunday though, it was time to head home.

A long road home: plane, trains, trams & automobiles!

Our epic homeward journey in 3 cars, 2 trains, 2 trams and 1 plane! With a bit of crochet to pass the time.

Unfortunately for us, we missed out on a flight back to Manchester, we delayed booking due to Covid and the fact I was preoccupied with moving, so when we did try to book, the flight we needed was sold out grrr! Our only option was to fly to Heathrow and travel up from there.

We got a fabulous view of London as we came in to land, we saw Buckingham Palace, Wembley and all sorts of easily recognisable places which was a treat. Then came the rest of the journey.

We booked a car to take us from Heathrow to Watford Junction station to avoid having to take the tube into central London (we were trying to limit the amount of people we would come into contact with). Then had two (thankfully) very quiet trains from Watford to Milton Keynes and then from Milton Keynes up to Manchester. Then caught a couple of trams to the rendezvous point where we managed to get a lift home! Phew, that was a trek. But at least I had plenty of time for crochet on the move!

Happy post

When I arrived home this was waiting for me, a cute crochet pin badge and some stitch markers from Mrs G Makes. She has some lovely stuff on her Etsy shop.

Sunset on a Wednesday

Last Wednesday we had a lovely evening trip to the park. Our local park gets rather busy on a dry day and, as we don’t really want to mix with too many people at the moment, we have been giving it a wide berth. We have been popping back there in the evenings though, which is great as we often have the place to ourselves! This was the lovely sunset which heralded our walk home.

A blanket for Bluebell

Our new set of wheels, Bluebell was so lovely and clean when I picked her up from the garage, it seemed such a shame to dirty her, so I grabbed my crochet hook and made her a blanket to protect the back seat.

I don’t know what our neighbours thought when they spotted me popping out to the car several times every evening to see if it would fit properly! Anyway, I’m pleased with the result, let’s hope it works and keeps Bluebell spick and span for now!

Dishcloths for Yarndale

Yarndale may not be happening for real this year anymore, but this year’s charity appeal is still going. This year festival organisers are asking knitters and crocheters to make dishcloths to raise money for Martin House Children’s Hospice. Earlier this year I spoke to Carole Rennison from Yarndale about this for Making Stitches Podcast, so I thought it was about time I got round to making my contribution.

A magical treasure trail

Yesterday we buzzed into Manchester City Centre to have a go at a magical treasure trail. We had to follow clues to get us from place to place, solving anagrams and codes as we went and looking out for fabulous fantastical beasts along the way.

‘Manchester – the Wizard’s Spell Book’ was loads of fun and took us to parts of the city I have never visited before (or at least I haven’t visited since major building work has taken place there). The Little Postcards loved it and so did I!

You can find the trail by visiting the Treasure Trails website and pay to download the instructions and treasure map or they will send one out to you in the post. It made for a good few hours of entertainment and was great fun. We can highly recommend it.

It’s amazing how many mystical creatures you can spot in the city. You often just need to look up!

And that brings this week’s Sunday Postcard to an end. If you have a bank holiday weekend this weekend, I hope you are enjoying it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x

Sunday Postcard #004 23.8.20

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Hello there! My word it’s been a busy week this week as you will see. I hope it’s been a good one for you. Here’s this week’s Sunday Postcard…

Stormy skies

Last Sunday we headed out to our local field to play frisbee. It seemed like a great idea at the time – we had a brief frisbee session the day before and the Little Postcards loved it – so we headed back for a longer session on Sunday. It was fun, I’ll give you that, but blimey I didn’t half ache afterwards!! My neck, shoulders, arms, back legs…. I’m showing my age!

Rainy day

After a bright Monday morning, the afternoon was a rather damp affair in our part of the world. Despite that, I thought the rain drops on this spiders web looked rather pretty.

Leaving on a jet plane

Eldest and I had an early start on Wednesday morning…. we were Gibraltar bound for the small matter of picking up GCSE results.

And there she is…

A seat with a view

A postcard from Gibraltar

It had to be done… we left the two youngest Little Postcards behind under the care of grandparents, so we simply had to send a postcard back home on Wednesday when we arrived. I’m amazed to be able to tell you that it arrived in Manchester on Saturday just 4 days later!

Sunrise on results day

We were up early on Thursday so we could collect Eldest’s GCSE results (the reason for our visit). As we were staying on the East side of the Rock this time we were able to witness sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea. It was a lovely moment as we anticipated what might be coming that day.

I’m thrilled to be able to tell you the results were as sunny as the skies above us. I have been having a proud Mum moment ever since.

Friends reunited

Friday evening meant meeting up with some old friends who I only said goodbye to last month! It was great to see them, tell them all our news and hear theirs.

Making waves on the beach

Our trip back to Gibraltar hasn’t exactly been a holiday, there have been things which needed to be sorted following our move back to the UK. A few admin jobs which had slipped through the net before we left and such like. Yesterday though, in the afternoon, I found myself alone and my to-do list was complete so I took my crochet hook, yarn & deckchair down to the beach at Sandy Bay.

I had a few blissful hours crocheting, watching the world go by and also had a solo dip in the sea. I can’t remember if I have ever been to the beach alone before. I normally always have young people with me. I can highly recommend it! It may only have been a few hours but it felt like a holiday after months of planning, packing, unpacking and everything else that moving countries with a family entails. I feel very lucky to have had this time away.

And that brings this week’s postcard to an end. We are now back in Manchester after a very long day of travel – more on that next week!

Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by.

Lindsay x

Sunday Postcard #003 16.8.20

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Hi there, how are you doing? It’s been a quiet week for us just pottering and not getting up to much. Here’s what we’ve been up to this week:

Back from the brink

When we arrived back in Manchester last month, my Mum bought me an orchid to replace the one I had to leave behind in Gibraltar. Unfortunately I managed to under-water it and it looked like I would lose the flowers. Thankfully I managed to nurse it back and it’s doing ok now! Phew!

A trip to the country

On Monday we took a drive out into Cheshire to visit my favorite yarn shop ‘Black Sheep Wools’. I forgot to take a photo in the shop (where I bought some more yarn for my current car blanket project), but I did take one at a farm shop on the way home! I got some gorgeous Cheshire potatoes, a cauliflower and these fresh peas to pod – they were very tasty!

Sultry stormy skies

We have been blessed with some hot, sunny and at times rather humid weather of late – rather reminiscent of hot steamy Levante days in Gibraltar. Overnight there have been some dramatic thunder storms too. One evening as I popped out to the car I saw the sky lighting up above me completely silently. It was rather eerie.

Not finished yet…

So, as I mentioned, I’m making progress on my car blanket for my new car; ‘Bluebell’. I began it by using a yarn pack which I bought from Lucy at Attic 24 at Yarndale back in 2016. I decided not to use it for the project it was intended for and it’s been waiting for the right project to come along, until now! It’s Stylecraft Chunky so works up really quickly. I think it’s going to be my quickest crochet blanket to date!

I decided to join in with the Black Sheep Wools ‘Finished for Friday’ hashtag on Instagram but failed, so I’ll have to #wipthisway for another week!

Lovely Lymm

On Friday we took an afternoon drive out to Lymm in Cheshire (about half an hour from where we live). We parked the car and walked along the canal side to the village. It’s a lovely place…

… then we took a shady woodland path through The Dingle and up to the Dam.

The Dam looked beautiful in the summer sunshine.

We spotted a few green men carved into fallen tree stumps along the path.

Ahhh, and relax….

Bunny update

You may remember that last week, our fluff ball of a bunny, Diamond, arrived in Manchester to join us after a long road trip up from Gibraltar? Well he is well settled into his custom built new hutch made by my Dad!

Granny Square Day 2020

It was Granny Square Day yesterday and Instagram was filled with beautiful granny squares to celebrate. Some were truly exquisite, some were intricate and others were 3D (I saw an amazing 3D unicorn one!) but I went for a plain old tradition granny for my contribution. As 2020 has been a year of ups and downs for many of us, and seeing as there are rainbows all over the place at the moment to give us hope for the future, I simply had to make a rainbow coloured granny square this year.

And that brings this week’s postcard to an end for another week. I hope it’s been a good one for you, and here’s to the next seven days…

Lindsay x

Sunday Postcard #002 9.8.20

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Hello there, I hope you’re doing well! Sunday again already…. where are the weeks going? Here’s this week’s postcard…

On the edge of the city

Last Sunday, we popped out to stretch our legs in the lovely Longford Park on the edge of the city of Manchester. The main park and gardens were rather busy and it was obvious we couldn’t visit the swings and socially distance as well, so we had a walk away from the crowd to this meadow which framed the city skyscrapers beautifully in the distance.

Bunny road trip

Our pet bunny Diamond began his trip north to join us on Tuesday. This was him in his cage in his transport as he was picked up from the Gibraltar border. We were hoping he would be alright traveling with other animals because he’s a rather timid chap and not used to mixing with other creatures.

Moody clouds over the park

Our fascination with going to the park hasn’t waned during the month we have been in our new home. We end up there several times a week (weather permitting) although things have got a lot busier since schools broke up here and sometimes we have had to abort our trips to return later on after dinner to avoid over crowded swings.

A walk by the water

We had some warm and sunshiny weather on Friday and headed off for a picnic and walk in the open air. This is Pennington Flash in Lancashire where we ended up on our trip.

Chunky crochet

So this week, I bought a new car! My new wheels (she’s called Bluebell by the way) looked like she could do with a blanket… so I raided my packing boxes to find that stash of chunky yarn I bought many moons ago and have been saving for the right moment!

Sunset on a Friday

I sat out in our back garden on Friday night with my crochet, a glass of wine and this lovely sunset overhead. It’s not quite the view of sunsets across the Bay that I used to look out at, but it’ll do nicely.

He made it!

Look who arrived safe and in one piece yesterday?! Our little gang is complete again – Diamond is settled into his new home and we are all happy bunnies now that he’s back with us!

That’s all for this week, I hope it has been a good one for you inspite of all that has been happening in the world. Where ever you are reading this take care and have a good week ahead.

Lindsay x

Sunday Postcard #001 2.8.20

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Hello there and happy Sunday!

You may have spotted that this isn’t a Sunday Sevens post. I decided that after 230 weeks of Sunday Sevens, it was time for a change. The Sunday Sevens phenomenon was first created by sewing blogger Natalie, at Threads and Bobbins. Her idea was for bloggers to share seven photos from the previous seven days in a series of posts which were markedly different from their usual crafty or lifestyle posts.

Lately, because of the move back to the UK, I have had weeks without Sunday Sevens, Sunday Sevens with far more than seven photos and some with far fewer. Bearing in mind I have just moved countries with my family away from the Gibraltar named in my blog title, I thought that perhaps I should focus more on the ‘Postcard’ part instead.

So this will be my new weekly (when I can/when I remember) post. I can’t guarantee how long or picturesque they will be going forward, but I will try to share a bit of beauty each week.

So here is my first Sunday Postcard offering:

A postcard from Gibraltar

I have to admit it feels very strange writing blog posts from England without the feeling that we will soon be getting back on a plane and heading home to Gib. I’m sure in coming months, especially when the weather takes a turn for the worst, I will really miss Gibraltar, the mild (and sometimes very wet) winters, the fact I spent more time each year in flip flops than in boots, our beautiful views and of course our lovely friends. But, at the moment I’m really enjoying our new life here in Manchester. (The above photo is of a Gibraltar postcard I came across when I was packing up to move).

Grey skies

One of the overriding questions I’ve been asked since our move from Gibraltar is ‘Are you missing the sunshine?’ The answer is ‘no, not really’. We certainly don’t have blue skies everyday up here in the north west of England, but I’m really enjoying the wide open spaces, the greenery and having special people I’ve been far away from for almost 2 decades living round the corner.

Hob-nobbing with the stars

Earlier this week, before the new tighter Covid restrictions came into force, we had a visit from some very good friends. We took them to Media City to show them the Blue Peter Garden and where many of their favorite TV shows are filmed.

Although many people were wearing masks (including us), and there was a slightly subdued atmosphere there, you couldn’t get away from the fact it’s a rather exciting place. We even spotted a few familiar faces from the world of showbiz as we had our lunch out in the open air.

Can you spot those green houses and jazzy garden sheds in the photo above? Those could be booked out for lunch! You could have your own bubble in a glass bubble! What a fab idea.

Below is the closest I can get to a photo of open water for you these days… it’s the Manchester Ship Canal!!

A woodland walk

On Thursday we had a really pleasant walk back to a favorite place of mine, Marbury Country Park in Cheshire. There’s a gorgeous woodland walk via Marbury Mere and the nearby canal as well as wide open spaces for picnics. Not to mention lots of gorgeous greenery.

An old friend

A long time ago, long before our move out to Gibraltar, I was given this rose called Wee Cracker. It lived in a pot and followed us on various house moves in the north of England until we headed off to Gib. Since then it has lived in my parents’ back garden where my Mum has lovingly nurtured it until the day I could have it back. It was waiting in the back garden of our rental home when we arrived three weeks ago, and here it is looking lovely – the first bud opened yesterday.

That’s all for this week, I’ll leave you with this collection of pictures from last month – a very busy one for us! Thanks for stopping by 🙂