Lindisfarne Castle
So what's my excuse? Well to be truthful, I don't have one. I've just got involved in other things like:
- listening to children read at a local primary school. I enjoy that & it's surprising how they improve with just a few extra minutes spent with them.
- fundraising for the Apostleship of the Sea. I volunteered a while ago for this & recently we went to Lindisfarne (Holy Island) on a "pilgrimage". Well it did involve prayers, hymns & a Mass but there were also some visits to coffee shops & a pub for lunch. Not really like the original pilgrims! It's a tidal island if you ever visit & is only accessible via the causeway when the tide is out. So you need to know the times of the tides if you ever visit.
Lindisfarne
- knitting - lace shawls for a couple of friends & some cardigans for myself. This is my favourite shawl. It's a Nancy Bush Estonian one & really lovely.
- teaching children to knit at a local primary school. I'm amazed at how popular this is, they almost fight each other for a turn at knitting & that includes the boys!
- making medieval dresses for my granddaughters. I made a Rapunzel dress last year when Lauren went to Orlando & so it was time to make them for the other two girls!
- watching my diet and cooking more natural foods since I joined Weightwatchers. I really don't like cooking so my repertoire is mainly soup, salmon, tuna, salads and pastas. Not exactly James Martin or Michel Roux!
- swimming more to help lose weight and get my blood pressure down so I don't have to take the dreaded tablets & get our GP more cash for reaching her targets!
- now that I've finally lost some weight I've been altering as many pairs of trousers as I can so I'm not hitching them up with a belt & I know I'm saving some cash by avoiding buying new ones.
- taking my turn at desktop publishing our three local churches' newsletter & keeping their website up to date. Quite a struggle as my old Dell laptop is on its last legs, crashing & freezing regularly which makes these jobs and blogging really difficult. Hope Santa Clause has an iMac in his sack for me this Christmas.
- looking for cheap cruises! I never succeed as I'm too fussy about the cruiseline, neither of us like mega ships and my husband doesn't like inside cabins and getting off the ship! So the really cheap offers are never suitable. A transatlantic with a stop at a couple of nice places suits us both. I managed to drag him off the ship in Bermuda! Our next one is on a bigger ship, Celebrity Eclipse for my husband's 70th birthday and on the way to Florida we're going to stop at a couple of Caribbean Islands. Now I've never been to the Caribbean so I'm really looking forward to it. Watch this space! I promise to blog about it.
So I haven't exactly been lazing about but I really need to get blogging again so I'll be dropping in to see you and catch up with you soon.
Lovely piccies..thank you for sharing..tis the closest I will get to a holiday rofl
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel. I've not been blogging much, either, but I have been knitting Estonian lace, too! The nupps, not so easy. Did you knit the Nancy Bush shawl? I have her book and want to knit the big square, but don't know if I have the patience right now.
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear from you. Yes I knitted it last year in a pale blue and it took me ages. I've just knitted it again in cream for a friend and I just rattled it off. Have to say it looks nicer in the creamy shade. Those nupps have become easier too. I also knitted the Queen Silvia shawl from that book and it is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteYes, you would need a lot of patience to knit that Crown Prince Square Shawl. I love it but was worried I'd not have the patience either.
Yes, it's been a while since I've been around. This year I am not mowing the yard, we are hiring it done.
ReplyDeleteWith all of your hobbies, knitting, sewing, dieting and so forth, you don't have time to play around with the blog. But do drop in now and then to let us know how you're doing. Your Granddaughters are very lucky they have a Grandmother that can sew.
I even post on Facebook now. I'm just a lazy old computer nut. LOL
Well I think you have your priorities right! As much as it's a shame you don't have time to blog more, I do believe that being active in real life is much more important! It sounds like you are doing really well and living life to the max! You are very creative.
ReplyDeleteOh and well done on the weight loss! I've just lost 7 pounds and I feel better for it!
Just love your blog, down to earth and by the way Celebrity is a great cruise line
ReplyDeleteYou will enjoy the Islands
I found you on Richard Solent's blog who I have know for a few years as a virtual friend and sometimes devils advocate. :)
Rob (my blog) = http://robbarcruises.wordpress.com/
Thanks everyone for your lovely encouraging comments.
ReplyDeleteWow! I love what you are doing. Those dresses are beautiful. Teaching knitting to kids must be so rewarding. I haven't been very successful yet with my 2 grand daughters but they are 3 and 5. I hope they love to do handwork like I do. Your fundraiser sounds really interesting. Good for you with sticking to your diet and seeing results! I would love to get to that point. I am afraid I have just given up on dieting. Maybe I will get inspired again someday. I miss your blog posts Winifred!
ReplyDeleteLove that lacey shawl! :)
ReplyDeleteBhusha's INDIA TRAVELOGUE
Wow, well I think you made up for lost time with this post. Sounds like you have been having lots of fun. A plus for this post lol xx
ReplyDeleteYou do so much that takes you away from blogging, that I definitely think you need to blog more so that you'll remember all it is that you actually do.
ReplyDeleteI simply love that first picture...it is funny how things come and go in cycles the rainbow loom that's all the craze now is kind of like knitting in terms of method of "do this then that" and you end up with this pattern my daughter LOVES it!, I surely wish I'd read this post before I went to the Disney Store to buy my daughter a halloween costume she want to be Merida from Brave I should have paid you instead of making Disney richer! LOL So how's the weight watchers? We've turned nearly all natural in our house as well and it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy instead and full of goodness.
ReplyDeleteWell I'm doing OK at Weightwatchers. Reached Goal Weight in March & have managed to stay below so far.
ReplyDeleteThey must make a fortune on those Disney dresses! These only cost me about £7 each to make & they loved them. They won't drop to bits either like the ones you buy.
Congratulations on the weight loss Winifred. Love the dresses. I guess my grand daughter would too. I agree with you over B.P. I refuse to take the tablets and have ignored my surgery's 3 letters as they are target mad. When I used to swim regularly I did find that my BP was lower afterwards. For now I use the Resperate machine which has kept mine down.
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