ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 13TH OF 2021

 Morning all, tis Friday time for 

So first up on my list of silver linings and happy moments is watching a bit of live (well pre-recorded but it did go out live on Monday) theatre, albeit from the comfort of our own living room.

We watched the 'Band Plays On' a play about the history and women of Sheffield, interspersed with amazing music from the city itself performed live on stage by the fabulous actresses.  It was so cleverly written and interwoven with personal stories and actual history and at times I went from elation to sadness and back again, a sign of a good play, it also touched on things that I too was affected by and I learnt things I didn't know and was reminded of things that I did, such as I knew the game of football originated in Sheffield, I didn't know it was cricketers who'd grown tired of their own game that started it off and I definitely didn't know that the women's suffrage movement commenced in Sheffield, like I said a learning process. 

Saturday morning dawned and we decided to head to the local dam for a walk, we've not been in ages and it was nice to walk among the trees, listening to the birds tweeting away, tussling for territory and generally making merry as we walked along.  There were plenty of people about, dog walkers, families with young children, runners with a few cyclists thrown in for good measure, but we all kept our distance. 

It was fabulous to see some blossom on the trees

The water was flowing lovely and they seemed to have cleared some of the water courses

This little guy up in the trees was having a lovely sing song and was completely unfazed by us being only a few feet away

Hubby got a lovely macro shot of the blossom and as we got further around the dam the smell indicated that it was actually hawthorn that was flowering. 

They've installed a new piece of artwork by the dam having removed an unsuccessful bird hide (unsuccessful due to the amount of footfall that walked past). 

Next up, said 20 year old and his second semester, working with a project about altering a Victorian terraced property to make it inclusive for those with mobility issues, rather than walking a standard format and putting a lift in, he went off at a tangent, making changes to the floor levels in the building and creating ramps 

I love it when he does his line drawings, there is soooooooooooo much detail. 

And then the rear of the property having an extensive ramping system at the legally allowed ramp elevation to allow for a wheelchair to access it. 

The whole project has taken weeks and weeks of work, but it is definitely coming together and I think he can see the end in sight now. 

I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon finishing off my scrapbook layouts I am officially caught up with my scrapbooking, which is a first since I started scrapbooking in 2004 and I have to say I'm finding it mighty strange, added to which 2021 consists of three layouts that I thought photoworthy enough to document, my valentine's flowers, Gordon's 0% gin which I've mentioned previously and a gorgeous snowdrop shot that hubby got.  My plan now is to put the photos I want to get printed each month in a folder and make the use of the freeprints app where you can have 50 photos printed per month and only pay for the postage, which I think will be more than adequate to feed my scrapbooking hobby.   

I then finished off an album for 2020 and put the three layouts for 2021 to one side ready for a new album, I am officially sorted on this front currently, whilst I was doing that hubby was watching the Six Nations, he didn't watch the last match live as we had booked tickets to Dream by the RSC, which was a little different to what we had expected, although we hadn't really got expectations to begin with.  It only lasted about 25 minutes in total and was live virtual reality. 

These are the layouts that mean I'm now officially up to date. 

Sunday dawned and we headed off for a few hours walking around Wentworth Woodhouse gardens again, since our last visit the snow drops have died off and the rhododendrons, camellias and daffodils have started to burst into life. 

We still have wintry light levels, so there was a stark contrast between the blue sky and the ionic temple

The daffodils looked amazing

This little chap enjoyed following us around for a while

Hubby got this photo of me taking a daffodil shot, I hadn't realised I was in his camera shot.

The rest of the week has been a busy work week but I don't mind that, apparently the sun has been shining but I genuinely wouldn't know because I've been either desk bound or office bound, nevertheless it is nice to return home in daylight and see the spring flowers. 

If you fancy joining in then pop a post together come back and link up 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 12TH OF 2021

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

Well it has been another quiet week, we had rather blustery weather last weekend, so unlike the previous weekends when we'd enjoyed the garden and pottering about it really wasn't fit enough to venture out, so we stayed put. 

I showed you my new drawer system for my craft desk and am happy to report that they are working like a dream and my desk is still fairly clear. 

Next happy moment, hubby treating me to a new small rotary wheel cutter for my scrapbooking.  I used one of these when I first started scrapbooking and it last years, but eventually the wheel got blunt and was no longer fit for purpose.  Whilst I have a good guillotine, that too is now showing signs of wear and not always cutting perfectly straight, plus that one is heavy to move and I'm naughty and sometimes pick it up with one hand which triggers my RSI, so I have to be careful, so I'm mighty pleased to have a new cutter, plus it doesn't mind cutting tiny/thin pieces of paper. 

I had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend scrapbooking whilst hubby had a thoroughly enjoyable time watching the Six Nations rugby.  As I stand I finished all the photos that I had printed up to the end of October last year, including scrapbooking a fair few that had poems to include, I tried initially to cut thin slips of paper and stick individual lines on, but soon got really bored of that and decided to cut a few pages of paper and print directly onto the sheet which is definitely my preferred option. 

I now have a small amount of scrapbooking left to bring me up to date and currently as I'm really not doing very much and we aren't allowed to venture out further than local I can't see me adding to the pile of photos I need to get printed any time soon, but such are the times we live through.  I'm hopeful that things start to easy soon. 

Sunday was Mother's day and whilst lockdown rules prevent me meeting up with my Mum (unlike last year when I could still meet her in her own garden), I still dropped a card off and a gift (very practical gift of growbags for her greenhouse and some seeds and other items for her garden). 

Monday and I was back at work, albeit working from home, busy day putting funding bids in but productive nonetheless. 

Tuesday and Wednesday I was in the office, and had two very hectic days but I thoroughly enjoyed having today off, no alarms to wake me up, slow start to the day, pottering around the garden, absolutely lovely day getting little jobs done and we were blessed with a little sunshine which is always a positive. 

As you will see I am somewhat devoid of photos this week, it has just been one of those where it has been mighty quiet so not much to photograph. 

I hope you've had a grand week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together and come back and link up so we can come and visit. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 11TH OF 2021

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for

So first happy grateful since my last post, was last week when I was in the office I realised I hadn't picked any fruit up to have after lunch and I really fancied something sweet, so you can imagine my delight when said 20 year old turned up with a bag of fruit hubby which I nibbled on through the afternoon.  When hubby was still working he would occasionally send me a smiley face of his fruit that he'd taken for the day, obviously with him now retired I won't be getting these photos anymore, so I thought it would be fun to do the same, although I only thought about it after I'd eaten the banana in all honesty and just incase you wondered, yes I did wash the grapes and pop them on a plate before I ate them.

The weekend was spent in the garden, although it was still cool, if the sun was out you did feel like spring was on its way.  Me and hubby worked really hard getting things sorted and done, he power washed the decks on the Friday and we got two that needed repainting done the following day and then I planted out some spring violas to brighten the pots up.  We had a lovely time tootling around the garden, chatting, drinking coffee and busying ourselves. 

I love violas although they do love to self seed in the slate so I have to keep my eyes open and I try and deadhead them to prevent too many seeds ending up setting root where I don't want them. 

My desk is still going, there will be more repairs needed this year but it still brings me an awful lot of joy to see out of the kitchen window. 

I loved this photo, it looks like the viola is superimposed on the photo, but it isn't! 

Next up said 20 year and his girlfriend decided to send my niece a gift through the post, she is currently living in Leeds and with lockdown restrictions you aren't allowed to travel and although we have family chat online it just isn't the same.  So she was really pleased to receive this little gift, which he made from resin and then created the necklace. 

And this photo made me smile, my niece has just set up an Etsy shop selling lots of lovely homemade items and my Mum ordered this bag from her and it arrived yesterday, as you can see she was really pleased to get it, I love seeing the passion of these youngsters forging a path for their future.

I'm also grateful for these beautiful flowers that my hubby bought me this week when he went shopping and I followed my Mum's tip to trim the stems and plunge the ends into some hot boiled water (literally tipped out of the kettle, plunge for 30 seconds) and then into tepid water in a vase with a sachet of the flower powder that came with them, they are all opening and doing so well, so obviously didn't mind the plunge.

I'm not sure if it is just me, but this lockdown is proving the hardest of the lot and I find myself pondering things in the house that to be honest I really hadn't pondered before, I realised recently that whilst I had an Ikea Raskog trolley for lots of my crafting items next to my desk it really wasn't working effectively and really did make my desk area look particularly messy and after much browsing and scrolling of lots of sites I identified a particular set of drawers that I thought would hit the spot.  The issue being that the local store didn't have the colour I wanted in stock and the delivery cost was hefty because of the size and weight of the items.  I ummed and ahhhed all weekend until hubby convinced me to stop thinking about it and just get on, which is what I did.  They gave me a two week delivery window and the items weren't due to be delivered until the 22nd so you can imagine my delight when they arrived yesterday, by the time I got home hubby had worked out how to build them and had done one and after tea he built the remaining two.

So I set to emptying said trolley onto my desk as you can see 

And then after I'd put everything away this is what it looks like soooooooooooooo much better. 

And final happy note for this week, was my Mum completing this little crafting project, it is the first time in her 71 years that she has attempted cross stitch and she said she had a new found admiration for those that do the larger more complex designs. 

And that my lovely people was the week that was, hopefully you've had a good week and your weather has been kind and you've had some silver linings and positives to clock in the week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together come back and link up so we can come and visit.