summer weather

Summer Craft Challenge 2021 (Weeks 4 & 5)

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Hiya, I’m a bit late with this post – again! So late it’s two weeks for the price of one!

It’s not been that exciting I’m afraid – just a super busy couple of week with us traveling down south to see some very dear friends. Then, on my return, I’ve been busily crocheting something which I can’t share with you yet. It’s a very exciting new endeavour which I’m bursting to share with you, but that will have to wait for now I’m afraid. Hopefully in October I can tell you more…

For now though, here’s what I got up to during the last two weeks in my Summer Craft Challenge.

Day 22 : Saturday 14th August

Day 22 of my Summer Craft Challenge saw me back working on another Flora the Gardener ably assisted by my gorgeous Mrs G Makes stitch marker.

Day 23 : Sunday 15th August

My make for Granny Square Day 2021 on Day 23 was this gorgeous square designed by @lovedottycrochet for Simply Crochet Magazine – you’ve got to love a rainbow 🌈 granny square!!

Day 24 : Monday 16th August

Day 24 of my #summercraftchallenge and I was back on the holly leaves again – adding prickles this time! Quite hard in Amigurumi.

Day 25 : Tuesday 17th August

We took a road trip down south to visit some very dear friends, the crochet came with me though… another amigurumi head in the making.

Day 26 : Wednesday 18th August

A couple more amigurumi arms…

Day 27 : Thursday 19th August

Crochet by the pool! Our last morning down south brought the sunshine.

Day 28 : Friday 20th August

Day 28 of my #summercraftchallenge2021 and I put my crochet hook away for a moment to begin something new. Remember that fabric purchase I made at Liberty in London? Well it was a kit to make a EPP (English Paper Piecing) patchwork cushion cover.

I’ve done some EPP before and find it’s easy to pick up and put down if I get bored or need something new to focus on. I’m very much looking forward to getting stuck into this.

Day 29 : Saturday 21st August & Day 30 : Sunday 22nd August

Days 29 & 30 of my #summercraftchallenge2021 were filled with crochet which unfortunately I can’t share with you at the moment – but will do in a couple of months 🤞. But in other news my hexies are very slowly growing in number…

Day 31 : Monday 23rd August

🧶Day 31 of my #summercraftchallenge2021 saw the super exciting arrival of the August Little Box of Crochet – squeeeel!! It’s adorable but I’m not showing you inside incase it spoils the surprise… I think I may have to wait until term begins and I have a quiet house again to give this my full attention, but we’ll have to see if I can last that long… 🧶

Day 32 : Tuesday 24th August

Day 32 and I’m really enjoying all the gorgeous fabrics in this pack from Liberty London ❤️ It’s the perfect little project to have going on the side – when my current crochet pattern is making my brain into mush I can zone out as I stitch a hexie or three.

Day 33 : Wednesday 25th August

Not the most inspiring photo for Day 33 but at least it’s decent daylight for crocheting with black yarn! Crochet on the sidelines at goalkeeping practice… thank goodness it’s not raining! 😃⚽️🧶

Day 34 : Thursday 26th August

There hasn’t been much time for crafting but I fitted in a teeny bit of crochet – I wonder what those red bobbles will be? Red noses, cherries? Ear muffs for a tiny person? You’ll just have to wait & see!

Day 35 : Friday 27th August

Just a little bit of time for some more hexies today.

That’s all there is from me for now. I hope the last 2 weeks have been good for you. Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2021 (Week 2)

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Only on week 2 and I’m late posting this already! Well it is the holidays isn’t it?! Here’s what I got up to in my Summer Craft Challenge this week…

Day 8 : Saturday 30th July

Day 8 of my #summercraftchallenge2021 was all about joining granny squares & making stitches 🧵🪡🧶

Day 9 : Sunday 1st August

A grey cloudy Sunday was perfect weather for staying in and crocheting! Day 9 of my #summercraftchallenge2021 – has anyone seen my ✂️ scissors?! 😉

Day 10 : Monday 2nd August

Day 10 of my #summercraftchallenge2021 was about sewing rather than crochet. 🧵🪡

Day 11 : Tuesday 3rd August

Not much time for ‘real’ craft today – just a paltry hexie round, but I did ‘craft’ a podcast episode – does that count?

Day 12 : Wednesday 4th August

Day 12 of my #summercraftchallenge2021 and the balls are finished and ready to be attached to their final home… can’t wait to share the finished project once it’s completed 😊.

Day 13 : Thursday 5th August

I’ve was playing with festive leaf shapes … feels a bit early for such things but time waits for no one…. Day 13 of my #summercraftchallenge2021 #crochetholly #c

Day 14 : Friday 6th August

It’s finished!!

It may have been started about a year ago, but I think it’s worth the wait? My Craft Room wreath is finished and ready to go on the wall in @making_stitches_podcast HQ!! I’m rather pleased with how it’s turned out. The pattern is by @sewing_the_seeds_of_love & is from Simoly Crochet Magazine issue 96.

And that brings week 2 to a close, I’m looking forward to seeing what week 3 has in store…

A postcard from Another Place, Crosby

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As yesterday was August Bank Holiday Monday and as we woke up to sunshine, we jumped into Bluebell (our car) and headed off to the seaside.

Look at that blue sky!

It took less than an hour to drive from our home in Manchester to Crosby on the Lancashire coast. A really good friend of mine who was brought up by the sea and subsequently moved to Manchester recommended it as a trip out if we were ever finding ourselves missing the seaside.

Eldest and I were in Gibraltar recently but the two youngest Postcards haven’t been near the sea since we moved here in July. As they have spent most of, if not all of their lives within sight of the sea, six weeks inland is the longest they have spent away from it for over a decade!

We parked up by the Crosby Marina and followed our noses towards the sand dunes, passed a busy adventure playground and some fairground attractions for small children. There were plenty of people out and about but it wasn’t overcrowded which was good news.

To the left of the footpath was a large boating lake and to the right, a smaller body of water teeming with birds. There were lots of swans looking rather elegant and aloof!

We crossed the sand dunes and spied…

… Sir Antony Gormley’s statues…

I have seen them before on tv and in photos, but I was glad to be able to see them for myself at last!

‘Another Place’ is the name of the installation of 100 life size figures which are set into the sand along the beach at various heights. The installations stretches 3km along the coast and up to 1km out to sea.

The cast iron figures were made from a cast of the sculptor’s own body, and left nothing to the imagination. The sight of his crown jewels caused much tittering (hence the tastefully positioned crown below).

All the statutes stand facing the sea and looking towards the horizon – they are meant to signify man’s relationship with nature and the ebb and flow of the tide.

Crosby beach is a non-bathing beach because of the tides and quick-sand, so visitors are asked not to attempt to reach those statues out in the water. This one (below) looked as though he was striding out towards the Snowdonian mountains in the distance.

I thought I would join him and paddle my toes. It was surprisingly warm to dip my toes in the Irish Sea compared to my swim in the Med just over a week ago. Not sure I would like to go the whole way in though!!

We walked a good distance along the beach…

… before tummies started rumbling and we succumbed to the ice cream van!

We headed back towards the car, this time walking amongst the dunes. The Little Postcards loved scrambling up them and sliding back down again!

What a beautiful place to visit, I’m so glad we had the recommendation to go. The perfect place to spend the last day of August!

Now we know the way, we will definitely be back…

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x

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 Sevens #230 26.07.20

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I’ll be honest with you, it’s been a long three weeks since my last Sunday Sevens! It’s been exhausting and a tad emotional at times. But we survived it. I have come up for air briefly but am heading back into the realm of the packing boxes for a while…

In the meantime, here goes with a look back at our last 3 weeks in slightly more than seven photos from slightly more than the last seven days…

One last Saharan dust sunset on a Sunday

Our last Sunday in Gibraltar was a lovely day for so many reasons, we said goodbye to friends, and ended it with a lovely meal out by the sea. This gorgeous Calima (Saharan dust laden) sunset was the perfect ending.

Haircuts on Monday

In light of the very recent opening of hairdressers in the UK, I figured we might be waiting a long time for haircuts in England, so all three Little Postcards had one last Gibraltarian short back and sides. I love this spot by Southport Gates, I had to photograph it on the way back to the car.

Goodbye Diamond on Tuesday

Our last Gibraltar Tuesday was A DAY. From early morning until late at night it was full on packing. My Fitbit told me I did 18,000 steps. The Little Postcards were entertained with good friends and we said goodbye to Diamond our bunny. He’s gone off to Spain for a short break on the Costa before heading north by road. We hope to see him again in August, he might be glad of all that fluffy fur up in Manchester!

Removal day on Wednesday

Up at 6am for final bits of packing ahead of the removal men arriving just after 8. Once the trucks were loaded I had to cross into Spain to complete the paperwork and pay the duty on our stuff at customs. Off went our things to be stored until there was enough to fill a big lorry to travel up to the north of England.

Thursday by the sea

The Little Postcards had a final hurrah on the beach with their very good friends, while I ran round finishing off the last admin and cleaning up jobs in Gibraltar. When I arrived at Eastern Beach to pick them up we had tea and ice cream with our friends and it was lovely just to be still and enjoy the moment after all that rushing around.

Friday goodbyes…

On our last morning we packed up our final bits and bobs and drove from Gibraltar to Malaga. We had been due to fly from Gib on EasyJet but our flights were cancelled a couple of weeks before and we had to rebook via Malaga. We had to fly to Manchester because at the time of booking we were looking at 2 weeks in quarantine on our arrival and had we flown from Gib to London, we would not have been able to make the trip up north on public transport because of the regulations.

As it turned out, Friday 10th July, which is when we flew, became the first day that travelers didn’t have to quarantine. We were so fortunate.

Queuing to leave Gibraltar

A new view

This is my new view. Once I looked out on the Bay of Gibraltar one way and up the Rock to the summit of the Med Steps the other way, for now, I have this gorgeous leafy colour instead! We have moved into a rented home as a temporary measure until the sale of our place in Gib goes through. I’ll certainly happily take this view as I stand at the kitchen sink – it’s not too shabby!

And breathe

Open space!! Something you don’t get much of in Gib. This gorgeous field used to signal torture in my childhood (think school cross country – I wasn’t built for speed) however now I can appreciate how beautiful it is. It’s just a few minutes’ walk from our new home and en route to the park – a place we have visited a lot recently in a bid to get over the loss of the beach!

Milk bottles!

One of the perks of being back in the UK is the fact we can get our milk delivered to our front door in glass bottles! No more mad dashes to the supermarket for milk to find out there is none, and no more plastic milk bottles going to the recycling.

A not-so-little treat for me

When this special one-off rather large Little Box of Crochet was advertised, I decided to order it to my parent’s house knowing that when I arrived in Manchester, I wouldn’t have any crochet with me until my boxes of stash arrived. What a joy to open it and see all that squishy, yarny goodness.

I thought I’d be able to do a bit each day in my summer craft challenge style of years gone by, but sadly other things have taken precedence. I have dabbled a bit and will share any progress as I go along.

A birthday

We celebrated a birthday too. A Little Postcard is a year older, this time he was able to share his birthday with grandparents (for our first hugs since arrival in the UK) and a socially distant aunt & uncle! (No home made cake this year – my mixer & cake tins were somewhere on the continent in the back of a truck!).

Our stuff arrived!

It all arrived at the back end of last week. Our spacious rental home is now looking a lot less spacious!!🤣

It’s good to know that all our things made it over ok. Now there’s the small matter of finding everything that we need! Wish me luck!

Thank you for stopping by, I’m not sure when my next post will be as I’m still battling my way through boxes and multiple lost items, not to mention still trying to sort schools and other admin bits and bobs. I’ll pop back when I can though. Until then, take care.

Lindsay x

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins.

End of summer catch-up

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Hello everyone, sorry for the radio silence for the last few weeks. It’s been a hectic time with one thing and another so Postcard from Gibraltar took a bit of a back seat, all being well Sunday Sevens will be back this weekend and normal service will be resumed!

In the meantime, here’s a bit of a catch-up from the last few weeks…

Mid August I took the Little Postcards away with me to visit my parents in Manchester.

We had a great time. It was so lovely to see them as they haven’t been able to make it over to see us this year and they noticed a big difference in the Little Postcards and how much they’ve grown. Aside from seeing friends and family it’s also lovely to do things we can’t do in Gibraltar. Like foraging for berries, and then enjoying them in the tastiest Apple & bramble crumble. (We jettisoned the elderberries- not sure what to use them for).

It’s become a bit of an annual tradition on our summer trips back home to visit Marbury Park for a picnic and then call into the Great Budworth Ice Cream farm for ice creams on the way home. I wouldn’t have felt right if we hadn’t done it this year, so we did!

And of course, the reward for the walk was some super duper raspberry ripple!

We took a trip into Lancashire to visit my lovely little brother and his wife. They drove us to Rivington Terraced Gardens where we had a picnic and a fabulous woodland walk climbing up a huge hill. We could even see Blackpool Tower in the distance!

After our week or so up north, we took the train down south to visit some very dear friends of ours who used to live in Gibraltar.

Grey’s Court National Trust property is just a short drive from where our friends live and we enjoyed a lovely trip there in the summer sunshine!

All too quickly though, our time in England came to an end…

Bye bye England!

As we headed home from Malaga airport, it didn’t take long before the sweaty Levante cloud came into view….

A couple of weeks ago it was the annual Gibraltar Fair with the usual churros, rides and this year Jedward too… we didn’t stay late enough to see the former Eurovision & X Factor pair. I hear they were ‘entertaining’.

As the fair drew to a close, so did the school summer holidays for many young people including my 3. Lots of others though, are still waiting for their new school buildings to open next week.

Last weekend the Gibraltar Calling Music Festival was on. A highlight for me was Liam Gallagher. I’ve seen Oasis play live a couple of times and I was really looking forward to seeing Liam. He didn’t disappoint.

And there he was up on stage in his trademark coat even though it was swelteringly hot!!

I will share another highlight of the music festival in Sunday Sevens….

Sunday Sevens #194 30.6.19

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Greetings from a rather warm and sunny Gibraltar. All the schoole broke up for the summer break here on Friday, so we’re now officially ‘on holiday’ (well the young people are at least!). Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

San Juan

It was the festival of San Juan along the Spanish coast from Gibraltar on Sunday evening last week. Mr Postcard popped over to have a walk and see some of the traditional fires which are lit on the beach. He took this photo (I was at home with the Little Postcards).

Tranquil evening light

I found myself in town at ‘golden hour’ as the sun was going down on Monday evening, it looked so tranquil looking out at the Upper Town from the multi-storey car park, and at odds with the crazy busy day I had had beforehand.

End of term at Dressmaking class

This week was the end of term for my dressmaking class, and I’m really pleased to say that I finished my top!! It’s been four years now that I’ve been attending Dorcas Hammond’s fashion academy and it’s such a highlight in my week. I shall miss it over the summertime. Here’s the finished article…

I’m watching you!

We have some rather large waspy type creatures in Gib in summertime. The Little Postcards get crazy when they arrive in our home with their long dangly legs. I haven’t been able to catch one in flight yet to take a photo. We did find one of them in their own home this week though.

One was spotted in our back patio and it headed to our bug house which is made of short lengths of bamboo in a box. I caught him watching me!

Beautiful sunny weather

We have enjoyed some beautiful sunny warm weather this week. It’s been a pleasure during calm shady moments, but rather hot and sweaty while trying to get things done. I do appreciate that our highest temperature so far has been around 30 degrees Celsius rather than the mid 40s like some of our European neighbours have experienced – that would be a whole lot hotter!

School’s out for summer!

So, here were are, mojito time – school has finished for another academic year – which is ever so slightly frightening as that means my boys are getting older. As of September I will have no children in first school and two in secondary, which is a bit mind-blowing.

Armed Forces Day

It was Armed Forces Day yesterday and that had significance for me this year as a few weeks back I made a ‘Flag of Thanks’ which will be currently being displayed in a church in Salisbury for Armed Forces Day, and which will eventually be added to other flags to make bedding for homeless veterans. (Look for #flagsofthanks on Instagram)

In Gibraltar, the Royal Gibraltar Regiment had a ceremony yesterday to mark a ceremonial changing of the Governor’s guard. It was quite a spectacle, and something for the unsuspecting tourists to enjoy.

That’s it for another week, I hope it’s a good one for you!

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

 

Sunday Sevens #151 26.8.18

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Thanks to everyone who responded so positively to my 150th Sunday Sevens last week! This week, I packed up with the Little Postcards and headed back to Manchester to visit my family, leaving Mr Postcard at home to look after our rabbit and some baby birds…

Birdwatch update

You may remember a few weeks ago I told you about the pair of collared doves who were nesting in our roof and then gave up and went away. The nesting material didn’t go to waste – a pair of sparrows took it and made another nest further along the roof and we have been listening to the chirps and cheeps of babies for a few weeks now. Then, early this week, we saw them fledge!

A final Gibraltar sunset

There must be something about me leaving our place that the apartment doesn’t like. The day before we left for Suffolk earlier this summer for a holiday visiting Mr Postcard’s family our two hot water boilers both blew up. On Tuesday evening, as I was looking forward to enjoying a calm quiet evening before flying to Manchester, the pipes behind our washing machine split and sprayed water everywhere. Mr P reckons the house is haunted and it doesn’t want me to leave!

On our travels again

Wednesday saw me heading off to Blighty again. It’s been such a relief to leave the high humidity behind, it’s just been unbearably hot in our apartment lately.

Beeing in Manchester

On Wednesday evening, after unpacking, I went for a walk with Eldest to the park and gardens at the end of the road where I grew up. I remember them being beautiful when I was very young, but as I got older, they were neglected and vandalised, which was very sad. In recent years though, a group of volunteer gardeners have got involved and they have made the place looking lovely again. In one corner of the garden is a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Manchester bombing last year. This bee mosaic is part of the memorial, it’s lovely.

Cooling off!

I haven’t done any proper exercise since about May, so I made use of the flat pavements and cooler weather to go for a run…. and got soaked through! The heavens opened once I was past the point of no return. I’m not complaining though!

Gnome alert

I spotted a rather funny collection of garden gnomes and other ornaments in a front garden not far from my Mum & Dad’s house which made me chuckle. I’ve never seen an astronaut gnome before!

Dunham fun

Yesterday, we visited Dunham Park in Cheshire. It’s a place I’ve visited since being very young and I love it there.

The deer were so tame, coming up close to the human visitors. We even saw some of this year’s fawns which were just 3 or 4 months old, although they were a bit more timid and kept their distance.

Despite it still being August, there were a few signs that autumn isn’t far away. This fungus looked beautiful in the afternoon sunshine.

That’s all for Sunday Sevens this week, thanks for stopping by!

I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.