A steep learning curve and a bit of relaxation

Oh my goodness, an award, which is so exciting and very much appreciated. It was bestowed on me by the amazing Angel who so very patiently first helped me into blogland. Thank you so much. I feel I haven't really justified this wonderful form of communication as I struggle with the technicalities of links and uploads and even making my page look pretty has eluded me thus far! It has taken me two days of sneaking on to the laptop amidst "What on earth are you doing" comments, just to find out how to "get" this award! I will persevere though and eventually it will become second nature..... I hope. Please bear with me when I get it wrong.
Now I need to add this text which goes with the award and explains what it is for


"The authors say that blogs who receive this award are exceedingly charming. This blog invests in proximity in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be new friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandisement. Our hope is that when ribbons of these awards are cut, even more friendships will be propagated. Please give your kind attention to these writers."

I believe I should pass it on to 8 people, but I think that most of those "I know " have already been most worthy recipients. In the interests of improving my skills though, I shall just see if I can practice using the information kindly given by Gem and Raspberry Grace . Oooh yes, I've done some linkys, hoooray!!! I should like to say a huge thank you to all those who have helped and encouraged me with my faltering attempts and please accept the award again with my love.

Whoooooooa, another award has just come my way too





This has just flown over from Mary at Home sweet Home. Thankyou so much, that is so sweet of you. I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed now and may just have to sit down with a cup of tea while I recover from my joy at achieving all this technical stuff. Not only that but the postman has just delivered this

and this

and lastly this

So, what's a girl to do. A comfy seat and check 'em out I suppose. They are all trial copies, so a bit of almost free house porn!



Oooh already spotted some pretty mugs. You might be able to just make them out in the top righthand corner. They're from Tesco at £2 each.For the moment I'll continue with my cuppa in this one, though sadly the cake plate is bare, since the diet began!

Anyone got some virtual cake please?

My new secret weapon!

Since finishing the major part of our selfbuild,and achieving getting the front lawn sorted last year(which was a huge undertaking), we seem to have lapsed into doing not very much of late. They do say, don't they, that you should never move in to an unfinished house because you will not complete all those little jobs........well I think they're right! Can't seem to get motivated at all. The Christmas excesses seem to have taken their toll too, so a remedy is needed.........

Can you guess?
We used to enjoy going for bike rides and also did weight training to keep us fit but Mr Secondwind, due to a dislocated shoulder acquired when he had a serious fall during our building work, cannot now ride a bike safely or lift weights any more.

So, since I don't want to go riding alone and weight training, though very effective at toning the body, is a bit OTT at my age we had a lookie on ebay and came up with this............



It is low impact so should be kind to our ageing bodies but still give us an overall tone up.......well that's the hope anyway. No one else bid for it and it was local to us, so an absolute bargain to boot.We've positioned it in a place that we pass by frequently so there's no ignoring it either!



Along with some sensible eating maybe, just maybe, we can achieve a fitter New Year! And maybe that in turn will lead us to feel more like doing things again. There are a number of friends on the SC forum who are keen to lose weight, so if any of you read this I'll keep you posted on how it's going and any encouragement/nagging will be most gratefully received.

Why do things conspire against me? oh......and a lovely day

My very good intentions at the beginning of December to post more regularly were scuppered almost immediately by my internet provider who promptly cut me off from webland. Now it is true that living in the sticks does mean that our internet connection is somewhat hit and miss but it has taken a month to get any sort of solution. Fingers crossed that it remains!
I have thoroughly missed reading all your lovely blogs about the run up to Christmas and the ensuing festivities, not to mention the New Year goings-on. I shall try to catch up with my blogland reading and apologies to all for my absence.
Anyway a New Year and with that comes another year to be added to my old body. Yes I celebrated a birthday yesterday and had a really lovely day.After a leisurely cup of green tea in bed(one of my New year Resolutions, the tea that is, not the "in bed" bit)I opened my cards and presents.


One was a gorgeous ruby coloured Laura Ashley lambswool scarf which considering the snow was most appropriate and made me feel quite cheery too. I usually pick quite drab colours for myself so was surprised how perky it made me feel as I was whisked into the car for a mystery drive by hubby. Our first port of call was the Hemswell Antiques Centre which consists of several large buildings full of individual sellers' pieces of every description.I love looking around such establishments and though most things are way out of my price range, I enjoy looking at them and touching them, imagining what their history has been and how they have ended up here.There was so much to feast the eyes on that two hours later we had only viewed two of the many buildings and we realised how cold we had become! After a warming bowl of home-made soup and a small purchase which I shall save for another post our journey continued and I found myself in Horncastle. This is another renowned place for what my husband calls junk shops. Horncastle would say they were a centre for antiques I think but there is actually a huge mix. One shop in particular, is just heaving with so much stuff it is just impossible to get to see properly what is there. Pile upon pile of miscellaneous items, mostly dust encrusted sit waiting to be chosen. There is a huge variety of china and crockery which spills out into the shop's backyard where it sits on old trestle tables and wet cardboard boxes completely open to the elements!How was it that I forgot my camera.... what sort of blogger does that.....? After much browsing I made my choice.......



I have been wanting to collect a set of miscellaneous china cups and saucers to serve posh puddings in, sorbets, chocolate mousse, that sort of thing. The shape of these is perfect and I love the colours. There were five and for the princely sum of £2. How happy can a girl be?! I look forward to returning another day to find some more different designs so that I can mix and match them.Hope you like them too.