ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 37TH OF 2016

Good Morning, I checked its Friday - drat not ready - but hey its time for

So lets find the positive moments from the last 7 days, well its exactly 7 days since we set off for our annual jaunt out to Chatsworth for the Country Fayre and although we were a little apprehensive about the weather, we really need not have worried, because the weather was fine for the duration although a little cloudy 

We always head to the grand arena for the first part of the day to watched the mounted games - riders and ponies racing up and down an obstacle course - completely mad but great fun to watch and its obvious that the ponies absolutely love it!

Then we walked the rifle/gun ranges - as said 15 year old has got older, he is much happier to have a go, this particular range used live rounds - the first time he could have a go at this he only managed one shot before his dad had to take over - no such problem on Friday!

We saw the Help for Heroes parachutes heading down as we headed up the hillside

Hubby and said 14 year old had a go at air rifles

And the one that said 15 year old really wanted to try - the clay pigeon shooting.  Hubby said he didn't need to have a go as he'd done it previously - but I forced his hand (he was 17 years old last time he did clay pigeon).  Said 15 year old got about 5 shots out of 10 - hubby managed 10 out of 10 - not bad for someone who hasn't shot these sort of guns since he was 17 - the downside the happy smiling glistening eyes as they turned round in the 'I want to do that again' kind of way!  

We saw the exotic species tent and took a shine to the Raven - he was very funny!

As the day progressed we wander through the stalls and craft tents, checked out the food area and had a lovely time.  We stopped off at lunch for food and headed back in wandering around for a while longer. 

We loved the Red Arrows - always a favourite of ours when they are there.   

They had to do their lower display due to the cloud coverage but it was fabulous nonetheless!

We then headed down to the main cookery tent to see Paul Hollywood - we just wanted to see him, we didn't need to see him make a bakewell tart!  With Bakewell two minutes away we thought this might be risky - tee hee!

We also wandered down to the military vehicles

These two were checking out the vehicles

And as the day drew to a close we did get some blue skies - apologies for the bright yellow waste bin - never saw it when I took the photo! 

Saturday was definitely a recovery day, although it was also hairdressers for said 15 year old ready for him returning to school.

Sunday we were back at Chatsworth again and the statement - what a difference a day makes comes to mind - look at the state of the grand arena - the torrential rain on Saturday had made a big difference to the ground, although most of it was fairly dry to walk on, there were only a few muddy pockets, although we arrived in drizzle which continued for an hour or two before it disappeared.

Hubby managed a family selfie as we noted from Saturday that there wasn't a single picture of me!

As it was the last day the Duchess of Devonshire was awarding the Rosettes after the games

 

We headed back up to the clay pigeon shooting as it was the one thing that both hubby and said 15 year old loved on the Friday.

This time they both managed 10 out of 10!

We popped back to the car for a cuppa before heading back to the archery range

And then hubby and said 15 year old were checking out the cars - he looks far too comfortable in this one for my liking!

They also had some heavy horses pulling logs up on one of the fields and as you can see the clouds were breaking up

Isn't the horse fantastic!

Then back for a cuppa again

Before setting up on the hillside for the red arrows

I loved this photo hubby got because

the very next shot was in focus

And then they did this - how they manage these aerial displays I will never know. 

After the display (which was much later - 6pm) everyone jumped in their car and tried to leave, we were overtaken by three coaches on our way back to the car.  The idea of sitting in traffic didn't appeal, so we set up the chairs and table and dragged out the remains of the picnic, a couple of butties, a slice of cake, mugs of hot coffee and watching the beautiful evening sky, before we finally started to pack up as the traffic was starting to move. 

Strangely enough, we managed to beat all three of those coaches out of the park, as we've always said - utterly pointless racing to get out, you'll just get stuck in traffic. 

Monday we were all off - which was a good job because we were all exhausted. 

Tuesday me and hubby were back at work (boo hiss) but the day went fast and we'd both got lots to do.  Said 15 year old however toddled off to the seaside with my Mum and step-Dad, my niece and my step-Dad's nephew

This is a photo from 12 years ago taken by my step-Dad of the 3 youngsters

And here they are (in a different order) 12 years later!

They had a lovely afternoon and he came home with lots to chat about. 

Wednesday marked the final '1st day in uniform' picture - I've dragged out the ones I've taken of him since 2006 and plan or getting some sort of photo montage done so I can scrapbook them side by side. 

Thursday was a crazy crazy day at my second job and this morning - well I'm off for a day to my third job - albeit that this isn't a long term job - it still means my normal day off - well isn't!

It's both mine and said 15 year old's birthday next week and we are trying to make plans - albeit failing miserably - what do you think we should do to celebrate?

I hope you've had a great week, thanks for sticking with the post (if you are still here)

Mr Linky if you fancy joining in, pop a post together, mention us, pop back link up and we can come and visit - ooh and leave me a comment telling me you've done a post as I don't always remember to keep checking back!

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 36TH OF 2016

Is anyone else feeling like the year is disappearing before their very eyes - or is it just me?

Well it is Friday time to reflect on the last 7 days, find the silver linings, the positive moments that made the week

Well Friday arrived with great gusto, twas a lovely day with me and said 15 year old, we had decided to make some progress on the house but to do it in smaller chunks to make it more manageable.  So whilst I tackled the chest of drawers in my room, said 15 year old tucked into checking out what clothes still fitted him. 

Afterwards we got ready and popped to Hobbycraft and the Range, I don't know what it is about these places but I always spend too much.  Hobbycraft was so I could buy more scrapbook albums and plastics.  I've got a stack of layouts that need to go away and had run out of these, so I bought some more.  I treated said 15 year old to a new A3 sketchbook and some sketching pencils, he has been awesome at helping around the house and the garden (particularly the front garden), recently so it was a nice way to say thank you as it were. 

We collected my Mum on the way as she fancied a tootle out to the shops as well - she was as bad as me at buying things.  The range provided a plant pot, some asters and a stack of spring flowering bulbs and lightened my pocket somewhat. 

We stopped at my Mums for a cuppa and caught up with my sister and niece, before we headed home.  

I had discovered (again for the second year running) that Chatsworth was having late night opening in August on Friday and Saturday nights, so here we were on the last Friday night of August (rolls eyes).  As the day had been so lovely and we had blue skies and sunshine, once hubby was home we headed down, arriving just before 6pm.  Unlike previous years when they've closed at 5.30pm and reopened at 6pm, this year they just allowed day visitors to stay as late as they fancied rolling straight into the evening as it were. 

Some of the Beyond Limits sculptures are already in situ ready for the sculpture show in September, so we had fun checking those out.  As you can see it was a beautiful evening - we were treated to the amazing golden hour when it came to take photos! 

 And said 15 year old had great fun - getting in the way of his Dad's photos!   I love this natural shot of him and his Dad together! 

 I'm going to save most of the sculptures from Beyond Limits until we go to the official show as they were still setting up, however, there was one that we all absolutely fell in love with, called tear for obvious reasons, made from stainless steel it was head and shoulders above the rest of the exhibits we saw. 

I love how it reflects the world around it! 

And looks different from different angles.

And managed to deepen the colour of that blue sky! 

Simply stunning

One of the shots that we rarely get of Chatsworth is the one on the approach to the house, bathed in the sunset and as there were only a few cars around, we pulled up on our way out and I walked back to the bridge to get this shot

 And then we headed home, enjoying the sunset setting in the distance. 

Saturday found us working in the house again, this time completing the sort out on our bedroom which wasn't a huge task but another thing ticked off the to do list as it were. 

It also marked the start of said 15 year old making some headway with his textile art piece, although he'd already done some work on this, he decided to approach it differently to try and get enthused about it, personally I think they've spent far too long planning it and not enough time getting on with the task as it were, hopefully now he has started it will motivate him to carry on. 

Sunday was said 15 year old's bedroom sort out, thankfully he'd already done his clothes which take a while to sort through, so it was more of a good clean and tidy.  

He got rid of his lego and nerf guns up into the loft - definitely the end of an era with regards to those if I'm honest! 

Whilst me and said 15 year old were busy, hubby was busy securing a new bench at the front of the house.  We also sorted those plant pots for either side of the bench to really finish the front garden off, I'm so pleased with how it has turned out and now we have somewhere to sit and enjoy the evening sunshine.

All was going swimmingly well until we ended up with a problem with the shower and a slightly flooded bathroom - dripping downstairs, sigh - thankfully we reacted as quickly as could and it all appears to be drying out now, but I now have to source a plumber to resolve and it really isn't something we can afford if I'm honest. 

Monday arrived and another glorious day, said 15 year old was not wanting to head out today, but I know what hubby is like so we decided to go for a run out, we ended up at Brodsworth Hall, which is part of English Heritage, it is one of my favourites as the garden really is a delight, we didn't even go in the house this time as the garden was providing plenty of enjoyment. 

In the evening we had a DVD marathon, we got said 15 year old to watch Coming To America, I remember seeing it in the cinema when it first came out, he seemed to enjoy it.  

The rest of the week has been something of a blur, we've now got a quote from the plumber - unfortunately the shower is no good - so a replacement is our only option.  But we've got that booked in now.  

Me and said 15 year old managed to catch up with my Mum, sister and niece on Wednesday, we were destined to toddle off out on thursday but its not happened.  Just one of those things as it were. 

I hope you've had a great week - well done for staying with me if you are still reading.  

If you fancy joining in pop a post together, pop back, link up and leave a comment and we shall come and visit.

PLATFORM 9 3/4

Morning all, well another couple of layouts from my Harry Potter album, the first is the official photo we bought when down at Harry Potter World, don't ask me how those two ended up on Slytherin! 

And the second layout documents some of the fantastic models that were created for the film. 

I hope you have a happy scrapping day! 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 35TH OF 2016

Good morning lovely people, tis Friday - means only one thing in my book

Well I thought this might be a photo light post, but I seem to have found a fair few to share along the way. 

First up is the Sheffield Herd (not that we've managed to get around many of the elephants yet), they have inspired my personal Summer of Colour challenge and this is the fourth colourway that I've done this year so far. 

Next up is said 15 year old, he is such fantastic company and last Friday we were home alone together, as the front garden is now complete we decided to have some crafting time together.  Here he is working on his next art textile project for school.  The bandage on his arm is due to the tablets he is on causing him so fairly significant joint pain, hopefully he is now down to the last month of tablets!

As you can see he has been busy cutting component parts out for the project (and raiding my felt store as he goes). 

Friday also found us venture to the local shopping centre, we do only a few shops when we go there including checking out the latest magazines.  I rarely find this magazine in the store, but when I do it always makes me smile, so my happy from that jaunt out was this magazine! 

On Saturday hubby and said 15 year old headed out and so I had a couple of hours to enjoy some crafting time on my own, first up popping a film on.  My 'go to' films are always Harry Potter films - they make me happy! 

So what was I painting, well I'd done some new gelli plated backgrounds, in a red colourway

Which I turned into zombie elephants, inspired by the Sheffield Herd, I don't think there is a zombie one but hey I thought it would be fun to create, this was the stitched version

And this was the brains version

As you can see they appeared to multiply as the day progressed!

And here they are all lined up

I've no idea what I will do for my final set of Summer of Colour elephants.

Some of you have asked what I actually do with them after they are created, if they are cute they often end up on the front of birthday cards to be sent out, sometimes I send them as giant postcards (they are A5 in size) and then sometimes I pop them in a plastic wallet, mark them as art and abandon them for people to find. 

So whilst I was busy creating zombie elephants, said 15 year old and hubby were trying out the olympic challenge at the nearest air rifle range.  

Sunday found us in Ikea, you know the one, we don't need to buy anything, we are just window shopping, oooh those towels are lovely, wow look at the price of those glasses, £70 please - how on earth did we manage that - that was pretty much ad verbatim what happened.  We had fun though! 

The rest of the week has been busy busy with work, including a 7pm finish at job one and a 7.30am start in job two - which left me feeling rather tired by the end of it!

We also popped for a bar meal last night - but there are no photos of the naughty pie and chip tea - however, I can report it was very very nice. 

And here we are at Friday again, if you fancy joining in, sharing your positive moments, silver linings from the week that was, pop a post together pop back and link up.  Its always lovely if you can mention the original post and where to find it and if you comment it prompts me to check out if there are any new links! 

Have a beautiful and blessed bank holiday weekend!